An Arrangement Made for Wuye

"Danzo, that old bastard, actually threatened me..."

The anger on Hyuga Wuye's face lasted only a second before his arms drooped and his expression turned dejected. "But I can't afford to ignore that threat..."

That was what happened when you had no backing. Whichever side you stood on, it was wrong.

Politically speaking, he should join the Hokage's direct forces, but Danzo would play dirty... When it came to screwing over his own people, that Shadow Hokage was a professional!

But if he switched to Root, leaving aside that disgusting Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, just having the Hokage write a note about him in his little book would be enough to make him suffer.

His future was bleak...

"Logically speaking, obediently following that old Third Hokage is the best choice." Hyuga Wuye squatted on the steps, drawing circles on the ground. "He's in his prime right now, so he shouldn't rely too heavily on Danzo's Root or indulge him too much. Protecting me shouldn't be a problem."

"But do I really have to hide my Sharingan, conceal my identity, and join the Anbu?"

He rubbed his face. "Wearing a mask all day long—wouldn't this face have grown for nothing? I can clearly make a living off my looks, yet I have to rely on talent instead? I can't follow Kakashi's example and waste what I've got..."

"Even more troublesome, Anbu identities are all secret. Living in the shadows day and night, never mind whether I'd develop psychological problems after a while—what about my grand breakup plan... How am I supposed to carry that out?!"

Anbu missions were unpredictable, and being outside the village was normal. Where would he find time to date? That was the important thing, wasn't it?

"If I can neither join the Anbu nor enter Root, what am I supposed to do?"

Wuye drew circle after circle on the ground, cursing Danzo and the Third Hokage over and over.

"No matter how I look at it, I can only blow things up."

"Fortune and misfortune are impossible to predict..."

He suddenly rose to his feet and smiled freely. "At worst, they'll cripple me. Then I'll go find Ichiraku Otsutsuki and become his disciple."

After transmigrating into the Naruto World, he either had to grow strong enough to make Kaguya take maternity leave, or follow Ichiraku around and exploit bugs. There was no third path.

"Wuye, Kushina said you were injured a couple days ago?"

The next day, just as he sat down in the middle seat of the third row, the blond boy Minato Namikaze leaned over.

"Are you okay?"

With that spring-breeze smile and sunny, warm image, it was only natural that he became the Fourth Hokage.

"Ah... it's nothing." Wuye shrugged. "You know me. When I throw shuriken, I won't stop until I nearly kill myself. This time, I stabbed myself in the chest."

A bead of sweat as large as a bean rolled down Minato Namikaze's forehead.

"Wuye, you don't actually need to obsess over shuriken. Your taijutsu is excellent, and you're strong enough."

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Make use of your taijutsu strengths, then practice one or two finishing techniques, and you can become a genin."

Hyuga Wuye glanced at him. "Taijutsu works fine against other people, but it's useless against you. You're just... too fast."

By fast, he did not mean that Minato Namikaze could already learn the Flying Thunder God Technique. Rather, his neural reflexes were too fast, his body's instinctive reactions far surpassing the speed of thought.

He had not become fast because he learned the Flying Thunder God Technique. Rather, the Flying Thunder God Technique brought this talent of his to its fullest potential.

"But we're teammates. Why would you need to fight me?" Minato Namikaze smiled warmly. "I may be fast, but I'm not strong. We can complement each other."

"If you two complement each other, then what about me?!"

A fiery red figure charged in and, without a word, dragged Wuye away from Minato.

"Wuye, you've fully recovered?"

Kushina's bright, charming smile left Hyuga Wuye slightly dazed... After becoming the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki, she did not seem to have changed at all.

Hmm... Not only had she not changed, but she had also regained the cheerful generosity she had before their breakup. She no longer had that awkward, hesitant look of constantly worrying about gains and losses.

"I'll handle speed, Wuye will represent strength, and Kushina, you can restrain and defend. That makes for an excellent team composition!" Minato clapped his hands.

Wuye glanced at him.

Never mind whether the three of them could possibly end up in the same team. Whether Kushina would even be able to leave the village in the future was a question.

Still, Minato had been right about one thing. Kushina's sealing techniques were indeed suited for restraint and defense.

And soon, he would become like that too... Mm, slowly taking on the form of a breakup target.

"Class!"

"This lesson is Konoha-Style Ninja Theory. Everyone, open your books."

The chunin teacher stepped onto the platform and began teaching as usual.

Hyuga Wuye sat between Kushina and Minato, the three of them daydreaming to the same rhythm.

At present, he had mastered the Body Replacement Technique, the Transformation Technique, and the Uzumaki Sealing Arts' Adamantine Sealing Chains. Through constant analysis, his understanding of them continued to deepen...

But just as his thoughts drifted away, a soft, delicate little hand reached beneath the cover of the desk and, with practiced ease, grasped his hand.

Hyuga Wuye instantly came back to his senses... Judging by the feel and size of the hand, it was not Minato's... Thank goodness.

He secretly glanced at Kushina from the corner of his eye, only to find her sitting upright, looking straight ahead, listening to the lesson with apparent seriousness.

So what exactly was going on now?

She had clearly brought up breaking up, yet she acted as though she had forgotten all about it.

Could it be that what happened during the sealing of the Nine-Tails had given her confidence?

Hyuga Wuye had been unconscious at the time, so naturally he had not heard Mito Uzumaki's request to the Third Hokage. Nor did he know why Kushina was no longer conflicted.

Because they had already received approval!

"There are no signs of my eye power declining. That means this is possible."

Hyuga Wuye relaxed, and gradually, his mind began to wander elsewhere.

The girl's warm palm brushed between his fingers. The indescribable intimacy and stimulation made him unable to resist clasping it with both hands, playing with it carefully, unwilling to let go.

Suddenly, Minato gave a light cough.

Kushina's little hand jerked away at once.

Wuye glared at Minato irritably.

"Pay attention. The teacher said we'll have our first practical sparring session this afternoon," Minato reminded him quietly.

Hyuga Wuye nodded... What was coming had finally come.

"You are very fortunate. Today's school-wide combat practice will be personally observed by Lord Hokage."

The chunin teacher's words immediately threw the classroom into an uproar, the students all whispering excitedly among themselves.

"Those who perform exceptionally may even apply to graduate early," he added.

That sentence caused an even greater commotion.

"Teacher, what counts as an exceptional performance?" a student could not help asking.

The chunin smiled. "You are only second-years, so don't think about that yet. Right now, what you should consider is how not to embarrass yourselves in front of Lord Hokage."

"As for exceptional performance, if—if, I say—you can successfully challenge a graduating student, then that should count as exceptional," he added.

The eager boys and girls immediately lost their enthusiasm upon hearing that.

"The graduating class is four years older than us. How could we possibly succeed in challenging them?" someone complained. "You're just making things difficult for us!"

The chunin teacher said meaningfully, "Geniuses are not limited by age."

Hyuga Wuye raised his head, his gaze drifting toward the window, where a fallen leaf was slowly fluttering down.

He knew this was the Third Hokage's arrangement—an arrangement made for him alone.