Reactions to the so-called "special training selection" were mixed—some students were buzzing with excitement, others couldn't care less.
Shikamaru was firmly in the latter group. He lay sprawled across his desk, half his face pressed against the wood, eyes hovering somewhere between open and closed. The sunlight slanting in through the window wrapped him in a gentle warmth—it was the perfect time for a nap.
"I'm definitely getting picked!" Naruto shouted confidently right next to him. "Shikamaru, you should get fired up too!"
"Having to stay after school for training... who'd be interested in something that troublesome?" Shikamaru drawled without lifting his head.
Naruto turned to the other side. "Choji, you too..."
Choji, sitting nearby with a bag of potato chips, was happily munching away. Hearing his name, he looked up and said, "Training? I'll just get hungry even faster."
"I'll pass. My bento isn't even enough as it is."
The two of them were the same as always. This time, though, Naruto didn't get discouraged. He immediately shifted his attention to Gaara.
"Hey, Gaara, you're definitely going to join, right?"
The red-haired boy gave a small nod. He'd already been notified beforehand.
"I knew it!" Naruto lit up at once. "Then we can train together again when the time comes."
'This has to be Roshi-nii's doing', Naruto thought. Even though the special training that had replaced their practical combat classes was canceled, Roshi-nii was still looking out for them. That had to be why this new selection was happening.
Naruto glanced over at Sasuke on the other side of the room and was just about to march over to declare—yet again—that he'd settle the score between them.
At that moment, the school bell rang, and Iruka walked into the classroom.
The room fell silent almost immediately.
"Regarding the special training selection," Iruka began, sweeping his gaze over the class, a list in his hand, "after a comprehensive evaluation by the academy's instructors, the list has been finalized."
Naruto straightened in his seat, the corners of his mouth already starting to curl up.
"Gaara."
The red-haired boy nodded slightly.
"Uchiha Sasuke."
Sitting by the window, the black-haired boy's expression didn't change. It was exactly what he'd expected.
"The two students I just named will stay after school starting tomorrow for special training," Iruka continued. "The rest of you shouldn't be discouraged. There will be more opportunities in the future—"
"Wait a minute!"
Naruto shot to his feet, disbelief written all over his face. "Why? Why only those two? What about me? I'm not included, Iruka-sensei?"
All eyes turned toward Naruto.
Iruka looked at him seriously. "Naruto, sit down first."
"But—" Naruto refused to move, palms pressed against his desk. "I've already learned a really high-level Ninjutsu, and—"
"Naruto!" Iruka's voice hardened. "The purpose of this special training is to improve the abilities of students who are no longer sufficiently challenged by the regular curriculum."
"You have indeed learned a high-level Ninjutsu, but aside from that technique, your overall grades don't meet the requirements."
"Sasuke and Gaara have no issues in any of their subjects. Do you understand?"
Naruto's face flushed a deep red. "Then... then I can also..."
"Furthermore," Iruka cut him off, "the selection was made by many of the academy's teachers, based on your past performance. Next time, work hard and get good results on the next test, and I'll help you apply."
Whispers rippled through the classroom.
Naruto sat down, head bowed, and didn't look up for the rest of the period.
At lunch, he didn't go find Gaara like usual, nor did he look for Shikamaru and Choji.
He sat alone on a bench behind the school building, mechanically chewing on a piece of bread.
"Dammit…"
He muttered the word under his breath.
Footsteps and voices suddenly drifted around the corner of the building.
Naruto looked up on instinct and saw Roshi and Ebisu.
They clearly saw him too. Roshi gave Naruto a brief nod in greeting, then continued instructing Ebisu, "Because of the Joint Hidden Village Meeting, it's not suitable for the Iwagakure exchange students to remain in the Venue District for now. Starting next week, they'll officially transfer to the Ninja Academy."
"I understand, Lord Roshi." Ebisu pushed up his glasses. "The classes have already been arranged. I'll instruct the teachers to take note."
"In addition," Roshi went on, "pay extra attention to the academy's patrols during this time. Don't let anything slip by—especially concerning that Deidara. You know what I mean."
"Yes."
Their conversation should have ended there.
"Roshi-nii!"
Naruto sprang to his feet and all but rushed over to him. Ebisu adjusted his glasses again; the fact that Naruto had received high-level ninjutsu from Roshi could no longer be concealed.
So this time, he didn't step in to stop him.
