The sun shone as brightly as ever over the Ninja Academy the next day, and the halls and classrooms rang with children's chatter.
Sasuke Uchiha felt as though a transparent wall separated him from it all.
His gaze passed over the classmates gathered in little groups and fixed on Naruko Uzumaki, forever at the center of the crowd.
The blonde girl wore her hair in twin ponytails today. They bounced against her shoulders as she moved.
Sakura, Ino, Tenten, and a whole crowd of other girls surrounded her as she animatedly told them some funny story, setting off bursts of laughter.
Sunlight fell across her. Her whisker-marked face wore a smile so bright it was almost dazzling, and her blue eyes held not a trace of gloom.
Sasuke leaned against the hallway wall with his hands in his pockets, watching with apparent indifference.
But his mind kept returning to that brief, unmistakable stillness at the dinner table last night.
His father's darkening gaze, the complicated glimmer in his brother's eyes, and his mother's seemingly casual tone when she brought up the invitation—it had been like a stone dropped into a lake.
His heart beat unevenly. He felt the wary tension of someone about to step onto an unfamiliar battlefield.
He drew a deep breath, pushed down the aloofness and pride that came so naturally to "Sasuke Uchiha," straightened, and walked toward that happy little whirlwind.
The girls' conversation faltered at his approach.
Haruno Sakura glanced at him with simple puzzlement, none of the infatuation he remembered in her eyes.
Ino Yamanaka raised an eyebrow, looking ready to enjoy the show.
Sasuke looked only at Naruko. His voice was quiet but clear, with a deliberately casual note. "Naruko, come here a moment. I need to talk to you."
Naruko was in