"You heard about it, right... the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki almost crashed into the village barrier."
"No, no, I heard he was trying to commit suicide!"
"And it took the Third Hokage and hundreds of shinobi to stop him."
"Why would the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki lose hope like that?"
Just as Naruto walked out of the hospital, he overheard a group of nurses gossiping in hushed voices. They were spreading ridiculous rumors, saying he had tried to end his life by ramming into the village's barrier.
The absurdity of it all made Naruto's face twitch uncontrollably.
How embarrassing.
And he knew exactly who to blame—Kakashi!
Naruto didn't bother to investigate how these rumors started. One thing was certain: pinning this mess on Kakashi felt entirely justified. If Kakashi had stopped him from doing something so reckless, none of this would've happened.
As he strolled through the hospital corridors, Naruto noticed more people throwing odd glances his way. Worse yet, some of them chuckled under their breath while whispering to each other.
Naruto felt like disappearing into the ground. Who would've thought that after trying to keep a low profile for so long, he'd make a name for himself in the village in such a humiliating way?
To avoid any more embarrassing encounters, Naruto found a quiet spot, then vaulted from the fifth-floor window without a second thought. Not that he gave much consideration to the fact that he'd only just recovered from his injuries.
When he landed, Naruto noticed that his body felt even stronger than before. Normally, a fall like that would have at least twisted his ankle, but now? Not a scratch.
"Am I turning into more of a freak every day...?" Naruto muttered, wandering aimlessly through the streets of Konoha.
Meanwhile, the Third Hokage had just received word that Naruto had been discharged from the hospital. Although he felt somewhat relieved, his mood soured again when he learned the kid had jumped out of a fifth-floor window immediately after.
His blood pressure spiked.
Is there anyone capable of properly supervising this kid?
At this point, the Third Hokage had lost faith in Kakashi's ability to keep Naruto in line. Konoha had nearly lost its Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, and the Third could only pin his hopes on Jiraiya, who was still off on his travels.
Jiraiya, Naruto's father's teacher—surely, if Jiraiya could raise the father, he could handle the son, right?
Sighing heavily, the Third Hokage blew a smoke ring as he gazed out the window. The stress was visibly aging him.
Let's wait until the boy graduates, the Hokage thought. Five more years... just five more. By then, maybe I can bring Jiraiya back to look after him.
---
"Naruto-kun... you're okay now?"
In the classroom, Hinata shyly turned to Naruto, who had just returned to his seat. Though she spoke softly, Naruto could feel her happiness bubbling under the surface.
"Thanks for the cards, Hinata. And the fruit, too."
"It... it was nothing."
Hinata's voice stammered even more than usual as she blushed deeply.
Seeing her like this, Naruto couldn't help but smile. Then, he suddenly remembered something—he had promised to train with her after school, hadn't he?
He had told her they'd practice together, but then he got sidetracked by that green jumpsuit-wearing weirdo and spent a whole month in the hospital.
Standing up a date like that... He felt guilty. Back in his previous life, if he'd kept his girlfriend waiting for just ten minutes, she would've chewed him out for a whole day.
But Hinata? She didn't say a word of complaint. She even visited him regularly in the hospital. He could tell from the fresh fruit by his bedside that she came often.
Honestly, Hinata was exactly the kind of person Naruto could see as a future wife. [T/N: We all think that....]
"Hinata, I'll come pick you up after school," Naruto said, smiling. "Remember, we agreed to train together."
Hinata's mind went completely blank after hearing the words "pick you up." Pick me up? Is this... a date?
"Ah..."
Before Naruto could finish his sentence, Hinata fainted, slumping onto her desk.
Naruto was baffled.
"How is it that just talking about training made her faint from embarrassment?"
He didn't quite understand, but seeing her passed out like that, he worried she'd get a stiff neck from lying like that. Without a second thought, he pulled out a plush bear pillow from his system inventory and gently placed it under her head.
Naruto didn't care in the slightest about what his classmates thought. Honestly, they were already used to him skipping class so often, and were more surprised when he showed up at all.
Even Iruka, their teacher, looked exasperated as he watched the two of them from the front of the room, his head buzzing with frustration. But what could he do? One of them was the heiress of the Hyuga clan, and the other was practically the Hokage's successor.
How could he possibly step in?
He sighed and forced himself to ignore it. After all, the Third Hokage had already told him not to worry about Naruto.
---
After lunch, Naruto opened a spatial portal, ate a quick meal at home, and then made his way to the small forest on the village's eastern outskirts.
The place was barely recognizable. The forest had been ravaged—only a few sparse trees remained. The small wooden cabin some villagers had built for Naruto was completely gone, its remains scattered across the ground like debris, a testament to the destruction that had taken place.
The area looked like a garbage dump.
"Well, this is a mess..." Naruto glanced around, marveling at the sheer scale of the damage he'd caused during his rampage.
He scratched his head, wondering what to do.
"Should I... find a new spot?"
After mulling it over, he quickly realized that wasn't a good idea. After his last outburst, his reputation in the village had probably hit rock bottom. It was a miracle no one had demanded compensation from him for all the damage. If he trashed another part of the village...
Naruto chuckled nervously, imagining the elders of Konoha throwing him out as a rogue ninja.
In the end, he decided to clean up his own mess. After all, it was his responsibility. And besides, farming was something he was quite experienced in from his past life. He could handle this.
Pulling a diamond axe from his inventory, Naruto inspected its enchanted stats.
[Diamond Axe: Attack Power 42.]
[Enchantment: 70% increased chopping speed.]
[Durability: Infinite.]
The axe's enchantment was simple, but effective. This was by far the strongest tool Naruto had ever owned.
"Why bother with fancy enchantments? An axe is for chopping trees, plain and simple."
"Hey, kid. It's time to train," Kurama's voice rumbled from within Naruto's mind. "What are you planning to do with that axe?"
"I'm cleaning up the area," Naruto replied casually, glancing around at the few remaining trees. "And I'm assuming I won't be punching these saplings today, right?"
Most of the trees left standing were too small to even be worth hitting. Even in his normal training, fully-grown trees barely lasted three days under his fists.
Kurama grunted in agreement after a moment of thought. "Alright. See those trees lying on the ground? You can drag three of them while you train. And don't forget the weights."
Naruto was speechless. Each of those fallen trees weighed at least 200 pounds. Dragging one might have been doable, but three?
"Come on, Kurama, let's talk this through—"
Before Naruto could negotiate, Kurama cut him off with silence. The fox clearly wasn't interested in bargaining.
With a resigned sigh, Naruto pulled out some ropes to bind the trees to himself. It took a full bundle just to secure them properly.
When he took his first step, his neck muscles strained, turning red from the effort, but the trees behind him didn't budge an inch.
Meanwhile, the diamond axe in his hand remained just out of reach of the nearest fallen tree, mocking him.
Watching through his crystal ball, the Third Hokage saw Naruto struggling to drag three trees behind him while holding an axe. He immediately shut his eyes.
He couldn't bear to watch anymore.
He'd tolerated the tree punching, he'd put up with Naruto's collateral damage, but what was this now? Dragging trees as training?
What kind of shinobi does that?
Couldn't the boy just buy some proper training weights?
"This kid..."
The Hokage couldn't even finish the thought. His blood pressure surged again, and he quickly reached for the blood pressure pills in his drawer.
He didn't dare look into the crystal ball again. He was genuinely afraid that one day Naruto might give him a stroke.
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