Practical combat class (2)

When Naruto and Sasuke heard Iruka announce the matchups, Sasuke looked disappointed, while Naruto remained brimming with enthusiasm.

"Kiba?"

Naruto quickly turned toward Kiba Inuzuka beside him. Hearing that his opponent was Naruto, Kiba couldn't help trembling slightly. Unlike the dead last of the original story, this Naruto was gradually earning a reputation as a genius.

Of course, Kiba insisted he wasn't afraid of a mere Naruto. He was only afraid of that little "what if."

Naruto: "Let's have a good match!"

Kiba Inuzuka: "Oh... sure."

Sasuke's opponent was Shikamaru Nara. The Nara Clan was the deer clan of Konoha's famous Ino-Shika-Cho trio, and its members generally had high IQs. In the original story, Shikamaru's father had served as commander of the Allied Shinobi Forces during the great war, while Shikamaru himself later became the protagonist Naruto's strategist and adviser.

"Aw, man, I'm fighting Sasuke? My chances aren't great. I'll just muddle through." Shikamaru Nara raised a hand to rub his head and let out a helpless sigh.

Soon, the practical combat class began.

Most of the matches between the students went exactly as Iruka had expected: one attack from you, one from me, pure Hollywood-style fighting. Hardly anyone could last even a minute.

"Well, it's their first time. That's perfectly normal."

Iruka folded his arms and nodded. So far, everything was going as he had expected.

Until...

"Next, Naruto versus Kiba Inuzuka."

"Coming!"

Naruto raised his arm high and strode out of the crowd. Kiba clicked his tongue, kept his hands in his pockets for a few seconds, then stepped out as well.

"Iruka-sensei, I'm a dog handler. Can Akamaru fight with me?" Kiba turned toward Iruka and asked.

"A dog... perhaps we should leave the dog..."

"Bring him on! I'll be fine!"

Naruto confidently reached up and patted his chest, declaring that he had no problem with it at all. Both Iruka and Kiba froze for a moment. To them, this had gone beyond confidence and crossed into arrogance.

Iruka opened his mouth to lecture Naruto, but gave up before saying anything.

Experiencing the price of arrogance firsthand would leave a deeper impression than a verbal warning.

Iruka: Even with a ninja dog, it's only a small one. I'll step in before anything goes wrong!

"All right, Kiba Inuzuka. You can use your ninja dog."

"Great!"

Kiba stopped holding back. He had been a little nervous at the prospect of fighting without his ninja dog, but now that he had permission, he couldn't imagine losing.

"Come on, Akamaru!"

Kiba raised two fingers to his mouth, took a deep breath, and let out a loud whistle. Within seconds, a little white dog came racing over from the distance and reached his side.

Kiba Inuzuka, one of the Konoha 12 in the original story, was the son of the head of a famous ninja clan in Konoha. In the normal timeline, he later became a Jonin and joined the Konoha Military Police Force. He would undoubtedly be one of Konoha's top-tier fighters in the future.

Of course, that was in the future.

Kiba watched Naruto with absolute confidence. He and his dog fought as one; even without speaking, they could almost always tell what the other wanted to do.

One boy and one dog could wield the strength of two people-no, even more than two!

"Naruto, I won't go easy on you!"

Kiba confidently pointed a thumb at himself, looking remarkably like someone declaring, "I am Super Vegeta!"

"Hahaha, I won't go easy on you either. Come on!" Naruto grinned and began warming up. Their classmates weren't particularly interested in this match-or rather, they weren't very interested in practical combat class itself.

Though they were in a ninja class and would all become ninja in the future, that was only because they lived in an age of war. How many of these children actually wanted to walk onto a battlefield someday?

Among their classmates, only Sasuke watched the match intently. He knew how strong Naruto was, so his focus wasn't on whether Naruto could win, but on how long he would take.

Half a minute? A minute?

The match... began!

Kiba's gaze sharpened. He swung his arm and gave his ninja dog Akamaru the order to charge, as though he were playing Pokémon.

Akamaru barked loudly, then gathered his strength and charged at Naruto.

Naruto wasn't distracted by Kiba's tactics at all. Instead, he calmly put his own plan into action.

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

Poof! Poof! Poof!

Three shadow clones of Naruto popped into existence. Two rushed toward little Akamaru, leaving him utterly bewildered. He looked between the two Narutos, his confused head swiveling back and forth as he struggled to decide which one to attack.

Kiba was equally stunned. Never mind the Shadow Clone Technique-even the Clone Technique was a jutsu they were only required to master by graduation from the Ninja Academy. New students like them hadn't even begun studying anything of the sort.

The clone beside Naruto grabbed his wrist. They spun around, building momentum together, and the clone hurled the real Naruto straight toward Kiba.

Naruto clenched his fist, gathering wind-nature chakra around it.

A plain, unadorned punch-but it would hurt!

Watching Naruto draw closer and closer, along with a fist that looked like it would hurt very, very badly, Kiba... lost all hope.

Kiba Inuzuka: Are... you... fucking... kidding...

Kiba hurriedly ducked his head and raised both arms. Naruto's fist slammed into them with a bang!!!, breaking through his guard and sending him flying on the spot. If Iruka hadn't rushed behind Kiba, who knew how far he would have flown?

The entire crowd fell silent...

Though Naruto had gradually shown signs of earning the label "genius" lately, none of that could compare to the shock of seeing him in an actual fight.

"Naruto-kun... you're amazing..."

Hinata Hyuga's cheeks flushed slightly as she watched Naruto grinning and celebrating his victory, while Sasuke wore an expression that said this was only to be expected.

"Thirty seconds. A little faster than I thought, though that's mostly because his opponent wasn't much of a challenge," Sasuke muttered haughtily.

Kiba, who had been sent flying by Naruto, blinked blankly. Clearly, Naruto's performance had stunned him senseless, and he wasn't going to recover anytime soon.

The next match was between Sasuke and Shikamaru Nara. Just as Shikamaru was about to step out of the crowd, he suddenly shuddered and broke out in goose bumps.

He stiffly turned toward the imposing presence that had made his hair stand on end. Sasuke was watching him with a meaningful expression, as though saying, You'd better make sure I enjoy this.

"..."

Shikamaru Nara: I... probably shouldn't... forfe... Fine, I'll do my best...