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"Ah, just a minute," Kushina said as she walked over to Minato. She looked at him for a minute before standing on her tip-toes and placing a gentle kiss on his cheek. She quickly stepped back with her cheeks matching her hair and a slight blush on Minato's cheeks as well.

"What was that for?" Minato questioned.

Kushina looked away. "It was a thank you. You were one of the few people who were nice to me today and I appreciated it so I just wanted to give you a proper thank you is all, dattebane. Anyway, good night!" Kushina shouted unnecessarily loud before scrambling for her ID and running into her building.

Minato looked after her until she was on the elevator. He waved to her as the doors closed and when she sheepishly waved back, he smiled. "Uzumaki Kushina, huh?"

The Konoha Life: Chapter 2 –

"Allow me to formally introduce myself, my name is Uzumaki Mito and I'll be your Introduction to Fashion Professor," she formally introduced herself to the group of wide eyed and dream filled first year students sitting in her class. She noted how they all sat with straight backs and quite possibly wearing their best outfits that took them six hours to put together once they found out she was their professor.

"Lady Mito!" Nagisa, the same Nagisa who was a waitress from After Hours, raised her hair straight up into the air and spoke a little too loudly. "I'm sure I speak for everybody when I say we're truly thankful that you accepted us into your class. This is an opportunity we won't waste!"

Mito eyed her for a moment before smiling at her. "Sweetie, no one likes a kiss up on the first day," Mito spoke plainly, all the students reacting with wide eyes while only one student snickered. Mito noticed the odd one out and made her way to the back of the classroom, her designer heels clicking against the freshly polished floors, her skirt gliding against the linoleum effortlessly. She stopped at the table furthest away from the front and stood in front of the only other natural red head in the class. "You're an Uzumaki, yes?"

Kushina immediately straightened her back and cleared her throat. She nodded a few times too many in response to her question.

"In my class, I would appreciate it if you spoke your answers," Mito explained. "I'll ask again: Are you an Uzumaki?"

"I am," Kushina managed to answer in a normal voice despite every set of eyes in the classroom being fixed on her.

Mito nodded. "To be quite honest, I was thrilled to see an Uzumaki on my roster. We get very few of you off the island and here so from one Uzumaki to another, I welcome you to Konoha City Academy."

Kushina felt overwhelmed by Mito's kindness, her eyes sparkling as she smiled and bowed from her seat. "Thank you, Lady Mito!"

"You might not want to thank me yet," Mito said, her kindness fading quickly as her tone shifted. "As an Uzumaki, I plan to hold you to a much higher standard than I do the rest of my students. You're here to prove that you're more than a girl from a secluded island that decided she didn't want to work on a farm the rest of her life. And to be quite honest, you're probably years behind my other students when it comes to experience and training which will make you feel like you don't belong here."

Kushina wasn't sure how to react as Mito took several steps back before turning her heel and heading back towards the front of the class. She sat there speechless, her classmates snickering at Kushina being somewhat berated by the Uzumaki Mito.

"I'll let you all know this now," Mito spoke firmly, "most of you will probably flunk out of my class and trust me, I will take no personal offense to that. You all may be first year students but I'm going to treat you as though you are industry professionals because you're not here to be babied, you're here to learn the skills necessary to help you survive in the industry. You will probably pull several all-nighters, have breakdowns both emotionally and mentally, wish curses onto me from here to Timbuktu. And trust me, I've been there too and beyond. Now, if you're not ready for that kind of commitment, then you're more than welcomed to leave because I refuse to hold your hands."

There was some collective muttering amongst the students before a handful of students sulked out of their seats and left the class. Kushina saw the defeated expressions on their faces and looked back at Mito to see she was looking directly as her. Kushina could feel the sweat forming on her palms and she placed a tight grip on the edge of her skirt while biting the inside of her cheek. She met Mito's gaze without faltering and when Mito seemed to put on a proud smirk, she clapped her hands together and wore a sweet expression.

"And Now that that's done, why don't we start with a history lesson and review methods for coming up with compositions and acceptable ways to present your work in your sketchbooks and portfolios," Mito declared before walking around behind her desk and holding up the textbook. "Kushina-chan, read the first three paragraphs of the introduction."

"Yes ma'am," Kushina answered immediately before opening her textbook and beginning to read.

For the remainder of the class, Mito gave her lecture and everyone furiously took notes on everything she said. She spoke quickly yet made sure to thoroughly explain herself and what she was talking about before moving forward. She answered any and all questions her students had and before they knew it, class was over. Kushina let out a sigh of relief as she dropped her pen and rubbed her wrist, the throbbing severe from how much she had written in just that one hour period.

"Kushina, come here please," Mito called over the chatter of the students. "I'd like to speak with you in private."

Silence fell over the room as all eyes were back on her again. She swallowed hard and quickly gathered her things before scurrying over to Mito's desk. Mito simply smiled at her before continuing to sort through some papers on her desk. Kushina glanced over her shoulder and saw her classmates were attempting to linger and eavesdrop but as soon as they realized it wasn't possible, they left.

"Now that we're alone, I want to talk to you about something very important," Mito explained as she sat on her desk.

"Yes, Lady Mito?" Kushina tightened her grip on her things.

