Kurama, When Are You Paying Rent?

In class, Naruto was still sprawled over his desk, pretending to sleep.

At that moment, he had to admit that Sarutobi Hiruzen really knew how to teach.

At the very least, compared to Iruka, the difference was like heaven and earth.

It was not merely because Iruka taught a group while Sarutobi Hiruzen taught only him.

Put it this way: if Sarutobi Hiruzen were to teach this class—

Before long, only the children of the major Ninja Clans would likely escape unscathed.

The rest would probably all be shouting about becoming Hokage and inheriting the Will of Fire.

Moreover, they would definitely learn their ninja fundamentals thoroughly.

After the Chakra Extraction Technique lesson—

It was time to train Mental Power.

Mental Power did exist in the Ninja World.

Genjutsu was essentially a Mental Power attack that disrupted Chakra.

The most representative Genjutsu, aside from Kekkei Genkai types—

Was the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique developed by the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju.

It was a Genjutsu specifically designed to counter the Uchiha Clan's powerful Mental Power attacks, such as Sharingan Genjutsu.

"Meditation?"

Naruto closed his eyes.

A familiar sensation washed over him, and moments later, he entered a meditative state.

For the Uchiha Clan, whose Mental Power was extraordinary—

Meditation was a required course.

Not far away, Uchiha Sasuke also quickly entered a meditative state.

As expected, the children of the major Ninja Clans had mastered it long ago.

Yet many of them had never taken meditation seriously.

Only three people in the class were meditating earnestly.

One was Uchiha Sasuke.

One was Naruto, who had obtained the Sharingan through the power of the Woods-Woods Fruit.

The other was the Byakugan Princess, Hinata.

The rest had simply never learned how to meditate.

The changes brought by meditation were not as obvious as Chakra, so naturally, it was not valued.

Ino had been planning to whisper something bold to Naruto.

But when she suddenly noticed that Naruto and Hinata had both closed their eyes and entered meditation—

Her eyes darted around, and she joined them.

She was even more impressive.

She had probably learned meditation before even starting at the academy, let alone the Chakra Extraction Technique.

Ino entered a meditative state in just a few seconds...

"Shikamaru, Naruto and the other two are so serious. Meditation is so boring."

Shikamaru propped his chin up with one hand, yawned, and said helplessly,

"Meditation is a required course for Ino. Her family values this kind of training even more than ours do."

"Hinata always takes the tasks assigned by teachers seriously. Unless Naruto tells her not to do it, she could probably write a ten-thousand-word reflection if someone asked her to."

"As for Naruto... no one taught him. Unlike us, he didn't have people teaching him this stuff from a young age."

Choji nodded, then lowered his head and continued sneaking Potato Chips.

Ring ring ring—

The dismissal bell rang.

Naruto withdrew from his meditative state.

He carefully felt the changes and discovered that meditation could indeed improve Mental Power. It even had beneficial effects on the quality of Chakra.

Of course, most importantly, he discovered that after his Mental Power improved, his eyes felt a little warm.

Looks like improving Mental Power also helps the Sharingan.

Meditation will have to become one of my daily training routines from now on.

Suddenly, an adorable little face appeared before him.

"Naruto, the improvement from meditation isn't very obvious. Shikamaru and Choji only meditate once in a while, but you seem really interested in it."

"I'm really good at it, you know. If you have any questions, you can ask me."

"Me too..."

Naruto smiled and said rather seriously,

"Ino, your fine Chakra control should be very good, right?"

Seeing Naruto become serious for once, Ino hurriedly straightened her little body and nodded repeatedly.

"Maybe you could try learning Medical Ninjutsu, as long as it doesn't interfere with training in your family's secret techniques."

"You know Tsunade, one of the legendary Sannin, right?"

"Mhm, mhm! Lady Tsunade is my idol~"

"She has a secret technique. The prerequisite for mastering it is to take fine Chakra control to the absolute limit."

"Once you master it, even if you never train taijutsu in the future, you can still send people flying with a single punch."

"If it's Medical Ninjutsu, I'll listen to you and tell Dad when I get home. But... that's Lady Tsunade's secret technique... and..."

Seeing Ino hesitate after hearing about sending people flying with one punch, Naruto smiled.

"You won't grow muscles. And you'll retain Eternal Youth—even when you're seventy or eighty, you can still have the skin of a young girl."

Ah~

Naruto covered his eyes, nearly blinded by the light in Ino's eyes.

Suddenly, a tiny finger poked his arm.

When he turned around, he saw Hinata bashfully touching her two index fingers together.

Right, she meant, What about me?

"You?"

Hinata nodded.

"Just eat your fill every day and train hard. Your Byakugan is already amazing."

Seeing that she was embarrassed, angry, and a little disappointed—

Naruto changed his tune.

"Of course, if you want to learn that secret technique, you can learn from Ino, the genius girl at controlling Chakra."

With that one sentence, both little girls were happy.

Not far away, Sakura turned around when she heard Ino laughing.

She stared blankly for a while at Ino's radiant smile and Hinata, whom Ino was holding in her arms.

Then she turned back. Uchiha Sasuke still had that aloof, stay-away-from-me look.

