Ninja Academy Report: Little Loli Yūhi Kurenai

Chapter 5: Ninja Academy Registration · Little Girl Yūhi Kurenai

The distance from the Hyuga estate to the Ninja Academy wasn't far—just over four hundred meters.

Although Konoha's planned area was large, the outer zones were reserved for later arrivals. The Hyuga Clan had defected to Konoha early, so they were naturally assigned to the core district.

Further inward were the Uchiha and Senju.

Konoha had no modern cars, so even at the school gate, there was none of the bumper-to-bumper traffic that clogged up kindergartens in later eras.

The modest school entrance was packed with people milling about. One by one, parents brought their children to the gate, filled out registration forms, and then left. The little brats were taken by their class teachers and assembled into neat squares.

They were about to listen to the Hokage's speech.

In a city of 200,000 people, with a birth rate of 10 per thousand, roughly 2,000 newborns arrived each year. But not all of them came to school.

First, schooling wasn't free. The steep tuition fees directly discouraged nearly 70% of families.

Second, this was the Ninja Academy. Attending didn't guarantee becoming a ninja, but it carried that expectation. Some parents didn't want their children to become ninjas at all.

That drove away another 10% of families.

Third, many ninja clans had their own internal schools and didn't attend. Sending clan children to the Academy was just a courtesy to the Hokage—like Hyuga Ningyuan.

After all these filters, the number of kids who actually showed up was small. If even one-tenth came, it was a testament to the Hokage's prestige.

"Once you're at school, get along well with your classmates!" At the gate, Hyuga Mie handed in Ningyuan's registration form and instructed him.

"Mm-hmm!" Ningyuan nodded, scanning the crowd of classmates for familiar faces.

His year had a fair number of students—around 250. Probably a post-war baby boom. As for familiar faces...

Ningyuan's eye twitched. Found them!

A big and a small figure, both in green tight-fitting jumpsuits, sporting bowl-cut hairstyles, practically carved from the same mold—father and son!

Green was already eye-catching, but these two were hugging and crying at the school gate!

"Dad, I'll work hard and show everyone my ninja way!"

"Mm-hmm, Dad believes in you. Go, prove your youth to everyone!"

"Tch." Ningyuan quickly averted his gaze, feeling like he was being contaminated.

But wait—so this was his year!

Seemed like this year had a lot of famous names.

Asuma, Yūhi Kurenai, Morino Ibiki, Tobitake Kazuma, Mizuki, Hatake Kakashi, Might Guy, Obito, Shizune, Uchiha Tekka!

Notably, their peer also included Mei Terumi!

Though she wasn't from the same village, love could cross mountains and seas—let alone two villages!

"Ningyuan, look at that guy, wearing sunglasses!" Shinta tugged Ningyuan's arm and pointed.

Ningyuan turned his head. The guy looked sunny enough, but there was an inexplicable air of simplemindedness about him.

If it were just sunglasses, he might be from the Aburame Clan.

But this one also had a ping-pong paddle emblem on him.

"That's not sunglasses, it's goggles!" Ningyuan said irritably, then turned away.

Just some behind-the-scenes manipulator of the ninja world—nothing worth his time. He'd rather look for girls.

Yūhi Kurenai was in this year!

Found her!

Red eyes, handsome features, with a touch of refined elegance!

Actually, he first spotted the tall Yūhi Shinku, then the little girl he was holding—same black hair and red eyes, looking adorably dazed—Yūhi Kurenai.

"Was she this cute even as a kid?" Ningyuan blinked. He didn't have any perverted thoughts, and even if he did, he couldn't act on them.

It was just that, compared to boys, he'd rather play with girls.

Of course, this mindset would be looked down on in elementary school, but he'd been reborn—who cared!

"Bro!" Ningyuan grabbed Shinta, who was still gawking around, and said, "Let's pause our friendship for now!"

"Huh?" Shinta was bewildered. Pause what?

"Oh, and a heads-up!" Ningyuan patted Shinta's shoulder. "Better find a girlfriend while you're still in school. Once you leave, finding a girl gets way harder!"

"Uh..."

Seeing Kurenai had already entered the school, Ningyuan stopped wasting words and slipped in right after her.

Mie had only just finished filling out the registration form, which technically broke the rules. But the guard ninja took one look at Ningyuan's unmistakable Byakugan and knew there was no issue—why would he stop him?

Then he watched that Hyuga kid take three steps in two, catching up to the little girl who had just gone in.

"Yūhi Kurenai!" Ningyuan called out.

"Huh?" Hearing someone behind her, Kurenai quickly turned around and saw a strange kid rushing up to her, then grabbing her hand!

"Eh?" Kurenai blinked as the newcomer grinned and said, "I'm Ningyuan. We're in the same class!"

"Ah, is that so!" Yūhi Kurenai instantly forgot what she was about to say, and also forgot that her hand was still being held. "How do you know my name?"

"I was right behind you and saw your registration form!" Ningyuan asked. "Speaking of which, your eyes are red, and mine are white—red and white are a classic color combo, so how about trying to be my girlfriend?"

Making friends required decisiveness, cutting through the knot with a swift blade. Even if it didn't work, it still brought them closer.

Hooligans and rappers both relied on this kind of persistent pestering to win over those school beauties you'd think were impossible to approach.

Of course, there was another way: respect her, cherish her, accompany her, think what she thinks, worry about what she worries about.

But that path easily led to being a simp, so Ningyuan wasn't taking it.

Besides, Asuma didn't seem like the type to grovel, which meant Yūhi Kurenai might not fall for that approach anyway.

"Huh?" Yūhi Kurenai's eyes went wide. "But, but, huh?"

She thought it over. Being someone's girlfriend or whatever... didn't seem that bad?

Dad always said to make friends with classmates, right? So she'd already made a good friend this quickly!

She clearly didn't yet know the difference between a friend and a girlfriend, but that was fine. By the time she figured it out, she'd probably already be used to Ningyuan's presence.

"What are your names?" the Chunin teacher asked curiously, looking at the two arriving hand in hand.

Both had obvious traits. The white eyes were exclusive to the Byakugan, and the red eyes should belong to Jonin Yūhi Shinku's family. The Hyuga and Yūhi clans both had the character for "sun" in their names, but they probably weren't related, right?

"Hyuga Ningyuan!"

"Yūhi Kurenai!"

"Oh, come with me then. You're both my students from now on!" the Chunin said with a smile. He wouldn't dare meddle in affairs between major clans—just doing his own job was enough.

"Mm-hmm, hello, teacher!"

Outside the school gates, just after sending Yūhi Kurenai in, Yūhi Shinku ran into an old colleague and started chatting.

"Kakashi's reached school age too!"

"Yeah!" The handsome young man with a gentle smile shyly curved the corners of his mouth. Who would have thought that such a modest, amiable youth was the ruthless man who made enemies tremble on the battlefield, openly declaring that encountering him meant they could abandon their mission!

"What about your daughter?" Hatake Sakumo asked.

"Already sent her in!" Yūhi Shinku pointed, then turned his head—and his smile froze on his face.

Wait, where did that Hyuga brat come from? How dare he hold my daughter's hand? You little bastard, let her go!