Chapter 176: First Day Of School, The Big Sister’s Declaration Of Protecting Her Husband
A few days later, when the air still carried the slight chill of late winter, inside and outside the brand-new gates of the Konoha Ninja Academy were already brimming with a nearly boiling liveliness.
Sunlight filtered through the tips of new tender buds, casting mottled, dancing light and shadows on the clean stone paved road.
Children dressed in colorful children’s clothes or simple small ninja outfits, under their parents’ instructions, companions’ playfulness, or their own solitary anxiety, converged into a stream full of chance of survival, surging toward the Ninja Academy.
Menma wore a clean but obviously washed many times red and black clothes, carrying a simple cloth bag, walking steadily through the crowd.
His deep blue eyes calmly scanned the excited or nervous little faces around him, his heart utterly calm.
Ninja Academy?
To him, this was more like a disguise stage that he had to go through.
Just like those Hokage novels from a certain site he read in his previous life, reborn or transmigrated into a child, very few didn’t attend the Ninja Academy.
Menma’s gaze fell on the golden figure bouncing like a little sun outside the crowd ahead.
“Menma! Look, look! So many people! Such a big playground! Wow! Those training stakes are so much taller than me!” Naruto wore a brand-new bright orange sportswear, like an energetic little dog, quickly darting back and forth beside Menma, his little face full of pure, unrestrained excitement and agitation, his blue eyes astonishingly bright.
He pointed at everything in the school, chattering nonstop about his discoveries: “Do you think we’ll be in the same class? Today is the first day for class assignments, right?! I definitely want to make friends!”
Menma listened to Naruto’s declaration full of aspiration, his mouth corner imperceptibly curving upward, with a trace of barely noticeable gentleness.
“Yeah, we will.” He responded simply.
Seeing Naruto so happy about being able to go to school and make friends like an ordinary person, the bit of transmigrator’s alienation in his heart seemed to be diluted somewhat by this pure joy.
The two followed the crowd into the assigned spacious classroom.
The wooden desks and chairs were neatly arranged, the air filled with the faint scent of new paint and books.
Many children had already found their seats and sat down, curiously sizing up their new classmates.
Menma saw several familiar faces, or rather faces he often saw on screens in his previous life: Shikamaru Nara lazily sprawled at a spot by the window, with a “I’m dying” expression.
Choji Akimichi sat beside Shikamaru, carefully opening a bag of potato chips; Kiba Inuzuka was also lively, just hadn’t adopted the ninja hound Akamaru yet.
Ino Yamanaka and Haruno Sakura, the two girls, sat together, whispering something, their gazes occasionally glancing toward the door.
He remembered these two seemed to be childhood besties, just because they both liked Sasuke, there would be some little girl squabbles.
The twelve rookies except Neji from the previous class were all here.
Huh?
Wait?
Isn’t something missing?
Menma slightly frowned, had he overlooked something?
Naruto pulled Menma to find a seat toward the back and sat down, still unable to hide his excitement, looking east and west, casting curious gazes at every new classmate, especially at Kiba, perhaps because their personalities were similar, he was even more eager to go over.
Menma quietly sat down, his gaze calmly sweeping over every face in the classroom, taking in their expressions and small movements, like observing a dynamic painting.
At that moment, a small commotion and deliberately lowered excited murmurs came from the classroom door.
“Look! It’s Sasuke-kun!”
“Sasuke-kun is so handsome!”
“He looked over here!”
Only to see Sasuke Uchiha wearing a deep blue high-collar short-sleeved top and white shorts, hands in his pants pockets, walking in with a cold expression amid a group of girls’ surrounding and attention.
His refined features carried the unique clear handsomeness of the Uchiha Clan, his black eyes sweeping over the classroom, with an alienation and faint arrogance not matching his age.
His gaze almost instinctively first caught that glaring golden color.
That kid called Naruto Uzumaki.
Immediately after, he saw Menma sitting beside Naruto.
Almost at the same time, Naruto also saw Sasuke entering like the moon surrounded by stars.
His previously sunny little face instantly turned from clear to cloudy, eyebrows twisting together, blue eyes igniting with familiar, undisguised hostile flames.
“Hmph! Show-off!” Naruto immediately jumped up from his seat like a cat whose tail was stepped on, pointing at Sasuke and shouting loudly: “What’s with the act! So what if a few people like you? Big deal!”