Roshi's gaze dropped to what Naruto was holding. "Only bread for lunch? You've got a training class this afternoon, don't you? You'll be hungry."
"Hehe, I won't." Naruto replied on reflex, forcing a grin. "And after school, I'm going to Ichiraku—"
Halfway through his sentence, he shook his head hard.
"No! That's not what I wanted to say!"
He drew in a deep breath, blue eyes locking onto Roshi. Should he say it? Roshi was even more blunt than Iruka, and last time he'd already pointed out how weak Naruto's fundamentals were… but—
"About that… special training…" Naruto struggled to line up his words, his voice edged with a nervousness he didn't even notice. "I want… to be included in the special training."
Before Roshi could answer, Ebisu frowned. "Naruto, the list was decided fairly by the academy. Don't trouble Lord Roshi with this; he has many important duties."
"But—"
Roshi lifted his hand, cutting off any further scolding from Ebisu.
"You want to participate in the special training?" Roshi asked.
"Yes!" Naruto nodded hard. "Gaara and Sasuke… they both got into the special training. I… I don't want to be left behind either!"
"The special training is for students whose strength can no longer be improved through ordinary courses," Roshi said. "If you want to join, you have to prove that."
"In the practical combat training class, without using Shadow Clone Jutsu and relying only on Taijutsu, defeat anyone in the class except Sasuke and Gaara."
"If you can do that, I'll give you special permission to join."
"I'll do it!" Naruto almost jumped to his feet, a fire blazing in his blue eyes. "This afternoon! Right this afternoon! I'll win and show you, Roshi-nii!"
Ebisu couldn't hold back. "Lord Roshi, this matter can be left to me, Ebisu, to supervise. There's no need for you to trouble yourself personally—"
"It's fine," Roshi cut in, still watching Naruto. "Since you're so confident, I'll come take a look."
He turned to Ebisu. "Please inform Iruka that I'll be attending the practical combat training class this afternoon. Also—"
Roshi's gaze shifted toward the Academy building, as if weighing something. After a brief pause, he continued:
"For the first match, have Hyuga Hinata be Naruto's opponent."
"Hinata?"
Naruto wondered if he'd heard wrong. That girl who always kept her head down, spoke so softly, and even got picked on by others?
"Um… Roshi-nii," Naruto said, "can we just skip her? She…"
If he had to fight even her just to get into special training, wouldn't that basically be bullying?
Ebisu adjusted his sunglasses. "The match arrangements are decided by Lord Roshi. Naruto, what you should be concerned about is not wasting the time Lord Roshi has set aside."
Besides, although the Hyuga Clan heiress had never displayed the Gentle Fist Art at the Academy, since she was the first opponent chosen by him, her Gentle Fist was probably far from weak.
Roshi simply looked at Naruto, expression unreadable. His calm, still gaze alone made Naruto swallow the rest of his objections.
Naruto scratched his hair and muttered under his breath, "I got it…"
Anyway, he'd just go easy on her.
With that thought, he perked himself back up, shoved the rest of his bread into his mouth in a few quick bites, and mumbled around it, "I'm gonna go warm up! See you later, Roshi-nii!"
After Naruto's figure vanished from sight, Roshi asked, "Who else is on the current special training list?"
"The Exchange Students from Kumogakure will return at the end of July, but we've still arranged for Atsui to join. From Sunagakure, there's Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara," Ebisu reported. "From our village, those selected are Hyuga Neji, Sai, and Uchiha Sasuke."
"The other students have decent strength, but they haven't yet reached a point where they can't progress further with the regular curriculum."
He hesitated, then added, "There is one more student; he is quite special."
"Oh?"
"Rock Lee," the Special Jonin said. "His Taijutsu is exceptionally outstanding."
However, he's completely unable to learn Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. You could even say he has no potential for further progress in those two fields—worse off than Naruto, in that sense.
"By the current Ninja Academy graduation standards, he'll probably never meet the minimum requirement of passing the Three Basic Techniques."
"However, a Jonin has already expressed willingness to take him on as a student, so he'll end up graduating through a special channel."
Roshi understood. "Guy has already approached you?"
"Yes."
"Then include him as well," Roshi said. "Also add Deidara and Kurotsuchi from Iwagakure to the special training list."
Ebisu bowed deeply. "Yes, I understand."
—
The afternoon practical combat training class was moved up.
