"How unfair, Kakashi-senpai is way too harsh!"
Naruto climbed up to the Hokage Rock and sat there, looking gloomy as he complained about someone.
"Naruto? Why are you here? At this time, shouldn't you be at home practicing your Shadow Clone Jutsu more?"
Mizuki appeared beside Naruto, smiling broadly, pleased to have finally caught him.
Last night, he had a dream—there was a black cat that told him the way to become strong.
And now, Naruto running away from home like this felt like a blessing from fate!
"Mizuki-sensei, I failed again. This time, Sasuke even got angry—he actually got angry."
Hugging his knees with a wronged expression, Naruto not only complained about Kakashi's scolding but was more upset because Sasuke was angry with him.
This reason successfully gave Mizuki a good explanation for his original doubts.
Because everyone at school already knew that Naruto cared about Sasuke the most.
"Actually, Sasuke is doing this for you. I heard that to help you practice your Shadow Clone Jutsu, Sasuke has even stopped his taijutsu training lately—just so you can graduate."
Mizuki maintained his gentle, friendly demeanor, calculating how to get Naruto to listen to him and steal the Sealing Scroll without others finding out early.
Or, using Sasuke as an excuse, maybe this Nine-Tails kid would...
"I do know that, but the Shadow Clone Jutsu is really hard. I've already tried so hard, but..."
Naruto lowered his head, speaking weakly about how hard he had been trying to learn but kept making mistakes.
Being scolded by Kakashi was one thing—he had gotten used to that—but what he couldn't accept was that Sasuke actually said he was dumb.
"Actually, Sasuke might just be worried. Looking at the situation now, you definitely can't graduate. If you can't graduate, you won't be in the same team as Sasuke in the future. Then, he might have two teammates—maybe even two girls—to experience life and death with, becoming the most important people to each other."
Mizuki was pretty skilled at hitting Naruto's weak spots. What seemed like a casual, sentimental remark immediately made Naruto jump up in panic.
"No way—I won't let Sasuke be with anyone else. He can only be mine."
Naruto glared fiercely at Mizuki, as if accusing him of being the villain trying to separate him from Sasuke.
"Naruto, there's a special graduation method at the school. Plus, it lets you choose your teammates first during graduation. Didn't Iruka tell you about it?"
Seeing Naruto's emotions already stirred up, Mizuki sighed as if unable to bear seeing him so upset, and mentioned this so-called graduation method that no one had ever heard of.
"What? No, he didn't say anything."
Naruto turned around with a dazed expression, blinking at Mizuki, curious about what this teacher—who always wore a fake smile—was about to say.
Sure enough, Sasuke was right. As long as he could put on a good act, unexpected surprises awaited them.
He just didn't know what Mizuki's real intention was—whether he wanted to harm him.
"Actually, this has always been a hidden secret of the school. As long as you can prove your strength, you can graduate successfully. But there's one condition: you can't tell anyone. Because if you do, it's the same as losing your qualification to graduate."
To prevent Naruto from going to discuss it with Sasuke, Mizuki deliberately emphasized the seriousness of the matter, then started explaining the location of the Sealing Scroll and where to send it after stealing it.
During this, he kept watching the surroundings carefully to make sure no one would come to interfere.
But in reality, not only were there ANBU members nearby listening carefully, the Third Hokage was also observing through the telescope jutsu from his office.