"I still ended up doing it."
Shaking his head, Ge Liang pulled out a handkerchief from who knows where, wiped his fingers, then looked up at the sky (ceiling) at a forty-five-degree angle, displaying a look of profound sorrow, fully embodying the act of showing off.
"It hurts so much..." At this moment, Naruto collapsed to the ground, his face full of pain. "Naruto-kun."
Seeing Naruto 'injured', Hinata no longer felt shy. She quickly ran to Naruto, looking at him with concern. "Don't worry, Naruto will be fine."
With Naruto's Physique, even if he were severely injured, he would automatically recover in no time, let alone a mere Thousand Years of Death. "Naruto-kun, are you alright?" "Don't worry, Hinata, I'm fine."
Naruto still had a strong sense of masculinity. Even if he was in excruciating pain right now, he had to show a 'manly, no big deal' attitude in front of the girl.
However, your pained expression holds no convincing power at all. 'Are you two showing off your affection?''Show off your affection, die faster, you damn brats!'
After secretly complaining, Ge Liang decided to ignore the two of them. He went directly to the restroom, washed his hands, then threw the handkerchief he used to wipe his hands into the toilet and flushed it away.
"Such a poisonous thing, it's better not to leave it in the world." Thinking about his actions just now, he... regretted it.
"I must have lost my mind to actually poke Naruto's butt... This is definitely a dark history." For something that carries such dark history, that handkerchief must be destroyed.
"But, I wonder if Naruto will still fall for Kakashi's move in the future." The same move, the same excruciating pleasure. I hope Naruto won't cry then... Time flew by, and in a blink of an eye, it was time for the Genin's graduation exam. As in the original work, the graduation exam still tested the Clone Jutsu.
Because of the internet cafe, the current Naruto had not only achieved success in martial arts but also gained considerable experience. He witnessed Qiao Feng's heroic and invincible spirit and also saw Xiao Feng's tragic downfall.
He witnessed Linghu Chong's unrestrained life and also felt Yue Buqun's desolation upon death. All in all, the current Naruto was not only much stronger than in the original work but his personality had also matured somewhat.
But this doesn't mean Naruto could skillfully use Chakra. During the exam, due to the Nine-Tails Chakra's interference, Naruto still couldn't perfectly create Clones, and Iruka deemed him a failure.
As the sun set, Naruto sat dejectedly on a swing at the edge of the playground, enviously watching the parents of other students pick them up to go home.
Whether this was disappointment at failing the exam or sadness at not having parents, only Naruto knew. "Naruto, so you're here."
Just then, a man with medium-length silver-white hair and a gentle smile on his face approached Naruto. From his words, it seemed he had been looking for Naruto for quite some time.
"Ah, it's Mizuki-sensei." That's right, the person who came was Mizuki, the early-stage practice dummy for Naruto in the original work. "Naruto, are you still upset about failing the exam?" "Upset? I guess so."
He said that, but his dejected expression couldn't be faked. "Naruto, I hope you understand, Iruka-sensei didn't intentionally make things difficult for you." "Yes, I understand."
The old Naruto wouldn't have understood, but now Naruto somewhat did. Being a Ninja was a cruel profession; those with insufficient strength could easily die on the battlefield.
Iruka, as a Ninja Academy teacher, was dedicated to his teaching methods, all for the good of these students. "Huh?" Hearing Naruto's sensible answer, Mizuki was a bit bewildered.
What's going on? This idiot actually says he understands? You understand jack shit. I had so much prepared to say to you, and now you've ruined it all. Do you know? If you don't follow the script, you're likely to get beaten.
"It's good that you understand." "Mm." A vein throbbed on Mizuki's forehead. He completely didn't understand why Naruto, who had been a hot-headed idiot just a while ago, was so sensible today.
For a moment, he didn't know what to say.
The atmosphere became awkward.
'I can't let this continue; staying too long might arouse suspicion from others.'
Few people in the Ninja World knew about the Jinchuriki, let alone Mizuki, who was just a Chunin.
He only knew the Village's disseminated news that Naruto was a Reincarnation of a Fox Demon.
People generally wouldn't approach such a Naruto.
As a teacher at the Ninja Academy, it was fine for him to comfort his student, but if it went on too long, it would inevitably draw attention from others.
This did not align with his plan.
Actually, as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Naruto was protected by Anbu tracking him.
When Naruto first went to the internet cafe, the Anbu had already reported it to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
The Third Hokage immediately made arrangements after hearing about it, subtly questioning Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji, who were also internet cafe customers, and learned that the internet cafe was just a place to play games.
He didn't know that Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji had already agreed on a unified story, absolutely not to let anyone know about the internet cafe's magic, especially the Hokage-sama.
But Shikamaru also understood that the internet cafe's magic couldn't be hidden for long, but it was better to hide it for as long as possible. Thus, Hiruzen Sarutobi gave up on directly probing the internet cafe.
After all, in his opinion, the internet cafe was just a place for these few students to play, and there was no need to pay attention to it.
To avoid suspicion, Mizuki had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue asking, "Naruto, do you still want to graduate?"
"Of course I want to graduate." "Is that so... Then I'll tell you a way to graduate without passing the exam." "Really? That's great!"
Hearing that he could still graduate, Naruto outwardly jumped for joy. Covertly, however, Naruto heightened his vigilance.
Mizuki's attitude towards him was usually just average, but now he was inexplicably comforting him and telling him about another way to graduate. There's a good saying in games: 'No good deed goes unpunished,' or rather, 'If someone is overly solicitous without reason, they're either up to no good or a thief.'
"The other way to graduate is... blah, blah, blah." Sure enough, after listening to Mizuki's method, Naruto knew this guy was treating him like an idiot. Steal the scroll of seals?
Although Naruto didn't know what the scroll of seals was, he knew that stealing was not a good habit. 'It seems Mizuki-sensei's goal is this scroll of seals.'
'But if a Ninja Academy teacher can't get it, can I, a mere Ninja Academy student, steal it?' 'If I can steal it, it means this item isn't important.'
'If it's not important, why would Mizuki-sensei ask me to steal it?' 'If this item is important, asking me to steal it is essentially asking me to die, isn't it?'
Naruto was still a child. At this moment, he desperately wished he had someone to discuss with about what to do next. Should he accept Mizuki's proposal to steal the item? Or should he go directly to Third Grandpa and report Mizuki?
'What should I do?'