Hey! You can't stop...

"Mm...!"

"Mmph...!"

After a kiss that lasted more than ten seconds, the two separated and stuck their fingers down their throats, dry-heaving!

At the mountaintop.

Neji: "What the hell are those two idiots doing?"

Hinata: "Naruto-kun's... first kiss."

"Hehe." Yu, however, wore the doting grin of an auntie.

Neji: "Looks like we can't count on them to climb up themselves. Let's give them a hand. I'll find a rope."

"No need to go to all that trouble..."

Yu attached a few little balloons to the back of his waist, then leaped off the mountaintop!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

As he fell, the wind rushed into the balloons, inflating them and slowing his descent. Just before he landed, their buoyancy canceled out his gravitational acceleration, bringing him to a perfect stop. He picked up one kid in each hand!

The little balloons floated up, carrying them back to the mountaintop!

A world where only Newton got hurt had been achieved!

Neji: "That's my little brother for you..."

He thought, I'll try that next time too. What do you think, subconscious me?

Neji's "subconscious" replied, Try it and die!

The two boys involved in the "accident" down below still hadn't recovered. They crouched there in a daze.

Just then, Neji grabbed a blade of grass and crouched in front of Sasuke, imitating a reporter conducting an interview. "Sasuke, may I ask how you felt about kissing Naruto?"

Whoosh...

A gust of wind blew past.

Sasuke wondered, Is this really that Neji Hyuga? The guy I once considered a rival? Is he a closet idiot too?

He glanced at the grass in Neji's hand and said, "Hmph. If you were holding garlic right now, I'd eat it without a second thought!"

Neji asked curiously, "Oh? Why's that?"

Sasuke said, "Garlic kills germs. I care about oral hygiene!"

Neji: "Ohhh, I see!"

A dark shadow crossed Naruto's forehead. "Hey, you jerk! You picking a fight?!"

Sasuke: "Hmph. Got a problem with that?"

Neji, happy to stir the pot, asked, "Naruto, how did you feel?"

Naruto's eyes shifted as an idea struck him. "If there were a toilet in front of me, I'd stick my head into it without a second thought..."

Sasuke sneered. "Because you like eating crap, right?"

Naruto said, "I'd rather rinse my mouth with toilet water than leave this guy's spit in it..."

Crackle! After a brief silence, sparks flew between their locked gazes!

"You're just begging for a beating, you damn dead last!!!"

"Being handsome doesn't make you special! You're gonna get your ass kicked, believe it!!!"

Yu and Neji held Naruto and Sasuke back to keep them from brawling.

Hinata tried to make peace beside them. "Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, p-please don't fight..."

"Hmph...!" Both boys turned their little heads away at the same time.

Once that little incident was over.

The five little dumplings sat at the edge of the cliff.

With a bright moon and a sky full of stars overhead, they gazed down at the village's scattered lights in the night.

Naruto: "I've decided..."

Everyone: "???"

Naruto: "I'm gonna win everyone's recognition, become Hokage, and have my face carved into this mountain!"

Neji: "Didn't you decide that ages ago...?"

Hinata: "N-Naruto-kun, do your best! I believe you can do it!"

Yu thought, Naruto, your dream will come true. Once Itachi, the Fifth Hokage, retires with honor, it'll be your turn, Naruto...

Sasuke: "Hmph. Keep dreaming. You think becoming Hokage is that easy? Graduate from the Ninja Academy first, then talk about your Hokage dream..."

Neji glanced sideways at Sasuke. "Sasuke, seriously, do you have a dream?"

"A dream..." Sasuke lowered his eyes in thought, resting his chin on the backs of his hands. "If I had to say, yes. There's a ninja I dream of surpassing. He's so close to me, yet so incredibly far away. But I want to get closer to him and surpass him..."

Neji's eyes shifted. "Could it be that man standing on the utility pole, watching you from a distance during our shuriken contest? I remember he was your older brother. His name was Uchiha Itachi?"

Sasuke said solemnly, "What if I said yes...?"

Naruto scratched his head. "Uchi-peel-a-grapefruit? Is that guy really strong...?"

Sasuke: "Hmph. He's someone a person like you couldn't even imagine! Listen, I hate saying mushy stuff, but he's the ninja I respect and admire most!"

At that, Sasuke turned to Yu.

"Yū Hyuga, the talent you've shown is amazing. It even makes me feel inferior sometimes. But Itachi is much stronger than you..."

Yu smiled without a word.

Neji couldn't sit still any longer. "Hey, my little brother is only seven! How can you compare him to your older brother?!"

