Naruto listened to the gossip for a while on the swing outside the school gates, then left.
Without even eating lunch, he trudged listlessly to the top of a tall building, admiring Konoha's scenery as he pondered life.
In reality, Naruto was absolutely thrilled. Graduation! Throw the confetti! No more school!
Time ticked by.
Just as Naruto was about to fall asleep waiting, a sudden gust swept up behind him. The man he had been waiting for had arrived.
"Mizuki-sensei, what brings you here?" Naruto looked dejected, but inwardly, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Then Mizuki sat beside Naruto with an air of self-importance, gazing into the distance.
"Naruto, you could actually be much better. You just haven't found the right way."
"Better? The right way?" Naruto immediately perked up, looking at Mizuki with sparkling eyes. "Mizuki-sensei, what exactly can make me as strong as you?!"
"Naruto, let me tell you a way to become stronger. There's a place that holds advanced ninjutsu recorded by the Past Hokage. As long as you learn one or two of them, you'll become someone everyone in the village and all your classmates acknowledge and envy."
Clearly, Mizuki had done his homework on Naruto.
"Ah, Mizuki-sensei, what is it? Advanced ninjutsu recorded by the Past Hokage?" Naruto played along.
"It's the Scroll of Seals. It's kept in the Sealing Library on the first floor of the Hokage Building... Tonight, you can do this, then this... and you'll get the Scroll of Seals without any trouble. Once you have it, go study it in the woods east of the village."
Listening to Mizuki's plan, which was riddled with holes, Naruto nodded like a chicken pecking grain. "But Mizuki-sensei, I've never studied advanced ninjutsu before. What if I can't learn it?"
Mizuki reached out