Naruto, Without You, What's the Point of Being Hokage!

"How far something flies depends on its altitude and initial velocity..."

"Take this problem as an example: as a ninja, you stand at a height of 5 meters and throw a shuriken with a horizontal initial velocity of 100 meters per second. What is the total distance it travels before hitting the ground?"

Naruto Uzumaki: "...Guh-duh-guh-duh..."

"What the hell is this! I don't understand a single thing!"

[Host, please listen and study with full concentration, otherwise, you will be baptized by the system's Lightning Style...]

[Warning, countdown 5...4...3...2...]

"Ahhh, I get it now!"

Naruto Uzumaki rubbed his cheeks vigorously, forcing himself once again to throw his entire being into the lesson.

"Throw the shuriken forward, horizontal initial velocity 100 meters per second, what is the final distance..."

"Hmm, hmm..."

"Aha! I know! If it's 100 meters per second, then however many seconds it flies, that's how many hundred meters it goes!"

"The problem is, how many seconds can it fly..."

Iruka's gaze swept across the classroom, clearly preparing to pick a lucky student to answer the question.

The classroom instantly became a scene of nervous tension, with everyone terrified to make a sound.

Iruka sighed and said helplessly: "Sakura, you answer it."

"Yes, Iruka-sensei!"

Sakura Haruno said with full confidence: "To calculate the final distance, you need to multiply the horizontal initial velocity by the flight time, and the flight time is determined by the height. Considering that the gravitational acceleration in the ninja world is approximately 10, it is quite obvious that..."

She spoke with ease, while the vast majority of her classmates felt their heads spinning.

Naruto Uzumaki, of course, understood even less.

However, unlike before, this time he forced himself to listen with full concentration. Even though it sounded like gibberish, he wiped the snot and tears from his face, widened his eyes, pricked up his ears, and listened carefully to every single word Sakura Haruno said...

Just then.

[You have focused on a lecture with full concentration for the first time. Your mastery of the [Physics] course has improved. Proficiency +3, current proficiency 28 points!]

Naruto Uzumaki was stunned, then overcome with wild joy!

"This... this actually works?!"

Although he had been charred and crispy from being shocked earlier, Naruto heard the system's notification sound.

His proficiency in the physics course had increased?

Although he didn't quite understand the exact meaning, there was no doubt...

He had leveled up!

Naruto Uzumaki hurriedly rubbed his eyes, widened them to their limit, and looked back at the cryptic writing on the blackboard.

This time, the effect was immediate and outstanding...

He still didn't understand it!

But...

He also seemed to understand it a little bit!

"Could it be that I really am a genius?!"

Naruto Uzumaki let out a silly laugh, a feeling of smug pride rising in his heart.

However...

[Detected that the host has exited the state of focused study. You are about to be baptized by the system's Lightning Style...]

[Warning countdown 5...4...3...]

Naruto Uzumaki: "..."

Having learned his lesson, he didn't slack off in the slightest and immediately forced himself back into a state of study.

Iruka-sensei smiled slightly: "Very good, Sakura. As expected of the top student in the class."

Sakura also looked smug.

"Did you see that, Sasuke?"

Sasuke remained expressionless.

Sakura could only sit back down helplessly.

"Sakura..."

Seeing this scene, Naruto Uzumaki was just about to feel sentimental when suddenly...

[Warning countdown 5...]

Naruto Uzumaki: "...Height, initial velocity, gravitational acceleration..."

What was once an unremarkable class now felt to Naruto Uzumaki like being dragged into an Anbu prison for brutal interrogation!

Attending class was like attending a funeral!

A mere forty-five minutes became the longest stretch of time in Naruto Uzumaki's short life...

To be single-minded and fully focused!

It sounds simple, but for a guy like Naruto Uzumaki who was used to slacking off and playing around, it was harder than reaching the heavens!

Although he had forced himself to listen intently out of fear of the "Baptism of Lightning Release," his mind still couldn't help but wander...

One moment he wanted to sneak a peek at Sakura Haruno...

The next, he couldn't help but want to curse Sasuke...

Then his stomach would growl, and the image of Ichiraku's ramen, like a vision of paradise, would swirl incessantly in his mind...

But every time his focus slipped, that piercing warning sound would ring out immediately, forcing him to snap back to reality.

He felt like he was sitting on pins and needles, as if his back were pricked by thorns, as if a fishbone were stuck in his throat.

