Naruto : Bastard Sytem

Even though Sakura had the highest reward, there was no valid reason to hit her. Hitting a friend without a clear reason went against the ideals Sandaime had for him.

It was too risky. It was better to just give up on the matter.

Hinata had just defended Naruto, and he didn't want to bully her. So, he gave up on messing with Hinata as well.

In the end, Naruto had no choice but to provoke Ino to claim his reward. After all, Ino had just been cheering enthusiastically for Sasuke. Even though the reason seemed a bit forced, it was enough to pick on her.

"Naruto Uzumaki, what are you trying to do?" Ino glared at him, her voice trembling slightly with anger.

"You were cheering for Uchiha Sasuke to hit me earlier. Don't ever do that again, or I'll break your leg."

Naruto spoke with a fierce expression, feeling that this level of intimidation was sufficient.

Ino took a step back forcefully, swatting Naruto's hand away, and shouted, "Who's scared of who? If you think you can, then do it!"

"Even if I can't beat you, I'll never be afraid of you!"

Ino had a bit of a tomboyish temper. After pushing Naruto's hand away, she stood just a step away from him, looking straight into his eyes with gritted teeth.

Why was Naruto so mean? His face was even more handsome than Sasuke's, yet he had such an awful personality.

At that moment, Naruto wasn't paying attention to Ino's words or her sharp gaze. What she thought was him staring at her was actually just Naruto waiting for the sound of his reward notification.

If the notification didn't come, he planned to pinch Ino's cheeks again.

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing the first objective. The reward of 200.000 ryo has been stored in the cabinet at your residence. Please check it carefully.]

Naruto sighed in relief. It seemed that Ino's luck was pretty good this time.

Without saying another word, he turned around and left the training grounds.

The others gradually followed, dispersing one by one. Shikamaru and Choji walked over to join Ino.

"You two only showed up after everything was over..."

Seeing them, Ino's anger flared up again. She lowered her head slightly, then reached out and pinched both of them. "You saw me getting bullied, yet you didn't even try to help me!"

Shikamaru yelped in pain. "Hiss! That hurts!"

Choji rubbed his arm, which had just been pinched. "But isn't Naruto your boyfriend? How exactly were we supposed to help?"

"You idiot! I've already told you, I have nothing to do with Uzumaki Naruto!" Ino shouted furiously.

"But the way Naruto treated you just now... it seemed like there was something between you two. Just like the rumors," Choji said hesitantly.

"I don't have any rumors with him!" Ino snapped. "And are you blind? We were clearly about to fight just now! He even said he'd break my leg!"

Choji and Shikamaru exchanged glances before Shikamaru finally spoke. "Maybe Naruto just said that out of anger. As his girlfriend, you were actually supporting Sasuke. Of course, he'd be upset."

Shikamaru yawned before adding, "Naruto looked really sad when he left. I've never seen him look like that before."

"He picks fights with Kiba all the time, but with you, he just left quietly after you scolded him. Why do you think that is?"

Hearing that, Ino suddenly froze.

What Shikamaru said made sense. When Naruto turned to leave, his expression did seem... strange. Like someone who was disappointed.

Thinking about it, even though Naruto said a lot of harsh things, he never actually hurt her. Even the last time she tried to stop him, he simply ignored her.

But... wasn't Naruto in love with Sakura?

Suddenly, Ino's eyes widened as a realization struck her.

All this time, Naruto had always acted obnoxiously when chasing Sakura. His behavior had been exaggerated, and he had made himself seem repulsive. But in the past few days, it had been proven that Naruto was actually handsome and incredibly strong.

So... could it be that he never liked Sakura in the first place?

Maybe he was only pretending to like her... to make himself look bad?

Ino began to recall the past. Didn't Naruto start pursuing Sakura after she and Sakura had a falling out?

And then, there was what Naruto had just said: "You were cheering for Uchiha Sasuke to hit me. Don't ever do that again."

If she thought about it carefully, it didn't just sound like a threat... there was also a hint of jealousy in his words.

Could it be that... the one Naruto actually liked was me?

After reaching that conclusion, for some reason, Ino felt a strange sensation in her chest. The image of Naruto turning away replayed in her mind, but this time, he looked lost and dejected.

From a distance, Choji nudged Shikamaru. "Were you serious just now? I didn't notice Naruto looking sad. Should I bring him some snacks to cheer him up?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "I was behind him. I don't actually know if he was sad or not."

"Then why did you tell Ino that Naruto was feeling down?"

"You idiot," Shikamaru scoffed. "Do you still want to get pinched by Ino again? Naruto was the one who provoked her, but we're the ones who suffered for it."

Shikamaru yawned again and muttered in a bored tone, "Women are troublesome. Let Naruto deal with it himself."

--- --- ---

After waiting for a while, Iruka finally announced the team assignments. Nothing had changed from the original story. Hinata, Kiba, and Shino remained in Team 8.

Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino were still part of Team 10, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio.

The only difference was that Sasuke, who should have been in Team 7, was now hospitalized thanks to Naruto's punch. It would probably take a long time before he recovered, and his teammates would have to inform him when the time came.

After making the announcements, Iruka left, leaving them to wait for their respective jonin instructors.

Kurenai Yuhi, the instructor of Team 8, was the first to arrive. She called her team to follow her.

Kiba glanced at Naruto with determination, silently vowing to train harder and defeat him one day.

Meanwhile, Hinata stole a shy glance at Naruto before leaving. Seeing her, Naruto smiled and waved.

"See you later, Hinata."

Hinata's face turned bright red. She lowered her head, waved back timidly, then quickly ran out of the classroom.

From behind, Ino observed the interaction. For some reason, an inexplicable irritation bubbled up inside her.

"So I'm not allowed to support Sasuke, but you can say goodbye to Hinata just fine?" she muttered under her breath, unconsciously biting her lip.