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At that moment, Lee was trembling all over, his eyes blazing with fighting spirit.
He hadn't expected Natsuki to already open the Third Gate—and judging from how relaxed Natsuki looked, he could probably open even more gates.
As expected, Guy-sensei's Hachimon Tonkō (Eight Gates Released Formation) was the strongest!
Lee was more convinced than ever that even if he couldn't use ninjutsu, he could still become a mighty ninja through sheer taijutsu!
"Hahaha! This is youth! In that case, I'll join you—Hachimon Tonkō: Seimon, KAI!" (Eight Gates Released Formation: Gate of Life, OPEN!)
Buzz! A torrent of chakra erupted around Guy too, and with a swoosh, he vanished from view.
Natsuki followed, disappearing as well.
All that could be seen were two afterimages flashing across the field at extreme speed, each collision booming like muffled thunder, the resulting shockwaves nearly uprooting the trees around them.
Of course, it was still just sparring—neither of them used their more destructive techniques.
Even Omote Renge (Front Lotus) wasn't unleashed.
Guy simply used the speed and strength granted by the Third Gate to exchange blows with Natsuki, but even that alone left the spectators deeply shaken.
Half an hour later, both of them finally stopped, panting heavily.
Guy wiped his sweat with satisfaction, flashing his dazzlingly white teeth:
"That was truly a youthful battle! Natsuki, you've already mastered the application of the Eight Gates wonderfully. Your talent is impressive!"
Natsuki, meanwhile, let Tenten help him wipe his sweat as he replied humbly:
"I'm still a long way from defeating you, Guy-sensei. I have to keep working hard."
"Haha! To defeat Konoha's Blue Beast, you've still got a long way to go!"
"No, no, I feel like I'm getting close!"
"Yosh! It's good for a young man to have ambition—but don't talk big. Tell you what, the day you beat me, I'll give you my treasured green jumpsuit as a gift!"
"Absolutely not!"
Tenten couldn't help but cut in:
"Guy-sensei, please! Natsuki absolutely cannot wear a tight green jumpsuit! My boyfriend can't turn into a kappa!"
Lee immediately protested:
"What are you talking about, Tenten! This is the symbol of youth! It's not a kappa! How can you be Guy-sensei's student and say such things?"
"I don't care! I won't let Natsuki be assimilated by you guys!"
"The only way to become truly strong is to be like Guy-sensei! He's the strongest! We have to follow his path!"
"Arghhh! No way!"
Their bickering made everyone around burst into laughter.
With the sparring over, of course they had to celebrate properly.
Tenten, the little rich girl, generously treated everyone to a feast at BBQ Q.
Everyone was overjoyed.
During the meal, however, Lee accidentally drank a cup of alcohol, sending Natsuki into a panic as he hurriedly threw him out into the street.
As everyone watched in confusion, they saw Lee start drunkenly fighting… using Suiken (Drunken Fist)!
And surprisingly, he was quite good at it!
Thankfully, Natsuki had tossed him out before the chaos escalated—otherwise, a few drunken moves could've flattened the whole restaurant.
Even if Tenten's family was rich, wasting money like that wasn't acceptable.
"Lee's Drunken Fist isn't bad. It's good enough to beat most Chūnin," Neji commented.
"Yeah, but his alcohol tolerance is terrible. He's wasted after one cup. Training him in Drunken Fist would be a nightmare. Better not even think about it—he'd end up tearing Konoha apart!"
Guy quickly abandoned the idea.
After all, being good at Drunken Fist was meaningless if the user passed out after one drink.
After that hilarious mess, Guy took Lee home, and the rest of the group went their separate ways.
Natsuki and Tenten, however, didn't rush home.
Hand in hand, they strolled leisurely through the streets—since they both had no missions for once, they decided to treat it like a casual date and properly relax.
Unexpectedly, as they wandered, they bumped into Team 7, who were playing cards out of sheer boredom.
Naruto's card addiction was still strong.
He had roped Sasuke and Sakura into playing with him. They had reluctantly agreed, and actually found it rather fun—except that Naruto's terrible card skills kept making them furious.
"Yo! Looks like you three are pretty free, huh?" Natsuki greeted them.
"Huh? Oh, Natsuki, Tenten—you guys are… oh, a date, right?"
Sakura's eyes sparkled with envy when she saw them holding hands.
How she wished she could go on a hand-holding date with Sasuke!
But Sasuke clearly had no interest in romance at all, much to her frustration.
What she never realized was…
How could someone burdened with blood-deep hatred possibly have the heart for dating?
She completely failed to understand Sasuke's mindset.
There was no way Sasuke would fall for her.
"Hey, Natsuki, Tenten! Wanna join our card game?" Naruto called out cheerfully.
"I'll pass," Natsuki refused immediately.
"But what about you guys? No missions lately? Where's Kakashi-senpai?"
Hearing that, Naruto puffed up proudly:
"Hehe, Natsuki, you probably don't know yet—we just got back from a mission outside the village! And it was a B-rank mission too!"
"B-rank? No way! The Hokage wouldn't assign such a high-level mission to fresh Genin!"
Tenten was the first to express disbelief.
"It's true! I swear! We went to the Land of Waves this time…"
Ah, here it was—the Land of Waves mission.
After listening to Naruto's chaotic storytelling, Natsuki roughly pieced things together.
It was more or less the same as in the original story.
Even though Team 7 had all mastered tree-climbing and water-walking early on, their overall strength hadn't improved much.
When they encountered Zabuza and Haku, the situation still unfolded nearly identically.
In the end, both Zabuza and Haku died together.
Such a pity.
After all, many people had fallen in love with Naruto because of the emotional story between those two.
Naruto's famed "Talk no Jutsu" hadn't worked.
Haku had lived for Zabuza—and died for him.
When Haku died, Zabuza realized he could no longer live without him.
Tenten listened, visibly moved, unsure what to say.
Natsuki sighed:
"A truly beautiful and tragic love story. It's such a shame."
Huh? Love? Lovers?
Team 7 froze, looking confused.
Sakura hesitantly raised her hand and corrected him:
"N-Natsuki… that Haku kid, even though he was super cute, he was still a boy. He and Zabuza weren't lovers…"
Naruto and Sasuke both nodded vigorously, backing her up.
But Natsuki had a perfectly serious expression:
"You guys really don't get it. Haku may have been male… but who ever said Zabuza wasn't female?"
Huh?! Was that even possible!?
Wait, so Zabuza was a woman?!
"And besides," Natsuki continued smoothly, "who says two guys can't be in love? Just like Naruto and Sasuke—you two already had your first kiss with each other, right?"
"Shut up, Natsuki! Don't bring that up!"
Naruto and Sasuke exploded, lunging toward Natsuki, desperate to silence him.
Meanwhile, Sakura stood there stunned, her mind spiraling into chaos.
Sakura:
So… Naruto and Sasuke are actually in love with each other?
Does that make me… the third wheel?
(End of Chapter)
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