Class break.
Holding a scroll, Sen swaggered over to Minato's seat, slung an arm around his shoulders, and grinned like a cat that had just stolen a fish.
"Minato, look what I've got."
Minato was being squeezed so tightly he could barely breathe. He tried pushing Sen away, but it was no use, so he took the scroll and unrolled it.
His eyes lit up as soon as he glanced at it. He asked in surprise, "Sen! Where did you get this? You can't buy a Shadow Clone Jutsu scroll this detailed anywhere!"
Minato came from an ordinary family, and his father was only a Chunin. Something this advanced was a rare treasure he could hardly hope to get his hands on.
Sen wore an expression that said, "Your big brother's got money," and casually replied, "No big deal. I've already learned it, so it's yours. Let's see how long it takes a genius like you to master it."
"You've already learned it?!" Minato was stunned. "This is a jutsu that's already surpassed the Clone Technique! You... you're really giving it to me?"
Sen's index finger unconsciously brushed the bridge of his nose. "I learned it ages ago. You can have it."
He pulled Minato closer until their faces were nearly touching. "Minato, if you ever strike it rich, don't forget your friends. You get that, right? If you become Hokage or something one day, you won't forget what we've got, will you?"
Minato looked a little uncomfortable at Sen's sudden closeness, but still nodded solemnly. "Of course..." How could Sen be so sure he'd become Hokage one day?
Just then, a crisp voice tinged with jealousy rang out beside them.
"What are you two grown men doing, all over each other in the classroom? Have some shame!"
Kushina had appeared beside them at some point. As she spoke, she forcibly pulled the two apart.
She'd been watching ever since they started putting their arms around each other. Who knew they'd get closer and closer as they talked? If she didn't intervene, things were going to get weird!
Anyway, that was exactly how inappropriate relationships started in novels!
As for other people doing that sort of thing, she could enjoy it—no, scrutinize it with a critical eye!
But Sen was hers. He absolutely couldn't do that!
As Kushina dragged Sen away, he continued calling to Minato, "You've got two weeks to learn it. I still need to test my plan—no, I mean test your potential!"
"Don't hang around with blondie Minato so much anymore!" Once they reached the playground, Kushina clenched her little fists and glared at him, fuming.
Since the Kumogakure kidnapping incident hadn't happened yet, her impression of Minato was still stuck at "that slightly girly blondie."
"Stop calling him blondie. He's always with us, so it sounds weird."
"Hmph, you're even sticking up for him!" Kushina grew even angrier and threw a straight punch at Sen's face without another word.
Sen easily dodged to the side and remarked, "Oh? Looks like Kushina hasn't been slacking lately. You've made plenty of new friends, too. That punch has a bit of the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist about it."
"Of course!" Kushina said confidently. "Today, I'm going to last until the bell rings!"
"Not good enough. Try again tomorrow."
As soon as he finished speaking, Sen's figure appeared behind Kushina like a ghost. He lightly nudged the back of her knee with his own, and the girl let out a yelp before collapsing softly into his arms.
"I'm getting back at you for what you did yesterday!" he said, then planted a quick kiss on Kushina's forehead.
"Ah!"
Kushina's face turned bright red in an instant. She shoved Sen away, her red hair practically standing on end.
Sen thought she was angry and was about to apologize, but the next second, Kushina took a deep breath and shouted at the top of her lungs across the entire playground:
"How could you kiss me on the playground?! There are so many people here! They all saw us! What are we going to do now?! Doesn't this mean we have to get married?!"
Sen's eardrums nearly burst.
You're not worried about people finding out. You want the whole world to know!
Sure enough, every student on the playground—and all the onlookers by the classroom windows—turned to stare at them with a mixture of shock, envy, and curiosity.
After shouting, Kushina even stood proudly beside Sen and waved at the classmates pointing and whispering around them. She might as well have been publicly declaring him hers.
Sen shook his head helplessly, but a warm feeling welled up inside him.
He didn't think he'd ever experienced such intense emotion in his previous life.
He reached out, gently took Kushina's little hand, and murmured, "Yeah... looks like I've found the right person."
Then, beneath everyone's gaze, the two of them walked back to the classroom hand in hand.
After school that afternoon, Sen had to talk and talk before he could get the clingy Kushina to let him go home.
After dinner, he trained his Sharingan and Taijutsu for a while.
He didn't stay up late to train and went to bed early.
In all the years since he'd come to this world, today was the first time he'd felt genuinely happy from the bottom of his heart. Even the crushing threat to his survival seemed to have faded a little.
The next morning, it was still early, and a thin mist hung in the air.
Yawning, Sen walked to school.
He deliberately took a secluded path, planning to get there early and ask Minato how his training was going.
As soon as he turned into the path, his brow furrowed. He pushed off with his left foot and shot backward like a spring!
"Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!"
Three shuriken grazed the tip of his nose and sank deep into the wall ahead of him, right where he'd just been.
Sen looked up. A masked ninja stood silently on a rooftop some distance away, spinning a kunai around his index finger.
"Uchiha Sen?" The masked ninja leaped down into the street, his voice laced with mockery. "No wonder you're the Uchiha clan's genius. You're pretty alert."
Seeing that his target was a student who hadn't even graduated from the Ninja Academy, he figured the mission would be a breeze.
"Too bad. Even a genius shouldn't offend Lord Danzo. This time, I'll just break two of your ribs as a little warning. Surrender quietly..."
"You talk too much."
Sen's eyes turned cold. He threw both hands out, sending six shuriken whistling toward the ninja in two waves.
The masked ninja curled his lip in disdain and easily knocked away the three shuriken coming straight at him with his kunai. Seeing the other three fly past him, he sneered, "And here I thought you were a genius. Turns out you can't even aim a shuriken."
As soon as he finished speaking, Sen yanked the steel wire concealed in his hand and shouted, "Skillful Hand Shuriken Jutsu!"
Hearing a rush of wind behind him, the masked ninja was startled. The kid had already learned to control shuriken?
He hurriedly turned to block, only to see that the three shuriken had merely been yanked back by the wire. Their flight paths were chaotic, with no accuracy at all.
The kid had bluffed him!
His eyes flashed with anger. He spun around, only to find Sen right in front of him.
Trying to fight me up close? You're asking to die!
The masked ninja was just about to sneer when he met a pair of scarlet eyes, two tomoe spinning eerily within them.
Oh no!
Their eyes met.
Sharingan Genjutsu!
The masked ninja's body stiffened, and the light in his eyes quickly faded.
Sen let out a long breath.
The so-called "Skillful Hand Shuriken Jutsu" was nothing more than a clumsy imitation he'd pulled off with steel wire. He'd shouted to distract his opponent and create an opening to activate the Sharingan.
Rubbing his chin, he began considering what to do with this Root Ninja who'd practically delivered himself to Sen's doorstep.
The man had to be from Root, here to get revenge. All over a nickname? Just because he'd called Danzo a eunuch? Did Danzo really have to take it so seriously?
After thinking it over, neither killing him nor letting him go seemed like a good idea.
Sen's eyes darted to the nearby Uchiha clan compound behind him, and a plan formed in his mind.
He took a rope from his Ninja Tool Pouch and tied the man up.
Since the man was a member of Root, Sen even bound him in an embarrassing Kikko-bind—and found himself considering dragging him through the streets for everyone to see.
After all, if you're going to kill someone, you might as well crush their spirit too. What are you, running a charity?
Before you continue