First Meeting

The next day, Sasuke's class at the Ninja Academy was buzzing with noise. As the start of class drew closer, every seat in the classroom was filled except for Uchiha Sasuke's.

Shikamaru Nara sat at the back and glanced at the lone empty seat, his expression a little complicated. Most of the village kept quiet about what had happened, but as a member of one of the major clans, Shikamaru knew the truth. The village police force had passed from the Uchiha Clan to the Sarutobi Clan—that was proof enough.

Of course, everyone in the room knew what Shikamaru knew. Their parents had let them in on some of the details, since their children were classmates with the Uchiha orphan. Everyone except Uzumaki Naruto, naturally!

"Why isn't Sasuke here yet? Did he oversleep or something?"

While Shikamaru was still wondering whether Sasuke would show up, the one person who didn't know what had happened, Uzumaki Naruto, stared at Sasuke's seat and complained.

As the last-place student in the class, Naruto had made Sasuke his target to surpass, hoping to hide his loneliness. The naive Naruto believed that if he could beat Sasuke, his classmates would accept him!

"Idiot! You think everyone's like you?"

Just as Naruto was imagining how he'd defeat Sasuke and earn everyone's cheers, Haruno Sakura's fist, as big as a sandbag, came down on his head!

Sakura didn't know the whole story, but she'd heard about the Uchiha Clan Massacre from her parents. Since she liked Sasuke, she couldn't stand hearing Naruto insult the perfect image of him in her heart, and she couldn't help but lash out!

Her sandbag-sized fist struck Naruto's head, making him grimace in pain.

Seeing his expression, Sakura felt a wave of relief. She'd gotten even with him on Sasuke's behalf!

Just as Sakura was congratulating herself, the classroom door opened, and Sasuke strolled in. In his previous life, he'd gotten used to arriving at work right on time.

"Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke had barely stepped into the classroom when he heard an affectionate voice.

He looked up. Sure enough, the speaker was the lovestruck flower-shop owner, Yamanaka Ino!

"Is something wrong?" Sasuke asked calmly, faced with Ino's heart-filled gaze.

"Uh... No!" Ino had meant to say something comforting and win Sasuke's favor, but his question caught her off guard. She froze, then slowly returned to her seat.

"He's surprisingly calm," Shikamaru murmured with a mild smile from the seat beside Ino. Then he stopped paying attention to Sasuke.

Noticing that everyone was watching him, Sasuke walked expressionlessly toward his seat.

Once he sat down, Sasuke noticed that Sakura's fist was still planted on Naruto's head, and Naruto looked like he was in pain.

Seeing his future teammates like this left Sasuke with mixed feelings. In a way, he was the reincarnation of Indra's Chakra. He didn't know if Indra would still choose him in this life, but Naruto was unquestionably Asura's reincarnation!

How could the mighty reincarnation of Asura be bullied by a violent girl with no special bloodline? It was like a scene straight out of the Ninja World: "I walked in and saw Chang Wei chasing Lai Fu around!"

"Sasuke-kun... It's not what you think!" Sakura noticed that Sasuke had taken the seat beside her and hurried to explain.

Sasuke gave her explanation a casual smile, then turned away and waited for the teacher to arrive.

I'm doomed! Why did Sasuke have to see that? There goes my ladylike image! When Sasuke turned away, Sakura's inner self regretted it terribly.

"Sasuke, did you oversleep?" Just as Sakura had finally gotten over her embarrassment, Naruto recovered from the pain. He stood up, climbed onto the desks, and slowly made his way toward Sasuke.

"Naruto, get back to your seat. Class is about to start!"

As Naruto strode toward Sasuke with exaggerated swagger, Iruka came in carrying a thick stack of teaching materials.

"Fine!"

When he saw the teacher, Naruto pouted helplessly and obediently returned to his seat!

The Ninja Academy arranged the desks in rows of three. Sakura sat beside Naruto, with Sasuke on her other side, so the idiot Naruto had been walking across all three desks like a performer putting on a show.

After Naruto sat down, Sakura noticed the footprints on her desk and frowned. She took out a handkerchief and wiped them off. While she was at it, she also cleaned a footprint off Sasuke's desk!

"Thanks!"

Sasuke noticed what Sakura had done and thanked her warmly, then started taking a look at the classmates who'd be with him for the next five years.

"Yay!" Sakura kept a calm face, but her inner self had already started dancing with joy at Sasuke's thanks!

Sasuke looked toward the first row. The three students there were Akimichi Choji, Shikamaru Nara, and Yamanaka Ino.

The first was an undisputed glutton. Sasuke couldn't understand why a girl from the Land of Lightning would fall for him in the future.

As for Shikamaru, everyone knew his lifelong dream: marry a woman who was neither beautiful nor ugly and find a simple job.

Unfortunately, not a single one of that pineapple-head's wishes came true. He married the prettiest girl in the neighboring class, and his job became Hokage's secretary. Thinking it over, that was actually pretty pitiful!

And the last one needed no introduction: Yamanaka Ino, a lovesick fool. She'd originally liked Sasuke, but halfway through, she got swept off her feet by Sai, a decent-looking guy from Root!

Looking at Ino, Sasuke wondered why his former self had chosen flat-chested Sakura in the end. Why wasn't the curvy Ino better?

As Sasuke studied Ino, Sakura looked at him sadly. Why was he looking at Ino?!

Realizing he'd gotten distracted, Sasuke shook his head and continued searching for the other three students who would graduate alongside him.

His gaze swept across the classroom, and he spotted the people he'd been looking for: Hinata Hyuga, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino. Shino... what was his name again?

Sasuke felt awkward looking at the bespectacled student sitting beside Hinata. Even with the memories of two lifetimes combined, he couldn't remember the guy's name. Was his memory that bad? No, this guy just had no presence!

Having found himself an excuse, Sasuke looked toward Inuzuka Kiba, who had a dog sitting on his head. Hadn't this guy, like Aburame Shikuroo, ended up without a wife?

How tragic! After silently pitying the two of them, Sasuke looked at Hinata in the center of the room.

First meeting at the Ninja Academy: the split-personality Haruno Sakura, the constantly beaten-up Asura, the pineapple-head whose wishes all came to nothing, the glutton who got his cabbage stolen by a pig, the utterly forgettable Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba with his canine companion, and the Byakugan princess, Hinata!

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