Boring School Life

Something big happened in Konoha today: students had actually gotten into a fight during the entrance exam. Hyuga Fuyuki had taken down nearly sixty of his classmates. Clutching his stomach, Uzumaki Naruto voiced his strong condemnation, while Uchiha Sasuke, sporting a huge bump on his head, declared that he didn't care one bit about someone like Hyuga Fuyuki.

Inuzuka Kiba wore a disdainful look as he clutched his butt, hiding the shoe print on his backside from everyone else, and started running his mouth.

Fuyuki left in high spirits, holding Hinata's hand. Naruto and Sasuke followed close behind. One clutched the top of his head, while the other hunched over with a hand on his stomach. They looked so ridiculous that all the parents waiting outside for the exam results stared in bewilderment, unsure what had happened inside.

"Sasuke, you..."

Uchiha Fugaku furrowed his brow as he looked at the large, red bump on his second son's head, not quite understanding.

It was only an exam. Why were his clothes disheveled, his face covered in dust, and his head looking as though someone had hit him?

"I stepped on a trap during the exam and got hit by a falling rock." Sasuke's face was red as he struggled to get the words out.

"What was your result?"

"Third place."

"And who got first and second?"

"Hyuga Fuyuki and Hinata Hyuga."

Uchiha Fugaku fell silent for a moment, then said, "Stay out of trouble when you can. I'm going to give you a thorough cram session!"

"What were your results?" Hiashi asked.

Fuyuki beat Hinata to it. "The first- and second-place students in the whole school get into the Elite Class. Uchiha Sasuke came in third."

He had to be the one to say it. If he left it to Hinata, who was so shy and honest, she'd surely report her results and times with complete honesty. Then her Old Father would probably glare at her with a dark look on his face again.

His expression would practically say: "You have the same mother, and you were even born before your little brother. Why are you *&×"

Fuyuki put it another way, and a proud smile appeared on Hiashi's face. "My children truly live up to their name. I'm proud of you."

"Give me money!" Fuyuki held out his hand.

Hiashi: "?"

"I want to eat Three-color Dango, and I didn't bring enough money." Fuyuki patted his wallet and spoke with utter confidence.

"Fine. But I have something to take care of, so I need to head back to the clan compound first. I'll have Himon go with you." Hiashi pulled a thick wad of bills from his wallet without counting them and handed them all to Fuyuki. "Come back as soon as you're done eating. Don't wander off."

Money meant nothing to Hiashi. The Hyuga Clan had so much money sitting in the bank that there were too many zeroes to bother counting. Hiashi had always been generous when it came to the twins' expenses. As long as they had a good, reasonable excuse, he usually just handed the money over.

Fuyuki counted the money, then looked at Himon, the Hyuga Clan Jonin who had appeared beside him with the Body Flicker Technique. "You're not getting any. If you want to eat, pay for it yourself, you swindling profiteer!"

Himon was speechless. He no longer knew how to explain to Fuyuki that there was nothing wrong with his goods; Fuyuki had simply been bad at business and sold them at a loss. It had only been a few tens of thousands of ryo. Did he really have to hold a grudge for half a year?

Maybe he'd even written the grudge in his diary and reread it every day!

"Boss, fifty skewers of Three-color Dango, and three bowls of red bean soup!"

Fuyuki placed his order. The moment the boss saw who had come in, he immediately began preparing the food without a word.

They were old friends, after all. The boss knew Fuyuki always bought at least thirty or fifty skewers of Three-color Dango at a time.

In the private room, Hinata ate with gusto. Fuyuki had four skewers and a bowl of red bean soup, then was more or less full.

The rest all went into Hinata's stomach. Fuyuki had always wondered where all the nutrients Hinata ate went. At twelve or thirteen, those nutrients could go where they were supposed to, but right now Hinata was just a little girl. Where could they possibly go?

But the truth was, she could eat a whole ninja clan out of house and home. It was lucky she'd been born into the well-off Hyuga Clan.

It made no sense at all—not scientifically, and not even by the rules of ninjutsu.

