I Have a Dream

That "thank you" was like a warm current, instantly sweeping away every defense in Iruka's heart.

His eyes burned, and the worry and heartache he had bottled up for so long nearly spilled out as tears.

What was with that sulky face? It was just a child throwing a tantrum.

The Naruto he knew—the one who grinned foolishly and pulled pranks—was about to come back.

Iruka opened his mouth excitedly, wanting to say something more.

But Naruto had already risen to his feet.

He took several coins and bills from his pocket, setting them down neatly on the greasy table with a clink.

That gesture lodged all of Iruka's words in his throat.

The money was like a solid wall between him and Naruto.

Naruto turned around.

Just before passing through the ramen shop's curtain, he looked back and calmly gazed at Iruka.

"Iruka-sensei, you're a good person."

"But good people are the easiest to exploit."

With that, he vanished into the noisy street, leaving Iruka sitting there alone in a daze as the long-cold bowl of ramen reflected his bewildered face.

Deep underground in Konoha.

The air was cold and damp, carrying the rotten stench of earth mixed with rust.

A Root ninja wearing a featureless mask knelt on one knee in the darkness, reporting to the figure in the shadows who revealed only one eye.

"The Nine-Tails jinchuriki has displayed combat skills and insight far beyond what is normal."

"On the street, he detected the surveillance positions of the three of us and marked them with food. It was not a warning, but a provocation."

Shimura Danzō's bandaged face remained expressionless in the shadows.

His cane lightly tapped against the cold ground, producing a steady, unsettling rhythm.

"Has the Nine-Tails' power begun to lose control?"

"Or has this vessel itself undergone an unforeseen mutation?"

Another ninja stepped out from the darkness nearby.

"Lord Danzo, according to our intelligence, the target has a close relationship with Chunin Umino Iruka and deep teacher-student feelings."

"Perhaps Iruka can serve as shackles to control the Nine-Tails jinchuriki."

Danzo's single eye narrowed slightly, flashing with sinister light.

"Feelings... teacher-student affection..."

"They are humanity's most fragile, and most fatal, weaknesses."

"Continue the surveillance. List Iruka as a Level One influence target."

"Yes, sir."

The ninja vanished instantly. In the dark underground depths, only the sound of the cane striking the floor echoed through the dead silence.

Ninja Academy classroom.

Iruka stood at the podium, announcing the team assignments that would determine the course of the students' ninja lives.

When Sakura heard that she had been placed on a team with Sasuke, unrestrained ecstasy blossomed across her face.

Sasuke, however, furrowed his brow. He had no interest in the pink-haired girl. What truly concerned him was that blond-haired boy whose expression was even colder than his own.

A month ago, Naruto had still been the class's perennial dead last. Yet now, merely sitting beside him brought Sasuke enormous pressure.

It was the kind of pressure that made him feel weak.

And Naruto had simply sat quietly from beginning to end.

His gaze moved back and forth across his two future "teammates" like a scalpel.

[Tactical Unit Assessment]

[Sasuke Uchiha: Individual combat capability acceptable. Arrogant personality, driven by hatred, extremely unstable. Easily impulsive. Can serve as an assault force, but is highly likely to become a tactical weak point.]

[Sakura Haruno: No combat value. Scattered attention, severely emotional, entirely a liability. On the battlefield, she would be among the first noncombatants to be removed.]

Conclusion: a disorderly rabble lacking discipline and efficiency.

His heart remained completely unmoved. If anything, he was somewhat annoyed.

"The jonin instructor for Team Seven is..."

Iruka paused before reading out the name.

"Kakashi Hatake."

The afternoon sun had heated the railings on the Ninja Academy rooftop until they were slightly hot to the touch.

After Iruka announced dismissal, Naruto was the first to arrive.

He paced along the edge of the rooftop, but he was not admiring the scenery.

He was measuring.

The straight-line distance from the rooftop to the Hokage Rock opposite it, and the wind's effect on thrown objects.

The crowd density in the streets below, and possible evacuation routes.

The rooftops of the surrounding buildings were all potential ambush points and sniper positions.

These data formed a cold tactical map in his mind.

Two sets of footsteps approached, one after the other.

The latter carried a girl's urgency and barely concealed hesitation.

Sakura Haruno had arrived.

Her eyes automatically filtered out Naruto, who was pacing nearby, and locked precisely onto the proud, solitary figure in the corner—Sasuke Uchiha.

