Natsuo could have continued with the older children, but he was already on par with the 8-year-olds and didn't want to draw any more attention to himself.
After all, matching children 3 years older than him was remarkable, but not noteworthy for the Uchiha clan.
After walking for 2 minutes, Natsuo and his companions resumed running.
After 30 minutes, the entire group could be seen separating and heading to their homes.
As Natsuo returned to the orphanage with his group of fellow orphans, his chakra subtly moved around his lungs and heart.
As the group entered the orphanage and headed to bathe, Natsuo's breathing was already stable, very different from the other children walking alongside him.
While the children took turns showering, Natsuo sat in a corner of the hallway as his chakra shifted to the Yang element and circulated throughout his body.
Skin, muscles, bone, and organs were all bathed in his Yang chakra as it circulated throughout his body.
After each physical training session, Natsuo used chakra in his lungs and heart to recover quickly, accelerating the results of his training.
But even so, it would not allow him to quickly catch up with and surpass children 3 years older than him when he had not inherited the physical talent of his parents who were civilians.
Natsuo recalled the first time he confidently joined the morning training and watched in surprise as the group walked away into the distance while he breathed wearily with his hands on his knees.
At that moment Natsuo realized that his innate talent was far below average, and if he hadn't reincarnated he would just be a normal civilian of the Uchiha clan, destined to die in the Uchiha clan massacre if he was lucky enough to live until then.
Of course, Natsuo didn't give up and used his chakra to strengthen his lungs and heart to recover quickly and keep up with the other children.
Although at first he was always last, it only took Natsuo 1 month to catch up to the 6-year-olds and half a year to catch up to the 8-year-olds.
From then on he trained at the same intensity and did not catch up to the older children.
Instead, he woke up earlier and trained beforehand. That way, when the other 8-year-olds arrived, his body would already be more tired, and he could keep up with them without disrupting their training.
During this year he never stopped training his chakra control and Yin chakra, having organized his mind palace several months ago and absorbing the contents of the clan's public library.
Although he did not have high-level knowledge, which he could only learn by being a ninja, it was enough for Natsuo since he learned the common knowledge of the countries and the continent.
The last thing he trained and recently mastered was Yang Chakra, which is now circulating throughout his body.
And although it was minuscule, Natsuo could notice the small strengthening that his body had by absorbing a little Yang chakra with each chakra circulation.
Being a combination of physical and spiritual energy, Natsuo's chakra amount also increased every day as he trained his body and increased his spiritual energy by absorbing a large amount of knowledge.
Seeing that the bathroom was free, Natsuo stopped what he was doing and got up to go take a shower.
.
.
.
Year 30 of Konoha
The months passed quickly and the new school year at the academy arrived.
While many children, holding hands with their parents, entered the academy smiling with happiness at becoming ninjas, Natsuo walked among them with his orphanage companions, guided by the matron.
The midwife had already brought them previously for the entrance exam and registration, so now she was accompanying them for the last time and then they will have to come on their own.
And as with every start of the school year at the academy, the Hokage gave his speech to encourage the new students.
"...Even if the leaves fall, it will be the nutrients for the next generation that will protect the great tree of the leaf village..."
Basically, brainwashing to sacrifice yourself for your comrades.
While it was a good message for a shinobi, for Natsuo it was nonsense due to his knowledge of what will happen to Sakumo Hatake in a few years in the future and about Danzo's bloodlust against the Uchiha due to his hatred and jealousy of the Sharingan.
Forcing children of civilian or clan origin to join Raíz already went against the main objective of the village's founding.
Leaving aside the conflict between the village's top leadership and the Uchiha clan, and regardless of which side was wrong, Natsuo would not trust the village's top leadership because of the existence of Root.
Danzo could never have forced the clans to hand over their children, especially those who were so talented, without Hiruzen Sarutobi's approval.
Instead of strengthening the village, the four who lead the village only weakened it by driving away the strongest shinobi.
Sakumo Hatake committed suicide after being reprimanded for saving his comrades.
Orochimaru became a biological research madman, sacrificing countless people, including many children, due to his wood release research.
Orochimaru didn't have a large enough organization to kidnap so many people and have no one notice until many years later, so it was obvious that someone of a higher level in the village was supporting him.
And after deserting, no one knew how Orochimaru was able to do what he did.
Hiruzen must have known it was the work of his friend Danzo, but he did nothing.
And look where this led.
When Orochimaru invaded the village, he received help from Danzo to infiltrate a large number of shinobi into the village without anyone else noticing.
And what about Danzo himself?
Hidden away with his Root army, ready to emerge and save the day when the Leaf forces are weakened.
But Danzo never believed that the invasion would be repelled so quickly, and his plans were in vain.
If Naruto hadn't stopped Shukaku, the tailed beast would have severely damaged or destroyed the village if Jiraiya or Guy hadn't stopped it.
The other powerful shinobi who left the village to wander the land of fire were Tsunade and Jiraiya.
Both were great candidates for the Hokage position if they wanted it, but neither of them accepted the position because they already knew the dirty politics of the village.
The only one who was able to become Hokage was Minato, when Hiruzen had already ruled the village for a long time and caused dissatisfaction due to the results of the Third Shinobi World War.
Even then, it was obvious from the anime that Minato had to create his own ANBU from scratch, and the rest remained in Hiruzen's hands.
And when the Kyubi appeared in the village, Hiruzen simply struck it with his staff to banish it from the village, destroying more buildings in the process.
Upon Minato's death, Hiruzen resumed his position, causing the Hyuga clan to sacrifice one of its members during his new term, and the Uchiha clan to be exterminated.
If all of this is not deliberate, Hiruzen is incompetent.
Both things were extremely dangerous for Natsuo if he chose to trust Konoha's top leadership.
Shisui and Itachi were clear examples.
They tried to take the first one's eyes, with Danzo succeeding in stealing one and choosing to commit suicide, leaving his hopes in Itachi.
Similarly, Itachi did not fare well either, as he was forced to kill his clan to avoid causing a civil war, leaving only his younger brother alive to keep the Uchiha clan alive.
Even babies were not spared.
Knowing all that, Natsuo never thought of taking refuge in the village's upper management.
After the Hokage's speech ended, the students went to their classrooms and the new students waited for the teachers who called out names one by one.
The first group followed one teacher while another teacher kept shouting more names.
As time went on, it became clear that they were dividing the students by performance on the entrance exams, since the clan children were the majority of those left.
After 10 minutes, the last group was called and they followed the last teacher to the classroom where they would receive their lessons.
Among them was Natsuo, who, although he held back during the test, did enough to get into the best first-year class at the academy, Class A.
According to what Natsuo saw earlier, there were many classes per year divided according to student performance.