Naruto Uzumaki

Are all the Sand Ninja delegation members inside the school?

On the rooftop of a residential building across the street from the school's main gate, Itachi stood, gazing out at the vast campus.

The Ninja Academy has a history of fifty years. It has grown from a school with only a hundred or so students to a behemoth that provides five or six hundred Genin every year. The total number of students enrolled has exceeded five thousand. If the difficulty of the graduation examination were relaxed, the Ninja Academy could provide more than a thousand Genin every year.

To accommodate so many students, the Ninja Academy has been expanded seven times. Now, its total area is enormous, with thirty small training grounds, six large ones, an office building, three teaching buildings, and other miscellaneous facilities.

"Yes, the entire Sand Ninja crew is in the woods next to the seventeenth small training ground."

The ninja wearing the Cold Scarlet Cherry Blossom mask respectfully reported the situation.

"... It wouldn't be good to act at the Ninja Academy! There are students everywhere; if something goes wrong, we can't afford the consequences..." Itachi pondered for a few seconds, then made up his mind, "Let's go find that Principal first. Since the target of our investigation is at the school, it's better to inform him first."

A gentle breeze carried away his mutterings and his figure, while cawing crows took flight.

The owner of the small restaurant downstairs immediately rushed out and ran to the garbage dump, worried that these wretched crows would rummage through the garbage again.

"Wow, Naruto and Suzuran-chan? What's going on?"

The Principal's office was almost blasted to pieces by the enormous sound.

Kushina stared wide-eyed at the image on the crystal ball.

"If Naruto dares to hurt even a single hair on Suzuran-chan's head, I'll hang him up and whip him!" Kushina said through gritted teeth, the fine veins on her fists bulging, making Katsuki's heart pound with fear. He had suffered plenty of punishment from this iron fist when he was a child, and he would still instinctively react to it.

"It's okay, Suzuran is very strong!"

Konan said this.

Kushina's eyes widened, somewhat confused.

Although she was exasperated by Naruto's idiotic nature, she was quite proud of her son's exceptional fighting talent, especially since Minato had gone to great lengths to hone Naruto's abilities.

"Very strong? Interesting!"

Katsuki pinched her chin and laughed.

On the training field.

Ino's team and Naruto's team began their duel.

According to the order of appearance, Naruto and Suzuran are both first.

"Huh? No way?"

Naruto looked at Suzuran walking towards him with a bitter face. He felt terrible. His mother had been nagging him to take care of Suzuran at school when he left for school that morning. He had no doubt that if he hurt Suzuran here, his mother would skin him alive when he got home.

"Naruto, please take care of me from now on."

Suzuran spoke as softly as ever, but that timid and uneasy feeling had completely vanished, replaced by something... hard to describe... a chill?

Naruto slid his right foot back, raised his arm, and instinctively assumed a defensive stance.

The body reacts faster than the fluctuations in consciousness.

Naruto has a high fighting talent, but in another timeline, he lacked systematic training from a young age, and due to malnutrition, his talent was completely buried until it was slowly discovered later. Now, he has Minato, a powerful and insightful father, to carefully guide him.

His talent was fully realized.

Minato had a keen eye and recognized his son's characteristics early on. He knew that complicated fighting techniques were not suitable for Naruto, and that simpler fighting styles were more suitable for Naruto. Whether it was Taijutsu or Ninjutsu, simplicity was Naruto's forte.

To this end, he drew manpower from the Root and asked Katsuki and Otoha to be his son's sparring partners. Sometimes he would Jiraiya personally participate in the matches. When Jiraiya returned to the village, he would also ask them to help. In short, he used a large number of battles against ninjas of different levels and from different people to hone Naruto's unpolished talent.

"Although Mom asked me to take care of you... I won't hold back in the battle. At most, I'll go with you to clean up the trash there. Get ready, Suzuran."

Naruto shouted loudly, his azure eyes blazing with fighting spirit.

"Sigh!!" Shuyuan sighed deeply, glanced back at Teacher Hitomi, who nodded in approval, before turning to the two on the field. "The battle begins!!"

"Shadow Clone Technique"

Naruto stood still, his hands forming the Ren seal at lightning speed, repeating this movement that he had practiced a thousand times.

Thirty Shadow Clone appeared around the original body amidst the Chakra smoke. In the blink of an eye, those with poor memories could no longer recognize which one was the original body of Katsuki.

"Aaaaah! It's out! Naruto's cheating Ninjutsu!"

Shikamaru shouted in a very uncooperative manner, and upon seeing the group of Naruto appear in the arena, he felt a splitting headache.

This damn Shadow Clone Technique is supposed to be a technique only Jonin, Special Jonin, and some Chunin can master, right? And even an ordinary Jonin couldn't create this many Shadow Clones, could they? This is practically cheating! Cheating!

Because Naruto possesses the Shadow Clone Technique, he is completely powerless against this guy. His Shadow Technique can only be used to immobilize the opponent's movements and cannot directly interfere with physical movements. Therefore, it is difficult for him to immobilize so many of Naruto's Shadow Clone Techniques and destroy them. Not to mention that Naruto also understands his Shadow Technique, making surprise tactics difficult to implement.

The same principle applies to dealing with Kiba. It's difficult to restrain both the man and the dog simultaneously with Shadow Technique. Without Shadow Technique to subdue the enemy, relying solely on Taijutsu or ninja tools, he's no match for these muscle-bound idiots.

"Amazing!"

From the woods, gasps of surprise rang out from the Sand Ninja.

Rasa himself stared wide-eyed at the group of youthful-looking Shadow Clone, feeling deeply shocked.

"Shadow Clone? He should still be a student at the Ninja Academy, right? To create so many Shadow Clones at once... is he a monster?"

Principal's Office.

"I see... No wonder you were so confident, Kushina! You were able to create so many Shadow Clones... Impressive."

The Shadow Clone Technique is not easy to learn. It's not that having a huge amount of Chakra guarantees mastery of Ninjutsu. This B-rank Ninjutsu is not as superficial as it seems. Even within the Senju and Uzumaki clans, there are individuals who cannot learn and master this technique. Talent is something even rarer than bloodline.

Looking at the image on the crystal ball, Konan sincerely praised Naruto, making Kushina blush and feel quite pleased. No mother would dislike hearing others praise her son.

"Konan, you're too modest. Your daughter is no ordinary person! If Naruto gets careless... he might capsize!" Katsuki's lips curled into a smile as she stared at the image in the crystal ball, her expression growing increasingly profound. (To be continued)