Next morning ( winter has passed ) — Konoha Academy.
The classroom was half full, students chatting while waiting for class to start. Desks were scattered with notebooks, eraser crumbs, and the early-morning laziness of kids who barely wanted to be awake.
Kiba stood on top of a chair, grinning proudly while holding a tiny white puppy in his arms.
"This is my dog Akamaru!" Kiba declared. "Awesome, right?"
Shikamaru leaned back in his seat, unimpressed. "Troublesome. Just be careful if it pisses on you."
As if the universe had perfect comedic timing, a warm yellow stream dripped down Kiba's jacket.
Kiba's eyes widened. "OYYY—AKAMARU! YOU EMBARRASSED ME!"
Akamaru barked innocently.
Ino clasped a hand over her mouth, laughing way too loudly. "That's karma! A bad owner gets a bad welcome!"
Sasuke sat at his desk, silent and expressionless. He didn't laugh. He didn't react. He barely even looked at them. His eyes—flat and cold—stayed focused on the window. He wasn't interested in jokes. Or classmates. Or anything except the one thing he could never reach.
Itachi. Sasuke's fingers curled slightly on the desk. His brother was the one he admired.
The door slid open.
Iruka and Mizuki stepped inside.
Iruka clapped his hands once. "Alright, everyone, settle down. Class is about to start."
The students filed back to their seats—Kiba trying to clean dog piss off his jacket, Ino still giggling, Shikamaru already half-asleep. The room finally quieted.
Iruka pulled out his attendance sheet.
"Haruno Sakura."
"Here!" Sakura called out immediately.
"Uchiha Sasuke."
"I'm here," Sasuke replied without lifting his gaze.
Iruka continued down the list, marking names quickly.
Then he reached the last one.
"Uzumaki Naruto."
He looked up from the clipboard. "Uzumaki Naruto?"
Still nothing. No loud voice. No obnoxious greeting. No slammed door or wild excuse. Just an empty seat.
Iruka frowned and tried again. "Is Naruto here?"
Sakura rolled her eyes. "That Naruto baka is probably chasing random girls or doing something stupid."
A few students laughed. Kiba snorted. Ino smirked. Even Mizuki cracked a tiny grin.
But not Hinata. She looked down at her hands, fingers tightening around the edge of her desk. She already knew the truth. She had seen it—Naruto bleeding in the snow, Naruto rising again, Naruto vanishing like a phantom. She knew far more than she could ever say.
Hinata swallowed once, then lifted her hand with trembling determination. "I… I have to say this, sensei. Naruto needs m-medical attention. He's hurt."
The classroom fell silent for a heartbeat. Confusion spread through the students like a slow ripple.
Kiba frowned. "Hurt? By who?"
Ino blinked. "What, did he fall off a roof again ?"
But Mizuki leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms with a smug, casual cruelty. "Hinata, if Naruto got bullied, it's only right he accepts it. Considering the rumors about him—and all of them are true."
A few students stiffened, unsure how to react.
Hinata's eyes widened, a small spark of anger breaking through her timid exterior.
Iruka shot Mizuki a sharp look. "Mizuki, that's enough—"
A calm knock interrupted him. One sharp tap at the door.
Iruka turned, puzzled, and slid it open.
Naruto stood there. Top hat angled just right. Black cloak draped over one shoulder. Cane resting against his hip.
Eyepatch glinting faintly in the morning light.
A six-year-old wearing the confidence of a man who had lived centuries.
Naruto bowed his head slightly, voice smooth and unnervingly polite. "Morning, Iruka-sensei. You're looking well and energetic as ever."
Iruka stared, unsure if the boy in front of him was even Naruto. Where did he get these clothes? Why is he speaking like an adult? What happened to his usual loud attitude?
Mizuki stepped closer, ready to mock him—but the moment he saw Naruto up close, he froze mid-step.
What the hell is going on? Why does the brat look like a noble?
I thought Naruto was supposed to be miserable—not walking around dressed like he owns half the village.I made sure of it.
Naruto tapped his cane lightly on the floor. "So… am I accepted inside, or am I fired? Not that I mind either way."
Iruka blinked hard. "Naruto, you're a student, not a worker. Don't be pessimistic."
Mizuki recovered just enough to open his mouth. "Naruto, there are rules here, and your attire is not fit to—"
Before he finished, Naruto stepped inside with clean, sharp movements, the tap of his boot heels echoing through the room. He didn't wait for permission. He didn't bow. He didn't act like the old Naruto at all.
Iruka quickly added, "Naruto, I… I have some spare clothes for you if you wi—"
"There's no need for that," Naruto said calmly, adjusting his top hat. "I'm leaving this village."
