Chapter 96
Of course, everyone else has also changed a lot under Uzumaki Naruto's influence.
The first to be affected was, of course, Hinata.
As she grew closer to Uzumaki Naruto, her strength improved by leaps and bounds, and her personality subtly changed.
She grew out her hair, and while her temperament remained gentle and compliant, she gradually became a bit more outgoing, no longer as shy, low-key, introverted, or lacking in presence as before.
As for her strength... after Uzumaki Naruto's guidance, Hinata finally gained her own understanding of Gentle Fist Eight Trigrams Palm.
She focused more on the defensive aspects, gradually integrating them and transforming them into the most suitable moves for herself, creating a unique Ninjutsu... Guard! Gentle Fist Eight Trigrams Palm!
The essence of this Ninjutsu lies in the word 'guard'.
It is both to guard herself and to guard those important to her.
Although it is not as powerful as absolute defense, once Hinata uses this move, it becomes extremely difficult to break through her defense and truly harm her.
And she can use defense as offense, combining it with the Byakugan's unparalleled perception to exploit weaknesses and defeat her enemies with a single strike!
Of course, her own Byakugan's ocular power also increased significantly.
In terms of perception, long-range vision, X-ray vision, and Chakra insight, the Byakugan is far superior to the Sharingan!
In fact... not just Uchiha Sasuke and Hinata, but everyone else was directly or indirectly swept up by Uzumaki Naruto.
For example, Ino.
This year was a year of breaking down and rebuilding for her.
Losing her friendship with Sakura Haruno caused her, a sensitive person who valued friendship the most, to be depressed for a long time.
But she eventually recovered.
Moreover, seeing Hinata's efforts because of Uzumaki Naruto, she also wanted to work hard for the important people in her own life.
She also began to frantically hone her own strength, achieving considerable improvement.
Sakura Haruno was the same.
She recalled Iruka-sensei's words: to stand beside Uchiha Sasuke, she needed matching strength.
Moreover, she also saw Hinata following Uzumaki Naruto's lead... and she didn't want to lose to Hinata.
So, she also trained desperately.
Others, like Inuzuka Kiba and Shino Aburame, were also swept up by Uzumaki Naruto.
Inuzuka Kiba's grades were not good originally, but it wasn't because his Ninjutsu was poor; it was just his academic subjects.
He believed that a Ninja only needed to be strong, and academic subjects were not important at all.
Although he said that, seeing Uzumaki Naruto, who was even worse than him, work so hard, make rapid progress, and leap into a top student, Inuzuka Kiba was extremely annoyed.
Uzumaki Naruto, though once a Loser, always clamored about wanting to become Hokage.
Inuzuka Kiba also had such a dream.
Of course, he didn't want to lose to Uzumaki Naruto, so he worked even harder.
As for Shino Aburame, he actually envied Uzumaki Naruto.
Whether he was the Loser before or the brilliant person he is now, he was always the center of attention in the class.
And he himself... always had no presence.
To break this, Shino Aburame also worked desperately hard.
His talent was already good, and with his clan's secret Ninjutsu, which was powerful in all aspects, Shino's combat power far exceeded his peers.
Unfortunately, even so, his sense of presence didn't increase much... The only two who performed consistently were, of course, Akimichi Choji and Nara Shikamaru.
Especially Shikamaru.
He was all about standing firm no matter what the storm.
He slept from beginning to end, never letting any change affect his original nature.
Even Akimichi Choji, somewhat helplessly, was more or less influenced by Uzumaki Naruto and trained a bit harder.
But Shikamaru remained consistent.
Iruka-sensei saw all of this.
He could no longer describe Uzumaki Naruto's performance as merely gratifying... it was simply astounding.
Think about it... a year ago, he was a slacker, only knowing how to skip class, cause trouble, and play pranks, a Loser whom no one liked or recognized.
But now, he has been completely reborn, rising from the ashes!
Strong in power, excellent in grades, full of confidence, and self-assured!
The current Uzumaki Naruto, though he occasionally acts foolish, generally gives people a full sense of security.
