Chapter 16 A Certain Uncle

After Hiruzen left, the Academy's new students followed the class assignments listed and headed to their respective classrooms.

Naruto walked into the classroom and immediately saw Hinata sitting in the back row.

At this time, many students in the class also noticed Naruto.

They had all overheard the adults clearly talking about what happened earlier on the school grounds.

All the kids now knew that this blond student was the son of the Yondaime Hokage.

Even though these kids don't know the deeds of the Yondaime Hokage, he is still a Hokage after all!

They also heard from adults that he was a hero who saved the entire village.

So, naturally, they all felt a sense of admiration for Naruto.

After all, who wouldn't want to be friends with the child of a hero?

They can show off to others when they make friends with him.

"Uzumaki Naruto, sit over here with me!"

"Sit by me! I have a brand-new manga here."

"Naruto, sit with me! I'll share my snacks with you!"

…

Most of the students in the class swarmed around Naruto, chattering non-stop. Some were even on the verge of fighting over who got to sit next to him.

Sasuke glanced at Naruto, smiled contemptuously, then turned his head to look out the window and began to daydream.

'The son of the Yondaime Hokage?'

'I will definitely defeat you!'

When Sakura saw Sasuke's aloof expression, she excitedly grabbed Ino and shook her like crazy, shouting, "So cool! He's so cool!"

"Uchiha Sasuke is unbelievably cool!"

Ino took a look and also joined Sakura in fangirl mode.

Meanwhile, Hinata's eyes dimmed when she saw how popular Naruto was, and she buried her head in her arms.

'He is so popular...'

'He must've already forgotten about me…'

Hearing the laughter around Naruto made Hinata feel a pang of sadness, though she couldn't explain why.

When Naruto saw Hinata lying on the table, he dealt with his new classmates perfunctorily and slowly walked to Hinata's position.

There was no one sitting next to Hinata.

Sitting on her right was Shikamaru, who was in a daze, and Choji, who was happily munching on snacks.

Naruto walked over, stretched out his finger, tapped Hinata's arm, and said with a smile.

"Hello, I am Uzumaki Naruto."

Hinata looked up. As she saw Naruto's smile, it was like he was glowing.

In her mind, three different figures flashed by.

Naruto who walked her home at the age of three, Naruto who stood up for her at the age of five...

And now, Naruto standing right in front of her.

The three figures overlapped, each one smiling and saying: Hi, I'm Naruto Uzumaki.

She was so absorbed in the scene that she forgot to answer Naruto and also forgot to be shy.

Seeing the little loli frozen in place, Naruto thought maybe she didn't recognize him, so he waved a hand in front of her face.

"Ah!"

"Sorry... I'm sorry..."

"I...I...am Hyuga... Hinata."

After coming back to her senses, Hinata was so embarrassed that it took her a long time to say her own name.

But as soon as she saw Naruto sitting beside her, her vision went black and she fainted on her desk.

Umino Iruka came to the classroom with a roster in hand and there's a worried look on his face.

The moment he walked in, he saw Naruto knocking the eldest princess of the Hyuga Clan unconscious...

He has begun to worry about his teaching career in the next few years.

To be honest, Iruka actually had complicated feelings towards Naruto.

First, he learned from Hiruzen that Naruto was the village's Kyubi's Jinchuriki.

And the Kyubi sealed in Naruto's body was the culprit who killed his parents.

At first, Iruka directly regarded Naruto as the monster responsible for his parents' death.

But just now, Iruka heard everyone on the school grounds saying that Naruto was the son of the Yondaime Hokage.

This caused Iruka's brain to crash for three whole minutes.

Finally, he roughly figured out what was going on with Naruto.

In order to save the village, Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato and his wife used their lives to stop the Biju and sealed the Kyubi into their son's body...

It can be said that the whole family are the heroes of Konoha Village.

Thinking back on how he had judged Naruto before knowing the truth, Iruka felt a deep, uncomfortable guilt.

Iruka glanced at Naruto and decided to take him out for ramen after school today, so that he would feel less guilty.

