"You! I've never even met you—why are you humiliating me like this?!"
The Headmaster's voice was beautiful, but now it held none of the haughty coldness from when they first met—only confusion and deep frustration.
Naruto scratched his head.
"Humiliate you? Did I?"
The Headmaster tugged awkwardly at her tattered long dress, her full, red lips nearly breaking skin from how hard she was biting down.
The message was clear—look at me now. If this isn't humiliation, what is?
"I just didn't expect someone labeled an 'Eighth-Tier powerhouse' to be this weak," Naruto added plainly.
His honest comment struck like a whip.
To the Headmaster, it sounded like the cruelest kind of insult.
Seeing her expression darken, Naruto added a clarification:
"Oh, don't get me wrong. I wasn't singling you out. I meant your entire cultivation system here."
That finally clued her in.
She straightened her back, gave up on hiding anything, and right in front of him, changed into a fresh long dress. She then turned slightly to the side, revealing a flawless profile.
"Speak. What do you want?"
Her tone was chilly—clearly fed up and just going with it now.
"Have you ever seen a Tenth-Tier powerhouse?" Naruto asked.
Lu Bingran's eyes flickered. After thinking for a moment, she nodded lightly.
"Yes."
"Good." Naruto nodded as well.
In the next instant, he appeared right in front of her.
Raising his hand, he suddenly thrust his palm toward the top of her head.
The moment he made his move, the Headmaster instinctively tried to resist—even knowing she likely couldn't stop him, she still refused to go down without a fight.
But just as that thought formed, Naruto's blue eyes lit up, concentric ripples spreading from them.
In that moment, she was completely stunned—her body paralyzed by the sheer spiritual pressure in his gaze.
"Human Path."
Naruto placed his hand gently on her smooth forehead and activated the Human Path technique.
Memories began to pour into his mind.
—At five years old, she joined the best academy in the Dragon Nation.
—At seven, she stood out among countless geniuses.
—At ten, she broke academy records, becoming the youngest ever to reach Tier Four.
—At twenty-six, she broke through to Tier Eight and took the position of Headmaster at Canaan Academy.
—At twenty-seven, she met the Dragon Nation's top powerhouse: Tenth-Tier Martial God, Chen Hao.
In those memories, Chen Hao had obliterated a Tier Nine black dragon with a single punch.
Having seen enough, Naruto withdrew his hand.
From Lu Bingran's memories, he could tell—Tenth-Tier powerhouses here were indeed powerful.
One punch could level mountains and reverse rivers.
But if that was all a Tenth-Tier could do, Naruto had nothing to fear.
He now wielded power on a star-destroying scale.
As she recovered from the Human Path extraction, Lu Bingran looked deathly pale.
First stunned by a mere glance, then spiritually ravaged by soul-reading magic—her will felt shattered.
She, once a prodigy showered in praise, now stood like a frail petal beneath a storm.
Compared to this absurdly powerful youth, she felt… completely insignificant.
"W-What… do you even want?" she asked, gasping slightly, clearly shaken.
The only thing keeping her from total despair was that Naruto didn't seem like someone who killed indiscriminately.
There might still be a chance for survival.
Having gotten the information he wanted, Naruto finally stated his real objective.
"I want you to arrange for me to participate in your National Academy Tournament, under Canaan Academy's name."
Lu Bingran furrowed her brows. She thought for a moment, wondering if she'd misheard.
"You want to enter the tournament… as a student from Canaan Academy?"
Naruto nodded.
Confirmed. She wanted to ask why, but held back.
Honestly, whatever the reason—this was already the best-case scenario.
"Not a problem," she answered quickly.
Naruto's appearance definitely passed for a student, and arranging an identity was a trivial matter for her.
"Just one thing—how old are you? For fairness, the tournament will perform a bone-age scan."
"Fourteen."
"...What?" Lu Bingran looked at him like he'd just told her the moon was made of ramen.
"You're fourteen? Are you serious?!"
Her first instinct was disbelief.
But Naruto had no reason to lie.
A fourteen-year-old with power that could flatten cities?
What kind of heaven-defying talent was that?!
—Later that night—
Naruto was escorted to the best room in the academy, personally arranged by Lu Bingran.
He'd seen this room before—in her memories.
Apparently, it was the room she used for private encounters.
Coincidentally, like Naruto, she also preferred women.
Lying down on the heart-shaped bed, he caught faint lingering fragrances still clinging to the sheets.
Naruto even noticed, tucked under the nearby couch, a few leftover toys.
They practically whispered tales of wild nights gone by.
Just then—the doorbell rang.
Before Naruto could answer it, someone swiped a keycard from outside.
The door clicked open.
In stepped a woman with voluminous waves of hair and a plunging red dress.
Her pale, elegant feet were slipped into blood-red high heels, and her lips were painted a matching deep crimson.
She was a vision of mature allure, so breathtaking it felt almost unreal.
The moment she entered, she tossed her purse carelessly aside.
Her footsteps wobbled slightly as she kicked off her heels, revealing tender pinkish soles.
Muttering in a playful tone:
"Xiao Ran-Ran… if you were gonna come over, at least tell me ahead of time. I'd have come back early and washed up for you~"