"Since Sasuke said 'whatever,' that means it's fine!"
Kiba immediately turned to Naruto with a grin.
"In that case, I want to come along too and see how you teach that guy a lesson!"
Seeing how eager Kiba was to stir up trouble, Naruto deliberately put on a stern face and set a condition. "Anyone else can come, but you, Kiba... you'll have to let me pet Akamaru all morning."
As soon as Kiba heard the condition, he agreed without a second thought and carefully passed the still-dozing Akamaru from his arms to Naruto across the table, reaching past Hinata.
He knew Naruto all too well. Like him, Naruto simply loved dogs and wanted an excuse to hold and pet the adorable Akamaru.
Akamaru was still so small that even a child could easily scoop him up with both hands.
Small and fluffy, he curled up in the crook of Naruto's arm and continued sleeping, looking utterly adorable.
Kiba loved dogs himself. Rather than minding that his good friend liked Akamaru so much, he was delighted.
Shino, who had been quietly watching, pushed up his sunglasses and stated his position succinctly:
"I'm coming too."
Choji swallowed the chips in his mouth and joined in, his muffled voice full of support. "Since it's Naruto's match, Shikamaru and I will be there, of course."
Shikamaru remained sprawled lazily over the desk when his name came up. Without even lifting his head, he said in a seemingly serious tone, "Hey, Naruto, you'd better give it everything you've got. If you win, we'll treat you to Ichiraku Ramen."
He deliberately paused before adding at his own leisurely pace:
"But if you lose... you can look forward to cooking a whole tableful of dishes for us tonight!"
That last part was a lie, though.
Shikamaru thought to himself.
Even if you really lose, we'll probably still treat you to ramen.
If you win, it's a celebration. If you lose, it's consolation.
They were friends, after all.
Just then, Hinata worked up her courage and spoke softly. Though quiet, her voice reached Naruto clearly. "Naruto-kun... could I... could I bring Hanabi along to watch?"
Lately, she had clearly felt her father treating her much more gently, and she knew Naruto probably deserved much of the credit.
She also wanted to get a little closer to Naruto and find an opportunity to thank him.
Naruto smiled and readily agreed. "Of course."
However, that "Naruto-kun" and her request to bring her younger sister along drew subtle reactions from a few of the more observant people present.
Unlike the easygoing Kiba and Choji, whose attention was entirely on his chips, Shikamaru slowly sat up, turned halfway around, and exchanged a silent glance with Shino in the back row through his sunglasses.
Each saw a hint of curiosity in the other's eyes.
Naruto... kun?
Since when had Hinata and Naruto become so... close and... polite with each other?
Ino and Sakura, who had just returned to their seats and were listening closely, naturally caught the entire conversation too.
Sakura was mostly curious, but Ino's gaze instantly sharpened.
As she watched Hinata's faintly flushed cheeks and shy expression, a clear flicker of wariness crossed her eyes.
Hinata... was even bringing her younger sister?
Had the two sisters already become such good friends with Naruto in private?
When had that happened?
An indescribable sense of crisis quietly crept into Ino's heart.
At lunchtime, Sasuke went alone to the rooftop and found Naruto eating with Kiba and the others. He briefly told Naruto the exact location of their afternoon match, then turned away with his lunch box, his face expressionless, without another word.
At three in the afternoon, the moment the dismissal bell rang, Naruto and Sasuke rose from their seats in perfect sync, as though they had arranged it beforehand. They rushed out through the classroom's front and back doors, respectively, sprinting off in different directions and vanishing in an instant.
Watching the directions they had disappeared in, Shikamaru laced his fingers behind his head and let out a lazy yawn.
"All right, both fighters are gone. Let's stop dawdling and get moving. Go home and tell your families you won't be back for dinner so they don't worry."
On the eastern outskirts of Konoha stood a relatively secluded training ground that few people visited.
With his superior stamina and speed, Naruto arrived first. He took a moment to steady his breathing and surveyed his surroundings.
Before long, Sasuke appeared at the edge of the training ground. He was slightly out of breath, but his gaze remained sharp.
The moment Sasuke took his position on the field and their eyes met, they raised their right hands in unison and crisply formed the Seal of Confrontation, as though sharing the same thought, without wasting a single word!
The battle began the instant the seal was complete!
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Without hesitation, Sasuke's eyes turned scarlet, revealing his two-tomoe Sharingan. His hands formed hand seals at astonishing speed, his chest swelled, and he spat a massive, searing fireball forward. It hurtled toward Naruto with a roar.
At the same time, kunai in hand, he followed right behind the great fireball, shooting toward Naruto like an arrow from a bow, intending to use the flames as cover for a close-range surprise attack.
Naruto reacted swiftly, sidestepping just before the fireball reached him. The scorching blast brushed past the hem of his clothes.
Almost simultaneously, his right hand whipped a kunai from his tool pouch and raised it in a precise block. With a sharp clang, he firmly intercepted the kunai Sasuke Uchiha had thrust at him under cover of the fireball.
Their blades pressed against each other, and their gazes clashed.
Seeing the steadily rotating two-tomoe Sharingan in both of Sasuke's eyes, Naruto felt a little surprised.
When he had seen them during practical combat class a few days earlier, they had still been unstable, with one tomoe in one eye and two in the other. Now both eyes had evolved to a matching pair of tomoe.
He really was improving quickly...
But until the Sharingan evolved into the Mangekyo, its improvements were mostly in perception and genjutsu. The boost to raw strength was limited. The real transformation would come later.
Sasuke was pushing his Sharingan to its limits, locking onto every tiny movement Naruto made.
Thanks to his increased ocular power, he could indeed follow Naruto's attacks more clearly this time, and his body reacted a little faster than it had a few days earlier.
Yet when their kunai collided hard again and the force traveled through his weapon, Sasuke's arm still tingled and ached.
What incredible strength!
He had no idea that Naruto's physical strength had long since surpassed that of his peers.
Following Might Guy's punishing physical training regimen every day had laid a solid foundation.
At regular intervals, he also tempered his body with medicinal baths to clear his meridians, ease fatigue, and strengthen his constitution.
Especially after celebrating Third's birthday yesterday, he had felt that his body had adapted to its previous load. He had quietly added more weight to his wrists and ankles, constantly honing his physique.
Through this series of grueling training methods, Naruto had tempered his body to an extraordinary degree. His strength, endurance, and explosive power were far beyond those of an ordinary Ninja Academy student.