When the official class list was nailed to the wall, the entrance to the East Corridor was packed with people.
Iruka had nailed up the paper himself. As the wooden tack sank into the wall with a thud, Kiyo's shoulders twitched, and the question "Where am I ranked?" nearly slipped out before Morita Yu held him back from behind.
"Ask after you've finished reading."
"I'm afraid I'll want to ask even more after reading it."
The list was far more straightforward than the old ledger. There were no notes, no little circles, no short lines about who needed to stop holding back. There were only names, seats, practice groups, and afternoon assessment locations. East Corridor Group Two had been split apart. Che, Kiyo, Saori, Morita Yu, and Rina had all entered the list of Class One auditors being transferred into official students. Naruto and Sasuke's names were on it too, two lines apart, as if the teachers had deliberately placed them where they could collide at any time.
Naruto stared at his name for quite a while.
"Why am I sitting in the back row?"
Iruka put the hammer away in his tool bag. "Because you knocked the front-row chairs crooked three times yesterday."
"Kiyo was the one blocking the way first."
Kiyo immediately protested, "I was just existing."
Sasuke passed by and glanced at Naruto. "You can still hear from the back row."
"Mind your own business."
"I'm sitting in front of you."
Naruto's expression darkened even more. Kiyo, however, grew excited. He felt that with the two of them seated one behind the other, things would be livelier than when they had been separated by a corridor.
Che's name was in the third column by the window. The seat was neither conspicuous nor tucked away in a corner.