Izumi had been trudging listlessly to school, kicking pebbles along the ground as she went. She wasn't happy at all.
Gua hadn't come.
Gua hadn't come yesterday.
Some people said it had something to do with Orochimaru.
They all said Orochimaru had kidnapped Gua. They said the Uchiha and Konoha had come into conflict, and Orochimaru, one of the Sannin, was going to stand trial.
But none of that was the news Izumi wanted to hear.
She wanted to hear about Gua.
Where had Gua gone?
She hadn't seen Gua yesterday. When she heard those rumors after school, she was so frightened that she went to ask Itachi.
Itachi said Orochimaru really had taken Gua away, but the clan leader had brought him back afterward. Gua was safe, so she didn't need to worry.
But Izumi couldn't stop worrying.
If Gua was already back, why hadn't he come to school?
Was Gua hurt?
Itachi shook his head at every question.
He didn't know either. Fugaku wouldn't tell him about things like that. He had only learned that Gua was back from his mother, Mikoto, afterward.
"Maybe Gua's just tired."
"Why don't you go visit him at home?"
Itachi's words from yesterday kept echoing in Izumi's head.
At the time, Izumi had shaken her head and quickly refused.
She was a girl, after all.
If she went to Gua's house and met his parents, what was she supposed to say?
But she wanted to go so badly.
She would go crazy if she couldn't see Gua again.
Without Gua around, even Three-Color Dango tasted bland. Izumi didn't know what was wrong with her.
Then she absentmindedly kicked a pebble into a large rock, and it bounced back at her. Clutching her head, Izumi was about to cry out when she spotted a familiar figure in the distance.
"Gua!"
A smile spread across Izumi's face, and she sprinted toward him.
In no time, she was standing in front of Gua.
Izumi's forehead was still a little red, but she couldn't contain her smile.
"Good morning, Gua."
Izumi beamed.
For some inexplicable reason, the word "simp" popped into Gua's head. Only, it wasn't Izumi's nose that was red, but her forehead.
A few days earlier, when he'd brought her a lunchbox, he'd been thinking of himself as a simp.
Gua took a serious look at his worldview. He felt certain ideas might have poisoned his mind.
Since when did bringing someone breakfast make you a simp?
Since when did taking the initiative make you a simp?
Feelings in the Shinobi World were ten thousand times cleaner and purer than in his old world. A shut-in across two lifetimes, Gua felt he had found his very own little paradise.
"Good morning."
Gua smiled back at her.
Izumi smiled happily and chattered away at his side.
"Listen, Gua, I was worried sick when you didn't come yesterday. Itachi told me to go to your house to find you, but I didn't dare. I was afraid your dad would yell at me..."
"He wouldn't."
Gua said.
"Is your dad a really gentle person?" Izumi asked.
"He is." Gua remembered the contented smiles his father and mother always wore.
Izumi smiled too. "You really are lucky."
Gua didn't dare respond to that.
He knew Izumi's parents had died during the Nine-Tails' Attack. She was an orphan now, so continuing a conversation like this would be rather hurtful.
Gua was happy.
But that was no reason to ignore someone else's pain.
Yet Gua didn't know what to say either. He could only stay silent and keep listening to Izumi.
"Gua, Teacher Yefune taught us about kunai yesterday. You weren't there, but they're pretty much like shuriken. I can teach you, but as payment, I want you to bring me another lunchbox."
Izumi's voice was bright and clear, and she was like a lively little deer.
She always liked walking backward while she talked, as though that let her face the person she was speaking to.
Gua smiled politely. "No need, thank you."
He already knew how to use shuriken. Surely kunai would be a breeze?
A vein bulged on Izumi's forehead, but she quickly suppressed it.
Forget it, forget it. Don't get mad at Gua. He just went through something like that. Be generous for once, Izumi.
After patching up her wounded little heart, Izumi finally asked,
"Gua, nothing bad happened when Orochimaru took you away that day, right? I heard that Orochimaru guy is really nasty."
At school, the rumors had already transformed Orochimaru from one of the Sannin into a human trafficker.
His reputation was plummeting even faster than the Uchiha's.
He was pretty much Konoha's first idol to fall from grace.
"I'm fine."
Gua reassured Izumi.
"That's good!"
Once they entered the classroom, Izumi returned to her seat with a cheerful smile.
Every day at school made Izumi happy. If she could, she really wanted to stay at school forever.
There was nothing at home, only an empty house.
At school, there was Gua.
Gua went to his seat and sat down too.
Itachi was already there. He had arrived earlier than Gua.
Had he finally given Sasuke a talking-to lately, so Sasuke stopped pestering him?
Gua wondered.
"Good morning, Gua."
"Good morning."
After their mountain climb over the weekend, Gua had abandoned his plan to assassinate Itachi. That meant he had to adjust his mindset and reassess his view of Itachi.
After pouring his heart out to Gua, Itachi had also become more relaxed and affectionate around him. In his eyes, he and Gua were already best friends.
On par with Shisui.
"Gua, were you all right yesterday? Izumi was really worried about you."
The first thing Itachi asked about was the incident with Orochimaru.
Actually, Izumi wasn't the only one worried about Gua. Itachi was worried too. He had specifically gone to see Gua yesterday, only to be stopped by Gua's father, Dashan.
"Itachi, Gua's doing well. Thank you for worrying about him, but I think he still needs some time to rest alone."
Dashan had smiled kindly as he said it.
Itachi could tell that Gua's father, Dashan, was a very good father.
Itachi had nodded and left, but he was still worried.
Today, though, Gua looked well. He didn't seem to have suffered a fright.
"I'm fine. Thank you."
Gua replied casually.
Gua actually wanted to say more, but his mouth wouldn't quite cooperate.
By the time the words left his lips, they had turned into his usual robotic response.
This was probably a habit he'd developed over the past six years. He wouldn't be able to change it overnight, but Gua didn't particularly mind anymore.
As for changing Itachi, he would let things take their course.
By getting stronger while idling, he should eventually be able to overpower Itachi. If the day of the clan massacre really came, Gua would never let Itachi do as he pleased.
Even if he had to break Itachi's arms and legs, he would drag him back to the clan leader's house.
Don't underestimate the resolve of someone from another world!
Teacher Ye Chuan Dahei walked in.
Class began.
History was a little better than the dull, tedious theory lessons. There were always some interesting little historical stories to hear.
Today's story followed two boys from gifted shinobi of their clans to clan leaders, and finally to the Valley of the End.
It was an exciting story, but a terribly predictable one.
One was praised, and the other disparaged.
Finally, as the atmosphere reached its peak, Ye Chuan Dahei firmly wrote an awe-inspiring name on the blackboard in chalk.
"Hashirama Senju"
Yes, the one being praised was undoubtedly the sun whose face stood first on Kage Rock.
As for the one being disparaged, he wasn't even given a name. Teacher Ye Chuan Dahei only said he had once been the leader of the Uchiha.
This was probably the education every student received.
No wonder the Uchiha had such a bad reputation in the village. With this kind of insidious conditioning, how could it possibly be good?
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