The cleanup work on the Hokage Rock was proceeding in an orderly manner.
Naruto hung from a rope, swaying left and right like a pendulum, clutching a damp cloth as he scrubbed hard at the exaggerated sausage lips on the Fourth Hokage's statue.
The paint hadn't completely dried yet, making it extra difficult to wipe off. Beads of sweat were already forming on his forehead.
"Menma-nii—" Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs while scrubbing furiously. "Let's get Ichiraku Ramen after we finish cleaning this up! My treat! We'll invite Iruka-sensei too!"
His voice was full of energy, showing no signs of dejection from being scolded.
Over these years, Naruto's life had indeed changed significantly compared to the original work.
Thanks to Menma's arrangements, Naruto no longer had to worry about being turned away by convenience store owners or having to survive on instant ramen every day.
Menma owned many businesses… Gato Department Store, chain restaurants, and other shops… all of which kept their doors wide open for Naruto.
At twelve years old, Naruto was a head taller than most kids his age, with a sturdy build and a smile brighter than ever.
Although the villagers' prejudice against him still existed, at least financially, he never had to worry about survival again.
Menma was currently standing atop Hashirama's statue, using Chakra to adhere to the rock surface, standing steadily.
Hearing Naruto's words, he looked up at Iruka, who was still sulking on the viewing platform, and a faint smile tugged at his lips. "Finish cleaning this first. If Iruka-sensei isn't satisfied, he might assign you double the homework."
"Uwaa—" Naruto's face instantly fell.
While the Konoha's Ninja Academy's curriculum focused mainly on practical combat training, theoretical courses were equally important. Chakra theory, tactical analysis, intelligence gathering and analysis, and even trajectory calculations for kunai throwing had to be learned.
For Naruto, these dry subjects were pure torture.
His theoretical grades were always at the bottom in every exam.
Just the thought of facing a mountain of worksheets made Naruto speed up his paint-cleaning efforts, muttering under his breath, "I'll scrub! I'll scrub! I'll scrub really hard!"
Just then, a crisp yet fiery voice rang out from above. "Hey! Naruto! You idiot! Every time you cause trouble, we have to clean up your mess! Hurry up! At this rate, we won't finish before sunset!"
Before the words finished, a wet scrubber came flying down from above, landing squarely on Naruto's face.
"Pfft— ow!" Naruto yelped in pain, nearly dropping the damp cloth in his hand.
He looked up to see Hinata standing with her hands on her hips atop Hiruzen's statue. The zipper of her originally white tracksuit was wide open, revealing the mesh shirt inside and her smooth abdomen, her white eyes glaring at him.
Unlike the usually shy and introverted Hinata, her current gaze was sharp, her expression bold, radiating an aura of a 'big sister boss'.
Among his peers, Naruto feared this bossy version of Hinata the most.
Because this big sister boss really would hit him.
"S-sorry! I'll speed up right away!" Naruto immediately backed down, doubling the speed of his scrubbing.
Menma watched this scene, chuckled softly, and shook his head.
He lifted his foot, concentrating Chakra on its sole, then easily walked down Hashirama's statue, moving along the vertical cliff face as if strolling on level ground, starting to clean the neon yellow graffiti off Tobirama's statue.
Naruto stared, his eyes wide with amazement.
"Menma-nii! How are you doing that?!" Naruto, momentarily forgetting his fear of being scolded by Big Sis Hinata in his excitement, exclaimed, "Teach me! Teach me!"
Menma raised one foot, showing Naruto the sole. "It's simple. Just focus Chakra on the soles of your feet and maintain a stable output. The same principle applies to water walking and tree climbing. You can learn it once your Chakra Control gets a bit better."
"I want to try!" Naruto eagerly attempted it.
He closed his eyes, trying hard to mobilize the Chakra within his body, attempting to gather it at his feet.
But a problem quickly arose. The Nine-Tails inside him interfered with his own Chakra, making Naruto's Chakra extremely difficult to control.
The Chakra Output was erratic… sometimes too much, sometimes too little, sometimes strong, sometimes weak… impossible to stabilize.
"Uwaa—!"
With a yelp, the Chakra at Naruto's feet suddenly went out of control and erupted, sending his entire body flying backward!
If not for the rope still tied around his waist, he would have already fallen off the hundred-meter-high Hokage Rock.
Now, Naruto swayed in the air like a human pendulum, his face pale, his heart pounding wildly.
"Hahahaha!" Hinata, seeing Naruto's pathetic state, pointed at him and laughed heartily, her laughter clear and loud.
Even Menma, who usually had little expression, couldn't help but shake his head at Naruto's flailing comically, a look of both exasperation and amusement on his face.
"Stupid Naruto! Chakra Control isn't something you can just mess with like that!" Hinata finished laughing, hands on hips, speaking in a lecturing tone. "You need to calm down, slowly concentrate Chakra to your feet, feel the Chakra there, like this—"
As she spoke, she deliberately took a couple of light steps on the rock face, displaying her skilled control.
On the viewing platform, Iruka leaned on the railing, watching the interaction between the three kids below, a complex expression on his face.
He stroked his chin, thoughtful. "Menma and Hinata... they've already mastered Chakra Control to this level before even graduating?"
As a teacher, Iruka understood perfectly what this meant.
Being able to use Chakra to adhere to and walk on vertical surfaces required extremely precise Chakra Control, a technique typically only stably mastered by Chunin.
