The Man Who Wrote Make-Out Paradise

At the podium.

Iruka held a roster in his hand and read aloud, word by word. "Team Seven: Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno... Sasuke Uchiha."

Naruto Uzumaki rubbed his forehead as he looked at the pink-haired girl cheering beside him and Sasuke sitting as steady as a mountain. The whole thing felt increasingly strange.

Why did he think this was only natural?!

He thought he was supposed to like Sakura... but something in the back of his mind told him that he shouldn't keep liking her.

Team Seven's jonin instructor arrived especially late.

His name was Kakashi Hatake. Another familiar name!

The white-haired ninja, Kakashi, always wore a mask over his face, and his Konoha Forehead Protector was crooked on his head. He did not look like a qualified Konoha ninja in the slightest.

Naruto continued rubbing his temples with his fingers. As far as he remembered, he should never have had any contact with Kakashi, right?

Why did that sense of familiarity feel so strong... as though he had met Kakashi while still in his mother's womb?

On the rooftop.

Kakashi Hatake looked at the unusually quiet Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, then glanced at Sakura Haruno, who kept staring at Sasuke.

At the request of one particular brat from Team Seven, he could only take the lead in introducing himself. "My name is Kakashi Hatake. As for what I like..."

"Make-Out Paradise..."

Something stirred in Naruto Uzumaki's mind, and the name slipped from his mouth on its own.

That name instantly put Kakashi Hatake on alert, startling him stiff. "Huh... how did you know?"

"Actually, I don't know what it is..."

Naruto Uzumaki touched his cheek. Tears flowed uncontrollably from his eyes. "Why... am I crying? I clearly don't know... what that thing is..."

Something called Make-Out Paradise had to be tied to an extremely important name. Like the Rasengan, that name carried sorrow...

It was not just sorrow. There should have been warmth, too.

"..."

Kakashi Hatake stared speechlessly at the tearful Naruto Uzumaki. He tugged at his mask, closed his eyes, and said quietly, "Naruto Uzumaki, I've underestimated you all along. At your age, you already know Lord Jiraiya's famous masterpiece..."

He had never expected this!

His tastes had been exposed on the very first day!

How was he supposed to set an example as a teacher from now on?!

He was definitely going to be laughed at, wasn't he? Maybe he should simply fail these little brats in tomorrow's survival exercise!

"Is Make-Out Paradise a book?"

Sakura Haruno's curiosity was clearly piqued. She looked at Kakashi Hatake, then at Naruto Uzumaki, who was still wiping away his tears. "Have both of you read it? It looks like a very touching book..."

"Extremely touching! It's just filled with tragic stories about couples being separated..."

Kakashi Hatake opened his eyes and gave Sakura Haruno a sinister look. "That book actually hides a curse... Once you read it, the person you fall in love with will fall in love with someone else!"

"Ahhh! I don't want to read it!"

Sakura Haruno sprang to her feet, flailing her arms as she said furiously, "Don't ever mention that book in front of me again!"

Naruto Uzumaki looked at Sakura Haruno, then glanced at Sasuke Uchiha. His mood sank again. "...Indeed, that book's curse has taken effect on me. It seems the author was a wounded man too!"

Though he could not remember whether he had read that book, Sakura, whom he believed he liked, had indeed always liked Sasuke...

"..."

Kakashi Hatake covered his forehead, then casually pointed at Naruto Uzumaki. "All right, all right. It's your turn to introduce yourselves... You can go first."

"You haven't even finished introducing yourself..."

Naruto Uzumaki rubbed his face with both hands to perk himself up. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I guess I've always liked Ichiraku Ramen, right?

"As for my dream..."

As Naruto Uzumaki spoke, he felt an intense surge of will. Sweat gradually beaded on his forehead as he said, word by word, "I will become Hokage, surpass the Hokage, become the strongest ninja in the ninja world, and I will unif—"

"All right, all right, it's always like this!"

Sakura curled her lips. Thinking Naruto Uzumaki had finished, she interrupted him. "Every time Naruto talks about his dream, he's always the same... You boys' dreams are always about becoming Hokage or something!"

Among the boys at the Ninja Academy, aside from a few with different ambitions and one who knew his own limits, all the rest dreamed of becoming the Hokage everyone respected.

Naruto Uzumaki smiled faintly and did not argue. Instead, he sat cross-legged on the ground and showed tremendous tolerance toward his new teammates.

"My name is Sakura Haruno... What I like... hehehe..."

"As for my dream... hehehe... you know..."

Sakura spoke now and then, occasionally giggling at Sasuke. Her meaning was obvious, yet it seemed that every coquettish glance she cast had been wasted on a blind man.

Sasuke Uchiha clasped his hands before his chest and said in a low voice, "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are many things I hate. There's nothing in particular that I like..."

"My dream... no, it should be something I will definitely accomplish."

"I will restore the Uchiha Clan and kill that man with my own hands!"

When he was eight years old, the Uchiha Clan had suffered the Clan Annihilation Night.

The Uchiha Clan, known as Konoha's greatest clan, had been reduced to Sasuke Uchiha alone. Every other clan member had been killed by Sasuke's older brother, Itachi Uchiha.

When Sasuke Uchiha mentioned that man, the hatred radiating from him made the teammates beside him feel a chill run through their bodies!

Kakashi Hatake looked thoughtful. After a while, he looked at the three little brats of Team Seven. "All right, that's enough introductions!"

"Tomorrow, I'll prepare a survival exercise for the four of us to test whether you can pass my evaluation... Remember, you are not allowed to eat breakfast!"

"..."

After Kakashi Hatake left, the three little brats of Team Seven immediately went off to prepare their own lunches.

Sasuke Uchiha turned to look at Naruto Uzumaki, who was dusting himself off beside him, and asked in confusion, "Naruto Uzumaki, I don't know why, but you seem a little strange today..."

"Huh? Maybe it's because I've grown stronger!" Naruto Uzumaki tugged at his Forehead Protector and flashed a confident smile.

"My instincts tell me..."

Sasuke Uchiha rose to his feet, shoved his hands into his pockets, and looked Naruto Uzumaki in the eyes. "You really have gotten a lot stronger..."

He could not gauge Naruto Uzumaki's strength, but Naruto's personality was clearly a little more composed than before.

During their six years as classmates at the Ninja Academy, Naruto Uzumaki had been the class troublemaker. Yet today, he had been remarkably well-behaved in front of Kakashi.

That did not suit his character.

"Want to give it a try? I want to see how much stronger I've become too..."

Naruto Uzumaki raised a hand to adjust his Forehead Protector and smiled. "Defeating my strongest opponent all this time should make a fine graduation gift for me."

At the Ninja Academy, Sasuke Uchiha had been his opponent in most sparring matches, but Naruto had never won.

On graduation day, he had stolen the Forbidden Scroll of Seals and learned the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu. After that, something extra had appeared in his mind, from which he had learned a strange technique called Sealing Art: Devour.

Over the past few days, he had also "developed" two offensive ninjutsu: the Rasengan and Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.

Sasuke Uchiha cast him a glance. Relying on his height, he looked down at Naruto Uzumaki. "What... do you want to humiliate yourself again?"

(New book! Please bookmark and vote!)

Naruto Uzumaki: Pervy Sage, did you get dumped too?

Jiraiya: What nonsense are you talking about?!

Naruto Uzumaki: The person you like doesn't like you, right?

Jiraiya: How did you find out...

Naruto Uzumaki: Because you're the author of Make-Out Paradise!

Jiraiya: Could it be that Tsunade ignores me because I wrote that book?

Naruto Uzumaki: Maybe it's also because of your looks...