Innocence

In the days that followed, Genma repeatedly honed his Blade Technique Training, Fist Technique Training, and Medical Technique Training every day. In his spare time, he also reinforced his practice of the Three Basic Ninjutsu and Shuriken Throwing Technique.

Day after day passed, and all his abilities began to grow refined.

It was time for school to begin again. Walking down the road to school, Genma was especially happy. Things were different now; this time, he would not have to repeat a grade. He could finally advance.

He still had to attend the first year, but he would spend three years completing all his studies and become a Genin.

This was a plan he had set for himself long ago. Though it was insignificant compared to geniuses, he was still quite satisfied with his performance over the past few years.

Yet beneath his happiness was a faint excitement, because he would soon meet several people fate had destined him to encounter: Nohara Rin, Kurenai Yuhi, Kakashi, Asuma, Might Guy, Ebisu...

They were all familiar figures from the original story, and now he would finally get to see them.

With that thought in mind, his steps became lighter. Before long, he arrived at the school.

First-year students had to undergo the Third Hokage's instruction. Genma did not have much goodwill toward that sharp-faced old man.

Although the old man still looked vigorous and fairly kind at the moment, Genma knew perfectly well that the old geezer was rotten to the core behind the scenes~

He arrived at the classroom alone and swaggered through the door, only for his eyes to widen in shock.

A little girl in a Red Dress had arrived even earlier than him.

Who knew how long she had been there? Her Jade Onion-like Delicate Hands propped up her fair cheek, while her eyelids fluttered as though she were about to fall asleep.

Although the girl looked listless and had not deliberately styled her hair, beneath the ends of her reasonably smooth black hair was a pair of Crimson Eyes like rubies, breathtakingly beautiful.

However, those vacant beautiful eyes suddenly focused. More precisely, her gaze swept toward Genma.

"Are you a student in this class too?"

"Uh, yes." Genma hurried outside to check the sign on the door, then walked back in and smiled foolishly. "The sign is right. I really am a student here."

There had been very few girls in his previous life, so Genma still could not remain perfectly calm when facing a pretty girl. Losing his composure before a girl younger than himself made his face darken even more.

He silently walked to the desk beside hers, set down his books, then slung on his backpack and prepared to leave.

"Hey, wait. There's nobody else here right now. Can you walk around outside with me?"

The girl's soft, sweet voice stopped Genma in his tracks.

He had encountered this kind of thing plenty of times before. After all, Genma was quite handsome now, enough to easily win the favor of girls.

What he had not expected was that not only had he gained a girl's favor, but his own heart was pounding as well.

He unconsciously gripped the backpack against his chest tighter. The hard object inside helped him calm down.

Now was not the time. At the very least, he was not qualified to talk about love before becoming a Jonin.

In such a dangerous world, he did not know whether falling in love too early would dull his fighting spirit. But if he lost someone he loved, he would certainly be devastated. Rather than suffer in the future, he might as well work desperately hard now.

Having figured it all out, Genma started walking. "Sorry, I have something to do right now. I can't show you around the school."

"You have... something to do?"

The girl was utterly confused, but Genma had already left the classroom.

Genma jogged at an unhurried pace and reached the field before long. After setting down his backpack, he began his morning training.

While Genma was training, the Red Dress Girl from earlier left the school building and looked around.

"Ah, he's already gone. Looks like he wasn't deliberately ignoring me; he really did have something to do. Well then, I'll just look around by myself~"

The girl sighed, pouted, picked a direction, and slowly jogged away.

After the girl disappeared from in front of the school building, a handsome Toothpick Boy arrived, his backpack slung over one shoulder and one hand tucked into his pocket.

"Seriously, it's so quiet. There isn't even anyone here. That guy went too far, making me get up so early!!"

The boy bit down hard on his toothpick a few times, then slowly walked into the school building.

He went up floor after floor before finally stopping in front of a classroom.

If Genma and that girl had been there too, they would have discovered that this boy was actually their classmate.

The boy glanced at the sign, then plunged straight into the classroom.

"Huh!" Two neat piles of books in the classroom surprised him, but he quickly understood. "I never thought there'd be someone who arrived earlier than me. They probably went out to play~"

The boy smiled happily, picked a seat, put down his books and backpack, then hurried out of the classroom.

By now, the girl had visited many places and was heading toward an area surrounded by trees, where training equipment could vaguely be seen.

This was the field where Genma was. Having finished his fist training, Genma had begun swinging his blade.

"Mm~ Training so early in the morning... this person is really something!"

Seeing Genma focused on swinging his blade, the girl did not leave shyly like an ordinary girl would. Instead, she slowly approached him.

