3rd POV
The memories of 3 mature figures and their experiences made his soul much stronger than normal, but for that very reason there was a lot of confusion in his mind. He needed to reconcile all of this before he could activate his chakra as he was looking for quality and quantity rather than just quantity or just quality. Not to mention the non-chakra-based skills he wanted to specialize.
The memories of each of the characters were full of experiences and the richest would be that of Yato, a centenary god, perhaps even millenary. Organizing such memories and dissociating from them so as not to change his primal personality was a need he was having difficulty fulfilling.
Too much to do and not enough time, after all the white-skinned ETs were coming in just over 20 years and he needed to prepare.
For that, Ryu figured that being in the good graces of a certain blonde was a necessity and that's why he started watching Naruto who had already started trying to get the villagers' attention with his pranks. It was with this in mind that our protagonist began to hunt and watch over the prankster boy.
In peaceful Konoha, in a lousy apartment complex, in a run-down room was a cute, fluffy blonde shota sitting on the bed like a Buddha, apparently trying to meditate. Naruto was and always has been the most talented in the entire anime. Don't talk about bullshit how Sasuke and Itachi surpass him in talent. It took Naruto 2 years of apprenticeship to go from a pile of spammy clone crap to a proper jounin in Jiraya's hands. Not to mention that Jiraiya was a terrible teacher and didn't even give him useful jutsus except for the rasengan which was his father's creation anyway and should already belong to him as an inheritance. We didn't see Naruto use any useful wind jutsu, which was his Elemental affinity, and he didn't even learn proper taijutsu before frog Kumite. Now, let's see why Naruto was the most talented. Rasengan was a jutsu that uses rotation and shape manipulation to attack. It was pure chakra spinning at high intensity. But that was it. Naruto was the one who added the wind element to create fuuton: rasenshuriken.
His shit control was still slightly adequate as in the fight with Zabuza and Haku he was already able to walk in the water after Kakashi's shit class who before that hadn't taught him anything. We won't even talk about dominating the shadow clone in a few hours. A physical clone. You see, Uzumaki Naruto without any proper instruction (I don't consider Jiraya adequate) and only with frog support for his Taijutsu and Sage Mode, became the most powerful ninja of the Elemental Nations.
Sasuke on the other hand had the Uchiha library for years, his clan, his brother and other members of the Uchiha police who wouldn't refuse to teach if he asked, plus Orochimaru who pretty much devoted himself exclusively to training him by giving his all in ninjutsu classes and taijutsu. Besides, he still had poor Karin to serve him senzu beans. Fuck the most cheat cheat in the whole world and he only got power by stealing the dead brother's eye.
Come to think of it Naruto wasn't really so bad for our hero anymore. Sure, he was troublesome, but he would still have plenty of golden opportunities. Ryu was even more surprised to catch the Uzumaki meditating as he seemed to be just an idiot and happy child most of the time, though his irritating personality was expected to be a mask. He was a boy who had been mistreated all along and showing sadness was just a sign of weakness that most people would choose to hide and camouflage. That said, Ryu decided that he would become one of the child's emotional pillars. He was helpful, but he would still be a good friend...other than as a god, fulfilling his believers' wishes was a necessity.