Iruka's breath hitched. Mizuki's eyes widened. Even the students stared at him like he'd spoken a foreign language.
Leave the village? Naruto? It was unthinkable.
Iruka stepped forward, rattled. "Naruto, what happened? Why are you—?"
Mizuki stared at him, unsettled. "This is… this is not the same kid…"
Naruto paused mid-step, his cloak swaying as he turned just enough for his eyepatch to reflect the classroom. "Oh right," he said, voice calm, casual, almost amused. "What's going on exactly? I thought you didn't like me. No one likes me anyway."
The way he said it wasn't sad—it was factual, like reading a weather report.
"But I'm needed for contingency," Naruto added with a small shrug. "That's why some people tolerate me."
He tapped his cane once, letting a faint curl of blue fire wrap around his fingers.
Possessing a bijuu like the Nine-Tails inside my body is like owning an entire fucking Manhattan in my chest.It makes me valuable.But no matter how strong this world's power system is, it's still pale compared to Weirdmageddon.
Naruto looked at Iruka and Mizuki evenly.
Without warning, he vanished—only to reappear one meter in front of Mizuki, cane pointed upward like a silent warning.
"So," Naruto said quietly, "I take it this is your acceptance… or your war. Choose carefully. Because I'm carrying a dangerous, walking evil in this village—and I'm sure as hell very valuable."
Mizuki's breath caught. His foot slid back instinctively. His eyes darted to Naruto's single exposed eye—the calm, cold stare that did not belong to a child.
He receded without a word.
Iruka swallowed hard. "Right… w-welcome, Naruto. And please… try to be your usual self. At least for me."
Naruto turned his head slightly, expression unamused. "Iruka-sensei, that might be a very good idea. Wow. Bright people. Loud talk. Getting bullied every day."
His exposed eye shifted -the sclera turning deep blue, a thin vertical symbol marking its center.
Naruto tilted his head lightly. "Times change, Iruka. And the old ways? They serve me no more."
His cane tapped once against the floor, a sharp, clean note that echoed through the silent classroom.
He walked in with the slow, measured confidence of someone who had outgrown this building centuries ago. Every eye followed him.
Most of the students froze. Kiba stared openly. Damn… those are fancy clothes..
Sakura narrowed her eyes. Isn't Naruto an orphan? Since when do orphans get rich? Did he win the lottery or something?
Shikamaru cracked one eyelid open, annoyed but curious. Troublesome kid… now even more troublesome.
But the one who watched the closest was Neji.
His gaze sharpened—not in arrogance, but in calculation. Even from across the room, he had caught it: that brief flicker in Naruto's eye, the blue sclera, the unnatural shift. Something not human.
Dōjutsu.i aware of Sharingan… and Byakugan i have … But now this?
Does Naruto have something like that too?
Neji's posture tightened a fraction.
Naruto didn't look at him. He simply moved through the rows, cloak drifting quietly behind him, cane tapping once with every few steps.
He stopped beside Hinata—the only one sitting alone, the only one with an empty seat next to her.
He slid into the chair without asking, resting the cane against the desk.
"Did you miss me, Hinata-chan?" he asked softly.
Hinata's breath hitched. She wiped a small tear with her sleeve and nodded once, cheeks flushing with relief.
Naruto leaned back, eye softening just slightly. Enough for her to see. Not enough for anyone else to understand.
The next hour dragged on in dull lectures. Naruto spent the entire time sleeping with his hat tilted over his eyepatch, cane resting against his leg. Every snore, every soft exhale made Mizuki grind his teeth harder. By the thirty-minute mark, Mizuki looked ready to throw chalk at him.
When Iruka finally clapped his hands and said, "Alright, break time! I'll see you all in an hour," Naruto's eye opened instantly, alert as if he hadn't slept at all.
Mizuki shot him a sharp look. "Better pay attention, brat. There'll be a shadow clone test today."
Naruto smiled silently, almost amused, and Mizuki left the room more annoyed than before.
Naruto glanced around. "Why aren't you all leaving?"
The reaction was immediate. Kiba rushed over, eyes sparkling with excitement. "Naruto! Did you steal those clothes? If yes—WHERE? I wanna get some too!"
Shikamaru leaned closer, squinting at the eyepatch. "That thing you're wearing is troublesome. Looks like you're hiding something."
Ino stepped forward, hands on her hips, interested in a way that made Sakura twitch. "Naruto, do you have a version for girls? Your outfit is… weirdly dashing."
Naruto only smiled, a quiet curve of amusement—never answering, never confirming.
But his gaze drifted toward the back of the room.
Sasuke sat there, arms crossed, staring out the window like he was above the entire situation. But Naruto noticed the slight flicker in Sasuke's eyes—the subtle curl of curiosity he tried so hard to hide.