Sasuke looked away. "Yeah, I know. But Itachi had already graduated from the Ninja Academy when he was seven..."

Neji asked Yu, "Little brother, how about we graduate early too? I heard the village offers a few special places every year, but you have to compete for them."

Yu smiled. "Hehe, I'll pass. But if you want to, Neji, you can give it a try..."

Neji grew unusually serious. "Yeah, I really do want to try. Honestly, our Hyuga Clan is famous, but we've never produced a ninja who could stand shoulder to shoulder with a Hokage. I want to break that curse and do our Hyuga Clan proud!"

"The clan, huh..."

Sasuke fell silent. He hadn't come along tonight just to visit Naruto and play.

It was also because the atmosphere in the Uchiha Clan had recently become so oppressive that he could barely breathe.

His young heart couldn't quite bear that pressure, and he instinctively sought an escape.

But Neji's words had dragged him back to reality.

Sasuke stood up. "Sorry, I might have to head back..."

Neji: "Huh? Don't spoil the fun. We haven't even started playing yet."

Naruto: "Yeah, yeah..."

Sasuke: "Fine, then. What are we playing?"

He thought, I'll just play along for a bit.

They all looked at Yu.

The night was cool, yet warm.

Yu couldn't help recalling a famous quote from a late, great basketball player.

-"Have you ever seen Konoha at four in the morning?"

He made up his mind. "Let's play ball..."

"Ball?"

Yu stood up and pinched a little lump off his cheek!

Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata: "???"

Neji: "Don't be surprised. This is my little brother's face-saving technique. He keeps a layer of dough wrapped around his face all year round, so he won't get disfigured if someone hits him..."

Naruto: "You can do that?!"

Sasuke: "How many beatings did it take to learn that lesson?!"

The whole dough-on-his-face thing was a lie, of course...

Yu had simply smeared dough on his face in front of Neji once, then gone off to wash it clean.

After all, some techniques in the Book of the Gods were so bizarre that they needed a plausible explanation!

Honestly, it had been so long that Yu no longer remembered what had triggered the recommendation of this technique!

But this technique was incredibly obscure... even Yu's biological Ōtsutsuki father had only used it once after creating it!

Because it was a technique those lofty Ōtsutsuki would only have cause to use when granting salvation to all living beings!

Unlike the twisted humor behind Ogetsuhime's candy.

This technique, called "Miketsu Ōkami," was much more respectable!

Flesh was flesh while it remained on the body, but became dough when pinched off! Blood was blood while flowing inside the body, but became delicious sauce once it flowed outside!

But what did that have to do with a ball?

Just watch...

Gurgle, gurgle!

Yu infused chakra into the little lump of dough he had pinched off his face!

The dough immediately began to rise, growing longer and wider!

Sasuke: "Why can that dough grow longer and multiply?"

Neji: "Because it's been around for ages, so it's old dough. Old dough... see? Isn't that what you use to make dough rise?"

Slap, slap, slap...!

Yu gripped both ends of the dough and slapped it against the ground. After curling it up, he divided it into several small pieces. He pinched two portions into lids, then stretched the others out and joined their ends into dough rings!

Stacking the rings of different diameters together formed a hollow ball with an opening at the top!

Everyone: "That's the ball? It's hollow. How do we play with it?"

Yu: "Someone has to get inside, of course..."

Everyone: "How?"

Yu: "I'll demonstrate first..."

Yu crouched, curled himself into a little ball, and rolled through the dough ball's opening.

Hum... then the dough lid closed, and the joins between each layer sealed tight!

It really had become a ball...

Bounce! Bounce!

Neji picked up the "Yu-Yu ball" with Yu inside and bounced it on the ground a few times!

They really could play with it...!

Pop... the lid opened, and Yu rolled out and stood up.

He touched his horns and said, "That's how it works. But my horns... no, my bumps are a little pointy. They could easily puncture the dough, so I'm not really suited to being the ball. You guys decide with rock-paper-scissors..."

Sasuke: "So... what are the rules?"

Neji: "Whatever the rules are, someone has to be the ball first. But let's leave the young lady out of it!"

Naruto: "C-Come on, then... rock, paper, scissors!"

Don't let me be the ball, don't let me be the ball...

Clang! Naruto... lost!

"Aaaaargh! How did this happen, believe it?!" Naruto clutched his head and let out a wail that only added to the fun.

"Hmph..." The corners of Sasuke's mouth lifted as he cracked his knuckles. "Hurry up and tell us the rules. I can't wait..."

Just then, Hinata volunteered. "U-Um, N-Naruto-kun, i-if you don't mind, l-let me take your place and be the ball..."