The entire Ninja Academy seemed to be caught in a strange new trend. A bizarre way of speaking had suddenly become wildly popular, and nearly every student was mimicking the peculiar tone.
Even the teachers weren't immune—sometimes they'd get swept up in it mid-lecture.
"Sasuke-kun"
"Sasuke-kun, look at me~"
"Sasuke-kun,Good morning"
No one suffered more than Uchiha Sasuke himself. It all seemed to have started with one blonde girl. He'd been so startled by her voice that he reflexively responded—and from that moment, things spiraled out of control.
To be honest, that high-pitched, syrupy voice gave Sasuke full-body goosebumps.
And it wasn't just the girls. Sometimes even a few boys—whose voices were cracking with puberty—would jump in, trying to imitate the same tone.
He couldn't yell at them, and he couldn't punch them either. If it weren't for the need to maintain the Uchiha clan's image, Sasuke would've definitely decked them.
If it had been Naruto doing it from the start, Sasuke would've just socked him once and been done with it. Watching him cry would've been a satisfying reward.
"I bought a little pinwheel~ whoo~ whoo~ whoo~"
A voice whispered beside Sasuke's ear, followed by a gust of warm breath. A shiver ran down his spine, that tingly-numb feeling shooting straight from his toes to the top of his head.
Then a familiar mop of blond hair entered his vision.
"Uzumaki Naruto, are you asking for a beating?!"
Sasuke, flustered and furious, pointed at Naruto and shouted.
Thankfully, no one else was around—otherwise his image would've been completely ruined.
"Come on, come on. Let's throw down!" Naruto's eyes lit up as he eagerly rolled up his sleeves. "Let's see if you're Pikachu's little brother—Itchy-chu."
Ha! The rain had cleared, and the sun was out. Was Sasuke feeling bold again?
Naruto had been itching for an excuse to beat Sasuke up anyway.
Sasuke eyed the clearly visible muscles on Naruto's arms—obvious even when he wasn't flexing—and his eyes turned blood-red in an instant. A single tomoe spun furiously in his Sharingan.
"I'm not fighting," Sasuke said firmly.
Naruto gave him a look of pure disdain. "HEH-TUI!"
Naruto only ever acted like a typical teenager in front of a few people—Sasuke being one of the rare few.
"Sasuke," Naruto suddenly called out, watching over Sasuke's training.
Training was like rowing upstream—stop for even a second, and you're going backward.
As Sasuke's non-blood-related but emotionally attached brother, Naruto constantly pushed him to train harder and grow stronger.
He would occasionally "check" Sasuke's progress by beating him up.
"Don't call me that," Sasuke muttered as he wiped sweat from his forehead, clearly annoyed.
Naruto ignored him completely and kept talking:
"Sasuke, Neji and Lee are graduating today."
Then in a lower voice, he asked:
"Do you want to graduate early?"
Graduate early?
If this had been right after the massacre, Sasuke would've said yes without hesitation.
Back then, all he could think about was revenge—killing that man. Even in his dreams, Sasuke would be haunted by that desire.
Naruto had often seen him mumbling in his sleep, calling out for his parents.
He had even asked Fugaku and Mikoto once if they should tell Sasuke the truth and bring him to live with them.
But Fugaku had responded sternly:
"People grow through hardship. Pain and setbacks are the whetstones of the soul. As a child of the Uchiha clan, especially as a boy, he must endure more."
Still, Naruto felt like the couple's attention was just all on Karin.
According to a certain unreliable source, Fugaku and Mikoto had actually wanted a daughter for their second child. They were so convinced they were having one that they almost arranged a betrothal with the Fourth Hokage's family.
Who knew they'd end up with a 'what-the-hell-is-this' instead?
A son? What son? What do you know? Daughters are better than sons, obviously!
"Graduate early…" Sasuke repeated, caught off guard. He paused, then shook his head. "No need."
Naruto hopped down from the tree and found a comfortable spot leaning against the trunk.
"Figured it out, huh?"
"Yeah."
Sasuke did want to get stronger—strong enough to kill that man.
That was his conviction, his driving force.
But graduating and getting stronger weren't the same thing.
He used to believe that early graduation meant rapid growth: one year to become a Chūnin, another to become a Jōnin. If he could break that man's records, then he'd be stronger than him.
After all, that man had graduated at 7, become a Chūnin at 10, and led an ANBU squad at 13.
By standard shinobi logic, the quicker you advanced, the stronger you were.
But that was normal shinobi logic.
What Sasuke was training in now—was the Turtle Hermit Style.
Even though he couldn't manifest that mysterious "Ki" energy, his growth was still astonishing.
He could feel himself getting stronger—visibly, tangibly stronger—every few days.
Graduating early would just mean getting bogged down in missions. It would slow his training.
Besides, even if he graduated, he'd just be assigned to a Jōnin instructor.
And Sasuke knew—Naruto was way stronger than any Jōnin.
Even that man wasn't faster than Naruto.
"Let's go find Lee and Neji," Naruto said, grabbing Sasuke—who was still limp from post-training fatigue—and pulling him to his feet. "They're probably about to take the division exam."
"There's an exam for team placement after graduation?"
Naruto gave him a look.
"Of course there is. What, you thought the Academy's Three Basic Techniques test was all it took? No way. No way someone actually believes that, right?"
Sasuke: …
Uzumaki Naruto you little—!
"With Neji and Lee's skills, they'll pass for sure."
Naruto clapped Sasuke on the shoulder.
"Come on. Let's hit Ichiraku Ramen—you're buying."
---
Meanwhile, in Training Field 44 of the Hidden Leaf Village...
Neji and Lee were locked in an intense three-way battle with their teacher, Might Guy. Fists flew in every direction, every blow landing with incredible force. The sound of fists meeting flesh rang out through the clearing.
Tenten stood off to the side, stunned, watching her two teammates fight their sensei to a standstill.
She couldn't even join the battle—their insane speed made it impossible to follow, let alone step in.
Are my teammates really this strong...?
Can I just coast from now on...?
Wait... what's that?
Looks familiar… Tenten bent down and picked up a small string of bells from the ground. She stared at them for a moment before realization dawned.
Wait—didn't Guy-sensei say grabbing the bells means you pass?
Apparently, the three of them had gotten so caught up in the fight that they'd completely forgotten the original objective.
"This... is what youth is all about!!"