She deliberately softened the sound of every step, yet continued drawing closer.

When they were nearly fifty meters apart, Genma's blade suddenly halted. At the same time, his gaze swept toward the girl.

Because he had been completely focused on swinging his blade, Genma's expression was stern, and his eyes carried a trace of sharpness.

Caught by that sharp gaze, the girl froze obediently in place like a rabbit that had been spotted, her cheeks turning pink.

Seeing that it was the girl he had met that morning, Genma sheathed his blade and pinched his face, which had gone stiff from excessive concentration.

"It's you. Did I scare you just now?"

"Pfft." Seeing Genma freely distort his face, the girl nearly burst out laughing. She quickly covered her mouth. "N-no."

"Did you finish looking around the campus?"

The girl nodded obediently.

"This is the field, and it'll also be our training ground in the future. Of course, lots of people treat it as a place to play too."

"You seem to have known all this for a long time. Do you come here often?"

The girl blinked her ruby-like eyes and stared blankly at Genma.

Perhaps he had hurt too many girls' hearts before. Seeing her adorably clueless look now, Genma could not bear to deceive her, so he said seriously, "Yes. I'm a repeater, and I repeated two grades. In other words, I've spent two years in the first year already. This year is my third."

"Pfft, pfft, you're a repeater, and you're about to attend the first year for the third time..."

The girl clutched her stomach and laughed nonstop.

Genma found that rather strange.

Shouldn't this girl have looked disgusted and turned around to leave?

Was her way of thinking different?

Remembering the famous figures from his memories, he felt much more at ease.

It seemed that many people in this world were strange. This girl was strange too, but she was honestly adorable.

"Ahem." The girl finally stopped laughing, pinched her cheeks, and tried hard to look more serious. "Hey, you're pretty interesting, but aren't you being a little too honest? You didn't need to tell me something embarrassing like repeating a grade, did you?"

Genma shook his head helplessly. "A lot of girls used to like me, but I didn't cherish them. Do you believe that?"

"Uh, I think I do. You seem pretty honest."

"Then they found out I repeated a grade and chased me around to beat me up. Sigh, being handsome is a crime. So what if I'm good-looking but have poor grades..."

Genma sat gloomily on an exposed tree root, resting his cheeks in both hands.

Seeing Genma so gloomy, the girl seemed affected as well. But her beautiful red eyes rolled around, and she suddenly thought of something. Her expression gradually darkened. "Hey, don't tell me you think I'd fall for you. You think way too highly of yourself~"

"Uh, maybe a little. But after what happened before, I'm just taking precautions. What if—I mean, what if—you fell for me? My grades are so bad that you might come beat me up later. This is just a reminder for both of us."

"What does liking someone have to do with grades?" The girl pouted and chose a tree root beside Genma to sit on.

"It does matter, doesn't it? If your child liked a boy, but that boy had bad grades, what would you think?"

"But that doesn't explain everything. Everyone has things they're good at and things they aren't. Maybe that boy is excellent in other ways~"

"Heh, you've got a pretty high level of awareness. You're lively and cheerful too. Nice to meet you, I'm Shiranui Genma!" The girl's cheerfulness made Genma feel relaxed, so he took the initiative to introduce himself.

"Could it be that you only look honest on the surface, but you're actually bad underneath? Right now, you seem like you're trying to pursue me~"

"Uh, how could that be? I..."

"Alright, I'm Kurenai Yuhi. We'll be classmates from now on, so please take care of me~" Seeing Genma suddenly grow nervous, Kurenai Yuhi smiled through her tears.

Their gazes met, but after only an instant, they both flusteredly looked away.

He's kind of cute, and kind of handsome too. I wonder what he's really like.

Kurenai Yuhi thought this as a smile appeared on her face, though even she did not notice it.

So this is Kurenai Yuhi. She's actually Asuma's future wife, but she looks so cute~

Thoughts of Asuma's future wife were thrown to the back of Genma's mind, and a foolish grin unconsciously appeared on his face.

At the same time, the boy searching for them arrived at the edge of the field and looked inside.

"This is the last place in the school. They should be here... uh, a boy and a girl. The way they're staring at each other is a bit like the love described in books~"

This rather mature boy consciously suffered ten thousand points of emotional damage. After being force-fed dog food, he averted his eyes and left alone.

"I feel like someone was watching us just now~"

Shiranui Genma looked in the direction the boy had left and said lightly.

"No way. If someone saw us, would they misunderstand~?"

Kurenai's voice grew quieter and quieter, but her heart beat faster and faster. Even she could no longer tell whether what was happening between them really was a misunderstanding.