Is the Little Runt Being Misled by an Outsider? The Yellow-Haired Kid's "Impropriety"

For a time, because of Liuyun, the Uchiha Clan became notorious bullies at the Ninja Academy.

In truth, their reputation had never been good to begin with. The Uchiha Clan was powerful and tightly united, and no one at the Ninja Academy generally dared to provoke them. Saying they could swagger around without restraint would not have been an exaggeration.

Having grown accustomed to throwing their weight around as a clan, some of them naturally became arrogant and looked down on everyone else. It was only a matter of time before they drew resentment and provoked public outrage.

But this time, the ones resisting the Uchiha Clan were not outsiders, but clansmen who shared their own surname... This matter quickly sparked heated discussion, bringing shame upon the entire Uchiha Clan.

"That damn bastard! We'll make him pay after school!" one Uchiha student said bitterly.

At that moment, a group of Uchiha were hiding in the restroom, every one of them wearing an ugly expression.

"Forget it... At the end of the day, he's still an Uchiha. Kazuhiko was in the wrong first in that matter too. We..."

Before Uchiha Chiya could finish, he was interrupted by an angry shout.

"Shut up!"

"That bastard's family already moved out of the clan grounds. He stopped being one of us long ago. Today, he humiliated the Uchiha Clan, so we need to teach him a lesson."

A clansman named Uchiha Yuta spoke angrily.

"If we let him go, anyone will dare use this matter to humiliate the Uchiha Clan in the future. We have to teach him a lesson. This has nothing to do with who was right or wrong."

As soon as he said that, quite a few clansmen nodded in agreement.

"Fine. Do whatever you want..." Uchiha Chiya sighed.

He knew that little runt and was even somewhat acquainted with him. Liuyun was usually meek and submissive, a decent and honest person.

At first, he had not intended to bully him. But after Liuyun finally reached his limit and fought back against Uchiha Kazuhiko, things only got worse and worse.

That weak, easily bullied little runt had become a stubborn hothead in the blink of an eye, repeatedly making the Uchiha Clan suffer setbacks.

The arrogant and conceited Uchiha believed their dignity had been challenged. They even felt that the little runt was a traitor to the Uchiha Clan.

In their minds, as a member of the Uchiha Clan, the little runt could fight Uchiha Kazuhiko in private, but he could not seek outside help.

Yet Liuyun had not only sought outside help, escalating the situation and getting Kazuhiko expelled, but had also brazenly humiliated them today and openly declared that he was not family with them.

That sentence was practically a complete break with the Uchiha Clan. Therefore, the clansmen believed there was no need to consider their shared clan identity anymore. They still had to corner him.

"It's all Kushina Uzumaki's fault. That rotten tomato meddled too much. Kazuhiko getting expelled from the academy had something to do with her too," a clansman said resentfully.

"I think that little runt must have been deceived by Kushina Uzumaki, which is why he became like this. Think about it carefully—what kind of person was he before?"

Uchiha Chiya spoke up at that moment. He planned to shift the blame onto Kushina, an outsider, so the little runt would not get beaten too badly.

"Right, right, right! That little runt was always honest and obedient. I was wondering why he suddenly became so stubborn. It must have been that damn woman. She must have bewitched him and turned him against us."

As soon as this was said, many clansmen found it quite reasonable.

A formerly "well-behaved" and honest clansman had suddenly become completely "irreconcilable" with all of them. They did not believe no outsider had been involved.

"You're right. Then after school, we'll deal with her too..."

And so, aside from Uchiha Liuyun, all the Uchiha at the Ninja Academy reached a consensus.

Inside the classroom.

Class 501 was in session, but beneath one desk, paper balls flew back and forth in lively succession.

"Hey, Liuyun, can we discuss something?"

"Go ahead."

"Well... can you stop calling me Nana in public from now on... It's so embarrassing..."

When Liuyun saw the note, he nearly laughed out loud. He also got the urge to keep teasing her.

"So you mean you can't be called that in public, but I can call you that in private?"

Seeing those words, Kushina blushed bright red again. Over the past few days, she had been teased plenty by a certain someone. Though she was embarrassed, she enjoyed it every day.

"Th-that's not okay either..." Kushina lowered her head and tossed back her reply.

"Not this, not that. Then what would be okay?"

"It's okay when I say it's okay..." Kushina hesitated for quite a while before tossing out that note.

"You don't like it when I call you that?" Liuyun held back a smile and deliberately asked a question he already knew the answer to.

"No... Anyway, just don't call me that in public..."

Seeing her reply, Liuyun turned toward Kushina and gave her a wicked grin that said, "I understand."

"Y-you really do smile like a creep! I never noticed you were this sleazy before."

"That's because I'm not sleazy to begin with..."

"You have no shame at all, and you're saying you're not sleazy?" Kushina lay on her desk, staring wide-eyed at Liuyun behind the teacher's back.

The teacher lectured seriously at the front, while she and Liuyun chatted secretly with great enthusiasm. For some reason, Kushina found this sneaking around extremely interesting—and thrilling...

When this scene fell into the Yellow-haired Kid's eyes, it filled his heart with a trace of bitterness and jealousy.

The two of them were clearly exchanging flirtatious glances right now. He really wanted to stand up and report them to the teacher, exposing these two shameless people.

But when he thought of the consequences of doing that... he forcefully suppressed the impulse and tried his best to act like a little blind kid who could not see anything...

"Seriously, I don't think the Uchiha Clan will let this go. Don't leave the classroom after class. Don't be alone. Just stay by my side..."

Kushina wrote a long note.

"You'll protect me, right?"

Liuyun tossed over the paper ball, then stared at her expectantly. His big, "teary" eyes were full of gratitude.

He was not truly afraid of those Uchiha brats. If he really wanted to deal with them, it would take only minutes. It just seemed unnecessary for now.

Kushina's face reddened, but she shot him a fierce glare.

This shameless guy always asked questions he already knew the answer to, insisting on making her say things embarrassing enough to kill her with shame.

"What if I can't hold it in? Like if I need to pee... What if they corner me in the restroom? You can't exactly come with me to the boys' restroom..."

Liuyun fought back his laughter and asked with a serious expression.

"Then go during the last minute before class starts. Because of the time limit, they won't have time to make a move against you..."

Kushina had clearly thought of this solution beforehand. Or rather, she herself had plenty of experience with this sort of thing...

Back then, she had often been cornered by bad boys.

"..."

Liuyun was somewhat surprised by that answer. Thinking about how protectively Kushina was looking out for him, he could not bear to tease her anymore.

"Kushina..."

He lowered his voice and softly called out.

"Hmm?"

Kushina responded instinctively, her beautiful big eyes full of confusion.

"Thank you!"

"!!!"