The Considerations of the Uchiha Clan and the Hyuga Clan

As Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped down from the stage,

the Ninja Academy's opening ceremony gradually drew to a close.

"Alright, children and parents, the opening ceremony is now over. This afternoon, formal classes will begin. Each child will be assigned to a different class, and the list will be posted on the notice board at the school entrance this afternoon. You can find your assigned class then.

Now, you may all disperse. I wish all the children success at the Ninja Academy!"

The Third Hokage's voice echoed through the venue as the children and parents began leaving in small groups.

Naruto was surrounded by his friends. Choji, Ino, Kiba, Shikamaru, and Sakura were all excitedly discussing their plans for lunch.

Naruto had clearly become the most popular person in the crowd.

"Naruto, let's go eat together!" Choji eagerly suggested, already holding his favorite bag of chips.

"Sure, it's on me. How about we go get grilled meat? Everyone should come too." Choza, Choji's father, patted his son on the shoulder and said with a smile.

He was speaking to the heads of the various clans and the other children's parents.

"That sounds good. It's been a long time since the lot of us got together. The children get along so well, so we should strengthen our relationships too!"

Inoichi picked up where Choza left off and spoke to the others.

Seeing that everyone was quite willing to have a meal together, the large group set off for Konoha's most famous grilled meat restaurant!

Earlier, Naruto had also noticed Sasuke at the opening ceremony. The one who had brought him was his brother, Itachi.

Sasuke and Itachi had noticed Naruto as well. Itachi gave Naruto a friendly nod.

Sasuke stared at Naruto for a while before haughtily turning his head away.

They had only met once before, and because of the Uchiha Clan's own circumstances, they were not particularly well-liked in the village.

Naruto also found it difficult to directly invite Sasuke. After all, they had barely exchanged a few words and might not even count as friends yet.

In truth, Sasuke was a little envious of how popular Naruto was, and he did care somewhat about Naruto. Clearly, this was due to the influence of the Chakra of Indra's reincarnation.

This twisted brotherly bond would surely be brought to a complete end in Naruto and Sasuke's generation!

Sasuke currently had a fairly good impression of Naruto, but he was naturally aloof and did not like making friends with others.

Only in front of his brother did he act like an obedient little brother.

A trace of hesitation flashed through his eyes. After thinking for a long time about whether to join Naruto's group, he ultimately decided against it.

He would join them after he and Naruto had become friends.

As a child, Sasuke was at most a little tsundere. He was not unreasonable by any means, and his nature was still kind.

In the end, his brother Itachi led him home by the hand for lunch.

At home, Fugaku Uchiha and Mikoto Uchiha were waiting for the two of them to return for their meal.

After they returned home, while the family was eating,

Itachi was the first to speak. "Father, we ran into Uzumaki Naruto at today's opening ceremony. Hokage-sama seems to think very highly of him and believes he has the potential to become Hokage. Though I do not know Naruto very well, after hearing him speak, I somehow found myself agreeing with him from the bottom of my heart."

"Uzumaki Naruto... The Third Hokage mentioned that child to me before. I heard he is a good child. If not for certain reasons, that child... sigh!"

Fugaku could not speak too clearly in front of Itachi and Sasuke.

"Uzumaki Naruto... The people in the village seem to hate him. It seems like they do not let their children play with Uzumaki Naruto, but Naruto had many friends around him today." Sasuke spoke while eating.

Fugaku knew that Naruto was disliked by the villagers, but he did not know that Naruto had so many friends.

Fugaku turned to Itachi and asked, "Naruto has many friends? Who are they?"

Itachi naturally recognized the descendants of those major clans. He said to Fugaku, "Quite a few. The ones I saw today included Kiba, Choji, Ino, Shikamaru, Hinata, and there seemed to be a pink-haired girl named Sakura. Even their fathers seemed to like Naruto very much."

"Oh? So that is the case? Their fathers like Naruto too?"

Hiashi Hyuga would like to say: That's not me, I didn't!

These few short sentences contained an astonishing amount of information. The people from these clans were basically part of the Hokage's faction and had very good relations with the Hokage.

