Hiruzen Sarutobi felt his mind explode with a roar. The world spun, and his vision went dark.
He instinctively reached out, trying to brace himself against the desk before him.
"BOOM—!!!"
A thunderous crash rang out!
The enormous desk that had accompanied him for decades—crafted from premium Land of Fire hardwood and sturdy enough to serve as cover—collapsed beneath that palm strike, filled with his shock and horror!
"Crack... crash..."
Wood chips flew everywhere, and documents scattered across the floor.
The entire Hokage's Office was a complete mess.
Hearing the commotion, the ANBU outside instantly burst through the door and asked nervously, "Third Hokage-sama, what happened?!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at his trembling hand, then at the pile of ruined wood on the floor. His mind went completely blank.
After a long while, he finally waved a hand and ordered the ANBU in a hoarse voice, "Nothing happened. Get out! No one is allowed near this place or allowed to ask about anything that happened here today!"
After the ANBU withdrew, he slowly turned around and looked at the equally dumbfounded Kakashi, as well as Anbu Ape, who had remained silent from start to finish but was clearly suffering an immense shock as well. An unprecedented light erupted from his eyes—a complex emotion mixed with fear, astonishment, and extreme excitement!
"Kakashi!"
"Here!"
"Immediately classify all information on Naruto Uzumaki as the village's highest-level S-rank secret! From today onward, aside from you, me, and Ape here, a fourth person must never be allowed to learn that he possesses the Eight Gates and the Byakugan! Any violator will be treated as a traitor to the village!"
The Third Hokage's voice was decisive and beyond question!
Kakashi's expression turned grave as he nodded heavily. "Yes!"
He understood the severity of the situation. If this kind of power were exposed, Naruto would either be seized by every faction through any means necessary or eliminated as a threat surpassing the Nine-Tails.
After issuing the S-rank secrecy order, the Third Hokage added, "Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura were there too, correct? Bring those two children to me first thing tomorrow morning. I'll speak with them personally. Ape!"
"Here!"
Anbu Ape dropped to one knee.
"Return immediately and replace Tobi. Have him come see me as well! I need to confirm whether all intelligence regarding the area around the training ground today has been completely sealed off."
"Yes!"
Ape's figure vanished in an instant.
Only the Third Hokage and Kakashi remained in the office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi walked to the window and gazed at the Third Training Ground in the distance, which had been devastated beyond recognition. He remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking, his voice carrying a trace of confusion. "Kakashi, I still don't understand... If he had the strength to crush you, why did he go out of his way to smash the bells? He could clearly have passed the test alone."
Kakashi's dead-fish eyes were unusually bright at that moment.
Remembering Naruto's arrogant yet responsible declaration, he gave a bitter smile and shook his head.
"Third Hokage-sama, I didn't understand at first either. But now I do."
Kakashi's tone carried an unprecedented solemnity. "Although he completely destroyed the format of the bell test, at the moment he crushed those bells, I saw something more important than 'teamwork.'"
He paused, as though organizing his thoughts. "He had the absolute strength to pass the test alone, yet he chose to bring the other two with him. He even destroyed the bells rather than allow a single teammate to be eliminated. That wasn't teamwork. That was... that was the resolve of a team leader."
"He wasn't cooperating with his teammates. He was protecting them. With his strength, he was fully qualified to do so."
"The resolve of a leader..." Hiruzen Sarutobi murmured. A trace of reminiscence flashed through his cloudy eyes. "That protective nature... it really is a lot like Minato."
His aged heart was pounding wildly, like a war drum!
It was over... it was over... Hidden Leaf's skies were about to change!
What Minato's backup plan, what Nine-Tails Demon Fox—it was all bullshit!
This Naruto Uzumaki was no ordinary creature trapped in a pond!
He was a true dragon, one about to break free of every shackle and soar above the nine heavens...!
Meanwhile.
As the culprit who had turned the Hokage's Office upside down, Naruto Uzumaki was currently humming a little tune as he strolled leisurely through Hidden Leaf's commercial district.
Being high-profile was the true nature of a king.
Rather than waiting passively, it was better to show off his strength and make everyone with ill intentions weigh the consequences for themselves.
"Those two brats from Team 7 have finally been trained into shape."
Naruto rubbed his chin in satisfaction. The revolutionary cause was beginning to show results. It was time to inspect the progress of his other side quests.
"System, open my harem... ahem, affection panel."
