Sasuke Goes Cold, on the Eve of Ninja Academy Graduation

Naruto, the top student, had defeated Sasuke, the genius of the Uchiha Clan.

The news quickly spread throughout the academy.

All those classmates and upperclassmen who had once been infatuated with Sasuke

were indignant at first, but when they saw Naruto, more than half their anger dissipated.

Combined with his title as the top student of the grade,

he instantly won over a large number of fangirls.

Under such circumstances, Sasuke, who had never taken leave before, unexpectedly requested several days off.

That caused even more fangirls to switch sides.

Every day, Ino acted like a little wildcat, baring her claws to chase away those lovestruck girls.

Tenten was even more furious.

That was my Little Brother!

I found him first, I was the first to look after him, he's mine! Mine!

If they had not been separated by a floor, Tenten would have wanted to stay by Naruto's side all day long.

Naruto did not pay much attention to any of it.

Whenever he had time, he meditated.

That irritated Inuzuka Kiba and the other nobodies who shouted all day about becoming Hokage.

"That guy is really full of himself!"

"Why didn't I realize before that, aside from Sasuke, he's the most stuck-up one around?"

"Woof!"

Kiba and Akamaru were both unhappy.

Shino, standing nearby, suddenly said coldly,

"No, Naruto is different from Sasuke."

"How is he different? Aren't they both full of themselves?"

"Sasuke is handsome and proud. He looks down on everyone and loves being in the spotlight."

"Naruto is different. He's handsome too, but he isn't arrogant. He's approachable. Look, even Shikamaru and Choji go to see him every day, and several upperclassmen have a good relationship with him."

"And... I've noticed that he resembles someone."

"You have a point... Who?"

"All right, students, quiet down. Class is starting."

At that moment, Iruka's voice suddenly rang out.

Shino immediately fell silent. Wearing his sunglasses, he turned away with a blank expression.

Kiba: "???"

Come on, man!

Finish what you were saying!

"Kiba, do you have a question? Or would you like to come up and assist the teacher with the lesson?"

Iruka suddenly asked.

Kiba, who had been waving his arms around, could only flush red and sit down obediently.

"Iruka teacher, Sasuke-kun still hasn't come to class today. Is he sick?"

At that moment, Pink Hair, who had been distracted for days, finally gathered her courage and stood up to ask.

As soon as she spoke, several girls came to their senses.

They hurriedly followed suit and asked Iruka about Sasuke.

Iruka fell silent for a moment before forcing out a smile.

"Sasuke is fine. Something happened at home, and he needs to stay there for a few days."

"Don't worry, everyone. Sasuke will be back soon."

Most of those with such doubts were civilians.

The children of Ninja Clans had basically already learned the truth.

Children could not keep secrets for long.

Before long, news that the Uchiha Clan had been exterminated overnight spread throughout the academy.

Some civilians who lived closer also discovered that the Uchiha Clan compound had been cordoned off.

"What?"

"That was the Uchiha Clan... How could they have been wiped out overnight?"

"Exactly. The Uchiha were all so powerful. Who could possibly have had the ability to do that?"

"They're dead, so they're dead. They were annoying anyway."

"Yeah. My parents never liked them. Now that the Konoha Guard Team no longer has the Uchiha Clan, everyone has a lot more smiles on their faces!"

"Shh! My parents said we're not allowed to discuss this. Lord Hokage seems to have issued a gag order. No one is allowed to talk about the Uchiha Clan."

A week later, the tsundere Sasuke was gone.

The cold, obsessive Sasuke had logged in.

As soon as he arrived at the academy, several girls in the class stepped forward to check on him.

They had all heard about the Uchiha Clan and were deeply worried about Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun, are you all right?" Pink Hair sat closest to him, so naturally she was the first to offer him comfort.

However, the cold and obsessive Sasuke, whose heart was now set solely on revenge, was no longer like before.

He frowned deeply, turned his head, and shot the annoying Pink Hair a cold glance.

Swept by those incomparably icy eyes, Pink Hair froze on the spot.

The other girls instantly stopped themselves from stepping forward to express their concern.

Sasuke did not even spare them a glance. He turned away and narrowed his eyes, as if contemplating something.

That ice-cold gaze and aloof manner

instantly robbed Pink Hair of the courage to speak again.

"He really is strong. He got over it so quickly."

Shikamaru, with both hands behind his head, remarked beside Naruto.

"Class is starting. Everyone, return to your seats."

Iruka entered the classroom.

After having the students return to their seats, he noticed that Sasuke had quietly come back and was somewhat surprised.

"Sasuke is back in class... Welcome back."

Sasuke did not speak, as though he had not heard Iruka at all.

Iruka was not embarrassed. He turned and began writing that day's lesson on the blackboard.

In the blink of an eye, the second-year assessment arrived.

As expected, something unexpected happened again.

Naruto remained the top student.

Because Sasuke had lost to Naruto in the practical combat class, points were deducted.

Though his scores in the basic courses had not declined after returning, he had already lost his qualification to be the top student.

What surprised everyone was that Pink Hair's grades had improved by leaps and bounds.

She scored nearly full marks on written exams such as theory classes.

There was no need to mention her practical combat scores. They were definitely not great.

Therefore, she was not the top student either.

Naruto had controlled his scores in all of those areas.

Yet in the Will of Fire assessment, he got full marks yet again.

On top of defeating Sasuke, the genius of the Uchiha Clan,

the grading teacher once again gave Naruto the highest overall score.

He did not want to be so high-profile either.

But that damned grading teacher had definitely been personally chosen by that shameless Old Man, Sarutobi Hiruzen.

