From Naruto onwards, I've become a dreamer.

Chapter 438 Naruto's Change

When Naruto opened his eyes again, he found himself lying in a hospital bed.

The pristine white ceiling and the pungent smell of disinfectant clearly indicate that this is a hospital.

After a brief reboot, the brain suddenly flashed through images of the battle, the last frame seemingly frozen on Gaara's disdainful gaze.

But why is he at Konoha Hospital?
Shouldn't I be in the central tower of the Forest of Death, competing with Gaara for a spot in the Chunin Exams?

A series of questions immediately occupied his mind.

Just then, the sound of the door opening interrupted Naruto's thoughts. He turned to look at the door and saw Sasuke and Sakura.

"Great! You're finally awake, Naruto!"

Sakura walked over with a bouquet of flowers and a big smile on her face: "It's good that you're awake. Don't make us worry so much next time."

"Sakura, Sasuke"

Naruto looked at the two people who had come to visit him, hesitated for a few seconds, and finally voiced the question that had been on his mind: "Did I lose?"

Upon hearing this, Sakura and Sasuke's expressions changed slightly, but they both fell silent.

Seeing their reactions, Naruto's heart, which had been pounding in his chest, finally gave way completely. He hung his head in dejection, saying, "Is that so? I really lost."

"It's okay, it was just a battle, don't take it to heart." Sasuke looked at Naruto's dejected face and comforted him with some heartache. "Besides, it's not your fault. That guy tampered with your body. If he hadn't, you definitely wouldn't have lost."

"Yeah, yeah, it's just an exam, didn't I lose it too?"

Sakura sat casually on the edge of the bed, patting Naruto's shoulder, trying to comfort him.

"I am fine."

Naruto lowered his head, looking like a stiff corpse, and said in a hoarse voice, "Sorry, I'm a little tired. Can you please leave? I want to be alone for a while."

Sakura wanted to try to persuade her again, but Sasuke stopped her.

"Never mind, let him have some peace and quiet."

Sasuke's eyes showed a hint of worry, but she could also understand Naruto's disappointment at this moment.

I worked so hard to gain the village's recognition. I took the exam with full confidence, but I failed at the third stage.

Moreover, they were almost completely powerless to fight back and were defeated in a crushing manner.

More importantly, Gaara's simple words shattered the boy's pride into pieces.

Although Sasuke and Sakura were still very worried about Naruto's current condition, they respected his choice and quietly left the ward.

In the empty hospital room, Naruto sat alone on the hospital bed.

But the words Orochimaru had said to him that day kept flashing through his mind: If you want to know where your parents are, go find them.
What followed was Gaara's cold and disdainful gaze.

He was so weak that he had no power to resist. He was determined to find his parents, to gain the villagers' approval, and to become the greatest Hokage.

But in the end, he accomplished nothing.

"I'm too weak."

Naruto lowered his eyes, looking at his palm wrapped in bandages, and a strong desire suddenly welled up in his heart.

He wants to become stronger!

He needs to find his missing parents!
If I had power, things wouldn't have turned out this way.

If he were a little stronger, he wouldn't have lost to Gaara.

If you become powerful enough to ignore everything, then you won't need to care about other people's opinions!
Even Naruto himself didn't realize that his thoughts had suddenly changed without him noticing.

If Sakura and Sasuke were still here, they would surely notice the astonishing, mysterious patterns spreading in Naruto's eyes, exuding an indescribable eeriness.

After leaving the ward, Sakura was still worried and looked back at the window: "Is Naruto really okay?"

"Don't forget, he's Naruto."

Sasuke smiled slightly, tucked a strand of hair behind his ear, and his eyes seemed to sparkle: "From childhood to adulthood, he has endured so many blows, but has he ever been truly defeated?"

After thinking about it, it seemed that was indeed the case. Sakura felt much more at ease and turned to stare at Sasuke with a mischievous look.

"What. What's wrong?"

Sasuke took two steps back in fear.

But then Sakura came closer, her eyes seemingly burning with gossip, and her expression was indescribable.

God knows why a cute girl could make such a lewd expression.

"What's wrong with you?" Sasuke asked, trembling.

Sakura pressed herself against Sasuke, hooking her arms around his to prevent him from pulling away. Then she leaned in and whispered in his ear, "Do you...like Naruto?"

hum!
In an instant, Sasuke's head seemed to boil over like a kettle, steaming out white vapor.

