"!"
Shinta Uchiha's movements froze instantly.
Yuki Tsukishiro's words, spoken only to smooth her own plan, with no aggressive intent, had already sent a shockwave through his heart.
This evil Otsutsuki—what did she mean by saying this now?
Was this a warning not to ruin her evil plan?
If he didn't obey, would she just kill him outright?
Damn it! Evil, terrifying, brat Yuki was definitely no ordinary foe!
"Is that okay?"
Yuki smiled, asking again.
"...I understand. Being gentle to good children is the right thing to do. I'll adjust my attitude toward you based on Sakuraba's situation."
Shinta Uchiha took a deep breath, feigning calm as he answered.
In reality, when he thought about it calmly, Yuki couldn't possibly be certain right now that he was the troublemaker trying to ruin her evil plan.
Otherwise, this wouldn't be a warning—it would be a direct, head-on attack.
In that case, enduring a little, pretending to obey her, was probably the correct response.
"Hmm."
Yuki nodded slightly.
Unexpected... listening?
Uchiha-kun only ever stared at her with eerie, intense vigilance; he'd never given her an inch.
This was completely different from how he acted with her two friends just now.
From now on, Shiro and Emma are maggots, and Yuki is a dragon.
"Let's go."
Shinta Uchiha said no more, just strode quickly toward the classroom.
First thing that caught his eye was the insulting words scrawled on the blackboard.
DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!
You have no right to live!
Malicious words filled the entire blackboard.
Shinta Uchiha's mood turned subtle in an instant.
Even though he knew full well that the current abnormality was tied to the inherently evil Yuki Tsukishiro,
he still couldn't stand this kind of behavior.
"Pfft, Uchiha-kun, you're still hanging around with that annoying girl, huh?"
"...Speaking of which, you mood-killer, you reek too!"
"Need to give you a good wash with water."
As usual, the fearless bullies surrounded him again, lifting their buckets to provoke him.
Shinta Uchiha moved too. With practiced ease, he unleashed Uchiha strikes, choosing to throw heavy punches at the bullies.
Soon, most of the class was lying on the floor at his feet.
Then, Shinta Uchiha picked up a bucket, splashing water all over the blackboard covered in insulting words.
"Easy peasy. Now, next up..."
After doing all that, Shinta Uchiha simply put the empty bucket on his head like a hat, and looked down.
As an extremely intelligent and observant person, he'd realized that this school full of bullies was just like Plants vs. Zombies, filled with all kinds of low-level logic.
First rule: As long as it's related to Yuki, no matter how big the fuss, the teachers won't call the parents.
Second rule: The bullies won't give up, but they're not wild beasts—they feel pain, and a good beating will keep them in line for a while.
Third rule...
"?"
What are you doing?
Yuki watched as Shinta Uchiha stole her spotlight, cosplaying the Iron Bucket Zombie one step ahead of her.
Why are you putting a bucket on your head?
"Uh, Uchiha-kun is..."
"Hmph, that mood-killer finally got what he deserved."
"..."
Shinta Uchiha made no attempt to explain his bizarre behavior. He only silently stared at the bullies he'd just knocked to the ground.
The malice in the eyes of these beaten guys as they looked at him had already faded a lot.
So then...
The third school rule was: Even though the bullies were inherently bad people, their abnormal connection to Yuki made their thought processes operate like NPCs to a certain extent.
Because they were NPCs, they wouldn't stop bullying just because they lost.
Because they were NPCs, they'd mistake certain actions as having completed their bullying quests.
That made perfect sense.
So, if he beat these guys up first, then exploited the bug to make them think their bullying quest was done, it might make the rest of his campus life a lot quieter.
"..."
Yuki silently picked up another empty bucket from beside Shinta Uchiha, and put it on her own head too.
She still couldn't understand Shinta Uchiha's train of thought.
Weird, chuuni, overthinking little weirdo Shinta Uchiha—you're really impossible to understand!
"What are you doing?"
Shinta Uchiha turned his head quickly, looking at Yuki who'd moved to his side.
After making that move and observing the girl in front of him for a few seconds, he suddenly smiled.
Yuki looked so funny!
It was like... the Iron Bucket Zombie from Plants vs. Zombies!
"I'm joining you."
Yuki held her hands in front of her, with her usual smile, responding to Shinta Uchiha.
What are you so happy about, Uchiha-kun?
"Huh, joining me?"
Looking at Yuki's smile and her Iron Bucket Zombie getup, Shinta Uchiha's smile gradually faded.
At the same time, a subtle sense of defeat crept into his heart.
Ah, right! Speaking of which, if he had a bucket on his head too, then... if they were both Iron Bucket Zombies, he couldn't exactly pressure Yuki anymore.
Shinta Uchiha touched his own bucket, glaring at the bucket on Yuki's snow-white long hair.
To suppress this inherently evil guy, he had to cosplay a stronger zombie than the Iron Bucket Zombie.
Cosplay the Giant Zombie Gargantuar? No, that was impossible. With his current height, the same as Sasuke Uchiha in the latter half of Naruto Part 1—only 153.2cm—he couldn't tower over Yuki.
There were no newspapers or football helmets around, so he couldn't cosplay the Newspaper Zombie or Football Zombie either.
How could he become a stronger zombie than the Iron Bucket Zombie, stronger than Yuki?
Why not just step outside the Plants vs. Zombies framework and go with Naruto's most iconic local specialty: Edo Tensei reanimation!
The infinite chakra, the ability to regenerate from any injury, and the only way to defeat them is sealing—these Edo Tensei zombies were a million times stronger than the Iron Bucket Zombie Yuki was cosplaying.
Shinta Uchiha thought of a great idea.
However, there was a not-too-difficult prerequisite to making this happen.
He had to, with zero ninja foundation, become a super ninja even stronger than the Second Hokage, and research this jutsu out of thin air.