If your life is going nowhere, sleeping until eleven in the morning is called rotting away in bed like a lazy bum.
If you're standing at the peak of life, sleeping until eleven in the morning is called enjoying life.
Though in the end, you're still a lazy bum—just a premium golden-grade one.
Makoto was fairly lucky. He'd experienced both kinds of life and had a wonderfully rich résumé.
In his previous life, he had been full of youthful ambition. Then, after graduation, society hit him with a smooth and merciless combo, so he chose to give up and loaf around instead.
In this life, however, he worked hard enough to turn that same behavior into "enjoying life."
Around ten in the morning, a mature and increasingly beautiful young woman with crimson hair walked into Makoto's bedroom.
Her figure was graceful and curvaceous, her face noble and coldly elegant, while the mark on her forehead gave her an even more mysterious air.
Unfortunately, her behavior completely failed to match her temperament.
Honoka reached out and yanked away Makoto's blanket.
"Wake up already. How long are you planning to sleep?"
A certain premium-grade couch potato rolled over and buried his head in the pillow.
"No... just let me die in bed."
"Then don't expect Yūgao-chan and me to stay widows for you."
Makoto instantly stopped feeling sleepy.
"Fine, you win. Honoka, you've changed. You used to be so gentle. Which bastard corrupted you?"
Honoka's eyes curved into crescent moons.
"Darling, you're doomed now. How dare you call Yūgao a bastard."
"I was wrong. Please, I beg you, forget what I just said."
"Sorry, my memory isn't nearly as bad as yours. Did you forget what day it is today?"
"No, I didn't forget. If I leave now, the timing's perfect."
Makoto finished washing up at top speed, pulled Honoka into his arms, kissed her fiercely, then vanished from the room.
Feeling the lingering warmth left on her lips, Honoka smiled softly, glowing with the dazed radiance of happiness.
Even after being together for several years, she was still addicted to the natural aura surrounding Makoto.
It was the kind of irresistible attachment she could never get enough of.
For that reason, she was even willing to share that damned bastard with Yūgao.
...
Time flew by, and more than three years passed in the blink of an eye.
The timeline had now entered Year 63 of Konoha.
It was graduation season once again.
Today was the day Naruto and the others' class graduated from the Ninja Academy.
At the Fourth Hokage's invitation, Makoto had returned to the ranks of Konoha's shinobi, taking up the role of jōnin instructor for a rookie genin team, finally completing the missing piece in his ninja career.
As for the supposed final destination of all Konoha ninja—the position of Hokage—Makoto had absolutely no interest in it whatsoever.
A miserable job buried under endless troublesome paperwork? Whoever wanted it could have it. He certainly wasn't going to waste his life on something like that.
Actually, when Tenten, Neji, and Lee graduated the year before, Makoto had originally planned to lead the team containing his eldest disciple.
But then Guy came knocking on his door.
At present, Lee's physical foundation had already been polished to an exceptional level. He was at the critical stage of advancing deeper into the Eight Gates, so Guy intended to personally become his jōnin instructor and guide him at all times.
As for Tenten and Neji, they only needed to continue training according to the path Makoto had already laid out for them. There was nothing to worry about.
And so, Makoto did not refuse Guy's request and postponed his own turn as an instructor by another year.
Unfortunately, the world had already been changed into something entirely different because of him, meaning many iconic moments from the original timeline would never appear.
The first minor villain to show up—Mizuki the "Jellyfish Sage"... no, Mizuki the chūnin—had long since been thrown into Konoha Prison to "sell his ass" after attacking his comrades during a mission and getting investigated by the ANBU.
At this moment, several Konoha jōnin had gathered inside the Hokage's office.
Suddenly, Higashino Makoto appeared among them.
No one found it surprising anymore.
They were already used to this big shot constantly appearing and disappearing like a ghost.
At least the Fourth Hokage would throw out a kunai before using the Flying Thunder God Technique so people had something to look at first.
Makoto had long since moved beyond that stage, practically turning the Flying Thunder God into straight-up teleportation.
It was one of the results of his research into spatial techniques after his strength advanced dramatically.