Then her entire face turned red at a visible speed, and her translucent earlobes turned as red as steamed shrimp.

"No, no, no, I didn't!"

Sasuke was visibly flustered, his words tumbling out incoherently: "I-I-I-I... No, no, no, no... Who said I have a crush on Naruto?!"

"Hahahaha"

However, in Sakura's eyes, this scene was undoubtedly the most direct evidence.

"Still pretending? Look how red your face is!" She nudged Sasuke with her elbow, like a cunning fox: "Tsk tsk tsk, who would have thought that our genius girl of this year, Uchiha Sasuke, would fall into the hands of a loser? This is big news!"

"No! I'm not! Don't talk nonsense!"

Sasuke waved his hands frantically, denying it three times in a row.

But just as Sakura said, her blushing face was the best evidence.

"Hey, can you tell me why you like Naruto?" Sakura felt her gossipy heart burning brightly.

Sasuke's rebuttal, "I didn't," grew increasingly feeble.

"Oh, okay, okay, it's not that I like him." Sakura cleverly changed the subject: "Then tell me, why do you admire Naruto? What are his good qualities?"

"Probably... it was that time in the Land of Waves."

Sasuke's eyes were unfocused, as if he were lost in memories.

"The Country of Waves?"

Sakura paused for a moment, then nodded in agreement: "That's right, that mission was indeed very dangerous."

However, Sasuke just smiled and didn't explain.

That mission in the Land of Waves was probably the most difficult escort mission their team had ever undertaken.

They encountered the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist from Kirigakure, Zabuza the Demon and Haku the Ice Release ninja, who nearly drove them to the brink of defeat.

So when she and Naruto were trapped in the white magic mirror's ice crystals, and their chakra and stamina were on the verge of being exhausted, facing ice spikes attacking from all directions, it was Naruto who acted decisively, protecting her in his arms and using his own body to shield her from the fatal attacks.

Perhaps it was from that moment that Sasuke began to see Naruto in a new light.

She secretly watched Naruto several times, noticing him collapsing from exhaustion during practice, and also saw the forlorn expression on his face when he was alone.

They are the same, yet somewhat different.

It was for these reasons that Sasuke couldn't help but want to understand the other person more deeply.

"Seriously, Kakashi-sensei is so irresponsible!"

Sakura sighed and complained with a face full of resentment, "The Chunin Exams are almost here, and instead of coming to cheer us on, we can't find anyone all day long, really!" Sasuke had long given up hope on that irresponsible Jonin instructor: "After this Chunin Exams are over, I will report to the Hokage and ask him to give us a new Jonin instructor."

"what?"

Upon hearing this, Sakura was somewhat incredulous, but then asked with some concern, "Wouldn't it be wrong to do this?"

Replacing a Jonin instructor is extremely rare, unless there are very special circumstances, such as the Jonin instructor of the squad being killed in battle, defecting from the village, or losing his ninja qualification.

“I’d rather offend an irresponsible person than let him guide us.”

Sasuke also complained about Kakashi, saying firmly, "I can't just stand by and watch him waste our time like this."

"uh-huh?"

Sakura suddenly seemed to understand something, and asked slyly, "Is it for 'us,' or for 'Naruto'?"

"It's us."

Sasuke emphasized it again.

Unfortunately, her bright red earlobes betrayed her true thoughts.

"Hahaha"

Sakura covered her mouth and chuckled softly, knowing full well but saying nothing.

"By the way, you'll be training a lot during this time, right?" she suddenly asked.

"Ah."

Sasuke nodded, then said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I can't stay with you, Sakura."

"It's okay~ You must keep going!"

Sakura clenched her fists, her eyes fierce, and said, "When the time comes, we must defeat that gourd-headed brat from the Sand Village and avenge Naruto!"

"Don't worry, it will happen!"

Sasuke's eyes were full of confidence; half a month of training time was enough for her to fully master 'Instantaneous Strike'!

night.

A mysterious person suddenly appeared at the memorial stone in a remote part of Konoha.

With a full head of silver hair and wearing a half-mask, he was none other than Kakashi Hatake, whom Sasuke and Sakura had mentioned as having been missing for a long time.

He placed a bouquet of pure white flowers down, stood silently before the memorial stone, and gazed at the name engraved on it. His gaze finally settled on a certain spot, his eyes filled with complex emotions. He murmured to himself, "Lord Zongyue, what would you have done if it were you?"

