"System! Learn the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique! Put all my remaining gold into Stamina—chakra reserves!"
Naruto shouted inwardly.
[10 gold consumed. Successfully learned: Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!]
[950 gold consumed. Stamina attribute increased! Current chakra reserves have risen dramatically!]
A vast surge of chakra erupted from inside Naruto's body.
Facing the charging Mizuki, he struggled to raise his hands and form a seal.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
In an instant, Naruto's shadow clones flooded the entire training ground, packed so densely they covered every inch of the clearing.
"What?!" Mizuki's charge came to a screeching halt. "Impossible!!"
He stared at the terrifying army of clones before him, his eyes bulging.
"That many shadow clones… how much chakra would that even take?! You… what kind of monster are you?!"
"Me?"
At the center of the clone crowd, Naruto's real body slowly spoke.
"I'm the man who's going to become Hokage someday. Uzumaki Naruto!"
At Naruto's command, hundreds of shadow clones surged at Mizuki like a tidal wave.
"Get him!"
"How dare he hurt Iruka-sensei!"
"Let's show him what we can do!"
Mizuki might have been a chūnin, but facing that many shadow clones at once—while still reeling from sheer shock—he had no way to fight back.
He barely managed to block a few attacks before the next wave of clones swallowed him whole.
Fists and kicks rained down on him from every direction.
Before long, he was bruised black and blue, screaming as he collapsed to the ground.
One by one, the shadow clones dispelled.
Soon, only Naruto's breathing real body remained standing on the field, along with Mizuki sprawled on the ground, groaning in pain.
Naruto staggered over to him and, enduring the pain from his wound, extended a hand.
"Mizuki-sensei… stop this. If you turn back now, it's not too late."
Mizuki forced open his swollen eyelids and looked at Naruto's outstretched hand.
For a brief moment, confusion flickered through his eyes, as if he could not understand why he was being "forgiven" at a time like this.
But that confusion was quickly swallowed by something even darker.
"Stop acting holy, you damn demon fox!"
He roared and yanked a kunai from his pouch, stabbing straight at Naruto's heart.
The reversal came far too suddenly. The distance was too short.
Naruto seemed to have "no time to react."
"Naruto!" Iruka cried out in despair.
And then, at that critical instant—
Clang!
A dark figure blocked Mizuki's sneak attack with a short blade.
In the next second, another shadowy figure appeared behind Mizuki and knocked him unconscious with a clean chop to the neck.
ANBU.
They had been following in secret the entire time, carrying out their orders from the shadows.
The training ground fell silent again.
Only the rustling of leaves in the night wind remained, mixed with Iruka's heavy breathing.
The two ANBU operatives said nothing, as mysterious in departure as they had been in arrival.
One hoisted the unconscious Mizuki onto his shoulder. The other swept the surroundings with a sharp, watchful gaze.
Then, with two faint whooshes, they vanished from sight as though they had never appeared at all.
The crisis was over.
Regret. Guilt. Relief. Shock. Lingering fear.
Iruka slumped to the ground and stared blankly at Naruto, his heart overflowing with too many emotions to sort through.
In the end, he let out a quiet, relieved smile and beckoned with one hand.
"Naruto. Come here."
Naruto obeyed, making his way over step by step.
With trembling hands, Iruka reached up and removed the Leaf forehead protector tied around his own brow.
Then, very carefully, he fastened that symbol of acknowledgment and responsibility onto Naruto's forehead, adjusting it with care.
"Congratulations, Naruto."
Iruka's voice was soft—gentler than Naruto had ever heard from him.
"You've graduated. From today onward, you're a true ninja, someone capable of standing on his own. I'm proud of you."
The cool metal of the forehead protector rested against his skin.
Naruto lowered his eyes to Iruka's sincere gaze, and something inside him stirred.
Whether before transmigration or after, acknowledgment was something both Kazuki Ren and this version of Uzumaki Naruto had almost never received.
Naruto fell silent for a moment.
Then he stretched out his arms and gently hugged Iruka.
"Thank you, Iruka-sensei."
[Ding!]
[Story Mission — Earn Iruka's acknowledgment: complete.]
[Reward: +50 gold.]
[Current gold balance: 50.]