She suddenly felt a little dazed. Like this... huh? Did Sasuke-kun just glance at me?

Wow~

I knew it. He must have feelings for me; he's just shy and not good at expressing them.

Hehe~

Before long, it was time to go home.

Before Iruka even announced dismissal, Choji stood up directly.

"Meat!!!"

That look in his eyes startled even Iruka.

"Class is dismissed. See you this afternoon, everyone!"

Naruto also emerged from his meditative state.

A morning of training had given him a different kind of feeling.

When he opened his eyes, the world before him had changed once again.

It was not as obvious as after he had fully absorbed Uchiha Shisui's Nutrients.

But Naruto could still feel that all five of his senses had strengthened to varying degrees.

Because of what Naruto had said, Ino and Hinata had continued meditating afterward.

Only to be awakened by Choji's shout.

Ino was just about to scold him.

But Shikamaru acted first, knocking Choji on the head.

"Why are you so excited? Though I suppose you're right. I'm hungry too."

Choji scratched his head awkwardly, then asked in confusion,

"Shikamaru, why did you start meditating too?"

Shikamaru, who had thought he had hidden it, blushed slightly and rubbed his nose.

"Naruto said the benefits of meditation were no less than any other kind of training. I meditated all morning and found that it was true. My Mental Power improved, and a lot of things feel different now."

"Choji, you should meditate more in the future too."

"Okay! As long as there's meat to eat... as long as there's food Naruto makes, nothing is a problem!"

Then the children laughed and played as they left the classroom.

"Yo~ Naruto-kun!"

"I'm fired up! Totally fired up!"

"Anyone want to walk on their hands to Naruto's house with me?"

Smack—

Tenten walked over and slapped him.

"Rock Lee, I warned you! You are absolutely not allowed to invite Naruto to train with you!"

"If Naruto starts dressing like that Teacher Kai of yours in the future... ah!"

An image flashed through her mind.

Tenten became furious, and so did Ino.

Even Hinata's fists clenched.

"Hmph, as a member of the Main Family..."

"Neji, are you coming?"

Neji, whose speech had been interrupted, froze for a moment.

Rock Lee had dragged him over here.

He had not expected Naruto to invite him.

"Even a hardworking genius needs to relax tense nerves now and then. Training works better when you balance work and rest."

"But..."

"Neji Brother, I brought some spending money. We can buy milk and drinks to bring over."

Encouraged by Naruto's gaze, Hinata gathered her courage, looked Neji directly in the eye, and offered a kind smile.

"All right."

There were two more children joining the lunchtime gathering.

Naruto quite admired Neji.

Unfortunately, he had run into Naruto, the big landowner.

Neji's death represented the failure of Naruto's entire theory.

Because you said, I am a genius.

What an ironic thing to say.

For the Hyūga Branch Family, he used his own death to bribe the biggest corrupt official.

And the result... Hinata did not need to receive the Caged Bird, while Hanabi became part of the Main Family.

In a certain tale, only members of the Main Family ever appeared among the Hyūga.

Neji had put in no less effort than Rock Lee. Those hands wrapped in bandages showed just how hard he trained every day.

Not to mention that he bore the Caged Bird.

"Let's go, let's go~"

Choji was the most eager of all.

He hurriedly urged everyone to leave.

After lunch, under Ino and Shikamaru's explanations, meditation also became a required course for them.

Especially Tenten. When she heard about Tsunade's Yin Seal, the light in her eyes was no dimmer than Ino's.

When they returned for afternoon class, Neji still looked somewhat dazed.

Lady Hinata... could actually... eat that much?

Does that mean... she had been training on an empty stomach the whole time?

He knew very well what hunger felt like.

And because Lady Hinata was too kind, she was unwilling to go all out every time.

Sometimes, she was even punished by being forbidden to eat.

He looked at Hinata ahead of him, chatting normally with Ino and Tenten.

His heart was shaken once again.

Finally, he stared fixedly at Naruto's retreating back.

He could vaguely sense that Naruto was not as simple as he appeared.

That afternoon, everyone meditated with Naruto.

Most of them endured it and forced themselves to meditate for the entire afternoon.

They all gained quite a few benefits.

Rock Lee in particular poked Neji, who was still meditating beside him.

"Neji, I've gotten stronger! For a brief moment, I felt the Chakra inside my body. I think I can control the tiniest bit of Chakra now."

"Next time, I'll definitely defeat you!"

Smack—

It was not Neji, whose meditation had been interrupted, who made a move.

It was the teacher at the podium.

"Sleeping in class is one thing, but you even disturbed the other students. Go outside and stand as punishment."

The students burst into laughter. Even Neji himself did not notice that the corners of his mouth, which had rarely smiled since his father's death, had curved up slightly.

Meditation naturally brought many benefits, but for Naruto, what mattered more was this:

The increase in Mental Power was enough for him to do certain things.

For example, after school, Naruto lay on his bed, closed his eyes, and used his Mental Power to seep into his lower abdomen.

Very quickly, he passed through layer after layer of obstacles.

"Yo, Kurama. Have you been sleeping comfortably all these years?"

"When are you planning to start paying rent?"