A blush rose to her face. She softened her steps and carefully walked over, intending to sit beside him at just the right distance—not too close, not too far.

Sasuke did not even raise his eyelids.

Just as Sakura was about to sit down, he subtly shifted half a foot away without moving his body from the wall.

It was not a large movement, but the distance he created was like a silent chasm.

Sakura's smile froze on her face, heat burning from her neck to the tips of her ears. She could only sit farther away from him awkwardly, as though nothing had happened.

With nowhere else to look, her gaze finally landed unwillingly on the blond boy who was still pacing around.

Naruto was far too strange today.

He no longer chased after her with that eager, foolish look. From beginning to end, he had not even glanced at her once.

He simply kept walking, every step seeming as though it had been measured with a ruler, radiating a sharp chill that made people unwilling to approach him.

Time passed second by second.

The sun gradually moved westward from directly overhead.

Sasuke leaned against the wall with his eyes closed, resting. Yet the fist on his knee, which occasionally tightened, exposed his impatience.

Sakura, meanwhile, had gone from fidgeting uneasily to being thoroughly Mū, muttering softly about why their jonin instructor had not arrived yet and whether something major had happened on the way.

Only Naruto continued his patrol-like stride, as patient as a stone.

This was not tolerance.

He was merely recording.

[Jonin Instructor: Kakashi Hatake.]

[Scheduled meeting time: 12:00 noon.]

[Current lateness: two hours and three minutes.]

[Preliminary assessment: Lacks basic awareness of time. Discipline rating: "extremely poor." Alternatively, this may be the first stage of a psychological pressure test, intended to observe the targets' response patterns.]

"Yo."

A lazy voice appeared abruptly at the rooftop entrance along with a puff of smoke.

A silver-haired man with his left eye covered by his forehead protector leaned there, holding an orange-covered novel.

"Sorry, sorry. I got lost on the road of life."

Kakashi Hatake smiled and waved, his exposed eye curving into a crescent.

Sasuke opened his eyes and shot him an icy glare.

Sakura let out a long breath, thinking, What an unreliable teacher.

Ka. Kakashi enjoyed the resentful looks from his new students. This was his little opening routine whenever he took on a class.

"Sensei."

Naruto stopped walking, turned around, and looked at him calmly.

"You were late on purpose."

It was not a question.

It was a statement.

"You had actually arrived long ago, hadn't you?"

The smile on Ka. Kakashi's face froze.

He looked into Naruto's icy blue eyes. There was no emotion in them—no anger, no impatience, only a calmness that seemed to see through everything.

An awkward atmosphere spread through the air.

"Well, well, let's introduce ourselves first."

Ka. Kakashi forcibly changed the subject and cleared his throat.

"You first, pink hair."

"Yes!"

Sakura immediately sat up straight.

"My name is Sakura Haruno! The things I like are..."

She shyly stole a glance at Sasuke.

"What I hate is Ino Pig! My dream for the future is..."

She looked at Sasuke again, her cheeks turning crimson.

"Mm, her mind is completely off being a ninja."

Ka. Kakashi casually remarked before looking at Sasuke.

"Next. You."

"Sasuke Uchiha."

Sasuke's voice was as cold as ice.

"I don't have anything I like. As for things I hate, there are plenty."

"My dream cannot be called a dream, because I will make it happen."

His fist suddenly clenched, and bone-deep hatred burst from his eyes.

"My goal is to revive the Uchiha clan, and then... kill that man."

The air on the rooftop suddenly grew cold under the force of that killing intent.

Ka. Kakashi's gaze deepened as well.

A girl whose mind was full of romance, and an orphan consumed by the flames of vengeance.

His gaze finally settled on the boy who had stood straight from beginning to end.

"Last, you."

Naruto stepped forward, clasped his hands behind his back, and stood in a standard military posture.

"My name is Naruto."

His voice was clear and steady, not loud, yet every word struck the listeners' ears.

"What I like is order, discipline, and loyalty."

"What I hate is heresy, corruption, and inefficiency."

His gaze slowly swept over everyone present, including Ka. Kakashi.

"My dream... or rather, my ultimate mission objective."

He paused, every word carrying unquestionable weight.

"Is to ensure that Konoha, humanity's final bastion of civilization, can endure under any internal or external threat."

"To that end, I will purge all enemies."

Mū matter the cost.