Naruto: If I ask you to kill Sasuke, you will become a succubus?

That day, Naruto and I went to the teacher's office after school and copied the assignment before leaving.

Naruto actually stayed until the end, and even Teacher Iruka was surprised.

He went to the classroom to check on the copying situation, and when he came back and saw Naruto still there, he said to himself: "I thought you would run away while I was away!"

Naruto humphed, "I won't abandon my friends!"

"Hey..." Iruka-sensei's reaction was somewhat similar to Boss Ichiraku's, "Naruto has made friends too."

Then, when he saw Naruto sleeping in class, not doing his homework, or having conflicts with classmates, and he couldn't catch Naruto, or Naruto didn't listen to his discipline, he would come to me and say, "Since we are friends, Chaolu, you should also persuade him!"

However, Naruto no longer skips classes and no longer graffiti on Hokage Rock.

This was mentioned in Orochimaru's intelligence scroll - saying that it was his hobby when he was a teenager.

I was ready to skip classes with him and graffiti.

I said, “…I’ll give it a try.”

But I was just dealing with the teacher and had no intention of intervening. Instead, Naruto felt that he had implicated me: "Really! Can I just hand in my homework next time? It has nothing to do with Asaka, why does Iruka-sensei always look for you! I don't want to implicate my friends!"

Since it was Naruto's own request, I couldn't refuse.

I finished my homework and gave it to him to copy, but during the test, Naruto didn't know any of the questions. Teacher Iruka took both of us to his office and scolded us severely.

Orochimaru said that laughing and crying are the most commonly used emotions by humans.

I am already quite proficient in using "laughing", but I have never tried "crying".

I knew that I could cry when I was scolded, so I wanted to practice "crying" by listening to Iruka-sensei's scolding.

So I cried.

I’m not very good at sobbing, choking, wailing, and other various forms of “crying”, so for now I’m just shedding simple tears.

Naruto noticed that I was crying silently with my head down, and he immediately shouted angrily: "It's all Iruka-sensei's fault! Chaolu is crying!"

He dragged me away from the office, and Iruka-sensei ran after us angrily, yelling, "Hey! Naruto--!!!"

Naruto dragged me to the school rooftop regardless.

There was no one here. He searched his whole body but couldn't find any tissue or handkerchief, so he patted his sleeves hard to make them cleaner, and used his cuffs to wipe my tears.

I wasn't sure how long this crying behavior would last, and I was worried that it would seem abnormal if I stopped crying now, so I kept crying.

Naruto helped me wipe it clumsily, and the fabric on his sleeves rubbed my skin and hurt.

I had to speak: "Naruto..."

"Ok?"

"…The cuffs are too stiff…it hurts…"

"Ouch, sorry!"

He quickly lowered his sleeves and saw that my skin was indeed red.

I sniffed, and he lifted his sleeves again, exposing his arms, and used his palms to catch my tears.

"I'll do my own homework from now on."

"But……"

"I can't let my friends get in trouble!"

"Well……"

"Chaolu, tell me what I don't know."

Since Naruto said so, I can only agree with him: "Okay..."

He lowered his voice and said, "Don't cry."

So I stopped crying.

I rubbed my eyes and saw that Naruto had a complicated expression.

"what happened?"

"I don't know...but if I see Chaolu crying, I'll feel sad too."

He covered his chest, looking as if he didn't know why.

Such remarks are often considered confessions, but Orochimaru and Shikamaru have both specifically noted that he has said similar things to Uchiha Sasuke many times.

They said that Naruto's sense of boundaries in some aspects of his interactions with others was different from that of ordinary people, and he would occasionally behave in a way that could be misunderstood.

I laughed: "Because... we are friends."

Naruto immediately smiled as well, "That's right! We are friends!"

Later, Naruto and I stayed after school to do homework. At the beginning, I had to explain almost every question to him, but gradually, he was able to solve some simple questions by himself.

Although my grades were still at the bottom, my scores had improved a lot, and at least a few subjects were close to passing.

Teacher Iruka happily invited Naruto and I to have Ichiraku Ramen together, and praised Naruto's progress and my enthusiastic help in class.

Shikamaru would often bring me breakfast that he didn't like - such as boiled eggs, sandwiches with boiled eggs, and leftover breakfast fruit.

At noon, he also left the food he didn't like in his lunch box for me.

Sometimes I can’t help but say, “There are so many things that Shikamaru doesn’t like to eat…”

But he said, "If there is something you don't like to eat, don't force yourself."

I shook my head. "I like them all! Shikamaru's mom's cooking is delicious!"

He just smiled.

I'm used to speaking directly to Naruto, so I told Shikamaru directly, "I like the way Shikamaru smiles."

He froze for a moment.

I added, "Shikamaru usually looks very tired. I can't help but feel worried when I see him, and I want to make Shikamaru relax. When Shikamaru smiles, I feel happy too."

His eyes widened, and he stuttered, "I...you...don't use the same tactics you and Naruto used on me!"

"...Is it not okay to just speak your mind to others?" I took note of it carefully. "I understand."

He glared at me.

I wanted to ask him why, but he said I couldn't ask him directly like I asked Naruto, so I just endured it silently.

Later, when Shikamaru shared snacks with him, he would always ask me if I wanted some and then hand it to me first.

As a result, the number of times I was kept after class for eating snacks increased significantly, and there were three or four days a week when there were only four of us kept after school.

I began to worry whether I could still be selected into Class 7 as a "good student" if this continued.

……

On weekends, Naruto often comes to play with me, and we go to the park to play on the swings.

When other children tried to chase us away, Naruto and I would fight with them, and then when the other parents came over angrily, we would hold hands and run away together.

We fled to the river, and occasionally saw Uchiha Sasuke sitting alone on the shore.

Not long ago, the Uchiha clan was destroyed, and his brother Uchiha Itachi also defected.

But Orochimaru said that there was another hidden story behind this matter. If possible, I can try to keep Uchiha Itachi alive, because if he were there, perhaps Uchiha Sasuke would not have ended up taking that paranoid and extreme path.

But Naruto was still number one, of course.

I found that Naruto started to pay attention to Sasuke. Orochimaru was right, he has a natural empathy for all "lonely" beings.

Sasuke is still very young, and I don’t have any particular ill feelings towards him, but I am still closer to Orochimaru, Kabuto, Shikamaru, Ino and the others.

Why couldn't I kill him earlier?

Orochimaru won't allow me to do that.

He said that before Sasuke and Naruto turned against each other, they defeated a powerful enemy together. The power of Sasuke and Naruto was indispensable. If they killed him, no one would be able to seal the enemy named Kaguya, and the world would fall into another doomsday.

I don't understand, but I listen.

Naruto kept staring at Sasuke, and I pulled his hand nervously.

I always feel like something bad will happen if they get too close.

He was too important, and in the end he died at the hands of Sasuke.

I always subconsciously want them to keep some distance, thinking it will be safer.

When Naruto turned to look at me, Sasuke noticed something and turned to look at us.

I tightened my grip on Naruto's hand and looked towards Sasuke, meeting his eyes.

His eyes were black, like a mass of thick darkness that could not be dissolved.

I immediately stood in front of Naruto and glared at him without backing down.

Sasuke frowned and turned away.

Naruto pulled me forward.

"Naruto……?"

"Why are you staring at Sasuke?" Naruto was a little unhappy, "You are like the girls in school. You think he is good-looking, powerful and handsome. Do you like him?"