This filled Iruka with emotion... as if he had personally witnessed the birth of a miracle.
A year passed in a flash... Under the system big brother's urging and his own habitual efforts, Uzumaki Naruto underwent his transformation, turning from an ugly duckling into a white swan, from a caterpillar breaking free from its cocoon into a butterfly!
Finally... the final graduation assessment season arrived.
This time, Uzumaki Naruto had no doubts about himself.
Academic assessment, Ninjutsu assessment, Ninjasparring.
Uzumaki Naruto passed them all with absolute confidence and ease.
In terms of academics, through his own efforts and Hinata's tutoring, Uzumaki Naruto had already improved to over 90 points.
The Ninjutsu assessment was the Transformation Technique, and Uzumaki Naruto was confident he could get a perfect score.
As for the final Ninja sparring, unfortunately, Uzumaki Naruto did not encounter Uchiha Sasuke.
Both of them easily defeated their opponents and earned bonus points.
Graduation day was also the time to announce grades and team assignments.
Iruka-sensei walked onto the stage, facing the many students who were about to say goodbye, facing these children who were about to become true Ninja, his heart filled with mixed emotions.
He cleared his throat and said, "Now, I will announce the final results..."
"First place..."
Everyone immediately focused their attention, full of curiosity.
But Uzumaki Naruto at this moment had his arms crossed, eyes closed, and a wicked smile on his face.
"Uzumaki Naruto!"
In an instant, this name, spoken by Iruka-sensei, still shocked everyone greatly!
"It's really him!"
"That Loser actually became the first place in the graduation assessment?!"
"What Loser, he's been an honor student for a long time, okay?!"
"Well, well, that's what I said, but it still feels like a dream..."
"That guy was even worse than me back then, why am I still a Loser, but he's already become first place..."
Hinata's tightly clasped hands trembled slightly when she heard the name.
Then, a sweet and happy smile appeared on her lips.
"Naruto-kun... that's great..."
"Congratulations..."
Ino also widened her eyes: "Did he really do it?"
"When he said he wanted to be in the top ten of the class, everyone thought it was a joke..."
"I didn't expect..."
Sakura Haruno was even more incredulous.
"That Uzumaki Naruto... the guy who used to follow me around every day, the useless Loser, actually became first place?!"
"Not only above me, but even surpassing Sasuke-kun..."
"H-how could this be..."
"Could it be that I really misjudged him?"
Of course, the most intense reaction came from Uchiha Sasuke.
Although he was mentally prepared, hearing Uzumaki Naruto's name still made him clench his fists.
"Uzumaki Naruto, you really..."
"Hmph, but this is just a Ninja Academyassessment, the most important thing for a Ninja is always strength!"
"It's a pity I didn't get to spar with you in the Ninjasparring.
"But once we leave the Ninja Academy and become true Ninja, I will have the chance to truly compete with you!"
"Before I kill that man, I will never lose to anyone again!"
As for the person involved... Uzumaki Naruto was not as fervent and excited as imagined.
For him, this was already a matter of course.
Although, he couldn't help but feel a bit emotional inside.
"More than a year ago, let alone others, I myself could never have imagined this day..."
"Graduating as the first place..."
"Back then, I would have been overjoyed just to graduate smoothly, even if I was last..."
In fact, in the original timeline, Uzumaki Narutocouldn't even graduate.
Uzumaki Naruto sighed.
"Thank you, system big brother, thank you, Iruka-sensei, and Hinata for your help, and of course..."
"I also want to thank myself for desperately persevering!"
Uzumaki Naruto chuckled, openly accepting everyone's shock and admiration.
This feeling was something he had never experienced before.
But, he deserved all of it.
No one could erase the desperate effort he had put in.
Others didn't know, but he himself knew very well... countless times he sweated profusely, countless times he trained with Shadow Clone, exhausted to the point of being unable to move, even on the verge of death!
The slightest slack would result in being half-electrocuted by the system big brother!
This result was worthy of all the hardships he had endured along the way.
Iruka-sensei smiled gently, looking at his most concerned student.