"The first friend? He seems just like me too," Nayou secretly felt happy to have met someone who shared her own experiences and could become a friend.
"Then, as a friend, can I ask you a question?" Nayou smiled sweetly at her very first friend, Shen, blinking her lovely eyes.
"Yes."
With permission granted, she immediately asked, "Why did you act that way on the first day of school?"
Shen wasn't surprised by this question at all. With Nayou's sensory abilities, there was no way she couldn't have noticed he had deliberately put on an act that day.
So he openly explained everything behind his actions to his friend.
The more Nayou heard, the more shocked she became. This person had actually been forced to leave the school under pressure—just because of his reputation, all because of that so-called troublemaker, Senju's young master.
"You see, isn't that guy a doofus? Every time you run into him, nothing good ever happens!" Excitedly, Shen summarized the root of the problem as Nawaki, believing himself unlucky for crossing paths with such a person and getting scammed.
"Mm, yes." Nayou listened patiently and responded. Although she wasn't sure exactly what "doofus" meant, she didn't mind the teasing tone in his voice.
Perhaps it was because both had mutually accepted each other?
"So today I'm here to cause a little chaos—I'm planning to burn down the school after class when everyone's gone!" Shen proudly announced his plan.
However, the details shocked Nayou so much that her delicate face turned pale with horror: "D-Do you really trust me that much not to tell anyone?"
"Maybe. Today, I realized something extremely important to me. Thank you, Nayou—without today's duel, I would never have come to this realization." A grateful Shen bowed deeply to her.
"D-Don't do that..." The Little Iceberg stammered, her cheeks slightly flushed, as if her icy demeanor had begun melting.
Unaware of her reaction, Shen pondered whether he should proceed with his plan. It was only when he lifted his hand that he realized he'd been holding onto her wrist the whole time since healing her.
Seeing Nayou's blushing face, Shen thought he'd offended her: "Ah, truly sorry—I'll let go right away."
"It's okay, you don't need to apologize. By the way, shall we continue?" Successfully redirecting the topic, Nayou experienced for the first time the feeling of being sincerely thanked by someone face-to-face.
"No, your body cells seem somewhat fatigued already. If you want some martial practice in the future, feel free to find me anytime." Explained Shen shaking his head, failing to grasp the real reason for her blush—that it was not from prolonged physical contact but rather due to directly receiving sincere gratitude.
"Well then, if you ever need help in the future, definitely come find me." Nayou spoke far more gently than before.
"Of course, we are friends!" Shen answered with a smile.
"So, what do we do now? The classroom looks like this. Won't Hokage Principal get angry about our duel?"
Nayou still worried about possible punishment from the school for the fight—the presence of so many witnesses made it uncertain whether they'd report what happened or not.
"Don't worry, Hokage Uncle wouldn't hold it against us for one broken classroom."
"Shen, who had been speaking calmly, suddenly changed his tone: 'And since this classroom is in such a shabby condition, how about we do everyone a favor and burn it down to rebuild it?'"
"..."
Nayou could only stare. How much did this guy *love* stirring up trouble? His tone alone was enough to make someone want to punch him.
"If you don't say anything, I'll take that as a yes—I just so happen to have a jutsu I've been wanting to test." Without waiting for her reply, Shen immediately turned around with his back facing her.
Now Nayou—who had been "agreed" without consent—reactivated her Little Iceberg persona. Her narrowed eyes locked onto Shen's back as if weighing whether to knock him out to stop his antics.
Activating his Sharingan, Shen began channeling chakra through his chakra meridians. Several streams of independent chakra quickly gathered at his throat.
[Katon: Multiple Great Fireball Jutsu!]
Several miniature fireballs shot from Shen's mouth like projectiles. However, Nayou's Byakugan could see far more than what met the eye.
[Harness!]
He mentally commanded, and the scattered mini-fireballs instantly converged into one.
Seeing the fire chakra concentrate in Shen's mouth, Nayou now understood exactly what he was attempting.
[Disperse!]
The fire chakra spread through the air and made contact with the tiny fireballs. With a thunderous boom, the mini-fireballs ignited explosively, erupting into over a dozen full-sized Great Fireballs that tore across the classroom.
Satisfied with the results, Shen gave a slight nod before turning to Nayou and asking, [How was the power of my Multiple Great Fireball Jutsu?]
Unable to stop it, Nayou simply nodded blankly. Her Little Iceberg persona had long melted away at the sight of the burning classroom.
"Hurry, let's go! If we stay any longer, the flames will reach us!" After a short pause, Shen suddenly grabbed Nayou's soft hand and sprinted toward the door.
"..."
Her icy demeanor gone, Nayou didn't resist. Perhaps she thought this was normal behavior between friends—and saw no reason to object?
At the edge of the corridor, students were still heatedly debating who would win the duel going on inside their classroom.
Then they saw the two of them running out hand-in-hand, an image that simultaneously fried all their brains.
"Oh no, even the class ice princess got touched by Shen Uchiha! Does fighting against this guy come with a guaranteed love effect?" Heiji clearly misunderstood something and silently groaned inwardly.
"You two are...?"
Mikoto had always been wary of her clan's biggest troublemaker. Ever since that time when he'd tattled on them, she received orders to keep an eye on this kid on behalf of the clan head.
"We're just friends. Nothing more than that. Anyway, there's a fire inside the classroom; everyone needs to evacuate right away." Shen knew perfectly well he'd been misunderstood again—but as long as it wasn't boys misunderstanding, he didn't mind too much.
Furthermore, being fully aware of both social common sense and logic, he couldn't afford not to explain things properly to his classmates. Otherwise, the newly made friends might end up parting ways like Hashirama and Madara—two former allies turned bitter enemies—eventually leading to a decisive battle.
"!!!"
After hearing about the fire in the classroom, none of the students cared anymore whether the friendship between the two was genuine or fake. Who had time for rumors when their own lives were on the line? One by one, they rushed out of the school building in panic.
Outside the Ninja Academy, Shen gently let go of Nayou's small hand and announced to everyone, "I started the fire. If anything happens, come after me—Shen Uchiha! I have things to do, so I'll be leaving first."
As soon as he finished speaking, his body turned into a streak of white lightning and vanished into thin air.
This left all the students confused. Why would someone start a fire and then openly admit it? And why did he say for everything to come after him? It felt like he was deliberately asking for trouble.
Nayou slipped back into her Little Iceberg persona, but her pale white eyes remained fixed on the spot where he'd vanished. At the same time, she silently asked herself, "What kind of person is Shen Uchiha exactly? Is his only goal really just to drop out of school?"
Still full of unanswered questions, she turned around and walked away first.
"I need to file a report about this right away!" Mikoto said, bidding farewell to the others before departing.
Heiji, the little chubby boy, watched blankly as one by one his classmates left. He couldn't shake the feeling that this exact scene had happened before.
Looking over his shoulder, Heiji saw his homeroom teacher, Nishinodera, approaching from behind. The teacher was carrying a brand new set of desks and chairs in both hands.
"Heiji, what are you—"
"Teacher, the classroom is on fire! Also, Shen Uchiha said that if anyone asks, just say he's the one who set the fire. And if anything happens, blame him."
Heiji quickly interrupted before Nishino could finish his question. Then, taking a few steps forward, he even gave the teacher an encouraging hug. This feeling of déjà vu grew even stronger.
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