Himegami

"Haah..."

Another boring day at school. Yueshu yawned, bored out of his mind.

Konoha was the same as ever. The weather was the same as ever. And class was as sleep-inducing as ever.

Yueshu even wondered if the system's missions were just there to give him something to do.

He hadn't given it much thought before, but once the system's mission appeared and his goal shifted to graduating early, the tedium of those aimless days had set in.

"Yueshu. Yueshu."

"Hm? Is school out?"

Without meaning to, Yueshu had given in to his drowsiness and fallen asleep. Only after a while did someone's voice wake him.

"It's not time to go home yet, but I think the teacher wants to see you."

When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a lock of red hair.

It was Kushina, sitting at the desk in front of his.

"The teacher? What for?"

"I don't know. Why not go ask? Then you'll find out."

Kushina shook her head.

With a sigh, Yueshu got up and went to find the teacher.

Honestly, he'd rather have gone back to sleep. He'd been tired lately from spending every day instructing the two girls in their training.

Even saying that made Yueshu feel a little embarrassed. It was the two girls doing the training, not him, so it wasn't as if he had much reason to be tired.

Leaving that aside, Yueshu yawned as he walked out of the classroom.

"You look tired."

Mikoto came over and stood beside Kushina, watching Yueshu's back.

"Tired, my ass. What's he got to be tired about? We're the ones training. All he does is sleep, then occasionally wake up to teach us something."

Kushina grumbled. For the past few days, they'd been sweating through their training while Yueshu slept soundly nearby.

"Haha, that's true."

Mikoto smiled softly.

"But he's reliable. Whenever we need help, he's never asleep."

"Hmph. He's not bad, I suppose."

Yueshu had no idea that Mikoto and Kushina were talking about him behind his back. By now, he'd reached the teacher's office.

He pushed the door open, and the scene inside came into view.

"Huh?"

"Hey, long time no see, Yueshu."

Yueshu froze. Even he hadn't expected to find Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze in the office.

"How's school life, kid? Treating you all right?"

Jiraiya had spotted Yueshu too. He turned and greeted him.

"It's the same as ever. No, wait!"

"What are you two doing here?"

Yueshu hurriedly looked around, but there was no one else in the office besides Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze.

"Don't bother looking. I'm the one who asked for you."

Jiraiya's voice reached him, and Yueshu focused his gaze on him.

"Here."

Jiraiya tossed something over. Yueshu caught it.

"All right, that's done. Let's go, Minato."

"Huh?"

Yueshu watched as Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze started to leave, then quickly spoke up.

"What's going on? This thing—"

He was just about to hold up the object in his hand and take a closer look when Jiraiya stopped him.

"I think you should look at it by yourself later."

Jiraiya's words made Yueshu stop.

"What do you mean?"

Yueshu's voice had gone quieter. He glanced at Jiraiya.

"That's for you to figure out. Take a look yourself."

With that, Jiraiya headed out of the office.

Minato Namikaze followed behind him and gave Yueshu an apologetic look.

"Sorry, I don't really know either. Teacher Jiraiya didn't tell anyone."

Minato Namikaze spoke softly. Jiraiya was already calling for him from outside, so he had no choice but to hurry after him.

Their footsteps gradually faded. Only then did Yueshu slowly unfold the object in his hands.

It was a token, solid and weighty in his palm. To the naked eye, it looked ancient, steeped in history.

Yueshu's breathing grew heavy.

Not because he'd seen an antique, but because of the characters carved into the token.

Himegami!

That was the surname of the body Yueshu now inhabited.

The two characters for Himegami were carved into the token. A deep red color covered a third of it, staining even the carved characters.

Yueshu stood frozen in place. After a long while, he finally managed a somewhat self-mocking smile.

Hey!

Dear god, is this really Naruto?

For the first time, Yueshu had such a thought.

The things he'd always brushed aside rather than think about had finally been placed right before him.

When had he crossed over? What had caused it?

Why was his name the only thing he remembered after crossing over? After all, in his previous life, Yueshu had never heard the surname Himegami in Naruto.

At first glance, he might have seemed like an ordinary civilian, but that assumption had now been shattered.

Without a doubt, the body Yueshu currently inhabited wasn't that of an ordinary person. As for what he was, Yueshu had no idea.

Ever since crossing over, he'd encountered all kinds of strange things, starting with his first battle.

After killing that Rain ninja, Yueshu had truly felt how real this world was.

This wasn't the Naruto of some anime. It wasn't Naruto on the other side of a screen, separated by another dimension. This was a real world, where he was standing in the flesh.

"Yueshu, what happened? What did the teacher say?"

Yueshu was still lost in thought when Kushina came looking for him.

"Huh? Kushina, what are you doing here?"

"What do you mean? School's already out. We're getting ready to train. Honestly, what are you doing standing around here? There isn't even a teacher here."

Yueshu quietly put the token away. Kushina hadn't seen a thing; she'd only found him standing there in a daze.

"School's out already?"

"What else would it be?"

"Then let's go train. We don't have much time."

Yueshu didn't wait for an answer. He started moving and gently pushed Kushina along.

"Wait."

Kushina let herself be pushed along, unable to make sense of the situation.

"You're actually taking the initiative and dragging us off to train?"

Kushina looked at him in disbelief.

It was true that Yueshu had been the one to suggest they graduate early, but he spent half of every training session asleep. No wonder Kushina found this hard to believe.

"Why wouldn't I? Come on, let's go."

Yueshu gave a listless reply and pushed Kushina along.

Kushina could only sigh and go with him.

She didn't know that Yueshu's expression behind her wasn't his usual lazy one. It was calm instead.

There seemed to be a light in Yueshu's eyes as he stared straight ahead. But the red figure in front of him wasn't all he saw.

The story had strayed from the original plot. The things Naruto had never described left Yueshu unsure how he felt.

Strictly speaking, this body wasn't even his, yet he felt a stubborn resolve all the same.

A resolve that came from deep within his soul.

It became all the stronger after he saw the token engraved with Himegami.

Yueshu could clearly feel his heart pounding, faster than it ever had before.

He took a quiet, deep breath. In the end, he made up his mind.

He had to uncover the truth about Himegami. If this resolve belonged to the original owner of his body, then Yueshu had a duty to help him see it through.

Once he'd made up his mind and set his goal, the next step followed naturally.

It was simple: Jiraiya, who had given him the token, definitely knew something. Even if it was only a little, it was still more than Yueshu knew.

Thinking this, Yueshu's eyes grew unusually serious, though only for an instant.