"Alright, spill it—what'd I miss while I was gone?"
Yuto plopped into his seat, tossing his bag aside like it owed him money. Next to him, Shikamaru yawned like a cat who'd just woken up from a five-hour nap, while Naruto vibrated in his chair like an over-caffeinated squirrel.
The classroom buzzed with the usual morning chaos—pencils scratching, chairs scraping, and someone (probably Kiba) already snickering in the back.
"Oh, y'know, the usual," Naruto grumbled, slouching. "Sasuke got another love letter. Big surprise." He rolled his eyes so hard they nearly got stuck.
Shikamaru sighed, propping his chin on his hand. "Naruto, at this point, that's just background noise."
Right on cue, Sakura and Ino strolled in Sakura with her signature ribbon bouncing, Ino flipping her ponytail like she was the main character.
"Sakura-chan! Good morning! You look super cute today—not that you don't always, but today's extra…" Naruto's simp mode activated instantly as he beamed at her.
Sakura and Ino, long accustomed to Naruto's overenthusiastic vibes, ignored him completely and instead zeroed in on the newly transformed Yuto.
"You're… Hayashi Yuto?"
"Whoa, you look totally different!"
Now even Sakura was staring. Who knew this usually sloppy guy could radiate such unreasonable charm when he actually tried?!
Sakura suddenly understood why Ino had always given him extra attention—this was a glow-up in progress!
Both girls stared, wide-eyed, at his fresh new look.
"Good morning, Miss Haruno, Miss Yamanaka," Yuto greeted them warmly.
"Huh?!" Ino's eyes bulged like she'd just seen a ghost. "M-Miss Yamanaka?!" Ino's voice cracked. "Who are you and what did you do with the guy who called me 'A-Shan the Loud Blonde' last week?!"
Yuto replied with a serene, sunshine smile. "I had some time to think. You know how it is."
Gulp.
Naruto, meanwhile, was studying.him like a math problem he couldn't solve. "Dude. Those glasses. Where'd you get 'em?"
"Why?"
"I need 'em." Naruto nodded, deadly serious. "Sakura-chan looked at you for three whole seconds. That's, like, a record."
Yuto sighed. "Naruto. Buddy. Some things aren't meant to be replicated."
"Like your face?" Kiba called from the back.
"Like your chances of passing this semester," Yuto shot back, without missing a beat.
Shikamaru, ever the peacekeeper, cut in. "Seriously, though. What were you doing out of the village? Don't say 'saving a country' again."
Yuto leaned back, tapping his chin. "Fine. I went on a blind date."
The entire front row whipped around so fast necks audibly cracked.
"YOU?!" Ino shrieked.
"With who?!" Sakura demanded.
"Dude, you willingly went on a blind date?" Shikamaru squinted, skeptical.
Blind dates weren't unheard of in the shinobi world, teenagers married young, after all. But Shikamaru knew Yuto shared his "girls are trouble" philosophy. No way he'd volunteer for this!
"Oh, I didn't want to," Yuto said wistfully, half-truthfully. "But sometimes, fate forces your hand. What can you do?"
Fate forcing his hand?
Shikamaru sensed deeper meaning there, but before he could probe, Sakura derailed the conversation. "So, what did she look like? Was she pretty?"
"A very nice girl," Yuto said solemnly. "She had gorgeous wine-red hair, gentle yet bright—like a big, ripe tomato"
"You little—!" Kushina's eye twitched violently inside the Spirit Pearl.
"Tomato" was the insult bullies used to mock her back in the day. This brat was absolutely messing with her.
"A… tomato?" Sakura blinked. That was a compliment?
"A tomato, huh?" Naruto pondered before nodding sagely. "Yeah, that does.sound cute!"
What is wrong with you?!
Sakura shot Naruto a look. Did this guy think she looked like a tomato too?!
"Hear that, sis? Your son thinks you're cute," Yuto teased inwardly.
"Shut up!" Kushina seethed. "I swear, I'll possess someone and stab you!"
"Oh! Sasuke's here!" Sakura squealed, instantly switching to full fangirl mode mirroring Naruto's earlier simp energy.
But Sasuke, cool as a cucumber, ignored her. Only Yuto's new look earned a brief flicker of surprise before he lost interest and slunk to his seat.
"Anyway," Ino said, twirling a strand of hair, "The grade tournament's coming up. Sasuke's obviously representing us, but who's the second?"
"Shino,"Sakura said immediately. "He's definitely hiding, like, eight secret jutsu under that collar."
"Hey! What about me?" Naruto protested.
Sakura gave him a look. "Dead-last, have some self-awareness. Even Yuto has better odds than you!"
THUD.
Right on cue, Iruka walked in, dropping a stack of papers.looking way too cheerful for someone about to drop chaos. "Class! Tournament representatives are decided! Uchiha Sasuke and… Hayashi Yuto."
Silence.
Then—
"…Wait, WHAT?!"
From the back, someone whispered, "Oh god. He's gonna use that jutsu, isn't he?"
Sasuke, meanwhile, had gone very still, Because he'd just realized something horrible:
Before the tournament… there's the class preliminaries.
Which meant he had to fight Yuto.
Sasuke's blood ran cold.