The First Day of School

"The Uchiha Clan sure is arrogant."

"Exactly. Not only did everyone have to wait for him, but the moment he arrived, he acted like he was the leader."

"And that ridiculous display—he even had a whole group of Police Force members escorting him."

"Did none of you notice that he arrived right on time?"

"Hmph. We'll make him regret it at school."

"Uh, can you beat him?"

"What does that matter? He's so handsome. What's wrong with arriving late? What's wrong with arriving right on time? Is there something wrong with making a grand entrance?"

On the way to the classroom, whispers like these never stopped.

And the starry-eyed behavior of some of the girls only added fuel to the boys' resentment.

Because of this, Soji's earlier behavior seemed downright friendly to the boys, and they all became much more welcoming toward him.

Sure enough, without comparison, there was no harm. Some boys had initially been rather cold toward Soji, but after that child named Homura arrived, Soji received countless friendly smiles instead.

"Ah, this really is..." Soji did not know whether to be happy or sad.

"It seems Soji-kun is very popular with his classmates. I don't even need to help anymore," Minato Namikaze teased Hyuga Soji.

"For that, I have someone to thank." The "someone" Soji referred to meant both Minato Namikaze and the child named Homura.

"Seriously, he looks like he'll be quite troublesome," Shikaku Nara complained lazily.

"I hope we can get along well in the future." Choza Akimichi, a chubby boy with red hair, also gave his opinion.

"Members of the Uchiha Clan seem hard to get along with." Inoichi Yamanaka, with his long blond hair, spoke with some concern.

They finally reached the classroom. All the children found seats near friends they were more familiar with.

Soji had become desk mates with his new friend, Minato Namikaze. Their seats were in the center of the second-to-last row.

As for the antisocial child named Homura, he sat alone by the window in the last row.

A few girls tried to sit beside him, but a cold glare from him frightened them away.

"Minato, aren't you going to make friends with him?" Soji swore that he had only meant to tease Minato Namikaze with that question.

"Mm, I was planning to. I'll go over after class," Minato Namikaze answered with a serious expression.

That left Soji completely stunned. This was not how things were supposed to go. Wasn't Minato supposed to argue with him? Why had he actually accepted it?

In this round, Soji thought Minato was on the second level while he himself was on the third, but unexpectedly, Minato had been on the first level all along!

Soji gloomily propped his chin up with his right hand and turned his head away.

"Haha, Soji-kun, you finally look like a normal child now," Minato Namikaze said with narrowed eyes and a smile.

Soji was startled when he heard that!

In truth, Soji himself had not noticed that it was not the other children who had a generation gap with him. Rather, he was the one who had drawn a boundary that kept others at a distance.

That was why, at the school gate earlier, not a single student had dared approach him.

As for why Minato had dared come up and strike up a conversation, it could only be said that he had a bit of an airheaded nature, just like Naruto Uzumaki in the future. Like father, like son.

If Minato had not suddenly come over to talk to him, he would probably have become a pair of fellow outcasts with that child named Homura.

"Minato, thank you. If possible, can you just call me Soji from now on?"

After Minato untied a knot in his heart that had always been there without his noticing, Soji expressed his heartfelt gratitude.

Toward Minato, Soji no longer regarded him merely as someone worth investing in because of his past life. He sincerely considered him a friend now.

"Hmm? Why are you thanking me? But I'd be happy to, Soji." Although he did not know why, Minato could clearly sense that Soji was different from before.

Before, Soji had felt close yet distant. Now, Minato could sense that Soji treated him with the same sincerity that he treated Soji.

Minato truly did have the heart of a child. Most people would find it difficult to notice such a subtle emotional change, yet Minato sensed it instantly.

No wonder that in the original story, after Minato split the Nine-Tails in two and entered the Death God's stomach with half of the Nine-Tails, he had still been able to use Kurama Mode together with the Nine-Tails after coming out. That required Minato and the Nine-Tails to be of one mind.

For the Nine-Tails to acknowledge someone who had split it in half and sealed it away while alive—if Minato had not possessed a wholehearted, childlike sincerity toward the Nine-Tails, Soji would never believe it.

"There's no reason. I just suddenly felt like saying it." Soji smiled and brushed it off.

Minato Namikaze did not press the matter. It was a good thing, after all.

On the first day of school, the teacher had every student introduce themselves.

Everyone basically already knew the other students' names. Although many of them had met for the first time today, they were all ninjas, and memorization was a basic skill.

With Minato Namikaze, the "social butterfly," around, after everyone had introduced themselves at the school gate, Soji had already matched every name to a face.

After the students in front, including Soji, had finished their introductions, it was finally the turn of the Uchiha child named Homura.

"My name is Uchiha Homura. I come from Konoha's strongest clan—the Uchiha Clan. As for dreams, I don't have such boring things. If I had to name one, it would be the dream of our Uchiha Clan: the Fourth Hokage must belong to the Uchiha Clan!"

The entire classroom fell silent. After Uchiha Homura finished speaking, he did not wait for anyone's reaction and simply sat back down.

"Ah, ah, hahaha. Uchiha Homura's dream is very grand. If you want to become Hokage, you must work hard."

