Chapter 82: Two More Years Passed in a Flash
Time moved steadily forward, and the morning sun continued to rise as usual.
Unlike Uchiha Sasuke, who was becoming increasingly melancholic and taciturn, Narutoremained cheerful and lively. While becoming the class clown, his unique charisma also helped him establish great prestige among these children of his age.
"Today you are about to graduate, and our class is the only one where everyone passed the Geninexam!"
"Yeah!!!"
As Iruka finished distributing all the forehead protectors, the cheers from Naruto's class soared to the sky, officially declaring that the six-year learning career at the Ninja Academy had come to an end.
What awaited them next was their official mission career, where they would continue to hone their Ninja skills through actual combat under the guidance of their team leader.
"Naruto-kun, you look a bit unhappy!" Hyuga Hinata remained sharp, though this sharpness depended on the person. "Are you reluctant to part with your classmates?"
Having been desk-mates with Naruto for six years, Hyuga Hinata had now shed her childishness. The youthful vitality unique to a young girl was bursting forth, which often made Naruto, who possessed the Soul of a middle-aged man, unable to control himself.
Sometimes, Naruto even had the illusion that perhaps his body's puberty had arrived early, causing him to be unable to suppress his physical impulses any longer.
"What a beast I am..." Naruto cursed himself inwardly, then flashed a mouthful of white teeth at Hyuga Hinata.
Naruto's smile was the same as ever—warm, sunny, and healing...
Even though Hyuga Hinata had witnessed this smile from Naruto more than once over the past six years, to this day, whenever Naruto flashed this smile, Hyuga Hinata could not control the little deer in her heart.
"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
Hyuga Hinata clearly heard the sound of her heart beating violently in her chest. Although her significantly raised shyness threshold prevented her from steaming at the top of her head like before, blushing was still unavoidable.
"It is a bit sad..." Naruto nodded solemnly. "But there is more worry than anything else."
"Are you worried about the personality or strength of the assigned team leader?"
"Neither." Naruto shook his head with a straight face, but just as Hyuga Hinata let her guard down, he reached out and rubbed her head. "I'm worried about whether we will be assigned to the same team. Otherwise, we will have to be separated, and for quite a long time..."
The sudden, subtle romantic remark caught Hyuga Hinata off guard. Her already red face became even hotter. A shy Hyuga Hinata brushed away Naruto's right hand, twisting her fingers and stammering.
"Naruto-kun... could you please not... rub my hair anymore..."
"Uh... this..." Naruto didn't know how he had developed the habit of liking to rub Hyuga Hinata's hair. After Hyuga Hinata's rejection, he was clearly a bit at a loss. "Has my habit caused you trouble, Hinata?"
"No... I didn't mean that!" Hyuga Hinata hurriedly explained. "I'm already a head shorter than Naruto-kun... if you keep rubbing my hair... I won't grow tall!"
So that was the reason!
Naruto was speechless. Although he wanted to laugh at Hyuga Hinata's concern, in these past two years, his height had indeed shot up quite quickly.
This didn't have much to do with whether the food was good or not; rather, it was because Naruto had completed the purification of his uzumaki bloodlineand was only one step away from Awakening his Sage Body!
As for the main consciousness of the Nine-Tailed, which was controlled by the Mangekyo Sharingan, it had not offered any resistance during these two years. Besides saving Naruto a lot of trouble, Little Nine-Tails had also been secretly developing to its heart's content!
Thinking of Little Nine-Tails, Narutosubconsciously stroked the long sword that was strapped diagonally across his back and had never been unsheathed. This had been transformed by Little Nine-Tails using the Transformation Jutsuwith Naruto's help.
Because he was practicing the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryūswordsmanship, Naruto had equipped himself with a ninja sword two years ago. Besides preventing his swordsmanship from being exposed and seeming too abrupt, it was more so to keep Little Nine-Tails by his side at all times.
After all, he still needed Little Nine-Tails' help to strip away the consciousness attached to the Nine-Tailed's Yang-attribute Tailed Beast Chakra, and just recently, Little Nine-Tails' ninth tail had shown signs of emerging.
As for the issue of Little Nine-Tails secretly hoarding the Tailed Beast's Yang-attribute Chakra, except for the first time when it was exposed during a critical moment for Naruto, Little Nine-Tails had been caught red-handed by Narutoseveral times.
Although Naruto would punish Little Nine-Tails in various ways every time he caught it, Little Nine-Tails refused to repent and continued to hoard it tirelessly, even coming up with all sorts of tricks to hide it...
"Alright! Alright!" Naruto's right hand rested on Hyuga Hinata's hair again, occasionally stroking it gently. "Our current height difference is just right!"
Hyuga Hinata was just saying that. In fact, she had long been used to this intimate little gesture of Naruto's. Apart from being conflicted about the height, Hyuga Hinata was quite cooperative in other situations.
"Naruto-kun... do you think tomorrow..."
"We will definitely be assigned to the same team!" Naruto gave Hyuga Hinata a reassuring smile. "Once our last class is over, I'll go talk to Hokage Grandpa!"
Since Hiruzen Sarutobi was mentioned, Naruto's relationship with him had reached its peak over these two years, but Hiruzen Sarutobi's situation had become increasingly difficult.
Because Danzo Shimura kept harping on the "Flying Thunder God Incident" and would not let go, and because Naruto had secretly worked with Danzo Shimura to set up Hiruzen Sarutobi several times, Hiruzen Sarutobi's influence had shrunk significantly, and even his popularity among the people was not as good as before.
This was exactly the situation Naruto wanted to see, and it was also the development Danzo Shimura dreamed of.
However, these were all just on the surface. What Naruto really cared about was the future after the two of them stepped down!
You must know that whether it was the Root or the Anbu, once they were no longer led by Hiruzen Sarutobi or Danzo Shimura, as long as the stubborn elements were cleared out, the remaining Ninjas would be the best subordinates to command.
"It won't take many years. Once the new generation of Ninjas of my age grows up, it will be time for me to truly bare my fangs..." Narutocalculated silently in his heart.
After six years of cultivation at the Ninja Academy, Naruto's interpersonal network could be said to cover the excellent younger generation of all the big and small families in Konoha, and these people would become his support in the future.
Naruto was, of course, uninterested in protecting the villagers of Konoha, but he was very enthusiastic about becoming the shadow of Konoha, a Ninja village with super war potential.
And even if he failed, Naruto's other identity hidden in the shadows— "Heaven"—was also a good fallback.
"Naruto-kun, you and Sasuke-kun have both been so prone to daydreaming these past few days!"
Hyuga Hinata's words pulled Naruto back to reality. Naruto still used some sweet words to brush it off, but Naruto overlooked one point: today, Hyuga Hinata was also hiding something on her mind.