Rooftop Introductions, Shocking Words

The wind on the Hidden Leaf rooftops was a little boisterous.

The setting sun stretched the shadows of the three youths long, long, long. The only one without a shadow was the silver-haired lazy dog leaning against the railing, still holding an orange little book.

Kakashi Hatake.

Naruto had his hands in his pockets as he watched him in boredom, already roasting him wildly in his head.

Seriously, this opening has been used to death. Can't you come up with something new?

Sure enough.

"Well, the atmosphere is about right."

Kakashi slowly closed Icha Icha Paradise and swept his signature dead-fish eye over everyone. "Before I officially become your instructor, let's do some introductions."

"Tell us what you like, what you hate, and... what your future dreams are."

Here it comes! The classic three-course combo!

Naruto rolled his eyes internally.

Kakashi's gaze fell first on Sakura Haruno.

"Let's start with you, pink-haired one."

"Y-Yes!"

Sakura Haruno jolted, and her cheeks instantly flushed bright red.

She subconsciously sneaked a glance at the devastatingly handsome Sasuke beside her. Her heart pounded like a drum, then she couldn't help using the corner of her eye to quickly peek at Naruto, who had one foot on the desk and looked outrageously domineering.

One was the cold, handsome idol she had chased after throughout her childhood.

The other was the mysterious tyrannosaur who had smashed her worldview to pieces just yesterday.

Such a hard choice... no, wait!

She was so nervous!

Sakura twisted her hands together nervously. After stammering for a long time, she spoke in a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz. "M-My name is Sakura Haruno... What I like... or rather, the person I like is..."

At that point, she sneaked another glance at Sasuke, her face turning even redder.

"My dream is..."

Another glance at Sasuke.

"Ah—!"

The girl embarrassed herself so badly 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.

Right, this one's even more of a heavyweight. Terminal love-brain syndrome. Better cut it off now so she doesn't drag everyone down later.

"Next, you."

Kakashi turned his gaze toward Sasuke.

The violent killing intent in the classroom had already been well concealed by Sasuke, but his eternally icy face still seemed to bear four words: Keep strangers away.

He crossed his arms over his chest without even looking at Kakashi. His voice was 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 a heart-chilling hatred burst from his dark pupils.

"I have only one goal—to restore the Uchiha Clan, and..."

"Kill that man!"

The temperature across the rooftop seemed to drop several degrees.

Sakura shuddered at the cold killing intent. The sympathy in her eyes as she looked at Sasuke deepened further.

Kakashi sighed inwardly.

As expected, another troubled kid carrying the weight of the whole world.

The survivor of the Uchiha massacre... The Third Hokage really assigned me a great job.

At last, he turned his gaze toward the blond youth who had remained calm and composed from beginning to end, as though he were merely an outsider.

The center of everyone's attention: Naruto Uzumaki.

Yet Naruto did not speak immediately.

He simply slowly straightened up, then stretched lazily in full view of everyone.

"Crack—"

Accompanied by a series of crisp pops from his bones, that ridiculously rustic orange tracksuit could no longer conceal the perfect body brimming with explosive power beneath it!

After fusing 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 well-proportioned, without an ounce of excess fat. Under the setting sun, he gave off a healthy, vigorous bronze sheen.

That almost tangible surge of masculine hormones made Sakura Haruno unconsciously hold her breath, her cheeks heating up once more.

Even Kakashi's dead-fish eye narrowed ever so slightly.

This brat... Is that physique really from a twelve-year-old?

Naruto rolled his neck before finally speaking lazily, 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 are self-righteous, constantly preach righteousness and morality, and look down on everyone from above."

The atmosphere immediately turned 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 hypocrisy?

That did not match the fool described in the files at all—the idiot who only chased after Sakura and would pay any price for recognition!

Yet this was only the beginning.

Naruto paused. The playful edge in his blue eyes vanished at once, replaced by a depth as vast as the sea and an unmatched dominance.

An arrogant aura of absolute supremacy erupted from him, as though he intended to trample the entire world beneath his feet!

"As for dreams?"

He gave a disdainful laugh, his eyes filled with contempt for the word.

"I don't have something so vague and illusory."

"My goals have always been very realistic—"

Naruto slowly raised a hand and spread his fingers, as though he were about to grasp heaven and earth in his palm. In the tone of a sovereign ruling the world, he declared each word distinctly:

"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 utterly wild grin.

"I'll make the Shinobi World's finest bloodlines and most beautiful women willingly join my family register!"

The entire rooftop fell deathly silent!

Time seemed to have been paused at that very moment.

The wind stopped.

The clouds did not move.

The world went quiet.

Kakashi's dead-fish eye widened round, and his entire body froze in place.

The 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's jaw nearly dislocated from shock. Her green eyes were filled with the cosmic-level confusion of, "Who am I? Where am I? What did I just hear?"

Restore the Uzumaki Clan?

Make the most beautiful women join his family register?!

Th-This was something a genin could say?!

This was ten thousand times more outrageous than "I will become Hokage"!

In the corner, Sasuke Uchiha, who had maintained his aloof pose all along, twitched hard at the corner of his mouth before finally forcing out two words through clenched teeth:

"Idiot..."

In his eyes, such lowly desires centered entirely on women and breeding were idiotic 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 a 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 hide his earth-shaking loss of composure with awkward coughing.

He's insane... This brat is absolutely insane!

*Third Hokage!

What kind of monster did you assign me to train?!*

Kakashi's mind was a mess. He felt as though the worldview built over more than twenty years of his ninja career was about to collapse.

"V-Very good!"

He forcibly squeezed out a smile uglier than crying. "It seems the three of you are all... quite distinctive."

"That concludes today's introductions!"

Right now, he only wanted to end this damned meeting as quickly as possible, then return home and properly process this intelligence bombardment comparable to 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. "Don't eat breakfast."

"Otherwise, you'll throw up."

With that, he eagerly prepared to use the Body Flicker Technique to slip away.

However, he had barely formed a hand seal when a lazy voice sounded behind him.

"Kakashi-sensei."

Naruto put his hands back into his pockets. His tone was calm, yet it carried an unquestionable confidence.

"I hope you'll be a little more serious tomorrow."

"Don't let me beat you too badly."

Kakashi's Body Flicker Technique stopped dead in midair.

He stiffly turned his head and looked at the blond youth bathed in the sunset's afterglow, that 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 vanished from the rooftop.

All that remained in the air was a meaningful echo—and a storm that was bound to be anything but peaceful...