During the holiday break,

Naruto also completed his Rasenshuriken training.

He even developed a Rasenshuriken with very little outward commotion, though the Chakra it gave off was even more intimidating.

Fortunately, he could use Elemental Transformation. Otherwise, even if he had inherited most of the Uchiha Clan's talents,

he would still have been injured while developing ninjutsu.

On that point alone, the Second Hokage being able to hold off Kinkaku and Ginkaku in his later years showed that he was truly strong.

Speaking of Wind Style: Rasenshuriken training, Kakashi naturally could not be left out.

He could not teach Naruto, and it was not as though Jiraiya did not know that the Hokage's lineage was passed down through masters and apprentices.

Naturally, he would not steal Jiraiya's job.

As for Pink Hair, there was no need to mention her. Without Naruto and Sasuke around, and without Sarutobi Hiruzen specifically reminding him to take her seriously,

Kakashi would probably have kicked her straight back to the Ninja Academy long ago.

So wouldn't that leave only Sasuke?

On top of that, Sasuke resembled him in the past, which stirred some sympathy in him.

As for the original story, where Naruto trained with Jiraiya for so long yet could not even control Nine-Tails Chakra...

That was naturally because Jiraiya's starting point was not that of a teacher.

He treated Naruto more like his own disciple's grandson.

He did not want Naruto to suffer so much pain after he had already suffered for so many years.

Moreover, under the influence of the Old Toad's so-called prophecy,

he firmly believed that the prophesied Child of Prophecy, the savior, existed.

It was only that Naruto did not have that identity.

Only later did he finally come to his senses.

Afterward, Naruto went straight to Mount Myōboku. Once he mastered Sage Mode, he immediately started trading blows with Pain.

But before that, Naruto needed to improve his strength.

Kakashi: Need to improve his strength? Great, isn't this just giving me an opportunity to rack up achievements?

And what did Naruto become?

Exhausted like a dog.

The Shadow Clones never stopped, and Yamato, the Wood Style experiment, provided the training grounds.

What about Kakashi?

He lay there drinking tea and reading Little Royal Uncle.

With Naruto's physique, he ended up like that just from developing the Rasenshuriken.

If not for Sage Mode, using the Rasenshuriken once would leave him bedridden for quite a while.

Kakashi: What do you mean I didn't teach Naruto? What do you mean I forgot kindness and betrayed loyalty? Could I have taken him?

Sarutobi Hiruzen was watching so closely, and I was in my dark period. Wouldn't going over there have harmed that child?

Fine, whatever. I just don't dare face Kushina-sensei.

She would definitely beat me to death.

Spring passed into autumn, and time flew by.

No major events occurred in Konoha again.

Naruto continued training step by step.

Quietly waiting for his body to grow.

The tsundere Kurama no longer resisted him.

It simply would never take the initiative.

Well, taking the initiative once in a while was not such a big deal.

It also clearly understood that Naruto's current strength was already beyond anything it could imagine.

Yet Naruto still had not used the Mangekyō Sharingan to control it.

That moved it deeply.

At the same time, it developed a trace of doubt.

Would the enemies they faced in the future really be that powerful?

The little brat it had watched with its own eyes had kept training until he became the big brat he was now.

After all these years, there was still no sign of him relaxing.

That made it unable to help worrying.

During that time, Naruto often went to the supply storage site.

With the Nutrients Naruto provided, Uchiha Mikoto and Uchiha Izumi

saw Uchiha Izumi stop growing as she nourished her body.

Uchiha Mikoto, meanwhile, gained an enormous benefit and actually became much younger.

That gave Naruto other ideas.

So when cooking, he would sometimes infuse some Nutrients into the vegetables.

The effects were obvious.

Especially with Hinata and Ino.

In the blink of an eye, it was Year 60 of Konoha.

This year marked the annual Ninja Academy graduation exam.

It was graduation season for the new generation.

Tenten, Neji, and Rock Lee had graduated a year early.

They had become genin long ago.

Rock Lee had also changed into his classic outfit.

Neji remained as cold as ever, but he still smiled whenever they got together.

Tenten, meanwhile, sighed every day, only grinning during gatherings.

Then she would turn around and complain to Ino and Hinata.

The Ninja Academy graduation exam was only a few days away.

Ino was not in a very good mood either, because Ino-Shika-Cho could not be separated.

Especially after hearing Naruto say that their future Lead Jonin would be Asuma, whom Sarutobi Hiruzen was paving the way for as his son, she felt even worse.

A bearded man, a smoker, an old uncle...

They were all the types she hated.

Hinata was not in particularly high spirits either.

That teacher had only become a Lead Jonin right after becoming a Special Jonin because Asuma was pursuing her.

But she had no objections to her Lead Jonin.

Her teammates would most likely be someone who raised dogs and someone who raised bugs.

She did not have any particular thoughts about it. She was mainly unhappy because she would not be able to see Naruto as often in the future.

Shikamaru saw the problem at a glance.

"Naruto, what should we do?"

"What do you mean, what should we do?"

"You saw it coming a long time ago, didn't you?"

"But you can't change it either, can you?"

Shikamaru fell silent and could only let out an irritated sigh.

"What a drag. All they ever do is scheme over this kind of thing."

After dinner, everyone went home again.

A few days passed in the blink of an eye.

"Tomorrow is the Ninja Academy graduation exam."

"Students, go home and review the test material properly."

"Also, the focus of the exam will most likely be the Three Basic Jutsu, so be prepared."

"If there's anything you don't understand, come up and ask the teacher. I'll be here all day."