Homura, had won his first group battle... although not entirely ethically.

But he was training to be a ninja!

Not a samurai or warrior. 

So, concepts like honor and pride, amount to nothing in front of tricks, mind games, and subterfuges. 

Seeing that the 3 boys left the area seemingly butt-hurt from their exchange with Homura.

A far cry from when they had smiles plastered onto their faces while ganging up on Naruto; was truly a joyous happenstance for Homura.

...although he was quite delighted with himself, something soon came to mind.  

-....(I wonder if I just made a bad first impression on some of my future... classmates?...Well, who cares.)

Not that Homura truly cared about a victory of any kind on 3 random, little d*pshits that were about his age.

In fact, the only reason he did not use his fist to fight was that he deemed them to not even be worth the effort and he was too lazy to exercise in this cold weather.

Guy had failed to turn him into another Rock Lee.

But since this is technically the past for him and Lee has not yet entered Guy's radar, perhaps he would have been the Rock Lee prior to Rock Lee.

The Rock Homura... not that Homura was in any way related to Lee, as far as he knows. 

Regardless, Homura's little ploy did work in the end.

Thus, the method to chase the kids away instead of getting his hands dirty was perhaps the best option for that predicament.

Even if it was an overall dubious thing to do, for someone with Homura's mental age. 

-....He seems really out of it...

After the boys had left, Homura walked toward Naruto.

*poke*

*poke*

*poke*

Homura started to poke Naruto's face with his index finger, but the boy did not wake up.

Although he seemed pretty beat up, he did not seem to be truly suffering and even seemed to be slowly healing himself in Homura's eyes.

Making him wonder if Naruto's crazy healing abilities are due to the Kyuubi's influence or the Uzumaki DNA that he inherited from his mother's clan.

-...(I thought I was seeing things but...supercomputing skill did confirm it... but this guy is truly different from normal people.)

Sadly for Homura, Naruto's DNA was still off-limits to him at this current moment.

- well... I guess I have to carry him on my back now...*sigh* what a drag.

Homura, lifted and carried Naruto's unconscious body on his back.

-...a-ano...(???)

- Shut up! !?

-Hiii!!!....(???)

Homura unconsciously responded without looking back or confirming as to whom the voice he had just heard truly belonged. 

He thought it was Naruto mumbling to himself while being unconscious.

To be fair to Homura, Naruto tends to talk in his sleep.

An annoying trait that Homura was well too aware that Naruto had,

- No, you shut up! Stupid Homura! (Naruto)

Naruto was still passed out but was able to somehow appropriately respond to Homura.

Either it is because his senses are so sharp that he can have a conversation with people while being asleep or that his answer just happened to coincide with a scenario that he was experiencing inside his dreams... is something we will never know.

Not that any of that came to mind inside Homura's thick skull.

- What did you say!? W-wait! You're awake!?

Homura immediately and literally dropped Naruto's body on the snow-covered ground!

*Puff!*

-Guh! W-where am I?... Ah! Homura! You're here?! You're late! (Naruto)

- I'm late!? I went to the place you told me to meet you! And is that how you thank your savior!? (so, he really was asleep!...)

Naruto was truly asleep when Homura dropped him.

He only responded to Homura's voice because he was so used to him at this point in his life.

The voice that Homura heard prior did not come from Naruto but someone else.

Someone he had failed to notice due to him not caring about anyone but himself or what he is eyeing, but also due to the person in question having a terribly thin presence. 

Thus, Homura has still not realized that there is one more person around them.

Naruto as well seems to have forgotten all about it.

No wonder, these two are friends or at least on friendly terms.

They are naturally born airheads, to both their dismay and avid denial.

To be fair, that individual's presence is quite weak, and from the angle that Homura observed Naruto's fight, the individual in question remained outside his field of vision.

However, Naruto does not have such an excuse.

But being hit in the face so many times does make one forget things that are not that important to them for a short moment. 

- S-savior!? Ah! Those 3 guys! I-I had them almost beat already! (Naruto)

- What!? Are you really that delusional!? You were knocked out cold by them!

- huh!? That's not what...Wait!? Did you watch the entire thing!? (Naruto)

-....Not entirely...- said Homura trying to shift his gaze away from Naruto.

- Liar! How cruel I would have helped you from the get-go! (Naruto)

- Ha! So you do admit, that you needed my help!

- I-I! No, that's not wha-! (Naruto)

- Excuse me! (???)

Homura's and Naruto's attention immediately shifts from one another to the location from which the voice came.

-Huh? You are... (Naruto)

- Eh!? W-when did you get here!?- said a panicked Homura, who just realized that someone had managed to sneak on him without even realizing.

A fitting reaction for a total airhead.

Chapter end