Guard Against Fire, Theft, and Minato

The next day, life at the Ninja Academy was as dull as ever.

Hyuga Wuye and Kushina had enrolled in the same class the previous year. Over the past year, aside from a mess of theoretical knowledge and political education, they had only been taught chakra extraction and the simplest three basic techniques.

Before analyzing Kushina's Body Replacement Technique, Hyuga Wuye had not even been able to extract chakra, let alone learn the three basic techniques.

Fortunately, there were no ninja battles in the first year. Otherwise, he would have definitely been dead last.

This body simply clashed with the ninja profession. Aside from taijutsu, he could not learn anything else. Even throwing ninja tools was a complete disaster.

When others practiced throwing shuriken, at worst they missed the target. His could even bounce back and stick into his own body... It was really hard!

"Wuye, what happened between you and Kushina?"

After class, Hyuga Wuye silently watched Kushina's retreating figure as she left the academy alone.

At that moment, a blond boy suddenly appeared beside him, wearing a naturally gentle smile.

"Nothing. Same as usual."

Hyuga Wuye glanced at Minato Namikaze.

The three of them sat together in class. Kushina had originally sat in the middle, but Hyuga Wuye had resolutely switched seats with her afterward.

The one closest to the water gets the moon first—guard against fire, theft, and Minato.

This guy was Kushina's insanely popular official pairing...

Still, he and Minato Namikaze had not become romantic rivals. Instead, thanks to the other boy's incredible friendliness, they had become close friends.

In the end, Hyuga Wuye looked at Minato Namikaze like a romantic rival, and Kushina looked at Minato Namikaze like a romantic rival too...

"Stop lying to me. You two didn't say a word to each other all day," Minato Namikaze said, pushing up nonexistent glasses as Shinichi Kudo possessed him. "Normally, you wouldn't be this quiet. Whispering to each other and getting called up by the teacher to stand as punishment is your usual routine."

Hyuga Wuye remained expressionless. "We talked too much. Taking a day to recover."

"And," Minato Namikaze said, "ever since you told her her red hair looked beautiful, she stopped caring when people called her Tomato or Bloody Habanero. But today, a classmate who called her that got beaten up badly..."

"Girls have a few days every month when they're in a bad mood." Hyuga Wuye tucked his hands into his sleeves and continued spouting nonsense.

"Bullshit. Kushina is still too young for that!" Minato Namikaze said irritably.

Hyuga Wuye turned to him in surprise. "Minato, you know a lot too!"

"Too?"

Minato Namikaze casually punched him. "Don't try to change the subject. What exactly happened between you and Kushina? You obviously like each other. Don't hurt each other."

Hyuga Wuye suddenly fell silent and tilted his head up slightly. The evening glow reflected in his eyes.

He said softly, "Maybe being with me really isn't a good choice..."

A breakup was destined from the beginning. Even if they got back together, it would turn into a bloody battlefield of competing interests. Being with someone like him, who had been handed the script of a scumbag, could not possibly lead to a good future.

"How could that be?" Minato Namikaze smiled, his eyes curving warmly. "You often say strange things, but you're even gentler than I am!"

"Enough about that. Let's go fencing!" Hyuga Wuye said, throwing an arm around Minato Namikaze's shoulders.

"What fencing? Throwing shuriken is throwing shuriken. I always feel like your expression is weird whenever you say that word..."

With Hyuga Wuye's arm around him, Minato Namikaze was led away from the academy.

That evening's shuriken practice once again ended in Hyuga Wuye's total defeat...

The next day, on a bright and sunny morning.

Kushina stood prettily at the entrance to Konoha's bustling market district, dressed in an orange-red dress that reached her knees.

The cool breeze lifted a few strands of her hair, carrying a faint fragrance.

Tap tap...

Hurried footsteps came from behind her, as if someone was approaching.

But Kushina did not turn around. Instead, she moved aside, intending to let the person pass.

She was far too familiar with Hyuga Wuye's footsteps to mistake them for such a messy rhythm.

"Big brother! She's the one who beat me up yesterday!"

At the boy's shrill cry, Kushina frowned. The voice seemed familiar somehow.

She turned around and saw a boy's face swollen like a pig's head.

"It's you?"

Her brows rose as she remembered the classmate she had beaten up badly yesterday.

"You're the one who beat up my little brother?"

A burly teenager a head taller than her stepped in front of her, his shadow falling over her.

Kushina raised her head impatiently. "He insulted me first. He deserved to be beaten. I have things to do, and I don't feel like fighting today."

But then her gaze happened to fall on his forehead, and she froze.

It was a forehead protector engraved with Konoha's symbol.

"See that? My brother already graduated and became a genin!" the boy said smugly, looking at Kushina. "Get on your knees and apologize, or my brother will beat you up!"

The older brother cooperatively pulled out a kunai and casually waved it in front of Kushina. "See this? This is a weapon only ninja can use. Believe me, I'll carve a few cuts into your face?"

If Kushina had not seen Wuye casually throw a kunai before, she might actually have believed him.

The claim that only ninja could use them was only meant to intimidate civilians.

"Ninja aren't allowed to attack ordinary people whenever they want. Do you want the Uchiha Police Force to arrest you?"

If they had been somewhere secluded, Kushina might have been worried. But in a busy market like this, no ninja would dare violate the police force's rules.

"You reminded me," the older brother said, removing his forehead protector and stuffing it into his pocket. "As long as I don't wear this, those arrogant Uchiha won't be interested in watching two kids fight."

"You... You're shameless!"

Kushina did not want Wuye to see her in such a sorry state, so she turned and ran.

"Trying to run?!"

The older brother sneered, reached out, and grabbed Kushina's long red hair.

"Ah!"

She had only run halfway before being yanked to a stop by her hair. The pain nearly brought tears to Kushina's eyes.

That was why people with long hair in the Naruto World were generally very powerful, and the longer their hair, the stronger they were—like Madara Uchiha, like Kaguya Otsutsuki.

Otherwise, if your hair was long, you ended up like Kushina, getting grabbed by it...

"Let go of my hair!"

She did not even have time to care about the pain in her scalp before desperately trying to save her long hair.

Because she knew that Wuye liked her bright red hair most of all. That was why she had washed it until it smelled sweet early in the morning before heading out. How could she bear to let someone else ruin it?

"I won't let go. What are you going to do about it?"

The more anxious Kushina became, the more excited the teenager grew. Instead, he grabbed even tighter.

"Hm?"

Seeing Kushina turn without hesitation and throw a punch at his face, the burly teenager's gaze sharpened.

He tilted his head aside to dodge the punch while retreating, tightening his grip on her hair and making Kushina cry out in pain.

Then he kicked at the back of Kushina's knee, trying to force her to kneel.

"Don't even think about making me kneel!"

Kushina's eyes blazed with anger as she prepared to take the kick head-on.

Bang!

But at that moment, a figure suddenly stepped between them.

The young ninja only felt as though he had kicked a pillar. At the same time, the wrist of the hand gripping Kushina's hair was seized by a pale hand.

"Let go."

The newcomer's voice was not loud, but the chill in it made the two brothers shudder.

"Wuye!"

Kushina cried out in delight.

"Mm."

Hyuga Wuye answered, his gaze fixed on the teenager in front of him and the hand clutching Kushina's hair.

When the older brother saw that Wuye was a boy shorter than himself, his tension immediately vanished, replaced by fury. "Who the hell are you? How dare you order me around?!"