The sunlight was lovely, streaming through the window and making Naruto's hair gleam gold.
Only, someone was missing today.
"Bro, where did Sasuke go~?"
Karin sprawled over her desk and groaned weakly. Sasuke hadn't come today, from morning right up until now.
Naruto touched his sun-warmed hair and said, "Uh, well, I don't know either."
Sasuke hadn't said yesterday that he wouldn't be coming to school today. Had something unexpected happened at home?
In a sense, that was actually right.
"Did I beat all the self-esteem out of Sasuke yesterday? No way, he seemed pretty fine yesterday?"
Naruto rubbed his chin and started thinking.
"Hmm, probably not."
Hinata propped up her chin, tilted her head slightly, and looked into Naruto's eyes as she spoke.
"How about we go check on Sasuke tonight?"
She suggested it because, after all, Sasuke was an indispensable part of the Konoha F4. Without Sasuke, there would only be two of them left.
"Okay!"
Naruto nodded, then started playing cards with Hinata.
The parents in the Sealing Space might have gotten sick of playing, but Naruto hadn't. They were always leaving him out, saying things like Naruto shouldn't gamble, then stealing his seat and starting a game themselves.
Even his dad often stole his seat!
So Naruto was a whole era behind them.
Fortunately, the era outside hadn't even reached playing cards yet, so Naruto could still find people to play with.
Naruto had gotten Hinata, Sasuke, and Karin to draw this deck with him. They played whenever they had free time. Yes, occasionally during class, too.
After all, their current lessons were basically of little use to Naruto anymore. They were mainly aimed at the civilian children.
"Hey, Naruto, shouldn't you avoid playing during class?"
Watching Naruto start playing cards right in the classroom, Minato