Naruto tapped his cane once.
"Sasuke," he said calmly. "I know you want to ask me something. Better ask it. Curiosity is better let out than kept inside anyway."
Sasuke answered by flicking two kunai straight at Naruto's head—clean, precise throws, the kind only an Uchiha prodigy could make.
Naruto didn't flinch or move. He only smiled as his exposed eye shifted, the sclera deepening into an unnatural blue with a thin vertical mark forming at its center. Bill Cipher's pattern surfaced like a quiet threat.
The kunai hit that gaze and crushed inward mid-air, metal folding and collapsing as if squeezed by something unseen before falling to the floor in broken pieces. The class gasped; Sakura stepped back, Kiba almost dropped Akamaru, Ino reached for Shikamaru .
Sasuke watched without blinking. "I'm not wrong. Your eye changed. That's not a dōjutsu anyone in this village knows."
Neji analyzed every detail calmly. It activates when he's excited or defending himself.
Naruto's eye shifted back to normal, the blue fading cleanly. He rested his cane across his knees and tilted his head. "You seem like you want more than throwing kitchen knives at me."
Sasuke studied him since this Naruto arrive , silent moment. Naruto's change was , It happened in a single day. And if Naruto could transform like that, Sasuke believed—I can do it too. The thought sharpened his expression.
"What happened yesterday?" Sasuke asked. "You seem like a different person."
Naruto lifted one shoulder in a lazy shrug. "Oh, I'm the same boy born in this world. I just had a lot of rough days. More than I can count. And all that piled up my ass."
Sasuke stepped closer, eyes steady. "Then I challenge you. A spar . Today."
The classroom gasped. Even the air felt tighter.
Ino stared with wide eyes. Sasuke-kun, who excels at everything… noticed Naruto?
Sakura clenched her fists. Hmph. Naruto baka thinks he's strong now? Just because he wears fancy clothes?
Kiba leaned forward with excitement. "Oh this is gonna be good—"
But Shikamaru raised a hand lazily. "Sasuke, don't fight him," he said. "I'm saying this for your own good. You'll end up like that crushed kunai."
Naruto's expression shifted. Something megalomaniac and kleptomaniac blended behind his calm smile as blue flame curled around his right palm, swirling upward like a living sigil. "So," he said, "what are the terms, oh child born of Indra's spawn?"
Sakura frowned hard. "His name is Sasuke Uchiha, not Indra. Do you need an eyepatch for your brain too, Naruto baka?"
Naruto didn't even look at her.
Sasuke stepped forward instead, eyes sharp. ". I want to see what's behind your eyepatch. And I want to measure my strength against yours."
Naruto twirled the blue flame between his fingers. "If I accept, I'll need a small favor fulfilled. Do we have a deal?"
Sasuke didn't nod immediately. He wasn't stupid. "What kind of favor, Naruto?" he asked, voice steady. "Say it clearly."
Naruto let the blue flame curl higher along his palm, the glow reflecting off his eyepatch. "I need your future potential," he said calmly.
Sasuke's brow furrowed. "Future potential? What are you aiming for, Naruto?"
Naruto smiled—small, deceptive, too calm to trust. "Oh, I lost many things in my life," he lied casually. "So I need a future comrade. Someone I can work with."
Naruto continued without missing a beat. "Everyone loves a partner for their future endeavors. Besides—like people always say in America—assholes gotta stick together."
Kiba blinked. "America? What's—"
Ino elbowed him. "Shut up, he's talking to Sasuke."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "So which is it? 'Future potential' or a 'comrade'? You're talking about both. And by shaking your flame-covered hand now… you want me to agree to that?"
Naruto laughed under his breath, tapping the cane against his leg. "You caught that. Smart boy, huh." He lifted his glowing hand slightly. "Now the question is… what will you do, Sasuke?"
Sasuke didn't move. His eyes narrowed, sharp and suspicious. "No. You're hiding something. You're not the Naruto we knew before."
The class stiffened. Even Kiba stopped breathing for a moment. Hinata's fingers tightened on her desk. Neji's eyes activated slightly, though he didn't realize it.
Naruto's smile changed—smooth, sharp, almost gentleman-like. "Hmm. Too bad," he said softly. "Well then… magic trick dismissed."
The blue flame vanished instantly, leaving nothing behind but a faint shimmer.
Naruto swept his gaze across the classroom. Calm. Detached. Ancient.
"Please be on your way, everyone," he said. "Time is precious. Enjoy every second. After all… you never know when the final clock will tick."
A few students shivered without understanding why.
Naruto turned away from all of them, moving toward his desk. He crouched beside it and pulled out a handful of metal scraps, gears, tiny screws, and odd components he'd salvaged from his messy apartment earlier that morning.