Uchiha Itachi Was My Classmate

"Wherever leaves dance, flames will burn. The fire's shadow will illuminate the village, and then new leaves will sprout again..."

At that moment, Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi was delivering a speech at the new students' opening ceremony. He was nearing the end.

That's right, today was the first day of classes at the Ninja Academy. No one had spray-painted Kage Rock, and no one had rammed it with a thunder train.

Instead, a group of children listened quietly to Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's speech, their eyes full of admiration. Of course, there was one unimpressed fellow who pursed his lips and glanced around, searching the crowd for someone.

"Big Brother Gen, what are you looking for?"

She had been listening intently to Lord Hokage's speech, but Hyuga Gen's head kept swaying from side to side, blocking her view.

"Uh, I was looking to see if anyone was cuter and prettier than our Natsu. I looked everywhere, but I couldn't find anyone."

What he really wanted was to see if Uchiha Itachi was there—the ruthless man who slaughtered his entire clan but spared his younger brother.

"Big Brother Gen, you're lying. Isn't there one right over there?" Hyuga Natsu said, looking toward a certain spot.

"Huh, her?"

Following Hyuga Natsu's gaze, Hyuga Gen saw a girl with a beauty mark at the corner of her eye. She really was adorable.

Looking at the girl, Hyuga Gen had already guessed who she was: Uchiha Izumi, a gentle and adorable girl. Unfortunately, she fell in love with Itachi and ultimately died at Obito's hands.

"Ahem."

Seeing Hyuga Gen staring at the girl, Hyuga Natsu gave an unhappy little hum.

"How could she be? She's not as cute or pretty as you, Natsu. At most, she's just as cute as you."

Hyuga Gen was doing his best to keep himself out of trouble.

"Lord Hokage..."

At that moment, hearty applause erupted around them, along with cheers. The Third Hokage's speech had ended.

Before long, the opening ceremony was over. Hyuga Gen spotted Uchiha Itachi in the crowd. He couldn't help marveling at the Uchiha Clan's genes. The girls were beautiful, and the boys were handsome.

"What sharp senses."

Itachi had spotted him after only a brief glance. He turned to look at Hyuga Gen, who smiled and nodded at him in greeting.

Uchiha Itachi looked puzzled. He didn't know Hyuga Gen, and besides, the Hyuga Clan and the Uchiha Clan had always been rivals. How could he not find it strange when someone from the Hyuga Clan nodded to him?

Seeing Hyuga Gen being pulled away by a girl, Uchiha Itachi didn't give it any more thought.

"Natsu, why are you pulling me?"

After seeing Uchiha Itachi, Hyuga Gen had wanted to go over and introduce himself, but Hyuga Natsu had grabbed hold of him and wouldn't let go.

"Big Brother Gen, the class assignment board is over there. Let's go see if we're in the same class."

There were quite a few people near the notice board, but luckily, a teacher was helping to direct the crowd. Everyone was checking their class assignments in an orderly fashion.

"There are a lot of people here. Please line up, everyone. Check your class and other information, then move along. Don't linger here."

After checking the class assignments, Hyuga Natsu found that she and Hyuga Gen hadn't been assigned to the same class. She was a little upset, and her whole demeanor drooped.

"Come on, Natsu. How about we ask a teacher if we can request a class change?" Hyuga Gen said, seeing how unhappy she was.

"Can we? Let's ask. No, never mind," Hyuga Natsu said, suddenly deflating as if she'd just thought of something.

"It's fine if we don't change classes. We're still at the same school, so we can walk to and from school together."

Requesting a class change was actually quite troublesome. The Ninja Academy was like a military academy in that era. Everyone had to follow orders, and unless there was a serious reason, no one was allowed special treatment. They had to follow the school's arrangements.

"Really? Then, Big Brother Gen, you have to wait for me every day so we can walk to and from school together. You can't break your promise. Should we seal it with a pinky swear?"

After they made their promise, Hyuga Natsu cheered right up.

"Come on, let's go take a look at the classrooms,"

Hyuga Gen said, then led Hyuga Natsu to her classroom.

The classroom looked nice, much like the ones he'd seen in movies and shows. It was bright and spacious, and the platform was lower than the rest of the room. It seemed much better than classrooms from his era.

"Big Brother Gen, come on, let's go see your classroom."

It was as if fate were deliberately picking on Hyuga Natsu: Hyuga Gen's classroom wasn't on the same floor as hers, though it wasn't very far away.

As soon as he entered the classroom, Hyuga Gen spotted Uchiha Itachi nearby. Itachi also looked over at him.

"Hello, I'm Hyuga Gen. We'll be classmates from now on." Hyuga Gen walked up to Uchiha Itachi and held out his hand.

"Do we know each other?"

Uchiha Itachi looked puzzled. He had been surprised when Hyuga Gen nodded to him earlier, and now he was even more taken aback that Gen had come over to greet him.

Uchiha Itachi had never really gotten along with kids his own age. For one thing, the Uchiha Clan didn't have a great reputation in Konoha, and most people were rather afraid of the Uchiha.

The second reason, of course, was Itachi himself. He didn't want to make friends with kids his age, either. There wasn't much point in talking to them; they weren't on the same wavelength.

Of course I know you, Itachi, the legendary Itachi. But I know you from the anime, Hyuga Gen thought. Naturally, there was no way he would actually say that.

"No. You just don't seem like a bad person, and you're pretty handsome, so I thought I'd come over and introduce myself," Hyuga Gen said sincerely with a smile.

"This..."

Uchiha Itachi was stunned. Then he seemed to recover and scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed. No one had ever praised him to his face before, much less a stranger his own age who had only just learned his name.

It was rare to see Itachi looking a little embarrassed, and Hyuga Gen found it rather amusing.

"Could you tell me your name?" Hyuga Gen asked.

"Uchiha Itachi," Uchiha Itachi replied curtly.

"Big Brother Gen, do you know him?"

After chatting briefly with Uchiha Itachi and introducing Natsu, Hyuga Gen left. As soon as they stepped outside, Hyuga Natsu asked curiously:

"Why do you ask?" Hyuga Gen was a little curious.

"I can tell you care about him. Otherwise, you wouldn't have gone out of your way to introduce yourself."

"He's a genius, really impressive, so I wanted to meet him," Hyuga Natsu said after a moment's thought.

"Is he as impressive as you, Big Brother Gen?"

"Yes. He's much better than me."

Thinking of Uchiha Itachi and then of his own current situation, Hyuga Gen answered honestly.

Hyuga Natsu didn't quite believe him. As far as she was concerned, Hyuga Gen was already incredibly impressive. Still, she knew that Hyuga Gen never lied.

"But I should be better than him someday."