When Naruto arrived, even the tallest among them—Aburame Shino, whose hair already reached over 1.2 meters—was only six years old.
The parents of civilian children quickly pulled their kids away, almost as if they were avoiding a plague. Although spreading rumors about Naruto being the Nine-Tails Fox Demon was forbidden, that didn't stop people from showing their disgust toward him. Whenever they noticed him, they immediately tried to keep their children away.
On the other hand, the heirs of the great clans didn't seem to care about Naruto's identity at all.
Naruto looked at the group of famous heirs and raised an eyebrow.
It was clear that Sakura could only stand among the "strong group" because of Ino.
The ninja world valued bloodline talent, so it was strange that a civilian girl with green eyes could stand among the future elites.
Naruto himself had once worried about how he looked because of the Nine-Tails' influence. But later he realized that without the fox's negative effects, his face was actually smooth and handsome—just like Namikaze Minato.
With his hairstyle similar to the Fourth Hokage, Naruto looked almost like a young Minato, while his skin resembled Kushina's.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had once tried to convince Naruto to change his hairstyle because it looked too similar to the Fourth Hokage.
Naruto simply gave him the middle finger.
What a joke. He still needed to meet girls. With that hairstyle?
Now that time had passed, Naruto was no longer afraid of the Third Hokage's manipulation. He had already realized that Hiruzen's attention had shifted to the Uchiha clan.
Using Sasuke to control the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki.
That was Hiruzen's real plan.
Otherwise, how could Uchiha Itachi dare to reveal Konoha's secrets to Sasuke and threaten the village leadership?
Ridiculous.
How could Itachi, a double agent, know the highest secrets of Konoha just because he was an ANBU captain?
So Hiruzen had long planned to use Sasuke to restrain Naruto.
Unfortunately, things didn't go according to plan. Before Asuma could ever become Hokage, he was killed by his own student.
Sasuke eventually left the village, and Tsunade only symbolically sent a team of genin after him.
Since Itachi didn't really possess any important secrets, revealing them wouldn't matter anyway.
At that moment, Naruto looked at Sasuke, who was clenching his teeth, and stood up with a smile.
"Hey, Sasuke, are you hurt?"
Sasuke turned his head away with a dark expression and ignored him.
Nearby, Shikamaru and the others watched the scene in surprise.
They had heard that the Uchiha clan was arrogant and domineering. So why was Naruto openly provoking Sasuke, yet Sasuke didn't respond?
Meanwhile, Ino and Sakura whispered to each other.
"Ah, Sasuke is so cool~"
"But Naruto looks really good too!"
"I don't know who to choose… maybe one for each of us?"
"A warm guy and a cold handsome one… ah~ this is such a difficult choice!"
Naruto, whose appearance rivaled Sasuke's, carried the warm smile inherited from Minato, which made him even more charming.
"Naruto… Naruto…"
Hinata walked up to him shyly.
"Where are you going?"
"We're taking the test. Why are you still here?"
Naruto smiled, grabbed Hinata's hand, and walked toward the training ground, where the candidates had to gather.
The other children also left their parents to take the exam.
Shikamaru scratched his head in annoyance.
"What a drag… I told you I didn't want to study."
Choji continued chewing on his potato chips.
"My dad said I might fail the exam… but I'm sure I'll pass."
Many of the other children following them felt frustrated.
The gap between everyone was simply too big.
In the past, the Academy entrance exam included eight tests:
Endurance
Physical ability
Genjutsu
Character
Strength
Speed
Accuracy
Hand seals
These were originally designed by Senju Tobirama to evaluate students from different ninja clans.
But after several Ninja Wars, the village desperately needed more ninja.
To train more "cannon fodder," the exam was simplified to four tests:
Hand Seals – mastery of forming seals
Wisdom – knowledge and intelligence
Strength – physical power
Speed – agility and reflexes
Other tests like ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, and tactical ability were too difficult for civilian candidates, so they were removed during wartime.
The remaining tests were simple enough that even children without ninja training could attempt them.
Naruto walked toward the genin responsible for the exam.
For genin, supervising this test was basically treated like a mission.
The moment the genin wearing a forehead protector saw Naruto, a flash of hatred appeared in his eyes.
He was one of the survivors of the Nine-Tails attack, and he deeply hated Naruto.
"Follow me," the genin said coldly.
Naruto watched as the genin quickly formed twelve hand seals in an instant.
Behind Naruto, Shikamaru frowned.
"Hey… what's going on? Did the exam become harder this year? Before, we only had to copy three seals."
It was clearly a deliberate humiliation aimed at Naruto.