8

"As the old Leaves fall and burn, their Fire will Nurture the New Generations. This is the Will of Fire, and now, I wish to pass it on to you, the future generations of Konoha. Strive to be the best you can be, and accomplish all the dreams and goals you hold in your heart.

And with this, I declare that the next batch of Konoha's youngsters start their Academy!!" The speech of the old man, or Jiji as Naruto call him, was followed by a round of loud applause.

As the man walked down the podium, he glanced at each child below, while his gaze lingered on Naruto a while longer than normal.

'It seems this batch has a lot of clan heirs. Putting him in the first class will be an extra layer of protection for him.' The hokage thought to himself.

"Wow, that was the Hokage. He was so cool. I want to be like him when I grow up. I want to be the strongest." Similar variations of the phrase were being uttered by all the children who were ushered by their homeroom teachers standing in front of their lines.

"You guys' won't be the strongest now that I am here. With brother, I won't settle with being number two." Naruto said to himself, full of confidence as he followed the homeroom teacher to their class.

.

"Wow, so he still made it to the first class. Class 1-A. Its like all the protagonists of all Shonen manga end up in 1-A or 2-A. Weird." Hiroki commented as he briefly observed the screen displaying Naruto's vision while he passed time reading Demon Slayer for the eleventh time, all times having his memories supressed, of course.

"Why did you send the kit to that school. He will just be shunned even more. That's how those humans are. Hate is passed on from the parent to the child. Even if they don't know why he gets the hate of his parents, they will still hate him to the bone." Kurama commented as he watched a movie about a super soldier out of time.

"Yeah. Most humans are like that. But from what I know from Minato's memories, most of these clan leaders will not be stupid enough to explicitly tell their children to hate Naruto. Especially that Pineapple Head's father. From what I understand, he will encourage his child to make the decision himself. If the child is anything like his father, he will make the correct choice.

Then there's the Hyuga heiress. You and I both know that she has the hots for our boy, ever since he saved her from those bullies. While she might be shy, she won't hate him at all.

That kid with the puppy on his head, he will probably see Naruto as a rival. The Inuzuka can instinctively sense the potential of someone, and they mark them as their rivals. That's the way they grow stronger.

The fatty with the snacks, he's a foodie, so is Naruto. They can bond over that.

That Yamanaka girl could be friends with him. They have interacted briefly before in the park. And she didn't shy away from him then. The Yamanaka head won't be stupid enough to antagonise the vessel of the nine tails.

The Aburame heir, the one with the bugs on his body, he is quiet and reserved, he won't be overly friendly with the kid, but won't hate him as well. He will probably stay neutral, all to himself."

From the brief contact Hiroki had with the clan heirs through Naruto, he completed his full analysis in seconds.

While he could have just referred to the source material for this information, where would the fun be. Being stuck in a human vessel with no way out at the moment, Hiroki chose to supress the plot of Naruto inside his mind and letting the events flow without interference.

.

"Welcome back bro. How was your first day?" As soon as Naruto reached home, he entered his mindscape, and rushed towards his big brother.

"It was sooo awesome. I got to meet so many people of the same age as me. There was this one kid that was full on foodie, and when I started talking with him, he shared with me his potato chips.

Then there was this other kid, but he was sooo lazy. He was sleeping the whole time. But we got to talking during recess. He says his hobby is cloud watching. Pretty weird right. But who am I to judge? Also, the other kid who offered me his chips asked me for a taste of my food, and he said it was one of the best he has ever tasted. Almost as good as his dad's.

But there was this one boy who was all brooding and acting cool, but I could feel he was also excited to start the new academy. I didn't get to talk with him though.

And, and do you remember that girl I saved from those bullies, she was here too. She was all shy and awkward, but we talked for a while with her…." And on and on Naruto went.

Hiroki had made a rule, he would not interfere with Naruto's life other than when he came home or to study. All the other times, Hiroki would just spend time with either Kurama, discussing and theorising the plots of some manga while having memories supressed, or would binge a few TV shows.

Hours went by and Naruto finally got tired of talking and studying, so, after eating a quick healthy dinner, he was off to bed.

"Good Night Hiroki." "Good night, Naruto. Sweet Dreams"

.

.

.