Uzumaki Hayashi slept especially soundly that night.
After all the running around yesterday, from fighting in the street to staying up past midnight for extra training with a certain Uchiha Sasuke, his twelve-year-old body had long since started protesting.
So the next morning, he didn't linger in bed. He got up, washed, fastened his Ninja Tool Pouch around his waist, tucked his banknotes safely against his body, and headed out.
He knew the way now, and nobody was hauling him along at a run. He strolled there alone, reaching the school gates with plenty of time left before class.
Then he spotted two familiar figures standing at the gates.
"Hayashi!"
Ino Yamanaka spotted him first and ran over, pulling Sakura Haruno along.
"How did yesterday go? Are you all right?" Sakura Haruno looked him up and down as soon as she reached him. "After that Jonin took you away yesterday, we spent ages worrying."
"Exactly!" Ino Yamanaka chimed in beside her. "Did anyone give you trouble afterward?"
Uzumaki Hayashi clapped his hands.
"Of course I'm fine." He sounded perfectly relaxed. "Grandpa Third is very fair."
He wasn't just being polite. Yesterday, it had looked like he was being taken into custody, but in reality, the Third had already arranged everything. Nobody had so much as laid another finger on him.
But he couldn't explain any of that. He had promised Gekko Hayate he wouldn't say anything, and that meant not letting a single word slip.
The two girls exchanged a glance and breathed a sigh of relief together.
"As long as you're fine!" Ino Yamanaka waved a hand. "Come on, let's get to class!"
The three headed toward the classroom together, with Uzumaki Hayashi in the middle, listening to Ino Yamanaka recount yesterday's events the whole way.
Life really was giving him more and more to look forward to.
The three entered the classroom together and went their separate ways. Uzumaki Hayashi headed toward his usual seat, and as he walked, he noticed that today's atmosphere was different from the previous two days again.
For the last two days, he had been the center of attention the moment he entered. Wherever he went, everyone's eyes followed. Today, everyone carried on with their own business, glancing up at him at most before looking away.
Fair enough.
After this many days, even the rarest curiosity would become a familiar sight.
People getting used to him was a good thing.
As Uzumaki Hayashi pondered that, someone ahead glanced his way.
Sasuke Uchiha was sitting in his seat. When he saw him enter, he gave him a nod.
Uzumaki Hayashi nodded back.
That settled the greeting. Yesterday's "see you at school tomorrow" had officially been fulfilled.
He reached his window seat in the back row. The moment he sat down, the blond head beside him leaned over.
"Hayashi! Why'd you get here so late today?" Naruto Uzumaki's booming voice exploded right beside his ear. "Listen, on my way here today, I saw-"
Uzumaki Hayashi didn't retain a single word of what Naruto said next.
Yesterday had worn him out so badly that, slumped over his desk now, he actually found the loud voice buzzing beside his ear rather soothing.
By the time the teacher opened the door and began the lesson, his eyelids felt heavy as lead. He didn't hold out long before his head tilted and he fell straight asleep.
The teacher looked his way several times, but each time, the words reached his lips only to be swallowed back down.
There was nothing for it. By now, the whole school knew who stood behind this transfer student. If he wanted to sleep, they would let him sleep.
He slept straight through until afternoon.
The sunlight coming through the window woke Uzumaki Hayashi.
He raised his head groggily and was just about to stretch when his gaze swept forward-
A few rows ahead, a little girl with pale eyes sat quietly, staring straight at Naruto Uzumaki beside him, a shy flush on her cheeks.
Hinata Hyuga.
Well, damn.
Every trace of sleepiness vanished.
As someone who had transmigrated here, he knew exactly what was on the mind of the Hyuga Clan's eldest daughter.
Her staring at Naruto was perfectly normal-but the question was, what was Naruto Uzumaki doing right now?
He followed her gaze and turned his head.
Naruto Uzumaki hadn't noticed anyone watching him at all. Those blue eyes were fixed, unblinking, on Uzumaki Hayashi himself.
"..."
The older soul and the younger boy stared at each other, neither saying a word.
Even someone as thick-skinned as Uzumaki Hayashi felt awkward with a twelve-year-old boy staring at him so intently.