"I'm not late, am I?"
Minato smiled slightly.
"No. Your timing is perfect."
After everyone exchanged greetings with Makoto, they turned their attention back toward the white wall, where footage from the graduation class was being displayed.
The image was projected from the spying crystal ball the Third Hokage often used.
Kushina had confiscated the crystal ball from Sarutobi Hiruzen using the excuse of "protecting the safety of all Konoha women," and while doing so, she had also ripped out a handful of the old pervert's beard hairs.
After getting his hands on this divine artifact, Minato had taken it one step further and turned it into a projector.
But unlike his teacher and the Third Hokage, the little sun was a proper Hokage and had no interest in using the crystal ball for such pointless activities.
Mainly because—even if he had the courage—he didn't have the guts.
Kushina had placed a seal on the crystal ball that allowed her to monitor its usage records at any time.
If he dared use it to spy on the women's bathhouse, he could forget about keeping that beautiful blond hair of his by the time he got home that night.
Makoto glanced around and recognized all the jōnin gathered here. Three of them were old acquaintances: Hyūga Tokuma, Sarutobi Asuma, and Yūhi Kurenai.
The once rebellious youth had now become a ruggedly handsome man with a beard. After suffering through a series of melodramatic disasters in the Land of Fire's capital, he had finally come to understand how difficult his old man's life had been. Three years ago, he returned to Konoha's ninja ranks and quickly rose to become an officially registered jōnin.
At present, he was unleashing the full power of simp techniques on the goddess of his dreams.
Honestly, Kakashi and the others deserved some praise as classmates. During the years Asuma had been away, none of them had stolen the gorgeous Yūhi Kurenai out from under him.
...
Inside the projected image, Sasuke—with "I'm cool" practically written across his face—and Naruto, who looked calm and composed, were the two handsome boys of the class, causing many of the female students to sneak glances at them while falling into a blissful dilemma over which one to choose.
That's right.
Uzumaki Naruto was a handsome boy.
The six whisker-like markings on his cheeks even added a touch of wild charm to his appearance.
After all, here, both his parents were alive and well, and he was the Hokage's son.
He wasn't the stray mutt from the original timeline that everyone hated and despised.
Naruto had never lacked nutrition growing up, dressed well, had excellent teachers, and took his Hokage father as his role model. He was one of the academy's genius students and constantly competed with Sasuke in every aspect.
In terms of image and temperament, he was extremely similar to the Naruto from the Infinite Tsukuyomi dream world in the original timeline.
Which was exactly why so many iconic scenes no longer existed.
Makoto held his forehead.
He kind of missed that hot-blooded idiot Naruto who felt like a stray dog by the roadside.
Inside the classroom, Umino Iruka was currently announcing the graduation team assignments.
Although he hadn't inherited his parents' talent as a shinobi, his ninja fundamentals were rich and solid, and his personality was approachable and patient, allowing him to become Naruto and the others' homeroom teacher all the same.
The assignments proceeded in an orderly manner, and soon it was Naruto's turn.
Iruka read from the list: "Team Seven: Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and... Haruno Sakura."
"YES!"
The moment the team members were finalized, Sakura instantly jumped out of her seat, welcoming the murderous gazes of every girl in the classroom.
In particular, Ino looked ready to smash her pink-haired sister's head open on the spot.
Naruto and Sasuke locked eyes.
Sparks flashed between them, overflowing with bromantic tension.
Both of them understood that, starting today, their rivalry would shift from the academy to their respective genin team.
The pink-haired girl of Team Seven remained pink-haired and had not turned into a redhead.
Karin had also graduated successfully, but she was not in the classroom and would not be assigned to any team for two reasons.
First, she possessed a healing constitution equal to Kaori's, perhaps even more overbearing. As her mother, Kaori did not want her becoming a mission-oriented ninja and only wished for her to live safely within Konoha.
Second, Karin's talent in Fūinjutsu was exceptional. She had awakened the Uzumaki Clan's unique bloodline sealing technique—Adamantine Sealing Chains—and had already been taken in by Uzumaki Kushina as her student, with the intention of training her into Konoha's next leader in sealing techniques.
