"Ah!"
When will the teacher be back?
On the training field, Naruto, lying on the grass, shouted loudly in annoyance.
"Idiot, it's so noisy, you know?"
Sasuke, standing to the side, turned his head away, clearly displeased, and looked at Naruto.
"Oh--"
Surprisingly, Naruto didn't retort after hearing Sasuke's words; he simply responded calmly.
Shikamaru glanced at Naruto with surprise, then continued picking his ear.
Life has suddenly become peaceful, and it's really hard to get used to it.
There's no way around it; they're third-grade students now.
No, it should be said that in a few months they will be in their fourth year. After training with Hagoromo for several years, their strength has already reached their current limit.
Nowadays, even Neji and Sasuke, two training fanatics, have reduced some of their unnecessary training.
However, they have been continuously improving their physical fitness.
"What's wrong? Why are you all so listless?"
A voice suddenly appeared around them, startling Naruto and the others.
They immediately sprang to their feet, looking behind them with heightened alertness.
"Teacher Hagoromo!"
Naruto stared at the figure before him, then excitedly rushed forward.
"Teacher!"
Sasuke and the others rushed forward, surrounding Hagoromo.
After all, their teacher had been gone for several months.
"Huh? Huh!"
"Wait, Naruto, don't pull my clothes! Choji, that's a ninja tool pouch, not food!"
Hagoromo had several tiny creatures clinging to her body, each holding onto a piece of her robe that could touch the hem.
Only Sasuke and Neji remained relatively composed, standing to the side, though their gazes suggested they weren't much different.
After playing around for a while, Naruto and the others finally quieted down.
"Alright, let's go to the barbecue restaurant first. The teacher will treat everyone to barbecue!"
"Yay!" The group jumped up. What they ate wasn't important; having dinner with their teacher was a great thing.
The group walked in a grand procession through the streets of Konoha, with villagers occasionally greeting Hagoromo.
Naruto scratched his head and asked Shikamaru, "Shikamaru, what's going on?"
After all, in the past there were only a few people at most, but now almost every time we encounter someone, villagers come over.
They even addressed him as "sir" with great respect.
"Well, the teacher is really good at it~"
With his head resting on the back of his head, Shikamaru said calmly, "In this frontline war, Sensei has made his name known."
"We often hear stories about this in the village; the teacher can now be considered a hero of Konoha."
Wow! That's amazing!
Naruto's eyes lit up when he heard this.
Sasuke and Neji exchanged a glance. They weren't unaware of the situation, but they were often at the training ground and hadn't come out to find out much.
Inside the barbecue restaurant, Hagoromo sat there as disciples served her barbecue from time to time.
I didn't have to lift a finger the whole time, it was wonderful.
"Teacher, I've been training a lot lately," Naruto said, raising his eyebrows.
Seeing Naruto's expression, Hagoromo chuckled lightly; how could he not know?
The system didn't crash while we were on the front lines.
He truly witnessed the growth of Naruto, Sasuke, and others.
He gained tens of thousands of Chakra points alone.
However, since the disciple wanted to show off, Hagoromo naturally couldn't ignore it, so she pretended not to know and asked:
"What happened to the training?"
"Hehe, I've not only mastered Earth Release, but also Water Release, and I'm even starting to understand Fire Style."
Naruto said this while scratching the back of his head.
His smug look made everyone in the private room burst into laughter.
No one refuted this, after all, they had seen Naruto train before.
They were even happier with this achievement.
"Very good, Naruto has grown a lot too." Hagoromo said, patting Naruto's head.
He then looked at the disciples beside him and said, "You are all very good, even though your teacher has been gone for so long."
"But I can sense from my own training that none of you have relaxed your efforts."
Hehe~
Sasuke and the others couldn't help but blush slightly, scratching the back of their heads in embarrassment.
Seeing Hagoromo, Yu Yi chuckled lightly, her gaze pausing briefly as she swept over the crowd.
Neji stood there with his mouth open, as if he wanted to say something.
"What's wrong, Neji?" Hagoromo asked with concern, thinking that there was something she didn't understand about her training.
"Teacher, I would like to apply for early graduation."
Neji remained silent for a long Neji hearing Hagoromo's question before finally speaking.
The private room fell silent immediately, and everyone turned to look at Neji.
Hinata looked at Neji with a worried expression, since graduating early meant facing the things a ninja should experience.
Although it was bound to happen sooner or later, I'm still very worried.
Hagoromo looked at Neji in front of her and, seeing no sign of backing down in his eyes, nodded.
"Okay, the teacher will arrange it."
Upon hearing this, everyone turned to look at Hagoromo.
Hagoromo chuckled and said, "Neji has already clearly defined his path, and his strength is not low either."
"His desire to graduate early is likely a well-thought-out decision."
Having said that, Hagoromo glanced around at Naruto and the others before speaking again:
"What the teacher wants to say is that, with your abilities, you are all actually capable of graduating early."
"I've always wanted you to stay this way, simply because you still lack some maturity."
Upon hearing this, Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances, since in terms of strength, they were probably even slightly stronger than Neji.
But what about growing up?
To be honest, the two of them had to admit that, compared to Neji...
They were more like children, doing many things based on their immediate senses.
"However, Neji— "
Hagoromo looked at Neji with a very serious expression.
"If you apply for early graduation now, the teacher's decision is that you need to go to the battlefield."
Neji was taken aback upon hearing this, then nodded without hesitation.
This is exactly what he wanted; only ninjas who have experienced war can be considered true ninjas.
This was something Hagoromo had told them before, including Kakashi and many other ninjas who had experienced the Third Shinobi World War.
They were almost all much stronger than the average ninja who went on missions after graduation.
More importantly, Neji has already sensed that he has reached a bottleneck.
He wouldn't be able to stay at the Ninja Academy if he had to continue studying there.
"Alright, come over tomorrow when you're ready. The teacher will assign someone to be your examiner."
Hagoromo clapped her hands, then gestured for everyone to continue eating.
The atmosphere inside the private room wasn't as lively as before, and even the usually carefree Naruto was glancing at Neji from time to time.
Growing up--
This word took on a different meaning in his mind for the first time.