"Ahem." He cleared his throat and lowered his voice. "Naruto, stop staring at me. Someone up front is looking at you."
"Huh?"
Naruto Uzumaki froze for a moment, then hollered in his trademark booming voice, "Who? Who's looking at me?!"
The whole class heard that shout.
The pale-eyed little girl up front trembled in fright and whipped her head down, wishing she could shrink into her desk.
Uzumaki Hayashi: "..."
It's over.
He looked at the blond boy beside him, who was still glancing around in utter bewilderment, and felt a breath lodge in his chest, unable to go up or down.
No wonder you end up...
Forget it.
There was no point expecting better from someone who was this dense. Faced with a solid block of wood like this, he couldn't even be bothered trying to knock sense into him. Uzumaki Hayashi slumped back onto his desk, turned the back of his head to the world, and put it out of sight and out of mind.
He whiled away the rest of the day until school let out.
As the dismissal bell rang, Uzumaki Hayashi slowly packed his things and began making plans.
After using the Ice Release he had won in yesterday's draw for a day, he had figured out its current limits-all he did was form a few Ice Spikes to hurl at people, or at most slap together an Ice Shield. It couldn't have been more rudimentary.
Was that really how a Kekkei Genkai was supposed to be used?
It was like carrying a fine blade and using it to peel apples every day.
Besides, his background was clean, and the Third already had it on record. Rather than hide it and fumble around on his own, he might as well go straight to the Third, show him his Ice Release, and see if he could get a few more ninjutsu scrolls out of him.
The old man had always been generous. Last time, he had handed over two B-rank scrolls at once. Even if he didn't give him anything new this time, he could casually ask how to practice the Water Formation Wall scroll he had at home.
No matter how he looked at it, he had nothing to lose.
Pleased with his plans, he finished packing and looked up-
Something was wrong.
School was over, so why was more than half the class still sitting here?
The front rows, the middle rows, the window seats-not one of them had left, and every pair of eyes was trained on him.
Apparently, all that "getting used to him" from earlier in the day had been completely revoked by dismissal.
Especially over where Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka sat. Several girls had gathered together, and Ino Yamanaka thought she had lowered her voice, but she might as well not have bothered. Every single word reached his ears-
"You have no idea how cool Hayashi looked when he threw that kick yesterday!"
Uzumaki Hayashi: "..."
Farther ahead, Sasuke Uchiha heard that too. He turned in his seat to glance at him, and the corner of his mouth suddenly curved upward.
The smile was slight and vanished quickly, but its meaning was perfectly clear-what was one kick yesterday compared to what he had seen? He had experienced Hayashi's real ability before any of them.
Fine, now he's showing off. Who was it raising his hand to surrender last night, again?
Uzumaki Hayashi couldn't be bothered with him. He had just picked up his Ninja Tool Pouch to stand when Naruto Uzumaki beside him finally couldn't hold back.
"Hayashi, Hayashi!" Naruto Uzumaki leaned over, eyes shining. "What are you doing after school? Take me along!"
Whoosh-
The entire classroom went silent.
The front rows, the middle rows, the window seats-whether they had been pretending to pack their bags or pretending to chat, everyone stopped. Every ear pricked up, all directed toward the back row.
Uzumaki Hayashi: "..."
Seriously?
He swept his gaze around the classroom full of pricked-up ears and was left utterly speechless.
"I'm going to see the Third."
"Ohhh..." Naruto Uzumaki drew the sound out.
Immediately afterward, sighs rose all across the classroom. They sounded as disappointed as if a juicy piece of gossip had flown away just before they could get a taste.
Uzumaki Hayashi really couldn't stand this atmosphere anymore.
He grabbed his Ninja Tool Pouch, stood, and walked out, leaving the classroom's sighs behind him.
Outside the school building, the sunshine was just right. He narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath, growing more baffled the longer he thought about it.
What has been going on lately?
I'm just attending school like a normal person. How did I somehow turn a perfectly good classroom into this?
Still, baffled or not, he couldn't put off his real business.
If people wanted to watch, he would let them. He, Uzumaki Hayashi, had his own things to do.
Grandpa Third, just you wait. Your orphan with the most spotless background is coming over uninvited!
Before you continue