The Situation Three Months Later

Over the past three months, Naruto had led everyone in daily training. Their physical fitness had improved tremendously, and they had developed the good habit of training on their own.

Even after returning home exhausted every day, none of them slacked off. They all studied their families' secret techniques.

Kiba Inuzuka had already begun learning his family's secret techniques: turning humans into dogs, dogs into humans, humans and dogs into dogs together, and humans and dogs into humans together. It truly was a profound field of study.

Shino Aburame had been the first among them to come into contact with his clan's secret techniques. From birth, members of the Aburame Clan were destined to deal with insects. They had to make a contract that used their bodies as hives for parasitic insects, then control those insects in battle.

So from the very first time he met Naruto, he had already had countless insects living inside his body.

Ino Yamanaka not only trained alongside Naruto, but also studied her family's secret technique at home: the Mind Body Switch Technique.

Members of the Yamanaka Clan excelled at controlling their enemies' minds. They could invade and read the memories of the dead, relay information to their companions, and possessed powerful sensory abilities.

The Mind Body Switch Technique was an important secret technique passed down through their family for generations.

Moreover, because Ino had a favorable impression of Naruto, she followed her mother's suggestion and set aside plenty of time to learn flower arranging. She hoped to show it off in front of Naruto and win his affection. Unfortunately, she was still in the practice stage, and there was nothing particularly remarkable about it yet.

As the heir of the Akimichi Clan, Choji Akimichi had naturally already learned the clan's secret techniques. He possessed the special ability to convert fat into massive amounts of chakra. This also meant that Choji Akimichi's appetite had grown larger and larger. Even Naruto, without using any special abilities, truly could not out-eat Choji based on appetite alone.

However, Naruto could convert food into energy within his body, speeding up digestion. Naruto's body was incredibly powerful, so naturally, it could store an enormous amount of energy. If they truly competed, Naruto could still win, but he naturally would not say that out loud.

After all, Choji's favorite thing was eating. He practically treated it as his faith in life. He wanted to improve so badly, so Naruto would let him win once.

As for Shikamaru Nara, he was the most relaxed one among them. He trained with Naruto every day, yet he was also the one who slacked off the hardest. Whenever Choji and Shino could no longer keep going, he would always become tired right on schedule.

What an intelligent adjustment of working hours. It really was just like him. Naruto did not say anything after noticing it. After all, that was simply Shikamaru's personality, and his clan was not famous for combat anyway. The Nara Clan was best known for its intelligence.

As a strategist, it was perfectly normal not to fight personally. Still, although Shikamaru found everything troublesome, Shikaku Nara had forced him to obediently learn the Shadow Imitation Technique.

Never mind how it had been passed down. At least it had been preserved.

Every day after returning home, he would play a few games of shogi with his father. Life was truly comfortable.

Sakura was the most ordinary civilian among them. Fortunately, her parents strongly supported her dream of becoming a ninja. After finishing her training with Naruto, Sakura would return home and train even more. Since her dream was to become a medical ninja, her chakra control absolutely could not be weak.

Sakura's parents had also prepared a large number of books on chakra control for her to study. Sakura truly had talent.

It was just that, in the original story, Naruto and Sasuke had been by her side—two absurdly overpowered monsters—making Sakura seem somewhat mediocre.

But during the Shinobi World War, Sakura's strength had truly ranked among the best of Hidden Leaf's young generation. That was enough to show that her talent was quite good.

Sakura did not disappoint her parents' expectations. She trained diligently at home as well, and her chakra control had already become the strongest among them apart from Naruto.

Rock Lee was still the same as before. After training with Naruto, he would go train with Teacher Guy.

Teacher Guy truly treated Rock Lee very well. After all, this was before graduation and team assignments, so Guy was not yet Rock Lee's squad leader.

Rock Lee had met Teacher Guy purely by chance. When Guy saw Rock Lee, it was as though he had seen his younger self. That was why he chose to take Rock Lee as his disciple.

When guiding Rock Lee in taijutsu, he held nothing back. He cared for Rock Lee to the utmost degree.

He treated him even more dearly than his own child! Though Teacher Guy still had not found a girlfriend.

As for Sasuke, there was much to say. As time passed and he spent more and more time by Naruto's side, the Indra chakra within Sasuke had begun to reveal itself.

Not only had his chakra extraction speed increased greatly, but his talent in ninjutsu and taijutsu had gradually emerged as well.

When Fugaku Uchiha saw Sasuke's talent, he had cried out that the revival of the Uchiha Clan was within reach. My sons Sasuke and Itachi possess the potential to become Hokage!

Under Fugaku Uchiha's guidance, Itachi Uchiha and Sasuke both improved remarkably quickly. There was no need to say much about Itachi. At the age of four, Itachi Uchiha had experienced the cruelty of the ninja world. He had killed a ninja who ambushed him and tasted the weight of life.

At five, he protected the infant Sasuke during the Nine-Tails Rampage.

At six, he entered the Ninja Academy.

At seven, he graduated at an unbelievable speed.

At eight, tragedy struck, and he awakened the legendary Sharingan.

The mission eight-year-old Itachi received had been to protect hostages, but the people he was protecting had also been Obito's targets. Eight-year-old Itachi had no choice but to exchange a few moves with Obito. At the time, Obito already possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan, and Itachi's team was no match for him at all.

