The wind on the Hidden Leaf rooftop was a little noisy.
The setting sun stretched the shadows of the three youths long and thin. The only one without a shadow was the silver-haired lazy dog leaning against the railing, an orange little book still in his hand.
Kakashi Hatake.
Naruto had his hands in his pockets as he watched him in boredom, already complaining wildly in his heart.
Seriously, this opening has been used to death. Can't you come up with something new?
Sure enough.
"Well, the atmosphere seems about right."
Kakashi slowly closed Icha Icha Paradise and swept his trademark dead-fish eye over them. "Before I officially become your instructor, let's start with introductions."
"Tell us what you like, what you dislike, and... what your dreams for the future are."
Here it comes! The classic three-part combo!
Naruto rolled his eyes inwardly.
Kakashi's gaze fell first on Sakura Haruno.
"Let's start with you, pink-haired one."
"Y-Yes!"
Sakura Haruno jolted, her cheeks instantly flushing red.
She subconsciously stole a glance at the ridiculously handsome Sasuke beside her, her heart pounding like a drum. Then, from the corner of her eye, she sneakily glanced at Naruto, who had one foot on the desk and carried himself with unbelievable dominance.
One was the cold, handsome idol she had chased after throughout her childhood.
The other was the mysterious tyrannosaurus who had shattered her worldview just yesterday.
So hard to choose... Wait, no!
She was so nervous!
Sakura nervously twisted her hands together. After stammering for a long time, she spoke in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz. "M-My name is Sakura Haruno... The thing I like... No, the person I like is..."
As she said that, she secretly glanced at Sasuke again, her face turning even redder.
"My dream is..."
Another glance at Sasuke.
"Ah—!"
The girl was so embarrassed by herself that she let out a shriek, unable to say another word.
Kakashi wore an expression that said, "I get it," though there was a trace of utter weariness in his dead-fish eye.
Naruto found it hilarious.
Well, this one's a real heavyweight too. Terminal love-brain. Better cut it off now so she doesn't hold everyone back later.
"Next, you."
Kakashi turned his gaze toward Sasuke.
The savage killing intent in the classroom had already been carefully reined in by Sasuke, but his eternally icy face still seemed to spell out four words: Keep strangers away.
He crossed his arms over his chest without even looking at Kakashi, his voice as cold as if it had been pulled from an ice cellar.
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha."
"There are many things I hate. Things I like... none."
"I have no dreams, because they will become reality."
He paused, and an unsettling hatred instantly erupted from his dark eyes.
"I have only one goal—to restore the Uchiha Clan, and..."
"To kill that man!"
The temperature across the entire rooftop seemed to drop several degrees.
Sakura shuddered at that frigid killing intent, and the sympathy in her gaze toward Sasuke deepened.
Kakashi sighed inwardly.
Sure enough, another troubled child carrying the weight of the entire world.
A survivor of the Night of the Massacre. The Third Hokage really gave me quite the assignment.
Finally, he turned his gaze toward the blond youth who had remained calm and detached from beginning to end, like an outsider.
The center of everyone's attention: Naruto Uzumaki.
Yet Naruto did not speak immediately.
He simply slowly straightened up, then stretched lazily and luxuriously in front of everyone.
"Crack—"
Accompanied by a series of crisp pops from his bones, that dirt-cheap orange tracksuit could no longer hide the perfect body beneath it, one brimming with explosive power!
After merging with the Perfect Uzumaki Sage Body, every inch of Naruto's muscles seemed to have been calculated with utmost precision. His lines were smooth and balanced, without a trace of excess fat. Under the sunset, his body shone with a healthy, vibrant bronze glow.
That almost tangible wave of masculine hormones made Sakura Haruno instinctively hold her breath, her cheeks burning once more.
Even Kakashi's dead-fish eye narrowed almost imperceptibly.
This brat... Is that physique really possible for a twelve-year-old?
Naruto rolled his neck before finally speaking in a lazy tone, a wicked smile curling across his lips.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki."
His voice was not loud, yet it carried an unquestionable force that reached everyone's ears with perfect clarity.
"What I like... beautiful and gentle women."
