After a chaotic group brawl, the drunks they fought paid a heavy price—one broken leg each, not to mention countless minor injuries.
The guy Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno took on got it the worst: six missing teeth, eight broken ribs, a busted leg, and a snapped arm.
For some reason, the group of young ninjas felt closer than ever in that moment. There was something about standing up for their buddy that brought them together.
It was like they were living the reckless, passionate spirit of youth!
Each of them was buzzing with excitement. They'd never gotten into a real fight before—just the usual sparring at the Ninja Academy. This time, though? They'd gone all out, and it felt awesome!
Naruto Uzumaki was the only one who hadn't thrown a punch. Seeing the drunks' miserable state, he couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy. His softer side even made him want to talk his friends out of going so hard…
But his emotions won out. These were his friends, sticking up for him! They were teaching the jerks who messed with him a lesson!
Sure, beating them up this bad was probably wrong… but man, it felt so touching!
Meanwhile, Neji Hyuga, Rock Lee, and Tenten stood there, jaws practically on the ground, watching this group of Ninja Academy students act like a full-on gang.
They all knew each other from school, but who would've thought these kids could be this ruthless?!
"Compared to you guys, you're the ones acting like real ninjas!" they thought. "We've graduated, and what do we do? Find lost cats, walk dogs, or pull weeds. But you academy kids? You're out here throwing hands like pros!"
Looking at his pumped-up crew, Hirofumi Ito's lips curled into a sly grin. This was exactly what he wanted.
Get these kids tight-knit and loyal, and his big plans for the future would fall right into place!
"So, how's it feel? Pretty good, right?" Hirofumi said, glancing at the beaten drunks like they were nothing but trash.
For Sasuke, this was his first time getting into something like this, and it was thrilling. That rush of adrenaline, the heat of the moment!
For some reason, he suddenly remembered a song Hirofumi had sung once…
"I storm through the chaos, with everyone looking up to me!"
That's right! He was the star of this turbulent world!
With that thought, Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets, tilted his chin up, squinted at a 45-degree angle like the ultimate Uchiha cool guy, and declared, "Just a bunch of losers. Trash deserves to be dealt with like trash. If they dare mess with my friends, they'd better be ready to face the wrath of the Uchiha!"
After his dramatic speech, Sasuke stole a quick glance at Naruto.
Naruto, oblivious to Sasuke's sneaky look, bounced over to him. "There goes smug Sasuke being all smug again! But fine, since you said it like that, I'll grudgingly admit you're my friend, heh heh!"
Neji, Lee, and Tenten, on the other hand, were much calmer. Neji, stone-faced as ever, looked at Hirofumi. "This mess is a big deal. You made a lot of noise, and even if you're just academy students, this isn't going to be easy to smooth over. Got any plans?"
Hirofumi flashed a mischievous smirk. Neji might look cold, but this was clearly his way of showing concern.
And it made sense. Hirofumi had spent years building bonds at the academy. Besides Tenten and Lee, he was one of Neji's few real friends.
"Tch, what's there to worry about?" Hirofumi said. "Take a look at who we are!"
Neji blinked, then got it. Right. What was there to stress about? They just roughed up a few drunks who started it!
And the kids who threw punches? Aside from Sakura, who came from a civilian family, even Hirofumi's family—the smallest of the bunch—was still a notable clan. This wasn't a big deal at all.
"Forget that for now," Hirofumi said, waving it off. "Just a few drunks, no biggie. We're heading to Sasuke's place for a team dinner. You three were about to grab food too, right? Why not join us? No missions right now, and we're all buddies. Let's hang!"
Tenten and Lee seemed tempted, but Neji didn't respond right away.
Then Hinata Hyuga stepped forward, back to her shy, soft-spoken self. "B-Brother… why don't we join them? It'll be fun with everyone together… r-right, Brother?"
Looking at his adorable, timid little sister, Neji couldn't believe she'd just been so fierce in the fight. Those hopeful eyes of hers melted him, and he nodded. "Fine… let's go."
"Yay, Brother!" Hinata cheered.
"Woo! Party time!" Choji Akimichi shouted, already starving.
But Shikamaru Nara, hands in his pockets, glanced into the distance. "Trouble's coming…"
Naruto, clueless as ever, tilted his head. "What trouble, Shikamaru? Come on, let's go eat!"
Everyone else, though, turned to look where Shikamaru was staring.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
A group of Anbu ninjas appeared before the group. "As ninjas, you've attacked civilians without cause. Come with us for questioning."
Hirofumi froze, eyeing the lead Anbu with a familiar spiky white ponytail peeking out from under the mask. No way… is that Kakashi?
He chuckled. "Uh, sir, you might've gotten it wrong. We're not ninjas. We're just Ninja Academy students! Those three over there are ninjas, but they didn't lay a finger on anyone!"
Kakashi, masked and all, paused. He recognized the three Genin—Gai's students—but they hadn't thrown a single punch. Academy students weren't technically ninjas, so the rule against attacking civilians didn't fully apply.
This… was going to be tricky.