Dominating Interception—Whoever Wants to Be a Simp Can Be One!

Iruka had not even finished reading when Sakura Haruno let out an ear-piercing scream, like an air-raid siren going off, instantly detonating the entire classroom.

"Ah—!!!"

She clutched her head and collapsed into her chair as if all the bones had been pulled from her body, her face twisted as though the world were about to end.

"Why?! Why do I have to be in the same class as that perennial dead last, that idiot who only knows how to pull pranks?!"

"My youth... my Sasuke... my ninja career... it's all over!!!"

Anyone who did not know better would have thought she had been assigned to a grave, not a class.

Most of the boys in the classroom wore gloating expressions, while the girls cast sympathetic looks her way.

In the corner, Sasuke Uchiha's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly. He was clearly extremely impatient with this lovestruck girl's racket.

However, just as everyone assumed that Naruto Uzumaki, the central figure in this mess, would react as usual—awkwardly, angrily, or helplessly trying to explain himself—

Bang!

A deafening boom made everyone's ears ring!

Naruto moved.

Without warning, he shot to his feet, raised his right leg, and stomped heavily on the desk before him!

The wooden desktop groaned under the unbearable force of his foot, cracks spreading across it like a spiderweb.

That move was wild!

Arrogant!

It carried a domineering air that disregarded every rule!

He looked down from above at Sakura Haruno, who was still wailing. His deep blue eyes held none of his former ingratiating humility, only glacial indifference.

"Sakura Haruno."

Naruto's voice was not loud, but it was like an ice-tempered blade, piercing precisely into everyone's ears.

"Wipe that look off your face like your parents just died."

"..."

"Gasp—!"

The entire classroom instantly fell silent.

It felt as though the air had been sucked away, and everyone stopped breathing.

What had they just seen?

What had they just heard?

Naruto Uzumaki, who had always chased after Sakura like a little puppy, calling out "Sakura-chan~"... what had he just said?

Was this still that ultimate simp who had willingly let Sakura order him around like an idiot just to make her smile?!

Everyone, including Iruka at the front of the classroom, who looked completely baffled and as if his CPU were about to burn out, stared wide-eyed at the blond boy standing on the desk, radiating an aura that warned strangers to keep away.

He was too unfamiliar!

That wildly arrogant, self-centered presence was even more unnerving than when he had slapped Kiba Inuzuka away yesterday!

"Na-Naruto... you bastard! What gives you the right to say that to me?!"

Sakura Haruno's wailing came to an abrupt stop. She suddenly raised her head, her face streaked with tears as she glared at Naruto in humiliation and fury.

In her eyes, this dead last had gone insane!

He actually dared to speak to her like that!

Yet Naruto could not be bothered to waste words on her.

He merely curled his lips in disdain and slowly raised his right index finger into the air.

The next second, under the horrified gazes of the entire class, a scene that overturned their understanding of ninjutsu unfolded.

A wisp of pale blue chakra appeared out of nowhere at Naruto's fingertip, then began to gather and compress at a frenzied, visible rate!

No hand signs!

There was not even a single unnecessary movement!

The ball of chakra grew smaller and smaller, forcibly compressed from the size of a fist to the size of a marble. Its color shifted from pale blue to a deep azure, like a frozen star, emitting terrifying fluctuations that made their hearts pound!

Ultimate solidity!

Ultimate stability!

This level of chakra control... had completely surpassed the scope of a Genin, reaching an unbelievably microscopic level!

Sakura Haruno had been ready to launch into a furious tirade, but the moment she saw that tiny chakra sphere, every insult and curse that had reached her lips was seized by an invisible hand. She could not force out a single word!

As the top student in theory class, she understood better than anyone what this meant!

The chakra control she had always been proud of, which ranked among the best of her peers, was like a toddler who had just learned to walk challenging the world sprinting champion before this "dead last's" absolute control!

Ridiculous!

Utterly ridiculous!

She had actually treated her pathetic little skill as something to boast about?

An overwhelming wave of shame and fear instantly crushed her reason!

"Being in the same class as me is such a hardship for you?"

Naruto sneered. Looking at Sakura's pale little face, the mockery in his eyes deepened.

He flicked his finger.

Whoosh—!

The azure chakra sphere became a streak of afterimage, tearing through the air with a sharp whistle as it flew past Sakura Haruno's ear!

Sakura could even feel the scorching heat as the gust of wind singed through her hair!

Then—

Boom—!!!

The blackboard at the back of the classroom exploded on impact!

A hole the size of a washbasin had been blasted through the hard blackboard, its edges charred black, while countless tiny cracks spread across the entire wall!

Rubble and dust rained down in a flurry.

The entire class recoiled in terror, and several timid girls screamed outright.

If that attack had struck a person... the consequences would have been unthinkable!

The classroom once more descended into deathly silence.

Naruto slowly lowered his finger and slipped it back into his pocket. His tone was calm, yet every word landed with force, like a king delivering judgment:

"Being in the same class as me is you punching above your weight."

"And I promise you, from today on, you won't need to keep watching some poker-faced guy's expression before you act."

Every word of that statement was like a heavy hammer smashing fiercely into everyone's hearts.

The first sentence had been directed at Sakura Haruno, brimming with unquestionable dominance.

The second had openly targeted Sasuke Uchiha, who had maintained his cool, aloof posture in the corner of the classroom from beginning to end!

This was a blatant provocation!

In front of everyone, Naruto was declaring that he would stomp Sasuke Uchiha beneath his feet!

"Ah..."

Sakura Haruno could no longer hold herself up. Her legs went limp, and she dropped onto the floor.

Dazed, she looked up at the blond boy standing on the desk, tall and straight, his face filled with wildness and unruliness.

Sunlight streamed through the window, outlining him in gold. That sharply defined face, those fathomless blue eyes...

At that moment, Naruto no longer seemed comical or laughable to her.

Instead, he inspired a primal trembling before absolute power—and... obsession!

An intensely powerful contrast surged through every limb and bone in her body like an electric current.

Her heartbeat began racing wildly out of control, and her cheeks abruptly flushed with a burning red glow.

[Ding! Detected intense emotional fluctuations in bond target "Sakura Haruno." Cracks have appeared in her emotional defenses!]

[Current favorability: 20 (shocked and shaken)!]

Hearing the system notification in his mind, Naruto's smile widened even further.

Good. The fish had started biting.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the classroom.

Sasuke Uchiha's eternally unchanged ice-cold expression finally cracked.

His face visibly shifted from white to green, then turned completely livid!

"Poker-faced guy"?!

That damned dead last actually dared to call him that in front of the entire class?!

Naruto's words and actions just now were like swinging a massive iron hammer and smashing the pedestal of coolness, genius, and popularity that Sasuke had painstakingly built over so many years into pieces!

He felt every gaze in the classroom shift from their former admiration and infatuation toward him into sympathy and mockery!

Utter humiliation!

This was humiliation ten thousand times worse than being defeated by someone!

Sasuke's hands beneath the desk suddenly clenched tight, his nails digging deep into his palms with a grinding creak.

A cold, savage killing intent could no longer be restrained as it burst from his pitch-black eyes!

He stared at Naruto Uzumaki as if he wanted to devour him alive!