Chapter 13: Sudden Incident
When the chubby boy reached out to grab her, Hinata instinctively dodged away.
Feeling rejected, the boy's eyes widened in anger. He almost shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Hey! Hinata! What's that supposed to mean? You looking down on me, Fatso?!"
Startled by his loud voice, Hinata lowered her head slightly. Even when dealing with someone like him, her voice remained soft and gentle.
"N-No, that's not it…"
Before the boy could continue his outburst, Naruto stepped in front of Hinata, blocking her with his body and staring at the bully with cold eyes.
"Hinata is on my team. Got a problem with that?"
Fatso looked up at Naruto, who was nearly a head taller than him. Those cold, bright blue eyes sent a shiver down his spine. He shrank back in fear.
It was no wonder he was scared. In the past year, anyone who had provoked Naruto had ended up regretting it.
Hinata moved closer to Naruto and breathed a sigh of relief. Being surrounded by so many people earlier had put a lot of pressure on her.
"Naruto-kun… arigatou…"
Facing Hinata's soft, gentle thanks, Naruto turned to look at her. His tone was unusually serious.
"Hinata, you don't have to be so kind to people like him. Otherwise, they'll only take advantage of you. Don't let them make you feel bad about yourself."
Being gently scolded by Naruto made Hinata panic a little. Worried that he might dislike her for how she had acted, she quickly nodded.
"Okay… I understand…"
After the teams were formed, Naruto, Hinata, and Ino began searching for the passing scrolls.
Looking at the two girls walking beside him — one on each side, with completely different looks and personalities — Naruto recalled a certain nickname.
[The Eternal Girl-Magnet.]
It was Minato Namikaze's old nickname, which sounded similar to "Fourth Hokage." It seemed he was starting to inherit that title himself.
With the observation power of Transparent World, finding the deliberately left clues was extremely easy for Naruto.
But he didn't do it himself. Instead, he turned to the still-nervous Hinata beside him. She lacked confidence too much — she needed more chances to shine.
"Hinata, it's up to you now."
Hinata's cheeks flushed pink. She nodded, veins bulging around her eyes as she activated her Byakugan.
Hinata's Byakugan was the purest in the entire Hyuga clan, so her insight was naturally excellent.
Her unique black-and-white vision swept across the area.
After a quick scan, Hinata ran toward one direction. Naruto and Ino followed closely behind.
The other students had mostly finished forming teams as well.
Sasuke was naturally stuck with Sakura, along with a glasses-wearing girl.
After running for several dozen meters, Hinata stopped under a large tree and pointed at a broken twig on the ground.
It was clearly snapped by someone stepping on it.
Following the trail left behind the twig, they soon found the next clue — a footprint on another tree.
The trail ended there.
Hinata thought for a moment, then suddenly looked up at the tree above.
"Naruto-kun, the scroll is probably hidden in the tree."
Naruto nodded. He searched the branches and quickly found the passing scroll inside a bird's nest.
Real tracking missions were never this simple — there were fake clues and covered tracks to deal with. But for a student exercise, the difficulty was kept reasonable.
Once they climbed back down, Naruto gave Hinata a warm, approving smile.
"Hinata, that was really impressive."
[Naruto-kun praised me…] Hinata's face turned completely red, filled with overwhelming joy.
At home when she practiced Gentle Fist, the most common things she heard from her father were dissatisfaction and sighs.
Ino felt a little sour inside seeing this, but she still smiled and cheered.
"Alright! Looks like the strongest team is definitely us!"
At noon, the Ichiraku Ramen that Iruka had ordered was delivered to the Death Forest by three genin.
A total of six teams had successfully found a passing scroll. The remaining four teams could only continue searching on empty stomachs.
The successful teams scattered in small groups, found comfortable spots, and began eating their ramen.
Naruto received a tonkotsu ramen with a soft-boiled egg.
Because delivery had taken time, the egg was fully cooked.
He picked up a large mouthful of noodles. The texture was a bit sticky — not as good as eating in the shop — but the broth was rich and flavorful, so it was still acceptable.
Ino and Hinata sat beside him and started eating as well.
Not far away, Sasuke ate his ramen with a gloomy, expressionless face.
Ever since the Uchiha Clan Massacre, Sasuke had fallen into this closed-off state, as if the entire world owed him something.
Sakura sat happily beside him and placed her heart-shaped fried egg into his bowl.
"Sasuke, eat more! You were the one who found all the clues earlier. You were super amazing!"
"Way better than Naruto. I saw it — he only found his scroll because of Hinata's Byakugan."
Sasuke glanced at Naruto nearby and let out a cold snort.
He actually felt somewhat pleased by Sakura saying he was stronger than Naruto.
While everyone was halfway through their meal, the ground suddenly began to shake violently.
Everyone stopped eating, confused.
"An earthquake?" Sakura asked in surprise.
Iruka and the two special jonin immediately became alert and looked toward the source of the noise.
In the distance, they saw a massive creature several meters long charging straight toward them.
The ground was stomped into deep pits, and smaller trees were smashed aside.
A huge black-bristled wild boar with blood-red eyes, looking completely berserk, was barreling directly toward the spot where Naruto's team was sitting!
"Not good! How did such a big beast appear in the outer area?!" Iruka exclaimed.
The two special jonin reacted faster and instantly used the Body Flicker Technique to rush toward Naruto.
The boar was extremely fast. Many students also saw its mountain-like figure and turned pale with terror, fleeing backward in panic.
While terrified, some — like Fatso, who had been bullied by Naruto before — secretly gloated, hoping to see the boar tear Naruto apart.
Kakashi, who was monitoring from afar, put away his Make-Out Paradise book. His usual dead-fish eye showed no worry.
After seeing Naruto's ridiculously powerful sword techniques, he didn't think this boar posed any real threat.
Still, for safety's sake, he moved closer, ready to intervene if needed.
Ino and Hinata beside Naruto were also a little panicked, but unlike the other students, they didn't run away. They chose to stay by his side.
Sakura anxiously tugged at Sasuke's arm. "Sasuke, run!"
Sasuke forcefully shook off her hand and instead walked toward the danger.
Sakura fell to the ground, confused.
The two special jonin arrived and were about to form seals to cast ninjutsu!
But at that exact moment, a cyan tornado blade shaped like a dragon shot between them in an instant!
Even though it passed several body lengths away, the wind it generated stung their skin painfully.
First Form instantly closed the distance, seamlessly connecting into the next.
Third Form: Clear Skies Wind Tree!
Everyone only saw a flash of cyan light collide with the boar.
Then, centered on the boar, several massive and dazzling cyan blades erupted outward!
When the blades disappeared, the ferocious charging boar had been sliced into pieces.
Naruto's figure stood on one of the larger chunks of meat. He flicked his sword, cleanly shaking off the blood from the blade.
All eyes in the forest fell onto the blond boy.
For a moment, the entire Death Forest fell into silence.
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