Naruto stood up reluctantly, but to his surprise, every student turned to look at him the instant he rose. For someone who had always wanted to keep a low profile, the attention was overwhelming. He thought with a bitter smile, Well, this should be fun. All I wanted was to stay quietly in the background, collect Heavenly Flames, read some books, and enjoy the scenery. Now things have turned out like this, I couldn't keep a low profile even if I tried. I might as well go along with it.
"Hello, everyone. My name is Naruto Uzumaki. Yes, I'm sure you all know me. I'm the person who earned three S ratings yesterday. Also, I'm not some monster or a man-eating demon. You don't have to act so guarded around me. I don't have any particularly strange quirks."
When Yan Xiaoyu heard Naruto's words, her face immediately reddened. It was obvious that remark had been meant for her.
Naruto continued, "You can call me Naruto. My name comes from a novel my teacher wrote. Its main character was also called Naruto, and he was someone who brought peace to the world. My parents hoped I could be like the protagonist in that book and bring true peace to the world-the Shinobi World-not the kind we have now, where everything looks peaceful on the surface while turmoil brews underneath. Also, I'm not really a genius. There's a saying back home: talent accounts for only one percent of a genius's success; the other ninety-nine percent takes hard work. So I'm not a genius. Even though plenty of people insist I am, I personally don't think I really am.
"Why do I say that? Because I'm slow at learning everything. Even though both my parents were geniuses, I didn't inherit that from them.