Iruka's students had only gotten halfway through their lunch break when they were suddenly called out—dragged from classrooms, rooftops, and the shade of trees in small scattered groups—then herded onto the playground, all of them confused and half-awake.
"What's going on? I'm not even fully awake yet..."
"Is this sudden assembly some kind of emergency response drill?"
All the muttering cut off the moment they saw who was waiting on the field.
Roshi sat on a bench at the edge of the grounds, elbows resting casually on his knees. His posture looked relaxed and lazy, yet his very presence was enough to make the entire area fall silent in an instant.
Iruka stood a short distance away, his expression far more solemn than in any normal class.
The students quickly quieted down and, almost on instinct, formed orderly lines.
If only they were this disciplined during lessons, Iruka thought with a quiet sigh, I wouldn't have to work so hard.
"Students," he called out, clearing his throat, his voice projecting louder than usual, "there's a reason the afternoon practical combat training class is starting early. The first match will be between—"
His eyes swept over the rows of students.
"Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuga Hinata!"
A ripple of commotion ran through the ranks.
Dozens of eyes immediately turned to Hinata, standing in the front row with her head bowed, fingers nervously twisting together, then over to Naruto at the other end—who had already finished warming up and was eagerly rolling his wrists and ankles.
"Hinata? Against Naruto?"
"With Lord Roshi here… they actually arranged that match-up?"
"Quiet, everyone!" Iruka raised his voice. "Both combatants, step forward!"
Naruto strode out first to the center of the playground, flashing Hinata a wide grin. "Don't worry, Hinata, I'll be careful!"
Hinata walked out to face him, head still lowered, cheeks faintly pink, her voice barely louder than a mosquito's buzz. "Um… Naruto-kun, please guide me..."
She drew in a deep breath and nervously lifted her gaze. It flickered first toward Roshi on the sidelines. The man who even made her father speak with such gravity was now watching this match.
Hinata bit her lower lip. Her hands slowly slid out in front of her as she settled into the opening stance of the Gentle Fist.
In that instant, the timid aura that always clung to her seemed to be forced down by some invisible will. She was still nervous, but her eyes had sharpened, suddenly clear and focused.
"Eh?" Naruto blinked. "Hinata, you..."
"Begin!" Iruka's voice cut through the air.
"Naruto-kun, please be careful."
The words had barely left her lips before Hinata moved.
She wasn't especially fast—at least, not so fast that Naruto couldn't follow her. She stepped in, her right palm flicking upward from below, driving straight toward the unguarded right side of his ribs.
Naruto almost instinctively slid left, his right hand shooting out to catch her wrist.
But just before he could grab her, Hinata's palm turned inward with a subtle twist. The back of her hand brushed his away as lightly as a leaf.
—Missed?
Naruto's mind blanked for an instant. In that gap, Hinata's left palm had already cut in from a different angle, driving toward his chest.
Thud!
The blow wasn't heavy, but it still forced Naruto back half a step.
Hinata followed, stepping in again.
Naruto brought his right arm across his body to block, but Hinata's right palm slid into the opening in his guard like a darting fish. The back of her hand pressed against the inside of his arm and swept it aside.
His defense was peeled away as if it were nothing.
Her left palm came right after, snapping against his shoulder.
Slap.
Naruto gritted his teeth and fired a left punch in frustration. Hinata only turned her body a fraction, her right palm settling naturally on his elbow joint and pushing it down—
The force of his punch was redirected and lost.
Slap. Slap. Slap.
Light impacts rang out one after another across the training field.
Naruto's frustration mounted. He could see every one of Hinata's movements clearly; she wasn't even that fast. And yet, he couldn't block her at all.
"Dammit..." He clenched his teeth, abandoned defense altogether, and drove a straight punch directly at her.
Hinata didn't back away. Instead, she stepped in half a pace, meeting his punch head-on. Her right palm rose from below to meet his wrist, prying it to the side.
His fist whipped past her ear, only grazing the air.
At the same time, Hinata's left palm stopped right in front of his chest.
"Hinata, victory."
Iruka's voice broke the silence.
Naruto stood there, a little stunned.
He slowly drew back his fist, lowered his eyes to Hinata's palm still hovering in front of him, then looked up at her bright red face.
He understood he'd lost, but for some reason, it didn't feel real. Anger, frustration—he couldn't quite summon any of it.
Then something clicked in his mind, and he suddenly whipped his head toward the bench—
Empty.
Roshi, who had been sitting there before, had vanished at some point without a sound.
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