In the classroom, Kushina nervously made it through her first lesson since arriving in Konoha. She hadn't understood a thing about villages, bonds, or the Will of Fire.
She was focused on what to do after class: first, start a conversation by thanking the boy in front of her for helping her, then use the opportunity to greet the two girls beside her, who looked so gentle.
That way, I can make my first, second, and third friends at the Ninja Academy.
"Ring..." "Um, I..."
Kushina's carefully planned attempt to make friends, which she'd spent the whole lesson preparing, was interrupted before it even began.
"Hey, redhead, why's your face so red? You look like a tomato. Are you mad or something?"
"Are you trying to become Hokage with a head covered in chili peppers?"
"Scary! It's the red-haired demon! Mom says red-haired demons eat a kid every day. Hahaha... ah!"
Terrifying chakra erupted from Kushina. Her anger reached its peak, and her red hair floated in the air.
With one punch apiece, Kushina quickly knocked the gleefully jeering brats beside her to their knees.
Fujitora, who had led the teasing, saw his lackeys fall one after another. In a panic, he pulled out an unopened kunai he'd brought from home.
Watching Kushina wreak havoc, Genichi sighed. Why are they even using weapons?
He sprang up, knocked the kunai from Fujitora's hand with a backhand, then punched him in the stomach and sent him sprawling.
"Stop! What are you doing?" Teacher Sarutobi, who had heard the commotion and hadn't gone far, hurried back to the classroom. The sight before him made his vision go black.
"Chiba Genichi, Kushina Uzumaki, and Fujitora Oishi! You three, come to my office at once!" Sarutobi Kimura shouted angrily.
"Teacher, Kushina hit us."
The battered brats rushed to tattle first. Given their sorry state, their story was fairly convincing.
"That's a lie! You were making fun of me, so you got what you deserved."
After letting loose, Kushina felt completely refreshed. The timid, helpless girl she'd been before was gone in an instant. Now she was like a chili pepper ready to explode, and anyone who came near her would get blasted.
By then, Teacher Sarutobi had more or less figured out what had happened. He knew which students in his class liked causing trouble and which ones usually behaved. Since Genichi had been acting like a normal student for the past month—and perhaps because Sarutobi's expectations had been so low—he had actually come to think of him as a well-behaved, obedient student. So he asked, "Genichi, tell me what happened."
"Fujitora and the others started making fun of Kushina as soon as class ended. She fought back and knocked them down. Then I saw Fujitora pull out a kunai, so I stepped in and restrained him," Genichi said.
"Teacher, you know me. I never lie."
"All right, Genichi, you did well this time. As for the rest of you, bring your parents in tomorrow. Now get back to class and behave. Don't cause any more trouble."
After thinking it over, Teacher Sarutobi decided to speak directly with their parents and put an end to the problem.
"Um, sorry you got called to the office too." Kushina hurried to catch up with Genichi. "And thank you for helping me during introductions earlier."
"It's fine. It was no trouble." Genichi smiled. "Don't take what they said to heart. Red hair is cute, too. It makes you look full of energy."
"Cute, huh..." Kushina lowered her head shyly and fell silent.
The school day passed quickly.
It wasn't until she got home from school and saw Grandma Mito that Kushina remembered she'd gotten called in for a parent-teacher meeting on her very first day.
"Grandma Mito." Kushina greeted the old woman, then awkwardly fell silent.
"What's wrong? Did someone bully our Kushina?" Uzumaki Mito noticed that something was bothering her.
"It's nothing, really. Some people made fun of my red hair, and I couldn't hold back, so I beat them all up." Kushina stammered.
"And the teacher said a parent has to come in tomorrow."
"We'll have your big sister Tsunade go tomorrow. It'll keep her from spending all day drinking and lazing around at home." Uzumaki Mito handed the task to Tsunade.
"Come on, tell Grandma more about what happened at school. Did you make any friends today?"
"As for friends, I think I met some..." Kushina told her about her day.
Meanwhile, back at home, Genichi reviewed what he'd learned from his training so far, using Minato, who was just as talented and diligent, as a point of comparison.
He won more often than he lost in taijutsu matches. He had a clear advantage over Minato in both strength and speed, though Minato's reflexes were quicker.
Sometimes Minato gained the upper hand because he changed tactics so quickly. He was genuinely good at that; the future Yellow Flash certainly lived up to his reputation.
He couldn't neglect training his dynamic vision and reflexes. If he developed a technique along the lines of Chidori in the future, those would be essential.
It'd be ridiculous to develop my own ninjutsu only to find my body couldn't handle using it, right, Kakashi?
There was no need to say much about throwing ninja tools. Its practical potential was limited, so he could set it aside for now.
The Rasengan was coming along, too. He could already pop water balloons with ease.
At the thought, Genichi nodded in satisfaction. Maybe he could buy a Ninja Blade later? His chakra reserves were too limited early on, and relying solely on ninjutsu in a fight would leave him hamstrung.
A sharp Ninja Blade would greatly improve both his threat and his lethality in close combat.
As night fell, Genichi drank a cup of warm milk and drifted off to sleep, full of hope for the future.
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