You really are unbeatable!

Before he even reached the training ground, the students' noisy voices reached his ears.

Uzumaki Hayashi made his way down the stairs. From far away, he could already hear the uproar on the field, cheers, applause, and jeers all bubbling together like a pot boiling over.

And every last one of them was cheering for the same person.

"Sikong! Nice one!"

"Go, Sikong! Beat him up!"

"Show that demon fox what our Sikong can do!"

Uzumaki Hayashi slowed his steps and listened as he walked. Between the scattered remarks, he pieced together most of what had happened.

Sikong was the boy who had shouted "Tomato Monster" at the window. He came from an ordinary civilian family in Konoha, but his father was a Chunin who had personally taught him the Body Flicker Technique. His execution was shaky, but among these Ninja Academy children, it was enough to let him throw his weight around.

He had been bullying Naruto Uzumaki and the others at school for quite some time.

Oh, Uzumaki Hayashi thought. No wonder he's so cocky. He's got a secret family technique up his sleeve.

-Though that secret family technique amounted to precious little.

By the time he slowly wandered to the edge of the field, the crowd stood several rows deep, surrounding the entire patch of grass.

Sasuke Uchiha stood right at the front with his arms crossed, his expression so cold it looked as though you could scrape frost off it.

He had promised to stand up for Naruto, but unfortunately, Naruto Uzumaki had challenged Sikong to this duel himself. Interfering now would mean humiliating Naruto in front of everyone.

So Uchiha Sasuke of the Uchiha Clan could only stand there, watching the fight coldly.

Out on the field, the fight was already halfway through.

Calling it a fight was generous. It was more like a one-sided spectacle of making a fool out of someone.

Naruto Uzumaki charged forward with wide eyes, swinging both arms wildly. His punches whipped through the air, but not one came anywhere near Sikong.

After watching through a gap in the crowd for a while, Uzumaki Hayashi understood the situation.

Naruto Uzumaki, the class dead last, could barely perform even the basic Three Body Technique. He had no Taijutsu skills whatsoever and charged forward on brute force alone.

Sikong dodged aside, letting him pass, and casually stuck out a foot to trip him.

Naruto Uzumaki landed face-first in the dirt with a heavy thud.

Laughter erupted all around.

"Hahaha! Demon fox, is that all you've got?"

Sikong dusted off his hands and strolled around, his face full of smug satisfaction.

"You think you're good enough to fight me one-on-one? Take some advice, demon fox. Get out of Konoha!"

Naruto Uzumaki lay on the ground, panting twice before pushing himself up from the grass. He wiped the dirt off his face, planted his feet, and lunged again.

His opponent sidestepped once more. Naruto missed and slid half a meter across the grass.

Before the pain could even hit, he scrambled up on his hands and feet. He charged again before he had fully straightened.

Once, twice... Eventually, nobody could keep track of how many times he had fallen. His clothes were covered in grass clippings and mud, and his face was bruised all over. Yet the anger in his eyes did not fade. It only burned hotter.

Sikong's temper flared along with it.

At first, he had enjoyed toying with Naruto. But no matter how hard he hit him, the boy refused to stay down, clinging like something sticky he could not shake off. Gradually, his smug delight soured.

"Will you quit it already?!"

Sikong kicked Naruto away as he lunged again and shouted abuse at him:

"A demon fox really is a demon fox! Thick skin, tough hide, and good at taking a beating!"

He pointed toward the crowd and raised his voice even higher:

"And that Tomato Monster! She only arrived in Konoha today. What makes her one of us? Tell her to get out with you!"

Those words set Naruto Uzumaki off like a lit firecracker.

"I dare you to say that again!"

He roared and lunged once more, his eyes bloodshot.

Unfortunately, anger could not feed him or replenish his strength.

Naruto Uzumaki had charged countless times since the fight began, and his strength had long since run dry. This attempt was much slower than the others. His arms felt too heavy to lift, his legs shook, and his breathing sounded like broken bellows.

This was exactly what Sikong had been waiting for.

He formed a clumsy hand seal in front of his chest and stamped his foot-

Body Flicker Technique.

His figure blurred, stumbling slightly as he vanished from his spot.

