Naruto noticed the fleeting red glow that just flashed in Sasuke's eyes and muttered inwardly.
'Good grief… did I provoke him so much that he almost awakened the Sharingan?'
Sakura saw Sasuke's sour expression and quickly leaned in to comfort him.
"It's okay, Sasuke. Just being good with shuriken doesn't mean much. You're definitely better than Naruto in other ways."
But her attempt at comfort had the opposite effect. Sasuke snorted coldly, turned his head away, and completely ignored her.
Ino, on the other hand, couldn't take her eyes off Naruto—the more she looked, the better he seemed.
***
At lunchtime, Naruto returned to his seat in the classroom and opened his lunch box.But what lay inside made his brows furrow tightly.
Inside weren't the meals he had prepared—just two dead rats.
At that moment, two boys from Class A were peeking at him from the hallway.When they saw Naruto open his box, they pulled back, crouched by the wall, and muffled their laughter.
The sound was faint, but to Naruto it was piercing, and his expression turned icy.
Hinata, sitting diagonally behind him, also saw the dead rats.On her usually soft and gentle face, anger appeared.She wanted to speak up, but before she could gather her courage, Naruto had already stood abruptly.
He grabbed the lunch box and headed toward the door.The two pranksters, realizing what was about to happen, hurried to escape.
But they only managed two steps before a powerful kick sent them sprawling face-first onto the ground.As they grimaced in pain and looked up, they saw Naruto pulling his foot back, his cold gaze bearing down on them from above.
"You… what are you doing! Iruka-sensei said no fighting inside school, except during sparring classes!"
They panicked, retreating behind Iruka's name as a shield.
"Iruka-sensei!! Help! The demon fox is going crazy! He's attacking us!"
Their cries drew a crowd of onlooking students.In his office, Iruka was halfway through a bowl of ramen when he heard the commotion. He immediately dropped his chopsticks and ran.
When he arrived, he saw Naruto forcing the two dead rats into the pranksters' mouths.With his superior strength, they couldn't resist at all.The foul taste made them gag and cry in terror, powerless to fight back.
"Naruto! Stop this right now!" Iruka roared furiously.
Having made his point, Naruto released them with a bored expression.The boys spat out the rats, retching and sobbing.
Iruka's face hardened as he looked at Naruto."Naruto, do you even understand what you've done? How could you do something so cruel?"
If it had been any other student, he would have summoned their parents immediately.But since it was Naruto, Iruka could only scold him himself.
Before Naruto could reply, Hinata stood up.Her cheeks were pink, but her eyes were firm."Iruka-sensei, they were the ones who put the dead rats in Naruto-kun's lunchbox first."
Knowing Hinata never lied, Iruka's expression softened slightly."Even so, they were wrong to start it—but Naruto, your response was far too extreme! Violence is never the best solution! If something happens, you should come to me or another teacher, understood?"
Naruto brushed the dirt off his hands, unimpressed."Really? But it worked. Just look at their faces—do you think they'll ever dare mess with me again? Do you have a better way to get the same result?"
"That's… that's nonsense!" Iruka was speechless.
"You could come to me. I would have figured something out!" he insisted.
Naruto smirked."Tell you? At most you'd scold them and give them a lecture. You'd feel better afterward, but I wouldn't. I'd still be angry.Repay kindness with kindness. Repay malice with malice. That's the ninja way of Uzumaki Naruto!"
Iruka was struck dumb, overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness toward his own student.
"What a violent, unreasonable guy…" Sakura muttered under her breath.Most of the students agreed.But a small handful thought Naruto's uncompromising, decisive attitude was actually pretty cool.Ino was one of them.
After school, at the academy gates—
Iruka stood before Hiruzen Sarutobi, head bowed in shame, recounting everything Naruto had done.The Third Hokage furrowed his brows.
"Repay kindness with kindness… repay malice with malice, huh?"
'Naruto… It seems you've inherited Minato's talent, but not his understanding of the Will of Fire. Your personality is more like Kushina's… Haa, this is troublesome. Damn you, Danzō…'
"Lord Third," Iruka said quietly, "I may have failed your expectations. I don't think I'm capable of teaching Naruto anymore. If I continue, I fear I'll even start doubting myself."
The old Hokage took a long drag on his pipe, then placed a weary hand on Iruka's shoulder."Iruka, as long as you teach him with sincerity and kindness from your heart, I believe Naruto will be touched by it. Don't give up."
His words lifted Iruka from his despair, pulling him out of that spiral like a lifeline.
That evening, back home—A new system task appeared, right on schedule.
"Within ten days, raise proficiency of the Three Basic Techniques to maximum."
Current progress:Clone Technique (0/10000)Substitution Technique (0/10000)Transformation Technique (0/10000)
"The Three Basic Techniques, huh."
Sitting on the couch, Naruto pulled out two scrolls—the ones Hiruzen had gifted him earlier: Chakra Refinement and Three Basic Techniques.
He didn't open the second one right away. He had been busy training the breathing methods and hadn't yet tried chakra refinement.But mastering the Three Basic Techniques required chakra first.
Now that he had reached Normal Rank, it was time.
Naruto felt anticipation. With his body this strong, how much chakra could he refine?
He unrolled the scroll.'Chakra is formed by merging physical and spiritual energy in a one-to-one balance.'
Closing his eyes, Naruto followed the instructions, attempting to merge the two forces within him.It should have been difficult—but perhaps thanks to his skill Absolute Chakra Control, it only took a minute for him to refine his first wisp of chakra!
But just as he was about to celebrate, disaster struck.A surge of burning red energy suddenly burst into the mix, invading his body!The stable 1:1 ratio collapsed instantly as that fiery red chakra mixed in, throwing everything into chaos.