Going to school (1)

Early morning.

Naruto got up bright and early. He did not work out that day, because it was the day he would start school.

Naruto looked at the things laid out on the table, along with a decidedly high-tech-looking backpack, and was left rather speechless.

"Wolffy..."

"I get bringing a game console, since I'll be gaming in class. I get bringing a pillow too, so I can rest when I get tired of gaming... but... what's with this rocket launcher? And this little blue pill and toy gun..."

At Naruto's question, Wolffy responded.

Wolffy held up the little blue pill and explained, "This is a Shrinking Pill. Once you swallow it, just think about how small you want to be, and it'll shrink you to that size. You could even become as small as a microorganism!"

Then Wolffy picked up the Bubble Gun, which looked like a toy gun.

"This is a Bubble Gun. You can shoot yourself with it to fly, or shoot an enemy to restrain them."

As for the rocket launcher, Wolffy did not bother explaining. Even an idiot could tell what it was for.

"All three are for self-defense! And even if you don't need to defend yourself, they're pretty fun to play with!"

Wolffy actually wanted to say that he could hammer out even more badass killing machines. He was just worried the Third Hokage would come knocking.

Once Naruto learned what the little blue pill and toy gun did, he had nothing more to say.

After all... both things had appeared in Weslie and Wolffy.

And they really were pretty fun gadgets.

As for the rocket launcher? He might as well take it. The Space Backpack had more than enough room anyway.

With everything packed, Naruto headed out, with Wolffy and Zeff following behind.

This time, Zeff used a Transformation Technique on Naruto's clone, turning it into his original appearance.

Wolffy also took on his original appearance.

Although Wolffy might look a little out of place on the streets of Konoha, this was the world of Naruto, after all. There were plenty of strange summoning beasts around.

Ordinary Muggles would, at most, keep their distance when they saw Wolffy. He would not cause any commotion.

Zeff's physique, on the other hand, drew more attention.

The three went downstairs, and Naruto spotted Rock Lee doing squats below.

When Rock Lee saw Naruto, he immediately came over to greet him.

"Naruto, congratulations! You can come to school now too!"

After saying that, Rock Lee looked at Zeff and Wolffy behind Naruto.

"Naruto, who are those two..."

Before Naruto could introduce them, Zeff stepped up to Rock Lee and threw a punch at him.

Rock Lee's gaze sharpened. He immediately switched off the Gravity Bracelet's gravity, then stamped his feet against the ground at incredible speed, vanishing from Zeff's attack range in an instant.

When Rock Lee reappeared, he was already beside Zeff.

"Heh... not bad."

Zeff pushed up his sunglasses as he praised him.

Hearing that familiar voice, Rock Lee froze for a moment.

"Are you... Teacher Zeff?"

When Zeff used Naruto's body or a Shadow Clone's body, his voice did not change. So Rock Lee recognized him by his voice alone: this purple-haired strongman was Teacher Zeff, who trained him every day.

"Hey... don't forget the great king here! I made all your training equipment and the Healing Machine!"

Just then, Wolffy stepped forward too.

"You're King Wolffy?"

"So this is what you look like!"

Rock Lee was astonished. He had not expected personalities born of a split mind to have appearances of their own.

"That's right... these two are Teacher Zeff and Wolffy!"

"All right, it's almost time. I still have to register at school!"

With that, Naruto took the lead and headed toward the school.

Since he stayed home every day, Naruto had never met any of the Konoha 12 apart from Hinata and Sasuke, whom he had seen a few times, and Rock Lee, who suffered through training with him every day.

Now that he thought about it, he was rather looking forward to it.

Naruto's House was not far from the Ninja Academy, and before long, the four arrived at its entrance.

Quite a few parents were already waiting there with their children!

When Naruto arrived, the current heads of the three Ino-Shika-Cho families, along with Uchiha Itachi, who had brought Sasuke Uchiha to school, all looked his way.

They all looked surprised when they saw Zeff and Wolffy behind Naruto.

Apart from those groups, the one paying the most attention to Naruto was Hinata Hyuga.

"Hm? Who's that behind the kid?"

Shikaku Nara asked, sounding puzzled.

"No idea... could Lord Hokage have sent them to protect him?"

Choza Akimichi guessed.

Of the three men present, only Ino Yamanaka's father, Inoichi Yamanaka, fell into thought.

"I don't think that burly man and wolf summoning beast are bodyguards sent by the Third Hokage..."

Hearing Inoichi Yamanaka's words, Choza Akimichi grew curious.

"Hm? Inoichi, do you know something?"

Inoichi Yamanaka shook his head gently. The Third Hokage had ordered him to keep Naruto's mental illness a secret and tell no one.

Ever since the Third Hokage learned that Naruto had a split personality, he had put Inoichi Yamanaka in charge of the matter.

What did that entail? It was simple: find a way to eliminate Naruto's other personalities.

That was precisely why Inoichi Yamanaka had spent the past few days conducting human experiments in the prison on Konoha's outskirts.

The prison held quite a few Konoha ninja whose minds had broken under the cruelty of war, and a fair number of them had multiple personalities.

When he saw Zeff and Wolffy behind Naruto, Inoichi Yamanaka knew that Naruto's split personality was far from simple.

At the very least, it was much more severe than that of the ninja in the prison.

Although ordinary patients with split personalities developed other personalities, those personalities were still the patients themselves and did not have distinct appearances.

But... the personalities Naruto had developed not only had appearances of their own; judging by how Naruto interacted with them, they clearly had their own temperaments too...

Seeing Inoichi Yamanaka merely shake his head without speaking, Choza Akimichi wanted to ask more, but Shikaku Nara stopped him and said quietly, "The less we know about that child, the better!"

"Yes!" Inoichi Yamanaka nodded. "Tell your children to keep their distance from him as much as possible!"

At Inoichi Yamanaka's words, Shikaku Nara frowned.

Then he shook his head and said, "I can't control that kid of mine... policing who he makes friends with would be too much trouble!"

Choza Akimichi said that he would speak to his child, but he would not interfere with whatever Choji Akimichi decided.

Both men knew Naruto's true identity as the Fourth Hokage's son, and naturally, they also knew that his situation in the village was far from good.

Precisely because they knew, they hoped their children would get to know Naruto so he could have friends his own age.

Although they did not know why Inoichi Yamanaka had said that... neither intended to give up on the idea.

Hearing his two friends say that, Inoichi Yamanaka could only give a wry chuckle. "In that case, let's leave it at that!"

Inwardly, he sighed. I hope those personalities of Naruto's aren't too dangerous...