Karin even possessed the exceedingly rare Mind's Eye of the Kagura among the Uzumaki Clan, practically inheriting all of the clan's greatest traits. Kushina had already begun treating her as the future heir of the Uzumaki Clan.
So although Karin really wanted to join a normal team, she ultimately chose filial duty over the shinobi path because she did not want her mother to worry.
Thus, Pink-Haired Sakura successfully rose to power.
Iruka continued: "Team Eight: Hyūga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino."
This team hadn't changed much at all, finally giving Makoto a small sense of familiarity again.
Kiba, with Akamaru perched on his head, looked full of enthusiasm, while Shino silently adjusted his sunglasses.
Little Hinata was poking her fingers together, her gaze drifting toward the handsome-version Naruto from time to time.
Fortunately, she hadn't transformed into some fiery and sexy Hyūga big sister and was still the same familiar timid Byakugan beauty.
As for why she kept sneaking glances at Naruto—it was because, when she was little and being bullied by Konoha's bratty children, Naruto had rescued her as well.
The difference was that Karin had also been there at the time.
The two Uzumakis had beaten a whole group of older kids into swollen pig heads.
"Team Nine: Sai, Shin, Kurama Yakumo."
The two boys with similarly styled outfits exchanged smiles. Though not related by blood, their temperaments were almost identical to those of real brothers.
The pale-skinned girl smiled softly.
It didn't matter who she ended up on a team with. Her dream of becoming a ninja had already taken its first successful step.
This was a team assignment arrangement that had never existed in the original timeline, all thanks to Higashino Makoto.
Sai and Shin had both been pulled out of Danzō's Root training base by him, and Shin's body had also been healed by him personally.
As for Kurama Yakumo—the girl whose overwhelming spiritual power had left her body frail and barely able to move—it was Makoto who treated and stabilized her condition as well.
The Kurama Clan had no particular relationship with Makoto. It was actually Yūhi Kurenai who had brought Kurama Unkai to seek his help.
Old Master Higashino was kindhearted and couldn't bear to see such a lovely young girl spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair.
Even though he himself had once been the ninja world's gold-medal wheelchair salesman, making this choice was admittedly a little unfair to all those wheelchair shop owners.
"Team Ten: Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chōji."
This team also remained unchanged and was unlikely to ever change.
Konoha's Ino-Shika-Chō formation could only unleash its greatest power when the three clans worked together.
Shikamaru drooped his eyelids with a helpless expression.
Starting today, his wonderful carefree days of slacking off at the ninja academy were officially over. Who knew how many troublesome things awaited him in the future?
Chōji was furiously stuffing himself with snacks, completely indifferent to the team assignments.
As long as he could continue happily hanging out with Shikamaru, everything was fine.
As for Ino?
The girl had collapsed onto her desk.
Emotionally dead.
The moment she learned she wouldn't be on the same team as Sasuke—especially after seeing Sakura's unbearably smug expression—she had already died inside.
If she couldn't be together with Sasuke, then what meaning did life even have?
Iruka finally concluded: "That's the full list of this year's team assignments. Does anyone have any objections?"
Ino instantly revived at full health and shouted together with several other girls: "We object!"
"Objections denied. Everyone go have lunch first. This afternoon, return here at the usual class time and wait for your assigned jōnin instructor."
The moment Iruka finished speaking, he vanished with a Body Flicker Technique.
Retreat, retreat!
The assignments had been decided by the Fourth Hokage himself. Even if his beloved students objected, there was nothing he could do about it.
After watching everything from beginning to end, Makoto frowned slightly as he realized something was wrong.
With the current team assignments, even without including Tenten's trio, the Konoha Twelve would already be complete.
Now there were fifteen of them.
If they all gathered together for a summoning ritual, even the Earth Dragon God wouldn't have enough presence anymore.
At that point, they'd need Porunga himself to make an appearance.
Sure enough, under the influence of Saint Higashino the Great Philanthropist, Konoha had become even stronger than it was in his memories.
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