Ino's Heart Was in Turmoil

Seeing Hyuga Hinata's shy, adorable appearance, even Lu Yu, who was so utterly free of desire, couldn't help feeling fond of her. He smiled and said:

"It's okay, Hinata. I'll be counting on you to keep an eye on the teacher for me from now on."

Seeing that Hinata was once again in danger of blushing herself into a faint because of his smile, Lu Yu hurriedly wiped the smile from his face, lay down on his desk, and went to sleep.

Hyuga Hinata secretly watched Lu Yu lazily sprawled across his desk, her eyes sparkling as she felt utterly content.

She would never tell Lu Yu that she'd learned his name because she'd gone out of her way to ask someone about him yesterday.

Nor would she tell him that she'd actually been hiding outside the school gates for a long time, waiting specifically for him to arrive. As soon as he did, she'd rushed inside, then spent ages psyching herself up at the entrance before finally gathering the courage to sit beside him.

Heaven knew how much courage it had taken her just to greet Lu Yu a moment ago.

And no one knew how happy his two smiles had made her.

That was just the kind of simple, pure-hearted girl Hyuga Hinata was.

Lu Yu, who had apparently already drifted off to sleep, knew nothing about any of this.

Before long, all the students had arrived.

Only then did Iruka stroll in and walk up to the podium. He glanced around and gave a light cough to quiet everyone down.

When Iruka came in, Ino, who was sitting directly in front of Lu Yu, instinctively looked back at him as he breathed evenly. She pulled her chair back and leaned against Lu Yu's desk, conveniently blocking Iruka's view of him.

Choji woke Shikamaru, who yawned sleepily and instinctively glanced back at his big brother.

When Shikamaru saw what Ino was doing, he couldn't help muttering:

"Big bro really is something. He's amazing, as always..."

Seeing that Shikamaru had noticed her little gesture, Ino's pretty face flushed slightly. Then she glared at him with her lovely almond-shaped eyes. He shrank back fearfully and didn't dare say another word.

Iruka smiled at the students, who had quieted down somewhat.

"Welcome to the Ninja Academy. I'm your teacher, Iruka. I'll be spending the next six wonderful years with you. All right, let's start by introducing ourselves."

Iruka took a class roster from his clothes and read the first name:

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

The blond boy stood up with an air of righteous determination and shouted:

"Hi, everyone! I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I'm seven years old, and my dream is to earn everyone's recognition and become the greatest Hokage of all time!"

Naruto delivered those words with quite a bit of force, but nobody bought it. After an awkward silence fell over the classroom, the students burst into loud laughter.

"What an idiot!"

"Hahaha, with his entrance exam scores, I don't even know how he got in. And he wants to become Hokage? That's hilarious."

"Man, what a pathetic guy. He has no idea what he's really like..."

The raucous laughter woke Lu Yu. He looked around in confusion, then quickly figured out what was going on from the students' remarks and the awkward look on Naruto's face. He curiously glanced at the people around him.

Haruno Sakura was ignoring Naruto completely and shyly watching Sasuke, who wore a cold expression.

Choji was busily munching on chips, his younger brother Shikamaru was spacing out, and Hinata was secretly peeking at him from the corner of her eye.

The moment she felt his gaze, Hinata was like a startled little rabbit. Her pretty face looked ready to turn bright red again.

Lu Yu helplessly looked away and glanced at Ino, who was leaning against his desk. He lowered his voice.

"Thanks, Ino. You don't have to block Iruka's view anymore. I'm awake."

At the sound of Lu Yu's voice, Ino's body gave an almost imperceptible tremble. She instinctively turned her head, her beautiful eyes flicking toward him as she was about to say, "You're welcome." But when she saw him smiling, she was stunned.

Handsome guy, who are you?

Unlike the usually lazy-looking Lu Yu, his smile had a strange charm to it. It felt warm and comforting—and made her heart flutter.

For some reason, Ino felt her heartbeat quicken and her breathing grow uneven. Her mind went completely blank...

"Yamanaka Ino? Yamanaka Ino?"

While Ino was daydreaming about him, Iruka's voice pulled her back to reality.

"Huh? Here!"

Ino hurriedly turned around. Seeing Iruka looking puzzled, she immediately stood up.

"Teacher, I'm Yamanaka Ino. I'm seven years old..."

Ino mechanically gave her introduction, though she had no idea what she was saying. All she knew was that, somehow, her heart had been thrown into turmoil...