Chapter 8: Enrollment
As Naruto was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Hiruzen Sarutobi naturally kept a constant eye on him.
His crystal ball, used for the Telescope Jutsu, was used for watching Naruto's life in addition to its daily inspections to see if anyone had broken into the hot springs.
Since their last conversation, Naruto had finally stopped being a shut-in at home.
However, when he went out, he preferred farming.
He spent all day keeping company with rice plants.
This wasn't the result Hiruzen wanted.
What kind of Ninja does farm work?
"Naruto."
With a smile, Hiruzen Sarutobi took out a small red booklet and said, "This is your enrollment notice for the Ninja Academy. You can report there next Monday."
So soon?
Naruto stopped in his tracks. He had originally planned to develop his strength secretly for a while longer and then go to school to show off... no, that's not right, to amaze everyone.
But his current strength was still far from enough.
He probably couldn't even beat Sasuke.
"Alright, Third Grandpa."
Naruto took the enrollment notice; naturally, he wouldn't refuse.
Going to school wouldn't conflict with his training at all.
Because he had the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
After seeing off Hiruzen Sarutobi, Naruto had his idle Clone No. 2 begin practicing with ninja tools.
Specifically, the Kunai and shuriken.
Without an invulnerable Iron Shirt technique, a Kunai could easily enter the body of a Jonin.
Well, Senju Hashirama was an exception.
Back then, when he used a Kunai to commit suicide, Uchiha Madara actually believed his nonsense.
With Hashirama's body, whether a Kunai could even break his defense was a question.
Naruto trained according to the books Hiruzen Sarutobi had given him.
Of course, this wasn't something you just threw by feeling.
One had to calculate the Kunai's angle, trajectory, air resistance, and so on.
Anyway, he didn't understand any of it.
Regardless, he'd practice first.
At worst, he wouldn't aim for precision and would just go for area saturation coverage.
No matter how powerful a Ninja was, they couldn't withstand a concentrated bombardment of firepower.
Besides, his future relied on the Rasengan.
All the different versions of Rasengan that kept being updated until the finale.
He had really made an art out of it.
Speaking of which, once he mastered Chakranature transformation, he could start trying to train the Rasengan.
He just wondered if the method mentioned in the original work was actually effective.
It probably should be.
After all, Saitama's training method would cause hair loss even in reality.
If it weren't for the concern that going bald would affect his looks, Naruto would have planned to follow that for his physical training.
Dusk.
He wiped away his sweat and dispelled his two clones.
A large amount of knowledge flooded into his mind.
His body trembled, and he immediately felt a bit empty.
Becoming stronger was just so tedious.
After the usual 'Talk-no-Jutsu' session with the Big Fox, Naruto drifted off to sleep.
Two days later, the enrollment day at the Ninja Academy arrived.
Naruto arrived at his rice field early in the morning.
The Mysterious Seed was like a top-laner being ganked four-on-one; it hadn't received a single bit of feedback from its teammates.
He sometimes wondered if this thing had grown legs and escaped underground without him knowing.
Fortunately, the Chakra poured into it by Clone No. 2 was completely absorbed.
After confirming the rice field was as usual, Narutoheaded towards the Ninja Academy.
He had long since familiarized himself with the buildings of Konoha.
It wasn't that he was bored; it was mainly to trigger achievements.
Though in the end, there was only one.
Because it was opening day, Naruto saw a much larger flow of people than usual.
The closer he got to the school, the more people there were.
It reminded him of the scene of starting high school in his previous life.
Unfortunately, the present was different from the past.
Before, it was the pain of school mixed with the joy of seeing friends; now, well, one could understand just by looking at the eyes of those around him.
He didn't care at all.
It wasn't like he'd lose a limb over it anyway.
Naruto followed the school signs and found his class.
First Year, Class A.
"Hello, Teacher."
Naruto showed a smile, looking at Iruka, who stood at the door with a somewhat complicated expression.
Although it was his first time meeting him, the scar running across the bridge of his nose was too obvious.
What a tragedy.
Iruka's parents had died in the Nine-Tails incident years ago, so his gaze held hatred.
This was the fault of the Nine-Tails—no, it should be Uchiha Obito's fault.
After all, the Nine-Tails was also forced.
Speaking of which, it was truly unlucky.
Completely countered by the Mangekyo Sharingan, its body was not its own, and it had been toyed with many times.
It had none of the dignity of the strongest Tailed Beast.
"Enrollment notice."
Iruka withdrew his gaze and wrote down the name 'Uzumaki Naruto' for registration.
"I am your teacher. For the next few years, I hope we get along well."
He glanced at the enrollment notice and spoke as a matter of routine.
"I hope so too."
Naruto said seriously.
He knew Iruka was a rare, good teacher.
Without him, the Naruto in the original work might have turned to the dark side.
No matter how sunny and positive someone was, after years of discrimination, negative emotions would accumulate.
In his view, the impact brought by people like Irukafar exceeded that of Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Iruka was slightly stunned.
The Naruto before him seemed much more mature than others his age.
"Go on in, find any seat."
"Thank you, Teacher."
Naruto stepped into the classroom.
The originally noisy classroom suddenly went quiet.
Although they didn't know about the Nine-Tails incident, influenced by their parents, their attitude toward Naruto was not very friendly.
But they were just children after all.
After a brief silence, the classroom returned to its original state.
Naruto's gaze swept across the room and naturally noticed Sasuke.
There was no helping it; who told this guy to have his passive skill active at all times?
Wearing the characteristic clothes of the Uchiha Clan, Sasuke sat with his chin resting on his hands, expressionless, his eyes cold.
His 'cool guy' aura was in full effect.
Naruto immediately thought of the famous scene where the two of them met in the original work.
His heart shuddered, and he hurriedly avoided him, staying far away.
He eventually chose a window seat in the back row.
At this distance, he surely wouldn't lose his first kiss, right?
He wanted to save that for Hinata.
Others shouldn't even think about it.
Naruto had arrived relatively early, so with nothing to do, he observed his future classmates.
Shikamaru Nara, looking like a salted fish.
The little chubby boy, Choji Akimichi, eating potato chips.
Kiba Inuzuka, playing with his dog.
The blonde girl Ino Yamanaka and the pink-haired girl Sakura Haruno, who rushed in together.
Upon seeing Sasuke, they began their fangirl-like squabble.
Oh, and there was Shino Aburame.
He wasn't very familiar with the other classmates; they didn't have much screen time in the original work.
After waiting a while longer, Naruto saw Hinata.
He waved his hand.
Hinata's eyes lit up, and joy involuntarily appeared on her face.
She hadn't expected Naruto to be in the same class as her.
Her pace quickened slightly.
"Morning, Hinata."
Naruto greeted her with a smile.
"Morning."
Hinata sat down next to him. Realizing her actions were a bit bold, she lowered her head again.
Seeing this, Naruto couldn't help but sigh.
Even after meeting several times, she was still so socially anxious.
Thinking about her later transformation, it was truly remarkable.
However, this 'weak yet strong' setting was exactly why she was so attractive.
He and Hinata hadn't said more than two sentences before they were interrupted by Iruka.
Five large characters were written on the blackboard on the podium.
Iruka Umino.
His full name.
"Since this is the first time everyone is meeting, let's start with self-introductions."
Iruka put down the chalk and said with a smile, "Don't be too nervous. Just say your name, hobbies, dreams, and things like that."