He came here seeking an answer.

But obviously, a dead person cannot answer his question.

Kakashi gazed at the moonlight and sighed, "Seriously, is it so hard to just be alone for a while?"

In the pitch-black night, several dark figures appeared abruptly in the surroundings like ghosts, without making the slightest movement.

By the moonlight, all those people were wearing animal masks.

"Kakashi Hatake, I've finally found you."

The cat-faced ANBU member, exuding a chilling aura, coldly said, "The Hokage has ordered that once your whereabouts are discovered, you must be brought before him immediately."

Looking at the dozen or so Anbu members, Kakashi scratched his head, looking helpless: "Um, I suddenly remembered that I haven't fed the cat at home yet. How about I feed it when I get back?"

As he spoke, he tried to take half a step, and a kunai (a type of kunai) stuck directly into the grass.

"Kakashi, don't try to resist."

The cat-faced ANBU member, still in the motion of throwing out kunai, said coldly, "Otherwise, we have the right to consider you a rogue ninja and execute you immediately!"

Is it necessary to be so serious?

Kakashi's playful expression vanished, and he looked seriously at the Anbu members around him, saying in a deep voice, "Let's discuss this. Is it really impossible for me to leave?"

Although the cat-faced shady man remained silent, his actions conveyed his opinion.

A dozen or so members of the Dark Guard dispersed and surrounded Kakashi, a chilling killing intent brewing under the moonlight.

"We were all comrades-in-arms before."

Looking at the Anbu around him, Kakashi lowered his eyes and revealed a trace of sadness: "If I could, I really wouldn't want to take action against you."

"on!"

The voice of the cat-faced shaman was completely calm as he waved his hand and gave the order: "Kakashi resisted arrest and can be considered a rogue ninja, regardless of life or death!"

The next moment, several figures flashed into view, rushing straight at his face!
However, Kakashi was faster and used the Substitution Jutsu to create distance before being touched.

"Stop him!"

The cat-faced ANBU immediately guessed that Kakashi was planning to run away.

The moment the words fell, several figures chased after them, unleashing a Wind Release attack towards a certain spot on the ground.

A powerful wind-style technique tore through the ground, instantly revealing Kakashi's figure.

"Fire Release·Hao Fireball!"

"Wind Escape·Big Breakthrough!"

Two members of the Anbu teamed up to use ninjutsu.

boom!
Fueled by the wind-style technique, the massive fireball intensified its flames.

As the fireball approached, Kakashi felt his eyebrows almost being ripped off. He decisively formed hand seals and placed his hands on the ground: "Earth Release: Earth Wall!"

A half-meter-thick earthen wall rose up, blocking the fireball.

Boom!

Scorching flames flew as the earthen wall was blasted to pieces.

Taking advantage of this opening, Kakashi concentrated his chakra in the soles of his feet, instantly increasing his speed dramatically and forcefully breaking through the ANBU's encirclement.

Seeing the direction Kakashi fled, the other ANBU were about to give chase, but were stopped by the cat-faced ANBU.

"No need to chase."

The cat-faced operative sneered, his eyes filled with an indescribable eeriness.

Kakashi, having escaped the ANBU encirclement, was still preoccupied with what the cat-faced ANBU had just said, his expression grave: "As expected, the Third Hokage has been replaced. Those people came to eliminate me. It seems I absolutely cannot return to Konoha; I must go find Lord Jiraiya!"

However, at that moment, his brain was sending out frantic warnings.

An intensely dense aura of death corroded every inch of his skin, and a chilling killing intent spread through the dense jungle.

Kakashi abruptly stopped in his tracks, looking warily ahead: "Who's there? Show yourself!"

Swish swish~ swish swish~~
A figure slowly emerged from the jungle.

The sparse moonlight filtering through the branches and leaves shone on the other person's face, revealing a face that Kakashi knew all too well. The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi!
"It's you! Who are you?!"

Kakashi immediately became alert and assumed a fighting stance.

He knew very well that the person in front of him was not the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, but an imposter who had taken the place of the 'Third Hokage'!
"Ha, you're the only one who's noticed me."

The Third Hokage tore off his mask, revealing a pale, inhuman face, and said with a strange laugh: "Kakashi Hatake, as expected of a genius who inherited the name of White Fang. But it's a pity. After today, you will disappear, and no one will know about this."

(End of this chapter)