While Naruto, Itachi, and Shisui set off together, the three of them beginning their journey toward the Hidden Sand Village, the new students inside the Ninja Academy also officially welcomed the first day of school in their lives as the new term began.
"We're here, Sasuke... Be good at school and listen to the teacher. Don't cause trouble, okay?"
Seeing the Ninja Academy gate right in front of them, Fugaku secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Because of the recent lesson that had happened to Hinata, he turned his head and gave his precious youngest son a gentle but worried reminder.
"Also... after school, Father will come to the school gate to pick you up and take you home. Today, only Father will come to take you home. So if you see anyone else wanting to send you home after school, even if you know them, you absolutely must not agree. Understand?"
"Mm... ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. He really hit hard. It was just a few jokes..."
Meanwhile, Little Uchiha Fan, who looked properly dressed on the surface, was secretly moving both hands behind him and rubbing his poor little bottom with an aggrieved pout as he muttered complaints. As a result, he did not listen to a single word of Fugaku's careful reminder.
"Now I don't know if I'll even be able to sit down... Ugh... If I embarrass myself on the first day, that idiot Naruto will definitely laugh at me until... Huh? Naruto...? Right! Where's that idiot?!"
The sudden thought jolted Little Uchiha Fan awake. Along the way, he had vaguely felt that something was missing around him and that everything had been far too quiet and normal. Looking around, he suddenly realized the truth and screamed.
"Hm? Sasuke, what are you talking about? What do you mean, right? Were you even listening to what I said... Damn it! Where's Naruto?! Wasn't he just here?!"
Caught off guard by his youngest son suddenly raising his voice, Fugaku was startled. He instinctively complained in annoyance, then followed Little Uchiha Fan's gaze and looked around. Only then did he discover the important question this father-and-son pair had accidentally ignored during their chase: where had Naruto gone?!
'That brat couldn't have been kidnapped by someone, could he...? It's over. If he really was taken, forget Third Hokage-sama not letting me off. Mikoto alone will absolutely skin me alive...'
On the first day of escorting the children to school, this unexpected situation immediately made Fugaku's heart, which had only just relaxed, rise into his throat again.
As he looked around, hoping Naruto was merely pulling a prank and would walk out from behind some corner in the next second, the corner of his mouth twitched and he muttered inwardly.
'No, no, wait... Leaving aside that only a handful of people in the village know Naruto's true background, people from other villages would know even less. They shouldn't think Naruto has any value as a kidnapping target...
And even if some blind fool really tried to kidnap Naruto, with that brat's crafty personality, maybe the kidnapper has already been sold off by Naruto and is gratefully counting money for him while thanking him...'
However, Fugaku, whose thoughts were gradually being stirred into a tangled mess, did not know that although the truth was indeed not Naruto being kidnapped, the part about someone being sold by Naruto and still thanking him gratefully had, in a certain sense, truly been guessed correctly.
"W-what should we do, Father...? It's getting late. School is about to start."
Realizing that even his father had no idea when Naruto had gotten separated, let alone where Naruto was now, Little Uchiha Fan, already somewhat anxious, became even more nervous.
He looked anxiously toward the gatekeeper not far away, who was preparing to close the school gate, and reached out to tug lightly on Fugaku's sleeve. With a tight frown, he suggested softly,
"Hey... Father, should we go back and look for him? Anyway, what the Ninja Academy teaches might not be more than what I already know... Missing one class shouldn't matter much, right?"
"That may be true... but this is your first day of the new term. You can't leave a bad impression on your teacher and classmates by making them think you dislike school on the very first day, can you?"
As he spoke, Fugaku followed Little Uchiha Fan's gaze and gradually noticed the gatekeeper preparing to close the gate. After frowning and thinking for a moment, he suppressed the deep powerlessness in his eyes and reached out to pat Sasuke's shoulder.
"I hope this isn't another carefully planned prank... Cough, well, what I mean is, although I don't know where Naruto ran off to at a time like this, he probably has his reasons... You go report to class first, Sasuke. Leave finding Naruto to Father—Naruto?!"
Before Fugaku could finish, he instinctively tried to turn his gaze back to Sasuke. As his eyes shifted bit by bit, he saw Naruto, who had appeared beside Sasuke at some unknown time like a ghost, standing there like an obedient little child. Fugaku's eyes widened as if he had seen a ghost, and he cried out in shock.