"But—" A trace of a proud smile appeared at the corner of Iruka's mouth. "Then again, Menma is this year's top student. Even in the history of the Ninja Academy, few have surpassed him. I believe after graduation next year, he will definitely become an outstanding Ninja!"
His gaze towards Menma was full of expectation.
Meanwhile, inside the Hokage's office in the Hokage Building.
Behind the desk piled high with various documents and scrolls was an entire wall of glass windows, allowing the person sitting at the desk to have a panoramic view of Konoha in their spare time, even seeing part of the distant Hokage Rock.
At this moment, the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, stood before this glass wall.
His Hokage hat rested on the desk. He wore only his Hokage robe over his clothes, a long-stemmed pipe held in his mouth, white smoke slowly drifting out.
The afternoon sun streamed through the glass, illuminating the deep wrinkles on his face and his gray beard.
His gaze was fixed on the distant Hokage Rock.
Even from this distance, the three tiny figures cleaning the graffiti on the rocks were visible, along with faint sounds of laughter and shouts that occasionally carried over.
Watching Naruto clumsily hanging and wiping, Menma and Hinata walking nimbly like agile mountain goats on the steep face to help, the three kids' intermittent, faint sounds of playfulness brought a warm, reminiscent smile to Hiruzen's deeply lined face.
He took a gentle puff from his pipe, slowly exhaling a gray smoke ring, murmuring with emotion, "Youth is wonderful... so full of vitality, carefree..."
It was as if he saw himself, decades ago, with Danzo, Koharu, Homura, and also Uchiha Kagami, training and playing together at the Ninja Academy.
Naruto's 'great achievements' in the village naturally hadn't escaped his notice.
In fact, the Anbu responsible for Naruto's covert protection had reported as soon as Naruto climbed the Hokage Rock.
But Hiruzen hadn't intervened immediately. Instead, he called Iruka, letting this teacher who had the best relationship with Naruto handle it.
He wanted to give Naruto some space to be a 'normal child'… to make mistakes, be scolded, and then correct them.
Not to be monitored 24/7 by the Anbu like a dangerous object.
For Naruto, he always held a complex mix of guilt and affection, hoping he could grow up safely yet unwilling to interfere excessively to avoid drawing attention from spies of other Ninja Villages.
Having Iruka discipline him in the capacity of a teacher was the most appropriate way.
"Huu—"
He let out a puff of smoke, about to turn around, when suddenly he heard the sound of a window being pushed open behind him.
Creak—
A ventilation window on the side of the office was pushed open from the outside. A white head poked in, followed by a red haori, geta...
Jiraiya flipped in like a nimble cat, landing steadily, patting the dust off his clothes.
"Yo, old man, long time no see! You look pretty spirited!"
Hiruzen was long accustomed to Jiraiya's unconventional entrances. He slowly turned around, taking the pipe from his lips, a relieved smile of an elder seeing a long-absent wanderer on his face. "What, after wandering outside for two years, you finally remembered to come back?"
"Hey, don't put it like that," Jiraiya walked to the side of the desk. "I just missed Konoha's hot springs and taverns. No matter how good those outside places are, they can't compare to the warmth of home."
His gaze casually swept over the desktop and suddenly stopped.
On the desk, a book lay open.
A dark blue cover with a gilded title: [The Spark].
The paper and printing quality of the book were noticeably different from common books in the Land of Fire.
The pages were already somewhat dog-eared from frequent use, with many paragraphs underlined in red and densely packed notes scribbled in the margins.
Jiraiya's expression turned serious.
He reached out, picked up the book, flipped through a few pages, confirming the content.
"A book from the Land of Stars..." He looked up at Hiruzen's back. "Old man, since when did you start studying this?"
Hiruzen finally turned around, walked behind the desk, and sat down, gently tapping his pipe against the ashtray's edge.
"I had the Anbu collect it years ago," His voice was calm. "The Land of Stars' rise was too rapid. We at least need to know what they're thinking, what they're doing, to better respond to sudden changes, even... war."
This book was indeed one of the many collected by Kakashi during his mission to the Land of Stars years ago, under orders.
But what Hiruzen didn't say was that he had read this book far more times than necessary for merely 'studying the enemy's situation'.
Jiraiya put the book down, fingers tapping lightly on the cover.
The author's signature was [Land of Stars' Social Research Institute], but it was rumored to be written by the ruler of the Land of Stars.
The content was about theories of social change, state governance, and... revolution.
As for many of the viewpoints proposed in the book, Jiraiya had witnessed being put into practice during his two years of traveling in the Land of Stars.
Those efficient administrative systems, those policies benefiting commoners, those new models of using Ninja power for construction rather than slaughter...
"This book..." Jiraiya chose his words carefully. "After reading it, what are your thoughts?"
Hiruzen was silent for a long time.
The office was quiet, filled only with the slight crackle of burning tobacco in the pipe and the faint sound of wind from outside the window.
Finally, he slowly spoke. "It's very well-written. The theory is complete, the logic rigorous. If the Land of Stars truly builds according to the idea in this book, then this country will become very powerful, very prosperous, and also... terrifying."
After a pause, Hiruzen added, "But Konoha is not the Land of Stars. The Land of Fire is not the Land of Stars. We have our own path."
Jiraiya looked at Hiruzen, at the deep wrinkles on his teacher's face and the weariness in his eyes.
He suddenly realized that over these two years, the old man had aged a lot.
Not because of age, but because of pressure.
Pressure from Danzo, pressure from the Daimyo, pressure from other Ninja Villages, and... pressure from that rapidly rising Land of Stars.