The Whiner Specialist

Meihui headed to the central tower with Hinata and the others. By now, most teams had collected their scrolls-except, of course, Kabuto Yakushi, whom Meihui had robbed.

Once they reached the central tower, Meihui opened the Heaven and Earth Scroll, and a cloud of summoning smoke appeared.

"Congratulations, kids! I told you that you were the best."

Iruka suddenly appeared, smiling at the three of them.

Naruto was surprised, but he happily chatted with Iruka-sensei.

"Iruka-sensei, what are you doing here?"

"Lord Hokage sent me to bring you back."

None of them objected, so they followed Iruka out of the Forest of Death.

On the way back, Naruto kept giving Iruka a taste of his latest cultural discoveries.

"Iruka-sensei, I recently learned a new secret code. Let's use it to contact each other from now on."

"Oh? What secret code?" Iruka was curious, too. He wanted to hear what nonsense Naruto had come up with this time.

Naruto leaned close to Iruka's ear and whispered a few words.

"Got it, Iruka-sensei? Let's practice it once."

Iruka nodded. Meihui was also curious about what his little brother was planning, but what Naruto did next completely broke him.

"Come on, hey~"

"ABC." As he spoke, Naruto used the Transformation Technique to turn into a girl with twin ponytails-Naruko.

Iruka stared in bewilderment. Meihui could only cringe, while Sasuke and Iruka seemed thoroughly engrossed in the display.

"Hey, hey, hey, Uchiha Sasuke! What's with the nosebleed?"

At Meihui's shout, Sasuke hurriedly wiped his nose and turned away, though he still sneaked a peek now and then.

Meihui couldn't stand watching any longer. He marched up and landed two punches, making Naruto howl.

"All right, quit messing around. Let's get back. We've still got matches ahead of us."

With that, they headed for the Ten Thousand-Person Arena.

On the way, they ran into Sakura and the other young ninja.

The moment Sakura saw Sasuke, hearts practically appeared in her eyes, and she sprinted up to him as though she were running a hundred-meter dash.

"Sasuke, long time no see! You've gotten even more handsome!" Sasuke didn't take in a word she said. He just thought she was a whiner and ignored her completely.

When Sasuke ignored her, Sakura spotted Naruto and walked over.

"Naruto, you're back?"

Meihui saw that Sakura had been snubbed by Sasuke, only to come over to Naruto for attention. How could he let that slide?

He walked straight over to Hinata and cleared his throat.

"Ahem. Hinata, right? I think you'd make a great sister-in-law."

Meihui's words struck Hinata like a bolt of lightning, sending a shudder through her. She fought hard not to faint.

"Sister-in-law-can I call you that? Look, that woman beside Naruto is about to steal him away. Personally, I think you and Naruto would be better together."

Meihui stopped right there. Anyone smart would get the message.

Sure enough, Hinata took a few steadying breaths and forced herself to calm down.

She slowly walked over to Sakura, who was still smiling cheerfully as she approached.

Hinata stepped up beside Sakura and spoke in a voice only she could hear.

"Sakura, I hope you won't bother Naruto-kun anymore. It wouldn't be good for either of us."

Meihui could see that Hinata had even unconsciously activated her Byakugan as she spoke. Her presence was downright imposing.

"So this is a romantic showdown? Tsk, tsk, tsk. Scary stuff."

Meanwhile, Sakura was already too frightened to speak.

Meihui was the whiner specialist.