Hey! Standing up for Naruto

The Lecture Hall at the Ninja Academy.

Yu and Naruto sat in the back row while the students in front cast strange looks their way.

Among the boys.

"Look, that new guy is hanging out with Naruto, the dead last!"

"He's got horns on his head. Is he a monster too?"

"Hahaha, a monster with a monster. What a perfect match!"

Among the girls.

"Whoa, that kid's kind of cute. He's not the same type as Sasuke-kun, but he might be just my type ❤~!"

"Stop swooning. Can good looks put food on the table? Sasuke-kun isn't just handsome, he's top of the class. He'll definitely be an amazing ninja someday. He might even become Hokage!"

"Should we find a chance to tell him Naruto's a bad kid?"

"Forget it. Let that idiot fend for himself!"

Ignoring the gossip, Yu observed Naruto, who lay quietly over his desk, lost in his thoughts.

The Naruto before him was nothing like the troublemaker Yu remembered, who had been chased all over town after scribbling graffiti on Hokage Rock.

That made sense. That Naruto had been twelve, five years from now.

Clearly, Naruto hadn't loved pulling pranks from the start. Only after enduring too much loneliness on his own had he begun using them to attract other people's attention.

At this point, Naruto's talent for mischief hadn't fully awakened [though it surfaced occasionally]. For the most part, he was simply a withdrawn, melancholy boy.

After a long silence, Naruto poked the crumpled candy wrapper before him with his little hand and asked, "Hey, why would you want to be friends with someone like me?"

A child who had spent years being treated coldly wouldn't open his heart easily.

In Yu's experience, lofty speeches would only backfire at a time like this.

"Hehe, you looked bored all by yourself, and I happened to be alone too~."

"Alone? Then are you lonely? That man this morning was your and Hinata's dad, right? Can someone with a dad and brothers and sisters be lonely too?"

Naruto asked a soul-searching question.

Yu said, "He's my dad, but not Hinata's. Hinata's dad is Hiashi, and mine is Hizashi. They're twin brothers, so Hinata is my older cousin. My big brother is Neji."

"Uh." Looking utterly confused, Naruto counted on his fingers as he tried to work it out, but logical thinking was what he was worst at.

He gave up. "Okay, I get it. Anyway, that guy's your dad."

"Wait, Neji? You mean that genius in the grade above us? He's your brother?"

Neji was one grade above Naruto, so they weren't in the same class, but they often saw each other around.

Yu clasped his hands behind his head. "Hehe, yep. When we have time, I'll bring my big brother Neji along, and the three of us can play together!"

Naruto shook his head. "Forget it. How could we have fun with someone who's cold by nature?"

Cold by nature?

Not long ago, Yu and Neji had raided a bird's nest together, but that level of mischief no longer satisfied them. Their next plan was to blow up a public toilet with Explosive Tags. They had even mapped out their escape route!

Yu thought, Well, well, Neji. You're doing a great job keeping up appearances at school~.

Naruto said earnestly, "Anyway, thanks for being nice, but you'll regret being friends with me. You'll find out soon enough."

Just then, Iruka-sensei walked up to the lectern and glanced at the seats in the back row, an unreadable look flickering through his eyes.

At that moment, a mocking voice rang out.

"Sensei, we've got a guy who doesn't know his place-oh, I mean, a guy we don't know~!"

"Have him introduce himself~!"

"Yeah, yeah~!"

Iruka had been through this himself. How could he fail to understand what was happening?

Under normal circumstances, asking a new student to introduce himself was standard practice, but something was clearly wrong with the atmosphere.

Iruka thought that the boy must have befriended Naruto and earned the hostility of the class's little cliques, who were now using this opportunity to put him in his place.

Iruka stepped in to help. "I can tell you all about our new classmate myself."

But Yu raised his little hand. "Sensei, I want to do it myself~!"

A little surprised, Iruka could only nod. "All right, then. Go ahead."

Under the entire class's gaze, Yu stood up.

To be honest, he was getting a little tired of playing the mischievous but generally well-behaved child at home.

Everyone in his clan had manners. Though they sometimes called him an idiot, they meant it affectionately.

But things were different here. If they took him for a pushover, then neither Naruto nor he would have an easy time from now on!

Taking a deep breath, Yu got straight to the point in a childish yet brazen voice. "My name is Yū Hyuga. Naruto is my friend, and I hate people bad-mouthing my friends!"

"I'll let the past slide, but if I hear even one word from now on, I'll beat the boys up and throw them into the toilet to eat shit. I'll shave the girls bald and send them to a temple to become nuns. And if you run home to your parents, I'll beat them up too!"

"What are you staring at? I'm talking about you, the extra with a bird's nest on his head who doesn't even deserve a name!"

"So what if I have horns? It's better than having a butt on your chin. Calling you a lower life-form fits you perfectly!"

"Is the dead last eating your family's food? Ever heard that fortunes change? Oh, sure, being mediocre and overconfident isn't your fault, but being obnoxious about it too? That's on you!"

"Anyone with a problem can come spar with me at the Training Ground right now!"

"If you don't have a problem, shut those crow mouths of yours!"

"That concludes my introduction!"

A deathly silence fell over the entire classroom!

The ones who had been gossiping earlier turned livid at his retorts, but none could muster the courage to answer!

The one most deeply moved was, of course, Naruto!

He stared in disbelief at Yu beside him, who was almost half a head shorter than he was!

This guy really thinks of me as a friend?

Giving me candy was one thing, but he's even willing to turn against the whole class for me, when we only met today?

A friend...?

In the past, that had been an impossible dream for Naruto!

But now...

Despite his efforts, tears spilled from his bright blue eyes.

Yu patted Naruto's shoulder with his little hand and whispered, "Aw, why are you crying? I didn't even do anything."

Naruto protested, "I-idiot~! I'm not crying, believe it~!!"

The girl sitting in the corner, who had been quietly watching Naruto all along, also had reddened eyes.

"Yu-kun, thank you for standing up for Naruto-kun..."

Although Yu's arrival had directly changed Neji's and Hizashi's fates and indirectly altered a few other events,

the encounter between Hinata and Naruto, which had also been the first budding of Hinata's love, had still happened as usual a year earlier!

"Hmph." Sitting in the front row, the aloof boy who had yet to experience his clan's massacre, who wore the halo of a genius and aspired to be like his older brother, curled his lips into a smile. "Interesting. So this is Yū Hyuga, that Neji's little brother..."

"Ahem...!"

At the lectern, Iruka recovered from his surprise, cleared his throat, and delivered the usual formalities. "Yu, that was certainly a unique introduction. Anyway, let's all get along from now on. Now, let's begin class!"