The Students All Ran Away, and the Third Hokage's Face Turned Green

Never underestimate a brat's competitive spirit.

Back in the day, Hatake Fifty-Fifty used to fiercely compete with Obito all the time.

He would mutter about how boring and pointless it was, but his body was completely honest, and he clearly relished those envious little glances from Obito.

With Naruto taking the lead and Sasuke following suit, the rest of those young rookies cleanly and decisively handed in blank answer sheets and strutted away.

When the Hokage arrived to attend the entrance ceremony, Hiruzen Sarutobi swept his gaze across the stage, and upon not seeing a single student from a distinguished clan, he was dumbfounded on the spot.

Damn it, where the hell did everyone go?!

I purposely carved out this huge chunk of time to instill the Will of Fire in you lot, and you little runaways all slipped off?!

The Third's face turned so greenish-blue that water could almost drip from it, and after calling over the ANBU to inquire, he learned that the rookies had handed in blank sheets and all run off into the wild with Naruto.

Hiruzen Sarutobi stood at the front of the stage, his chest so congested that he almost vomited a mouthful of blood on the spot; this kid Naruto was showing less and less regard for the rules.

This didn't mean he hadn't meddled over the past few years, though.

There was one time Hiruzen Sarutobi arranged for the ANBU to capture Naruto and take him to a secret base for brainwashing, only for Naruto to trigger a Tailed Beast rampage right then and there, resulting in quite a few ANBU members perishing inside.

The ANBU only had fewer than a hundred members in total, and Sarutobi's heart would ache for ages every time one of them went down.

This incident made him harbor deep suspicions; that seal on Naruto's body was most likely defective.

Logically speaking, it was simply impossible for the Nine-Tails to cause such a massive commotion.

Later on, a smiling-faced Day sent for Danzo, asking him if he was interested in taking Naruto to Root to train him for a few days.

Danzo was so happy he almost jumped for joy at the time; has the Third's brain turned to mush?! The Jinchuriki is actually being handed right into my hands?!

It wasn't long before Danzo got a taste of what the harsh world was like.

He had originally planned to dispatch ten elite Root ninjas to capture a little brat like Naruto and drag him back to the Root base, thinking it would be more than enough.

To his surprise, Naruto directly unleashed the Two-Tails; although Naruto himself was burned all over by the Nine-Tails Chakra, those ten Root members were completely wiped out, and Danzo was so distressed he nearly vomited blood.

After that battle, Naruto was laid up in the Hyuga Clan for nearly two months, because his small frame simply couldn't withstand the rampaging Tailed Beast Chakra.

Besides, he didn't have Gaara's layer of mother-armor to protect him, and his combat power was a far cry compared to Gaara of the same period.

After all, Gaara's early-stage prowess relied mostly on his mother, while Shukaku wasn't actually the crucial factor.

Following two consecutive attacks and rampages, Hiruzen Sarutobi finally resigned himself to the fact that the Eight Trigrams Seal on Naruto's body was indeed faulty.

He could only swallow his grievances and accept it.

Before finding a suitable member of the Uzumaki Clan to take over as the new Jinchuriki, there was simply no way to play hardball with Naruto.

Not to mention that the Sannin had all run off due to his own actions, and the Fourth had also kicked the bucket.

Konoha couldn't find a single qualified ninja at present who could suppress a rampaging Nine-Tails.

Unless he himself went and squatted in the Death God's belly alongside the Fourth.

Because of this, Hiruzen Sarutobi had no choice but to hold his nose and accept that Naruto was now a powder keg that would explode at the slightest touch.

The moment he came anywhere near danger, he would blow up...

This left the Third, who had poured all his heart into mentally manipulating Naruto, so frustrated that he felt like dying.

Once things went wrong on Naruto's side, the various ninja clans down below who had been eyeing the position of the Fifth Hokage all lost their composure, with the Uchiha faction jumping around the most.

If he hadn't still been holding onto Kage Level strength and maintaining ironclad ties with the feudal lord, these ninja clans probably would have already plotted to switch sides.

Even so, Hiruzen Sarutobi's prestige was currently a far cry from what it used to be.

Shikaku's generation of Ino–Shika–Cho announced they were checking out, the Inuzuka Clan focused solely on raising dogs, the Aburame Clan couldn't even be tracked down, and the only promising youngster had been poached by that scumbag Danzo.

Hinata's kidnapping incident, coupled with Naruto's rampage, directly caused these ninja clans to start pondering about realigning their loyalties.

The sleazy maneuvers of this group of fence-sitters made Hiruzen Sarutobi curse aloud in his heart.

Since the hard approach wouldn't work, Hiruzen Sarutobi had no choice but to switch to a soft one.

The two rampages caused the fact that Naruto was the Nine-Tails to spread thoroughly through the village.

Naruto's days in the village became even harder to endure, and apart from the Hyuga Clan, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and Might Guy, not a single soul dared to approach Naruto over the past few years.

The villagers' utter disgust was plastered all over their faces.

As for Naruto, he went around stirring up trouble just as the Third had hoped, beating back without a second thought anyone who dared spew filth at him.

Anyway, having trained with Guy for these past few years, Naruto's fighting style was currently no worse than Kakashi's had been when he became a Chunin at age six.

This was precisely the effect the Third wanted; every time Naruto caused trouble, Hiruzen Sarutobi was always the first to step up and clean up his messes while showering him with warm concern.

If Naruto had truly been an ordinary six-year-old child, he might well have been warmed by this "sincere" affection and treated him like a close family member.

Unfortunately, Naruto was a transmigrator, and he had long since figured out who was behind those two assassination attempts.

Therefore, Naruto simply put on the demeanor of a rebellious punk and went out of his way to make things frustrating for the Third.

Watching right now as Naruto successfully lured away the golden generation he had painstakingly gathered, Hiruzen Sarutobi's face turned frighteningly pale, a fierce glint flashing deep within his eyes.

Fence-sitters, were they?

It wouldn't be long before he let them all know the methods of the Hokage!

Just as Sasuke was entering the academy, it coincided with the timing of Itachi Uchiha being shoved into the ANBU as a spy by Fugaku Uchiha...

There was barely half a year left until the night of the clan's annihilation.