Ino-Shika-Cho Trio

"Honestly, Kakashi-sensei suddenly said he had something urgent to deal with and vanished. He clearly promised to treat us to dinner after today's mission!"

On the streets of Konoha, Sakura complained about Kakashi breaking his promise.

"Maybe Kakashi-sensei was worried we'd see his face under that mask."

Naruto looked up at the sky and answered Sakura in an unusually calm tone.

"Why? Judging by the part of his face he shows, he should be handsome."

"Anyone looks decent with a mask on. Maybe Kakashi-sensei has buck teeth or huge lips."

Naruto lowered his gaze from the sky, turned toward Sakura with a faint smile, and shared his opinion.

Naruto had been looking at the sky because he was searching for the Ninja Hawk responsible for delivering intelligence.

For a Ninja Hawk to circle at such a low altitude meant it was carrying important information.

Kakashi's sudden departure had probably been because he had been summoned by a Ninja Hawk sent by the Third.

Sure enough, the Chunin Ninja Exams were about to begin.

Anyone observant could have noticed the unusual flow of people in Konoha over the past two days. There were suddenly far more unfamiliar faces, and the village's ninja had become much easier to spot on the streets as well.

Those were only the ninja guarding the village openly. There were undoubtedly even more hidden in the shadows.

He wondered whether Karin had already arrived in Konoha to participate in these Chunin Ninja Exams.

Identifying Karin would be easy enough. The Uzumaki Clan possessed greater chakra reserves than ordinary ninja. If he used the Wind Caress Dawn Technique, he would be able to sense Karin and the Kusagakure ninja if they had entered Konoha.

However, Naruto restrained the urge to use his sensory ability.

These Chunin Ninja Exams were not merely Konoha's internal assessment. They were a joint examination involving the ninja villages of the two great nations, the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind, as well as ninja villages from surrounding smaller countries.

There were too many people and too many watchful eyes during this period. Forces from every side had flooded into Konoha, and the village had raised its security to the highest level.

Naruto had no intention of casually using sensory ninjutsu and drawing the attention of Konoha ninja who were equally skilled in sensory techniques.

Other than the day after he returned to the village, when Kakashi submitted the Land of Waves mission report and Naruto had briefly used the Wind Caress Dawn Technique over a small area to observe Root's members and confirm Danzo's attitude—

Naruto had not used that technique again during this time.

Every possible accident had to be eliminated before the Chunin Ninja Exams officially began.

"Since Kakashi-sensei doesn't want to treat us, how about I treat you two to a meal?"

Naruto still acted the same way he always did around Team 7.

"I'll pass. Today's mission is over, and I'm planning to train next."

Sasuke rejected Naruto's offer. Without waiting for Naruto to try and persuade him, he directly used the Body Flicker Technique and left.

Since returning from the Land of Waves, Sasuke had been obsessed with training, practicing ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu across the board.

Whenever Kakashi dismissed Team 7 after the day's mission, Sasuke would leave immediately and hide somewhere to train alone.

Perhaps at the Uchiha Compound. Although the Uchiha Clan had been exterminated, the Third had still preserved their compound.

The Uchiha Compound had originally been located on the edge of the village, near Konoha Prison. Its location was poor, and putting the land to use again would be troublesome.

Back when the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, established the Konoha Military Police Force, the Uchiha Clan had taken root there.

After the Nine-Tails' Rampage twelve years ago, Konoha's upper ranks had further restricted their range of activity.

Over time, that land had become a symbol of the Uchiha Clan.

So the Third had simply done Sasuke... and probably Itachi Uchiha, who had defected, a favor as well, preserving the Uchiha "home" in Konoha.

That was indeed the sort of thing the indecisive Third would do. The older he got, the more childish his political methods became.

The Third no longer possessed the forceful political skill he had shown when he took command in a crisis after the Second Hokage's death and led Konoha from decline to prosperity.

It was as if, as long as his conscience was clear, the world would remain peaceful as always.

"What about you, Sakura? Are you going to train too?"

Naruto did not care about Sasuke leaving. He looked at Sakura and asked about her plans.

"Me? I don't really have anything to do... but..."

Sakura glanced at Naruto, apparently hesitating over something.

"If it's inconvenient for you too, then we can talk about it next time."

"No! That's not what I'm hesitating about!" Sakura hurriedly explained Naruto's misunderstanding of her attitude. "I mean, Naruto!"

Sakura suddenly straightened up and called Naruto's name loudly.

Her inexplicably serious demeanor left Naruto somewhat at a loss.

Then Naruto heard Sakura say, "I hope you can help me train from now on!"

Sakura looked at Naruto with hopeful eyes, waiting for his answer.

But Naruto merely stared at her without speaking for a long time.

"I... I know I'm a ninja without any special qualities or strengths... Back in the Land of Waves, you and Sasuke were both so strong, but I couldn't be of any help at all... so..."

Sakura seriously reflected on herself. In the original story, although Sakura's ninjutsu had already fallen behind Naruto and Sasuke's at this point, she could still take pride in her Ninja Academy grades.