"What I hate are hypocrites who think too highly of themselves, spout righteousness and morality, and look down on everyone else."
The atmosphere immediately became strange after those words.
Sakura was dumbfounded.
Sasuke frowned.
For the first time, Kakashi's dead-fish eye truly regarded the youth before him seriously.
He liked women?
He hated hypocrites?
That was completely different from the idiot in the files who only knew how to chase after Sakura and would do anything for acknowledgment!
However, this was only the beginning.
Naruto paused. His blue eyes, which had held a trace of amusement moments ago, suddenly became as deep as the sea, radiating unmatched dominance!
An arrogant aura of absolute self-sovereignty erupted from him, as though he intended to trample the entire world beneath his feet!
"As for dreams?"
He sneered, his eyes full of contempt for the very word.
"I don't have something that vague and empty."
"My goals have always been very realistic—"
Naruto slowly raised his hand and spread his fingers, as if he were about to grasp heaven and earth in his palm. In the tone of a sovereign ruling the world, he declared each word with deliberate force:
"First, I will restore my Uzumaki Clan!"
"Second..."
His gaze swept over everyone present before settling on Kakashi's stunned face. His lips split into an incomparably wild grin.
"I'll make the finest bloodlines and the most beautiful women in the Shinobi World willingly join my family registry!"
The entire rooftop fell deathly silent!
Time itself seemed to have been paused at that moment.
The wind stopped.
The clouds did not move.
The world went quiet.
Kakashi's dead-fish eye widened into a perfect circle, and his entire body froze in place.
The copy of Icha Icha Paradise in his hand—the treasured book he would not put down even in battle—slipped from his limp fingers with a slap and fell to the ground.
Sakura was so shocked her jaw nearly dislocated. Her green eyes were filled with cosmic-level confusion: Who am I? Where am I? What did I just hear?
Restore the Uzumaki Clan?
Make the most beautiful women join his family registry?!
Th-That was something a Genin could say?!
It was ten thousand times more absurd than "I want to become Hokage"!
In the corner, Sasuke Uchiha, who had maintained his aloof posture all along, twitched violently at the corner of his mouth before finally forcing out two words through clenched teeth:
"Idiot..."
In his eyes, such lowly desires for women and breeding were stupid to the extreme!
Compared to his great mission of revenge, they were not even worthy of carrying his shoes!
"Cough... cough, cough!"
At last, Kakashi, as the Jonin, was the first to recover.
He hurriedly picked up his precious book from the ground, not even bothering to dust it off. He coughed twice, trying to conceal his earth-shattering lapse in composure with awkward coughing.
He's insane... This brat is absolutely insane!
Third Hokage!
What kind of monster did you make me take on?!
Kakashi's mind was in complete chaos. He felt that the worldview he had built over more than twenty years as a ninja was on the verge of collapse.
"V-Very good!"
He forced out a smile uglier than crying. "It seems the three of you are all... very unique."
"That concludes today's introductions!"
He only wanted to end this damned meeting as quickly as possible, then go back and properly digest the intelligence shock that rivaled an S-rank mission.
"Listen up! Gather at the Third Training Ground at five tomorrow morning for the final wilderness survival exercise!"
"Oh, right." Kakashi raised one finger and revealed a sly eye. "Whatever you do, don't eat breakfast."
"Otherwise, you'll throw up."
With that, he impatiently prepared to use the Body Flicker Technique to slip away.
However, just as he formed a hand seal, a lazy voice sounded behind him.
"Kakashi-sensei."
Naruto shoved his hands back into his pockets. His tone was calm, but it carried an unquestionable confidence in his own strength.
"I hope you'll be a little more serious tomorrow."
"Don't let me beat you too badly."
Kakashi's Body Flicker Technique froze in midair.
He stiffly turned his head to look at the blond youth, standing beneath the afterglow of the setting sun with an arrogant smile on his face. His dead-fish eye narrowed completely into a dangerous slit.
"Oh?"
"Anyone can talk big."
"Don't cry tomorrow, brat."
"Poof!"
A cloud of white smoke dispersed, and Kakashi's figure vanished from the rooftop.
Only a meaningful echo remained in the air, along with a coming storm that was destined to be anything but peaceful...
Before you continue