The most shocked person at that moment was undoubtedly the one standing across from Haruno Sakura—Uchiha Sasuke.
She had actually managed to use two ninjutsu in such a short time.
Even he, the so-called Uchiha genius, couldn't do that.
Just as he was still sighing in disbelief—
Thud.
Haruno Sakura collapsed to the ground, completely drained of chakra.
Iruka and Uchiha Sasuke both fell silent at the exact same time.
So that was your limit too? We thought you were actually amazing.
"Uchiha Sasuke wins."
"Second match: Hyūga Hinata vs. Akimichi Chōza."
The moment Akimichi Chōza heard his opponent was Hyūga Hinata, he quickly put down the chips in his hand.
"When it comes to eating, I admit defeat. But in battle, I definitely won't lose again."
They formed the Seal of Confrontation.
"Human Bullet Tank!"
Akimichi Chōza's body instantly expanded.
Iruka secretly nodded in approval.
Not bad, not bad. Learning the Akimichi clan's Secret Technique at this age already?
Honestly, he should've been shocked right now.
But after seeing Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke casually throwing out ninjutsu earlier, his standards had already risen dramatically. There was absolutely no way he'd be shocked again.
Holy shit.
"Air Palm!"
"Air Palm!"
"Air Palm!"
Hyūga Hinata apologized once every attack while continuously firing Air Palm strikes.
(Hyūga Hiyasu: Only people with low chakra specialize in Gentle Fist. Those with enough chakra just bombard the enemy with Air Palm attacks. If one palm strike isn't enough, then use a thousand more.)
Iruka hurriedly stopped the battle.
Anyone with functioning eyes could tell Akimichi Chōza had absolutely no ability to fight back.
"Hyūga Hinata wins."
After announcing the result, Iruka stared at Hinata like she was some kind of monster.
So this was actually the real monster, huh?
"Third match: Inuzuka Nami vs. Yamanaka Ino."
"Nami, I'm not going easy on you!"
"Same here!"
"NAMI!!!"
"INO!!!"
"Inuzuka Nami wins."
(Inuzuka Nami & Yamanaka Ino: Wasn't that way too rushed?!)
(Author: If you two aren't pulling hair or tearing clothes, who wants to watch that?)
"Fourth match: Namikaze Naruto vs. Nara Shikamaru."
Naruto happily jumped into the battle arena.
"Hahaha! Shikamaru, so you're my opponent? Hurry up, hurry up!"
Nara Shikamaru's face turned dark.
There were clearly so many other people.
So why did it have to be you?
Every single time he was peacefully sleeping, that incredibly annoying face would suddenly appear—
Forcibly dragging him out to do this and that.
What a pain.
I can lose to anyone else, but absolutely not to you.
If I admit defeat to you, then where am I supposed to vent all the frustration I've built up over the years?
"Naruto, good is rewarded and evil is punished. It's not that retribution never comes—it's just that the time hasn't arrived yet. And today is the day you finally get yours."
Nara Shikamaru gritted his teeth as he spoke.
"Shikamaru, what are you even talking about? I don't get it."
Naruto looked completely confused.
Why did Shikamaru look so angry? Did someone piss him off?
After completing the Seal of Confrontation—
"Kunai Throwing Technique!"
Three kunai shot straight toward Naruto.
By this point, Iruka was already getting numb to everything. They'd already used shuriken before, so kunai didn't even matter anymore.
As long as you kids don't—
"Naruto, watch out. Explosive Tags—detonate!"
Iruka: ???
The kunai Naruto had just dodged suddenly revealed Explosive Tags hidden near their handles, each covered in strange markings.
Kunai wrapped with Explosive Tags… and even disguised with a camouflage technique.
Every generation of the Nara clan really was black-hearted.
Flames erupted—
Yet Naruto suddenly appeared directly behind Nara Shikamaru.
As the son of the Yellow Flash, and without the Nine-Tails interfering with his chakra control, how could Naruto possibly be slow?
"Shikamaru, I win."
Naruto gripped his kunai and slashed toward him.
"Not necessarily. Shadow Imitation Technique."
A black shadow shot out from beneath Shikamaru's feet and instantly connected to Naruto's shadow.
"Success."
Nara Shikamaru turned around to face Naruto directly.
Shikamaru raised his left hand, and Naruto raised his right.
The two looked like mirror reflections.
Shikamaru crouched and grabbed the empty air beside him.
Naruto crouched and grabbed the kunai at his side.
"Naruto, you lost."
"I didn't."
"My kunai's already at your neck. How is that not losing?"
"I don't care. If you've got the guts, then kill me. I'm not admitting defeat."
"You damn scoundrel."
"Isn't that what you always say? Know the rules thoroughly. Iruka-sensei never said having a kunai at my neck counts as losing."
"Iruka-sensei, aren't you going to judge this fairly? Doesn't this count as my win?"
Iruka finally snapped out of it.
"This match is a draw. And that concludes the assessment."
Good lord. They're already using Explosive Tags at this age. If this keeps going, who knows what kind of nonsense they'll pull next?
Nara Shikamaru looked extremely displeased.
I finally decided to get serious for once, and this is the result I get?
After everyone dispersed, he secretly went to find Umino Iruka.
"Iruka-sensei, why did you do that? I clearly won just now."
"He's the Hokage's son. How could I possibly declare him the loser?"
"But the Fourth Hokage wouldn't care about something like this—"
"The Fourth Hokage is a genuinely good person, so of course he wouldn't. But plenty of people at the Ninja Academy would use this opportunity to make trouble for me. I'm still just an ordinary teacher. I can't afford to offend department heads, vice principals, and all those honorary directors."
Nara Shikamaru thought about it for a moment and immediately understood.
Iruka-sensei absolutely could have declared Naruto the loser.
Minato definitely wouldn't have cared.
But the people trying to curry favor with Minato would think differently.
That was the disgusting reality of social politics.
The people most likely to target you often aren't the ones you offended directly, but the people trying to impress the person you offended.
A loyalty display, huh?
Understandable.
Disgusting.
I should probably stay further away from Naruto in the future. Otherwise everything I do will get talked about, and that's way too troublesome.
"Shikamaru, sorry. You really did win earlier. I was just too prideful and refused to admit defeat."
The moment Nara Shikamaru returned from talking with Iruka, he was met with Naruto's sincere apology.
If you hadn't apologized, I could've stayed righteously angry for days. You definitely would've been too embarrassed to come bother me during that time. But now that you've apologized… what am I supposed to do?
Sometimes, what people fear most isn't someone refusing to apologize.
It's when you already planned out a whole series of responses for if they didn't apologize—
And then they suddenly apologize.
So now what?
And with you acting like this, how am I supposed to distance myself from you and peacefully slack off anymore?