"I know I might have come off a bit harsh earlier but I want you to understand that I meant every word I said about holding you to a higher standard," Mito stated. "Not only because I was just like you when I was your age and came to Konoha but because I saw your portfolio and kicked out another student out to get you in here."

"Huh?" Kushina's eyes widen.

"You are skilled," Mito said. "And just between you and I, you had the best portfolio out of all my first-year students. So, I expect you to keep producing that kind of work and even better work by the end of the quarter, understood?"

Kushina nodded a bit before remembering Mito's earlier statement and clearing her throat. "yes, Lady Mito! Thank you so much."

"And if anyone ever bullies you for their red hair, make sure they keep their eyes on you in the future as well because once they see how far you get ahead of them, they'll come crawling back and begging for forgiveness and a job," Mito said with a somewhat evil laugh, Kushina wearing a smile on her own face. "Now then," Mito wiped away a stray tear and stood up from her desk, "you hurry on to your next class. If you're late, tell your professor you were with me and that'll get you free and clear."

"Thank you, Lady Mito," Kushina said with a smile before bowing towards her and hurrying out of the room.

For the remainder of Kushina's day, she couldn't help but feel a little relieved and a bit overjoyed by what Mito had told her. Kushina had admired Mito for the longest time not only because she was one of the few to "escape" Uzushiogakure but because she made something of herself as well. It was a stagnant mentality that barely anybody actually left Uzushiogakure and actually made something of themselves.

"What's this? You're smiling," Minato noted as he took a seat beside Kushina in the quad underneath the large tree that sat in the center. "I take it you had a good first day of classes then?"

"Minato-senpai, good afternoon," Kushina said as she stretched her legs out and tapped her pencil against her sketch book. "And if I'm being honest, I did."

"Good afternoon," Minato greeted her before leaning back against the tree. "Well, I'm glad you had a good first day. Some of the teachers here can be a bit intimidating and a lot of people end up dropping their classes because of it. Those are usually the ones who don't last very long."

"I bet," she sighed. "I had Lady Uzumaki Mito for my first class and I was petrified when I went in there. She even laid into me because I was the only other Uzumaki she'd seen in her class but I guess everything worked out. She said she was happy to have me in her class."

"No way," Minato sat up and saw Kushina nod with a triumphant smile. "Lady Mito is one of the hardest fashion design teachers there is. And she barely likes any of her students, she mainly just tolerates them."

"So I've heard," Kushina noted. "Other than that, the rest of my classes are fine. What about you?"

"Eh," Minato shrugged. "I'm a senior now and I got most of my more challenging classes out of the way before now," he told her. "So, for now, I'm just cruising until graduation. Finishing up portfolio work, helping out friends with theirs, and looking for a job."

"I'm sure you won't have too much trouble with that," Kushina mentioned.

"Minato-kun."

Kushina and Minato turned to see Nagisa had approached with a group of girls, all of them having their eyes fixed on Minato while they seemed to fail to notice Kushina sitting beside him.

"Oh, Nagisa," Minato simply acknowledged her. "What is it?"

"Well, seeing as I'm in Lady Mito's class now, I was hoping you'd agree to be my model later on in the quarter," Nagisa mentioned. "I feel like my designs would really fit your aesthetic and I'm sure you're going to need headshots so you can consider this a mutually beneficial thing."

"Ah, I'm sorry," Minato apologized with a tender smile. "I already agreed to be Kushina-chan's model later this quarter. And with my schedule, I'm not entirely sure I can model for the both of you. But, I have a few friends who might be interested, do you want their names?"

"Oh," Nagisa finally turned and acknowledged Kushina, "you're helping her? I'm sure you would've noticed this by now but she really isn't going to make much of herself here. Sure, she may get a bit of a helping hand from Lady Mito but that only does so much. And she's a freshman, she can't expect to run behind Lady Mito all three years and make something of herself afterward. If I'm being honest, you're just wasting your time with a girl like her."

"Nagi-," Minato tried to speak but Kushina stood up. "Kushina-chan?"

"I hate to be the one to tell you this but whether you like it or not, you're going to come crawling to me and begging me for a job in the future," Kushina stated with a warm smile on her face as she took a step closer to Nagisa. "In the meantime, you can say whatever you damn well please and trust me when I say I will remember everything you'll say about me and do to me. And trust me when I say that I am not the one to fuck with."

Nagisa smirked. "If you so much as touch me, you're out of here. You do realize that, don't you? And I doubt you have enough money to get the school board or even the dean to turn a blind eye to you violating the rules. Face it Uzumaki, you're at a clear disadvantage here."

"That's enough," Minato said as he stood up and stood between the two of them. The way he eyed Nagisa caused her to tense up but his expression softened when he turned to face Kushina. "Come on, you're hungry, right? I know a ramen place that I think you might like."

"Sure, sounds good," Kushina muttered as she grabbed her stuff and walked away with Minato. As they walked, she held a tight grip on her sketchbook. Minato noticed and hesitated slightly before putting an arm around her shoulder and shoving his other hand into his pocket.

"If she bothers you again, let me know, okay?" Minato advised. "Us, naturally weird-colored haired people have to stick together, you know?"

Kushina looked at him for a moment and giggled at the child-like smile on his face. She nodded in response. "You're right."

To Be Continued…