Who Are You?

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"Sasuke Uchiha."

On the Ninja Academy's training grounds, the crowd erupted as Iruka called their names. Naruto grinned at Sasuke, who stepped out of the line brimming with confidence.

"So, how do you want to fight today? Want me to give you a one-handed handicap?" Naruto opened with trash talk.

"Hmph, I'm not a weakling like Neji. Give it everything you've got, or you're definitely losing this time!" Sasuke, who refused to be outdone in anything, naturally fired back. He gave Naruto a thumbs-down, drawing shrieks from the girls nearby—and an unmistakably hostile glare from a pair of Byakugan eyes at the front of the boys' line.

Hinata, standing among the girls, timidly looked at Sasuke and silently prayed that Naruto wouldn't beat him so badly he couldn't get out of bed for a week, as he had done to Neji.

After her prayer, she turned toward Naruto. Her face flushed as she mustered her courage, but her cheers still came out barely above a whisper.

In a classroom one grade below theirs, several girls were leaning against the windows to watch Sasuke and Naruto on the training grounds. One of them had pink hair.

"Both of you, get ready." Iruka, long accustomed to this scene, sighed inwardly and swung his hand down. "Begin!"

The two moved almost simultaneously and collided. Then they traded blows in a fierce, evenly matched exchange, countering each move as it came.

On the roof of a tall building near the school, Uchiha Itachi leaned against a wall in casual clothes, watching his younger brother fight Naruto below.

Honestly, the first time he had watched this, he had assumed Sasuke and Naruto were genuinely evenly matched—just two children who were exceptionally talented for their age.

And Sasuke's insistence on pestering him for special training every evening had seemed to be nothing more than frustration at being slightly weaker than his opponent.

But after observing them several more times, he realized that although Sasuke had improved considerably, he still hadn't landed a single clean, effective hit on Naruto.

It wasn't just Sasuke. The Hyuga Clan boy who flew into a rage every time he faced Naruto, and everyone else, were the same. They appeared to be barely holding their own, but in reality, Naruto hadn't taken even one direct hit.

Could he... be using a Shadow Clone at school too? As the one who had pioneered attending school with a Shadow Clone, Uchiha Itachi truly found this seven-year-old child hard to read.

But that wasn't what concerned him. Leaning against the wall, he looked up at the sky.

He was keeping track of the time.

On the training grounds, Sasuke made one careless move. Naruto seized the opening with a beautifully executed but underhanded surprise kick, slamming his foot into Sasuke's thigh and instantly knocking him off balance and onto the ground.

"That's enough. Naruto wins!"

Iruka stopped the match in time, and their classmates let out a collective groan. It seemed no one could beat Naruto Uzumaki after all.

"Damn it, I should've dodged that! But unlike last time, I saw through all your feints today. Next time, I'll definitely..."

Still lying on the ground, Sasuke wasn't particularly upset. Instead, he reflected on his mistakes. He couldn't help it—he was used to losing.

"Get up." Naruto rubbed his nose and chuckled. "Told you that you couldn't beat me."

"Then fight me again if you've got the guts!"

"Both of you, make the Seal of Reconciliation," Iruka hastily called when he saw them starting to argue again.

Back in line, Sasuke was still muttering to himself, clearly unconvinced. But then, as though he had noticed something, he turned to look at the roof of the tall building nearby.

There was nothing there.

Neji Hyuga, standing beside him, spoke up.

"What are you looking at?"

"Nothing."

"Oh. Anyway, you were too slow starting those last few moves. Looks like you'll need a different approach."

"Yeah, I'll have to think of something else. We can't let that guy keep gloating." Sasuke picked up the conversation without thinking, then objected, "Those moves you mentioned are impossible to pull off against him."

At least when it came to beating Naruto, those two had plenty of common ground.

"Next pair..."

As the sun slowly sank, moonlight gradually settled over the village.

"Let's call it a day!" Naruto, who had been hanging upside down from a tree, suddenly leaped down and called to Sasuke, who was still Training.

Of the trio who regularly trained together after school, Hinata always left first because of the Hyuga Clan's strict curfew. Although Naruto had told her not to worry about it, she kept apologizing so much that neither he nor Sasuke knew how to handle it.

Ever since Sasuke had learned that Naruto had no home to return to, he had never been the one to suggest ending training and going home.

He only stopped and went home when Naruto called it a day. That was also why Sasuke sometimes trained until he was nearly collapsing from exhaustion, leaving Naruto to take him home. After all, when "inspiration struck," Naruto really couldn't stop.

"This early?" Sasuke clearly hadn't had enough today. He stopped, breathing a little heavily, and gave Naruto a dissatisfied look. "Hey, don't tell me you're deliberately quitting early because you felt me catching up to you today?"

"Of course not. I'm meeting someone today, and I'm absolutely starving." Naruto draped an arm over Sasuke's shoulder and grinned at him. "Besides, we're heading the same way."

"The same way?"

Sasuke looked at him in confusion. The Uchiha Clan lived in a far corner at the very edge of the village. Who was Naruto meeting there?

"Reporting an unexpected development. The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Naruto Uzumaki, has returned with target number One."

"Hm? The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki?"

At the report, Danzo frowned in his hiding place, then issued an order.

"Lure him away."

"Well, if it isn't Naruto!"

A ninja wearing a Chunin vest suddenly appeared in front of Naruto and Sasuke. Before either of them could react, he had already walked up to Naruto with an enthusiastic laugh.

"Who are you?"

Naruto was rather bewildered by this turn of events.

"I'm a friend of Iruka's. He talks about you all the time. Come on, let's get some ramen. My treat." The overly familiar Chunin grabbed Naruto without waiting for an answer.

Is this the person he was meeting? Sasuke watched them in confusion, but didn't give it any more thought. Since Naruto was going out for ramen with a friend, he naturally quickened his own pace to get home for dinner.

"Wait, mister, who exactly are you?" Hearing Iruka's name kept Naruto from resisting, but he still hurriedly asked, "Besides, I'm meeting someone today..."

"Now, now, don't be so impatient. I'm..."

Seeing that Naruto seemed suspicious, the ninja tasked with luring him away had a flash of inspiration and blurted out, "I'm your uncle—your dad's younger brother!"

"Huh?"

Inside Naruto, the Nine-Tails had almost exactly the same reaction. Then he turned to Minato Namikaze with a puzzled look. "How come I never knew you had a younger brother?"

"What younger brother?" Minato was equally baffled, but the Nine-Tails quickly shared his senses with him. When Minato Namikaze, the former Fourth Hokage, saw the man's face, his expression changed—

"A member of Root!"