Chapter 43 - Academy(2)

Making breakfast, Naruto thought about the week he had. Since the day he visited Ino, so much training was done. His physical attributes have reached their limits, his mental attributes raised greatly, most of his unmastered skills were mastered, new skills and jutsus were created and finished, he started to work on seals which gained him another title, his stealth clones came back and finished their training, he managed to find a sensei by the name of Might Guy, his other thousand clones that were a part of the Leaf workforce refreshed themselves so all the experience of the skills they learned came back to him . Overall, it was a very productive week.

Naruto: "Cain. Compared to the Shinobi of this world, how strong am I?" It took two seconds before a display showed up.

[By attributes alone, you have are reaching the peak of the Jonin Rank. With your jutsus and skills mixed into it, you would be equal to Kage.]

Naruto: "Nice. So compared to Madara at his prime, where am I?"

[Your chakra levels bȧrėly surpass Madara, your skills give you a twenty percent advantage, and only your strength attribute equals him while the rest is higher than yours. This is all without considering his Sharingan prowess.]

Naruto: "Oh. Awesome." he said. "And I'm still young too so I could definitely catch up."

[That's the wrong mindset to have.] Naruto became confused.

Naruto: "What do you mean?"

[You should not be satisfied with being his equal but rather surpassing him. You know that he comes back to life eventually so what if he gains more power? What will you do then?] Only then did it really make an impact on him.

Naruto: "Crap. You're right. Thanks, Cain."

This small talk had him thinking. What could he do to get even stronger? Upgrading his lightning is certainly a choice. Progression in his bloodline would also give satisfying results. There was also improving his chakra quality and unearthing the potential of the Mind Power skill. Perhaps training with his new teacher would give him a chance to get the evolution of Physical Energy.

Once breakfast was done, he immediately headed out for the Academy. Truth be told, he wasn't really excited. What can they teach him that he already doesn't know? Hell, if he quit his future career of being a shinobi, he could still have a job due to his vast amount of skills under his belt.

Walking to the school was a small adventure in itself. On the way to the Academy, he met Ino who was leaving for school at the same time. She asked him if they wanted to go to the Academy together and he replied yes as he didn't mind company. When Ino saw him, she thought that his taste in clothing was quite nice. Naruto's clothes consisted of black shorts with a navy blue outline along with a maroon jacket with white stripes on it. Because it was a light jacket, it didn't really make him feel hot but rather slightly chilly as it is one of the chakra clothing that he made.

Talking about random things, Ino and Naruto enjoyed their walk until they spotted someone. A white-eyed girl was being harassed by a couple of boys and was being called names. Ino started to become angry and she was about to ask Naruto whether he wants to join her crusade of pummeling the boys but when she turned to look at him, he wasn't there. The next moment, she heard a scream from the boys and saw that all three of bullies were down on the floor.

Naruto gave a hand to the shy girl to which she took after a few seconds. Seeing that it was her crush, she fainted backward and was caught by Naruto instead. Ino quickly approached to see if the girl was fine and decided to wait for her to wake up. When she did, Ino talked with her and coincidentally, they are in the same class. When Naruto decided to help her stand, she fainted again. He really didn't whether he should laugh or cry while Ino smiled knowingly on the side.

Carrying his classmate, Naruto put her on his back and started walking. In Ino's mind, Naruto's sense of romance was quite high right now. At one point she imagined herself being the one who was being carried. The moment she had those thoughts, she got rid of them and continued to chat away with Naruto.

When they arrived in class, there were already some people there. Namely one Uchiha Sasuke and another random stranger. Sasuke looked at the people who entered the room and he immediately started to glare at Naruto. Naruto ignored it and looked for a table instead. Seeing that it was three people to a table, Ino decided to sit with Naruto and the Hyuuga girl. Soon, people started to walk in and Naruto saw both Choji and Shikamaru.

Naruto: "Skikamaru. Choji. Over here." he called out. They both saw that it was Naruto calling out to them and they greeted him. The awkwardness Choji felt towards Naruto was mostly gone as they talked in Shikamaru's house over the week but he still felt a little ashamed every time he would look at Naruto. Shikamaru asked about the girl who was sleeping next to Naruto but Naruto only replied that the heat got to her.

Since both clan heirs saw familiar faces and friends, they decided to sit on the table right in front of them. Soon, the whole class started to fill up as the four friends were talking and sharing some of their life stories which were fun to listen to in Naruto's opinion. Eventually, Hinata Hyuuga woke up and quietly listened to the stories as another boy who goes by the name, Shino, sat by Choji.

Instead of ignoring them, she carried a face that had the biggest frown in the world and screamed out.

Ino: "SHUT UP!!!" she shouted. 'These girls are so annoying!!! What's so good about Sasuke anyway!?! He's just pitiable!!' This made the entire class quiet down and focus their attention on Ino. Naruto was quite impressed at the fact she's quite courageous and strong-willed. A good ally and comrade material. "Why are you girls like this!?! Why are so getting so loud over another stupid boy??" A pink-haired girl stood up to respond to her. Ino recognized her as Sakura Haruno and was a little sad that a childhood friend of hers would turn on her so quickly for a boy no less.

Sakura: "You shut your mouth. We're his fans and you don't get to disrespect him like that."

Fangirls: "Yeah!!" they all shouted together. Ino could almost feel the blood vessel in her about to pop from rage. Not only could she not tell her story but she had to now answer why she was being rude to Sasuke? Oh, that made her blood boil.

Ino: "So let me get this straight. You're fangirls of Sasuke?"

Fangirls: "Yeah!!"

Ino: "Why?" she asked the crucial question.

Fangirl 1: "Because we are! Is there any other reason?!" The rest of the fangirls agreed with her.

Fangirl 2: "That is our reason." She started to become angry.

Ino: "No! That is not a reason! What's so good about him besides his looks huh!?!? From what I see, he would rather be alone than be swarmed by all of you. Not to mention, he just experienced the biggest tragedy of his life so why does that look cool to all of you? Do you enjoy seeing him suffer by himself?" This made a few of the girls quiet down. "And don't even get me started about his future. He probably will try to get revenge on his brother and will most likely betray the village in order to do so!! So tell me now, what's so good about this person you are all fans of? What is so special about him that gets your attention besides his looks because I know a person who has suffered his entire life. Not once did he obtain recognition from any ȧduŀt or peer. Not once was he respected by any of the villagers. Not once did he act gloomy and complain about it. And not once did he have friends or any sort of family to rely on so I want all of you to tell me. Why is he worth it!!!" she growled out with greeted teeth. This made Naruto feel a little awkward inside.

Naruto: 'I mean. I have Cain and Kurama. I didn't complain about it because I pretty much accepted it and I will definitely leave the village so uh I don't know how I feel about her saying all that. Sorry ahead of time, Ino. For betraying your trust.' he said mentally. 'But don't worry Ino. There is another version of me in a different timeline that loves you very much so my betrayal won't mean much. Hope that will make you feel better when you are in the afterlife.'