Sasuke’s steps halted, his icy gaze turning to Naruto, mouth corner hooking into a disdainful arc: “Your voice is still so loud, annoying, really an eyesore.”
His voice wasn’t loud, but clearly reached everyone’s ears, full of thick contempt.
“Who’re you calling! Jerk! Wanna fight?” Naruto instantly bristled, rolling up his sleeves to charge over.
“Come on, scared of you? Idiot!” Sasuke showed no weakness, eyes sharp as knives.
The entire classroom instantly quieted, all gazes focusing on these two boys who sparked on sight like planets colliding.
Ino and Sakura watched Sasuke nervously and worriedly; Shikamaru looked up, sighed; Choji stopped eating his potato chips.
Menma watched this familiar scene, his heart utterly calm, even feeling a bit…
Yeah, the plot proceeding as scheduled.
He reached out and lightly pressed Naruto’s shoulder, signaling him to calm down.
Just as the tension was high, Naruto about to break free from Menma’s hand and pounce, Sasuke also in defensive stance, a loud, helpless amused rebuke came from the classroom door:
“Hey hey hey! So lively on the first day of school? All sit back down! Save the fighting for combat training!”
Only to see Iruka-sensei hugging a stack of roll call books, striding in energetically.
His face bore a horizontal scar, his smile bright and carrying a teacher’s authority.
He wore a chunin’s green vest, his gaze sweeping over Naruto and Sasuke, frowning slightly at Naruto
“Tch.” Seeing the teacher enter, Naruto deflated like a punctured ball, grumbling reluctantly as Menma pulled him back to his seat, still muttering under his breath.
Sasuke also coldly snorted, ignoring the concerned gazes from the girls around, striding straight to an empty seat toward the back, his back still exuding cold hardness.
Iruka walked to the podium, set down the roll call book, surveying the dozens of eyes in the classroom—curious, nervous, excited, or lazily like Shikamaru’s—with a warm smile on his face.
“Alright, everyone quiet. First, welcome to the Konoha Ninja Academy! I’m your homeroom teacher, Iruka-sensei!” His voice was loud and full of enthusiasm.
“From today, over the next few years, we’ll learn and grow together, striving to become excellent Konoha ninjas! I hope everyone gets along, helps each other, and progresses together!”
After the simple opening remarks, Iruka clapped his hands: “Now, to help the teacher and classmates get familiar quickly, let’s do the first lesson—self-introductions! Go in seat order, stand up, and loudly tell everyone your name, and… um, you can say your dream or something you like!”
The self-introduction segment began.
Children stood up one by one, voices loud or shy.
Choji said he liked all delicious food, goal to eat everything under heaven; Shikamaru yawned and said his dream was to casually be a ninja, then marry a not pretty not ugly wife for a stable life, drawing laughter; Ino and Sakura both said they liked pretty flowers, dreams were…
When speaking of dreams, both their gazes simultaneously drifted toward Sasuke in the back; Kiba loudly said he wanted to become Hokage, make everyone acknowledge him, earning Iruka’s approving gaze.
When it came to Sasuke in the back row, he stood up expressionlessly, voice cold and clear: “I’m Sasuke Uchiha.”
Then sat right back down.
Concise to the extreme, too lazy even to mention a dream or likes.
However, this extreme coldness was like lighting a fuse.
The classroom instantly erupted in screams and cheers hotter than any before, from the girls led by Ino and Sakura.
“Sasuke-kun is so handsome!”
“So cool!”
“Even his speech is so stylish!”
Naruto watched Sasuke surrounded by girls’ screams, face puffing up like a bun in anger, fists clenched tight.
“Damn! What’s to scream about! He’s just a show-off jerk!”
“Next! Naruto Uzumaki.” Iruka held back a laugh, calling Naruto.
Naruto shot up, mustering his energy, pointing toward Sasuke and shouting loudly: “I’m Naruto Uzumaki! My dream is to become a great Hokage surpassing all previous Hokages! Make the whole village acknowledge me! And I’ll definitely defeat that show-off Sasuke!”
He shouted red-faced, full of determination, though the last part clearly carried a sulky tone.
“Pfft…” A few girls’ laughter burst out in the classroom.
Sasuke glanced at Naruto, just letting out a disdainful snort.
Naruto seeing everyone’s reaction, especially Sasuke’s ignoring attitude, instantly deflated like a popped balloon, his earlier momentum gone, face even redder, standing there somewhat at a loss.
