"Hey, loser!"
Just then, a nonchalant voice cut through the air. Naruto's crestfallen expression instantly transformed, shifting as rapidly as storm clouds in the rainy season into one of utter annoyance.
He glared up to see that annoying Sasuke standing five meters away, staring at him with curiosity.
"Say, were you just crying?" Sasuke asked casually, then adopted a look of sudden realization. "Could it be that you're crying because I beat you today? Are you that humiliated?"
Sasuke had lingered at school that day to research something in the library and hadn't hurried back to the Uchiha Clan Compound.
When he finally left the building, he stumbled upon this scene.
"Damn it! I wasn't crying!" Naruto's face flushed crimson before erupting in fury. "Don't get cocky! I just wasn't feeling well today! I'll definitely beat you next time, you arrogant jerk!"
"Heh," Sasuke sneered, "I love how you can't beat me and can't do anything about it, yet you still put on this tough act. 'Hmm, this is just too entertaining, ha ha ha!'"
"Bastard!"
Watching Sasuke's smug grin and hearing his laughter, Naruto clenched his fists, itching to beat him up a hundred times. He shouted:
"Listen up! I just haven't been serious about my training before! But when I start training seriously, I'll leave you in the dust! Just wait and see, 'hmph'!"
"Is that so?" Sasuke nodded slightly, his eyes cool as he said, "If that's the case, then I'm looking forward to it. Just don't go back on your word later, Uzumaki Naruto!"
"Hmph!" Naruto stood up, shouting, "I mean what I say, and I do what I say! That's my ninja way! Don't underestimate me!"
Sasuke's lips curled into a slight smirk as he casually asked, "Have you had dinner yet?"
"Dinner?"
Naruto blinked, completely confused by this arrogant jerk's sudden change of topic.
"What's it to you whether I've had dinner or not?" Naruto snapped, looking annoyed.
"If you haven't, then considering you got beaten up by me today and you look so pathetic right now, I'll treat you to dinner."
Sasuke sighed, his expression one of exasperated resignation.
"Damn it! Who asked for your pity?" Naruto retorted, his face flushed crimson with anger.
"Alright, then." Sasuke nodded, offering no further persuasion before turning to leave.
Seeing this, Naruto was momentarily stunned. As Sasuke walked further away, he hurriedly chased after him.
"Sasuke, wait for me!"
Sasuke glanced back with amusement, teasing, "Didn't you say you didn't need it?"
"Hmph!" Naruto pouted. "Since you're so sincerely inviting me, I, Uzumaki Naruto, the Great and Benevolent, will magnanimously overlook your past offenses and grudgingly accept."
"But let's get one thing straight: if the food you're treating me to is awful, I won't eat it!"
Despite Naruto's prickly tone, Sasuke remained unfazed, chuckling softly as he casually glanced up at the sky above Konoha Village.
'This constant feeling of being watched is truly irritating.'
Drawing his gaze back down, Sasuke's eyes deepened with a contemplative intensity.
___
"So delicious!"
Inside the Uchiha Clan Compound, Naruto devoured his food with the fervor of a starving ghost reincarnated, shoveling it down so quickly that Sasuke was secretly amazed.
'This guy can really eat!'
Although Sasuke's current body was still small, he was in a period of rapid growth.
Combined with his daily high-intensity physical training, his appetite had been steadily increasing lately.
Yet even so, his appetite barely matched that of the glutton before him.
This guy spent his days sleeping and lazing around, with no physical training whatsoever. How could he have such a huge appetite?
'Is this the legendary constitution of the Uzumaki Clan?'
'No wonder he ended up with Hinata Hyuga later on. Gluttons are always drawn to each other.'
Sasuke mentally scoffed, but then the seemingly bottomless pit that was Naruto finally paused, setting down his chopsticks and bowl with a satisfied sigh.
"Sasuke, I never knew you were such a good cook," Naruto declared. "This stuff is the best I've had since Ichiraku Ramen!"
Naruto's favorite food was Ichiraku Ramen.
Beyond Teuchi's exceptional culinary skills, the most important thing was that Teuchi was one of the few villagers who hadn't shunned Naruto because of the rumors surrounding the Nine-Tailed Fox.
