First Day

The perspective returned to the present.

After Iruka left, the atmosphere in the classroom immediately became livelier.

Amid the children's chatter, all kinds of little groups gradually formed.

Some children started complaining about the people in the class as they talked, saying this one was timid and easy to bully, that one was gloomy and not to be messed with, another seemed troublesome, and some said Hyuga Ningxue was very arrogant.

Among them was a boy who had been discussing Hyuga Ningxue earlier. He also thought she was too full of herself, and it rubbed him the wrong way. Besides, he wanted to be the boss of the class, so he decided to go all in and teach this hateful girl a lesson first.

The boy planning to teach her a lesson had freckles on his face. His name was Jiantaro.

Since he had set his mind on becoming the boss of the class, he had to bully the person who annoyed him.

He led several boys who were also dissatisfied with Ningxue's attitude toward the back of the classroom, deliberately raising his voice.

"Hey, you from the Hyuga clan."

Jiantaro stopped in front of Ningxue's desk and rudely knocked on her desktop, producing a dull thumping sound.

"What was with that attitude just now? Are you looking down on us?"

Ningxue slowly shifted her gaze away from the view outside the window and looked at the uninvited guest.

There was not the slightest ripple in her pure white eyes. No anger, no fear—just stillness, like a dead pool of water.

Yet that gaze, which treated him as though he were beneath notice, was more infuriating than any words.

"I'm talking to you!" Jiantaro felt humiliated and grew even more aggressive.

The surrounding noise quieted, and many eyes turned toward them.

Naruto looked carefree, as though he did not care about what was happening, but his eyes made it clear that if they started fighting, he wanted to help.

Sasuke, sitting in front, frowned slightly, apparently finding such provocation low-class. (But Sasuke had not yet experienced the massacre of his clan, so he was still kind at heart and did not like this sort of behavior.)

Ningxue spoke, but she only said two words in a flat tone.

"Dumbass."

Simple trash talk, ultimate satisfaction.

"You!" Jiantaro's face turned red with rage as he reached for Ningxue's collar.

He did not understand what "dumbass" meant.

But it had the word "dumb" in it, so she was definitely insulting him.

However, his hand froze halfway there.

Because Ningxue knew very well that without resorting to violence, the best method was intimidation.

So she put on an expression comparable to Yamato combined with a flashlight.

From that child's perspective, it was this.

You wanted to make a move, only to find the other person's eyes hollow, with faint veins showing at the corners of her eyes.

She pulled out an extremely uncanny, inhuman smile, her brows lifting slightly and giving off an intensely empty feeling.

Combined with her long white hair and the atmosphere created by the Ice-nature chakra she secretly used, it engulfed him in an instant.

The moment their eyes met, the child felt as if he had seen his great-grandmother.

"A ghost!!!!"

He hurriedly released her, stumbled back several steps, and fell to the floor.

"No, she's a monster! No! She's a ghost!"

The child had been frightened into incoherence.

Foolish child, a single scary ghost face had given him psychological trauma.

It scared him so badly that he became a limp noodle, unable to get back up. Oh dear, how pitiful.

"What happened?"

His companions were also startled. Looking at Jiantaro's state, then at Hyuga Ningxue, who had returned to her expressionless face and was even looking at him like trash, they could not help feeling a chill crawl up their spines.

They instinctively retreated several steps. No one dared help Jiantaro up, much less step forward to provoke her.

The surrounding students were all stunned, completely unable to understand what had happened.

"What happened? What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know... I just saw him reach out, and then suddenly..."

"Did Hyuga do something to him?"

"She didn't do anything... she just... looked at him?"

Naruto's eyes widened, his face full of confusion.

"Huh? What happened? Why did that guy fall over by himself? And why is he screaming?"

He had thought he would need to go over and help calm things down, but for some reason, Jiantaro had suddenly fallen down and started screaming.

Sasuke's frown deepened.

He felt that Ningxue was a potential opponent. For a moment, he had sensed chakra.

"Hmph, she really is troublesome," Shikamaru muttered, turning his face to the other side while still lying on his desk.

"Tasty." Crunch, crunch.

Choji continued hugging his potato chips and munching away, expressing his approval of the show.

Kiba curled his lip.

"Tch, you got scared flat on your back by that? Akamaru has more courage than you!"

"Woof!" Akamaru agreed.

The classroom atmosphere became quiet and strange. Everyone stared in their direction, wanting to see how things would develop.

Ningxue was secretly laughing to herself.

Kids really are kids. My verdict: just another stray mutt by the roadside.

Ignoring the strange looks around her, she sat back down and turned to look out the window.

She did not say a third word throughout the entire incident.

What a hassle. I really don't like children. What will we have for dinner tonight? Will my dear father be sewing his clothes again? What kind of habit is that for a grown man?... Should I bring Mom something tasty on the way back?... Wind Release?... Something wide-range? What should I practice?

Of course, those were only her thoughts.

In the end, Iruka was the one who broke the deadlock.

He had originally planned to come in for class once he finished sorting out the lesson plans, timing it just right. But after standing at the door for a moment, he felt the classroom was far too quiet, so he came in to see what was going on.

The moment he entered, he saw Jiantaro sitting on the floor, trembling and babbling incoherently. Then he looked at the strange expressions on the other children's faces and Hyuga Ningxue, who was clearly acting as though none of this concerned her, and immediately felt two headaches coming on at once.

"What happened?" Iruka quickly helped Jiantaro up.

"T-Teacher... she... ghost... white..." Jiantaro pointed at Ningxue, still terrified.

Iruka looked at Ningxue, keeping his tone as gentle as possible.

"Hyuga, this is...?"

"Oh, Teacher, he came over and knocked on my desk, then accidentally fell down." Hyuga Ningxue replied blandly.

Naturally, Iruka did not believe her. The child had been scared into this state.

"She... she just..." Jiantaro tried to accuse her, but when he saw Ningxue's gaze turn toward him, he could not bring himself to say it.

"She made a scary face at me and scared my legs weak."

There were two reasons: he was scared, and it was too embarrassing.

For a moment, he stammered and mumbled, feeling utterly aggrieved.

"Alright, alright. It's fine now. Maybe it was just a misunderstanding."

Iruka could only smooth things over for now, gently patting Jiantaro's back to comfort him.

"Students should get along well with each other. You can't just knock on someone else's desk, understand?"

"U-Understood," Jiantaro could only say miserably.

"Understood."

Ningxue, on the other hand, sounded much more natural.

Iruka could only sigh helplessly at that. Then he addressed the entire class.

"Alright, everyone, return to your seats. Get ready for class."

...Before long, the bell rang.

The cultural classes and basic theory lessons that followed were boring to Ningxue, but necessary.

With an adult's way of thinking, she learned everything quickly.

Of course, when it came to math, she simply put her head down and slept. There was no other reason—at six years old, they were only learning simple things like 1 + 10. (If she could, she would rather practice chakra, but this was school, so naturally she did not dare.)