In the days that followed, Fuyuki spent his time at the Ninja Academy. To catch the boys who liked bullying girls, he deliberately wore Hinata's unisex clothes. Every so often, he even told Hinata to skip the Ninja Academy and went to class in her place.

The result was that Fuyuki became unbeatable at the Ninja Academy!

Even calling in Genin was useless. If anything, they got beaten even worse.

When it came to beating up kids, Fuyuki disdained using chakra. But when a ninja came to the academy to bully students, Fuyuki didn't care what they were thinking. He simply used Summoning Sacrifice to beat the attackers into the hospital.

They called in a Chunin? Huh? Did they think the Hyuga Clan had no one? Had they ever seen a Jonin bodyguard? Had they ever seen an Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan?

As time went by, Fuyuki got used to school life, but then he noticed something interesting.

Uchiha's social butterfly, Uchiha Sasuke—the usually aloof, tsundere prince—was blushing all over today, with happiness practically written across his face. He kept looking out the window, as if he couldn't wait for school to end.

The bashful Sasuke had the girls in the class swooning!

Ino and Sakura, the two shameless flirts, even stood on their desks and whistled at Sasuke, trying to catch his attention.

Fuyuki watched with keen interest. He had a pretty good idea why Sasuke kept looking out the window. That was exactly why he found it so interesting. There was something he'd wanted to do for a long time, but he'd never had the chance.

Judging by how happy Sasuke looked, Uchiha Itachi would probably come to pick him up after school today, right?

Fuyuki rested one hand on the desk and propped his cheek up with the other, wearing a gentle smile that gave him a warm, kindhearted air.

Quite a few girls had been sneaking glances at Fuyuki, and even a fair number of boys were looking at him because of his looks.

There was no helping it. As blood-related twins, they were probably as closely related as siblings could be, so they naturally looked very much alike. Before their male and female features developed, they were incredibly difficult to tell apart.

In other words, the brats sneaking glances at Fuyuki had mistaken him for someone else. They wanted to sneak a look at Hinata Hyuga, but they didn't know that Hinata was at home today.

Only Fuyuki had come to class, so they'd spent the day looking at him. Hopefully they wouldn't cry when they found out the truth.

The dismissal bell rang, bringing self-study to an end. Sasuke couldn't be bothered to argue with Naruto today. He slung his schoolbag over his shoulder and rushed out of the classroom, heading for the school gate.

Fuyuki climbed straight out the window and reached the gate even faster than Sasuke.

"Nii-chan~"

Sasuke called out sweetly and leaped into the arms of a boy with smile lines beside his mouth.

Uchiha Itachi rarely smiled as he asked, "How was school today, Sasuke?"

As he spoke, he raised a hand and was just about to poke Sasuke in the forehead. Sasuke was beaming too, ready for their usual interaction.

Poking each other in the forehead was how the brothers communicated. Somehow, it seemed to let them understand each other's feelings.

But a teasing voice came from the side, freezing the brothers' interaction in place.

"Hell Stab: Two-Finger Nukite!"

Uchiha Itachi stiffened. Having lived through a ninja war, he vaguely remembered that this was the Third Raikage's ultimate technique. So he couldn't decide whether or not he should poke Sasuke in the forehead.

Should he do it? It seemed a little ominous.

Should he not? Sasuke didn't seem willing to let him off the hook.

When Sasuke felt the poke wasn't coming, he noticed his brother's smile had frozen, his hand raised and hanging awkwardly in the air.

He immediately guessed what had happened and glared angrily at Fuyuki, who was striding over with an utterly carefree swagger. "You jerk! Damn you, Hyuga Fuyuki! Just you wait until Taijutsu class tomorrow!!!"

"Pfft."

Itachi poked Sasuke in the forehead. Amused, he gave Sasuke a Head-pat Kill. "Taijutsu class? Then you'd better train hard today, or you'll lose."

"Huh? Nii-chan, do you have time to train with me?" Sasuke asked, his face full of delight.