Konoha's New Generation

"Sorry, coming through!"

"Sorry, we're in a hurry. Please make way!"

In Konoha, two thin figures raced through the streets, rushing toward the Ninja Academy.

The two figures were none other than Uchiha Yue and Uchiha Obito.

The reason they were hurrying to the Ninja Academy was that Obito had dawdled the whole way. Now they were about to be late.

While watching the original story unfold, Yue had learned that Obito was always late. Even so, he was still surprised by Obito's talent for running behind. Those absurd excuses weren't things Obito had made up at all. On the way here, Yue had seen with his own eyes how Obito kept doing good deeds without regard for the time, until the two of them had only just managed to reach the Ninja Academy shortly before registration began.

"Whew, we made it!"

After sprinting all the way there, Obito's face was slightly flushed. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and sighed with relief.

Compared with Obito's bedraggled state, Yue was doing much better. He watched Obito without even breathing hard.

After all, Yue had spent two whole years training diligently. If a sprint like this could leave him in a sorry state, all that hard work would have been a joke.

After Obito had sighed a few times, he suddenly noticed Yue looking at him with a smile in his eyes. His face flushed even redder with embarrassment.

Obito knew perfectly well that if it weren't for him, Yue wouldn't have been in danger of being late, let alone had to sprint all the way here. Although few people in Konoha could recognize the two of them, Yue had still accompanied him on that frantic dash to the Ninja Academy. Obito immediately apologized. "I'm really sorry, Yue. You wouldn't have had to do this if it weren't for me."

"It's all right."

Knowing that Obito had only been trying to help people out of the goodness of his heart, and hoping to earn the villagers' approval, Yue smiled and waved a hand. "We weren't late, were we? So you don't need to apologize, Obito. Besides, we're friends now. There's no need to apologize over every little thing!"

"You're right, Yue! We're friends!"

Obito was a pretty thick-skinned kid. Seeing that Yue didn't mind at all, he promptly slung an arm around Yue's shoulders again and chatted away with him, completely ignoring the strange looks from the people around them.

As he talked with Obito, though, Yue didn't forget to look around at the other kids who had come to register.

After all, most of the ninjas entering the Ninja Academy at the same time as Obito would become well-known figures in Konoha!

Yue already knew that Hatake Kakashi had entered the Ninja Academy before him and was now a famous prodigy there, so there was no chance of seeing the renowned Kakashi here. Still, apart from Kakashi, Yue spotted plenty of familiar faces. All of them would become pillars of Konoha in the original story.

For instance, standing in front of Yue was a guy wearing a tight green jumpsuit. Yue could tell without even thinking that he was Might Guy, Hatake Kakashi's eternal rival, who would later be known as Konoha's Blue Beast. Sarutobi Asuma and Yuhi Kurenai were standing nearby, too, and both were within Yue's line of sight. Yue hadn't expected Asuma and Kurenai to already be so close. No wonder Asuma had managed to get Kurenai pregnant.

And there were plenty of other famous characters from the original story. Shiranui Genma, Ebisu, and other ninjas who would later become well-known were all gathered here.

Just as Yue was staring at all those familiar characters, lost in thought, Obito's nonstop chatter suddenly fell silent. When Yue turned to him, puzzled, he saw Obito staring blankly into the distance, his face even redder than before.

Following Obito's gaze, Yue wore an expression that said he'd expected as much.

A cute girl stood in the direction Obito was looking. Yue didn't need to guess: this was Rin, the girl who would shape Obito's entire life.

"Hey, Obito, snap out of it!"

By now, Yue and Obito had grown quite close. With an amused smile, Yue tapped him on the head.

"Ah! What is it, Yue? Is our instructor here?"

Yue's sudden interruption startled Obito into shouting. Everyone around them turned to look, and laughter rang out all around. Obito was only four years old, after all. With so many people laughing at him, his face turned as red as a ripe apple.

Seeing how strongly Obito had reacted amused Yue. He smiled and said, "The instructor isn't here. You've just been staring at a girl this whole time. Don't you think that's a bit much?"

Yue's words only made Obito more embarrassed. He lowered his head and couldn't bring himself to say anything.

Seeing this, Yue gave Obito a gentle nudge with his elbow and continued, "Hey, Obito, that girl's pretty cute. Do you like her?"

"N-no!"

"It's just... it's just..."

The shy Obito didn't know what to say. He kept his head lowered, looking even more bashful.

Yue hadn't realized Rin had such an effect on people. She'd even managed to make the usually outgoing Obito act like this.

At the same time, Yue couldn't help thinking that kids in the Naruto world matured early.

Back in Yue's previous life, he hadn't developed the first vague feelings for girls until he was fourteen.

But...

Just as Yue was thinking how amusing Obito looked when he was embarrassed, and was about to tease him some more, he suddenly noticed several figures walking toward him and Obito. They were other kids registering at the Ninja Academy. The boy at the front stood out in particular: he had silver-white hair, and for some reason, he reminded Yue of Hatake Kakashi.

But the person standing before Yue clearly couldn't be Kakashi, because Kakashi would never have acted so arrogantly.

The silver-haired boy stared at Yue with disdain and walked right up to him. He shoved the bashful, head-lowered Obito aside, the corners of his mouth curling in mockery as he said coldly, "If I'm not mistaken, you're Uchiha Yue, the famous prodigy of the Uchiha Clan, right?"

"Yeah."

Yue narrowed his eyes slightly and studied the other boy warily. "I'm Uchiha Yue. Who are you?"

"Heh. Just as you'd expect from a prodigy of the Uchiha Clan—you don't even know my name!"

After hearing Yue's reply, the silver-haired boy immediately spoke in a mocking, sing-song voice. "My name is Hatake Dansui, known as the Blade of the Night. I'm a ninja of the Hatake Clan! I heard the Uchiha Clan's prodigy was about to enroll, so I came especially to see what this Uchiha Yue everyone talks about looks like!"

As he spoke, Dansui smirked disdainfully and snorted. "But now that I've seen you... the Uchiha Clan's prodigy isn't much to look at!"