[Ding! Affection panel expanded—] [Hinata Hyuga: 85 (utterly devoted, will marry no one but you)] [Sakura Haruno: 45 (worshipful obsession, initially tamed)] [Tenten: 40 (her heart has begun to stir, rumor bonus)] [Ding! The host's display of might at the Third Training Ground today, crushing elite jonin Kakashi Hatake, has spread among some Genin and Chunin. After Tenten indirectly heard of it, her admiration for the host increased by 10 points.]
"Oh? Gossip actually made its way back to me."
Naruto grinned.
Just then—
"Ugh!"
A sudden wave of weakness surged through every limb and bone. Naruto's vision went dark, and he nearly pitched headfirst onto the ground.
He hurriedly braced himself against the wall beside him. It felt as though his body had been instantly drained dry, while that seemingly limitless sense of power receded like the tide.
Immediately afterward, a scorching, stabbing pain rose from the meridians throughout his body, as if countless red-hot steel needles were threading through his veins.
"Strange... It suddenly feels like my body has been drained. The sense of strength brought by the Sage Body is fading fast..." Naruto's heart jolted.
[Ding! An anomaly has been detected in the host's physical data. The Sage Body's overloaded operation has ended, and the host has entered the "Blood-Reflux State."] [System notification: A list of current ability restrictions has been generated—] [1. Sage Body Limit Burst: Maximum duration is 30 minutes. After exceeding this limit, the host will enter a 12-hour "Blood-Reflux Period," during which physical stamina and chakra recovery speed will fall to the level of an ordinary Genin.] [2. Eight Gates (Sage Body-Enhanced Version): The side effect has been converted from "physical damage" to "delayed meridian burning." After opening three gates at once, a six-hour cooldown is required. During this time, the meridians will suffer continuous burning pain, and the accuracy of ninjutsu execution and chakra control will greatly decline. Forcibly opening them again will result in permanent meridian damage. Note: Even the Sage Body cannot completely convert the side effects of opening four gates or more, which will cause immediate irreversible damage.] [3. Pure Byakugan: Chakra consumption is extremely high. Based on the host's current total chakra reserves, the maximum continuous usage time is 10 minutes. Note: While using the Byakugan, the Eight Gates state cannot be maintained simultaneously. The two systems compete for chakra supply and are mutually exclusive. Both could be used simultaneously in this battle only because the battle was extremely short and had not reached the mutual-exclusion threshold.] [4. Rasengan (Perfect Version): Each use consumes an enormous amount of chakra. At most, it can be used three times consecutively within a short period.]
The series of system prompts immediately made Naruto understand his current condition.
So that was it. It wasn't without a price; it was simply payment deferred.
"So that overwhelming power from earlier had a time limit and side effects..." Naruto leaned against the wall and slowly exhaled a breath of stale air. Rather than looking dejected, a knowing smile formed on his face. "That makes sense. If it truly had no limits at all, that would be far too boring."
Just as he absorbed this information, the system issued another warning.
[Ding! Additional explanation: S-rank ninjutsu "Rasengan (Perfect Version)" is a one-time special event reward. The trigger condition is: for the first time, completely shatter the psychological defenses of someone with S-rank strength or above through non-combat means. Such rewards cannot be repeatedly triggered under the same conditions.] [Warning! Warning!] [It has been detected that the strategy mission "Weapon Girl: Tenten" has expired without being accepted. The mission is about to enter decay mode. In decay mode, the target's affection will automatically decrease by 5 points every 72 hours until the mission is accepted or her affection reaches zero. Accept immediately?]
"Damn, there's even something like that?"
Naruto shuddered in lingering fear. He had nearly left the Tenten route unattended until it completely collapsed.
Without hesitation, he silently muttered in his heart.
"Accept immediately!"
[Mission accepted: Pursue "Weapon Girl" Tenten] [First-stage objective: Establish effective initial communication with Tenten and obtain a gifted weapon from her.] [Mission reward: Reward determined by completion level.]
After dealing with all that, Naruto shook his slightly weakened legs and straightened up again.
Although he had entered a period of weakness, his eyes only grew brighter.
Restrictions created challenges.
Challenges made conquest fun.
His gaze swept toward the street corner, where that familiar sign still stood—[Yamanaka Flower Shop].
"Perfect. I'll go see my little Hinata, and while I'm at it... meet that blonde little delinquent girl."
Pursuing one was still pursuing. Pursuing a whole group was still pursuing.
I, Naruto Uzumaki, am all about spreading the love equally and treating everyone fairly!
With that thought, a mischievous smile curled across Naruto's lips. Ignoring the fatigue in his body, he stepped forward and headed straight toward the alley leading to the flower shop.
Before you continue