Cat Person

"All right, that's enough!"

Seeing that Sasuke had been angered to tears, Iruka hurried forward. Sasuke had been completely crushed in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu alike. He no longer had the slightest hope of winning, and continuing would only mean further humiliation at Xiu's hands.

"Winner: Uchiha Shu. Now form the Seal of Reconciliation!"

At that, Uchiha Shu extended the index and middle fingers of his right hand toward Sasuke.

The Seal of Reconciliation was formed when two people hooked their index and middle fingers together, signifying that any conflict born during the fight ended there. It was a polite hand sign commonly used in sparring.

Sasuke wiped away his tears. Looking at Shu's outstretched hand, the anger in his heart refused to subside.

So, when Uchiha Shu held out his hand, Sasuke instinctively slapped at it.

But the moment his palm swung out, it unexpectedly hit nothing.

Uchiha Shu had withdrawn his hand first. Then his gesture changed, and he flipped Sasuke the middle finger!

"Bastard! You've been provoking me this whole time!"

Sasuke's face turned red again. Shouting, he lunged at Shu, only for Iruka to seize him by the collar.

"All right, stop it, Sasuke." Iruka's tone was helpless. "I saw it. You were the one who tried to hit his hand first, and you were the one who started this whole thing. As a man, you can't be this narrow-minded."

"Oh, Iruka-sensei, forget it, forget it."

Uchiha Shu pretended to tug at Iruka. "After all, his father is the clan head, and his brother is an ANBU member. If he can't accept losing, then he can't accept losing. I'm just an orphan. If I offend him, life will probably become even harder for me in the future. Better to let it go."

"Stop talking nonsense! I would never bully others with my status! Neither would my father! And my brother definitely wouldn't!" Sasuke shouted furiously while Iruka held him by the collar. "It's not that I can't accept losing! I just hate you, that's all!"

"Hm? Since you put it that way—" Uchiha Shu rubbed his fingers together. "Shouldn't it be time to fulfill our bet?"

"Just wait. I'm going home right now!" Sasuke broke free from Iruka's grip, wiped his tears away, and snorted coldly as he turned his head. "But let's be clear first. I really can't decide on those ninjutsu and forbidden techniques, but I'll definitely do my best to get them for you."

With that, he left without looking back. As though he had made some sort of decision, he vaulted over the wall and vanished after a few leaps.

"I mean... school isn't even over yet." Iruka's mouth twitched. He turned and gave Shu a forced smile. "You brats really don't take me, your teacher, seriously at all, do you?"

"Why would you say that, sensei?" Uchiha Shu looked utterly innocent. "I wasn't the one skipping class. Sasuke is only honoring the bet after losing. What does that have to do with me?"

"And you still have the nerve to say that? Look how badly you bullied Sasuke."

Iruka helplessly rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. This kid always had one argument after another, yet Iruka genuinely couldn't find anything wrong with them.

But perhaps his words gave certain people the wrong idea. They mistook them for a signal to join the fray, and so a brave warrior stepped forward.

"Exactly! No matter what, Xiu, you went too far just now. That was way too humiliating!" Sakura Haruno said unhappily.

The instant her words fell, Ino, who had been about to step forward, froze and stared at her good friend in shock.

Even several girls nearby who were also Sasuke fans were startled. They instinctively stepped back, leaving Sakura in front of them.

Honestly, after witnessing that nearly one-sided battle, even troublemakers like Naruto and Kiba Inuzuka were, at most, unconvinced in words while fully convinced in their hearts.

Not to mention that everyone had already experienced Uchiha Shu's sharp tongue. They couldn't beat him, couldn't out-argue him, and even Sasuke had been bullied into tears.

And Sakura Haruno? She went right at him!

"Iruka-sensei, bullying means inflicting physical or emotional harm on someone for no reason. From beginning to end, I was merely retaliating against Sasuke's meaningless provocation."

As he spoke, Uchiha Shu cast Sakura a casual glance, his tone indifferent. "On the other hand, Sakura Haruno, there's something I have to remind you of... The Uchiha Clan are all cat people. Nine out of ten of their summoned beasts are ninja cats."

Sakura felt uneasy under Uchiha Shu's cold gaze, but with Iruka present, she still gathered her courage and asked, "W-What's wrong with that?"

At her words, a dazzling light suddenly bloomed in Uchiha Shu's eyes, and a pleased curve tugged at his lips.

That expression seemed to say—I've been waiting for you to ask that.

