The atmosphere at the school gate was completely different from usual.
A few sloppily dressed, thuggish students gathered together, radiating hostility without concealment. Students just coming out of the campus bowed their heads, fear appearing on their faces, and unconsciously quickened their pace, afraid of making eye contact with this group and inviting unnecessary trouble.
A short-haired boy had just walked out of the teaching building. Seeing that group, his face turned pale instantly, and he turned around, wanting to avoid them.
"Hehehehe..."
Unfortunately, he was a step too late. Several students with wicked smiles had already blocked his path.
A boy with spiky yellow hair came to his side, flippantly hooking his arm around the shoulder of the short-haired boy, and said sarcastically, "Sato, where are you going?"
"No... nowhere, go... going home..." Sato was shaking all over with fear, even his reply became stuttering.
"Weren't you very arrogant a few days ago?" Another accomplice wasn't so 'polite' and stepped forward, grabbing Sato's hair fiercely.
"Aaaaaah!"
Intense pain came from his scalp. Sato couldn't help but cry out in pain as he was dragged by the hair toward the corner where the delinquent gang gathered.
Fear stimulated the instinct for survival and Sato suddenly began to resist violently. He knew deep down that once he was dragged into that circle, he would likely find it hard to go home in one piece today. While waving his arms wildly, one punch happened to hit the nose of the boy pulling his hair.
"Ugh!"
Caught off guard, the boy immediately let go in pain, clutching his nose and backing away repeatedly.
Sato seized this fleeting opportunity, turned around, and dashed desperately toward the school. As long as he found a teacher, he would be safe today.
However, just as he was rushing blindly, four people happened to walk out of the school gate. Sato couldn't stop in time and almost slammed head-first into the person in the lead.
"Hey! Watch it!" Mamoru reacted extremely quickly, turning his body halfway and nimbly avoiding the collision.
"S-sorry!" Sato didn't even have time to say a complete apology. He didn't stop, only wanting to escape quickly.
"What's going on? Why so panicked?" Mamoru glanced at the frantic back, somewhat puzzled.
At this time, the boy clutching his nose chased over, shouting, "Sato! You're de—"
But just as his harsh words reached his lips, his gaze fell upon Mamoru standing there. His footsteps came to a sudden halt, the ferocity on his face instantly replaced by extreme terror.
He unconsciously took two steps back, his voice trembling as he uttered the name. "U-Uchiha... Mamoru..."
"Hmm?" Mamoru raised an eyebrow slightly and turned to look at the person.
The abnormality the other party showed caught his attention.
He asked somewhat playfully, "Seeing me and being this scared, did you do something bad behind my back?"
"Run! It's Mamoru!"
Not far away, a sharp-eyed delinquent also spotted him and shouted.
Like a giant rock thrown into calm water, the group of originally arrogant delinquents, the moment they heard that name, scattered like startled birds, disappearing without a trace in an instant.
"Aaaaaah! I'm going to be killed!" The boy clutching his nose let out an even more shrill scream, turned around, and ran.
In the chaos, he stumbled several times, not even caring about his potentially sprained ankle. He scrambled away, using every ounce of strength to escape Mamoru's field of vision.
"What's the situation?" Mamoru stood frozen in place, failing to understand what had just happened.
"Wow... they all got scared away, that's quite an exaggeration." Shikamaru looked in the direction where the group disappeared, his tone carrying a hint of amazement.
"What's there to be afraid of with Mamoru? These people are really strange." Naruto held the back of his head with both hands, speaking with a face full of confusion.
Just then, a teacher came rushing out from inside the school. He locked onto Mamoru at a glance and charged over aggressively.
"It's you again, Mamoru!" The teacher pointed at Mamoru and questioned him indiscriminately, his eyebrows knit together.
"It wasn't me." Mamoru answered calmly, hands in his pockets, his expression indifferent.
"It wasn't you?" The teacher frowned suspiciously, looking around at the students scattered on their way home.
"A student ran to the Academic Affairs Office for help. Was it not you fighting?"
"Sensei, it really wasn't Mamoru." Shikamaru took a step forward. "We just came out of the school too."
"That's right!" Naruto hurriedly agreed, waving his arms to explain, "We didn't do anything. There was a group of people just now, and they ran away for no reason."
"Is that so..." The teacher looked at them skeptically, his gaze scanning back and forth across the four faces.
"I will ask that student for details. You'd better not have lied to me, or the punishment will be doubled."
Having said that, he gave a cold snort and turned to walk back into the school.
"What the heck, blaming the wrong person and not even apologizing..." Naruto grumbled dissatisfiedly, kicking a stone by his feet.
"Never mind, Let's go." Mamoru shrugged indifferently, long accustomed to being suspected.
After all, his reputation with the teachers had never been associated with the words 'honor student.'
The four of them left the school area and merged into the bustling crowd on the main road. It was at this moment that a sneaky shadow quietly stuck to them.
That figure sometimes shrank behind a telephone pole and sometimes clumsily curled into a roadside trash can. That clumsy stealth technique was practically challenging the limits of the four's perception.
"Who is it!"
The first to lose patience was Naruto. He spun around and shouted toward the end of the street, his loud voice instantly cutting through the noise, causing passersby to stop and stare.
"Hehehehe..."
A burst of feigned deep laughter that couldn't hide its childishness rang out.
Konohamaru scrambled out of the trash can, a banana peel still hanging on his head. He didn't care at all and rushed to Mamoru, looking up with eyes bursting with unhidden heat, locked tightly onto Mamoru.
"Boss, I saw everything." He said excitedly, his voice trembling slightly with excitement.
He had been hiding in the shadows near the Ninja Academy gate just now and witnessed the whole thing—the group of ill-tempered delinquents at the gate, and the scene where Mamoru's mere appearance scared them out of their wits, making them flee in chaos.
This made his admiration for Mamoru even deeper.