The next morning at dawn.
Konoha Ninja Academy, First Grade Elite Class.
Iruka had not arrived yet, and the room buzzed like a beehive.
"Hey, did you hear? Kazama-sensei is in the hospital."
"I heard his sternum shattered and he cracked a bunch of ribs."
"Yikes, that bad?"
Sakura and Ino sat at the center of a knot of Kazama's fangirls, whispering their favorite gossip.
Sasuke and Hinata sat at their desks, both looking unusually grave.
The boys were not so carefree. Inuzuka Kiba chewed on his pen cap and frowned at his notebook. "Shikamaru, this problem looks wrong."
"I copied it from Ino's howork. Ahh, so troubleso."
Shikamaru slouched in his chair, already giving off retired grandpa energy at his age.
The laziness lasted only a heartbeat. "Chōji. Do not put the hand you used to grab chips on my workbook."
"Sorry, Shikamaru. By the way…" Chōji scribbled while peeking at Naruto, who sat quietly. "Why isn't Naruto copying too?"
Shikamaru shook his head. He said he already finished.
"I heard that blind girl got assigned to our class."
"For real? We are not going to get killed, right? She has to have the worst temper."
"A total she-beast…"
A few boys traded rumors.
Bang.
Naruto slapped his desk and stood up.
Heads turned all at once.
"Oi, Naruto, what are you doing?" A tall boy had flinched, thinking the teacher had co in. Seeing Naruto instead set his temper off.
Naruto lifted his chin, eyes bright. "Do not talk about Kono like that."
He was sure now. The girl who fought Kazama yesterday was the sa Kono he had t at Ichiraku. Gentle, kind, mysterious, beautiful. Not so rampaging monster.
He would not let anyone sar his friend.
"Looking for a beating, are we?"
The tall boy had not expected Naruto to mouth off. He stood with a few others and boxed Naruto in.
Just as a fight was about to break out, a student by the door heard footsteps in the hall.
"Teacher's coming!"
Like a starter pistol, the warning snapped everyone to attention. Desks scraped. Kids dove for their seats. The noisy classroom fell pin-drop silent.
Tap… tap…
A cane clicked against the tiles in the corridor.
Sitting perfectly straight, Naruto listened to the familiar rhythm. It felt like his heartbeat was keeping ti with it. He could not have said why, just as he could not explain why he had finished his boring howork the night before.
The door opened under thirty pairs of eyes.
Iruka Umino ca in first. Behind him, a silver-haired blind girl with a cane walked in at an unhurried pace. On her back was a pink backpack with a little bear.
"So pretty."
"And kind of cute."
The quiet class blood into whispers. After hearing a girl had kicked Kazama-sensei into the hospital, many had pictured a gorilla with arms like bridge cables. The real Kono was not what they had imagined.
Kono ignored the murmurs. Looking down at a roomful of pint-sized faces she knew all too well from another life, she felt a strange tug of familiarity.
Iruka led her to the front.
"Quiet."
The room went still.
Satisfied, Iruka nodded. "Everyone, we have a new classmate today. Please give her a warm welco."
Clap, clap, clap.
"Kono, how about a short introduction?"
Faced with the girl, Iruka put on his gentlest smile. He had heard what happened to Kazama. He knew he would not have survived that kick himself, and caution seed wise.
"Okay, sensei."
Kono's answer was soft and clear. Her voice was like a wind chi on a doorfra, light and bright. Paired with a face that was all delicate lines with not a hint of nace, it lifted Iruka's opinion of the so-called violent girl at once.
A girl this gentle had to have been pushed very far to do that to Kazama, he decided.
Kono turned toward the class and smiled.
"My na is Kono. I am good at taijutsu. I love peace and I dislike anything that keeps from feeling at ease. My favorite food is tomato and egg stir-fry. My dream is to defeat one powerful opponent and then live a quiet, happy life. Please take care of ."
Clap, clap, clap. Iruka led the applause so enthusiastically his head bobbed.
He was moved to the verge of tears. In a class that daily drove him up the wall, every line had been gloriously normal. He had never even heard of that favorite dish, but he would take it.
"Kono seems easy to get along with," Chōji murmured as he clapped.
"Yeah. Pretty cute," Kiba agreed.
Shikamaru said nothing. Sothing about the new girl felt off. Like a lion that padded by with a friendly air, yet when you dared a peek, you found a pair of yellow predator's eyes quietly weighing you in return. It made his skin prickle. He shivered. He had brushed so shadow he could not na.
"Well then," Iruka began, "Kono, you can sit "
Before he finished, Kono stepped down from the platform, cane tapping, and headed straight for the blond boy at the back right.
"Sensei, is this seat okay?"
She smiled at the anxious Naruto and tapped the desk beside his.
"Uh… sure."
Iruka hesitated, then saw that Kono had already set her backpack down. He nodded, the safer choice.
So much for gentle. He had been fooled, Kazama-sensei, I am sorry, Iruka thought in despair.
Kono did not spare him another glance. Her softness was for winning over these heirs early. She had no intention of acting the model student for a teacher.
"Naruto-kun, we are desk mates now. Please take care of ."
"H-hi Kono. P-please take care of ."
Seeing the color rise in Naruto's face, Kono's smile grew even warr.
Behind the black cloth, dead-ash pupils fixed on the seal in his lower abdon. A hair-fine thread of red chakra bled from it like a filant of blood.
Inside Kono, deep blue chakra pulsed in her heart. Veins and ridians stirred like hungry worms, itching to burst free.
She swallowed without aning to.
Kurama.
A few more bites and her chakra reserves would be up in the Kage tier.
The temptation was almost unbearable.
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