I hope Jiraiya could properly discipline this kid in the future

"Did you hear...? The Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki nearly smashed himself to death against the barrier."

"No, I heard he was trying to kill himself."

"In the end, the Third Hokage and several hundred ninja stopped him."

"Ah! Why would the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki be so unable to think things through?"

The moment Naruto stepped out of the hospital room, he heard several nurses gathered together, whispering among themselves.

They were saying something about Konoha's Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki trying to take his own life and preparing to ram headfirst into the barrier...

There were all sorts of ridiculous versions. Naruto's face twitched as he listened.

He felt utterly humiliated.

It was all Kakashi Hatake's fault!

Naruto didn't care how the story had spread. Anyway, he was sure it wasn't wrong to put this on Kakashi's tab!

If Kakashi had just stopped him, this never would have happened!

As Naruto walked down the hospital corridor, he noticed people constantly sizing him up with strange looks. They talked about him while laughing at him!

He wanted to find a crack in the floor and crawl into it.

Who would have thought that after keeping such a low profile for so long, he would become famous in the village like this...

To avoid the strange looks in the hospital as much as possible, Naruto found an empty spot and climbed out from the fifth floor.

He gave no thought to the fact that he had only just recovered.

The instant he landed, Naruto even felt that his physique had grown stronger than before.

With his previous physique, falling from the fifth floor would at least have sprained his ankle.

But now, he was completely fine.

"Looks like I'm getting further and further down the path of becoming a freak..."

Naruto sighed as he wandered aimlessly through Konoha's streets.

When the Third Hokage received the news that Naruto had been discharged, his mood improved slightly. But then he heard that the kid had jumped from the fifth floor of the hospital right after waking up...

He felt his blood pressure rising again.

Was there no one who could properly keep this kid in line?!

In any case, he no longer had any hope that Kakashi could keep an eye on Naruto.

This time, Konoha had come within a hair's breadth of losing the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki.

The only thing the Third Hokage could count on now was finding Jiraiya, who was traveling abroad.

After all, Jiraiya had been Naruto's father's teacher. Teaching the father had been no problem, so teaching Minato's son should be easy enough.

"Phew—"

The Third Hokage gazed out the window and exhaled a smoke ring. He looked as though he had aged considerably during this time.

He would wait until Naruto graduated first...

Five more years... he just had to endure them.

Then he would bring Jiraiya back to keep this kid in line.

"Naruto-kun... you're better?"

In the classroom, Hinata turned and saw her deskmate appear. She did not say much, but Naruto could still sense the excitement bubbling in the girl's heart.

"Hinata-chan, thank you for the card."

"And the fruit."

"It... it was nothing."

Hearing Naruto's words, the girl became so shy that she started stammering again.

Seeing her like that, Naruto unconsciously grinned.

Then he remembered what he had promised Hinata before...

Not long ago, he had agreed to train with Hinata after school, but then he had gone looking for that Green Watermelon Rind uncle and spent another month lying in the hospital.

He felt truly bad about standing the girl up for so long.

If it had been his ex-girlfriend from his previous life, she would have nagged him all day if he were ten minutes late for a date.

But Hinata...

Not only did she have no complaints, she even came to visit him in the hospital from time to time.

The fresh fruit on the bedside table showed it clearly... Hinata had visited him quite often.

It could be said that Hinata was the most suitable wife candidate in Naruto's heart.

"Hinata, I'll come pick you up after school."

"About the training I promised to do with you..."

The moment Hinata heard Naruto's first sentence, her mind began to spin.

Pick me up... a date?!

"Eek..."

Before Naruto could finish speaking, Hinata thumped onto her desk and fainted.

Naruto had no idea what to do.

"How did training make her so shy that she fainted?"

He did not understand, but seeing the girl unconscious on her desk, he worried that her neck would hurt when she woke up. So he casually took a Little Bear Pillow from the system, gently lifted her head, and placed it on the pillow.

He did not care in the slightest about how the other students in the class felt.

However, the class had already grown used to Naruto, who often skipped school.

It was only when Uzumaki Naruto actually came to class that everyone found it strange.

At the front of the classroom, Iruka watched the two in the back flirting and felt his head buzzing with anger.

But he could not exactly say anything to them...

One was the eldest daughter of the Hyuga clan, while the other was the village's Kage heir...

How was he supposed to discipline them??

So he decided that what the eye did not see, the heart would not grieve over, and forced himself to ignore them.

Besides, the Third Hokage had instructed him not to bother with that kid anyway.

After lunch, Naruto opened a Space Gate to go home for a meal, then returned to the small forest east of the village entrance.

The environment here had been ravaged beyond recognition by a certain Jinchuriki. Of the previous forest, only a few sparse trees remained.

As for the wooden house that the enthusiastic Villagers had built for Naruto, it had vanished without a trace. The fragments scattered across the ground perhaps proved that a Small Wooden House had once stood here.

Calling this place a garbage dump would not have been an exaggeration.