He looked pleadingly toward Menma beside him.
Menma sighed helplessly in his heart, calmly stood up, voice not loud but clearly spreading through the classroom: “I’m Menma.”
Similarly concise, then sat down.
No dream declaration, no likes mentioned, flat as saying “nice weather today.”
He just wanted this meaningless process to end quickly, in his view.
At the same time pondering, maybe just have shadow clones come to school from now on.
Naruto seeing Menma so flat, compared to Sasuke’s commotion, felt even more defeated, listlessly sitting down.
Self-introductions continued, soon reaching Hinata Hyuga in the back seat.
At this moment, Hinata wore a white hooded oversized coat, deep blue long hair softly draped over her shoulders.
She kept her head low, fingers nervously twisting her hem, pale little face with the usual shy blush.
She slowly stood up, voice thin as a mosquito, with obvious timidity: “I… I’m Hinata Hyuga… I… I li… like…”
She seemed to want to say something, but her voice got smaller, head drooping lower.
The classroom was very quiet, everyone waiting for the Hyuga Main Family young lady to finish.
Ino and Sakura exchanged a “as expected, very shy” look.
However, just as everyone thought Hinata would shyly finish with “like flowers” or something as usual, a sudden change occurred!
Hinata’s body jerked, like struck by invisible lightning.
Then, she abruptly lifted her head!
The shy blush on her face receded like tidewater, replaced by a completely different, flamboyant and wild radiance!
Those pure white eyes no longer dodged, but like unsheathed blades, with a “here I am” domineering momentum, instantly sweeping the whole class!
Especially those girls who screamed for Sasuke earlier, now looking at her with curiosity or sympathy.
Big Sister Hinata, online!
She put one hand on her waist, the other pointing at all the girls in the classroom, especially toward Ino and Sakura, voice suddenly rising, crisp and loud, with unquestionable hegemony:
“Hey! All of you listen up! I’m Hinata Hyuga! Favorite food is Ichiraku Ramen! Favorite person is my little sister, but!” She turned sharp, eyes instantly knife-sharp with strong warning, straight at Menma’s direction, then scanning the class, enunciating:
“Whoever dares to have ideas about Menma! I’ll slaughter her!!”
Silence.
Dead silence.
The classroom that was somewhat noisy from Sasuke and Naruto now could hear a pin drop.
Everyone stared dumbfounded at the waist-hands-on-hips, aggressively menacing Hyuga young lady by the podium, as if seeing her for the first time.
Iruka-sensei stood with mouth agape, chalk dropping “clack” to the ground unnoticed.
Ino and Sakura were completely stunned, mouths open wide enough for an egg.
Shikamaru’s “troublesome” expression froze, Choji forgot to chew his potato chips, Kiba’s jaw nearly dropped, someone’s sunglasses slipped.
Even the always cold-faced Sasuke slightly turned his head, looking at Hinata with monster-seeing eyes.
This Hyuga Main Family young lady.
Naruto Uzumaki was utterly petrified, looking at the fierce Hinata, then at Menma bro who instantly became the focus, brain unable to process.
And Menma, precisely hit by this sudden full-fire “food-guarding declaration”…
His originally calm face showed clear cracks for the first time.
He raised his hand, silently and stiffly holding his forehead, feeling his temples throbbing.
His deep blue eyes filled with helplessness, embarrassment, and a trace of… indescribable shame.
Outside the classroom window, early spring sunlight still bright, a few small birds cheerfully chirping on branches.
Konoha 57th Ninja Academy new class one’s first lesson opened its curtain in this powder keg atmosphere, screams, awkward silence, and finally this earth-shattering “husband-protecting declaration,” in a way no one anticipated.
Iruka-sensei on the podium, looking at this chaotic yet vibrant opening, smiled bitterly as he picked up the fallen chalk, deeply feeling his homeroom teacher life for the coming years would be exceptionally eventful.
“Weird, did we miss someone?” After self-introductions finished, Iruka looked at the last name on the list, puzzled.
“Teacher…” At that moment, a voice rose from the classroom corner: “I haven’t done my self-introduction yet.”
Iruka looked up, stunned.
The other classmates also just noticed there was still one classmate in the inconspicuous corner.
“Ah hahaha! Sorry, please start your self-introduction?” Iruka sweated.
“I’m Shino Aburame.” Shino silently adjusted his small round sunglasses.
