September 11th, morning.
Two figures, one tall and one short, suddenly appeared at the door of Class 1, Fourth Grade, which was in the middle of a lesson.
Yuya, who had been teaching, walked over. After a brief exchange, he brought the shorter figure to the podium.
For a moment, the entire class focused on the small figure.
One boy's eyes lit up slightly. It was Namikaze Minato.
As for the others, most of their attention was on Uzumaki Kushina's hair, their eyes filled with curiosity.
After all, red hair was an extremely rare color in the Ninja World. Ever since Uzumaki Mito's red hair had faded, Konoha had not seen a single redhead.
Uzumaki Kushina, being scrutinized by the entire class, looked timid. Her gaze darted about, and she did not dare meet anyone's eyes.
Seeming to notice her fear, Yuya patted her shoulder before introducing her to the class. "This is the student officially transferring into our school starting today..."
Before he could finish, Uzumaki Kushina, who had looked so timid just moments ago, seemed to gather her courage. She suddenly raised her head, shut her eyes, and shouted, "I'm Uzumaki Kushina!"
Perhaps because she had kept her head lowered earlier, or perhaps because of her accent, Uzumaki Kushina's introduction came out a little shrill.
The moment she shouted her name, Uzumaki Kushina herself blushed and covered her mouth.
Her voice immediately set the entire class laughing.
"Look at that hair color! I can't believe it!"
"How does hair even get that red? It's so weird!"
"With that chubby round face and red hair, she looks just like a tomato."
"This is the first time I've ever seen hair like that. From her accent, she isn't from some other village, is she?"
"Huh? No way. I don't want to attend class with someone from another village. The other classes will laugh at us!"
"..."
The students pointed and whispered, their mocking voices reaching Uzumaki Kushina's ears and deeply wounding her pride.
Uzumaki Kushina had originally wanted to get along with her classmates, but she immediately had a stress reaction. Just as she was about to say something bold so no one would look down on her—
A voice instantly silenced the entire classroom.
"So noisy..."
The lightly spoken words felt like a chill entering their bodies. Every student who had been talking loudly shuddered, almost instinctively shut their mouths, lowered their heads, and tried to make themselves less noticeable.
That scene also extinguished the anger in Uzumaki Kushina's heart, making her instinctively look toward the source of the voice.
At the very back of the classroom, Gojo Yoru sat alone at a desk. One hand propped up his face while the other held a pencil. As though he had been disturbed while solving a problem, he lifted his head and swept his gaze across the classroom. His beautiful icy blue eyes met Uzumaki Kushina's dark blue ones.
A few seconds later, Gojo Yoru withdrew his gaze, lowered his head, and said flatly, "Sit here."
Yuya's eyes immediately lit up. He smiled at Uzumaki Kushina and said, "Kushina, sit beside Gojo Yoru. He's the Top Student of the fourth grade. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask him directly."
After saying that, Yuya turned to Gojo Yoru. "Gojo Yoru, take care of your deskmate."
Yuya, who knew very well that Gojo Yoru was merely awkward by nature, felt perfectly at ease letting the two become deskmates.
But the students who did not know Gojo Yoru's true personality looked at Uzumaki Kushina with pity in their eyes.
Becoming deskmates with the Great Demon King—what a pitiful girl!
"I... I understand."
At that moment, Uzumaki Kushina was also full of curiosity toward Gojo Yoru, who had spoken up for her.
Hearing Yuya's arrangement, she immediately answered, then jogged over and sat beside Gojo Yoru.
During that time, Uzumaki Kushina did not notice a gaze following her every movement, filled with gentleness and, unusually, a trace of regret.
Once seated beside Gojo Yoru, Uzumaki Kushina politely introduced herself again. "H-hello, I'm Uzumaki Kushina."
The response she had imagined never came.
Gojo Yoru merely glanced at her, then raised his pencil and pointed at the neatly stacked books beside him. "These are notes from last semester. Read them yourself if you want."
After saying that, he ignored Uzumaki Kushina.
So cold!
After meeting Gojo Yoru's gaze at close range, Uzumaki Kushina finally understood everyone else's reactions.
His white hair and eyebrows were already cold enough, and then there were those eyes.
That gaze and voice carried even more pressure.
If Yuya had not said he was the Top Student, Uzumaki Kushina would have thought Gojo Yoru was a delinquent in this class.
At the same time, however, Uzumaki Kushina's curiosity toward Gojo Yoru deepened.
There was such a strong contrast between his appearance and the way he had helped her just now.
A cold personality, warm-hearted actions—he clearly looked like someone with a story.
Moreover, after the ridicule from her classmates, Uzumaki Kushina had only developed a favorable impression of Gojo Yoru. She wanted to know more about this deskmate of hers.
But for now, Uzumaki Kushina could not find a single topic to talk about and could only sit quietly beside him.
Since they were in the last row and all the other students had their backs to her, Uzumaki Kushina finally had the courage to look at them.
The next second, Uzumaki Kushina immediately met someone's gaze.
While everyone else had their backs turned to her, the gaze of someone secretly turning around to look at her was far too conspicuous.
Not knowing whether he had mocked her earlier, Uzumaki Kushina simply glared fiercely at him.
Namikaze Minato was so startled by Uzumaki Kushina's glare that he quickly looked away.
Gojo Yoru, who appeared to be lowering his head to work on problems but had actually been watching Uzumaki Kushina the whole time, nearly laughed out loud and broke character when he saw this.
An NTR Warrior who knew the plot was invincible!
With the resonance of their "dreams" interrupted, Namikaze Minato would probably have no hope of drawing Uzumaki Kushina's attention again.
After all, during the Ninja Academy period in the Original Work, his interactions with Uzumaki Kushina had been nearly nonexistent. He had only dared to hide in the shadows and watch her, like a male version of Hyuga Hinata.
After Uzumaki Kushina discovered him, she had even thought he was gloating and making fun of her.
Without the hero-saving-the-beauty moment of the Cloud Ninja Incident, Namikaze Minato had no idea how long it would have taken for Uzumaki Kushina to change her opinion of him.
Now that Gojo Yoru, an NTR Warrior who understood Uzumaki Kushina's personality, was here, when Namikaze Minato finally gathered the courage to approach her, what awaited him would probably be a warning from the Anbu.
As he wrote reading comprehension answers in his book, Gojo Yoru thought to himself about how he should get along with Uzumaki Kushina next, and what method he should use to quickly raise her favorability without arousing the higher-ups' suspicion.
Gojo Yoru did not know that someone was watching him as he diligently took notes.
In the Hokage's office, Sarutobi Hiruzen, still in his Ninja Hero days, had developed the habit of smoking a pipe and was currently puffing out clouds of smoke.
Using the Crystal Viewing Technique, Sarutobi Hiruzen watched the entire process of Uzumaki Kushina entering Class 1, Fourth Grade. Staring at Gojo Yoru inside the Crystal Ball, his eyes narrowed slightly beneath the smoke as he murmured, "Sa and Mio's child..."
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