Today was Naruto's first day at the academy.
Kushina Uzumaki reminded Naruto, "Behave yourself and get along with your classmates. Don't play around—study hard."
Naruto replied energetically, "I know! I'm not a kid anymore—I've grown up now!"
Shindai spotted Sasuke, who had arrived escorted by Itachi and Mikoto Uchiha.
Sasuke's face radiated happiness until his eyes landed on Shindai—he immediately wiped that smile off completely.
Shindai grinned widely at Sasuke.
Sasuke's heart leapt to his throat. He quickly turned around, hoping to pretend he hadn't seen Shindai and the others—but it was too late.
Spotting Sasuke, Naruto waved enthusiastically and shouted, "Sasuke!"
Naruto trotted over excitedly. "From now on, we'll be classmates!" he said joyfully.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. At first, he felt okay about today, but the thought of attending school with Naruto for six whole years made him feel like the sky was falling.
"Mikoto," Kushina greeted as she walked over with a smile.
Mikoto ruffled Naruto's head. "You two need to get along well at school, alright?"
Naruto nodded firmly. "I will! Me and Sasuke can be best friends!"
As Kushina and Mikoto struck up a conversation, Naruto began pestering Sasuke.
Shindai looked toward Itachi and praised, "I heard you became a Chunin all on your own. That's impressive—you're almost as good as me~"
Pakura interrupted with a smirk, "Will you quit exaggerating? From what I heard, Kakashi was already a Jonin while Obito and Rin were Chunin, but you were still stuck as a Genin."
Hikaku Uchiha chimed in mockingly, "Obito told me you looked so clueless back then—and got pushed around by Obito like a doormat all the time."
A vein throbbed visibly on Shindai's forehead. "Bullcrap! Ask Kakashi or Rin yourselves—who do you think was the one slamming Obito into the ground every time? And I stayed a Genin only because of stupid rules! Otherwise, I would've become a Jonin even earlier than Kakashi! Ask Minato-sama about it tonight if you don't believe me!"
"No way!"
"Not buying it either."
The two blunt replies from Pakura and Hikaku made Shindai practically steam with frustration.
"Hey there, Naruto, Shindai-niisan."
Shikamaru and Choji approached, greeting Naruto and Shindai.
Shindai grabbed the bag of chips from Choji's hand and started eating them himself, muttering to himself, "I'm so mad I could explode!"
Choji stared in despair at the chips in Shindai's hand. "Come on, bro, give 'em back!"
Shindai scooped up a huge handful and stuffed it into his mouth. "Nah. Missing a snack won't kill ya."
"Then two hands landed on Shindai's head.
Pakura snatched the potato chips from Shindai and returned them to Choji.
Hikaku Uchiha remarked disdainfully, 'You're way too old to be stealing food from a kid.'
"Tch."
Shindai, too scared to speak loudly, could only mutter under his breath.
Out of the corner of his eye, Shindai noticed someone walking toward Hinata Hyuga, who was already at the Ninja Academy.
Shindai walked over and asked, "Hinata, did you come here alone?"
Hinata shook her head. "No, my clansmen brought me here."
"You're starting school today and your parents didn't even come to see you off?"
Hinata lowered her head and replied quietly, "Lord Father and Lady Mother are with Hanabi and didn't have time to bring me."
Shindai could hear the disappointment in Hinata's voice.
"Hanabi, huh..."
Hanabi Hyuga was already one year old now. "No time" was definitely just an excuse; it was simply that they didn't want to accompany Hinata.
They were showing favoritism this early already.
But then again, it was understandable—the entire Hyuga clan had always been biased like that: otherwise, why would there be a distinction between the Main and Branch families?
Hiashi Hyuga never really looked highly upon Hinata. Now that he had a younger daughter, he probably decided to focus all his efforts on raising his new favorite instead.
Pakura and Hikaku Uchiha approached Shindai and, having overheard Hinata's words, exchanged looks of disapproval: "Even though they're her own parents, this is going too far."
Shindai encouraged her, "You can do it! I've already spoken to your father before. Once you graduate from the Ninja Academy, I'll take you as my apprentice. I'll fully train and equip you, so you can slap those who look down on you right across the face!"
Upon hearing Shindai's promise, Pakura and Hikaku Uchiha were touched: "For once, he actually did something good."
Pakura told Hinata, "Although my Scorch Release is a Kekkei Genkai you won't be able to learn, my Taijutsu skills are quite good. I'll teach them to you someday."
Hikaku Uchiha added, "I wonder what your chakra nature will turn out to be, Hinata. If it is fire, I'll teach you my Fire Release techniques."
Hinata was deeply moved: "Thank you, Shindai-niisan, thank you, Pakura-nee, and thank you, Hikaku-nee."
"Hinata, you're here! Come over here quickly!"
Naruto also spotted Hinata and waved energetically to call her over.
Pakura gently caressed Hinata's cheek and smiled: "Alright, go find Naruto now. There's no need to be sad—you still have friends."
"Okay!"
Hinata ran cheerfully toward Naruto and the others.
Shindai turned to Hikaku Uchiha with a puzzled question: "Hinata's chakra natures have already been tested—they're fire and lightning, so she can indeed learn Fire Release techniques. But she's a member of the Hyuga clan. Is it okay for you to teach her your Fire Release techniques?"
Hikaku Uchiha shrugged indifferently, "If Hinata becomes your apprentice someday, that only proves Hiashi Hyuga has already abandoned her. And do I really need someone else's permission to teach Fire Release techniques to whoever I want?"
Shindai and Pakura both gave Hikaku Uchiha a thumbs-up simultaneously: "Badass!"
Naruto and Sasuke entered the Ninja Academy, officially starting their school life.
As for what came next, Shindai resumed his comfortable three-point routine — home, academy, and back home again.
Once Naruto grew stronger and started handling the formalities, he could finally flop down and do absolutely nothing.
Two years later, Shindai released his very first card set. At first, sales were pretty dismal.
However, with promotion from Naruto and the others, the cards gradually became popular.
But just as they started gaining popularity, Shindai's limited edition cards were immediately blacklisted.
Whoever drew a Shindai card would basically win automatically — that's just cheating!
And although Shindai's cards were labeled as limited edition with only a 0.001% chance of being drawn, somehow, nearly everyone ended up with a Shindai card anyway.
Everyone who pulled a Shindai card felt extremely unlucky.
The most popular cards, though, were Minato Namikaze's. Many people who pulled a Minato card would go out of their way to get an autograph from him, which annoyed Shindai more than a little.
The next batch of cards will definitely nerf Minato Namikaze's!
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