I Don't Dream

In the Mirrored World, Naruto was fighting Konoha's two gate guardians.

Kotetsu Hagane stood in front, Izumo Kamizuki behind him.

"Water Style, Water Candy Capture!"

Kotetsu Hagane transformed his Chakra into syrup and spat it from his mouth. It spread across the ground like puddles and surged toward Naruto.

Naruto swiftly retreated, nimbly changing direction at the same time. He charged several steps toward Izumo Kamizuki, who had just summoned a giant shell hammer, then flicked one hand. Several Shuriken spun out from every blind spot.

Meanwhile, his other hand had already rapidly completed several Hand Seals.

"Fire Style, Great Fireball Jutsu!"

Izumo Kamizuki only had time to block the Shuriken with his giant shell hammer before a blazing fireball more than three meters in diameter instantly swallowed him whole.

After confirming that Izumo Kamizuki had been eliminated, Naruto turned and locked onto Kotetsu Hagane opposite him. Just as he was about to make a move, Kurama's voice sounded.

"Naruto, your homeroom teacher seems angry. He's called your name three times already. That kid named Shikamaru in the front row is signaling you. If you don't come out soon, he might come over himself."

"Got it."

With a thought, Naruto's consciousness had just returned to his body when an anger-filled voice came from the podium.

"Uzumaki Naruto! Stand up!"

"What is it, Teacher Iruka?"

Naruto rose calmly, his gaze steady and without the slightest trace of panic.

"Uzumaki Naruto, it's your turn to introduce yourself!"

Iruka practically gritted his teeth as he said those words from the podium.

When he learned that Naruto would be in the class assigned to him, his first thought had been to resign from the school. Yet after the Third Hokage persuaded him, he still accepted the task.

But on the very first day of school, Naruto had shown such contempt for him as the homeroom teacher. Thinking of the parents the Demon Fox had killed years ago, Iruka's expression grew increasingly grim.

Facing Iruka's gaze from the podium, as though he wanted to devour him alive, Naruto remained utterly unmoved. He said evenly, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

After saying that, he sat back down.

But that attitude made Iruka feel that Naruto was completely brushing him off.

"What kind of introduction was that?!"

Iruka felt as if he could barely suppress the rage in his heart.

"Teacher Iruka, I actually don't need to introduce myself." Naruto stood again, his deep gaze fixed on Iruka at the podium. "Shouldn't everyone in the village already know me?"

"Y-you should at least say something about your hobbies and dreams."

The instant Iruka saw Naruto staring at him with a gaze devoid of any emotion, his heart trembled. For some reason, his voice unconsciously softened.

"I don't have any particular hobbies. And I've never dreamed, so I don't have any boring dreams."

As soon as Naruto finished speaking, whispers began to spread through the classroom.

"Damn it, what kind of nonsense is this bastard spouting? My dream is to become Hokage. Is that boring?"

"Yeah! What an unpleasant guy. My dream is to become a hero who protects the village!"

"Hmph, hmph... Someone like him doesn't deserve to have dreams at all!"

"Shh, I heard he's the Demon Fox. It's normal for him not to have dreams."

Seeing how Naruto's single remark had provoked such a huge reaction from the other students, Iruka looked at him with a complicated expression and asked, "Why do you say that?"

"Why?" Naruto's gaze slowly shifted. Sitting in the last row, he swept his eyes across several rows of seats and noticed two people looking at him strangely.

One was Sasuke Uchiha, and the other was Hinata, whom he had met before.

Both of them seemed to have a faint look of excitement in their eyes as they watched him.

"Teacher Iruka, I think that if a person has no dreams, then they are no different from being free of all worries. Are you satisfied with that explanation?"

"What!"

The classroom instantly fell silent. After hearing Naruto's answer, Iruka was completely stunned.

That was right. As an adult, of course he knew that dreams, as the name implied, were the things people desired most deeply in their hearts.

If someone had no dreams, then they wanted nothing and sought nothing. What difference was there between that and being free of all worries?

But if a person lived in this world without dreams, would their life truly still have any meaning?

Iruka could not understand that attitude toward life. He opened his mouth, intending to say something more, but in the end, he could only wave his hand weakly. "Sit down."

"Thank you, Teacher Iruka."

Naruto calmly sat back down and began to think. Iruka then continued calling on the other students to introduce themselves. Though Naruto had no interest in children's dreams, he still devoted a trace of attention to the class.

Otherwise, he would not even know if he was called on again later.

Time passed swiftly. In the blink of an eye, a year had gone by, and today was his first day at the Ninja Academy.

Ever since he had marked Flying Thunder God seals around several waterfalls along the Naka River that night, he had used his senses every day to track Shisui Uchiha's Chakra fluctuations. However, one day after the New Year arrived, he discovered that Shisui Uchiha had led a team out of the village on a mission.

He had not returned to the village even by the time the Ninja Academy opened. With no other choice, Naruto could only wait for the rabbit by the tree stump.

Over the past year, he had studied with his father every day in the Sealed Space, researching how to simplify Hand Seals, or even extract his own Chakra without forming Hand Seals in order to perform ninjutsu.

Minato Namikaze told him that simplifying Hand Seals was possible, and casting ninjutsu without Hand Seals was also possible under certain circumstances. However, it depended on the situation, because not every ninjutsu could be created following the development approach of techniques like the Rasengan and Flying Thunder God.

The reason ninja needed Hand Seals to perform ninjutsu was that they first needed Chakra. Chakra was divided into physical energy and spiritual energy. Before releasing a ninjutsu, they had to extract Chakra within their bodies that matched the type and scale of the technique.

Although that entire complicated process was completed swiftly inside the body, ninja had to use Hand Seals to remind their bodies how to complete those procedures. Every gesture corresponded to a step within the body. All the preparation before a ninjutsu was activated served one purpose: extracting Chakra before the technique could be released.

Even ninja with bloodline limits could not completely bypass the process of Hand Seals when using ninjutsu. Because of their bloodline limits, it often appeared as though they could perform all kinds of ninjutsu without Hand Seals.

For other ninja without bloodline limits, let alone performing ninjutsu without Hand Seals, even simplifying Hand Seals was difficult. That was closely tied to training in proficiently extracting their own Chakra.

Minato Namikaze said that no matter how much Hand Seals were simplified, aside from special ninjutsu such as Flying Thunder God and the Rasengan, they could at most be reduced to one-handed Hand Seals.

Over the past year, Naruto had been training in this. Just now in the Mirrored World, he had successfully used one-handed Hand Seals to perform the Great Fireball Jutsu, which was the result of his recent training.

Ding-ding-ding—

The dismissal bell sounded. Today was the first day of school, and they had mainly come to register, with only one class.

So he could go home.