But now, even her one outstanding strength, theoretical knowledge, was not much better than Naruto's.

The originally gloomy Naruto of this world had not been an idiot either. Though his grades at the academy had not been exceptional, they had been respectable enough.

And after transmigrating here, Naruto had not imitated the original Naruto by becoming a fool who only knew how to pull pranks.

Given how gloomy the original Naruto in this world had been, if Naruto had suddenly started pulling pranks like the original version after transmigrating, forget Danzo—even the Third would have thought Naruto's scheming ran unfathomably deep.

So Naruto had merely disguised his predecessor's hostile attitude toward the village as extreme friendliness.

Even that had taken him several months after first transmigrating. From hostility, indifference, confusion, understanding, and acceptance—gradually cycling through every mindset and emotion—he had finally made himself appear "reasonably" friendly in the eyes of others.

After that, he loudly promoted through his words and actions that he "wanted to become Hokage," showing that he had turned over a new leaf and would only become a harmlessly good person to the village in the future.

Naruto looked at Sakura. He actually wanted to reject her request.

Because it was simply too troublesome.

But he also knew that refusing would be "unreasonable."

"No problem. We're teammates from the same class. Next time, let's invite Sasuke too!"

Naruto smiled and agreed to Sakura's request.

He would agree verbally for now. Later, he could just halfheartedly deal with the training until it was time to defect.

"So, what should we eat next?"

After agreeing to Sakura's request, Naruto immediately redirected the topic with a question.

Come to think of it, he had been in this world for more than two years and had never eaten Ichiraku Ramen.

He would eat Ichiraku Ramen.

Naruto made the decision at once. He was not on a date with Sakura, so there was no need to care what she wanted to eat.

His earlier question had merely been a way to change the subject, so Sakura would not start discussing training details before they had even eaten.

Let's go eat Ichiraku Ramen.

Naruto had not yet managed to say the words.

A female voice, one that both Naruto and Sakura knew all too well, drifted over.

"Isn't this Sakura? What's wrong? You're clearly in the same class as Sasuke, but you still can't win his love. You really have no charm at all."

A girl with a light blonde ponytail and bangs on the right side of her face that reached her collarbone approached them.

Two boys, one thin and one fat, were walking beside her.

All three were people Naruto and Sakura knew.

They had been classmates at the Ninja Academy and were also Genin from the same graduating class.

The girl was Ino Yamanaka, Sakura's romantic rival for Sasuke's affection.

The thin boy was Shikamaru Nara, who had approached Naruto of his own initiative at the Ninja Academy's graduation briefing.

The fat boy was Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru's close friend.

The three of them were currently Genin of Team 10, led by Asuma Sarutobi.

"Ino..."

Sakura had not expected Team 10 to appear. Faced with Ino's usual mockery, she somehow could not summon the interest to retort.

In the past, she would already have flown into a rage and started fighting with Ino over Sasuke.

Ino had not expected Sakura to react like this either. By the standards of her earlier ridicule, Sakura's response should have counted as a verbal victory for Ino.

Yet Ino was not as excited as she had imagined she would be.

She stared intently at Sakura for a while before finally shifting her gaze toward Naruto... Her expression was strange.

Noticing Ino's strange look, Shikamaru immediately sensed trouble.

"Hey, Ino!"

He hurriedly spoke up to warn her, but it was already too late.

"What? Don't tell me Naruto has already won you over? Your taste is just as bad as your charm!"

Ino sneered recklessly. "Naruto, did you threaten Sakura? A gloomy guy like you must feel dark, twisted inferiority toward excellent Sasuke just because you're in the same ninja class as him, so you threatened Sakura into becoming your girlfriend, right!"

"Ino, don't spout nonsense!"

Sakura spoke up, intending to stop Ino's slander.

Naruto raised a hand to stop Sakura.

This was why immature little girls were always so annoying.

"Ino, think through the slander you just threw at me. Does the logic even hold up? If I feel dark, twisted inferiority toward Sasuke, why would I threaten Sakura into being my girlfriend? What strong connection is there between those two things?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Ino, his face devoid of any expression.

Naruto's expression made Sakura instinctively shrink her neck.

"This is bad..."

Shikamaru, who was best at reading people's expressions, also looked as though things had taken a turn for the worse.

Ino's expression was not much better as she faced Naruto's look.

No one present had seen Naruto make that expression in two years...

Two years was enough for them to forget many things, but once those forgotten memories suddenly resurfaced, they became deeply etched in the mind again.

They had once more remembered that Naruto was not someone easy to talk to.

Rejected by others since childhood and without parents, the Naruto of the past had chosen to treat everyone in the village with a gloomy, hostile personality in order to conceal his weakness and protect his solitude.

Back at the Ninja Academy, Sasuke Uchiha's loneliness had meant rejecting all goodwill.

Naruto's loneliness, on the other hand, meant repaying every hostility that bared its fangs at him with violence.

However, Naruto rarely displayed that violence, because even during his darkest period, he had never taken the initiative to approach anyone.

Ino Yamanaka was the only exception.