Half a year passed, and it was finally the age for Haru's generation to start school. Led by their respective parents, some children were bouncing with excitement, their mouths wide with smiles, happy about meeting their soon-to-be cssmates; others grumbled about the trouble, dragging their feet along the way, only moving when pulled by their parents; and then there were those without parents accompanying them.

  Among these children was Haru's figure.

  "Grandpa, I can go by myself. You really don't need to make the trip for me in vain. Once I start school, you can rest. Goodbye, Grandpa," Haru declined the Third Hokage's kindness and walked alone towards the upcoming opening ceremony. For him, the routes within the vilge were already second nature, and getting lost was impossible. He also preferred quiet, so as soon as he left home, he jumped onto the rooftops and began strolling across them.

  "Will I end up being a dead st? I still don't know the strength of the other kids in the vilge," His thinking pattern was as usual, his first thought about starting school was the strength of his cssmates. In the eyes of ordinary people, the personalities of cssmates would be the first thing to pay attention to. However, Haru was Haru. Without such a mindset, he wouldn't have become the Haru he was now.

  In the past six months, he had made considerable progress. Taijutsu aside, just in ninjutsu, he had taken all the D-rank ninjutsu of the attributes he had learned before and, according to his wishes, modified them into corresponding C-rank ninjutsu. The Fire Release: Great Fire Annihition he had used before was also now controlled with greater proficiency.

  Evolving a ninjutsu from D-rank to C-rank wasn't as simple as just learning a new jutsu. It required changing the chakra transmission, improving chakra release, and even completely altering the release pattern. For a child not even six years old to complete the modification of five ninjutsu in just half a year was nothing short of a remarkable feat.

  While Haru was making great strides, Naruto certainly wasn't idle. In these six months, it was as if his intelligence had suddenly bloomed, and he learned to tap into his chakra. This instantly brought his naturally Uzumaki bloodline physique into full py, and because of this, he also gained a rge capacity to store chakra. It was no exaggeration to say that his current chakra was more than five times that of Haru, and he could also cast as many as a hundred Shadow Clones at once. This could literally turn a one-on-one fight into a gang brawl! In the student era, before mastering ninjutsu, numbers were a deadly weapon. Many ants could kill an elephant, let alone with Naruto's strength, it was more like a group of elephants trampling ants.

  Looking back at Sasuke, who was born with Fire and Lightning Release chakra, he specialized in Fire Release. At a young age, he had already mastered multiple C-rank Fire Release ninjutsu. This was something even the young Uchiha Itachi hadn't achieved. During this time, he had also gotten his wish several times, pulling Itachi to train him in shuriken techniques. Under Itachi's exquisite and dazzling techniques, Sasuke had been influenced and had even copied the basics. At least, he could hit some blind spots hidden behind objects.

  These two weren't like Haru, completely oblivious to the outside world. Their parents were both high-ranking figures, so they naturally knew the general level of the children in the vilge. One of the things Fugaku and Minato had to do every day was to remember to advise Sasuke and Naruto not to lose their childish innocence due to training. They were at an age to py, not to act like old men who only cared about training all day long. What child didn't like to py? However, on this issue, the two's answers were surprisingly simir: "If we don't train properly, we'll be left behind by Haru. Then, I won't have the face to py with him anymore."

  Did Haru really put so much pressure on them?

  You see, Training Ground 31 had already become equivalent to Haru's private training ground. Whenever a ninja wanted to train there, they would always see Haru's diligent figure. Of course, there were also people who wanted to take over the training ground. But they were all just genin. Currently, there were no more than three teams in the vilge that could beat Haru, so those who came to challenge him were naturally defeated miserably. For chunin and above, everyone had their own familiar training grounds, not fixed on Konoha's training grounds. As a result, in the past six months or so, besides Haru, only Sasuke and Naruto would occasionally visit Training Ground 31.

  While Haru was still racking his brains about how to assess the strength of his cssmates, he unknowingly arrived at the school rooftop. Seeing this, he jumped off the roof without hesitation, nding in a corner far from the ptform. It seemed no one noticed.

  Seemed.

  "Haru! You're so te!" Sure enough, only Naruto would be so enthusiastic towards him. Haru looked up and also saw Sasuke beside Naruto.

  "Good morning."

  "Eh, good morning. Has it started?" Haru looked at the two, somewhat puzzled. Shouldn't they still be with their parents?

  He guessed correctly.

