Naruto: The Nine-Tails' Legacy

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"Sasuke Uchiha."

The moment Iruka announced the names across the Ninja Academy training field, the surrounding students immediately erupted into noise.

Naruto grinned cheerfully while looking at Sasuke, who stepped out from the crowd with absolute confidence written all over his face.

"So, how're we doing this today?"

Naruto immediately started trash-talking.

"How about I fight you with one hand?"

"Hmph. I'm not weak like Neji."

Sasuke refused to back down in the slightest.

"Go all out. Otherwise, you're definitely losing this time!"

The prideful Sasuke even raised a thumbs-down gesture toward Naruto, instantly causing shrieks from the girls nearby—

As well as drawing two thoroughly unfriendly Byakugan stares from the front row of the boys' line.

Meanwhile, among the girls, Hinata timidly looked toward Sasuke.

Silently praying Naruto wouldn't beat him into the same miserable state Neji ended up in before—

Unable to get out of bed for an entire week.

After finishing her prayer, she immediately turned back toward Naruto.

Blushing furiously while gathering courage—

Only managing to whisper a tiny little cheer.

Meanwhile, inside a lower-grade classroom nearby, several girls leaned against the windows watching Naruto and Sasuke on the training field.

Among them—

Was a pink-haired girl.

"Both sides… prepare."

Already completely used to this scene by now, Iruka sighed internally before waving his hand.

"Begin!"

The two launched forward almost simultaneously, colliding head-on.

Then, like two equally sharp blades clashing against one another, they exchanged attacks and counters in rapid succession.

The fight instantly became intense.

High atop a nearby building overlooking the Academy—

Itachi Uchiha leaned silently against a wall in casual clothes, observing the battle below between Naruto and Sasuke.

Honestly, the first time he watched this scene, Itachi assumed Sasuke and Naruto were genuinely evenly matched.

Just two exceptionally talented children for their age.

And Sasuke constantly begging for special training every night afterward was simply because he hated being slightly weaker.

But after observing multiple times recently—

Itachi realized something.

Although Sasuke had improved tremendously…

He still had never once landed a truly effective hit on Naruto.

Not just him.

Even that Hyūga boy who became furious every single time he fought Naruto—

And everyone else too.

Though Naruto always appeared to barely keep up during exchanges…

In reality—

He had never suffered even a single clean hit.

"Could it be…"

Itachi narrowed his eyes slightly.

"He's using a Shadow Clone in school too?"

As the original creator of the "Shadow Clone attending school" strategy, even Itachi genuinely couldn't see through this seven-year-old child anymore.

Still—

That wasn't what concerned him most.

Leaning against the wall, Itachi raised his head toward the sky.

He was calculating time.

On the training field below—

Sasuke made one slight mistake.

Naruto immediately seized the opening.

A beautiful yet utterly underhanded sweeping kick shot out viciously toward Sasuke's thigh.

The impact instantly destroyed Sasuke's balance and sent him crashing to the ground.

"That's enough. Naruto wins!"

Iruka hurriedly stopped the match.

The surrounding classmates immediately released collective sighs of despair.

Once again—

Nobody managed to defeat Naruto Uzumaki.

"Damn it! I should've dodged that one!"

Lying on the ground, however, Sasuke didn't seem particularly frustrated.

Instead, he immediately began analyzing his own mistakes.

Honestly, he was already used to losing.

"But compared to last time, I completely saw through your feints this time!"

"Next time I'll definitely—"

"Get up already."

Naruto rubbed his nose smugly and grinned.

"Told you that you couldn't beat me."

"Fight me again if you've got guts!"

"Both of you, form the Seal of Reconciliation!"

Seeing the two immediately start arguing again, Iruka hurriedly shouted.

After returning to the line, Sasuke still muttered complaints under his breath, clearly refusing to accept the loss.

But suddenly—

As though sensing something, he turned toward the rooftop of a nearby building.

Nothing was there.

Standing beside him, Neji spoke calmly.

"What are you looking at?"

"Nothing."

"Oh. Anyway, your opening movements slowed down during those last few attacks."

"Looks like you need to change your approach."

"Yeah…"

Sasuke instinctively followed the conversation.

"I'll need to think of something else."

"There's no way I'm letting that idiot keep acting smug forever."

"The techniques you suggested earlier don't even work against him."

At the very least—

When it came to discussing how to defeat Naruto—

The two of them strangely had a lot in common.

"Next group…"

As the sun slowly set, moonlight gradually blanketed the village.

"Alright, let's stop here for today!"

Naruto suddenly flipped down from a tree branch where he had been hanging upside down and shouted toward Sasuke, who was still training.

Among their fixed three-person after-school training group, Hinata always left first due to the strict curfew imposed by the Hyūga clan.

Even though Naruto repeatedly told her not to worry about it, she always apologized so desperately that both Naruto and Sasuke eventually gave up trying to argue.

As for Sasuke—

Ever since learning Naruto didn't really have a home to return to, he never suggested ending training early anymore.

Every single time, Naruto was the one who called for a stop.

Only then would Sasuke finally head home.

That was why Sasuke occasionally trained until he nearly collapsed from exhaustion and needed Naruto to carry him back.

Because whenever Naruto suddenly got "inspired"—

He genuinely became unstoppable.

"Seriously? We're stopping this early today?"

Still breathing slightly heavily, Sasuke halted reluctantly and looked at Naruto with dissatisfaction.

"Don't tell me you're ending things early on purpose because you realized I'm finally catching up to you?"

"How could that be?"

Naruto casually slung an arm over Sasuke's shoulder and grinned.

"I've got plans with someone tonight."

"And I'm starving."

"Besides, we happen to be going the same way anyway."

"The same way?"

Sasuke looked at him in confusion.

The Uchiha clan district was located at the very edge of the village.

Who exactly did Naruto have plans with?

"Report. Unexpected situation."

"Nine-Tails jinchūriki Naruto Uzumaki has returned together with Target Number One."

"Hm?"

Hidden within the darkness, Danzō frowned deeply after hearing the report.

"The Nine-Tails jinchūriki?"

Then he immediately issued an order.

"Lure him away."

...

"Hey, isn't this Naruto?"

A Chūnin wearing a standard flak jacket suddenly appeared before Naruto and Sasuke.

Before either of them could react, the man enthusiastically walked straight up to Naruto while laughing loudly.

"Huh?"

Naruto looked completely confused.

"Who're you?"

"I'm a friend of Iruka's. I hear him talk about you all the time."

The overly familiar Chūnin immediately wrapped an arm around Naruto.

"Come on, let's go eat ramen. My treat."

"So that's who Naruto had plans with?"

Sasuke watched them suspiciously for a moment.

Still, he quickly lost interest.

If Naruto was going to eat ramen with a friend, then Sasuke might as well head home for dinner too.

"Wait, mister, who exactly are you?"

Although Naruto relaxed slightly after hearing Iruka's name, he still hurriedly asked:

"And I already had plans with someone tonight…"

"Ah, don't worry about it. I'm actually—"

Seeing Naruto starting to grow suspicious, the ninja assigned to lure him away suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

Then he blurted out:

"I'm your uncle!"

"Your father's younger brother!"

"...Huh?"

Inside Naruto's inner world, Kurama's reaction was almost identical to Naruto's own.

Then the giant fox turned toward Minato with confusion.

"Since when did you have a younger brother?"

"What younger brother?"

Even Minato looked bewildered at first.

But once Kurama shared his sensory perception with him—

The moment former Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze clearly saw the man's face—

His expression changed instantly.

"Root operative!"

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