The first people he saw were the two Chunin.
They looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't put names to their faces. He had seen them a few times in the mission hall while taking assignments. They were probably capable village shinobi in their prime.
Then his gaze dropped.
The two tall, long-legged Chunin had a child wedged between them, each holding him under one arm.
The child's red hair was so dazzling it made people lose focus for a moment. Unfortunately, the morning breeze had blown it all over his face.
His features peeked through the strands, exquisitely fine. One glance was enough to tell he would grow into a stunning beauty.
Unfortunately, he was currently dangling in midair, his feet barely touching the ground. Any grace that budding beauty might have had had been shattered all along the way.
The corner of Iruka's eye twitched.
The three stopped in front of him. Only then did the two Chunin put the child down. They stood on either side of him, looking at Iruka with identical guilty expressions.
"You two-"
Iruka's face hardened, his eyebrows rising. Years of scolding students had given him an imposing presence.
"Who carries a child like that? Running with him tucked under your arms? Do you have any idea how uncomfortable that is for him?"
The two Chunin looked at each other, hemming and hawing for ages without managing a coherent explanation.
"We... we were afraid he'd be late."
"And that makes it all right to carry him like that?"
"No, no." Tanabe rubbed his hands together. "It was our fault. Our fault."
Beside him, Iwai promptly bowed his head. "Sorry."
With the apologies out of the way, Tanabe looked as though he had been granted a pardon. He hurriedly ushered the child beside him forward.
"Hayashi, this is your new homeroom teacher, Umino Iruka-sensei."
Uzumaki Hayashi raised a hand, tucked the red hair plastered over his face behind his ears, and straightened before giving Iruka a proper bow.
"Hello, Iruka-sensei. My name is Uzumaki Hayashi."
Umino Iruka, Naruto Uzumaki's mentor in life, and the first person to acknowledge Naruto from the bottom of his heart.
Linshi knew this man very well, but on the surface, he still had to pretend this was their first meeting.
Iruka quickly returned the greeting and crouched down to meet the child's eyes.
Once he crouched down and got a closer look, his heart ached.
This child was truly beautiful. Up close, there wasn't a single flaw to be found in his features. But beneath that beauty lay traces of a hard life.
There was little flesh on his face. His chin was so pointed that Iruka wanted to take him straight over to Choji Akimichi and feed him two bowls of rice.
His red hair was striking, but the ends were rough and frizzy. Clearly, no one had properly combed it for him in a long time.
His clothes had been washed pale, their cuffs fraying. They hung loosely on his body, obviously altered from an adult's old clothing.
And then there were his hands, with a thin layer of calluses over the knuckles.
Calluses on a twelve-year-old's hands-most likely earned through hard labor.
The mental ledger in Iruka's head flipped open, its pages rattling.
How many people must a child this beautiful have had to appease while wandering outside? Had acting sweet been the only way he could earn a hot meal?
He couldn't help thinking of the blond boy in his class.
Both bore the name Uzumaki, yet one was a complete hellion, restless if he went a single day without causing trouble, so full of energy he gave people headaches. The other stood here obediently, barely daring to breathe.
How could they be so different?
But on second thought, Iruka understood.
No matter how much trouble Naruto caused, Konoha was still his home.
And this child was so obedient-
Probably because, all these years, he hadn't even had the right to make a fuss.
Iruka took a deep breath, suppressing the heartache he couldn't put into words. He reached out to Uzumaki Hayashi and softened his voice.
"Come on. I'll take you to your classroom."
"Sensei, you don't need to hold my hand. I can walk by myself," Uzumaki Hayashi said.
He wasn't trying to act tough. Mostly, this grown man was crouching in front of him with such a kindly smile that, honestly, it felt a little overdone.
Iruka's outstretched hand paused in midair.
He didn't need anyone to hold his hand. He must have grown used to living alone out there.
Out there, he probably couldn't rely on anyone but himself. Now that he had returned to Konoha, he wasn't even used to taking an adult's hand.
"All right." Iruka withdrew his hand, his voice softening further. "Then walk by yourself and follow me, okay?"
"Okay. Thank you, sensei."
Uzumaki Hayashi answered and was just about to follow him inside-
"Hayashi!"
Behind him, Tanabe called him back.
Uzumaki Hayashi turned around. "Hm?"
The two Chunin jogged over. Tanabe pulled a brand-new ninja tool pouch from inside his clothes and pressed it into Linshi's hands.
"We carried you under our arms all the way here this morning. Must've been uncomfortable, huh? This is to make up for it. Take it."
Several brand-new Kunai lay inside the Ninja Tool Pouch, their edges gleaming white in the sunlight.
"And this."
Tanabe took an old Kunai from his own tool pouch. It had seen years of use, and the cloth wrapped around its handle had worn shiny, but its blade was impeccably maintained.
"I've had this one for years. Hope you don't mind. It'll do just fine for protecting yourself."
Tanabe laid it over the new Kunai and gave it a pat.
"From now on, if anything comes up in the village, come find us at the mission hall. Just ask for me or Iwai."
Uzumaki Hayashi looked down at the Ninja Tool Pouch in his arms, then back up at the two Chunin.
So there were goodies to be had here, too. I'd be a fool to turn them down.
"Thanks, you two."
Without the slightest hesitation, he clipped the Ninja Tool Pouch to his waist, waved to them, and followed Iruka through the school gates.
The two Chunin remained at the entrance, craning their necks and watching wistfully until that head of red hair vanished into the school building. They looked exactly like two fathers dropping their child off for his first day of school, refusing to leave the gates.
On the way to the classroom, Iruka slowed his steps and spoke as though making casual conversation.
"Are you nervous about your first day of school?"
"No." Uzumaki Hayashi thought for a moment, then answered earnestly, "Life is pretty good now."
He had a house to live in, ninjutsu to practice, a system at his side, and the Third watching over him. Compared with living under bridges and makeshift straw shelters when he had first transmigrated, life really was much better now.
But those words took on a different meaning in Iruka's ears.
Life is good now.
Then what about before?
How bad must his life have been for simply sitting in a classroom and attending lessons to count as "good"?
Iruka's eyes burned. He hurried a couple of steps ahead of the child and quickly raised a hand to wipe the corner of his eye.
He thought he had been discreet.
Little did he know that the boy behind him had seen the entire motion perfectly clearly.
Uzumaki Hayashi: "..."
Seriously, mister, I was just telling the truth. What are you crying for?
They reached the classroom.
Iruka composed himself and pushed the door open.
The classroom was noisy. Lessons wouldn't start for a little while yet, and the students were chasing one another around and fooling about.
But Uzumaki Hayashi spotted him immediately: a blond boy slumped alone at a window seat in the back row.
His face was turned toward the window. There was lively chatter all around him, yet no one was willing to sit at a desk next to his.
He looked just as lonely as that cluster of chakra Linshi had sensed the other day.
Just then, a familiar sound suddenly rang out in his mind.
[Ding-]
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