In the end, Obito killed Itachi's teammates. One of them charged at Obito to protect Itachi and told him to run. Watching his close friend die before his eyes, eight-year-old Itachi awakened the Sharingan.

At ten, he became the first genius in Hidden Leaf ninja history to pass the Chunin Exams alone.

This year, Sasuke was six, while Itachi was already eleven. Itachi had successfully joined ANBU and had made something of a name for himself there. He was a genius among geniuses.

Under Fugaku Uchiha and Itachi's guidance, Sasuke had also successfully learned the Uchiha Clan's most famous technique, Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique.

Aside from that, Fugaku only had Sasuke practice more taijutsu and continue training the Great Fireball Technique.

Because he understood that a truly powerful ninja was not someone who could use exceptionally powerful ninjutsu, but someone who could make even low-level techniques produce earth-shattering effects, just like the legendary Madara Uchiha.

Although he had only learned one ninjutsu and quite a bit of taijutsu, Sasuke was still among the top of Hidden Leaf's young generation. As for whether he ranked second, third, or fourth, they had never competed, so it was hard to say.

The only one left was Hinata. Hinata was the eldest daughter of the main family of the Hyuga Clan, one of Hidden Leaf's great clans and noble houses. In the future, she could inherit the Hyuga Clan.

Therefore, Hiashi Hyuga was extremely strict with Hinata. He required her to train in the Gentle Fist every day. Although she still could not awaken the Byakugan, training was indispensable.

Of course, Hiashi Hyuga merely hoped that Hinata would possess strength worthy of being the main family's eldest daughter. He was not abusing her. After every training session, the medicinal baths prepared for her were never lacking. Naturally, Hinata had not accumulated many hidden injuries.

Hinata's younger sister, Hanabi Hyuga, had already been born. She was five years younger than Hinata. Originally, Hiashi Hyuga had regarded her as a backup in case Hinata could not inherit the Hyuga Clan.

But now, Hinata's performance had been quite encouraging. Under Naruto's influence, Hinata's originally shy personality had improved somewhat. Hinata had never truly been a weak girl. On the contrary, she understood better than most ninja what it meant to never give up on one's ninja way!

Thus, through Hinata's efforts, she had improved incredibly quickly. Although she still could not compare to the Hyuga Clan's true genius—the son of Hiashi Hyuga's younger brother, Hizashi Hyuga—the one countless people called Hidden Leaf's Caged Bird, Neji Hyuga!

From a young age, Neji had displayed astonishing talent and had been quite close to Hinata when they were children. When Hinata was three years old, the main family placed a cursed seal on his forehead to restrain the branch family's power. This seal would only disappear upon the death of the person it was placed on.

That was the Caged Bird. From then on, Neji was bound by the main family and was no longer as close to Hinata.

Later, when Hinata was three, ninjas from the Hidden Cloud Village infiltrated Hidden Leaf in an attempt to abduct Hinata in order to obtain the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan. Hiashi of the Hyuga main family retaliated against the Hidden Cloud Village with the Byakugan and took Hinata back.

This worsened the relationship between the Hidden Cloud Village and Hidden Leaf, indirectly triggering the possibility of war. In order to avoid war, Hidden Leaf made a deal with the Hidden Cloud Village. The Hidden Cloud Village demanded that Hidden Leaf hand over the body of Hinata's father, Hiashi, and Hidden Leaf was forced to accept their terms.

An elder of the Hyuga Clan proposed handing over the body of Hizashi from the branch family as Hiashi's substitute. Before his death, Hizashi told Hiashi, "Please tell Neji that I was not killed to protect the main family. I died to protect my brother and the village." Thus, Hizashi was killed in Hiashi's place.

It was precisely because of his father's death that Neji held to a pessimistic belief in fate and remained obsessed with the idea of destiny.

Neji harbored resentment toward Hiashi Hyuga and Hinata Hyuga. Although he remained respectful toward them on the surface, anyone with eyes could see the defiance in his heart.

He was someone with true talent, yet because he belonged to the branch family, he had been branded with the restrictive Caged Bird. Meanwhile, Hinata, who had lacked talent as a child, would have his father sacrificed to preserve Hizashi Hyuga simply because she belonged to the main family.

Neji often came to pick Hinata up and take her home, so Naruto had encountered him quite a few times.

Naruto wanted to speak with Neji and hoped Neji could join them in training, so that they might have an opportunity to change their future fates.

But Neji's distant attitude made it impossible for Naruto to find an opening. It was the first time Heavenly Mouth had encountered someone it could not persuade.

But if one attempt did not work, then he would just try a few more times. Neji might be stubborn, but the power of Naruto's Heavenly Mouth was no weaker.

They would see who was stronger!

Naruto himself had gained even more. Not only had he mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique, but he had also improved it on that basis, developing a Flying Thunder God Technique that allowed him to move without requiring a physical formula. He had also undone Kurama's seal and could skillfully control Kurama's chakra.

In his normal state, Naruto could activate the two-tomoe Sharingan and the Byakugan. Combined with his special bloodline power, he was already comparable to an elite jonin.

Not to mention his troublesome Flying Thunder God Technique and the Rasengan that had already become ingrained in his bones.

The combat power he could display was on the level of ten, or even nine, ordinary jonin.

If he also used the Nine-Tails' chakra, then even though he still could not enter Tailed Beast Transformation, beating Hiruzen Sarutobi down would be more than easy.