Because He Was Handsome

Ichiraku Ramen Shop.

By the window along the aisle, a young man and a young woman sat facing each other.

They wore new, gleaming Ninja Forehead Protectors and looked like they had just graduated from the Ninja Academy.

The young man had a standard square face. Though he still looked somewhat immature, he already had a fairly thick beard on his chin, giving off the strange impression of I'm very mature.

The young woman, meanwhile, had beautiful curly hair that fell casually around her shoulders, accentuating her delicate, adorably innocent features.

Yet her deep crimson eyes were profound, lending her a distinctive air of heroism.

Of the two, the square-faced young man did most of the talking. Every so often, he would put down his chopsticks and spoon, vividly describing something to the young woman.

The young woman merely gave a brief response now and then before lowering her head and taking small bites of her ramen.

"Come to think of it, we'll be assigned to teams the day after tomorrow."

Sarutobi Asuma stroked the beard on his chin and seemingly casually glanced at the young woman across from him.

"Kurenai, is there anyone you want to be assigned with?"

His tone was relaxed and casual, but the hand holding his spoon tightened slightly.

Yūhi Kurenai raised her face to look at him, her eyes as pure as freshly fallen snow.

"You can decide that?"

"Well, um..."

Sarutobi Asuma stammered vaguely, hastily looking away.

Naturally, he had no authority to decide anyone else's team assignment.

But if—he meant if—if Yūhi Kurenai really wanted to be assigned to the same team as him...

Asuma felt that sacrificing a little dignity to go home and beg that old man to assign him to Yūhi Kurenai's team...

Wouldn't be out of the question.

For the rest of the time, neither of them spoke. They simply ate the ramen in their bowls.

The atmosphere suddenly became stiff.

It was not until she had chewed and swallowed the last meatball that Yūhi Kurenai raised her head to look at Asuma again, her gaze still calm.

Ever since graduating from the Ninja Academy, Asuma had often asked her to train or eat with him, subtly expressing his interest in her.

Girls matured earlier mentally, so she naturally understood what Asuma was thinking.

But she did not really feel anything for him. She could even say that she did not like him very much.

Because Asuma usually put on the air of being very mature, as though he could handle anything on his own.

Yet whenever he actually ran into trouble, he would instinctively use his status as the Hokage's son to solve it.

Just like now.

Not only that, even during their earlier conversation, Asuma had kept steering the topic toward the Third Hokage.

And most of what he said had been criticisms of the Third Hokage, like a child throwing a tantrum.

How was Yūhi Kurenai, who had just become a genin, supposed to keep that conversation going?

All she could do was give a few perfunctory replies and lower her head to eat her noodles.

Maybe it was not a major issue in itself, but it had affected her current impression of Asuma to some extent.

"I don't have any particular teammate I want."

Only after noticing that Asuma's movements as he ate had become somewhat stiff did Yūhi Kurenai slowly look away and lightly shake her head.

"As long as the arrangement is reasonable, I have no objections."

"Alright..." Sarutobi Asuma felt a little disappointed, but he still forced out a faint smile. "I hope we both end up with teammates we can work well with."

Yūhi Kurenai nodded without saying anything.

The strange atmosphere once again enveloped the two of them, making Asuma's eyes wander uncontrollably.

Until the ramen shop's curtain was pushed aside.

Three figures entered from outside.

At the front was a handsome young man with messy hair.

A faint smile rested on his face, and a large fan crest was printed on the back of his dark casual clothes.

He was clearly an Uchiha, but Asuma did not recognize him. He seemed to be just some passerby.

However, Asuma knew the two figures behind the young man.

The one with a head of white hair, a black mask, and listless dead-fish eyes was Kakashi.

The one with a bowl cut, dressed in a green jumpsuit and seemingly radiating an unbearable brilliance, was Might Guy.

"Hm?" Asuma looked at them in surprise. "They're eating ramen together again?"

Kakashi and Might Guy had completely different styles and seemed like two people who had nothing to do with each other.

But Asuma knew that they occasionally sparred in Taijutsu at the training grounds, and he would sometimes see them go eat together after training.

However, ever since Kakashi's father, Hatake Sakumo, had committed suicide, Asuma had never seen them eat together again.

And it was not just Might Guy. Kakashi seemed to have completely shut himself off from everyone. Whenever Asuma spotted him from afar on the street, he was always alone.

But now...

Why were they together again?

Asuma scratched his head in confusion, staring at the two of them without being able to figure out what was going on.

Yūhi Kurenai also looked over, her ruby-like eyes flickering slightly as she wondered about something.

Until Kakashi and Might Guy followed that Uchiha young man to find seats and sit down.

Asuma's eyes widened blankly.

Only then did he realize that the person he had taken for a passerby seemed to be the key to everything.

"Who is that?" Asuma asked in confusion, pointing at the young man. "Why is he sitting with Kakashi and the others?"

Yūhi Kurenai answered softly, "Uchiha Chi."

"Gasp—"

Asuma sucked in a breath and turned to stare at Yūhi Kurenai in shock. "How do you know his name?"

Yūhi Kurenai said, "He's a classmate of ours."

"Really?" Asuma could not help stroking his beard. It did not feel satisfying enough, so he started scratching his head instead. "There was someone like that?"

If he was in their class, how could Asuma have no impression of him at all?

"He really is our classmate." Yūhi Kurenai nodded. "But maybe he's rather withdrawn. He rarely speaks, so you don't remember him very well."

"Then why do you remember his name?" Asuma still did not understand.

"Isn't it normal to know your classmates' names? Besides..." Yūhi Kurenai pressed an index finger against her chin and tilted her head slightly. "I think most of the girls in our class remember him."

She was so cute...

Asuma stared blankly at Yūhi Kurenai and instinctively asked, "Why?"

As he thought back, he did indeed remember someone like that in their class.

But this classmate had no presence at all. Though he came from the Uchiha clan, he was as ordinary as a civilian ninja.

To the point that Asuma had not remembered his name or appearance right away...

"Isn't that obvious?"

Yūhi Kurenai gave Asuma a strange glance and replied as though it were only natural, "Because he's handsome."

"..."

Sarutobi Asuma choked.

That night.

Security Force Headquarters, Captain's Office.

Facing the uninvited guest sitting on the sofa with her legs crossed, Uchiha Fugaku's eyelids twitched uncontrollably.

Then he looked at the wooden desk, where all kinds of documents had once been neatly arranged but which was now covered in scattered playing cards.

Uchiha Fugaku felt a throbbing pain in his temples.

His blood pressure was rising.

He hurriedly lowered his head and took several deep breaths.

After roughly steadying himself, he cleared his throat and spoke.

"Lady Tsunade..."

Uchiha Fugaku forced a slight smile onto his wooden expression and carefully asked, "What brings you here?"