He lived through seconds that felt like years, not knowing how much time had passed.

Finally...

He made it to the moment Iruka announced the end of class.

Naruto Uzumaki felt as if he had run three marathons; his entire body instantly deflated like a punctured balloon, losing all ambition as he collapsed face-first onto his desk with a thud.

Seeing this, Iruka revealed a faint smile.

That guy Naruto really didn't cause any trouble the entire class...

And his eyes were wide as copper bells; it seems he was actually listening...

It looks like my earnest advice actually had an effect!

He cleared his throat: "Ten-minute break. The next period is Mizuki's chemistry class!"

"Agh—"

The classroom erupted in a chorus of groans.

But Naruto Uzumaki didn't even have the strength to groan...

Just then.

[According to the schedule set by this system, the break time is the best opportunity to outwork and crush everyone else!]

[Please begin practicing the Chakra Refinement Technique immediately!]

[The current daily practice time for the Chakra Refinement Technique must not be less than eight hours!]

Naruto Uzumaki: "...Are, are you kidding me?!"

"Eight hours?!"

"Do I not need to sleep?!"

[Host detected failing to practice according to the system's schedule. Initiating Baptism of Lightning Release...]

[Warning countdown: 5... 4... 3...]

"Ahhhhhhh!"

"I'll practice, I'll practice, okay?!"

Though physically and mentally exhausted, the thought of the terrifying Baptism of Lightning Release forced Naruto Uzumaki to sit upright and begin practicing the Chakra Refinement Technique, following the basic curriculum taught at the Ninja Academy.

The so-called Chakra Refinement Technique, as the name implies, is the process of extracting physical and spiritual energy from one's own body, mixing them, and refining them into chakra that can be controlled.

To be precise, the mixture of physical and spiritual energy produced by the 130 trillion cells in a ninja's body is not chakra, but stamina.

Stamina exists in everyone, not just ninjas.

At the same time, stamina is the foundation for performing taijutsu, though taijutsu can also be enhanced with chakra to increase its power.

To perform ninjutsu and genjutsu, one must convert stamina into chakra.

The Chakra Refinement Technique taught at the Ninja Academy is essentially training to convert stamina into chakra.

By constantly converting stamina into chakra, one increases their own "limit."

That is, the so-called chakra capacity.

As for chakra control and the like, that is a matter for another day, not a skill Naruto Uzumaki can master right now.

Naruto Uzumaki's chakra capacity is, of course, immense.

This is not only because the Nine-Tailed Fox inside him is constantly leaking its chakra through the special Eight Trigrams Sealing Style, mixing with his own.

It is also because Naruto Uzumaki possesses the bloodline power of the Uzumaki Clan.

His chakra capacity and vitality far exceed those of an ordinary ninja.

At this moment...

It was break time, and while everyone else was laughing and playing, Sakura Haruno, Ino Yamanaka, and other girls had gathered around Sasuke once again, while the boys were roughhousing in small groups.

Only Naruto Uzumaki sat alone in the corner, quietly closing his eyes to begin his own training.

As he circulated the chakra refinement technique, his spiritual and physical energies blended, slowly converting bit by bit into the chakra he could use to perform ninjutsu.

To Naruto's surprise...

Even though the previous class had left him completely exhausted.

Now, practicing the chakra refinement technique not only failed to tire him further, but actually restored some of his strength...

Indeed, human potential is infinite!

[Host has successfully circulated the chakra refinement technique, chakra volume +1...]

Naruto listened to the chime in his mind and suddenly felt that this system might not be so bad after all...

Often, people don't work hard enough because they cannot see a progress bar.

Once progress can be clearly visualized or even quantified, no matter how dull the study, training, or work, it brings powerful motivation, or even pleasure.

Naruto was currently in that very stage.

At this moment, Naruto's only two companions at the Ninja Academy, Choji Akimichi and Shikamaru Nara, were staring at him in stunned silence...

"Shikamaru, am I seeing things? Is that guy Naruto actually practicing the chakra refinement technique during the break? Nom, nom, nom..."

Shikamaru Nara rubbed his sleepy eyes.

"Maybe I haven't woken up yet..."

"I'm going to sleep a bit more..."

Choji Akimichi widened his eyes, stuffing his mouth with potato chips until his eyes were bloodshot.

"Oh no, don't tell me that guy Naruto is..."