Beside the ramen stand on the street corner, two silver-haired figures, one tall and one small, watched the scene.
"Dad, we should get going." Five-year-old Kakashi wore a mask that left only his sleepy eyes visible. He seemed completely uninterested in the commotion that had just unfolded.
But Hatake Sakumo didn't move. Only after the small red figure disappeared around the corner did he speak softly. "Kakashi."
"Hmm?"
A hint of a smile touched Sakumo's lips. "That child has something you don't."
"What?"
"The courage not to care what others think." Sakumo turned and started walking. "He ran into the crowd not to prove anything, but simply because he wanted to."
Kakashi followed his father, falling silent for a while.
"That's just being stupid."
"Maybe." Sakumo didn't argue. "But sometimes, being stupid to the extreme can take you farther than being clever."
Kakashi didn't answer.
Yet his gaze drifted involuntarily toward the path.
The short figure in the red shirt, and the brilliant smile he'd flashed while giving a thumbs-up, had somehow become etched in Kakashi's mind.
He shook his head, trying to shake the image away.
The Ninja Academy gates were right in front of them.
Miya practically dragged Shin-chan through the last stretch, finally coming to a stop at the entrance.
"Huff... huff... We made it." She panted, wiping the sweat from her forehead. "At least we're not late. Hurry inside!"
Shin-chan stood still, tilting his head as he looked at her.
"Mom."
"What is it now?"
"Where's my backpack?"
Miya froze.
"And my lunchbox," Shin-chan added, his tone as calm as if he were commenting on the weather.
Miya's smile stiffened. She slowly looked down at her empty hands, then at Shin-chan's empty hands, and murmured in a daze, "Where are the backpack and lunchbox?"
"By the shoe cabinet in the genkan," Shin-chan reminded her.
"..."
A cross-shaped vein slowly appeared on Miya's forehead.
"Shin Nohara!!!"
"Present."
"Why didn't you remind me while we were still at home?"
Shin-chan blinked, looking completely innocent. "You didn't give me a chance to say anything. You just dragged me out and ran."
Miya's one cross-shaped vein became three.
"Then you just watched me drag you all this way without saying a word?"
Shin-chan thought about it, then nodded earnestly. "Yeah. I thought you had some special plan, like dropping me off first and then using Ninjutsu to fly back and get everything."
"I'm not a ninja!"
"But this is Konoha. Isn't everyone a ninja?"
Miya took a deep breath, then another.
Then she turned and sprinted off.
"Wait at the entrance! Don't go anywhere!!!"
Her voice had already drifted dozens of meters away.
Shin-chan watched his mother's retreating figure and shook his head. "Adults have such terrible tempers."
Then he turned around, clasped his hands behind his back, and began surveying the Ninja Academy, which he'd never been inside before.
There was a sandbox and a swing in the courtyard, along with some training equipment he'd never seen before. A few trees grew in one corner, with several benches in the shade.
"Wow, the slide here is so tall."
Shin-chan's eyes lit up. He was wondering whether to try it out first when he spotted a little boy in a blue ninja uniform sitting on a bench ahead.
The boy looked about his age. His black hair was neatly combed, and his features were so delicate he looked almost unreal. His eyes were big and round, but at that moment, he was gazing at the ground with a gloomy expression.
A woman in a kimono stood beside him, her expression gentle.
"Toru, remember what Mom said. Be nice to your new classmates today, all right?"
"I know." His voice was very quiet.
"Don't always look so serious. Smile more. People should see that a child of the Uchiha Clan was raised well."
"Mm."
"If anything happens, go to your teacher, or wait for me to pick you up. Remember, you're a child of the Uchiha Clan, so you have to..."
"Be outstanding and not bring shame on the clan." The boy finished for his mother, a trace of hurt in his voice. "I know all that."
The woman nodded in satisfaction and patted his head. "Good boy. Mom's leaving now."
She stood up, straightened her collar, and walked away.
The boy on the bench kept sitting in the same position, his shoulders drooping slightly.
Shin-chan stood three meters away, watching him for a while.
Then he walked over and plopped down beside the boy.
"Hi there."
The boy jumped in surprise and whipped his head around, meeting a smiling face.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Shin Nohara. I'm five, and today's my first day of school." Shin-chan braced his hands on his knees and swung his short legs. "What about you?"
The boy instinctively straightened his back, trying to put on a serious expression. "My name is Uchiha Toru."
"Uchiha?" Shin-chan tilted his head. "That pretty aunt just called you Toru."
"She's my mom..." Uchiha Toru pressed his lips together. He seemed about to say something, but swallowed it instead.
Shin-chan leaned closer and stared at his face.
Uchiha Toru got uncomfortable under his gaze and leaned back a little. "What are you looking at?"
"Are you unhappy?" Shin-chan asked.
"No."
"You are." Shin-chan pointed at his eyebrows. "They're all scrunched up. My mom looks like that when she's mad, too."
Uchiha Toru instinctively touched the space between his brows.
"I..." He parted his lips, unsure why this strange, unfamiliar kid made him want to open up. "I just don't want to go to the Ninja Academy."
"Why not?"
"Because..." Uchiha Toru lowered his head. "The kids here all think I'm weird. They say I'm too clean and too proper, and that I don't like playing in the mud with them."
He paused, his voice growing even softer. "I want to play, too, but Mom says people from the Uchiha Clan can't get their clothes dirty or fight with others. We have to watch our appearance all the time."
Shin-chan listened carefully and nodded. "Then what do you like to play?"
"Me?" Uchiha Toru thought about it. "I like reading and collecting cards, but there's no one here who'll do those things with me."
Shin-chan blinked, then suddenly hopped off the bench, ran in front of him, and held out his right hand.
"Then let's be friends!"
Uchiha Toru looked up and met a pair of sparkling eyes.
"I'm Shin Nohara, I'm five, and I live with my mom and a little dog named Shiro. Dad's often away on missions." Shin-chan rattled it all off in one breath.
Uchiha Toru stared blankly at the hand in front of him. No one had ever come up to him so directly and asked to be his friend.
"Don't you think I'm weird?"
"Weird?" Shin-chan tilted his head and thought about it. "A little, but that's okay. I'm weird, too. My mom says everything about me is weird."
Uchiha Toru couldn't help smiling a little. Then he reached out and took Shin-chan's hand.
"Then let's be friends."
"Yay!" Shin-chan vigorously shook his hand, then suddenly remembered something. "By the way, do you like bear cookies?"
"They're... okay?"
"Then do you have any Chocolate Sticks at home?"
"I... I do."
"Great! Next time I come over, you can eat my bear cookies, and I'll eat your Chocolate Sticks." Shin-chan's eyes curved into crescents. "But if you have any pretty big sisters, save them for me, okay?"
Uchiha Toru didn't understand that last part, but somehow, he felt like today wasn't so bad after all.
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