  "The speech has already started! All the parents have left. The old grandpa on the stage came to my house st time. I think everyone calls him the Third Hokage!" Without Haru asking much, Naruto naturally revealed everything he knew. His innocence was truly unmatched.

  "I see," Haru murmured. "We should still go listen properly, otherwise the Third Hokage might get angry."

  "Okay," Sasuke said, still as cold as ever, as if unwilling to say even a single extra word. But if Itachi were here, he would definitely know that Sasuke was still sulking. After all, the proud little Sasuke still couldn't swallow the fact that he had been defeated by Haru!

  The scene below the stage was a mess. Most of the children were leaning on their parents and sleeping, and the speech on the stage was nearing its end. No one knew why the Third Hokage could speak for so long; it might as well have been a ninjutsu.

  "...Wherever leaves dance, the fire will rage! Children, carry on the Will of Fire!"

  "Yeah!" Naruto was immediately moved by the passionate words. Even though he had only heard this one sentence, he actually cried out "Yeah!" with snot and tears streaming down his face. A rge number of gazes focused on Naruto, while Sasuke fshed away and hid behind a nearby tree. He couldn't stand being scrutinized by a group of strangers.

  "Oh dear, this is bad," Haru thought to himself, only having time for a mental excmation. Any further action might attract even more attention. So, he had no choice but to directly cover Naruto's mouth and pinch his throat, forcibly dragging him to the side.

  After the commotion died down, he hurriedly moved the hand that had been covering Naruto's mouth and wiped it vigorously on his own clothes.

  "Alright, children, wake up, it's time to start school," Iruka-sensei appeared at the right moment. He was a veteran teacher at this Ninja Academy. Although his strength on the battlefield wasn't great, his kindness comparable to Minato and his strong theoretical knowledge made him perfectly suited for the role of a teacher.

  Hearing such a warm voice, the newly enrolled students also lowered their guard and left their parents one after another, walking towards the school on their own.

  "Let's go too," Haru said, pulling Naruto and Sasuke along with the crowd towards the inside.

  However, the hand he was holding was instantly pulled away. Sasuke, after all, naturally disliked physical contact. As for Naruto, Haru didn't even need to pull him; he had already run far ahead.

  "Naruto!" Haru called out, but Naruto, rushing at the very front, was still shouting loudly himself, so he naturally couldn't hear Haru's voice.

  In just a few steps, they reached the school's training grounds, preparing for the first assembly.

  The students had heard that the school teachers would freely assign csses and then directly start leading activities to help everyone get acquainted. However, this year was clearly different. Some equipment had already been set up on the training grounds.

  "Alright children, quiet! The first thing we're going to do is a test! This year's css assignments are different from the past! Outstanding elites can enter a deeper level of instruction. So, now everyone needs to complete all the items on the field one by one! Those with top average scores or extremely outstanding performance in a single item will be eligible to enter the advanced css! Warm up yourselves! The test will begin in half an hour!" Standing on the ptform was none other than Morino Ibiki, with his signature scarred face, bck headband, and all-bck trench coat.

  Hearing such a serious and imposing voice, the students naturally divided into two types of people.

  One type, like Naruto, was like, "Wow, who is that! So cool! Way more imposing than my old man!"

  The other type was so scared they couldn't speak.

  However, in the next second, they all became the same type of person.

  Ibiki looked at the children, one by one, not moving at all, not a single one doing any warm-up exercises, still standing there dumbfounded. He then drew the whip he always carried, forcefully shing it against the ground while roaring, "Aren't you going to hurry up! What are you all doing?!"

  The students screamed and ran off.

  "Ibiki, isn't that a bit much?" Iruka looked at Ibiki with a wry smile. He trusted Ibiki, who was in the interrogation department, very much, but even he, who always cared for children, couldn't stand this.

  "If the children don't listen a bit now, it will easily lead to chaos when they go to the battlefield," Ibiki said. He was a true stoic; no matter how he tried, besides his eyelids and lips, no other part of his face would move.

  ...

  In a little-known deep mountain area in the ninja world.

  "How is the seed?"

  "Developing well, as expected of our Otsutsuki bloodline. Truly a genius."

  "Is anyone nearby?"

  "Yes. Scout Division Commander Habayashi Fei is personally keeping watch. Any problems will be reported directly."

  "Good, that's good. Our Otsutsuki have been hidden for long enough. It's time to let this world feel the absolute authority of the Otsutsuki again!"

  "Long live the cn leader!"