If he had not personally confirmed earlier that Naruto had truly gone missing and had definitely not been standing where he now stood, Fugaku would probably have suspected that Naruto had obediently been beside him the entire time and that nothing had happened at all.
Of course, with the real body already having left the village with Itachi and Shisui, the "Naruto" who appeared here was naturally only a shadow clone created by the original body in advance. And speaking of which, Naruto was not the first to use the lazy "cheating" method of sending a shadow clone to school in his place.
If Naruto remembered correctly, Uchiha Itachi had been judged outstanding enough by his teacher to graduate early from the Ninja Academy not long after enrolling, earning the title of "genius."
The reason was precisely that, during a fight among unruly schoolchildren, his use of a shadow clone to attend school for him was accidentally exposed.
And it happened right in front of the teacher who had come to stop the children's brawl.
In other words, from the moment Naruto decided to use the convenience of a shadow clone to pull off this swapped-civet-for-prince act, he had already planned everything.
Even if Fugaku or someone else at school discovered that Naruto was also using a shadow clone to attend school in place of his real body, it would still be fine.
With Itachi as such a glorious example, Naruto could put both hands on his hips and confidently say Itachi had told him about this method and led him astray.
That would successfully throw the black pot straight onto Itachi's head.
It had a beginning and an end, and the logic was perfectly smooth. On top of that, because Itachi was currently outside with the real body, he would be unable to give an effective rebuttal immediately. Mm, thinking about it this way, this excuse was practically perfect.
"Uh... I was here the whole time. What's wrong, Uncle Fugaku?"
Thinking of this, a teasing light of a successful prank flashed through Naruto's eyes. Then he blinked and tilted his head slightly, trying to make himself look as obedient and innocent as possible. Pretending to be scared, he shrank his neck a little and asked in a soft, childish voice,
"Looking for me? A prank? I... I didn't... Uncle Fugaku, did I miss something important just now?"
"You... hiss... Forget it, forget it. As long as you're back..."
Seeing Naruto's pitifully obedient appearance, even though Fugaku knew very well this was merely a disguise Naruto deliberately used to gain his sympathy, he was still helpless against Naruto when he showed this face.
Since school was indeed about to start and there was no more time for Naruto and Sasuke to delay, Fugaku raised a hand and rubbed his forehead with deep helplessness, then waved weakly.
"Tsk. I'll let you off for now, Naruto... Go on, go on. Report to class quickly while you still aren't late. When school ends this afternoon, I'll come pick you up. Also, don't ever disappear without saying anything again!"
"Okay! No, wait! We're going to be late! Let's go, Sasuke. We have to move fast!"
Naruto, who understood the principle of stopping while he was ahead, naturally would not provoke anyone further at this critical moment. Obediently nodding in agreement, he reached out and held Little Uchiha Fan's hand.
Waving his free hand as a greeting to Fugaku, he led Little Uchiha Fan and quickly ran toward the Ninja Academy gate that was about to close.
"Then we're going first! Goodbye, Uncle Fugaku!"
"Oh? Now you know to be anxious? Honestly, I don't know what that child was scheming earlier..."
Fugaku complained in annoyance, but the heavy stone in his heart completely fell with "Naruto's" appearance. After taking a few deep breaths to calm the strange unease that had appeared in his chest, he cupped his hands around his mouth like a megaphone and deliberately added for a certain purpose,
"If someone at school dares to bully you, don't be impulsive. Remember to tell me directly. I'll have a proper 'talk' with them!"
Of course, this was not because Fugaku was worried students of the same age or upperclassmen at school would bully Naruto and Sasuke, who had just enrolled.
In fact, Naruto openly possessed two high-difficulty ninjutsu—the Rasengan and Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu—that were already enough for graduation. Secretly, because he was the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, his strength could not be measured by common sense at all.
Even Fugaku's youngest son, who had followed Naruto and trained personally under Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin, for over a year, was already enough to make Fugaku completely unable to imagine anyone at the Ninja Academy besides Naruto who could bully Sasuke.
In other words, these two little fellows, Naruto and Sasuke, looked obedient, cute, and harmless on the outside. Especially Naruto, who was white on the outside and black on the inside and never played by the rules. If they did not actively bully others, that would already be worth burning incense in celebration.
The reason Fugaku deliberately added this sentence was because he was worried about other people's unruly children.
If some blind brat from another family picked a fight with these two... Mm, one could imagine that falling directly into Sasuke's hands, or even Naruto's hands, would be far more miserable than having Fugaku personally visit for a "talk."
