"Uzumaki Naruto."
"Uchiha Sasuke."
On the playground of the ninja academy, as Iruka called the roll, the crowd erupted into excitement. Naruto grinned broadly as he watched Sasuke stride confidently out of the line.
"So, how are you going to fight today? Should I fight you with one hand?" Naruto opened with some trash talk.
"Hmph! I'm not a weakling like Neji. I'm going all out, or you're definitely going to lose this time!" Sasuke, determined as ever, shot a thumbs-down gesture at Naruto, which made the nearby girls squeal while drawing the ire of some boys in the front row with unfriendly glares.
In the girls' section, Hinata glanced timidly at Sasuke, silently praying that Naruto wouldn't knock him down like Neji did last time, leaving him bedridden for a week.
After finishing her prayer, she turned to cheer on Naruto, her face flushed as she mustered a soft, encouraging shout.
Meanwhile, in a classroom of first-year students, several girls leaned out of the window to watch Sasuke and Naruto on the playground, including a girl with pink hair.
"Ready, both sides," Iruka sighed inwardly at the familiar scene, waving his hand. "Begin!"
The two boys charged at each other almost simultaneously, colliding like two forces of nature. They exchanged blows with skillful precision, each trying to outmaneuver the other, their fight heating up with intensity.
On the rooftop of a nearby building, Itachi Uchiha leaned against the wall, observing the battle between his younger brother and Naruto below.
To be honest, when he first witnessed this, he thought Sasuke and Naruto were evenly matched, just two exceptionally talented kids for their age. Sasuke's nightly requests for extra training stemmed from feeling slightly inferior to Naruto.
But after observing them several times, Itachi noticed that although Sasuke had made considerable progress, he hadn't once landed an effective hit on Naruto.
Not just him— even that Hyuga kid, who always flew into a rage when facing Naruto, and others, all seemed capable of keeping up, yet Naruto had never taken a single hit.
"Could it be... he's using shadow clones at school as well?" As the one who pioneered the use of shadow clones for schooling, Itachi found this seven-year-old kid hard to read.
But his concern didn't lie there; he leaned against the wall, gazing up at the sky.
He was calculating the time.
Just then, Sasuke made a misstep, and Naruto executed a well-placed, cunning kick that struck Sasuke's thigh, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground.
"That's enough! Naruto wins!"
Iruka called out just in time, and their classmates sighed in disappointment. It seemed no one could defeat the whirlwind known as Uzumaki Naruto.
"Damn it, I should have dodged that! But this time, I saw through your feints completely. Next time, I'll definitely…"
Sasuke, lying on the ground, wasn't overly frustrated; instead, he reflected on his mistakes. Losing had become routine for him.
"Get up." Naruto wiped his nose and chuckled. "I told you, you can't beat me."
"Let's have another round!"
"Both sides, seal the reconciliation sign." Seeing their competitive banter escalate, Iruka quickly intervened.
As Sasuke returned to the line, he muttered to himself, clearly unsatisfied. But then, as if sensing something, he turned to look at the rooftop.
Nothing was there.
"Are you looking at something?" Neji Hyuga, standing beside him, asked.
"Nothing."
"Oh, then back to the topic— your last few moves were slow to start. It seems you'll need to rethink your strategy."
"Yeah, I need to come up with another way. I can't let this guy get any more cocky." Sasuke instinctively joined in the conversation, then countered, "But those moves wouldn't work against him anyway."
At least on the topic of defeating Naruto, they found common ground.
"Next group…"
As the sun began to set, the moon gradually enveloped the village.
"Let's call it a day!" Naruto suddenly leaped down from the tree, shouting at Sasuke, who was still training.
In their fixed post-school training trio, Hinata always left first due to the strict curfew of the Hyuga clan. Even though Naruto told her not to worry, she constantly apologized, leaving both Naruto and Sasuke at a loss.
Sasuke, on the other hand, had never suggested going home since he learned that Naruto had no place to return to. He would only stop training when Naruto called it off. This was why sometimes Sasuke pushed himself to the point of exhaustion, relying on Naruto to take him home. After all, when inspiration struck Naruto, it was hard for him to stop.
"Is it already that time?" Sasuke, clearly not finished, paused, panting lightly, and looked at Naruto with dissatisfaction. "Hey, you're not stopping early because you feel like I'm catching up, are you?"
"Of course not! I have plans today and I'm starving," Naruto replied, placing a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, grinning at him. "Besides, it's on the way."
"On the way?"
Sasuke looked at him in confusion. The Uchiha clan was located at the edge of the village; who could Naruto possibly have plans with?
"Report, urgent situation— the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Uzumaki Naruto, is returning with Target Person One."
"Hmm? The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki?"
Upon hearing the report, Danzo, concealed in the shadows, furrowed his brow and immediately issued orders.
"Draw him away."
...
"Isn't that Naruto!"
A Chunin ninja suddenly appeared before Naruto and Sasuke. Before either could react, he enthusiastically approached Naruto with a wide smile.
"Who are you?"
Naruto was momentarily taken aback by the sudden encounter.
"I'm a friend of Iruka's. He often talks about you. Come on, let's go get ramen! It's on me." The Chunin ninja didn't give Naruto a chance to refuse, pulling him along.
"Is this the person he was meeting?" Sasuke watched them, puzzled, but didn't dwell on it. Since Naruto was going out with a friend for ramen, he picked up his pace to head home for dinner.
"Wait, mister, who are you?" Although Naruto didn't resist upon hearing Iruka's name, he still hurriedly asked, "I had plans today…"
"Hey now, don't rush. I'm…"
Seeing Naruto becoming suspicious, the ninja assigned to distract him quickly thought on his feet and blurted out, "I'm your uncle, your dad's brother!"
"What?"
The Nine-Tails within Naruto reacted almost simultaneously, then glanced at Minato with confusion. "Why didn't I know you had a brother?"
"What brother?" Minato was equally bewildered, but soon the Nine-Tails shared its perception with him. The former Fourth Hokage's expression changed as he recognized the figure before him—
"An Akatsuki member!"