Uzumaki Kushina

The atmosphere caused by the war seemed never to affect the children at the Ninja Academy. Knowing nothing about the world, they played and bickered, never lacking laughter and cheer. Being born in Konoha was a kind of fortune in itself.

Ever since Ye Zi ignored Minato that day, he seemed to have been ostracized by all his classmates. But that was precisely what he wanted. He remained in that corner, alone as ever, enjoying the peace and quiet.

During this period, Takagi never brought up anything else about Chakra. He focused on the theories behind using ninja tools, and this continued for several weeks. It left Ye Zi feeling increasingly irritated. From the moment he awakened in this world, his memory and comprehension had become exceptionally sharp. Whatever Takagi explained, he understood immediately. But not everyone was like him. Although Ye Zi could understand the function and purpose of a ninja tool in a single day, the others could not. Takagi had to explain each tool repeatedly for several days before moving on to another. Unfortunately, ninja tools were indispensable to shinobi, and there were quite a lot of them.

This approach fully demonstrated how serious Takagi was. Someone so earnest was indeed well suited to being a teacher. Hiruzen had chosen Takagi to teach this class precisely because of that quality. The only thing that concerned him was Takagi's harshness toward both people and matters.

Gazing at the empty training ground outside the window, Ye Zi slowly sighed. He suspected that if he spent three years like this, he might go insane.

Rustle.

The sound of the door opening drew Ye Zi's gaze. The burly Takagi walked in expressionlessly, followed by a girl with vivid red hair.

The instant the door opened, everyone stopped what they were doing and sat quietly in their seats. But when they saw the red-haired girl, many could not help whispering among themselves.

A shinobi's senses were extremely sharp. Although the children speaking had kept their voices very low, Takagi still heard them. He slightly furrowed his brows and said in a deep voice, "Quiet."

Takagi's words were more effective than anything else, and he inspired more fear than even the children's parents. In an instant, the whispering children obediently shut their mouths.

Ye Zi looked at the girl with her head slightly lowered and was briefly distracted. But he quickly returned to calm. Her eye and hair colors were different, and although her features were somewhat similar, this girl was not Ye Rui.

The girl with the vivid red hair was Uzumaki Kushina. She quietly raised her head and glanced at everyone sitting properly, feeling the gazes of every person in the room. She immediately grew nervous and could not help looking away.

Seeing that the classroom had finally quieted down, Takagi glanced at the girl with her head lowered and said indifferently, "Briefly introduce—"

Takagi had only gotten halfway through his sentence when Kushina raised her head and loudly interrupted him. "I'm Uzumaki Kushina!"

Takagi froze. Looking at Kushina, who had her head raised and eyes tightly shut, he shook his head slightly and did not take offense.

After finishing her introduction, Kushina realized that she had accidentally said her verbal tic. She quickly covered her little mouth, and a faint blush appeared on both cheeks.

After a brief silence, the commotion suppressed by Takagi instantly rebounded.

"Look at the color of her hair!" someone said with a laugh, turning toward his companion.

"No one else has hair that color."

"How can someone's hair become that red?"

"What strange hair."

Ye Zi turned his head to glance at these childish brats, then looked toward Takagi. He thought Takagi would immediately put on a stern air and silence them all. But for some reason, Takagi said nothing this time, allowing the students to comment freely on Kushina's hair.

Ye Zi's brows drew together slightly, confusion appearing in his eyes.

Listening to their unrestrained remarks, Kushina silently touched her hair. She could not refute them, because she herself hated this vivid red hair. But no matter how much she disliked it, she could not allow others to belittle and mock it like this.

"I... I'm going to become the first female Hokage in this village!"

Her shocking declaration instantly silenced every voice.

Those who had been speaking stared at Kushina wide-eyed in astonishment, unable to say a word for a moment.

"Hokage?"

Ye Zi turned his head toward the window and smiled coldly.

Takagi still said nothing. He stood expressionlessly beside Kushina.

At that moment, while everyone remained silent, Minato stood up. He clenched his right hand into a fist against his chest, narrowed his eyes, and said with a smile, "I want to become an outstanding Hokage recognized by everyone, too."

Looking at Minato's gentle smile, Kushina felt that he looked like a girl and seemed completely unreliable. How could someone like him become Hokage?

Minato had no idea what Kushina truly thought. He maintained his gentle smile, and the words he spoke came from the bottom of his heart.

Perhaps almost no one present could see how seriously Minato meant those words, but Ye Zi and Takagi could...

Compared with the words Kushina had shouted instinctively under the pressure of the atmosphere, Minato's words were far more convincing.

"Find a seat," Takagi said after glancing at Minato.

"Oh."

Kushina answered and, like Ye Zi, chose a seat with no one sitting beside it.

After Kushina sat down, Takagi said in a deep voice, "Class is starting."

Another tedious lecture followed. Takagi could keep talking about a single ninja tool without stopping, and Ye Zi could only raise both hands in admiration.

Perhaps it seemed completely pointless to him, but in truth, only teachers this serious and responsible could lay a solid foundation for these young saplings.

After an entire hour, Takagi finished that lesson, turned, and walked out of the classroom, giving the children ten brief minutes to rest.

Once Takagi left, the oppressive atmosphere instantly became lively, as though a withered flower had bloomed again and released its fragrance within a few breaths.

Several active and mischievous boys immediately went to Kushina and surrounded her at the back of the classroom. One of them pointed at her and laughed mockingly. "Tomato! Red hair and a round face, just like a tomato."

"Haha, I hate eating tomatoes most of all," another boy with a buzz cut chimed in.

"Me too. I always leave tomatoes behind."

"A tomato everyone hates—how could the people of the village ever acknowledge her?" A boy with both hands clasped behind his head laughed loudly. As soon as he finished speaking, everyone surrounding Kushina burst into laughter.

Surrounded by so many people and listening to their ridicule, Kushina's cheeks flushed again. Shy, she could not help lowering her head. Her bright red face truly looked like a tomato.

Minato, sitting in the front row, heard the noise and turned to look at Kushina surrounded by everyone. He was slightly surprised but said nothing.

Since Ye Zi was sitting in the last row, he became the direct victim of the noise pollution. Watching those bullies gang up on one person, he silently stood up.

He had not wanted to interfere, but the scene brought back memories from his childhood. Unlike the playful teasing happening now, back then they had been fighting over food.

"Wow, she's getting riper and riper." Watching Kushina's face grow redder, one of the boys laughed and reached out to grab her hair.

Ye Zi caught the boy's outstretched hand.

Kushina reacted too late to the disturbance. She turned her head and saw a slightly delicate-looking black-haired boy coldly gripping the hand that had tried to pull her hair.

Everyone in the classroom who had been watching this scene froze, and the atmosphere fell silent.