"Hiss! Ouch, ouch, ouch—", Falling to the ground, Naruto, who had already turned back into his original form, was not feeling great.
He sat on the ground, rubbing the red mark on his forehead where the kunai had struck.
He kept sucking in cold air through his teeth, clearly in a lot of pain.
"Naru… Naruto!" ×3
At this moment, three exclamations of shock rang out simultaneously, startling him.
Naruto looked up and saw Tenten, Ino, and Hinata, all covering their mouths in disbelief as they stared at him with wide eyes.
He scratched his head awkwardly, but inside, he was already overflowing with excitement.
It had been three months, and this was the first time he had defeated Sasuke.
"Hahaha, Sasuke, this time I won… huh?"
"Sasuke!"
Naruto had originally wanted to show off in front of Sasuke, but when he turned to look, he suddenly noticed that half of Sasuke's face was swollen, his eyes were rolled back, and he was foaming at the mouth.
Terrified, Naruto immediately ran over to check on him.
"Aoba! Sasuke seems to be in bad shape!", Naruto immediately called out to Aoba, unable to hide the tension in his eyes.
Sasuke was his closest friend, one of his best friends. Seeing him unconscious, Naruto thought he might be dying.
The excitement he had felt from winning was instantly washed away, leaving only worry.
Tenten, Ino, and Hinata were still staring blankly at Naruto, unable to recover from their shock.
"Yare~ Yare~", Aoba was also holding back laughter.
From Sasuke's reaction earlier, he could already imagine how Sasuke would react later when he realized that Naruko was actually Naruto.
After all, he had only promised to keep the secret before Naruto challenged Sasuke. Now that the challenge was over, he had no obligation to keep quiet.
Aoba walked over to Sasuke and examined his condition.
After confirming that it wasn't anything serious, he said, "Relax, he's fine. He just passed out."
"It's probably because you used too much force in that elbow strike earlier. The sudden impact caused a temporary loss of blood flow to his brain, leading to fainting. Judging by his condition, it's likely just a mild concussion."
"That's good," Naruto finally let out a sigh of relief, patting his chest.
If Sasuke had actually gotten seriously hurt while sparring with him, he wouldn't know what to do. Maybe he would have to apologize with his life and go to the Pure Land to seek Sasuke's forgiveness.
"Aoba, is Sasuke really okay?", Now that they had snapped out of their shock, Tenten, Ino, and Hinata walked over, asking about Sasuke's condition out of concern.
After all, Naruto's elbow strike had been anything but light. Just watching it had made their own heads buzz.
Now that they were standing closer and seeing Sasuke's swollen face, rolled-back eyes, and foaming mouth, they couldn't help but feel that he looked absolutely miserable.
More importantly, they were now a bit afraid to look directly at Naruto.
Aside from his fighting style, they had just completely failed to see Naruko as a guy earlier.
Who knew what Sasuke would think once he found out?
"Don't worry, he's fine. I'll heal him real quick," As he spoke, Aoba's hands lit up with a green glow, which he then placed over Sasuke's face.
Under the effects of the healing jutsu, Sasuke's swollen face quickly returned to its original state, looking like a little pretty boy again.
After a while, Sasuke slowly regained consciousness.
The first thing he saw wasn't the blue sky, but a hand covered in faint green chakra and Aoba's strange smile.
He looked utterly confused, his head still buzzing, and his face still aching. He had no idea what had happened.
"You're awake, Sasuke. The surgery was a success."
"You're now a cute little girl."
"?"
Tenten, Ino, Hinata, and Naruto all looked at Aoba in confusion.
"WHAT?", Sasuke's eyes widened in an instant as he shot up from the ground.
His hands instinctively reached down to check.
"Still there…"
But very quickly, his entire face turned red, his eyes filled with fury.
He just realized, he was being watched.
Everyone's expressions were… complicated.
"SHIRAKUMO AOBA!", Sasuke's face was now practically the color of pig liver. If looks could kill, Aoba would have died hundreds of times by now.
"Haha, I was just joking! I didn't think you'd actually—", Seeing Sasuke's eyes turn red with anger, Aoba almost thought he was about to awaken his Sharingan.
"Sasuke!"
At that moment, a head of bright yellow hair suddenly appeared in front of Sasuke, diverting his attention.
Naruto looked at him with genuine concern, "Are you okay now? Does your head still hurt?"
"…", The moment Sasuke saw Naruto, his brow furrowed deeply.
He finally started remembering what had happened.
Or rather, he recalled the reason he had passed out.
"Why are you here? Where's your sister?", As Sasuke spoke, he gritted his teeth even harder.
In his eyes, losing to a girl was far more humiliating than anything else.
He believed that if she hadn't been wearing a skirt and distracting him on purpose, there was no way he would have lost.
Aoba and the three girls exchanged glances and subtly moved away, giving Sasuke and Naruto space to talk alone.
Naruto's expression became a little awkward.
He didn't know how to explain things, so after a long pause, he mumbled, "My… my sister saw that you lost and just left."
Hearing this, Sasuke immediately jumped to his feet, his face darkened as he glared at Naruto, trying to argue his case.
"I didn't lose! She won unfairly!"
Naruto was momentarily stunned. Seeing Sasuke back to his usual feisty self, he quickly became annoyed as well.
"You were already knocked out! How is that not a loss? And what do you mean by unfair?"
Sasuke clenched his fists tightly, his face showing an urge to strangle Naruto, "She used those shameless tactics! If not for that, I wouldn't have—"
"Anyway, I refuse to admit I lost to her! I won't acknowledge her!"
"What do you mean you won't acknowledge her?", Naruto got angry at Sasuke's stubbornness, glaring back at him.
"I just won't!"
"Then what will it take for you to acknowledge me?"
"Unless she fights me again, fair and square, wearing… wearing pants, and beats me! Only then will I acknowledge her!"
Sasuke was so caught up in his emotions that he didn't even realize the flaw in Naruto's words.
Aoba and the three girls suddenly felt a bad premonition. They took another step back, fearing that blood might soon be spilled.
"Fine! Then I'll fight you again!"
Naruto looked at Sasuke, full of defiance.
But Sasuke was completely stunned, his brain freezing up.
"Fight… you?"
"?"
As Naruto's hands began forming seals, a puff of white smoke appeared.
Sasuke's eyes widened more and more.
Crack—
It was like something shattered.
At this moment, Uzumaki Naruko looked at Sasuke in confusion.
"Sasuke, why are your eyes red?"
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