Sora walked through the streets of Konoha, heading towards the Ninja Academy.
There was no other way; his residence was too remote, and to reach the Ninja Academy, he had to pass through the Konoha streets.
He wasn't a masochist; being cursed at like that made him very uncomfortable.
Upon reaching his classroom at the Ninja Academy, Sora habitually walked to the furthest corner and sat down.
There was no one in front of Sora or to his right, as no one was willing to be his deskmate.
Sora had been enrolled for three years and diligently studied during classes.
After all, if Sora wanted to change his current situation, there was no other way but to become stronger.
When he first started learning Chakra extraction upon entering the academy, Sora immediately attempted it.
Sora felt that his talent was quite good; while ordinary people needed one to two days to extract Chakra for the first time, Sora succeeded in just half a day.
However, one person had even better talent than Sora, and that was Minato Namikaze, a civilian Ninja.
In these three years, Minato Namikaze had defeated the genius students from Ninja Clans like Uchiha, Hyuga, and Nara, becoming the top student in the entire school.
Moreover, Minato Namikaze, with his sunny disposition and handsome appearance, was very popular at school.
Unlike Sora, who, despite also being handsome, was a universally disliked existence.
Sora rested his head on the desk, waiting for class to begin.
Currently, aside from attending school and waiting for Uzumaki Kushina to appear, Sora could do nothing else.
Sora was now deep in thought.
After witnessing the falsity of the Village of Konoha, Sora sorted through his memories and found Uzumaki Kushina's experience to be somewhat strange.
When Minato Namikaze and Uzumaki Kushina were still Genin, Uzumaki Kushina was abducted by three Ninja from the Hidden Cloud Village, who were at least Special Jonin.
When she was near the border and began to despair, Minato Namikaze alone discovered the markers and followed them, and as a Genin, he defeated the three Kumogakure Ninja, successfully staging a hero-saves-the-damsel scene.
This point was very strange.
Setting aside whether Minato Namikaze at the time could truly fight three Kumogakure Ninja who were at least Special Jonin, it was strange enough that so many people in Konoha couldn't find three Hidden Cloud Village Ninja.
Were the Village's sensory Ninja just freeloaders?
Sora began to brainstorm from the worst-case scenario, and suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he abruptly looked up at Minato Namikaze, who was chatting with someone.
Nine-Tailed container!
The current Uzumaki Kushina was not yet the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
As the first Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Uzumaki Mito, was nearing the end of her life, Konoha, for strategic needs and to maintain the balance of Tailed Beasts, selected Kushina as the new Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and secretly brought her to Konoha.
Therefore, Uzumaki Kushina herself was brought to Konoha because the Village wanted her to become the container for the second Nine-Tailed.
Uzumaki Kushina had no right to choose at all.
According to Uzumaki Kushina's words in his memory, the accompanying feeling of loneliness and depression was almost suffocating her; although she was unwilling, she had no choice but to accept this cruel reality.
And why would Uzumaki Kushina say this? The first reason was naturally that she couldn't change the outcome.
The second reason was very likely due to her bond with Minato Namikaze; Uzumaki Kushina loved Minato Namikaze, so she had to stay in Konoha and accept this cruel fact.
It is very possible that from the moment Minato Namikaze rescued Uzumaki Kushina from the three Kumogakure Ninja, there was a push from the Konoha higher-ups.
Perhaps Konoha had been planning this even earlier.
To create a bond between Uzumaki Kushina, the orphan of the Uzumaki Clan, and Minato Namikaze, using that bond as a lock to bind Uzumaki Kushina into willingly becoming Konoha's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
And the result was clear: Konoha succeeded.
If Sora's guess was correct, then Uzumaki Kushina was merely a tool from the very beginning.
Minato Namikaze seemed to sense Sora's gaze and looked over at Sora.
Sora instantly shifted his gaze elsewhere.
Minato Namikaze saw that Sora's gaze was not on him, thought he had misjudged, and turned his head back to continue chatting with those around him.
Sora's little heart was pounding wildly.
If his guess was correct, then Konoha was far darker than he imagined, and perhaps Minato Namikaze, the future Fourth Hokage, was also a tool.
Sora took a deep breath; he needed to calm down now.
Whether these were the truth or not didn't matter to him; he would leave Konoha sooner or later, so improving his strength was the most important thing for him to do now.
The upcoming Third Shinobi World War was a crucial period for acquiring witnessing points; if his strength was insufficient, let alone gaining witnessing points, he couldn't even guarantee his own life.
The classroom door suddenly opened.
Masada Hayabusa, Sora's instructor, entered the classroom.
Sora's eyes lit up when he saw the small figure following Masada Hayabusa.
He had waited three years at the Ninja Academy, and she had finally appeared!
Uzumaki Kushina!
Uzumaki Kushina stood beside Masada Hayabusa, a little shy and timid.
Masada Hayabusa introduced her to everyone: "This is the transfer student who is joining our school today…"
Uzumaki Kushina took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and bravely introduced herself loudly: "I'm Uzumaki Kushina, ya know!"
Uzumaki Kushina suddenly covered her mouth, feeling a bit shy and uneasy.
Because she had unconsciously blurted out her verbal tic, 'ya know'.
Sora looked at Uzumaki Kushina's appearance; she was quite cute, after all.
However, the other students started to mock Uzumaki Kushina.
"Look at that hair color, unbelievable."
"How can it be that red?"
"So strange."
...
Uzumaki Kushina self-consciously clutched her red hair.
Masada Hayabusa reprimanded: "Alright, alright, quiet, everyone quiet!"
Listening to the mocking, Uzumaki Kushina's body trembled slightly, and her two small fists clenched tightly.
Uzumaki Kushina declared loudly, as if making an oath: "I... I want to become the first female Hokage of this Village!"
Upon hearing Uzumaki Kushina's words, everyone present fell silent, staring at Uzumaki Kushina in astonishment.
At this moment, Minato Namikaze stood up, showing a sunny smile: "I also want to become an excellent Hokage recognized by the villagers."
Uzumaki Kushina pouted and looked at Minato Namikaze, feeling in her heart that Minato Namikaze was a bit effeminate and seemed unreliable; how could he possibly become Hokage?
Next, Masada Hayabusa was going to arrange Uzumaki Kushina's seat.
However, most of the seats in the classroom were occupied by students; only the area around Sora's seat had empty spots.
Seeing Sora, Masada Hayabusa frowned, with disgust in his eyes.
"No choice, just find a spot over there and sit down for now."
Uzumaki Kushina followed the direction of Masada Hayabusa's finger and saw that despite the classroom being so large, there was no one sitting around Sora, clearly indicating he was isolated.
At the same time, Uzumaki Kushina noticed that many people in the class seemed to be looking at her with a sense of schadenfreude.
Uzumaki Kushina immediately became annoyed, and she huffily walked towards Sora's direction, finding an empty seat and sitting down.