Hiruzen Sarutobi's ANBU ninja took Mizuki's corpse away.
Hiruzen Sarutobi said to Naruto Uzumaki, "Naruto, go clean up now. Then get a good night's sleep. You don't need to worry about what comes next—Grandpa Hokage will take care of everything."
Wiping tears from his face, Naruto replied, "Yes… I'm really sorry for troubling you, Grandpa Hokage."
Naruto staggered forward, clearly deeply shaken.
"Na-Naruto…"
Iruka called out, stopping Naruto.
Naruto turned and asked, "What is it? What's wrong, Iruka-sensei?"
Looking down in shame, Iruka apologized, "I'm sorry, Naruto."
He never imagined that Naruto had always seen them as teammates—as family—while he himself had hated him.
And just moments ago, it was Naruto who had saved him. If not for Naruto, there would already be a kunai buried in his head.
Forcing a smile, Naruto replied, "It's fine."
Then turning back around, Naruto walked forward.
After returning home, Naruto asked the Nine-Tails if anyone was still watching him.
"Nope. No one's been tracking you since you left the woods. Nice performance too—you snatched the kunai from his hand while your Shadow Clone was beating him up and plunged it into his neck."
Naruto chuckled slightly. "If they're going to call me a monster, then this monster killing him means he'll just have to accept his fate. I'm definitely not generous enough to spare him. He really was weak and dumb. No wonder he got played for a fool."
The next day.
After waking up, Naruto prepared to go train at his usual spot.
Training had long become second nature to Naruto. Since team-leading jonin assignments and mission deployments wouldn't happen until tomorrow, today was still free for training.
As Naruto opened his front door, he found Iruka waiting right there.
Seeing Naruto appear, Iruka flushed slightly and stammered awkwardly, "M-M... Naruto, thanks for saving me last night. Let me treat you to a meal. What would you like to eat?"
Naruto flatly declined, "No thanks, Iruka-sensei. Right now, I'm heading out for training."
Caught off guard by the rejection, Iruka murmured embarrassedly, "O-Oh… Maybe another time then."
Without sparing Iruka another glance, Naruto simply walked past.
Watching Naruto leave, Iruka scratched his head.
After getting back home last night, he'd tossed and turned the whole night, feeling increasingly guilty when reflecting on how much he had despised Naruto before.
So today, he came hoping he could somehow improve their relationship.
Yet he had hesitated outside Naruto's door for quite some time, unsure how to start talking, which made him reluctant to knock at all.
Now rejected, Iruka let out a sigh. Humans' biases were like an unshakable wall; while he had hated Naruto, Naruto likely didn't care to like him either.
Last night, Hiruzen Sarutobi had already taken care of everything regarding Mizuki.
Hiruzen Sarutobi announced that Mizuki, as a Ninja Academy teacher, had manipulated Naruto Uzumaki into stealing the Scroll of Seals. Naruto, trusting his teacher, had been deceived without realizing it. Mizuki had already been killed by the Anbu. That's the end of that matter.
The third day.
Naruto left his home early and headed toward the Ninja Academy.
Today was the day when team-leading Jonin would be assigned.
After arriving at the classroom, all Genin who had passed the graduation exam and earned their forehead protectors gathered inside.
As always, Naruto made a beeline for the farthest corner seat.
Sasuke Uchiha sat gloomily in the middle of the room, surrounded by a group of girls.
At this point, aside from being classmates, there was absolutely no interaction between Naruto and Sasuke Uchiha. Without that connection, they might as well have been strangers.
Iruka entered the classroom and said with congratulations: "Congratulations to all of you—you're now independent ninjas! But right now, you're still rookie Genin. The real challenges are only just beginning. From now on, each of you will form a three-member squad under the guidance of a Jonin-sensei, carrying out missions together. Your teams will be decided entirely by your Jonin instructors. I will now begin announcing the groups."
There was no change in the team arrangements.
Naruto remained grouped with Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno.
Sasuke cast a sidelong glance at Naruto sitting in the corner. Naruto looked back too. Their gazes locked for a moment—cold and distant—then both turned away without a word.
Once the teams were announced, Iruka continued: "This afternoon we'll introduce the Jonin instructors. Until then, everyone may disperse."
Almost everyone left the classroom, but Naruto stayed behind, waiting quietly inside.
Truth was, he didn't really have anywhere else to go, so he preferred staying until the Jonin instructors were assigned in the afternoon.
Seated on the chair, Naruto recalled everything he knew about [Eight Gates Technique].
He temporarily set aside thoughts of [Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags]; even if he'd learned it, he couldn't use it since he lacked Explosive Tags.
[Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags] involved summoning multiple tags for concentrated consecutive detonations.
It required summoning dozens of Explosive Tags all at once. However, those tags were very expensive—Naruto simply couldn't afford them.
Learning the Eight Gates technique also posed immense difficulty for Naruto.
It involved unlocking the body's chakra pathways that normally restrict power, temporarily granting tremendous strength.
Thus, mastering the Eight Gates technique came with prerequisites.
To utilize it required unconventional, intense, and limit-exceeding extended training.
Only through such rigorous training could one's organs and body parts adapt to the burdensome strain brought by the Eight Gates, thereby minimizing the massive energy's damage to the body after activation.
Without sufficient conditioning to withstand that strain, one could never open the Eight Gates.
Even forcibly opening them would lead quickly to physical collapse.
Physical conditioning can't be achieved overnight—it required time and accumulation.
Currently, Naruto had already mastered the [Fourth Form] of Wind Breathing All Sword Techniques.
Because he didn't have personal guidance from Kakashi or Neji Hyuga like before, Naruto Uzumaki had no one to guide him. Whenever he encountered problems, he could only figure them out by himself. His breathing technique cultivation was also done alone, so reaching the Fourth Stage of the breathing technique was already quite impressive.
Training in Wind-Style Sword Techniques and cultivating the breathing technique weren't conflicting at all, so Naruto planned to carry out both simultaneously.
While pondering this, people who had left earlier gradually returned to the classroom, beginning to be picked up by their team-leading Jonin [elite ninja assigned to lead new genin teams].
Now, only Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno remained inside the classroom.
Besides Sakura's constant grumbling, neither Naruto nor Sasuke Uchiha said a single word the entire time.
Kakashi arrived fashionably late, stepping into the classroom and immediately saying, "You three, come with me."
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