The next morning, in the Ninja Academy classroom—
With the Leaf forehead protector tied around his brow, Naruto arrived right on time.
Many of the students who had passed the graduation exam were already seated inside, and the room buzzed with excitement.
Uchiha Sasuke was still sitting alone in the corner by the window, eyes closed, radiating that familiar coldness that told everyone to stay away.
Even when he sensed someone entering, he could not be bothered to open his eyes. He remained sunk in his own world.
Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino were crammed near Sasuke as usual, locked in their daily war over the seats closest to him. But the moment Naruto walked in calmly, both girls froze and stopped bickering.
Since when had Naruto come in?
Inuzuka Kiba, who had been playing with Akamaru, saw Naruto and immediately spoke in the same scornful tone he always used.
"Hey, dead last. This is the orientation for graduates. You failed, so what are you doing here?"
Naruto stopped walking.
The classroom, which had been somewhat noisy a moment ago, instantly went quiet because of Kiba's words and Naruto's pause.
Dozens of eyes turned toward him at once—curious, puzzled, disdainful.
Naruto's face remained expressionless.
He simply raised a hand, pointed at the forehead protector on his brow, and said evenly,
"Kiba. I graduated too."
Kiba froze for a second, then curled his lip, clearly unconvinced.
"Oh, come on. Failing the exam is sad, sure—but even if you lie to yourself and steal somebody else's forehead protector, that still doesn't make you a real ninja."
A wave of muffled laughter spread through the room.
Quite a few students looked at Naruto as if waiting for a joke to unfold.
Naruto sighed inwardly.
He knew words alone would never convince people who had already decided what kind of person he was.
And he could not be bothered to waste breath arguing.
So, without another word, he brought his hands together in front of his chest and formed the simplest of hand seals.
Bang!
Smoke burst outward.
The next moment, two Narutos identical to the original appeared in the classroom.
To make it undeniable, Naruto had the two shadow clones take several steps in front of everyone. One even turned its head and exchanged a glance with the other.
The impact of seeing three Narutos standing there in the center of the room was immense.
"No way?!" Kiba shot to his feet, eyes round as saucers, jaw nearly dropping to the floor. Akamaru barked in confusion from his arms.
"That isn't the Clone Technique… it's something more advanced…" Hinata murmured softly.
Her Byakugan activated on instinct.
What she saw made her even more stunned—three Narutos, each with almost identical chakra signatures.
At some point, Sasuke had opened his eyes.
His gaze swept over the three Narutos, and a trace of surprise flickered in his eyes before his usual indifference settled back into place.
Shikamaru raised a brow and muttered, "This guy… what a drag. Things are going to get troublesome."
Even Chōji paused halfway through eating a potato chip.
Ino and Sakura looked at each other, both seeing the same disbelief in the other's face.
The entire classroom had fallen so silent that a pin drop could have been heard.
Naruto's real body looked at Kiba and the rest of his speechless classmates and said flatly,
"Do you believe me now?"
He did not wait for an answer.
He did not care about their reactions.
Dispelling the shadow clones, he walked straight to an empty seat in the back of the room and sat down, as though what he had just done was nothing worth mentioning.
But everyone in the classroom knew it.
Something had changed.
The "dead last" they thought they knew had ceased to exist the moment that forehead protector went on.
Not long afterward, Iruka entered the classroom with bandages wrapped around his arm.
His eyes landed first on Naruto in the back row. When he saw the forehead protector on the boy's brow, a warm smile spread across his face.
After a few brief remarks, Iruka began announcing the team assignments.
"Team 7: Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke."
"Team 8: Hyūga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino."
"Team 10: Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chōji."
Hearing that he had been placed on the same team as Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura, Naruto lifted a brow.
So history's inertia was really this strong?
Still… that worked out fine.
Sasuke showed no obvious reaction.
Sakura, on the other hand, looked utterly miserable.
Even though Naruto had just shown off something impressive, the stereotype she had formed over the years was still too deeply rooted. To her, being assigned to the same team as Naruto still felt like a disaster.
Ignoring the commotion below, Iruka continued,
"This afternoon, you'll meet your jōnin instructors. Dismissed."
The students gradually filed out of the room, each carrying their own thoughts as they went to find their future teammates.
But the three members of Team 7 remained behind in a strangely motionless silence.