Danzo, You Should Just Give Up!

Naruto, for his part, couldn't be bothered to bicker with a little girl, so he simply walked to the front.

"Not bad, Naruto. You've finally shown some initiative this time. Come, let us see what you can do." Iruka was delighted to see Naruto step forward. The higher-ups had been working hard to downplay the influence of clans, so while ordinary people knew little about them, ninjas understood their true power. As a Chunin, Iruka was well aware of the significance behind the name Uzumaki.

Naruto offered a faint smile, not exerting much effort.

He channeled a small amount of chakra, and suddenly, a massive surge of blue energy erupted around his body. The sheer, terrifying volume of that chakra left every student in the class dumbfounded.

"What the hell? How does a dead-last have this much chakra?"

"You've got to be kidding me."

"That dead-last..." Sasuke Uchiha stood in the back, arms crossed. He had been watching Naruto with disdain, but now he stood frozen in shock, muttering words that were lost to the air.

Sasuke, lacking the guidance of elders, did not understand the weight of the name Uzumaki.

Chakra capacity was a matter of raw talent. Every Jonin understood this, but no one ever spoke of it aloud; it was too discouraging for the children.

Although he had long suspected it, seeing Naruto's chakra levels with his own eyes made Iruka's face twitch. Standing right next to him, Iruka could clearly feel the oppressive weight of that energy.

My control is still lacking. Naruto had only intended to release a small burst, and even though this was the minimum amount he could manage, it still shocked everyone present.

"How is this possible? Naruto is just a dead-last."

Sakura was bewildered. She couldn't fathom why a dead-last like Naruto possessed such vast reserves of chakra, especially since, at their age, chakra volume was the primary metric for strength.

"Naruto isn't a dead-last." Hearing Sakura call him that again, little Hinata felt a surge of unhappiness. She couldn't help but whisper a defense for him, though her voice was too soft for anyone to hear.

"Very good, Naruto. You truly didn't let your teacher down."

Watching Naruto's performance, Iruka couldn't help but beam with pride. The joy of a teacher lay in guiding a struggling student toward success, and Iruka felt exactly that. Seeing the boy he once considered a dead-last perform so well made him happier than any praise from the Third Hokage ever could.

Hokage Office

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in his designated Hokage chair, while Danzo sat on a sofa against the wall, half of his body obscured in shadow. Before them sat a crystal ball, the medium for the Third's Telescope Technique, displaying the scene unfolding in the academy courtyard.

"Danzo, what do you think of the children in this year's class?" Hiruzen watched the students in the crystal ball, unable to hide a sense of pride. To him, this was his legacy; the Second Hokage had founded the ninja academy, but he was the one who had truly cultivated it.

"Hmph! It's a complete waste of time. Hiruzen, if you handed these children over to me for training, they would be far stronger than they are sitting in that school."

Danzo looked at the children, who couldn't even perform a single ninjutsu, with utter contempt. At their age, recruits in the Root organization were already Chunin.

In Danzo's eyes, there was no such thing as peace. His mindset differed from Hiruzen's; the Third was old, nearing retirement, and only wished to maintain the status quo, hoping to avoid any trouble during his final years.

"Don't even think about it. The school is a place to foster bonds. The Will of Fire is eternal, and you know their identities—cultivating them in the school is the best path." Hiruzen glanced at Danzo with disdain, thinking to himself that his old comrade was useless for anything other than schemes and plots.

The Second Hokage's original intent in establishing the academy was to foster a sense of belonging to the village and to dilute the influence of clan-based ninja ideologies, not to teach them advanced ninjutsu. The academy only taught the Three Basic Jutsu; any other techniques were either taught by Jonin squad leaders after graduation or passed down within the clans.

"There is no point in discussing this." Danzo replied dismissively.

Just as the conversation between the two hit a lull, Naruto Uzumaki stepped forward.

The two men, who had been indifferent moments ago, suddenly became interested.

Then, they witnessed the eruption of Naruto's chakra. While the amount wasn't infinite, the quality was far beyond that of an ordinary ninja. The sudden burst of energy directly interfered with the image in the crystal ball.

This was something Hiruzen hadn't anticipated. Because he couldn't directly track Naruto, he hadn't known the boy's current status, and he had been focusing the crystal ball on the other students.

"As expected of the Uzumaki clan, this chakra volume is truly astonishing." Danzo remained outwardly calm, but his eyes were locked onto Naruto in the image, his greed becoming nearly impossible to hide.

In the ninja world, aside from Hashirama, no one dared claim they had enough chakra.

Danzo, who hadn't cared much before, now felt a spark of desire. If he could obtain the boy's cells, his own chakra reserves might reach the next level.

"It is indeed impressive." Hiruzen didn't notice Danzo's gaze. While Naruto's chakra levels surprised them both, the realization of his Uzumaki heritage made it less shocking.

"Hiruzen, how about you let me train the Nine-Tails jinchuriki? I could absolutely mold him into Konoha's strongest weapon." Seeing Naruto's chakra, Danzo could no longer suppress his ambition. If he could control the Nine-Tails jinchuriki, the position of Hokage would no longer be a distant dream.

Upon hearing this, Hiruzen's expression turned icy. Naruto was not only the Nine-Tails jinchuriki but also the child of the Fourth Hokage. Furthermore, all three jinchuriki had been tied to the Hokage's lineage. To hand over the third jinchuriki to an outsider—if one lacked even that much political foresight, they were destined to be nothing more than a mere ninja for life.

"Give it up, Danzo. The jinchuriki will not be handed over to anyone else." Even the rest of the Council of Elders tacitly agreed on this point. This was why Danzo never brought it up in meetings; they all knew it was impossible. Even if Hiruzen were to die, Naruto would be passed on to the next Hokage.

The Nine-Tails was the foundation of Konoha's strength. A Hokage might be weak, but the Nine-Tails would only grow stronger. As long as the beast remained in the hands of the Hokage's lineage, it would always be Konoha's greatest trump card.

Danzo let out a cold snort and turned to leave, but in his heart, he had already decided: he would obtain Naruto Uzumaki's cells at any cost.

Back at the academy, after finishing his display, Naruto walked slowly back to the last row and stood still. He kept a significant distance from Sakura. Sakura, too, had been shaken; it was only now that she noticed the changes in Naruto. The way he looked, his aura, and the way he gazed at her—it was as if he were looking at a complete stranger.

For some reason, she felt a hollow ache in her chest, as if she had lost something important.