This Naruto Is a Player!

The next day, Training Ground Three.

Naruto was gloriously late.

He had been in the [Duel Arena] all last night.

From the time Naruto picked a fight with Sasuke, from when he was 12 to when Sasuke was 32.

Although he won every time, battles of that scale were mentally exhausting, and Naruto still felt a bit dazed.

What was even more frustrating was that this [Duel Arena] didn't have the recovery functions of the training space.

This crappy game, is it trying to make him spend money on recovery items?

What a rip-off!

Fortunately, he had plenty of money, so he just bought them.

But Old Bear and the old man would have to work harder from now on.

He still had many opponents he wanted to challenge.

There was also good news: yesterday in the Duel Arena, by continuously defeating two major protagonists, Naruto had confirmed that he was invincible!

But being invincible didn't mean he was going to immediately "mount the throne" and become "emperor."

Setting aside how exhausting being "emperor" would be.

Outside of Konoha Village, he was completely clueless, knowing only the names of some powerful individuals in the Five Great Nations, but almost nothing else.

Social structure, economic structure, population composition, geographical layout...

Basically: ask him anything, and he'd clam up.

Becoming "emperor" now would likely make the vast ninja world even more chaotic than before the "Era of Hidden Villages."

As for the details of governance, it would probably be a case of: things falling apart the moment he let go, and dying the moment he tightened his grip.

He, Naruto, was here to join this world, not to destroy it.

So, he needed to take things slowly.

At this moment, Naruto suddenly felt that the number of his clones was insufficient. He really needed more clones to expand his influence and, incidentally, start understanding this ninja world.

For the first 12 years, his horizons were limited to Konoha Village; he hadn't even left the village.

Since he had decided to change the ninja world at 16, he needed to start preparing now, to actively engage with the ninja world and gather intelligence.

Fortunately, he had already become a genin, and he was bound to undertake missions outside the village, so there would be many opportunities in the future.

Additionally, Old Godfather Fast Food needed to be expanded worldwide.

This also required a lot of manpower.

Besides that, Naruto had many other things he wanted to do, all of which required manpower.

Thankfully, Naruto had recently solved the problem of his clones being discovered. Now, each clone could be a real person, even leaving a corpse if they died.

However, there was an unexpected problem.

Naruto's clones, they were quite unusual.

He didn't know if the game had mutated or if his clones had mutated, but each of Naruto's clones had their own thoughts.

Old Godfather's founder, the old man, wasn't an anomaly.

The new two-and-a-half-year trainee, Master Healer Xiong Fengshan, was also just as individualistic.

Xiong Fengshan firmly believed he was a legendary physician from the Qinling Mountains, a venerable master of traditional Chinese medicine with 50 years of experience. He even believed he was a royal physician, adhering to the Xiong family's secret remedies, and so on.

Fortunately, these clones only had diverse personalities and no other flaws. They were all diligently completing the tasks he assigned.

However, since these clones were so unique and individual, he hoped they wouldn't cause trouble in the future and betray their "master."

Back to the present.

Looking up, Naruto saw that Sasuke and Sakura had already arrived.

Both were looking at him. Sasuke seemed quite indifferent, while Sakura appeared a bit impatient.

"Sorry, I'm late."

He apologized and joined the team.

"Has Kakashi-sensei not arrived yet?" Naruto asked knowingly, diverting the blame.

"King of tardiness!"

Naruto heard a hint of anger in Sakura's tone, as if that was why she was upset.

Yesterday's lateness was because he was spying.

Today's lateness was because he was currently at the memorial stone, mourning someone.

Forget it, why think so much.

Suppressing his thoughts, Naruto scrutinized Sasuke.

He was very curious why this guy, who was doing perfectly fine in Konoha, would betray the village.

Was it for revenge?

A bit strange. I'll have to pay more attention in the future.

"Hm? What's wrong?"

Noticing Naruto's gaze, Sasuke asked, looking rather puzzled.

"Did you eat?" Naruto asked casually.

"Yes, did you not eat?"

He was stumped by the question. It seemed he really hadn't eaten.

"That's not important."

He answered vaguely, and under Sasuke's suspicious gaze, Naruto lay down on the ground and closed his eyes to rest for a moment.

In the original story, Sasuke would defect, but this version of Sasuke shouldn't defect. He should just stay in the team as his assistant. Once he, Naruto, got his "yellow robe," he'd appoint Sasuke a general.

At that time, Shikamaru would be the strategist, and Choji would be in charge of logistics.

