However, after looking around, everyone realized that Naruto had yet to arrive in the classroom.
"Hmph, you don't suppose he's too scared to show up, do you?"
"I'd say that's exactly it. He definitely didn't dare come."
Right at that moment, a chubby little boy with a gloomy expression walked into the classroom. Hearing a bunch of his bros looking around for Naruto with unfriendly expressions, he immediately shouted, "Naruto is setting up a stall to play shogi on his way to the classroom. I think this guy has gone crazy."
Having just suffered a setback at Naruto's hands, the chubby little boy threw in some extra spin to smear Naruto's name.
He claimed that Naruto simply looked down on his competitors in the class, and so on.
Hearing this, Sasuke also raised his head to look at the impassioned chubby little boy.
If it were the past, she might have believed Naruto could be that arrogant, but after getting a basic understanding of him, she knew this guy was just trying to blacken Naruto's name.
"What? He actually dares to set up a stall and play shogi in public, and it's a paid shogi match?"
Ino was just fretting over finding an opportunity. Hearing this, she immediately clenched her fingers and stood up, saying, "In front of Shikamaru, he actually dares to say that under shogi matches, all of us are trash?"
"That's right! Not to mention that Shikamaru is the best shogi player in the class, even if I'm not good at it, I can totally crush Naruto!" Sakura also stood up angrily at this point.
"Shikamaru, I'll pay, you represent our class and fiercely teach Naruto a lesson?" Ino took over a dozen hundred-tael banknotes straight out of her pants pocket and slapped them onto the table.
At this moment, all eyes in the classroom fell on the drowsy Shikamaru.
Because his mom and dad had been in a cold war for the past two days, Shikamaru had already played shogi with his dad for three half-nights in a row.
Hearing Ino's words, he rolled his eyes with a displeased look. "What a pain, not interested. Go find someone else."
"Shikamaru, you're brushing me off again?" Ino was beyond furious, but she was long used to Shikamaru acting like this and there was nothing she could do.
"Hmph, with our shogi skills, we can totally crush Naruto ourselves."
Indeed, prestigious clans in Konoha like the Yamanaka clan, the Nara clan, the Inuzuka clan, and the Hyuga clan all developed the morals, intellect, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor skills of their younger generation simultaneously. Almost all of them knew a bit of shogi, though Shikamaru was still universally acknowledged as the strongest.
Immediately, a temporary punitive force spearheaded by Ino and Sakura, with seven or eight other boys participating, swaggered out of the classroom.
Watching everyone rush out of the classroom, Sasuke frowned. "Naruto, what kind of scene are you trying to make? Since when did you know how to play shogi?"
Originally, she wanted to tag along to watch the fun, but on second thought, she had kept suffering setbacks at Naruto's hands these past two days, so it was about time she let Naruto experience that exact feeling.
Most of the boys in the classroom had left. The ones remaining were a few girls like Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino, and a few among the boys such as Hinata and others.
The group swaggered away for about five minutes, yet still no one returned.
This couldn't help but arouse the curiosity of Kiba Inuzuka, Shino, and the other girls who hadn't cared about the matter originally.
Logically speaking, with Ino and the others making a move together, Naruto should have suffered an instant defeat, being slaughtered and left without a single armor intact.
How come not a single classmate had returned after five minutes?
"Hinata, why don't you take a look at what's actually happening outside?" Kiba Inuzuka smiled and said, "This is a normal scouting effort, definitely not snooping on a classmate's secrets."
Kiba Inuzuka also nodded in agreement. "That's right, scouting for intelligence is the Byakugan's advantage. This can count as practice too."
Hearing this, Hinata was also worried about Naruto's safety, but since he had already made up his mind yesterday, he was extremely hesitant at the moment.
"What a pain... Hinata, could you just help take a look at what's going on?"
At this point, even Shikamaru, who had been wandering outside his own body, spoke up.
Now all the girls present agreed, leaving only Sasuke out.
