Fortunately, everyone's attention was not focused on this. The group of young students from the Academy were still listening attentively to Iruka explaining the rules of the exercise.
Hinata was startled at first, but calmed down once she realized it was just Ino.
"Alright, I'll head over now." Naruto quickly responded, sensing the awkward atmosphere and wanting to defuse it as soon as possible.
Hearing this, although Ino was unhappy, she decided to let it go and didn't push further.
Just as Naruto was about to move past Hinata, he felt a gentle tug on his clothes. Turning back, he saw Hinata blushing, her breath slightly uneven, making her look incredibly adorable as she softly said, "Let me explain the exercise rules to you, Naruto-kun. You were too far away to hear them clearly."
"He must have heard everything, right?" Ino chimed in, stepping closer and giving Naruto a warning look with her eyes. "Actually, I can give you a brief rundown of the rules as well."
"N-Naruto-kun..." Hinata tried to be assertive for once, but she immediately shrank back before she could finish her words.
"No need, Iruka-sensei was shouting so loudly that I heard it all." Naruto chose the safest approach and answered carefully.
Even when facing Itachi, he had never been so panicked. A bead of cold sweat trickled down his forehead as he glanced back and forth between the two girls, trying to gauge their reactions.
Ino, seeing Hinata's demeanor, eventually softened. She shot Naruto one last fierce glare before turning and walking away.
"Alright then, Naruto-kun, you should hurry back. The exercise is about to start." Hinata seemed a little nervous, her voice was a little stiff, and she also returned to her team.
Shikamaru also noticed the movement over there. He called Iruka and pointed in Naruto's direction with a chuckle, looking somewhat proud and somewhat emotional.
Seeing Ino approaching, he said with a chuckle, "Ino, you're still the only one who can handle him! Look, he's coming over now!"
"It has nothing to do with me!" Ino was annoyed and embarrassed. She didn't know where to vent her anger, so she could only squint her eyes and cast one more glance in that direction.
Hinata also slowly rejoined her team. No one knew what Kiba said to the three kids she was leading, which suddenly caused a chorus of teasing, making Hinata's face flush bright red.
Naruto, having narrowly avoided the shuraba, yawned and lazily strolled over to the team he was supposed to lead. It was called a team, but in fact it was just three usual kids, Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon.
The three of them looked at Naruto in disbelief. He was dressed in a loose white short-sleeved shirt, khaki shorts, and even slippers. He hadn't even bothered to wear his forehead protector. He looked like he'd just rolled out of bed, leaving them speechless.
Tsunade was already satisfied that she could drag him out of his vacation to perform the exercise mission, and she didn't bother to pay attention to the details. Iruka, pressed for time, was just glad Naruto wasn't causing trouble.
"What's wrong with you?" Konohamaru jumped out and pointed at Naruto as he complained.
"Hmm?"
Naruto glanced at Konohamaru, suddenly remembering that he had beaten the kid up once and then completely ignored him afterward.
'It seemed I had gone too easy on him before.'
As Naruto raised his hand, Konohamaru quickly shrank behind Moegi.
"You little brat, show some respect for your elders." Naruto said as he lazily scratched his leg and surveyed the three of them, "Anyway, tough luck, I'm your leader now."
"As for strength, I'm obviously the strongest. So there's no need for a roadmap or anything like that. All you need to do is hold on to the belief that you're heading towards the finish line from the beginning."
" Naruto-niichan, what you said is totally unreliable!" Konohamaru cautiously peeked out from behind Moegi, and protested, "We could easily get lost!"
"Simple-minded fool. There is no path in this world. Naruto replied, crumpling the route map into a ball and stuffing it into his pocket, sounding as lazy as ever.
"Anyway, you brats just have to follow me. Back in the day, I was known as..."
…
Deep in the forest.
Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon stood back-to-back, staring blankly at Naruto, who was fumbling with the route map.
"We're completely lost!" Konohamaru yelled in frustration, "Nii-chan, you don't even know how to read a map. What should we do now? We're totally lost!"
"Quiet!" Naruto, taking advantage of his height, hoisted Konohamaru up and lectured him while holding the map with one hand, "Silence is a noble quality of a Shinobi."
"If you keep making a fuss, I'll seal your mouth shut."
"Konohamaru!" Moegi looked at Konohamaru, who was struggling in Naruto's hands, with some concern.
"Ah, got it!" Naruto exclaimed, finally putting Konohamaru down.
"Did you find the direction?" Udon and Moegi immediately gathered around the map, ignoring the now-grounded Konohamaru, "Let us see, which route is it?"
"No route." Naruto replied, stroking his chin.
Moegi and Udon fell down and groaned in frustration, "Then what's the point? We are not going to be trapped here forever, are we?"
"Nope!" Naruto said confidently, yanking all three of them up like pulling carrots and making them stand in line.
"I've got a better idea now. Since there are nine teams, we'll just bump into another team's route and follow them."
"Find someone and follow them."
Konohamaru: "…"
Moegi: "…"
Udon: "…"
Naruto's unshakeable confidence and shameless logic left the three kids completely stunned. They wondered how could such a chaotic thought process feel so oddly reassuring?
"Let's go!"
Naruto tossed the route map aside and began leading Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon in a random direction.
By sheer luck, they soon stumbled upon two teams, one ahead of them and one behind.
Not far away, Ino looked at the four who had just emerged from the forest like a bunch of wild monkeys with a complicated expression. Hinata was leading three little students to look for herbs, and accidentally ran into the two teams led by Ino and Naruto.
Three teams, three different directions, but thanks to a certain blond's outrageous move, they had all miraculously converged.
"Naruto-niichan, enemy sighted! Should we engage?" Konohamaru asked loudly, already pulling out a shuriken from his ninja tool pouch.
As soon as these words were spoken, the six kids from the two opposing teams also became nervous and prepared to fight back.
Hinata hesitated, wanting to explain the situation but feeling conflicted, 'According to the exercise rules, we were supposed to either avoid conflict or engage in a battle.'
'But fighting… that kind of thing didn't seem right. No matter what, this is just an ordinary exercise for young students.'
'Moreover, each team has been assigned a specific route, ensuring there would be time and space differences to avoid running into each other.'
Hinata glanced at Ino and Naruto, her lips pursed slightly as she felt a faint pang of jealousy for the first time.
'But… There is one thing I don't want to avoid.'
Ino's eyes were complicated, as she obviously realized that there were only two ways left. Whoever backed down first would leave the other two teams to continue.
To give in or not to give in?