"Where is this..." When Naruto came to his senses, he found himself in an outdoor training ground. This place was usually for Genin training because it only had three wooden stakes for practice. Jonin and Chunin had more advanced training facilities and rarely came here.
But more importantly, this was the place where Naruto became a Genin.
He remembered that not long ago, he, Sakura, and Sasuke had completed Kakashi-sensei's test and officially became Genin. Then they had some regular missions, and there was Uncle Tazuna... He wondered how he was doing now.
"Na... Naruto-kun?"
While Naruto was lost in thought, a gentle yet slightly surprised female voice came from beside him.
Naruto instinctively turned his head and saw Hinata.
At this time, Hinata had not yet recovered from her fight with Neji. She was still healing from her serious injuries, and her face was pale, making her look pitiful.
But despite her paleness, Hinata never failed to blush when she needed to. Only Naruto was clueless about the reason for her blushing.
"Naruto-kun... why are you here? Isn't today the official match?" Hinata shyly hid behind a wooden stake, not daring to look at Naruto.
"Me?" Naruto hesitated for a moment before softly saying, "I just came to see this training ground because this is where I became a Genin."
Hinata looked at Naruto with some hesitation, her shyness slightly fading: "Naruto-kun..."
She probably saw the confusion in Naruto's heart but didn't know how to comfort him.
The wind blew between them, accompanied by faint cheers, probably from the match venue.
Suddenly, Naruto spoke: "Hey Hinata, Neji is your relative, right?"
"Uh?" Hinata hesitated for a moment before nodding lightly, "Yes."
"That guy is strong, right?" Naruto asked seriously.
Hinata hesitated again, her face showing some sadness: "Yes."
"I thought so." Naruto sighed lightly, feeling a bit helpless but also determined.
"But... but!" Hinata suddenly gathered her courage, her voice slightly louder, "If it's you, Naruto... you might win!"
"Huh?" Naruto looked surprised, as if he couldn't believe Hinata would say such a thing.
After all, based on the current match predictions, he had the lowest chance of winning and the lowest support rate, even lower than Shikamaru.
Hinata let go of the wooden stake and shyly lowered her head: "You can definitely win, Naruto-kun."
The blush returned to Hinata's face, her sadness disappeared, and a sweet smile appeared: "Last time when you cheered for me, I felt like I became stronger than before. After the preliminaries, I... started to like myself a bit more."
"Maybe to others, I haven't changed much, but I... I feel that I have changed." Hinata lowered her head slightly, feeling a bit embarrassed, "I think maybe it's thanks to you, Naruto-kun."
In the preliminaries, everyone thought she couldn't beat Neji, except for Naruto who still believed in her. Fighting is about winning, but if you refuse to fight because you might lose, how is that different from running away?
Naruto taught Hinata not to back down, but he forgot this himself.
Even if she failed, in Hinata's eyes, it was a failure to be proud of.
As long as she looked at Naruto, her heart felt like it was being struck.
It's because of imperfection and failure that one can stand up strong and face challenges.
"I think that's true strength," Hinata smiled at Naruto. "I believe, Naruto, you are an amazing person."
Doing what you say, that's their ninja way.
You'll age if you pull back. You'll die if you hesitate.
The two never conflict.
Naruto widened his eyes at Hinata, as if seeing the shy, blushing girl from his memories for the first time.
The wind blew again, stronger than before. Naruto felt the wind and looked in its direction, where clouds were lazily drifting.
Naruto smiled, not a forced smile, but one full of confidence, the kind of smile that would dare to scold Gamabunta. He scratched the back of his head: "Maybe I don't fully understand yet, but Hinata, thank you. I think I understand a bit of what Kurama meant."
"Huh?" Hinata's face instantly turned red, her whole face blushing.
Naruto... he said 'thank you' to me?
For a moment, Hinata felt surrounded by happiness, almost fainting, even ignoring the word 'Kurama' in Naruto's sentence.
"I'm back!" Naruto clenched his fist. "I've been hesitant since last night, and I didn't feel like myself. But now! Uzumaki Naruto of Konohagakure is back!"
Hinata hid behind a wooden post, her face full of shyness, but she was happier than anyone that Naruto regained his confidence.
No, there was also a slyly smiling Nine-Tails monster in the sealed space, enjoying the live show much more than watching anime.