He slowly raised his hand like an elegant conductor, lazily pointing his index finger at Sakura. "What I mean is—no matter how you follow Sasuke around like a dog, he still won't spare you a second glance."

The moment those words landed, Sakura's face went deathly pale, as though struck by lightning.

Iruka frowned, about to reprimand Uchiha Shu for humiliating a classmate, when two badly timed shouts interrupted him.

"Bastard! Don't you dare talk about Sakura like that!" Naruto and Kiba Inuzuka shouted at Uchiha Shu.

The two looked at each other, and Naruto flew into a rage. "Kiba, you idiot! How can Sakura be compared to a dog?" Kiba Inuzuka froze for a second, then burst into laughter. "Hahaha, yeah! How can Sakura be compared to a dog?"

"Ahhh! That's not what I meant, you bastard!" Naruto immediately lost his temper and grabbed Kiba by the collar, ready to start a free-for-all.

"Idiot! Let go! You're the one who doesn't know how to talk! Want to fight?"

Seeing Naruto provoke him, Kiba got angry too. The two immediately began wrestling, and the surrounding students started cheering at the sight of a spectacle.

"You two! Stop it!"

Iruka hurried forward and pulled them apart.

When he turned around, he saw Sakura crouching on the ground, covering her face as she sobbed. Beside her, Ino leaned over with her hands on her knees, quietly comforting her.

Meanwhile, the culprit behind it all had both hands in his pockets as he turned and disappeared around the corner of the school building's corridor.

By the end of the day, Iruka was exhausted in both body and mind.

He truly couldn't understand it. Two geniuses had appeared in his class, which should have been a good thing, so how had everything turned into such a mess?

What troubled him most was that Shu had caused trouble right in front of him, yet Iruka couldn't find the slightest reason to reprimand him.

Even Shu's humiliating remarks toward Sakura had been thrown back at him with the powerful justification of "retaliating against a bully who betrayed the Will of Fire and stirred up conflict."

What could he say?

If they kept arguing, the level of this conversation would probably rise even higher. He was just a lowly teacher; he couldn't bear such a heavy label.

Uchiha Shu had no idea what Iruka was thinking. He had been waiting for Sasuke.

But Sasuke never returned, even after school ended.

"That Sasuke... he isn't going to refuse to accept defeat, is he?" On the way home after school, Ino noticed Shu's distracted state and couldn't help muttering softly.

"With his personality, he won't." Uchiha Shu wasn't worried in the slightest.

On one hand, Sasuke's personality guaranteed it. On the other, what happened today would soon spread throughout Konoha. After all, Sasuke wasn't the only second-generation heir present at the time.

Given the Uchiha Clan's obsession with honor, even if Sasuke refused to acknowledge it, Fugaku would.

"Um... Xiu." Ino suddenly stopped walking. She looked timidly at him and lightly tugged at the corner of his clothes. "What you said today, about Sakura being a dog following Sasuke around..."

"Is there a problem?" Xiu tilted his head slightly, his eyes as dark and unfathomable as bottomless black holes.

"I'm not judging what you did. Sakura was the one who provoked you without knowing right from wrong." Ino clasped her hands behind her back and looked at Xiu nervously. "I just wanted to know what Xiu thinks of me..."

"After all, you follow me around every day too, don't you?"

Xiu raised an eyebrow. Ino became embarrassed, but still nodded.

"Have I ever ignored you or refused to speak to you?"

"No."

"Then... have you been as unable to distinguish right from wrong and as ill-mannered as Sakura?"

"Of course not!" Ino suddenly relaxed, though after thinking about it, she still decided to defend her good friend. "Sakura is just... immature. She's not actually a bad person."

"Whether she's bad or not has nothing to do with me. I have no reason to pay for her immaturity." Xiu didn't care in the slightest.

Ino knew Xiu's cold personality, so she decisively dropped the subject and changed the topic. "Then what are we to each other in Xiu's heart?"

"Friends, I guess." Xiu answered without hesitation. "Eh? Just friends?" Ino sounded disappointed, clearly dissatisfied with that answer.

"Yeah. That's the only option for now—unless you want me to end up in the Interrogation Department." Xiu pointed toward the street corner, where an older blond man with a ponytail was glaring at him frostily.

"Dad!" Ino skipped over to the man's side, then waved at Xiu. "See you tomorrow, Xiu!" "Mm. See you tomorrow."

Xiu nodded, ignoring the old blond's look at him as though he were another blond punk, then turned and headed toward the Uchiha Clan district.