Although Sasuke acted indifferent, she was actually extremely curious as to why Naruto was doing this.
"Hmph, I want to know too, which of them is better."
It was rare for the girls to reach a consensus, so Hinata nodded. "Alright, let's just treat this as a training session."
"Byakugan!"
Hinata let out a low cry as the blood vessels around his eye sockets bulged. Within his pupil-less Byakugan, a sharp white pupil suddenly appeared, giving the illusion of seeing right through one's heart.
Soon, the gaze of the Byakugan pierced through the walls and fell upon the group not far outside the classroom.
When he saw Naruto dropping his pieces with excitement, slaughtering on all sides while the group of boys led by Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno all wore troubled expressions, he was also startled.
"Hinata, tell us what you saw."
"Did Naruto get crushed miserably?"
Only Shikamaru and Sasuke in the classroom looked at Hinata without saying anything.
Hinata retracted his gaze and briefly organized his words. "Big Brother Naruto's stall has a large amount of silver taels and banknotes. Judging from the momentum and expressions of both sides... it seems the ones who suffered a complete defeat are Senior Ino and the others."
Although Hinata was also a boy, he gave the girls in the classroom a very good impression, so everyone believed his words.
However, as soon as Hinata said this, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino, Shikamaru, Sasuke, and the other girls were all startled.
"How is this possible? Although Ino isn't good at shogi, she's at least a beginner, right?" Shikamaru muttered in slight shock.
"Hmph."
Sasuke also felt a mild sense of astonishment. She hadn't expected Naruto's development to be so all-rounded; compared to him, her shogi wasn't even at the beginner level.
Meanwhile, at the site of the shogi battle.
[Ding, received 600 Shock Points from the girls in the class!]
At this moment, the corners of Naruto's mouth were overflowing with the smile of a victor as one of his chess pieces dropped with a snap.
Striking straight at the heart of the enemy, he once again achieved a complete victory over Ino and the others.
Looking at the shogi game they had already lost, Ino's face was as dark as the bottom of a pot, and the people giving tactical advice beside her fell silent as well.
This was already the fifth game, and it was still a total defeat.
This superb shogi skill even gave them an illusion of being invincible when facing Naruto.
"Defeated again... We lost the fifth game too?"
Sakura also stared blankly at the chessboard, unable to believe that this superb shogi skill actually came from a tail-end student.
"Hahaha... I'll gladly accept these six hundred silver taels, then?"
Naruto raised his hand, took the six large banknotes placed at the edge of the chessboard, and put them beside himself. The smile on his face couldn't possibly have been more radiant.
The stake for the first game was 200 taels, the second game 400 taels, and the third game rose to 500 taels. After winning the third game, both Ino's and Sakura's allowance money had been lost to Naruto.
Naruto originally thought that was the end of it, but who could have expected that in order to suppress his arrogant momentum, these people would actually start pooling their allowance money together.
This utterly delighted Naruto. He had been a bit disappointed that Shikamaru didn't come, since these people's pocket money definitely wasn't as much as Shikamaru's.
Starting from the fourth game, Naruto was essentially playing against a crowd of seven or eight people simultaneously.
Although onlookers keeping quiet makes a true gentleman, these people had paid money, so pointing out moves wasn't a problem at all.
The stake for the fourth game was raised to 600 taels. Worried that his methods were too cruel, Naruto deliberately exposed flaws in this game; playing one against many was precarious, and he had almost lost.
Sure enough, doing this made Ino and the others feel that they still had hope of winning against Naruto.
And so...
The group pooled their money again to start the fifth game, and as far as the result went, they were still just a hair's breadth away from winning.
"Naruto, I refuse to accept this! Let's go again!" Ino roared, simply unable to stand Naruto's arrogant expression.
"Oh ho? Do you guys still have silver taels?"
Sensing that the warning bell before class was about to ring, Naruto directly slapped all the silver taels and banknotes he had earned onto the chessboard and said, "The last round is 1,900 taels. Can you guys afford the stake?"
Before you continue