"Disgusting! How utterly disgusting!"
The moment class ended, Ino immediately jabbed a finger at Naruto.
"What kind of revolting technique was that?! Have you no shame?!"
With a completely indifferent look, Naruto replied, "That's my signature technique! What would you know about it!"
"All you know how to do is cause trouble!" another girl chimed in mockingly. "And you even scribbled on the Hokage Rock! Someone like you will never become a ninja!"
"I will become a ninja!" Naruto's expression immediately turned serious. "And not just any ninja, but the greatest of them all! I, Uzumaki Naruto, am the man who will become Hokage!"
Sitting nearby, Sakura glanced at him sideways, raising an eyebrow slightly.
Although the boy before her was still very young, the way he spoke those words reminded her of the shadows of certain people she had once known.
"Don't make me laugh!" someone jeered. "You? Become Hokage?"
"Do you even know what it means to be Hokage? A failure like you has no right to even speak the title."
"Dream on!"
"I think Iruka-sensei is too soft. A loser like him should have been expelled long ago."
"Exactly!"
At these words, Naruto's face clouded over for a moment, but he quickly composed himself and shouted, "You'll see! The day will come when I prove you all wrong!"
The laughter continued around him. No one paid any attention to the loser's cries. But suddenly, a round of applause cut through the general ridicule.
Every single student stared at Haruno Sakura.
Ignoring their gazes, Sakura looked directly at Naruto.
"That's some decent willpower you have."
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto instantly turned red and practically bounced on the spot. "You... you stood up for me! My masterpiece today must have made you recognize my greatness!"
By "masterpiece," he was, of course, referring to the defaced Hokage Rock.
"Empty words won't convince anyone," Sakura shook her head. "And trying to get attention through pranks is just pointless. I simply believe that, no matter what..."
"A dream isn't something to be laughed at."
Naruto didn't seem to fully grasp her words. Scratching the back of his head, he filtered what she'd said and grinned widely.
"Basically, Sakura-chan praised me! I knew it! Compared to a blockhead like Sasuke, I'm way more popular!"
"Sasuke is not a blockhead!" Ino immediately shot back. "You're not worth a single strand of his hair, so stop admiring yourself! Right, Sasuke-kun?"
Uchiha Sasuke turned away. "Boring."
The fun was for others. Aoki Yuu, as always, sat in the back, observing the main characters' squabbles. The last day at the Academy was quickly coming to an end.
He had deliberately avoided speaking to Sakura all day, but in his mind, he had already formed a rough picture of her current personality.
This is a bit more complicated than I thought.
While she doesn't seem like some kind of extremist, her personality clearly shows traits common to the world of "One Piece."
It's nearly impossible to talk someone with that kind of personality out of something they've decided to do. And what's more... people like that easily inspire others to follow them...
Remembering the look on Naruto's face when Sakura, ignoring everyone else's opinion, praised his will, Yuu rubbed his temples.
If this were the world of "One Piece," Sakura's next step would be to recruit Uzumaki Naruto, and they'd set off for the Grand Line to find the One Piece treasure under the name "The Konoha Pirates."
And this is only the first day... At least she arrived at a relatively late point in time. The Third has already assigned the graduates to their teams. If this had happened a little earlier, Team 7 might not even exist anymore.
Alright, I'd better think about tomorrow's plan.
Tomorrow, Naruto will fail the graduation exam, and then Mizuki will trick him into stealing the Scroll of Seals...
The Third Hokage had undoubtedly planned this little performance in advance, and today's minor hiccup wouldn't affect it.
This was the first climax in the original plot, and Aoki Yuu was certain that the reward for this scene would be far more generous than any of the previous ones!
The night passed without incident.
In the morning, for once, no one woke him with shouts. By the time Yuu reached the Academy, a large crowd had already gathered on the training grounds.
They were mostly the students' parents. After all, graduation day was the most important day for any Academy student.
Yuu, as an orphan, was deprived of such company, but he had long since grown used to it. He entered the classroom, where nearly everyone had already gathered, waiting for their turn to take the exam.
"We're finally becoming ninja!"
"Once you're a ninja, you can take on missions and earn money! I heard you can make several hundred thousand ryo from a single mission!"
"In your dreams! That's for high-rank missions. After we graduate, we'll just be genin. Getting a few tens of thousands of ryo for a mission will be the absolute max."
"That's still pretty good!"
Listening to these conversations, Yuu remained impassive.
Ninja did indeed earn good money, but it depended on their strength. The life of an ordinary genin wasn't so sweet: missions within the village paid poorly, and you could easily die while completing missions outside it.
But Yuu had no intention of shattering his classmates' dreams of a wonderful ninja life.
Besides, compared to them, Uzumaki Naruto was far more excited. He had even climbed onto the teacher's desk, as if wanting to announce to each and every person that he was about to become a ninja and take the first step on his path to becoming Hokage...
...And, as usual, he was laughed at.
The exam, just like in the original story, was simple: all they had to do was demonstrate the Clone Jutsu. Of course, most subjects had already been tested, and on graduation day, this was more of a formality. As long as you didn't do something foolish, almost everyone could graduate.
Yuu continued to keep a low profile. Under the observation of Iruka and Mizuki, he created three clones without any particular flair and immediately received his Konoha forehead protector.
A Konoha ninja, huh? Staring at the protector in his hand, Yuu pondered for a moment.
From today on, it seems the peaceful days are gone for good...
After the exam came the graduation ceremony. The Third Hokage was personally in attendance, and the entire Academy was immersed in an atmosphere of excitement and joy. Yuu glanced at the swing in the corner of the grounds and, as expected, saw a lonely, dejected figure.
Just like in the original story, Uzumaki Naruto had failed the exam.
It's starting.
Now Mizuki will approach him and tell him where the Scroll of Seals is...
As he was thinking this, Yuu suddenly saw a figure break away from the crowd and head toward Naruto.
It wasn't Mizuki. It was Haruno Sakura.
"..."
Yuu's face tensed.
So the unexpected did happen after all... Damn transmigrator!
And don't you even think about getting near my System reward at a time like this!