The closer they got to the school, the more parents they saw bringing their children. When they caught sight of Naruto, their expressions changed ever so slightly. Iruka's presence kept them from doing anything excessive, and they made no obvious show of their feelings. Still, the looks they directed at Naruto held a faint trace of concealed disgust and fear. It was subtle, but Naruto sensed it keenly.
Whenever a child looked at Naruto out of curiosity,
their parents immediately pulled them away, then turned and sternly warned them in low voices not to have any contact with the blond boy—not even to meet his eyes.
So much malice.
Naruto, surrounded by it all,
felt a faint stir of emotion.
He couldn't help tightening his grip on Iruka's right hand just a little.
A moment later, Naruto was calm again.
But Iruka had clearly felt that slight tremor.
Though Iruka was only a Chunin, he had no way of knowing Naruto's true identity as the Fourth Hokage's orphaned son.
Still, as a Ninja, he knew enough about Tailed Beasts and Jinchuriki.
Naruto was Naruto. The Nine-Tails was the Nine-Tails.
Naruto was just a poor child serving as the Nine-Tails' vessel.
He shouldn't blame Naruto for his own parents' deaths.
Naruto was only six years old.
And he, too, was just an ordinary orphan who had lost his parents on the night of the Nine-Tails Incident. That was the public story Konoha had prepared for Naruto.
Yet everyone in the village treated him like a monster.
They shunned him and hated him.
At the thought of this,
Iruka's expression softened a little.
Of course, Iruka would never know that the reason Naruto's emotions had stirred and his hand had tightened wasn't fear or any other negative feeling. He had simply failed, for a brief moment, to control the trace of killing intent in his heart.
I still have a long way to go when it comes to keeping my emotions in check...
Naruto lowered his head, thinking with a trace of self-mockery.
These ordinary villagers?
Well, it wasn't necessarily that Naruto hated them. After all, they weren't directly responsible for making his life so difficult. They didn't know he had the Nine-Tails sealed inside him, nor did they understand Jinchuriki or Tailed Beasts. Their ignorance led them to treat him like the Nine-Tails itself, and that was only human nature. Of course, not hating them didn't mean Naruto liked them. If he got the chance in the future, he wouldn't mind kicking these foolish people of Konoha while they were down. The ones he intended to take revenge on were the Konoha High Command, those who sat high above others in the name of so-called stability and the village's greater good—especially Shimura Danzō, whom Naruto absolutely intended to kill!
This had nothing to do with justice. It was simply human nature and revenge.
Not only for himself, but also for his dead parents.
If Uchiha Obito was directly responsible, then Shimura Danzō was hardly blameless!
The Naruto of this life wouldn't be like his foolish counterpart in the original story, who still wanted to protect Konoha and even tried to persuade Uchiha Obito during the final battle, only for the man to end up being redeemed.
Whatever Obito's reasons, whether or not he had been deceived,
that man
was on Naruto's kill list too.
The Uchiha were hateful, pitiful, and lovable.
But—
Uchiha Obito was the one who deserved to die most.
He wasn't like Uchiha Itachi, Shisui Uchiha, or Kagami Uchiha.
Those three were the Uchiha worthy of respect. Of course, there were plenty of contradictions in Uchiha Itachi's case. After all, he had chosen to wipe out his own clan for the sake of the village. To put it plainly, that was difficult to explain away, let alone redeem. It couldn't be denied that Itachi had a noble side, but he also had a twisted, almost demonic side. He was deeply contradictory—both admirable and detestable. One could say he had sacrificed his family for the "national interest," but both his methods and his thinking had been more than extreme. They had been utterly extreme.
That was why, even in the original story, Naruto fans had been so divided in their opinions of Itachi.
Naruto felt much the same. There were things about Itachi he admired, and things he couldn't understand or even hated. But as long as it didn't involve himself in this life, Naruto wouldn't pay it much attention.
And aside from those three,
the rest of the Uchiha?
Hah!
Madara was much more likable than they were!
"Well, here we are, Naruto."
The walk hadn't been long—only about ten minutes. Iruka brought Naruto to the Ninja Academy gates, where parents and children had gathered in great numbers.
Iruka led Naruto to a less crowded spot, bent down, and gently patted his head. With a warm smile, he said softly,
"Now, Naruto, your teacher's going to take care of your enrollment. Wait here for me, all right?"
"Yes, Iruka-sensei."
Naruto tipped his face up, gave him a bright smile, and nodded firmly.
"Don't wander off. I'll be right back."
Before leaving, Iruka made sure to remind him, still worried.
To be honest, children who grew up in the world of Naruto, especially in the Hidden Villages, tended to mature early. It was common for children to become Ninjas at a young age and go off to war. The renowned Copy Ninja, Hatake Kakashi, had graduated from the Ninja Academy at just five years old and become a Konoha Ninja. By twelve, he was already a Jonin. Geniuses like Kakashi were rare, of course, but just a few years ago, it was common across the major Hidden Villages for children to become Ninjas at seven or eight and head to the battlefield.
But what about now? Naruto didn't yet know how things were in the other Hidden Villages.
As for Konoha,
Naruto thought it had grown decadent.
A Ninja
was no child playing pretend.
Konoha's Ninja Academy advocated a humane education.
There was nothing wrong with that.
The Mist Ninja's approach was what was truly twisted and deformed.
But Konoha's education was far too gentle. Children didn't enter the Ninja Academy until they were six, and didn't graduate until they were twelve. Most importantly, they didn't see blood in all those six years.
Naruto found that utterly ridiculous.
A Ninja who had never seen blood?
Could they even be called a Ninja?
As for Konoha's Will of Fire,
to be honest, Naruto didn't think it was wrong. But clearly, by the time it reached the Third Hokage, the Will of Fire had been completely warped.
Gentleness didn't mean weakness, and restraint didn't mean backing down.
Pursuing so-called peace to excess
would only encourage enemies to push their luck.
The Third Hokage had certainly made contributions to Konoha that couldn't be denied.
But at the same time,
he was also the biggest reason Konoha had gradually fallen into decline.
His boundless concessions to outsiders and excessive tolerance of Shimura Danzō within the village were bad enough. And despite having the strength and opportunity to eliminate Orochimaru, he had let him go, which led to the Konoha Crush Plan. That alone showed how foolish the Third Hokage had become.
Of course, none of this had much to do with Naruto.
He had no attachment to Konoha.
Even the fact that his father was the Fourth Hokage
wouldn't change anything.
Perhaps Iruka had been worried about leaving Naruto by himself.
In less than ten minutes,
Iruka returned after handling Naruto's enrollment. When he saw Naruto waiting safely in the same place,
he quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
In truth, Iruka had been worrying too much.
No matter what,
this was the Ninja Academy in Konoha.
However much the parents hated Naruto, they wouldn't—and didn't dare—do anything too extreme.
"Well, come on, Naruto. Your teacher will take you to the classroom."
"Yes!"
Naruto nodded, took Iruka's left hand again, and followed at his side as they headed into the Ninja Academy.