After Naruto and Sasuke left, the children started chattering again.
"What was that just now? A clone?"
"No way, clones can attack too?"
"When did Naruto get so strong?"
"Sasuke can actually use such an amazing Fire Style Jutsu!"
Kiba nudged Shino beside him. "Hey, Shino, those two just now..." The masked Shino nodded. "They should have used the Great Fireball Technique and the Shadow Clone Technique." Neither of them was an ordinary civilian ninja, so they could somewhat recognize those advanced ninjutsu.
"I'm not surprised Sasuke can use the Uchiha Clan's Great Fireball... but Naruto actually mastered Shadow Clones too?" Kiba crossed his arms, his childish face unusually solemn. "Looks like I need to master Fang Passing Fang as soon as possible too."
"Woof!"
Kiba looked up and patted the puppy on his head with a smile. "You need to work hard too, Akamaru."
"Woof!"
"Those two are so strong." Choji sighed, then continued grabbing potato chips and crunching away.
"It wasn't just the Shadow Clones... the way he used the Shadow Clones and the Transformation Technique, along with that skilled taijutsu combo... What exactly happened to Naruto in such a short time?" Shikamaru pondered silently.
"Naruto..." Iruka withdrew his gaze, recalling how the Third Hokage had personally sought him out yesterday—
"What did you need me for, Lord Hokage?" Iruka walked to the corner of the corridor, where the elderly Third Hokage stood.
"Iruka..." The Third Hokage smoked beneath his conical hat and exhaled a cloud of smoke. "I entrusted Naruto to you because you shared the same experience. You both lost your parents at a young age and longed for the attention of companions. So I hoped you could guide him properly as he grew..."
Iruka nodded. He understood all that clearly and had been working hard to adapt.
After all, strictly speaking, Naruto—or rather, the thing inside him—was the enemy who had killed his father and mother.
"But now, some things have happened... Naruto is no longer simply a child. He may even act completely differently from before. Even I can no longer predict what path his future growth will take... I only hope that you can do everything in your power to guide him correctly..." the Third Hokage said slowly. With the mind of a six-year-old carrying the weight of seventeen years of life, who could say what would happen in the future?
"Some things have happened..." Iruka was confused, but when he saw that the Third Hokage remained silent and gave no indication, he immediately understood that it involved secrets he was not supposed to know. He apologized, "Lord Hokage, I spoke out of turn."
"Six years... Naruto, how far will you grow...?"
The Third Hokage gradually walked away.
"What do you mean!?" Sasuke abruptly turned around, strode up to Naruto, and glared at him fiercely.
Sasuke's overwhelming hatred carried a somewhat intimidating presence. Naruto subconsciously took half a step back, then pulled his foot back and met Sasuke's vicious eyes head-on. "Exactly what I said. You can't even beat me right now, so what right do you have to act every day like you can't wait to run straight to Itachi and get revenge? You're his younger brother. You should know how strong Itachi was at your age, right? Could six-year-old you beat six-year-old Itachi?"
Sasuke was so furious his hair seemed ready to stand on end. He grabbed Naruto by the collar. "What the hell are you talking about!? A guy like you doesn't understand anything! Itachi... that guy Itachi, he..." As he spoke, Sasuke's eyes suddenly reddened, and he could not force out another word.
Naruto let him grip his collar as he looked into those eyes filled with hatred, rage, and sorrow, trying to imagine how [he] had felt when he regarded Sasuke as an [important bond].
But unfortunately, the memories he had received contained everything, including [training experience], except any [my feelings], [sadness], [joy], [pain], [loss], [contentment], [happiness], [despair]... There was none of it.
"..."
Sasuke released him, lowered his head, turned around, and walked away.
Naruto remained silent. Finally, just as Sasuke was about to disappear into the distance, he spoke up. "Hey!"
Sasuke's back stiffened.
"Defeat me!" Naruto shouted.
"What did you say?"
"I said, beat me with everything you've got! If you can't train right now, then fight me! Talking about revenge is something you only have the right to do after you beat a dead last like me!"
"Hmph... idiot."
Sasuke stood there for a while before finally leaping away and vanishing from sight.
After school, Naruto headed for Konoha's Back Mountain as he had these past few days, continuing his training alone. On the street, however, he spotted two [familiar] people.
"Hey, Teacher Kakashi, Pervy Sage!" Naruto waved in greeting, but then suddenly realized that the two of them did not know him yet, making things rather awkward...
Naruto had just lowered his hand when Jiraiya turned around upon hearing him and smiled. "Yo, isn't this my adorable disciple?"
Kakashi was visibly stunned. Disciple? He took a closer look at Naruto's appearance: short, spiky golden hair, bright blue eyes, a round face... Kakashi asked Jiraiya, "Lord Jiraiya, could he be...?"