Wait, hopefully, Choji doesn't eat all the supplies.

While Naruto was indulging in his boring fantasies, Kakashi finally arrived, fashionably late.

Amidst Sakura's complaints, Kakashi sincerely apologized.

"Sorry, on the way here, I encountered a black cat blocking my path and lost my sense of direction in life."

Sakura would really thank him for this excuse. She had heard it twice yesterday; would she still believe it?

She complained weakly, "Sensei, that excuse has already been used. Come up with a new one!"

Huh? Used already?

Kakashi glanced at the culprit and saw Naruto casually picking his nose, looking as if he wanted no part of it.

He stiffly changed the subject, "Ahem, that's enough. Now, let's begin the combat exercise."

Pulling out two bells from his pocket, Kakashi said, "Your mission is to take these two bells. If you don't get them, you'll—"

Without the threat of being sent back to the Academy, Kakashi was momentarily at a loss for how to make them give their all.

"Um, anyway, you need to go all out to grab them."

Hearing this, Naruto stopped picking his nose and his eyes narrowed slightly.

Go all out?

Are you sure?

He opened his innocent eyes. "Sensei, are you really sure you won't get hurt?"

"No problem. Come at me with the resolve to kill me."

Naruto nodded, indicating his understanding.

He didn't plan to go all out; then there would be nothing left to play with.

Moreover, the ninja world was very secretive; any growth in strength would be attributed to a cause. So, Naruto planned to gradually reveal his talent and strength.

Today was the first step.

"Sasuke!"

Naruto roared, making the first move.

He threw six shuriken as a preemptive strike, simultaneously rushing towards Kakashi with a kunai in hand.

This was their first time cooperating; he wondered if Sasuke would understand what he meant.

'This guy!'

Sasuke couldn't understand why Naruto, a mere genin, dared to charge directly at a jonin.

But thinking of Naruto's gaze yesterday, he decided to take a gamble.

Throwing three shuriken, he also charged towards Kakashi.

Thud thud thud~

The shuriken flew incredibly fast, but the Kakashi-sensei that was hit turned into a wooden stake—it was a Substitution Jutsu.

"Here!"

Naruto turned and stabbed.

'What!'

Kakashi, who had appeared for a sneak attack from behind, was pierced the moment he emerged, as if he had run onto the kunai himself.

Bang~

The clone dissipated into smoke, its eyes filled with astonishment before vanishing.

Not enough!

Naruto began to form hand signs where he stood, controlling his speed to avoid frightening anyone by being too fast.

However, he hadn't formed hand signs in years, and it felt a bit unfamiliar.

Kakashi, who had been hiding in a tree, watched silently.

The sensation from his clone felt exceptionally real. Remembering how he was discovered yesterday, it seemed Naruto must possess some kind of sensory ability.

Looking at this ninjutsu, though he knew a thousand jutsus, he had never seen such a hand seal sequence.

Although he didn't know what ninjutsu it was, his extensive experience told him it was some kind of Fire Style.

Naruto, who had been forming hand signs sideways, suddenly turned and stared at the tree he was in.

"Fire Style: Firefly Cannon!"

Over a dozen glowing, ping-pong ball-sized orbs, much faster than shuriken, shot towards him.

Sensing the terrifying fire-attribute chakra contained within these light spheres.

Kakashi inwardly cursed: This is bad!

Boom boom boom~~~

The violent explosion and high temperature almost blew Sakura away, even from over ten meters away.

Sasuke also hunkered down to steady himself, while Naruto stood firmly using chakra, the raging air currents still making his clothes flap wildly.

Cough cough~

A cough sounded, and Kakashi emerged from the smoke.

A section of his white hair was singed and still smoking, his entire body looked miserable, and his clothes had numerous holes.

Naruto knew that Kakashi-sensei had used an Earth Style Jutsu to escape.

"Kakashi-sensei, I warned you yesterday that I'm a sensor ninja. Underestimating us comes at a price," Naruto said, smiling with extreme humility.

Hearing this, Kakashi nodded seriously.

Sensor ninjas are indeed a bit troublesome. Also, is this brat really a fresh Academy graduate?

The Third Hokage lied to him.

However, this was Minato-sensei's child after all.

A genius? It's only natural.

Seeing that blond hair, Kakashi thought of the warm man he once knew.

Although he was in a sorry state, thinking of Minato-sensei unexpectedly filled him with immense comfort.

"Now I'm getting serious!"