'But first…'

'I need to get to know my students first.'

Iruka walked up to the podium and said with a smile to everyone.

"All right, the class is starting."

"First, let me introduce myself..."

"My name is Umino Iruka. I like hot springs and Ichiraku Ramen. The food I dislike most is rice bowls with toppings. My dream is for all of you to one day pass your exams and become true Shinobi."

Naruto sat in the back row, struggling to stay awake as he listened.

At first, he'd had some interest in the Academy, but when he really experienced it, he found it very boring and tedious.

He had already entered the society in his previous life, but now, he has to start his studies in the Academy...

If Hinata hadn't been sitting next to him, Naruto really wouldn't have wanted to stay any longer.

As everyone know, the relationships in the Naruto World are nurtured from an early age.

Just look at Naruto's own parents and you will understand.

Naruto suddenly became extremely conflicted.

Right now, he felt like the Monkey King lifting the golden circlet onto his own head.

If he skipped class, he'd miss out on bonding with Hinata. But if he didn't skip class, he'd be stuck in this torture chamber called classroom every day.

Either way, he had no intention of actually learning anything here.

After all, no matter how powerful the things taught in the Academy are, can they be as powerful as the one taught by Kurama-sensei in his belly?

Naruto mimicked Hinata, lying face-down on the desk, and his consciousness entered the sealed space to play with the fox.

"Uzumaki Naruto?"

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

Feeling his arm being tapped a few times, Naruto slowly raised his head and looked around in confusion.

"Uzumaki Naruto, come up and introduce yourself."

Iruka sighed, then softly asked Naruto to step forward.

He already had a premonition that this child would be nothing but trouble in the years ahead.

Naruto sluggishly walked to the front of the class and stood there in a daze. Since he was distracted the whole time, he hadn't heard a single introduction before him. So, he turned to Iruka and asked, "Sensei, how should I introduce myself?"

"Just your name, what you like, and your dream."

Naruto nodded, adjusted his clothes, then loudly declared, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto."

"My hobby is farming."

There is absolutely nothing wrong with what he said. If Naruto didn't like farming, there's no way he could've spent so many years playing around in the sealed space.

Moreover, as someone whose grandparents were farmers, even after reincarnating, it was like farming ran in his very DNA.

Sandaime, who was watching through his crystal ball, nearly tore out his beard when he heard that.

'I knew it!'

'Naruto had always shown an almost fanatical obsession with farming...'

'Honestly, it wasn't a bad hobby at all. And it also wasn't disruptive or harmful to anyone.'

'But... you're the Kyubi's Jinchuriki of Konoha Village!'

'Could you please aim a little higher?!'

Hiruzen took a deep breath and felt his blood pressure rising again, so he quickly grabbed his medication from the drawer.

"My dream, hmm..."

At this point, Naruto paused. Unlike the original Naruto who went around yelling about becoming Hokage, he had no interest in being a Village Chief.

To be honest, Konoha is not a big place, but there are a lot of responsibilities.

Moreover, there are no benefits and the salary is lousy.

It's worse than being a corporate drone back in his old life.

Just look at the original Naruto… ever since becoming the Nanadaime Hokage, he barely even went home anymore.

Naruto had no intention of ending up like that.

After thinking for about three or four seconds, he continued, "My dream is..."

"To teach a certain uncle of mine a serious lesson."

"And then beat up every spiky-haired guy I meet."

Uchiha Sasuke: "???"

When Hiruzen heard about Naruto's 'dream', he suddenly didn't feel quite as stressed anymore.

Although he doesn't know why Naruto's dream is so strange, at its core, it was still about becoming stronger.

Anyway, as long as Naruto thinks about becoming stronger, Hiruzen will be able to put his mind at ease.

Then, he remembered that he asked Kakashi and Guy to check on Naruto not long ago...

'Wait a second… is that 'uncle' and 'spiky-haired guy' referring to Kakashi and Guy?"

"Hahahaha… not bad! Naruto's got some fire in him!"

Hiruzen let out a satisfied laugh.

But he had no idea just how grand and glorious Naruto's dream truly was.