Naruto Uzumaki lunged into empty air. Before he could figure out where Sikong had gone, a vicious laugh sounded behind him.

"Right here."

At some point, Sikong had appeared behind him. He swung his leg in a wide arc, driving a roundhouse kick hard into Naruto Uzumaki's back.

Naruto Uzumaki went flying, slammed onto the grass, and rolled over and over until he reached the edge of the field, stopping right at Uzumaki Hayashi's feet.

For an instant, everything went quiet. Then laughter, cheers, and applause erupted all at once.

"Yeah! Sikong's amazing!"

"Demon fox, get out!"

"Get out of Konoha! Get out of Konoha!"

No one knew who started it, but the children picked up the rhythm, chanting in perfect unison.

Naruto Uzumaki lay on the grass, his fingers digging into the soil. He tried to push himself up, but his arms gave out, and he collapsed again.

Blood surged into his head. Humiliation and anger churned together, burning until his vision darkened and only one thought remained:

Get up. Keep fighting! I can't let them treat him like this!

Just then-

[Ding-]

[Mission: Rescue Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha from prolonged bullying and soothe their hearts.]

[Rescue target Naruto Uzumaki is undergoing severe bullying and is about to lose emotional control. Host, soothe his heart immediately, or the mission will fail.]

Uzumaki Hayashi: "..."

When Sikong was pointing fingers and hurling insults, you played dead.

When Naruto took the first hit, you were still playing dead.

Now that they've finished beating him, you pop up? And you threaten me with "the mission will fail"?

He finally understood. This lousy system was just as skilled at picking its moment as it was at playing dead.

Unfortunately, complaints aside, he really could not keep watching this time.

If the mission failed, his B-rank ninjutsu would definitely go down with it.

Uzumaki Hayashi looked down at Naruto by his feet, sighed, and stepped onto the field.

The crowd's eyes swung toward him, and their shouts gradually died down.

The Redhead transfer student walked over to Naruto Uzumaki, crouched, and reached out to help him sit up on the grass.

Then he lowered his head and opened the Ninja Tool Pouch at his waist.

Besides the few brand-new Kunai, a neatly folded, clean handkerchief had been tucked into a corner of the Ninja Tool Pouch. There was no need to guess. Chunin Tanabe or Chunin Iwai had probably slipped it in there for him.

He pulled out the handkerchief, shook it open, and began wiping Naruto Uzumaki's face.

"Don't move."

Naruto Uzumaki stiffened. He instinctively tried to pull away, but those two words held him firmly in place.

The handkerchief was soft, and the touch was gentle. Little by little, it wiped away the grass clippings and mud on his face, then the blood from the split corner of his mouth.

Naruto Uzumaki froze.

The handkerchief was so close that a fresh, clean scent of soap pod drifted into his nose.

At some point, the rush of blood buzzing in his head quietly subsided.

The anger burning painfully in his chest eased as well.

He stole a glance upward.

Linshi crouched in front of him, lashes lowered, carefully wiping his face, stroke after stroke.

Linshi himself had just been insulted so badly that he had buried his face on his desk and quietly cried. Yet here he was now, crouching down to wipe Naruto's face.

Naruto Uzumaki suddenly felt a sting in his nose.

At the edge of the crowd, Sasuke Uchiha had taken half a step forward at some point, his arms dropping to his sides.

When he saw Uzumaki Hayashi move first, he paused and withdrew that half step. He crossed his arms again, but his eyes never left the two people on the field.

After wiping Naruto's face clean, Uzumaki Hayashi folded the dirty handkerchief, tucked it back into the Ninja Tool Pouch, and stood.

The system remained silent in his head. There was no second [Ding-].

He began to understand.

Simply calming Naruto down was not enough. The mission called for rescuing those two from "prolonged bullying." As long as the bullying remained, this was not over.

Put plainly, he also had to deal with the person responsible.

Uzumaki Hayashi turned to look at Sikong.

Sikong was watching him with his arms crossed, too. His lips curled, and he was just about to speak.

Unfortunately, Uzumaki Hayashi did not give him the chance.

"You've gone too far. You shouldn't be called Sikong anymore. I think you're practically Sifeng."