He was also the first person to ever offer Naruto free food.
Ichiraku Ramen held a special and immensely significant place in Naruto's heart.
'If the Fourth Hokage and his wife, who entrusted Naruto's care to others on their deathbeds, could see what he's endured these past years, how would they feel?'
When the Fourth Hokage returned through Impure World Reincarnation and witnessed his eight-year-old son living in a dog kennel and drinking expired milk, he issued a single command, and a hundred thousand retired ninja swarmed in!
When a condescending shopkeeper refused to sell to Naruto, a red-haired woman barged in, instantly paralyzing the shopkeeper with fear. He bowed deeply, shouting, "My lord!"
'Um...'
'In any case, they would undoubtedly be heartbroken.'
"I never imagined your house would be this big, but Sasuke..." Naruto glanced around for a moment before suddenly asking, "Why is it so empty? I haven't seen a single person since we came in."
Hearing this, Sasuke fell silent for a moment before replying calmly, "They're dead."
"Huh?!" Naruto's pupils constricted, his face frozen in disbelief. "How could that be?"
Now Naruto understood the premonition he'd felt earlier and the sudden change in Sasuke's behavior.
"That Sasuke, I..."
Naruto opened his mouth, cautiously glancing at Sasuke, wanting to offer comfort, but Sasuke cut him off before he could finish.
"Naruto, I heard you want to become someone others will acknowledge?"
Naruto froze, his sensitive instincts immediately sensing that Sasuke didn't want to discuss family matters.
After a moment's hesitation, he nodded earnestly. "Yeah! That's why I want to become Hokage—to earn everyone's respect!"
"You've got the cause and effect backwards, Naruto," Sasuke said calmly. "It's not that becoming Hokage earns you recognition; it's that earning recognition allows you to become Hokage."
Naruto fell silent for a moment, then scratched his head in frustration. "But... I don't know how to earn everyone's recognition," he muttered bitterly.
He often faced the world with a cheerful, grinning facade, but he was keenly aware of the cold, disdainful looks the villagers cast his way.
"If only I could be a genius like you, Sasuke," Naruto said enviously. "The teacher likes you, the classmates like you, and even Sakura likes you."
Sasuke glanced at him calmly and said, "There are two kinds of geniuses. One is born with natural talent, and the other becomes a genius through sheer effort."
Naruto's eyes lit up as if he'd suddenly understood something.
He eagerly asked, "Sasuke, are you saying you're a natural genius, and I can become a genius through effort?"
"No, don't get the wrong idea. You're just an idiot," Sasuke retorted mercilessly.
"As for me? I'm the third type: a genius who's both naturally gifted and hardworking!"
"Ugh..."
Naruto hung his head in dejection. He felt Sasuke had become even more annoying than before.
The guy always managed to deliver his blows with the calmest tone.
Yet what Sasuke said seemed to be true, which only deepened Naruto's frustration.
But his dejection lasted only a moment. With his indomitable spirit, Naruto immediately rallied.
After silently watching Naruto gradually regain his composure and even begin to show a spark of fighting spirit, Sasuke spoke up: "So, for a fool like you to ever catch up to me, you'll need to put in ten times, a hundred times, or even a thousand times the effort. Otherwise, you might as well give up now."
Sasuke's words didn't discourage Naruto, who had just regained his composure. Instead, they ignited his fighting spirit. His eyes blazed with renewed determination as he declared loudly:
"Hmph! The great Uzumaki Naruto's ninja way doesn't include the word 'give up'! I'll definitely beat you to the ground someday and make you beg for mercy! Just you wait, Sasuke!"
Faced with Naruto's grand pronouncements, Sasuke simply closed his eyes calmly.
After a moment, he opened them again and said coolly, "If that's the case, I'll teach you a ninjutsu."
Naruto stared, stunned. "Teach me a ninjutsu?"
"Yes!" Sensing the lingering, persistent feeling of being watched that had clung to them ever since they entered the Uchiha Clan Compound, Sasuke's gaze grew profound, and a faint smirk tugged at his lips.
"This ninjutsu is called..."
"Shadow Clone Technique!"