Life Problems

I never expected that the one monitoring me would actually be Kakashi.

Naruto Uzumaki frowned slightly. Kakashi should have already retired from the Anbu by this time, so why was he still the one on surveillance duty? Most importantly, Kakashi's strength was formidable, and he possessed the Sharingan; Naruto was genuinely worried that the man might discover something.

Of course, what Naruto didn't know was that while Kakashi had indeed left the Anbu, he still occasionally came to watch over Naruto. After all, this was the child of his former teacher, and no matter how indifferent he might seem, he still felt compelled to check on how his teacher's son was faring.

As for Naruto's living conditions, Kakashi had gone through the same thing during his own childhood. While such a life might be harsh for a child, everyone else had survived it too, so Kakashi didn't pay much mind to Naruto's hardships. Furthermore, while others were unaware, Kakashi knew that this was a special arrangement by the Third Hokage. As for the reason, it was undoubtedly to win Naruto's loyalty.

Seeing that it was still the middle of the night, the excitement of having transmigrated had faded, and drowsiness began to set in. Plus, he had school tomorrow. Having fully accepted Naruto's memories, he knew that he only had one year left until graduation.

Although it might not be enough time, it was already a decent start. With the help of the Six Thief Immortals, his progress would remain hidden from everyone else.

Even though he knew he had school in the morning, he had been up half the night training, and since he was originally a dead last, he had no habit of waking up early and went right back to sleep.

He slept groggily for who knows how long, then got up to prepare a meal. He opened the refrigerator and was instantly rendered speechless.

"Sigh... even though I was mentally prepared, is this life really that miserable? While I don't technically need to eat anymore, 'not needing to eat' and 'not wanting to eat' are two different things. How am I supposed to get through the days ahead?"

Looking at the empty refrigerator, Naruto felt a headache coming on. If people found out he didn't need to eat, the consequences were easy to imagine. Even though Konoha no longer had Orochimaru or Tsunade, that old schemer Danzo was still around, and he was a lunatic. During his sensory sweep yesterday, Naruto had already detected Root members monitoring him from the outside; that dark, deathly chakra was unmistakably from the Root.

Outside, Kakashi, who was reading his orange book, was preparing to change shifts and leave. He instinctively turned to glance at Naruto before departing, but then he felt that something was wrong.

Chakra—ninjas had no way to mask their chakra unless they used sealing techniques. Whether someone was a ninja or not could be felt at a single glance; even those without sensory abilities could perceive the flow of chakra.

But right now, Naruto felt like an ordinary person to Kakashi, which caused Kakashi's expression to change instantly.

Naruto was a member of the Uzumaki clan; his chakra was naturally potent and difficult to conceal, yet now, he couldn't feel it at all.

Something had happened to Naruto. Almost instinctively, Kakashi pulled up his headband, revealing his three-tomoe Sharingan.

On Naruto's side, he was just about to head to school when he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. Because his back was turned to Kakashi, he didn't know what was happening, but he instinctively activated his Mind's Eye of the Kagura and sensed Kakashi's movements outside.

"What's going on? What's gotten into Kakashi?"

Seeing Kakashi's actions, Naruto shivered. Others might not know, but Naruto certainly did: Kakashi possessed a Mangekyo-level Sharingan.

His first thought was that the man had discovered something was off about him.

Impossible. He had just transmigrated; how could that be?

On Kakashi's side, he observed Naruto with his Sharingan and instantly detected the massive amount of chakra within the boy's body. Although he had always known Naruto's chakra reserves were vast, this observation still gave him a shock—it was already higher than that of most Jonin.

With the Nine-Tails' chakra no longer suppressed and being liberated, combined with the fact that he was still absorbing the Nine-Tails' chakra and natural energy from the environment, Naruto's chakra reserves would only continue to grow.

"It seems he's fine. His chakra has actually increased by quite a bit."

He assumed that the Nine-Tails' chakra had been absorbed by Naruto, or that there was something else going on he wasn't aware of, but as long as Naruto himself wasn't in trouble, it was fine.

In reality, this was primarily due to the nature of the Six Thief Immortals; by absorbing external chakra, it didn't emit any aura or chakra signature itself. Even sensory ninjas couldn't detect Naruto's chakra unless they were using a bloodline limit like the Byakugan to observe his body directly.

Relieved, Kakashi didn't linger and left the scene.

Sensing the man's departure, Naruto couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. The pressure of the Sharingan was no joke, especially now that Naruto's sensory perception had increased so dramatically.

He stopped worrying about Kakashi; his current headache was how to solve his living situation.

Although he desperately wanted to fix it, the current Naruto had no way to do so. He would just have to go to school first.

As soon as he stepped onto the street, the hateful gazes of those around him made Naruto feel extremely uncomfortable. Especially with his heightened senses, even without activating the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, the almost murderous glares made him feel as if he were standing naked in the middle of the street.

"Tsk tsk, I saw it in his memories, but experiencing it firsthand really feels awful." You have to understand, in his past life, online rumors could kill, let alone this—having the whole world looking at you with eyes that screamed, "Why don't you just die?"

It had to be said that such gazes were truly detestable. Even with his mature mindset, Naruto's mood was still affected by them.

Ignoring these people, Naruto began to run quickly.

His physical fitness had improved, and everything felt great. He soon arrived at the school gate. Experiencing superhuman power for the first time was quite interesting, and at the same time, it made Naruto even more interested in his own strength.

In the early morning, at the gate of the Konoha Ninja Academy, Naruto ignored the hateful and fearful gazes of those around him and greeted his friends, like Shikamaru. Although the young Naruto had few friends, he did have two or three. Shikamaru and Choji, who were also dead lasts, could be considered Naruto's best friends. Of course, Naruto was a genuine dead last, while Shikamaru was just pretending because he found everything troublesome.

As children of Konoha's upper echelons, their parents naturally knew Naruto's identity, so they wouldn't specifically instruct their children to stay away from him. Therefore, in school, while many commoner children hated Naruto, the children of the elite—though they wouldn't play with him—wouldn't look at him with such hateful eyes. Unlike the others, Shikamaru and his group, being part of the Hokage's faction, were able to become friends with Naruto.

Although Naruto was widely detested, it had to be said that as someone the Hokage paid attention to, not just anyone could play with him. Commoners didn't know Naruto's identity and would be specifically told by their parents not to associate with him. While the elite children weren't given such instructions, they all knew the Third's attitude toward Naruto and naturally wouldn't seek trouble by intentionally letting their children interact with him. The Ino-Shika-Cho clans, however, were different; they weren't viewed with suspicion by the Third, and they had a history with the Fourth.