As the teacher, he could only step in to smooth things over, conveniently shifting the Uchiha Clan's so-called dream onto Homura personally.

"Hmph!"

Uchiha Homura snorted at the teacher's unauthorized alteration of his words, but he did not raise any further objections.

Although Uchiha Homura himself was not particularly interested in becoming Hokage, what was wrong with doing so for the sake of the entire Uchiha Clan?

This showed that after being excluded from the Hokage position for three consecutive generations, the emotions of the entire Uchiha Clan had already brewed to the edge of eruption. This also laid the groundwork for the Night of the Uchiha Clan Downfall in the original story.

The Uchiha Clan had been one of the two great ninja clans that founded the village alongside the Senju Clan, yet they had missed the Hokage position three times in a row. It would have been strange if the entire clan had no complaints.

During the First Hokage's era, fine. Hashirama Senju, the God of Shinobi, had always been stronger in life than their ancestor, Madara Uchiha. They had no objections.

During the Second Hokage's era, fine. The Uchiha Clan had no powerful expert who could contend with Tobirama Senju, the great inventor of forbidden techniques, so they did not dare object either.

By the time the Third Hokage took office, the opposition within the Uchiha Clan had actually begun to lose patience. The Third Hokage, when he had first taken power, could not suppress the Uchiha Clan. After all, there had been Kage-level experts within the clan who had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.

For example, Chiri Uchiha. She was the only female Uchiha recorded to have awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, yet her personality was far too gentle, completely unlike the extremism of most Uchiha Clan members.

During that period, the Uchiha Clan had become obsessed with the power of Izanagi, throwing the clan into internal strife. In the end, Chiri Uchiha had used up the Dojutsu Power of one Mangekyō Sharingan to activate Izanami and set the clan right.

Because the internal conflict had consumed too much of the clan's strength, and because the Third Hokage was highly skilled politically, first establishing the Council of Elders and then winning over the various ninja clans, he quickly consolidated his rule.

With the matter already settled, the Uchiha Clan could only grit their teeth and accept the Third Hokage's rise to power.

But in the coming contest for the Fourth Hokage, the Uchiha Clan had long been preparing eagerly. At present, the Third Hokage could rule for twenty more years at most. When that time came, it would be the Uchiha Clan's chance to exert their strength.

The Uchiha Clan had also been the most active in this Ninja World War. They were preparing to use this opportunity to establish the Uchiha Clan's prestige throughout the ninja world, then seize the Hokage position that should have belonged to them by riding that momentum.

"Ah, it looks like I'll have a competitor in the future." Minato Namikaze sighed after Uchiha Homura finished speaking.

Soji really wanted to point out that it was the dream of Homura's clan, not Homura's personal dream, but he did not say it.

What did it matter? Unless something unexpected happened, the Hokage position in the future would still belong to the confident boy before him.

"Say, Soji, don't you want to become Hokage?" Minato Namikaze remembered that when Soji had spoken of his dream earlier, he had only said he wanted to become a great ninja.

"No! I don't want to bury myself in piles of documents every day. Instead of wasting time on that, I'd rather train more, play more, and enjoy the scenery. Isn't that better?" Soji answered just as firmly.

"Uh."

Thinking of the mountain of documents a future Hokage would need to handle, Minato briefly began to wonder whether his dream of becoming Hokage was wrong.

He quickly shook his head, thinking that he absolutely could not let Soji lead him astray, or he might even lose his dream.

After everyone finished introducing themselves, the teachers had them line up and go outside one by one for Chakra nature testing so they could better educate the children.

This was the first time Soji learned that Chakra testing was conducted on the first day of enrollment.

The Hyuga Clan mainly fought with the Gentle Fist in conjunction with the Byakugan. To them, the combination of the Gentle Fist and the Byakugan was enough to deal with most enemies and ninjutsu, so they had never specifically studied ninjutsu of various natures.

This was also one of the reasons why the Hyuga Clan's upper limit of strength had been fixed. When facing ninjas above Kage-level, the Hyuga Clan's existing methods were simply too weak.

Aside from the Gentle Fist and the Byakugan, most Hyuga Clan ninjas only mastered the basic Three Body Technique and some throwing and usage of ninja tools.

It was no wonder Hyuga Kumokawa, Soji's grandfather, had not mentioned this matter when Soji enrolled today. Even if Soji's Chakra nature was tested, it would have little practical significance.

When it was Hyuga Soji's turn, he left the classroom and entered the room specifically used for Chakra nature testing. A teacher handed him a sheet of Chakra test paper made from special wood, then gestured for him to inject Chakra into it.

As Soji injected Chakra into it, the Chakra test paper first became damp, then split into two.

"This is Water Release and Wind Release Chakra. Very good. You may return to the classroom now."

The teacher responsible for testing and recording said this to Soji, then gestured for him to leave.

Every person's Chakra nature was kept secret by the village. Otherwise, if an enemy knew your Chakra nature, they could easily deduce what types of ninjutsu you might use.

After learning his Chakra nature, Soji returned to the classroom and quietly waited, taking the opportunity to look through the contents of the textbooks that had just been handed out.

When everyone's nature testing was complete, it was also time for class to end.