As the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and the Fourth Hokage's orphan.
These Anbu were supposedly monitoring Naruto, but their main purpose was to protect him. If the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki died, the Nine-Tails inside him would disappear as well. Never mind that the Nine-Tails would take time to reincarnate; Konoha would also have to expend a great deal of manpower, resources, and energy searching for and capturing it again. And with other villages threatening and coveting the Nine-Tails, the Third Hokage—and Shimura Danzō, too—would never allow anything to happen to Naruto, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
That was one reason Shimura Danzō had previously proposed taking Naruto to Root for training. (Of course, his own selfish motives were the bigger reason. If he could successfully brainwash and control Naruto, Danzō believed he could ascend to the Hokage's seat directly.)
Since Naruto had Anbu protecting him,
there was no danger, even if he went to the Forest of Death to have some fun, let alone in this forest inhabited by only ordinary animals.
And now that Naruto had successfully extracted chakra,
this area would be more than just a source of supplies for his daily life. It would become the most important place for his training over the next few years.
As for whether training so openly would make it easy for the Anbu to observe him and report back to the Third Hokage, causing problems or the like, Naruto wasn't worried at all. The Third Hokage might not go out of his way to look after him, but Naruto knew that as long as he didn't do anything outrageous, the Third Hokage wouldn't interfere much either.
Simply extracting chakra and starting to train on his own
wasn't a big deal at all.
Naruto had no reason to worry about it.
In fact, the Third Hokage had already found out when Naruto first extracted chakra. After learning from the Anbu's report that no outsiders had approached Naruto, the Third Hokage had indeed chosen not to interfere.
Besides, extracting chakra ahead of time without anyone teaching him wasn't all that strange for people living in a ninja village.
Chakra extraction was the most basic of ninja fundamentals.
Almost anyone who lived in this world and had even a little contact with Ninja knew how to extract chakra. The only difference was whether they could actually do it.
That was the essential distinction!
The great ninja villages had no reason to deliberately conceal the method of chakra extraction.
Especially from their own villagers. After all, even one more ninja—however weak, even if they were nothing but cannon fodder—would add to the village's strength.
Becoming a ninja required talent. Knowing how to extract chakra didn't mean you could become one. Otherwise, the number of ninjas wouldn't be so small.
Leaving the Five Great Villages aside, just look at the other ninja villages. How many ninjas did they have, really? And what was the ratio of Jonin, Chunin, and Genin among them?
Chakra extraction and even some basic chakra training were widely known outside the villages. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many wandering ninja.
It wasn't strange that Naruto knew how to extract chakra and had done so himself. In fact, in Konoha, those who didn't know how to extract chakra were the minority. It was certainly noteworthy that Naruto had managed to do it on his own without anyone teaching him, but as long as no malicious outside influence was involved, that was all that mattered.
Besides, no matter what, Naruto was the Fourth Hokage's orphan.
As long as the village's safety and other core interests weren't at stake,
the Third Hokage's nature meant
he would let Naruto have some leeway.
Naruto naturally didn't know what the Third Hokage was thinking, but he could still make a rough guess.
"Great. I'll start Tree Climbing Training today!"
Once he reached the familiar forest, Naruto quickly found an enormous tree. He looked up at it, a satisfied expression appearing on his small face, then nodded and said,
"Chakra extraction, chakra control, and increasing chakra."
These were the most basic steps a ninja had to take to grow stronger.
Although Naruto hadn't studied the original story in great detail in his previous life, he could still remember most of the important parts.
Take chakra control training, for example.
Tree climbing and Water Walking were the most basic and direct ways to train it.
By attaching chakra to the soles of their feet and adjusting the amount and stability of its release, they could improve their control over chakra.
The original Naruto had demonstrated this personally to hundreds of millions of fans.
For Naruto now,
this chakra training would certainly help him further solidify his foundations, but it would also make his daily life much easier.
Whether he was picking wild fruits and vegetables or catching fish and shrimp,
it would all be much simpler and more efficient than before.
Although the Nine-Tails Chakra still affected him, and Naruto knew that training his chakra would be much harder for him than for ordinary people, he felt that this would actually help him develop more precise control.
Once he had a chance to meet the Nine-Tails,
and eliminate the effects of the Nine-Tails Chakra,
his strength would grow at a visible rate.
Recalling some of the methods and key points from the original story about controlling and directing chakra,
Naruto quickly formed Hand Seals and carefully drew on the chakra within him, guiding it to the soles of his feet. He couldn't use too much or too little.
Otherwise, he would either fail to stick to the tree or crush it underfoot.
"All right, let's start with the first step."
Once he felt he had reached what seemed like the right amount of control,
"Phew..."
Naruto took a deep breath, determination showing on his face. He stepped forward and walked toward the tree.
"Crack."
As expected, with no experience and the Nine-Tails Chakra constantly interfering with his control, his first attempt ended with him crushing the tree trunk beneath his foot.
His weight shifted inward in an instant,
making Naruto's body sway slightly. He reacted quickly, took a step, and lightly flipped over before landing back on the ground.
"Was that too much?"
Afraid he wouldn't stick to the tree and would fall, Naruto had deliberately used more chakra than necessary. With too much chakra, he had ended up crushing the tree trunk.
Naruto wasn't discouraged by his first failure. He had expected it.
He knew how difficult ninja training could be.
Even the protagonists in the original story, despite having plot armor, still had to spend plenty of time and overcome countless hardships. Even Naruto's later training in Chakra Nature Transformation wouldn't have progressed so smoothly without the Shadow Clone, that broken technique.
Everything had to be done one step at a time.