Chapter 28: Naruto's Invitation

A few days had passed since the midterm exams at the Ninja Academy. Natsuro was relieved to see his popularity return to its usual level. His distant demeanor had pushed away the overwhelming attention he had received, and although he was still the subject of some curiosity, it was far more manageable compared to the crowd of people surrounding him before.

At this moment, he observed Naruto fidgeting beside him and sighed.

"If you have something to say, just spit it out. No need to be so shy."

"Wow, Natsuro, you can even notice that?!" Naruto scratched the back of his head and laughed.

"So, what's up?" he asked, feeling a bit exasperated.

"Well." Naruto said, suddenly getting to the point, "Tomorrow is a day off so I want to invite you to my house as a guest!" Naruto said directly, then looked at Natsuro with anticipation. If Natsuro agreed, he would have his first guest besides the Third Hokage at his home!

"Hmm?" he was taken aback. He hadn't expected Naruto to invite him over.

"Is it a problem?" Naruto asked, noticing Natsuro's hesitation and thinking that he might be uncomfortable with the idea.

"It's not that it's a problem. I just didn't expect you to invite me out of the blue," Natsuro replied, regaining his composure.

"Oh, really?" Naruto's eyes lit up with hope.

"Yeah, I accept. Just give me your address, and I'll come by myself. You know how it is—being seen with you might cause some trouble," Natsuro said, honestly. He wasn't keen on attracting unnecessary attention from villagers.

"Sure, sure!" Naruto was fine with that. He had kept his distance from Natsuro before for similar reasons.

He pondered the visit. Although he didn't know where Naruto lived, he was fairly certain that Naruto's house was in a more isolated area, away from other residents. Therefore, avoiding the notice of the villagers should suffice.

As for the ANBU and Root members who might be keeping an eye on Naruto, Natsuro wasn't too worried. He knew that the Third Hokage was aware of him and would likely be supportive of strengthening Naruto's ties with the village. Even if the Third Hokage was aging, he wouldn't let Danzo's influence disrupt the future of the village.

With everything considered, he decided to accept the invitation.

Soon, Naruto gave Natsuro his address, which, as expected, was in a rather remote location. This meant Naruto might need to pick him up, as the place was quite hard to find.

He quickly arranged a time with Naruto, ensuring that his training would not be disrupted by the visit.

Naruto's excitement about the invitation seemed boundless, and he couldn't help but notice how deeply Naruto cared about this small gesture.

"Oh? Natsuro is going to Naruto's house?" Ino, who had overheard their conversation, asked curiously.

"Yeah, is there a problem?" Natsuro replied, glancing at Ino.

"Hmm…" Ino frowned as she looked at Naruto. Her father had advised her to stay away from Naruto, but she couldn't quite understand why. After some thought, and having gotten to know Naruto a little better recently, she felt that he seemed okay.

"I guess it should be fine." Ino concluded based on her own impressions.

"People might have their opinions about Naruto, but I trust my own judgment. I think Naruto is a pretty good friend," Natsuro said, almost slipping and referring to him as a "kid," but then corrected himself, choosing "friend" instead.

"I see," Ino nodded, appearing to have grasped some profound insight.

Naruto, on the other hand, was touched to the point of almost crying.

Shikamaru, who had been resting his head on his desk, twitched his ears and couldn't help but smile. Although Naruto was a bit of a hassle, he was unexpectedly a good person.

Ino, still puzzled, decided to ask her mother for advice. She looked at Naruto's tearful expression and found it somewhat unappealing. She felt that Natsuro was more pleasant to look at and had better grades. Despite the invitation from Naruto, she hesitated about whether she should also invite Natsuro to her place. She wondered if it was appropriate for a girl to make the first move and ended up not making any decision before the class started.

Natsuro didn't notice Ino's indecision. Not everyone wore their emotions on their sleeves like Naruto, and since Ino had only recently started interacting with him, it was understandable that he hadn't noticed her internal struggle.

After school, Ino continued to mull over the situation. She inadvertently spotted someone who looked somewhat familiar and realized it was her classmate, Sakura Haruno, who seemed a bit down.

Given Sakura's high grades, it was puzzling to see her looking unhappy. Ino decided to approach her.

Natsuro saw the scene as he was heading to the training grounds. He recalled that Ino and Sakura had become friends due to some shared experience. He wondered why they seemed so distant now and realized that it was probably just a matter of time before their friendship evolved.

He also remembered that Sakura lacked confidence due to her broad forehead, even though she scored nearly full marks in theory. Once her confidence improved, her academic performance would likely be even better.

With this in mind, Natsuro knew he couldn't slack off. To maintain his reputation as a prodigy and ensure that the Third Hokage continued to take notice, he needed to excel in all aspects and achieve top scores.

Then, he thought of Naruto. That guy often stole glances at Sakura, likely having developed a crush on her, just like in the original story. At this age, Naruto hadn't had many opportunities to interact with others, so he was probably attracted to her looks. Sakura was indeed cute... Never mind, he thought his opinion didn't really count. To him, all these kids seemed pretty cute. How was he supposed to deal with that?

But Natsuro was viewing them from an adult's perspective, while Naruto was looking at them from the viewpoint of a peer, so their impressions were quite different.

Even while lost in thought, he kept on going, he still had to complete today's training, he could not slack off.