Among the Ninja Academy.
"That's a lot," said Sarutobi Hiruzen with a kind smile to Naruto, or more precisely, to his Shadow Clone.
"I want you to graduate early from the Ninja Academy. What do you think?" he asked.
The Shadow Clone raised an eyebrow.
"Are you joking? I'm ranked last in the class, and you want me to graduate early? That's ridiculous."
On the other side, a large vein throbbed on Sarutobi Hiruzen's forehead.
He gritted his teeth and replied:
"Your teacher said you already meet the standards for graduation, so come to me with a graduation application!"
The Shadow Clone rubbed his chin and said:
"I remember that early graduation requires the student's parents' approval. How did you manage that? Did you go to the Pure Land to ask for permission?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "..."
"I'm your guardian now, so I approve!"
"But that's not right. I don't agree. I'm only seven years old. You want a seven-year-old child to go on missions? Besides, it's not even certain that I can graduate."
The Shadow Clone bluntly shut down the Third Hokage. Now that money wasn't a problem, there was no reason to do work like weeding, shoveling manure, and collecting trash.
Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at Naruto with a slight headache. He regarded Naruto as his secret weapon, and only Naruto's strength could restrain ninjas like Danzo.
So the sooner Naruto's power was recognized by others, the better. After all, as a Jinchūriki who possessed the Nine-Tails, he was unlikely to threaten Hiruzen's position as Hokage.
After all, no one wanted a Jinchūriki who could go berserk at any moment to become Hokage. Therefore, Sarutobi Hiruzen silently approved of Danzo revealing Naruto's secret.
To Hiruzen, Naruto had grown up like a hooligan who would never threaten his status. That was why he was eager for Naruto to become stronger, to further stabilize his position as Hokage.
He hoped that his son Asuma would mature and return to inherit the Hokage position.
Originally, he had trained his eldest son Sarutobi Shinnosuke to become the Fourth Hokage, but he eventually died during an ordinary logistics mission.
This almost drove Sarutobi Hiruzen mad.
Fortunately, he still had a younger son. Unfortunately, that boy showed little promise and constantly annoyed him, talking about protecting the Daimyo and mentioning some stone or something from the Land of Fire.
In the end, Hiruzen had no choice but to send him to the Daimyo, so he could build a relationship and become Hokage in the future.
It should be known that Danzo originally wanted to become Hokage, but failed because he had no connection with the Daimyo, and in the end his plan was ruined by Kakashi.
Now, seeing that Naruto was clearly strong enough yet refused to graduate from the Ninja Academy, Sarutobi Hiruzen felt depressed.
"In that case," Hiruzen said with a smile, looking at Naruto, "as long as you successfully graduate, I will let you choose a Ninjutsu technique from the Scroll of Seals! You should know that the techniques recorded there are above B-rank."
The Shadow Clone's eyes lit up.
"Ten!"
Hiruzen's face instantly turned as dark as the bottom of a pot.
"At most, two!"
"Eight!"
"Two!"
"Five!"
"Two!!"
"Tch…" the Shadow Clone muttered resentfully while looking at the Third Hokage. "So stingy."
Sarutobi Hiruzen: (╬ ̄皿 ̄)!!
Seeing that he was about to get angry, the Shadow Clone decisively cancelled the Shadow Clone Technique.
Sarutobi Hiruzen took a deep breath, smiling again.
The matter was settled!
At this moment, the Ninja Academy principal, who had been watching everything, widened his eyes.
"What?! A Shadow Clone?!"
The last time he recorded a student using the Shadow Clone technique was six years ago—when Uchiha Itachi was studying here.
Naruto, the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, can already use a B-rank Shadow Clone Technique?
Even many Chunin could not use this technique.
Ignoring the shocked principal, Naruto, who was climbing a cliff using just one finger, suddenly froze.
Standing vertically against the steep cliff, he touched his chin.
"Two Forbidden Techniques? That's not impossible."
After all, he had already learned the Ninja Academy curriculum by himself using the Sharingan.
Early graduation and training could indeed accelerate his growth.
At the top of the cliff, Might Guy shouted to Naruto:
"That's enough! What's wrong with you? Why aren't you training?"
Naruto smiled and waved at Guy.
"I'm going to take the exam, then I'll come back to train."
Might Guy: "Hm?"
When Naruto returned to the academy, wearing casual clothes, the sixth-grade exam had already begun.
Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled at Naruto and nodded in satisfaction.
"Yes, you're patient. Even after losing an eye, you're becoming stronger so quickly. When Tsunade returns, I'll ask her to transplant a prosthetic eye for you."
"No need. I'm used to it."
Naruto calmly replied to Hiruzen.
"Where is the exam hall? After the exam, I'll continue training."
"It's nearby. I'll take you there," one of the Chunin teachers said unhappily while looking at Naruto.
Naruto didn't care about such small things. After all, if he took revenge according to his own standards, there probably wouldn't be many people left in Konoha.
At this moment, even Iruka looked at Naruto with disgust. His parents had died at the hands of the Nine-Tails, and he had not yet become Naruto's teacher.
When the exam room door opened, the eyes of the senior students all turned toward Naruto.
Despite a five-year age difference, Naruto did not look inferior to the twelve-year-old sixth graders.
At this moment, a student with spiky hair turned to Naruto with disdain and asked coldly:
"So what are you doing here? Planning to skip grades and graduate early, like my boss?"