Chapter 24: You Knocked Her Out Again

Pretty capable, huh!

You can even use the Great Fireball Jutsu.

Watching Sasuke form hand seals, Shishou stood still, making no movements.

Hehe!

Scared stiff, huh? This time, you're definitely going to lose.

Seeing Shishou standing there dazed, Sasuke felt a surge of pride as he quickly formed his hand seals.

"Sasuke is so cool!"

"Sasuke is amazing."

Seeing Sasuke use ninjutsu, the girls who hadn't learned any ninjutsu yet, including Sakura Haruno, screamed with excitement.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball..."

"Shishou Aburame wins!"

Just as Sasuke was about to form the last seal, Iruka appeared beside him with a Body Flicker Technique, gripping Sasuke's hands and interrupting his jutsu, announcing the match's result.

"Hmph."

You got lucky this time.

Seeing Iruka declare the result, Uchiha Sasuke snorted, looking displeased at Shishou Aburame opposite him.

Wait...

Shishou Aburame wins?

Suddenly, Sasuke realized what had happened and looked at Iruka in disbelief.

Wasn't I supposed to win?

The surrounding girls, including Sakura Haruno, also looked at Iruka with confusion.

Clearly, Sasuke was about to win, but Iruka stopped him. How did Shishou win?

Teacher, are you playing favorites?

If she wasn't afraid of angering Iruka, Sakura would have shouted this out.

"Shikamaru, what's going on?"

Ino Yamanaka, holding the unconscious Hinata, asked Shikamaru beside her.

Shikamaru might be unreliable in other areas, but his intelligence was unquestionable.

"This time, Shishou really won."

"Look up."

Shikamaru sighed, pointing to the sky with his index finger, while lamenting inwardly.

Each one of them is so fierce; how will we ever get by in the future?

"What is..."

Ino Yamanaka looked up, shocked.

Is Shishou really that strong?

On the other side, noticing the puzzled gazes of everyone, Iruka also pointed to the sky like Shikamaru.

"Look up."

Everyone looked up to see a massive swarm of insects about five meters wide hovering above Sasuke's head, ready to strike at any moment.

"This!"

The sight of the dense swarm of insects chilled everyone to the bone.

Imagining themselves surrounded by that swarm made them shiver.

I lost!

Uchiha Sasuke glanced at Shishou, gritted his teeth, and left immediately.

He planned to go back and continue training the Great Fireball Jutsu.

Next time, he would definitely defeat Shishou!

Watching Sasuke leave in frustration, Shishou smiled slightly.

If anything, Sasuke's indomitable spirit was what Shishou admired most.

This was why, after every show of arrogance, Sasuke got stronger despite being beaten.

These setbacks wouldn't make Sasuke fearful; they would only make him stronger.

This was something even Naruto couldn't do.

It was a unique charm of Sasuke.

"After blocking Sasuke's shuriken, Shishou's insects flew into the air."

"We were all so focused on their close combat that we didn't notice."

"Shishou had already prepared his insects but didn't use them against Sasuke right away."

"Once Sasuke finished forming his seals, the swarm would have descended and engulfed him, causing his Great Fireball to explode and injure him."

"So, in this match, Shishou won."

Seeing the shocked expressions of Ino and the others, Shikamaru continued explaining.

"Ew, gross!"

Unexpectedly, Ino shivered, looking at the insect swarm in the air with disgust.

She hated bugs the most.

"You don't need to worry about that. I keep the insects in a gourd and only raise one queen insect."

"These insects are spawned with chakra and will die soon after."

"And the dead insects will be fed to the destructive insects I raise, so nothing is wasted."

Seeing Ino's expression, Shishou quickly explained as he walked down the field.

Ino had finally distanced herself from Sasuke and gotten closer to him.

He didn't want Ino's slight fondness for him to be scared away by the insects.

If that happened, he'd be devastated.

"By the way, how is Hinata now?"

Seeing Ino still somewhat concerned, Shishou quickly changed the topic to Hinata.

"She hasn't woken up yet," Ino said, her attention diverted.

"Not yet?"

Shishou reached out to gently pat Hinata's face, examining her closely.

"Hmm...uh..."

Just as Hinata Hyuga opened her eyes, she saw Shishou staring intently at her. Her face instantly turned red, and just as quickly, she fainted again.

Shishou: "..."

Ino: "..."

"Ahh, you made her faint again."

Seeing Hinata pass out again, Ino exclaimed.

"How is that my fault?"

Scratching his head, Shishou defended himself.

...

On the second day of the final exams, Iruka announced everyone's overall grades.

Having defeated Sasuke, Shishou unsurprisingly earned the top spot in their grade.

He received a set of shuriken as a reward.

As a child of the ninja clan, Shishou didn't need the shuriken.

He gave them to Naruto Uzumaki, who was so touched he almost wanted to become sworn brothers with Shishou.

It was the first time Naruto had received a gift from someone.

Because he lost to Shishou, Uchiha Sasuke didn't make it into the top ten.

Sasuke didn't react much to this.

He just trained secretly at night, aiming to defeat Shishou soon.

Shuriken were nothing special to Sasuke, who was the wealthiest in their class with his vast inheritance.

Due to the comprehensive grading, including academic subjects, Shino and Kiba only made it into the top ten.

Hinata, Sakura Haruno, and others made it into the top fifteen.

Ino was upset about not making the top fifteen and vowed to surpass them next time.

Shikamaru and Choji were indifferent to their grades, one focused on sleeping and the other on eating chips.

Their nonchalant attitudes frustrated Iruka greatly.

Of course, Iruka was most frustrated with Naruto.

Failing in academics, shuriken practice, and taijutsu combat, Naruto undoubtedly ranked last.

Naruto didn't care, showing off the shuriken Shishou gave him, making Iruka grind his teeth in anger.

Then, Iruka announced the end of the school year, officially starting the winter break, and told everyone to report back in two months.

The whole class cheered.

"Woohoo!!!"

Shishou was also very happy.

He finally had time to do what he wanted to do.