Red Tomato

"Today our class will welcome a new student. I hope everyone will get along well."

Following homeroom teacher Sugiki Kenji's words, the girl beside him walked up to the podium.

She was a cute girl with long red hair, the princess of the Uzumaki Clan—Kushina Uzumaki.

Having left the war-torn Land of Whirlpools and arriving in Konoha not long ago, Kushina seemed somewhat nervous and uneasy.

She glanced around, and most pairs of eyes cast curious and mocking gazes toward her.

"Red hair, huh? Is she a monster?"

"She looks like a tomato. Did a tomato turn into a spirit or something?"

"Hahaha, tomato freak."

Hearing the classmates' discussions, Kushina, who was already nervous, clenched the corner of her clothes.

Truthfully, she wanted to beat people up a bit, but Grandma Mito said she needed to get along well with her classmates, so she kept enduring it and did not flare up.

Her whole body trembling was not because she was scared, but because she was violently holding herself back from beating people up.

However, when her gaze swept over a white-haired boy sitting in the corner, her expression, which had been somewhat nervous, relaxed a lot.

That boy leaned leisurely in his seat, crossing his legs, and from time to time took a rice-cake-like snack out of a metal box placed on his desk to toss into his mouth.

Seeming to notice Kushina's gaze, his gaze also swept toward Kushina. The two locked eyes for a few seconds, and the boy calmly waved at her to greet her.

After that, he raised his head to gaze at the ceiling and zoned out.

Kushina did not know why either, but right now she was simply curious about this boy.

What on earth was he eating? It looked quite delicious.

She raised her forehead and began her self-introduction.

"My name is Kushina Uzumaki, and my dream is to become the Hokage! I hope everyone will give me a lot of guidance!"

Regrettably, the boy did not raise his head, and instead it drew even more taunts from the others.

"Hey, how come your hair is as red as a tomato?"

"Hahaha, that's so fitting. How can a tomato become a Hokage?"

Kushina puffed out her cheeks in anger, looking as if she were about to explode. The teacher hurriedly stopped the classmates' Will of Fire behavior from continuing to spread, as he did not want to be tracked down for trouble by Tsunade.

"Everyone, do not mock the new student! Get along well, understand? Remember that!"

At that moment, Ryuuzaki Eiji finally raised his head to look around.

He scanned those civilian ninjas who mocked Kushina, and his brow furrowed slightly.

The people of Konoha truly were the perfect practitioners of the Will of Fire; daring to mock someone much stronger than oneself—they really knew nothing of life and death.

This was, after all, the sole remaining bloodline of the Uzumaki Clan. If she were bullied at school, that would be enough to give them a hard time.

Did they really think Mito Uzumaki and Tsunade were that easy to talk to?

Their parents were something else too; could they not even manage their own children properly at home?

However, these were not things Ryuuzaki Eiji should be worrying about, because Eiji would soon not have to eat beef.

"Kushina, go find a seat you like and sit down. We are going to start class."

Homeroom teacher Kenji said to Kushina with a forced smile.

Honestly, Kenji truly had no choice; arranging the Uzumaki princess into his class gave him immense pressure.

Being bullied by classmates right after enrollment—if the matter blew up to Princess Tsunade, he might just get beaten up.

Kushina nodded. Because Ryuuzaki Eiji's appearance was outstanding, Kushina's attention at the time had mostly been placed on him.

Coupled with the fact that when many classmates were mocking her, Ryuuzaki Eiji showed a displeased expression, Kushina figured he probably would not discriminate against her, so she walked quickly toward Eiji's side.

"Can I sit here?"

Kushina asked tentatively as she arrived beside Eiji.

"Of course you can, please sit."

The other party was the future Nine-Tails Jinchuriki; getting along well with her could never be wrong, and furthermore, Kushina was very cute, so Eiji held a very favorable impression of her.

After Kushina sat down, she noticed the classmates still turning their heads to show mocking smiles at her, which greatly displeased her.

She propped her face with one hand, looking thoroughly annoyed. Sure enough, Sister Tsunade's words shouldn't be listened to; the guys at school were all nothing special.

Clearly, she only needed to learn Sealing Jutsu with Grandma Mito, and coming to the Ninja Academy to make friends or whatever was simply laughable.

Then she glanced sideways at the deskmate beside her who did not like to speak.

And this guy too—he hadn't uttered a single sound since just now. Kushina was somewhat puzzled; normally speaking, shouldn't he say a few words to a newly acquainted deskmate?

Kushina endured for a bit, but ultimately could not hold back and spoke up first.

"...What's your name?"

"Ryūzaki, Ryuuzaki Eiji."

After finishing these words, Eiji stopped making any sound, and likewise propped his cheek with his arm and began to zone out.

What harm would it do to say a few more words?!

Kushina was a little bit unhappy. She was unhappy about being watched too much by everyone, and she was even more unhappy about being ignored by this guy!

No, Kushina decided she had to get Eiji to speak a few more words to her.

"Now then, let's begin today's first lesson."

Along with the teacher's voice, Eiji had no intention of listening to the lecture whatsoever, leaning leisurely in his seat and occasionally tossing a white pastry into his mouth.

Moreover, the Homeroom Teacher did not stop his behavior of not paying attention in class at all, because Eiji's theoretical grades had always been at the top of the class.

This was the privilege of a good student!

As for what he was eating, naturally it was Kikufuku.

Because from the day of his enrollment, he had awakened a cheat called the Character Template System, accompanied by a mission: to eat ten thousand Edamame Cream Kikufuku.

Ryuuzaki Eiji had watched Jujutsu Kaisen. To put it simply, unless he was a fool, he should have known whose character template he was going to awaken next.

Teacher Satoru Gojo!

Kikufuku was essentially Daifuku, though the Shinobi World seemed to lack a method for making edamame cream flavored Kikufuku. Fortunately, Eiji had been a dessert lover in his past life, and he had learned how to make Kikufuku on the internet; making them by hand was not a difficult task.

Of course, it was unrealistic to eat ten thousand Kikufuku in a short period of time. Considering health issues, Ryuuzaki Eiji planned to finish eating them over a year and a half.

And today was the day he would completely finish eating the ten thousand!

As long as he ate another three or four today, he could completely awaken the system and embark on a path of eating no beef. Although he was getting sick to his stomach from eating Daifuku, all of this was worth it!

Once he awakened his character panel, he swore he would never eat Daifuku again, or at least he wouldn't touch this flavor even if it killed him!

Listening to the teacher's endless lecture, Kushina propped her cheek with one hand, wearing an expression of complete disinterest.

She found it somewhat boring. Entering the Ninja School, an unfamiliar environment, on her first day, she very much hoped someone would be able to be friends with her.

Kushina noticed that Eiji didn't pay attention to the lecture at all, eating a little snack during class, and most importantly, the teacher actually completely ignored him.

As she thought about it, she didn't listen to the lecture either, quietly looking at Eiji's focused profile.

Kushina felt that Eiji was really very mysterious. Because Eiji's looks were exceptionally striking, and furthermore, young girls in the Shinobi World tended to mature early, the young Kushina was captivated by him all at once.

And just what on earth was he eating?

It looked kind of delicious!

In the process of interactions between a boy and a girl, once curiosity toward the other party arose, it was the beginning of falling. Unfortunately, the young Kushina had not yet realized this.