Mizuki, the instigator of this incident, had already been beaten into a pig's head by Naruto.
With the main culprit captured, the matter naturally became simple.
With Iruka's strong defense and support, the Third Hokage agreed not only to exonerate Naruto but also to allow him to successfully graduate.
The moment he received his Ninja forehead protector, Naruto happily jumped up.
With this forehead protector, he was now a registered Ninja of Konoha Village.
Becoming a Ninja brought him one step closer to his dream of becoming Hokage, which naturally excited him greatly.
Watching the excited Naruto, Hiruzen Sarutobi also showed a kind smile. After saying some encouraging words to Naruto, Iruka wisely took Naruto and left.
Seeing the two leave the Hokage Office, Hiruzen Sarutobi fell into contemplation.
Just as Ge Liang had surmised.
From beginning to end, Hiruzen Sarutobi had been monitoring Naruto using the Crystal Ball, so he also saw the scene of Naruto sending Mizuki flying with a single punch.
"When did Naruto get so strong?"
He thought about Naruto's usual routine and found that apart from frequently visiting the shop called the Internet Cafe, nothing else seemed different from before.
"Could that Internet Cafe be the problem?"
Seeing Naruto's performance tonight, Hiruzen Sarutobi no longer completely believed the nonsense from Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji. He felt he should find time to go there himself.
By then, he would naturally know whether the Internet Cafe was problematic... The next day, when Naruto appeared in the team assignment classroom wearing his Ninja forehead protector, the other students looked at him and asked if he was in the wrong place, though his friends like Sasuke didn't find it strange.
Naruto chuckled, ignored them, and walked over to the seat next to Sakura to sit down.
"Naruto, congratulations on graduating successfully."
"I knew it! With Naruto's strength, he was definitely going to get the forehead protector."
As soon as Naruto sat down, Shikamaru, Choji, and the others in the back row immediately congratulated him.
Others might not know Naruto's strength, but how could they, his friends who played games together, not know?
Even though Naruto had less time on the machine, his strength wasn't much weaker than theirs.
As long as he had Chakra, Naruto could maintain the monstrous strength state of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill. Coupled with his powerful recovery ability, anyone among their friends who faced Naruto would get a headache.
You hit him a few times, and he's fine, but if he hits you once, you're done for.
Only those who fought him truly understood.
So, although Naruto wasn't the strongest among his friends, he wasn't the weakest either.
They didn't know who the strongest was, as they hadn't fought, but the weakest was definitely Sakura.
There was no helping it. Although Naruto was also poor, he had support from Hinata, but Sakura, who came from a civilian background, had no one to support her.
During this time, she had only used the machine a few times, making her the weakest among the group of friends.
However, even this weakest member, Sakura, could easily defeat several of these newly graduated Genin.
"Shikamaru, who do you think will be grouped together in our team assignments this time?"
Almost everyone in the classroom was guessing what the team assignments would be like.
Even their group of friends was interested in this topic and offered their own predictions.
Shikamaru was as lazy as ever; he usually only listened and didn't speak. Now, hearing Kiba throw the question to him and seeing that the others were interested, he didn't refuse.
He just muttered "What a drag," as usual, before calmly beginning to speak: "I don't know about the others, but we few definitely won't be separated."
"How so?"
"The strength of the others is clearly not on the same level as ours. For the sake of team efficiency, they definitely won't break us up easily. Elite Squads are much more valuable than regular squads."
Everyone nodded, agreeing with what Shikamaru had said.
"Since we know they plan to form Elite Squads, the grouping is easy to figure out."
"Ino, Choji, and I will definitely be grouped together. In Konoha, the Ino–Shika–Chō squad is a classic combination."
"And Hinata, Shino, and Kiba should also be grouped into one team, forming a Reconnaissance Squad. You have to remember that Hinata's Byakugan, Shino's insects, and Kiba's sense of smell are all extremely suitable for reconnaissance."
"The remaining three—Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura—will naturally form the final squad."
Shikamaru's analysis was logical and well-supported, making it difficult to refute.
"Haha, Ino Pig, did you see that? Even Shikamaru said I'll be on a team with Sasuke."
"Don't get cocky, Forehead! That's just Shikamaru's analysis. We still have to wait and see what the teacher says about the actual assignments."
Clearly, Sakura was the happiest about Shikamaru's analysis, and she immediately started showing off toward Ino.
What else could Ino say?
The Village would never break up the Ino–Shika–Chō combination. Ino's small arm couldn't twist the thigh, so she could only accept her fate.
But looking at Sakura's smug expression, Ino still felt really annoyed.
"Alright, students, please quiet down. We are now beginning the team assignments."
Just then, Iruka walked in holding the team assignment documents, which finally made Sakura put away her smug expression.
"Squad 1: XXX, ZZZ, CCC."
"...Team 7: Uchiha Sasuke, Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki."
"Team 8: Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame."
"...Team 10: Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akimichi."
"...Alright, those are the team assignments. All you need to do now is wait here for your Squad Leaders to arrive."
After speaking, Iruka gave Naruto an encouraging look and then left the classroom.
In fact, the assignment of the Squad Leaders reveals how much the Village values each squad.
A squad led by a Chunin—who would believe the Village takes that seriously?
Of all the squads, only Team 8's Kurenai Yuhi, Team 10's Asuma Sarutobi, and Team 7's Kakashi were Jonin; all the remaining squads were led by Chunin.
This situation perfectly matched Shikamaru's distinction between Elite Squads and regular squads.
But what could the members of those other squads say?
Could they possibly resist?
...Squad Leaders appeared one after another, taking away the members belonging to their squads.
Eventually, only the three members of Team 7 remained in the entire classroom.
"Seriously, our Squad Leader is way too slow."
Watching everyone else leave with their Squad Leaders while their own hadn't even shown a shadow, Naruto couldn't help but complain.
"How about we play a little prank on him?"
Naruto was still Naruto. Even though his mindset had matured significantly, he still sometimes did childish things.
For example, this time, Naruto placed the blackboard eraser directly above the classroom door. As soon as someone opened the door and entered, the eraser would fall and hit the person's head.