Uzumaki Kushina felt the eyes on her. She turned toward the door and looked at Hyuga Shinichi again. When he smiled and nodded at her, she didn't back down this time.
Instead, she straightened up, lifted her head, closed her eyes, and shouted to her classmates.
"I'm Uzumaki Kushina!"
Realizing she had shouted too loudly, Kushina covered her mouth with one hand. Her face reddened as she opened her eyes and stole a glance at her classmates.
Sure enough, they had all started talking. But all Kushina heard was them discussing her red hair.
"Look at that hair! I can't believe it!"
"She said her name is Uzumaki. That's the clan everyone in the village has been talking about lately!"
"Yeah, but I've seen a few members of the Uzumaki Clan, and none of them had hair that red!"
"How do you get it to be so red?"
"That's really weird!"
At the front of the classroom, Kushina separated a lock of red hair from her bangs and held it up to look at. Hearing her classmates talk about it, she slowly lowered her head.
The only student in the classroom who wasn't talking about Kushina was Namikaze Minato.
Minato could tell how Kushina was feeling, but he didn't know what he could do to help her.
He could only turn and look toward Shinichi at the classroom door, pleading for help with his eyes. But when he saw Shinichi, Minato realized he probably didn't need to do anything.
The teacher standing beside Kushina had noticed her mood, too. He clapped his hands and called out to the class.
"Alright, alright! Quiet down! Everyone, be qui—"
Before the teacher could finish, a heavy pressure suddenly filled the classroom. Everyone felt it except Kushina, who still had her head lowered.
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