Graduation

"Next, Naruto Uzumaki..."

Hearing his name, Naruto slowly rose from the last row and walked down, glancing at the scattered classmates still in the classroom. Quite a few had already left.

As he entered the examination room next door, he found the examiners were both familiar faces. Iruka and Mizuki had both taught him.

"The test is the Clone Technique. Begin." Iruka looked at the boy standing some distance away, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

Having endured hardship himself, he understood Naruto's feelings better than most. Yet he also understood why the villagers had "persecuted" a child like this, because he too had once blamed the child for his parents' deaths.

But he understood even more clearly that the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox was the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, and Naruto Uzumaki was Naruto Uzumaki. The one he taught was Naruto Uzumaki, an innocent child.

To be honest, he had once worried that the boy would be unable to bear that suffocating rejection. If he put himself in Naruto's shoes, even as an adult, Iruka was not sure he could have endured it.

Yet Naruto's growth had completely exceeded his expectations.

Like a plum blossom born from bitter winter, his harsh living environment seemed to have become nourishment instead.

Mature, steady, resilient, kind to others... Words that should have described an adult did not seem out of place on this child at all.

Of course, there was one tiny flaw. The boy's ability to express himself verbally seemed to have developed a tiny problem.

But whenever he thought of Naruto's living conditions, Iruka could only sigh helplessly.

"Is that enough, Sensei?" Naruto asked again. Iruka was the only teacher who did not hold prejudice against him, and Naruto respected him quite a bit. Still, spacing out during an exam was a little hard to justify, wasn't it?

"Hm?! Not bad. You passed." Iruka came back to himself, looked at the two identical Narutos, then coughed twice and nodded slightly. "Come receive your headband."

Iruka stood and personally tied the headband around Naruto's forehead. Looking at the grown boy before him, he nodded in satisfaction. "Naruto, you've grown up."

Naruto looked at the sunny young man before him. His lips moved several times, but in the end, he could only dig two words out of his nearly dried-up vocabulary. "Thank you."

"You'll be a ninja who can stand on his own from now on. Go!" Iruka patted him on the shoulder.

After Naruto left, Iruka's gaze still lingered by the door. Mizuki could not help coughing twice in reminder. "Iruka Sensei, shouldn't we continue the examinations?"

"Oh, oh! My apologies, Mizuki Sensei!" Iruka smiled awkwardly.

"It's fine. Iruka Sensei seems quite fond of that child. Out of all these students, you only helped him put on his headband. Naruto's grades are good, but he doesn't seem to be the Top Student, does he?"

"Perhaps because I was once an orphan too, so I understand how he feels better."

"As expected of our outstanding teacher."

"You flatter me. Call the next student in."

"Next..."

By the time Naruto returned to the apartment where he lived alone, it was already noon.

After preparing some simple food, Naruto sat cross-legged on his bed and began his daily required lesson—Meditation.

Meditation was a habit from his previous life. The profession of a ninja required one to maintain intense concentration at all times; one careless mistake could mean total defeat. Meditation allowed him to focus his mind and keep his brain clear.

Drip.

When he opened his eyes again, he was already standing in a dark sewer.

He had entered again.

Aside from the mild surprise he had felt the first time, Naruto had become quite familiar with this place.

For example, if he took a few more steps forward and turned left, he would see an iron gate several meters tall. The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox imprisoned behind it would slam against the bars and roar at him whenever it saw him:

"Brat! Come here and let me tear you to pieces!"

It was enough to make children stop crying at night.

Of course, there were exceptions. Like now, when Naruto patted the iron gate and shouted at the fox resting inside:

"How can you sleep at your age?"

Bang!

The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox viciously smashed its claw against the iron gate. Among all the Jinchuriki it had encountered, it admitted that this one was the most disgusting.

"Brat, do you believe I'll tear you to pieces?!"

"Ha! Not much skill, but quite the mouth!" Naruto grinned. For some reason, his tongue was especially sharp whenever he faced this fox.

"Today, I'll stand right here. If you can so much as touch a hair on me, I'll admit defeat!"

"Come on! Take two more steps forward!" The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox spoke like a vicious ghost crawling out of hell. If looks could kill, its gaze would have tortured Naruto to death hundreds of times over.

After their usual exchange of insults, the man and fox took a halftime break.

"Hey, big fox. We've been arguing for years, but we've never really gotten to know each other. What's your name?" Naruto patted the gate and asked inside.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki... At least, that should be my name for now. It'll probably be my name for this life too."

"..."

"Hey!!" Naruto stood up and slapped the gate hard. "Don't be such a killjoy! We've known each other for so many years!"

"..."

"Don't tell me you don't have a name?" Naruto raised a brow and waved his right hand. "Doesn't matter. Names are just labels. Want me to give you one?"

"..."

"Hey! Do you want one or not? Say something?!"

"..."

"Make a sound!" He kicked the gate.

"..."

Naruto: "..."

After confirming that, as usual, he had gotten nowhere, Naruto sat cross-legged and continued meditating.

What he did not notice was that the moment he closed his eyes, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox slightly lifted one eyelid. Its enormous vertical pupil silently watched the boy outside the seal.

An hour later.

Naruto finished today's meditation. He looked up at the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, whose eyes remained tightly closed, and was just about to leave the Mental Space.

"You aren't afraid of me?"

"Well, that's a rare question." Naruto paused, looking at the large fox before him in surprise. Seeing it about to bristle, he hurriedly answered.

"What kind of person do you take me for? Afraid?"

What a joke. What grand sights had he not seen? A thousand-year-old white snake, so huge it could coil around a mountain—terrifying enough, right? He had cut it down. A divine dragon born from a cherry tree, capable of granting people immortality—impressive, right? Hadn't he beaten it until it cried? He had seen plenty of things like the shrew from Water-Born Village, neither human nor ghost. He was not about to be scared by a fox that was only a little bit bigger.

And seriously speaking, aside from its foul temper and poisonous tongue, this big fox was actually rather handsome overall.

Scrape!

A skin-crawling sound rang out. Naruto followed it and found that the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox was sharpening its claws.

"Anything else?" Naruto asked.

"I'm leaving now!"

"..."

"I'm really leaving now!"

"..."

"I'm really, really leaving now!"

"Get lost!"

"Right away!"

Watching the figure disappear, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox slowly closed its eyes as well.

In reality, Naruto opened his eyes and smiled faintly. Arguing with the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox was one of his few pleasures at present.

"Looks like I'm almost out of ingredients. Time to restock."

He got up, dressed, and headed out.

But rather than heading toward Market Street, he went for the woods outside the village.

It was not that he could not go to Market Street. People were forgetful. Since he had been self-sufficient for so long and rarely showed his face, the people on the street had nearly forgotten what he looked like. At most, they still remembered that such a person existed.

This was not baseless speculation. The last time he had gone to buy seasonings, no one had recognized him.

Still, he tried to avoid crowded places whenever possible.

If someone recognized him, they would feel miserable, and so would he.

Hunting in the wild was more practical. He had survived this way for so many years, and he had not starved to death outside yet.

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