The Old Fox's Abacus Ranks Loudly, But the Scroll Holds a Surprise

While the examination grounds were in chaos, Hiruzen Sarutobi was in the ninja academy's headmaster's office, making pleasant small talk with the headmaster.

Over the years, batches of civilian ninjas nurtured by the Will of Fire graduated from the academy, throwing themselves directly under the Hokage's command without a second word.

Everyone took pride in becoming the Hokage, and each one wanted to surpass Hiruzen Sarutobi to become that strongest Hokage.

"This batch of students is of the utmost importance. You must thoroughly instill the Will of Fire in them, and I will also drop by from time to time to lecture them personally."

Hiruzen Sarutobi said to the headmaster with a smile, his tone earnest and full of gravity.

That headmaster was merely a civilian Chunin, and sitting in this position did not require formidable combat prowess.

As long as his devotion to the Will of Fire was profound enough, that was sufficient.

When it came to passing down the Will of Fire, the man before him was hardly any less dedicated than Iruka Umino.

The headmaster beamed, piling flattery upon Hiruzen Sarutobi:

"Congratulations, Lord Hokage, on unearthing yet another elite prospect. Anyone who can graduate in a single year will undoubtedly follow in Itachi Uchiha's footsteps and become an elite Jonin in no time."

Hiruzen Sarutobi also wore a satisfied smile.

"I owe it all to you, Chunin Iwagami."

Upon hearing this, Headmaster Iwagami beamed with excitement and said, "You flatter me, you flatter me."

Yet before he could fully bask in the praise, two proctors crashed into the office with a loud thud.

The Chunin who had been beaten flat by Naruto wailed miserably at Hiruzen Sarutobi:

"Lord Hokage, you have no idea! That demon fox has revolted! He is completely out of control!"

"That's not even the half of it. He beat up a classmate before the exam, and when we stepped in to stop him, he took advantage of my inattention and blasted me away with a ninjutsu."

"Later on, he became even more outrageously arrogant, demanding that the Third Hokage prepare three ninjutsu for him, or else he would quit being a ninja. Such insolence must be severely punished, Lord Hokage!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi had been leisurely puffing on his tobacco pipe, but at these words, crack, the stem snapped in half.

With a dark expression, he roared right in the faces of the two proctors:

"You two fools! Is that how you conduct yourselves as role models?!"

"Don't think I am unaware of the petty schemes you're playing! Strict orders forbid spreading the word that Naruto is the Nine-Tails! As ninjas carrying such heavy subjective bias, I think you two can forget about this job!"

Upon hearing this, the proctors at his feet dropped to their knees with a thud.

"Lord Hokage, we've been wronged! That Naruto was simply too outrageous."

"That's right, Lord Hokage! We only wanted to bring him before you!"

Seeing that the two men showed no intention of repenting, Hiruzen Sarutobi waved an impatient hand.

Two ANBU operatives materialized and dragged the men out directly.

Headmaster Iwagami at the side broke out in cold sweat; no sooner had he finished being praised than these two idiots popped up.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's complexion was about as ugly as it got, and thanks to the meddling of these bastards, he was going to have to cough up yet another ninjutsu.

One had to understand that this Scroll of Seals was the foundation upon which the Hokage faction secured its footing in Konoha.

Precisely because they held the Scroll of Seals, those civilian ninjas were willing to risk their lives to work themselves to the bone for the Hokage.

What they aimed for was simply to fight their way up to Jonin, leaving behind a few ninjutsu techniques for their children in the future so that their own households might evolve into legitimate ninja clans.

The ninjutsu recorded within were exceptionally rare, one and all. He was reluctant to casually hand them out even to himself, and back then Minato Namikaze had only managed to secure the Flying Thunder God.

Yet Naruto had already spoken his demands, and Hiruzen Sarutobi knew he had to swallow this bitter pill.

After all, anyone in this position would be boiling with fury.

Gazing at the heartbroken Headmaster Iwagami, Hiruzen Sarutobi switched back to his genial demeanor:

This current matter has little to do with you, but going forward you must keep your guard up and avoid carrying such strong biases.

Watching Hiruzen Sarutobi act with such magnanimity, Iwagami stared at him with absolute reverence—this truly was the Third Hokage forged by the Will of Fire!

The Third Hokage paused, then proceeded to issue further instructions:

"You have already witnessed Naruto's capabilities. Assigning him overly weak teammates will only hold him back. Following standard tactical squad composition, pick his two most exceptional peers to form a team with him. Do not bungle things this time."

Headmaster Iwagami immediately dropped to one knee and loudly accepted the order.

By the following morning,

an ANBU operative flickered into existence before Naruto.

He produced a forehead protector and tossed it into Naruto's lap: "Your protector."

Naruto caught it casually and asked the ANBU operative with a swagger:

"Where are the things I asked for?"

The ANBU operative directly summoned a large scroll, dropped it with a heavy thud, and stated:

"Choose any three ninjutsu from the contents above. You have precisely one hour. Once time is up, head immediately to Training Ground Three; your teammates and Supervising Jonin are waiting there."

Naruto eyed the bulky scroll in his arms with suspicion, muttering to himself in doubt—could they really be this straightforward?

He unrolled the Scroll of Seals at random, his lips twitching first, and as he read further down, his expression sank completely.

This fucking thing was just a photocopied edition, and all the ninjutsu inside had been heavily screened.

The Four Symbols Seal, Impure World Reincarnation, and Flying Thunder God Technique he wanted were nowhere to be found.

Even A-rank ninjutsu were nowhere to be seen.

Naruto rubbed the corners of his eyes, his brain aching. When he thought about it, it made sense—how could that old fox Hiruzen Sarutobi possibly hand the real Scroll of Seals over to him?

The only powerful ninjutsu on it worth looking at could be counted on one hand:

Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu, Eight Gates Released Formation, and Adamantine Sealing Chains.

The rest were entirely common B-rank goods that anyone with a normal brain wouldn't touch.

Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu was an upgraded version of the Shadow Clone, and since he already knew the Clone Technique long ago, there was no need to learn it again.

Might Guy was teaching him the Eight Gates Released Formation hands-on, so there was no point in choosing it here.

Adamantine Sealing Chains was clearly thrown to him by Hiruzen Sarutobi to suppress a Nine-Tails rampage, but he couldn't care less about it.

In reality, the very last thing he needed was this junk. What he wanted most was the Positive and Negative Four Symbols Seal to seal the Nine-Tails, so he could study how to undo it more; that would actually be interesting.

Looking at Hiruzen Sarutobi, who refused to budge an inch, Naruto cursed under his breath:

"Old bastard, you're truly ruthless."

The ANBU operative opposite him turned his head away, pretending not to hear anything.

Just as he was thinking, Naruto's gaze fell on a corner of the scroll, and his eyes suddenly widened.

"How could this ninjutsu be here?!" Naruto gripped the scroll tightly, his palms sweating.