After leaving Naruto's house, Hiruzen Sarutobi waved his hand on the empty street.
A cat-masked ANBU appeared in front of him, kneeling on one knee, awaiting orders.
"Spread the word—no villager is to refuse selling goods to Naruto anymore. No one is to insult him to his face. Any violator will be punished severely!"
"Yes, sir!"
The ANBU accepted the order, then vanished using the Body Flicker Technique.
A month later, the day of the academy entrance ceremony arrived.
Naruto walked at his own pace toward the Ninja Academy, without carrying the green backpack that the Third Hokage had given him.
At the gate, most of the new students were being brought by their parents.
Among the crowd, Naruto spotted many familiar faces.
The pineapple-headed Shikamaru, pink-haired Sakura, blonde Ino, chubby Choji…
And just nearby, almost overlooked, was Shino.
His eyes swept over each of them one by one.
When his gaze landed on Sasuke—still just a small kid—he found the boy staring back at him.
Sasuke's parents weren't there. The one who had brought him was his brother, Uchiha Itachi.
Their eyes met, and Sasuke's large, innocent eyes trembled slightly.
'This guy!'
For some reason, the moment Sasuke saw Naruto, a complicated feeling welled up inside him. A strange urge—to get closer to him, yet also to beat him down.
Meanwhile, many civilian parents sending off their children also noticed Naruto.
They quietly leaned down to warn their kids.
"Remember that blond kid over there—don't play with him. Stay away from him, understand?"
Their voices were hushed, but Naruto heard them clearly.
Because at this moment, he was maintaining his Breath of Wind state.
His physique and five senses had been greatly enhanced.
Over the past month, in order to reach the Constant Centered State, Naruto had spent nearly all his waking hours breathing according to the pattern of the Breath of Wind.
At first, he worried that maintaining the breathing method for such long periods might harm his body.
But after persisting, the perfected constitution of the Uzumaki Sage Body shone once more.
The side effects of the breathing style barely mattered against this body.
After a single night's sleep, he could recover to full strength.
Naruto even suspected that if he awakened the Demon Slayer Mark—a power said to drastically shorten one's lifespan—it might not affect him much at all.
Just like Yoriichi, who was born with the mark yet still lived out a natural lifespan.
Inside the academy, Naruto chose a seat at the back by the window—where the air and sunlight were best.
Students gradually filled the classroom.
Once everyone had picked their seats, they began glancing around, curious about their new classmates.
Among them, Sasuke and Naruto quickly became the focus of attention.
Sasuke, because he was handsome.
Naruto, because he was even more handsome—and with the Nine-Tails rumors surrounding him, his notoriety eclipsed even Sasuke's.
Sasuke purposely kept a cold expression, trying to imitate his idolized brother Itachi's cool demeanor.
But when he noticed that more people were whispering about Naruto instead, an unexplainable competitiveness surged within him. His cheeks puffed in annoyance.
Sakura nudged Ino's shoulder. "That Uchiha over there is so handsome! He's exactly my type. Ino, don't you dare fight me for him, or we won't be friends anymore!"
Sakura expected boy-crazy Ino to fight back over him.
But Ino's gaze was fixed instead on the golden-haired figure by the window. She casually waved her hand without looking back. "All yours, all yours."
Sakura followed Ino's line of sight—and Naruto's face entered her view.
His golden hair under the sunlight, and those deep blue eyes, made Sakura's heart skip a beat.
Suspiciously, she whispered, "Ino… don't tell me you've fallen for that demon fox?"
At the words "demon fox," Ino finally looked back at Sakura, her expression clearly displeased.
"Demon fox? Since when did a demon fox look that handsome? Sakura, don't ever say something so disgusting again!"
Sakura froze, staring at her in disbelief.
Behind them, Shikamaru leaned lazily on one hand, looking drowsy, while Choji munched away at his chips.
Watching the two girls bicker about boys, Shikamaru yawned. "Women really are troublesome creatures."
Hinata, who had been quietly sitting all along, also overheard Sakura's remark about Naruto.
The usually gentle girl found herself, for once, irritated with Sakura.
But too shy to speak up, she only clenched the hem of her clothes tightly, silently protesting in her heart.
'Naruto-kun is not a demon fox. He's so amazing, so kind… why does everyone have to call him that?'
At that moment, a young teacher entered the classroom.
Wearing the standard Konoha ninja uniform, his ordinary face was marked by a long scar across the bridge of his nose.
He clapped his hands, and the noisy classroom fell silent.
"Students! My name is Iruka Umino. I'll be your homeroom teacher. Please take care of me from now on."
Walking to the podium, Iruka swept his eyes over the class.
When his gaze finally landed on Naruto, his pupils trembled slightly as memories of that night resurfaced.
The Nine-Tails, towering like a mountain, with nine blazing tails tearing through the village…
Iruka was one of the few who remembered exactly when Naruto's birthday was.
Because that same day was also the death anniversary of his parents.
For a moment, a flicker of hatred flashed in Iruka's eyes—but he quickly suppressed it.
Naruto caught that flicker, but didn't think much of it.
In the original story, Iruka was one of the few who truly cared about Naruto, even shielding him with his own body from a Giant Shuriken.
Some fans even said that the people of Konoha owed it all to Iruka that Naruto never turned dark.
But at this first meeting, Naruto had no intention of forcing that bond.
Iruka composed himself, then smiled warmly.
"Alright, everyone. Let's introduce ourselves so we can get to know each other.
My name is Iruka. My favorite food is ramen. My dream is to become a teacher that everyone can recognize."
"You can introduce yourselves in the same way. Let's start from the first student on the left."
The boys' dreams were all fairly simple, mostly about becoming strong ninjas.
Naruto listened for a while, then lost interest.
"My name is Haruno Sakura. My favorite food is red bean pudding. My dream is to become, or even surpass, Lady Tsunade as a medical ninja!"
As soon as Sakura declared this confidently, an image popped into Naruto's head of "two scary dragons next to a stupid looking one," and he couldn't help but laugh out loud.
All eyes turned toward him.
Seeing someone mock her dream, Sakura grew furious.
"You jerk! What are you laughing at?! Didn't your parents ever teach you that it's rude to laugh at others like that?"
The moment she said those words, Naruto's smile froze.