Aside from enhancing the power of Wind Release Ninjutsu, the flow of the wind itself was actually interesting to Naruto.
Wind is always flowing. As a fluid, isn't flowing the most important thing about wind?
Without flow, where does wind come from?
Opening the window, a breeze blew in, brushing against Naruto's cheeks and making his six whiskers sway gently. Suddenly, Naruto had a realization.
Feeling the flow of the wind, the breath of the wind, looking out the window, Naruto seemed to become lighter in that instant.
After school, Naruto had just packed his things and was ready to leave the classroom and go home.
However, three guys blocked his way.
"Demon Fox, you guy, starting tomorrow, you are not allowed to come to the Ninja Academy anymore!"
"Yeah, you guy only bring bad luck, only bring disaster!"
Originally incited by their parents, they held huge prejudice against Naruto. Today, seeing a senior come to trouble him, these guys were even more convinced that Naruto was a Demon Fox who courted disaster.
Naruto packed his things, not wanting to pay attention to the three little brats in front of him at all, and walked around them to leave.
As he ignored them directly and walked forward, Hinata, who was also packing her things, suddenly whispered shyly.
"Be... be careful..."
Whoosh!
A gust of wind blew behind Naruto's head. Suddenly, as if he had foresight, Naruto tilted his head and dodged the book flying towards his head from behind.
Having studied air flow and the breath of wind all day, Naruto was very sensitive right now.
"Ah!"
Naruto dodged the sneak attack from behind, but heard a cry of pain from Hinata in front.
Naruto froze for a moment, then turned his head. He looked fiercely at the one among the three guys who threw the book from behind to sneak attack him, and violently tackled him to the ground.
Thump, thump, thump!
Naruto didn't care about anything else; all his fists greeted that guy's body and face viciously.
The other two children saw Naruto's ferocious appearance and wanted to push him away.
But relying on his thick skin and flesh, Naruto didn't care if they hit him; he could take the beating, he just wanted to hit this sneak-attacking bastard!
"Stop, everyone stop! What are you doing!"
The students who hadn't left the classroom were stunned; they hadn't seen such a shocking side of Naruto.
Bang, bang, bang!
Fists full of hostility landed one after another on that guy's face. Naruto was also attacked by the other two guys, looking dirty and battered.
Iruka arrived quickly, grabbed Naruto's raised arm, and stopped his fist from falling again.
But even so, the pulled-away Naruto didn't forget to extend his foot and kick the guy on the ground fiercely.
"Uzumaki Naruto, what are you doing!"
Iruka had a massive headache. Seeing the child lying on the ground, beaten black and blue with a bleeding face, and then looking at Naruto's messy appearance, his anger couldn't help but rise.
"Uzumaki Naruto, what are you doing again?"
Iruka couldn't help it. He had just arrived to tell Uzumaki Naruto to behave himself, and as a result, this guy stirred up trouble again and started fighting directly in the school.
"I can't teach a student like you!"
Iruka's voice became increasingly cold.
He thought of when he was at the Ninja Academy, thought of his parents who died miserably under the Nine-Tails' claws, thought of the loneliness and isolation of not being accepted by everyone.
Now, the 'Demon Fox' Uzumaki Naruto caused this kind of thing again, making him unable to stop becoming more extreme. He didn't want to think about why such a thing happened at all, nor did he want to think about it anymore.
The emotions in his chest were poised to erupt.
"I don't have a student who loves causing trouble like you!"
Flames were burning in Iruka's eyes. Naruto also looked up and met the gaze of Iruka, who was holding his wrist.
There was no fear, no panic, only thorough disappointment.
Before receiving pointers from Sarutobi Hiruzen, there was no difference in Iruka's attitude toward him, Uzumaki Naruto, compared to others.
He needed others to wake him up before he could slowly understand and comprehend Uzumaki Naruto.
Then, become an unbreakable bond for Uzumaki Naruto to love this village.
Hmph, not needed.
Facing Naruto's cold gaze that didn't need Iruka to believe him, Iruka suddenly panicked a little.
Uzumaki Naruto could be so calm, so self-righteous; could there be something in this that he didn't understand?
Could it be that he, Iruka, could have wrongly accused this... Uzumaki Naruto whom people didn't want to get close to?
"Sensei, they sneak-attacked Naruto first."
While Iruka and Naruto were in a standoff, and the atmosphere in the classroom was terribly silent with no one stepping forward to break the deadlock, Uchiha Sasuke stepped forward.
His words made Iruka's body stiffen. What? Others sneak-attacked first?
But Iruka looked around the classroom. Others didn't speak; it seemed only Uchiha Sasuke was willing to say a word for Uzumaki Naruto.
After Sasuke spoke, Sakura's eyes lit up, and she followed closely.
"Yes, Sensei, they started it."
Seeing Sakura speak up, other girls also chimed in one after another, not wanting to let Sakura monopolize the limelight and gain Student Sasuke's favor.
Iruka's body became even stiffer. He couldn't come down from the stage.
As a teacher, being biased time and again, and bringing emotions into the teaching work regarding Uzumaki Naruto—Iruka knew this was a serious dereliction of duty.
It was just that, in front of Uzumaki Naruto who possessed the identity of the 'Demon Fox', he really couldn't calm down.
"Th-then... then you still shouldn't beat your classmate so badly."
Iruka's tone was much weaker, but he seemed to be justifying, seemed to want to explain.
But Naruto paid him no more mind. Iruka released his hand.
Naruto walked in front of Hinata and squatted down. He wanted to help up the girl who had just carefully warned him but clumsily forgot to dodge and ended up getting smashed on the bridge of her nose by the flying book.
"Prejudice in people's hearts is a great mountain."
Naruto's voice rang out leisurely in front of Hinata. Looking at the face close at hand, hearing his voice filled with a peculiar flavor, Hinata suddenly had an impulse to cry for some reason.
"No matter how hard you try, you cannot move it."
Iruka suddenly felt sad. Naruto's words touched him greatly.