Naruto: The Nine-Tails' Legacy

Inside the Ninja Academy—

Veins bulged across Iruka's forehead as he desperately tried to continue teaching while pretending not to hear the thunderous snoring echoing through the classroom.

As if that were remotely possible.

"Naruto Uzumaki!"

"Stand up right now!"

The chalk in Iruka's hand shot forward like a thrown shuriken straight toward Naruto, who was currently sprawled across his desk sleeping soundly.

Yet—

Even asleep, Naruto instinctively raised a hand with his eyes still closed and casually swatted the chalk away like he was brushing off a mosquito.

"Um… Naruto-kun…"

Sitting beside him, Hinata noticed Iruka rapidly approaching volcanic eruption levels and hurriedly nudged Naruto beneath the desk.

"Iruka-sensei is getting really angry…"

"Ahh… hm?"

Naruto slowly lifted his head from the desk and let out another yawn before dazedly glancing toward the podium.

Then suddenly, realizing something, he immediately straightened up into the posture of a perfect model student, as though none of the previous events had anything to do with him.

"... Iruka-sensei, why'd you suddenly stop teaching halfway through?"

Naruto blinked innocently.

"It was getting super interesting. I can't wait to hear the rest!"

The moment those words left his mouth—

Nearly the entire class looked toward Naruto with overwhelming admiration.

As expected of Naruto-boss.

Despite being one of the youngest students, he was still universally acknowledged as the top dog of the class.

That level of shamelessness was truly incredible.

Even Iruka himself froze briefly.

Normally Naruto constantly pulled little tricks during class—chatting with Hinata beside him or distracting classmates—

But outright sleeping in class?

This was the first time.

Originally, Iruka had thought perhaps Naruto encountered some kind of problem last night, so waking him up would be enough.

But now?

This brat was actually blaming the teacher in reverse?!

"Excellent."

Iruka smiled dangerously.

"Since you enjoy sleeping so much…"

"Then tonight after school, you can sleep all you want in my office!"

"No no no no!"

Naruto instantly panicked.

"Iruka-sensei, I was wrong! I seriously have plans tonight! I'm sorry!"

The moment he heard he'd be detained after school, Naruto immediately surrendered without hesitation.

After all, he still had an appointment with Kurama tonight.

This definitely wasn't the time to act heroic.

"If you know you're wrong, then go stand outside in the hallway!"

"Whaaaaat?!"

The entire class gasped collectively.

Naruto-boss—

The coolest, strongest guy in class—

Actually got punished?!

In that moment, Iruka's status in everyone's hearts immediately rose several levels.

Even a monstrous genius like Naruto—whose strength clearly stood in a completely different dimension from the rest of them—received fair punishment without favoritism.

"Iruka-sensei!"

Rock Lee suddenly burst into tears from excitement.

He leapt to his feet and attempted to give this "great" teacher an emotional hug—

"Lee, what are you doing?! Sit down! Oi, let go—"

"You too! Get outside and stand in the hallway!"

Bang!

The classroom door slammed shut forcefully behind them.

Outside the room, both Naruto and Lee wore pitiful expressions as they exchanged glances and lowered their heads in defeat.

Watching Naruto nearly fall asleep standing up, Lee suddenly seemed to remember something and hurriedly spoke:

"Naruto-kun, we never really had much chance to talk before."

"Recently, Guy-sensei actually asked me about how you've been doing!"

"Hm?"

Naruto blinked sleepily.

"Guy-sensei? Which teacher's that? I don't remember him."

"Eh?"

Lee looked surprised.

"But Guy-sensei said you two are practically close friends despite the age difference…"

"He even let you use his training ground…"

"Training ground…"

Naruto froze briefly.

Then suddenly remembered.

"Ohhh! You mean that thick-eyebrowed uncle!"

"He's a teacher here too?"

Only now did Naruto realize Lee's outfit and facial features strongly resembled that weird but interesting man.

Actually, he vaguely remembered Lee not looking quite like this when school first started.

Unable to resist, Naruto asked:

"Is he your dad?"

"N-No!"

Lee immediately waved his hands frantically.

"I only met Guy-sensei recently too!"

"One day, I happened to be training at one of the village's public training grounds."

"Guy-sensei passed by looking for a new place to train because he gave his old one to a friend."

"Then as payment for sharing the training ground, he gave me some pointers."

"That's why I respectfully call him Guy-sensei."

"Ohhh, I get it."

Naruto nodded.

Though inwardly, he still continued staring suspiciously at Lee from head to toe.

These two looked way too similar.

At minimum, they had to be related somehow.

Maybe uncle and nephew.

"Anyway!"

Lee's eyes suddenly sparkled with excitement.

"Guy-sensei is incredibly strong at taijutsu!"

"After only training together a few times, the public training ground I usually used became completely unusable!"

"Before leaving the village last time, he told me…"

"If he got permission from his friend someday, I could also use his old training ground."

"Then later I found out…"

Lee scratched the back of his bowl-cut awkwardly.

"That the training ground Guy-sensei gave away actually belongs to you now."

Naruto instantly lit up in understanding.

"Ohhh, so you specifically came over just to tell me that thick-eyebrowed uncle's doing pretty well recently!"

"Ah… this…"

Lee froze awkwardly while looking at Naruto's bright smile.

For a moment, he didn't even know how to continue.

In truth, he had slightly twisted Guy's original words.

Guy had actually told him:

"You're all classmates anyway. Don't overthink it. Just go ask Naruto directly!"

But whether it was Hinata Hyūga, Neji Hyūga, or Sasuke Uchiha—

All of them were elite geniuses from powerful clans.

Not to mention Naruto, who had already earned the legendary title of "Peak of the Ninja Academy."

A true genius among geniuses.

Meanwhile, Rock Lee couldn't use ninjutsu.

Couldn't use genjutsu.

And remained almost invisible within class aside from desperately training taijutsu.

Compared to those monsters—

The gap felt like heaven and earth.

Facing them, Lee's inferiority complex prevented him from daring to directly ask about training together.

Only because he finally managed to get a rare chance to talk privately with Naruto today did he gather the courage to try.

"Is that so…"

Naruto muttered sleepily.

"That interesting thick-eyebrowed uncle…"

"Feels like I haven't seen him in ages…"

Seeing Naruto already beginning to doze off again, Lee grew increasingly flustered.

Did Naruto-kun not understand what I meant…?

Or was that a rejection?

No, he definitely understood.

Naruto-kun is way too talented not to understand what I meant…

Of course.

Someone like me…

How could an ordinary nobody possibly train together with geniuses like them…

Lee lowered his head sadly.

Yet for some reason, a voice constantly echoed inside his mind.

"Lee!"

"The medal of youth is blazing passion revealed naturally!"

"You must hold onto grand ambitions!"

"You must believe in yourself!"

"Work even harder!"

"And one day…"

"You too will become a great shinobi!"

Guy's dazzling white smile and shining thumbs-up repeatedly resurfaced within Lee's mind.

Don't give up, me!

"The thing is…"

"I…"

Lee clenched his fists tightly, shut his eyes, and finally gathered all his courage.

Then he suddenly shouted toward Naruto:

"Please let me train together with you all too!"

"Ah, sure."

Naruto answered almost instantly.

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