What a comfortable night!
Menma slept straight through until dawn.
Apart from his days as a helpless infant, this was the first time since arriving in this world that he hadn't woken up at the crack of dawn.
This rare experience, combined with the events of last night, left him feeling strangely refreshed as he stood by the window, gazing at the distant scenery.
After a quick clean-up and breakfast, Menma put on his usual outfit. He tied his new forehead protector securely around his forehead, pushed open the door, and strode toward the Ninja Academy.
This time was different.
Menma didn't take the quiet back alleys to avoid people.
Instead, like any other student, he walked confidently down the main road, bathed in the morning light. The streets were already crowded with people, shops were open, and the atmosphere was lively.
But this time...
Menma didn't hear any whispered insults or see any naked hostility. The moment the villagers saw the Leaf forehead protector shining on his forehead, their faces instinctively tightened.
In this world, ninjas were a special class.
They might still dislike Menma—they might still gossip about him and isolate him in private—but they absolutely could not show their malice openly anymore.
Or at least, not as blatantly as before.
Gone were the days when they would curse him to his face when no one was around.
The status gap between a ninja and a civilian was like heaven and earth.
Now, when they looked at Menma, their eyes were filled with apprehension and fear.
Menma kept his expression calm as he walked through the crowd. He wasn't doing this out of some sadistic desire to see their reactions; he simply felt that he could finally walk in the light.
Before, the malicious glares and insults were unbearable for anyone, and Menma wasn't a masochist. So he had chosen the quiet paths. But now that he was officially a ninja, he didn't need to worry about such petty things.
He walked straight through the crowd.
The civilians pretended not to see him.
Only after Menma had passed did they look at his retreating back with complicated expressions.
I can't believe that brat actually became a ninja!
What is Lord Third thinking?
Sigh...
Unbelievable...
They knew that from today on, everything had changed.
Menma, already far away, couldn't know their thoughts—and even if he did, he wouldn't care.
Right now, his mind was occupied with the upcoming team assignments. Who would he be grouped with?
Although he had replaced the original "Naruto," he wasn't Naruto.
In this timeline, Minato and Kushina had twins.
He was Menma Uzumaki.
And he had a younger brother, Naruto Namikaze.
With one extra person in the mix, everything would naturally be different.
The only thing he could be relatively sure of was that his Jōnin sensei would likely still be Kakashi Hatake. In the current Hidden Leaf, no one was more suitable for the job than Kakashi.
It all depends on how that old man arranges things.
Menma arrived at the bustling Academy, a thoughtful look in his eyes.
He walked into the school.
Along the way, he saw his fellow graduates. Their faces were filled with excitement and longing, as if they could already see themselves completing high-rank missions and becoming village heroes.
Menma could only shake his head at their fantasies.
The Leaf had been too peaceful in recent years.
It had turned these graduates into greenhouse flowers. These ordinary students were just too young, too simple.
To put it bluntly...
Dying on a random C-rank mission shortly after graduation wouldn't be surprising at all.
Geniuses were few and far between.
Those who received special treatment were also a minority.
The original story made this crystal clear.
Not everyone was qualified to join a team led by a Jōnin. Not everyone could stand out in this cruel ninja world.
The top ninjas who shook the world—every single one of them had hands stained with blood. Their reputations were built on piles of bones.
Without talent, without background, and without the right mindset...
Frankly speaking, their futures were bleak.
They would likely become just another set of bones in the pile.
Even Menma was no exception. The path he had chosen was treacherous; one misstep, and he would end up dead just like them.
This is a sign of the Leaf's decline. Peace breeds complacency...
Menma sighed internally.
"Oh?! If it isn't our Number One Student! You're actually late today? The graduation ceremony is about to start!"
Woof! Woof!
As soon as Menma entered the classroom...
Before he could even reach his seat, a loud voice and the sound of a puppy barking reached his ears.
He didn't need to turn his head to know who it was.
In their class—hell, in their entire grade—there was only one student who brought a dog to school: Kiba Inuzuka of the Inuzuka Clan.
Kiba was one of the few classmates Menma had actually interacted with. Menma hadn't sought it out, but he couldn't stop people from approaching him.
Kiba was one of those people.
Menma wasn't going to be rude to someone being friendly, so he maintained a standard classmate relationship with him.
"Ah, it's Kiba. I trained a bit late last night, so I overslept. But hey, I'm not late, right?"
Menma smiled and replied softly.
"Tsk, tsk. Already Number One and still working so hard? You're crazy, Menma," Kiba marveled, shaking his head.
Woof! Woof!
"That's exactly why Menma is always at the top of the class, Kiba. He's different from you."
Two more figures walked over from the side.
The one on the left was wide enough to be two Menmas. He was happily munching on potato chips while he spoke.
This was Chōji Akimichi, the son of the Akimichi Clan head.
Walking beside him, with his hair tied in a pineapple ponytail and a lazy expression on his face, was the IQ ceiling of the original series: Shikamaru Nara!