"Naruto, can you carve one for me too? It's really amazing," Ino said, unable to take her eyes off the lifelike little wood carving.
"Me too, carve one for me!" Inuzuka Kiba chimed in, also approaching.
Sakura saw this and wanted one too, but before she could even open her mouth, Naruto spoke.
"I'm sorry, I can't."
Naruto put away the wood carving and gave Sasuke a look that wasn't quite a smile, then deliberately acted smug.
This made Sasuke furious, but unfortunately, he was completely clueless when it came to carving, a complete failure. Helpless, he could only turn his head away from Naruto.
[Experience +1]
[Experience +1]
The constant experience notifications gradually improved Naruto's mood, but the frequency of the notifications slowly decreased.
Naruto wouldn't allow this, so he turned to Sasuke and said, "Two-Pillar, you need to study and observe more in the future, understand?"
"You…"
Sasuke was fuming, feeling like he couldn't shake off the nickname "Two-Pillar."
[Experience +1]
"What? Still not convinced? Fine, I'll show you something else today."
After saying this, Naruto took out paper and a drawing pen from his desk and walked out of the classroom.
This scene immediately piqued the curiosity of the entire class, and they all couldn't help but follow, even Sasuke begrudgingly tagged along.
After they left, Hinata, who was a bit late, finally arrived at the classroom door.
She then walked in with a dejected air, a look of disappointment etched on her delicate face, clearly in a bad mood.
She was still agonizing over why Naruto had suddenly walked away when he saw her at the school gate. This was also the reason for her unhappiness.
As someone who secretly admired him, she cared very much about Naruto's feelings. Now that Naruto was suddenly ignoring her, she thought she must have done something wrong.
So, feeling lost, she had pondered for a long time at the school gate, unable to figure out what was going on. This was also the reason she was late to class.
"Huh? Why is no one in the classroom?"
Hinata, initially clutching her small hands in dejection, realized upon entering the classroom that it was completely empty.
This scene left Hinata utterly bewildered. She scratched her head with her small hand, unsure what was happening.
However, she didn't plan to dwell on it. The most important thing was figuring out how she'd upset Naruto, so she returned to her seat, her little face scrunched up in thought.
Time ticked by, and soon the classroom door opened. Sasuke walked in, looking dejected.
But when Sasuke saw Hinata in the classroom, he froze for a moment, then gave a self-deprecating chuckle.
"She really looks the part. I didn't expect Naruto to be this good. Sigh..."
Sasuke then returned to his seat, lowered his head, and fell silent, looking utterly miserable.
This whole series of events left Hinata even more perplexed. She didn't understand what Sasuke meant by that. Just as she was pondering this, other students gradually entered the classroom.
The first thing these students did when they entered was to look at Hinata, and then they whispered to each other, "She really looks the same. Naruto is amazing."
"Yeah, it's so similar. I always thought Naruto was useless, but I didn't expect him to have such skill. Truly amazing."
The murmurs rose and fell. Hinata listened to their words, and her little head felt like a mess.
She had no idea what had happened. She didn't understand why everyone was looking at her, and why they were looking at her when they were praising Naruto. This situation left her in a daze.
Gradually, more and more students entered the classroom. Everyone glanced at Hinata after they entered, then huddled together whispering, even Sakura and Ino.
Hinata was even more confused now. Her heart felt like it was being clawed by a cat, as she desperately wanted to know what had happened.
And then, at that moment.
Naruto, the center of the incident, walked in from outside and leisurely returned to his seat.
Hinata really wanted to ask Naruto what was going on, but after thinking about what happened at the school gate, she became worried and didn't dare to ask.
Whoosh!
A small ball made of paper was thrown over. Hinata quickly caught it, and she looked at Naruto, who had thrown it, and a surge of joy welled up within her.
Quickly opening the small note, Hinata looked at the contents.
[I left you a gift. Come get it from my desk drawer after school this afternoon. Also, you need to use notes to talk to me these days.]
Hinata was puzzled by the contents of the note, but she also understood that Naruto wasn't angry. She breathed a sigh of relief, but she still couldn't understand the discussions in the class, and the gift also puzzled her.
So, she spent the entire day in confusion. It wasn't until after school in the afternoon that she saw Naruto point to his desk, and then watched Naruto leave the classroom.
With deep confusion, Hinata took small steps and walked over, then picked up the gift in the desk drawer to look at it.
This was a gift that looked like a scroll, similar in appearance to a ninja technique scroll. But when Hinata carefully opened it, her big eyes widened immediately.
Because the scroll actually contained a portrait of her. In the painting, she was shyly smiling, the blush on her cheeks and her appearance were so lifelike that it was practically the real thing.
And in the painting, she was by the stream, a scene from when they had eaten together yesterday.
It was obviously Naruto who had painted it based on that scene, which also made Hinata remember the heartwarming moment of their meal yesterday, and her heart instantly felt sweet.
"Does Hinata look good? I envy you so much. I asked Naruto to paint one for me, but he wouldn't even bother," Ino said as she walked over, her eyes filled with envy and admiration.
Sakura, who was packing her things on the other side, also came over and said with a touch of jealousy, "Naruto is so good to you, not only drawing for you, but also carving your wooden statue."
"Wooden statue?"
Hinata was taken aback when she heard this, and then she checked her desk drawer.
Soon, a wooden statue was taken out by her, a wooden statue carved in her likeness, a lifelike wooden statue that was like a work of art, making her unable to put it down.
Joy welled up in her heart. Hinata had never felt so happy before, nor had she ever been so happy as she was now. Overjoyed, her big eyes even curved into crescents.
Beside them.
Sakura and Ino were still chatting, their envious words making Hinata even happier.
On the other side.
Naruto was walking quickly towards his home, preparing to go back and exchange for Saiyan blood. The experience points he had earned this time were plentiful, enough to make some good exchanges.
However, something unexpected happened.
The four Anbu ninja who were supposed to be watching him were now down to only one. This surprised Naruto, and he also understood that the village's attitude towards him had subtly changed.
The graduation is approaching, is the Forbidden Technique Scroll incident from the original story about to happen? The Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, that seems pretty good too. Naruto thought to himself, smiling as he quickened his pace.
(End of Chapter)