"Yeah, this is Minato's child, Naruto Uzumaki." Jiraiya nodded. Since Naruto already knew his own origins, there was nothing to hide.
"Pervy Sage, you knew that I knew..." Naruto said in surprise. He had been completely unaware of what had happened when Jiraiya was in the Third Hokage's secret chamber.
The sentence was quite a tongue twister, but Jiraiya clearly understood. "Yeah, I knew you knew."
Kakashi was speechless. What kind of nonsense were this grandfather-grandson pair talking about?
"Oh..." Naruto nodded, unexpectedly feeling a little happy. During this time, a sense of loneliness had always clung to him, one even stronger than the loneliness of being the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. But then his gaze flicked to the side, and he let out a startled cry. "Whaaa!"
Kakashi silently looked at Jiraiya's severed left arm. So Naruto had finally noticed.
Come to think of it, what kind of person could have injured Lord Jiraiya so severely?
"Ahahaha, it's nothing to make such a fuss over." Jiraiya waved his hand, then his tone changed as he looked at Naruto. "After all, the opponent was Pain. Just losing one arm is already pretty good."
Naruto's pupils contracted. "Pain..."
The feeling of facing a disaster head-on viciously clenched his heart.
Pain attacking the village, Konoha reduced to level ground, a million White Zetsu, flames of war everywhere, Susanoo like a fiend, Madara Uchiha's suffocatingly powerful Fire Style, Water Style, Wind Style, sand dust, explosions, phantoms of Chakra... and the scene of [himself] dying helplessly.
With the name [Pain], those images surfaced in his mind again, carrying an inescapable stench of blood. Like a lingering ghost, they blew cold air against the back of his neck and whispered to Naruto: See? These aren't dreams. They're all real. Your future... is death.
Naruto shuddered and forced a pale smile. "Haha, is that so? Then no wonder..." He hurriedly added, "I'll be going now."
Watching Naruto quickly run off, Kakashi asked in confusion, "What's with that kid?"
Jiraiya smiled with a complicated expression. Those memories might be more of a burden than a benefit to Naruto right now...
That evening, Naruto lay exhausted on the forest floor as he had these past few days.
"No... I don't have enough Chakra to use Rasenshuriken at all." Naruto panted, sweat covering his face and head. Without his goggles, his short, fine golden hair was messy and stuck to his forehead.
"Although I have experience successfully entering [Sage Mode], if I fail, I'll turn into a stone frog..."
"Chakra, Chakra..."
Naruto silently watched the twilight sky, one hand unconsciously resting on his abdomen.
Closing his eyes, his consciousness entered that place for the first time...
After finishing his training, Naruto headed home.
Suddenly, he saw several boys surrounding a girl, noisily bullying her.
"Hey! What are you guys doing? Huh, it's Hinata..." When he saw injustice, he naturally stepped forward to help. Whether before or after the change, Naruto's nature had never changed. Looking closer, the girl being bullied was actually Hinata Hyuga.
"Naruto..." Hinata was surprised, but felt even more embarrassed.
"Who are you?" "Are you trying to stick your nose into this?" "Looking for a beating?" The boys snapped at Naruto.
Naruto could not be bothered to waste words. He immediately formed hand signs. "Shadow Clone Technique!"
Crap, my Chakra was already completely used up...
Poof! Poof!
Two miniature Shadow Clones barely a few inches tall appeared on the ground.
"..."
The boys froze for a moment, then burst into unrestrained laughter. One of them charged forward first. "Are you here to make us laugh?"
Naruto had no choice but to drag his exhausted body into a scuffle with the boys. After great effort, he barely managed to pin the little brats to the ground.
"Just you wait!" "Don't think this is over!"
After throwing out their threats, the boys hurriedly ran away.
"Are you okay?" Naruto panted. He had just trained himself to exhaustion, then gotten into another fight. It was really becoming too much.
"I-I'm fine... Sorry." Hinata blushed. In her nervousness, she simply bowed and apologized.
"What are you apologizing for?" Naruto asked in confusion. But because of those memories, he had quite a good impression of Hinata... After all, she was the girl who had said [I like Naruto the most], though it was probably the kind of love she had for Ichiraku Ramen.
"Well, I'm leaving. Be careful on your way home." Naruto waved and turned to leave.
"Um!" Hinata called after Naruto. Naruto stopped and asked, "What is it?" Hinata's face turned even redder as she whispered, "Thank you, Naruto."
"Hah, no need to thank me." Naruto waved and walked away.
Hinata stood there for a while before leaving as well.
Naruto suddenly stopped, abruptly turned around, and looked in all directions. He muttered in confusion, "Was someone watching just now...? I think I felt... a white figure... Hmm... How strange..."
"Forget it. Time to go home."
I need to train hard tomorrow too!
So I won't die!
Facing the setting sun, young Naruto Uzumaki thought this, unable to tell whether he felt anticipation or fear toward the future.
Before you continue