Well, that said, whether Naruto and Sasuke could restrain their impulses and follow his instructions was not something Fugaku could guarantee. In any case, he had done what he could. The rest could only be left to praying that the brats at school were born with a strong enough survival instinct.
"...Oh, almost forgot. I still have a pile of things to handle... Tsk. Thanks to those four blind bastards, patrol duties are probably going to multiply several times over these next few days..."
As his thoughts raced, Fugaku watched Naruto and Sasuke walk obediently into the Ninja Academy hand in hand before finally withdrawing his attention. Then he raised a brow and muttered to himself while turning around, walking quickly toward the headquarters of the Hidden Leaf Military Police Force.
"Speaking of which... where did Itachi run off to? I didn't see him first thing this morning... Don't tell me he's busy dating that little girl called Izumi. If that's really the case... then won't the day I hold my grandson be just around the corner?"
...
On the other side, while Naruto and Sasuke hurried into the school, identified the direction after a moment, and strode toward their class, they did not notice...
Inside the teaching building facing the main gate, a pair of complicated, doubtful eyes were using the advantage of height to quietly stare at their figures. Or rather, they were paying attention to Naruto, who stood beside Sasuke and could make Little Uchiha Fan obediently let him hold his hand without resisting.
Just as Naruto and Sasuke drew closer to the entrance of the teaching building, and the owner of that gaze instinctively prepared to stand for a better look, a girl of the same age beside him reached out, pressed his shoulder, and forced him back into his seat.
"Hey, Neji, what are you doing? The teacher is right up front, and you're still moving around. Are you trying to be sent into the hallway as punishment on the first class?"
After exposing the owner's identity, the girl grew curious and instinctively followed Neji's gaze out the window. Narrowing her eyes for a while, she suddenly realized something and let out a quiet cry.
"That clan crest... a child from the Uchiha Clan? Ah! I remember now! If I'm not wrong, that child seems to be this year's first-place scorer in the Ninja Academy entrance exam. His name was... right! Uchiha Sasuke... What's wrong, Neji? Do you know him?"
"...How could I possibly know someone from the Uchiha Clan? I was only curious what the person who took first place in this year's entrance exam looked like."
Neji casually brushed it off while thoughtfully withdrawing his gaze from Naruto and sitting back down. Then he took his homework notebook from his bag and, as usual, quietly moved it in front of the girl beside him.
"Speaking of which, do you still have the leisure to care about that? Here. The teacher will come collect homework soon. You need to hurry up and copy it, Tenten..."
"Huh...? Whoa! Right! Ahh, look at my memory. I almost forgot about that!"
After blinking, Tenten heard the person beside her quietly and naturally hand over his homework notebook as always. Although she had clearly finished all her homework long ago, she habitually took out a blank notebook.
After casually flipping through a few pages, she pretended to write furiously while working hard to suppress the little heart in her chest that was thumping nonstop. Then, without blushing or letting her heart skip a beat, she smiled seriously and replied,
"Hehe, thanks, Neji! If I wasn't sitting with you, I wouldn't know what to do... Hehe, same old rule. After school, I'll treat you to red bean soup!"
"You're like this every time... If you have time to eat red bean soup, you'd be better off using that time to think about how to finish your homework yourself."
Neji was clearly long used to the little girl's words. While casually lecturing and blaming her, he instinctively opened a book and deliberately moved it to block the teacher's gaze from Tenten.
After a brief pause, he rested his face on one hand and casually glanced at the "poor student" beside him as she obediently copied homework. At the same time, remembering what he had seen earlier, he secretly pondered.
'It's fine that I couldn't track where he went last time—because the moment he left the crowd, Naruto directly used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport away, ambushing and instantly defeating the young master and Number Two, so naturally Neji could not have tracked his movements.
But now, from the look of it, he can interact with Hinata-sama as an equal and Hiashi-sama doesn't stop him. He can also make the proud youngest son of the Uchiha Clan head obediently listen without resisting...'
'That blond guy's identity... looks like it isn't as simple as the rumored reincarnation of the Nine-Tails fox.'
Neji: Speaking of which... Tenten, I remember your grades aren't that bad. Why do you fail to finish your homework every day?
Tenten: Uh... haha, well... about that... don't worry about the details, Neji~ [If I told you I'd finished my homework long ago, how else would I openly get close to you? You can't even figure that out. What a wooden-headed idiot!]