Without the Third Hokage's permission, they would not have approached Naruto on their own.

After all, Naruto's identity was special. Ordinary villagers did not know, but the heads of these major clans understood perfectly well.

Now that they were openly associating with Naruto, it meant the Third Hokage had permitted it.

Had the Third Hokage decided to train Naruto as the next Hokage? And Itachi had just mentioned that the Third Hokage seemed to think extremely highly of Naruto, believing he possessed the potential to become Hokage.

Therefore, the conflict between the Uchiha Clan and Konoha was now basically out in the open.

If Sasuke could become friends with Naruto, and through him also become friends with the heirs of the other clans, that might serve as a signal of goodwill from the Uchiha Clan.

It could ease the tensions between the Uchiha Clan and Konoha's major clans.

And if Sasuke became friends with Naruto from a young age, then after Naruto became Hokage in the future, he might show the Uchiha Clan some consideration for Sasuke's sake.

"Mikoto, what do you think?" Fugaku asked his wife, Mikoto Uchiha, for her opinion.

At the mention of Uzumaki Naruto, Mikoto recalled many things from the past.

Back when she attended the Ninja Academy, she had been in the same class as Naruto's father and mother. She and Naruto's mother, Uzumaki Kushina, had even been close friends!

They had become pregnant around the same time and had agreed that if they gave birth to two boys, the boys would become brothers.

If they gave birth to two girls, the girls would become sisters.

If they gave birth to a boy and a girl, they could arrange a childhood betrothal.

But now... sigh, things had changed!

Mikoto was still alive, but Kushina and Minato had both died.

They had left behind only Naruto, a pitiful child living alone in this world.

"I think that as long as Sasuke does not dislike Naruto, he can try becoming friends with him. When he has time, he can invite Naruto over to our home."

Mikoto had no ulterior motives. She knew Naruto had suffered a great deal since childhood, and if she had the chance, she would certainly look after Naruto for the sake of her good friend Uzumaki Kushina.

"Sasuke, what about you? Do you want to be friends with Naruto?" Itachi asked Sasuke with a smile.

They had now handed the choice to Sasuke. If Sasuke disliked Naruto, they would not force him to befriend Naruto.

"Hmph! That guy looks kind of dumb. You can tell at a glance that he is not very smart. Still, I do not dislike him. I can try being friends with him, but only if he takes the initiative to come play with me first!"

As expected of a tsundere representative, Sasuke was not that aloof as a child. He simply was not good at interacting with others.

But Naruto seemed very outgoing and did not appear to dislike Sasuke just because of his Uchiha Clan identity.

"That is good. I hope you can become good friends!" Fugaku Uchiha and Mikoto Uchiha were both very satisfied. Each of them had their own thoughts.

It was wonderful that Sasuke was willing to be friends with Naruto!

Meanwhile, because of the Hyuga Clan's strict upbringing, Hinata wanted to go eat grilled meat with Naruto and the others, largely because she wanted to stay with Naruto.

But her father, Hiashi Hyuga, would not allow it, so Hinata could not go eat with Naruto and the others.

Hiashi Hyuga, Hinata's father, had learned when Hinata was young that Naruto had helped her as a child. At the time, he had been quite grateful to Naruto.

But then he heard the household servants say that Hinata seemed to be thinking about Naruto all the time.

How old was she? That damn Naruto had stolen the heart of his precious daughter Hinata after only one meeting!

So, in order to protect his daughter, he would not allow her to mingle with Naruto and the others. At the very least, not in front of him!

Only after Naruto earned his approval would he allow Hinata to play with Naruto.

Though Naruto's speech just now had indeed moved him somewhat, it was still not enough. The ninja world was ultimately a place where strength spoke for itself.

No matter how nicely someone spoke, without the corresponding strength, they could not protect the people important to them!

Hiashi understood this deeply. It was precisely because he had not been strong enough that he had failed to protect his important younger brother, Hizashi Hyuga!

Therefore, he would never allow such a mistake to happen again!

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