Dream

"Perfect score? That's amazing." Sakura froze for a moment and murmured, "Naruto seems a little different from before."

Ino stood there completely stunned, thinking that she must have seen a ghost today. How had that dead last suddenly become so incredible?

"Tch, that guy." Kiba Inuzuka turned and walked away, a white puppy perched on his head.

As one of the three habitual class-cutters, he had Naruto's bottom-ranked scores to thank for keeping his own theory grades from looking too terrible.

Sasuke watched for a long while before turning away as well. His eyes held their usual indifferent expression, reflecting the lush trees at the end of the corridor.

"Sasuke, would you like to have a meal with me after graduation?" The girl who emerged from around the corner of the corridor nervously clutched her forehead protector. She had clearly just passed the exam as well.

"I have things to do. Ask someone else." Sasuke Uchiha was a proud person. He would not allow himself to stand still, and he was planning to go back and train twice as hard.

The hatred of his clan's destruction drove him to live. He had no interest in anything else, and he rejected her without the slightest hesitation.

Sakura watched from within the crowd as the unfamiliar girl at the other end of the corridor was rejected by Sasuke, her heart filled with mixed emotions. Suddenly, a hand patted her shoulder, startling her.

"Ino, what are you doing?"

"Hehe, stop staring. Sasuke would never go on a date alone with you." Ino looked at Sakura smugly.

For some reason, Naruto's annoying face flashed through her mind, followed by his obnoxious voice echoing in her ears.

"Sasuke doesn't like women! Women! Women!"

"Ah!!!! Damn it!" Ino suddenly hugged her head and squatted on the ground, her face twisting into a mask of pain.

The graduation exam had passed smoothly, and Naruto's life returned to normal once more. During the three-day break, Naruto simply lazed around at home for two days.

Naturally, he did not run into Konohamaru.

On the last day of the break, Naruto was sleeping groggily. Sunlight streamed through the window frame and fell over him, warm and comforting.

Suddenly, a piercing light made Naruto frown, and he immediately opened his eyes.

An ANBU member wearing an animal mask crouched on the tree trunk outside the window. Cold eyes showed through the two holes in the mask, and the voice carried no emotion.

"Lord Hokage wants to see you."

Without giving Naruto a chance to react, the ANBU ninja vanished from the spot.

Naruto stared at the ceiling for several minutes before confirming that someone had indeed come by just now. But... where was he supposed to go again?

"Go..."

"The sun is so warm. It feels so nice, like soaking in a hot spring."

"Hot spring."

The sound of steady breathing rose as Naruto fell asleep again.

By the time he woke up, it was already dark.

The lights were off in the room. A shadow sat at the desk, flipping through Naruto's training plan. In the dim light, pages rustled softly before the sound suddenly stopped after a while.

"You're awake, Naruto?" An elderly yet familiar voice rang out, carrying a trace of gentle kindness.

The instant the light came on, it illuminated the entire room.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, sat at the desk with a warm smile, turning his head to look at Naruto. Naruto's brand-new forehead protector, diary, and recipe book lay on the desk.

"Lord Hokage." Still bleary-eyed, Naruto rubbed his eyes and called out.

"Didn't you used to call me Grandpa Hokage?" The Third Hokage paused, then laughed heartily. "What's wrong? Now that you've become a ninja, are you becoming distant with me?"

"Hehe." Naruto scratched his head awkwardly. "I'm already a qualified ninja. It wouldn't be appropriate to call you that anymore."

Hearing that, Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled and let the matter drop before asking.

"Did you forget something today?"

"Something?" Naruto looked puzzled. After thinking for a long time, he finally remembered that an ANBU ninja seemed to have come by and told him to see the Third Hokage.

"Ah! I forgot!"

"You really are something, brat!" The Third Hokage glanced at him helplessly. "Still, it's normal for you to rest."

"Did Lord Hokage need something from me?" Naruto asked.

"It's not really anything." Hiruzen Sarutobi said, "I wanted to ask about Naruto's dream for the future."

"My dream is to slack off." Naruto answered without hesitation.

"Slack off?" The Third Hokage did not understand.

"It means living a stable and easy life," Naruto explained.

"Have young people these days all become like this? It seems I can't keep up with the times anymore." The Third Hokage said self-deprecatingly.

"But wasn't Naruto's dream to become Hokage?"

"What is life like after becoming Hokage? Is it happy?" Naruto asked.

"Well..." Hiruzen Sarutobi coughed lightly. "Usually, it's rather busy. Sometimes even Konohamaru complains that I can't spend time with him."

"But to protect the village and its people, this responsibility drives me onward, even making me ready to stake my life on the village at any moment. I think I'm probably happy."

"Well, that's Lord Hokage's life. It sounds really hard." Naruto sat cross-legged on the bed. "But I don't want to live that tiredly. I don't want people looking at me with strange eyes anymore."

"For someone like me, even having a fresh meal means worrying about whether the shop owner will sell me vegetables. Even if I became Hokage, nothing would really change."

"If Naruto became Hokage, you would definitely be loved and respected by the people of the village in the future," Hiruzen Sarutobi urged.

"But Lord Hokage, I'm doing pretty well now." Naruto held his head in his hands. "If I don't make mistakes and slowly become an ordinary person, everyone will gradually forget their hatred for me."

"Although I don't know why so many people are hostile toward me, I think that now that I've become a ninja, I probably won't receive those looks anymore."

The Third Hokage wanted to say something else, but the words caught in his throat, and he had no face to speak them aloud. He understood that it was his neglect that had turned a child into what Naruto was now.

Three feet of ice did not form in a single day. Naruto had been naturally optimistic; becoming like this was clearly the result of years of hostility.

To change Naruto's attitude, he would likely need to guide him slowly in the future.

"Naruto, if enemies invaded the village someday and wanted to hurt the people you cared about, what would you do then?" the Third Hokage asked.

Naruto thought about it. After pondering for a moment, he looked at the Third Hokage and answered seriously.

"I don't know."

The Third Hokage left without saying anything further.

Naruto sat at the desk where the Third Hokage had been sitting, stroking his forehead protector as his gaze gradually became indifferent. Though the system looked like the Slacker System on the surface, it was actually all about competition.

Naruto could slack off, yet his strength would continue growing. If there was an easier way to become stronger, why not slack off?

Slack off himself, make others compete.

In this terrifying world where strength reigned supreme, without strength, one could only be at the mercy of others.

Tomorrow would be the day they were assigned their squad leaders. Kakashi, they would meet soon.