"I'm going to the match!" Naruto took a deep breath, his eyes no longer confused.
But before leaving, Naruto looked at Hinata with a sunny yet slightly embarrassed expression: "Hinata, actually, I think you... how should I say it..."
He felt a bit shy to speak.
Hinata was stunned, her already red face turning even redder. This kind of sentence usually means that, right? It usually means that, right?
If she was about to faint from happiness earlier, now Hinata was holding on by sheer willpower.
Even the slyly smiling Nine-Tails monster watching the show had wide eyes full of anticipation. If he had popcorn, he would definitely pair it with soda and say, "Keep the music going! Keep dancing!"
"You're a quiet, hesitant... strange girl." Naruto's words were like a knife, stabbing into Hinata's already fragile heart.
Hinata: "..."
I want to die, why didn't I just faint earlier.
Kurama: "..."
I want to die, why did I have expectations for this kid.
"But, someone like you..." Naruto turned around, leaving only his back visible, his voice mixed with the wind and excitement reaching Hinata's ears, "I really like you."
Hinata stood frozen, not knowing if she was shocked or about to faint from happiness.
Deep inside, Kurama sighed deeply and said to the sealing charm, "You know, your son's emotional intelligence is high, but he always says something that makes you want to kill him. And if you think his emotional intelligence is low, he knows how to give a stick and then a date. No, this should be called..."
Kurama searched his memory and then realized, "Fishing with a long line."
He was sure of it.
Although he didn't know how Minato felt right now,
It was probably complicated. After all, his son was flirting with girls right in front of him. At first, he wanted to go out and kick Naruto, but in the end, he felt like he had wasted over twenty years of his life.
So, who did Naruto inherit this from? Minato and Kushina didn't seem like people with high emotional intelligence. The main thing was that Naruto's emotional intelligence was completely a passive skill, and the timing of its activation was perfect. Perfect enough that he managed to win over nearly ten female leads in more than ten movies, and none of the processes overlapped.
A terrifying man.
Kurama shook his head and sighed.
...
The biggest surprise in the third round of the Chunin exams was probably the unexpected entrance of the legendary demon fox, Uzumaki Naruto. After all, being pushed into the arena by a group of bulls was probably the first time this had happened in the Chunin exams of Konohagakure... no, in the entire ninja world.
No wonder he's known as the most unpredictable ninja. The spectators were all about to curse.
For Naruto, this was probably the peak of social death, but unfortunately, he had social courage. Social death was nothing to him. They hadn't seen higher levels yet, like being hit by the Thousand Years of Death or something similar.
Naruto stood up straight and looked at the audience around the arena.
As the Fourth Kazekage took his seat, Sarutobi Hiruzen announced the start of the third round of the Chunin exams. Of course, the proctor this time was no longer the Chunin who looked like he was about to drop dead, but another strange guy with a senbon in his mouth.
This guy also looked like he might drop dead, but he was much better than the last one, who was actually dead.
Of course, the Genin participating in the Chunin exams didn't know about these things.
Shiranui Genma, with a senbon in his mouth, was also angry about Gekko Hayate's death, but he couldn't show it now.
He pulled out a piece of paper from his inner pocket and unfolded it in front of everyone: "The match order has changed. This is the new match schedule. You can now confirm your next opponent. The rules are the same as the last preliminary round, which means there are no rules, unless one side dies or voluntarily gives up."
Naruto instinctively swallowed, while the others didn't react much.
"Of course, if I judge that one side can no longer continue fighting, I will also step in and declare the winner," Shiranui Genma continued, "If you have any questions, you can ask now."
There are no question, but... 8 people? Shikamaru was the first to notice something was off. He remembered his opponent was a guy named Dosu Kinuta, and he was supposed to fight two matches in a row. This change was better for him, but...
Did that guy drop out? Shikamaru frowned. No, it shouldn't be that simple. After all, that guy...
"I have a question." Naruto was the first to raise his hand, looking puzzled. "Where's Sasuke?"
Shiranui Genma looked at Naruto, his expression unchanged: "If the match starts and he's not here, he'll be disqualified according to the rules."
Wouldn't that mean he'd lose his chance to compete? Naruto couldn't help but feel anxious. He was supposed to face Sasuke in the finals. What if Sasuke got disqualified for this?
Stupid Sasuke, where did you run off to?