Chapter 15

A thin veil of silence fell upon the earth, enveloping everything in its silky sheets. With a careful touch, it slithered into every little crevice, every nook and cranny. Snuggled tightly against the highs of the mountains and the lows of the gorges, the tops of the trees and the bottoms of the seas, the depths of hell and the gates of heaven.

The world was silence. And silence was the world.

It was a peculiar feeling.

People passed him by. Happy, excited, and lively. The boy watched their mouths working —constantly opening and closing as they talked. But no matter how much the boy strained his ears — he could not hear anything.

The yellow leaves on the trees rustled but did not make a sound. The birds flapped their wings and took off but did not make a sound. The child fell to the ground and wailed from pain — his face contorted comically in a silent scream. Still, no sound came out of his gaping mouth.

As if cotton wool filled his ears, he could not hear anything.

His other senses came alive. Smell. Sight. Touch. Everything seemed brighter. Sharper.

With every step, the boy felt light vibrations reverberating through his bones— starting from his toes and spreading down to his shins. The firm press of his hot skin against the wooden soles of his shoes. The rising whirls of the dust caressing his open toes.

If he closed his eyes, just for a moment, he could almost imagine the echoing sound of his footsteps across the ground. The rhythmic thud of the wooden shoes against the stone pavement. The light crunch of the small pebbles out of hardened dirt breaking in between the two. The clean snap of the fallen branches underneath his shoes. The rustle of the leaves blown away by the wind.

The boy was lost in the world of the deafening silence. He could not hear anything.

He could only stare in fascination at the colorful lights reflected on the surface of his protective bubble, which separated and cut him off from the outside world.

The boy felt as if he was lost in the ocean of blue. The warmth of the currents gently embraced him from all sides. Releasing tiny bubbles of air, he watched in fascination the rise of these little transparent things to the surface, not noticing his own gradual descent towards the bottom.

No more bubbles. No more warmth. The blue turned black.

There was nothing around him. And he himself was also nothing.

But did he want to be someth-…?

The sunlight and the careless brush of the breeze felt… pleasant on his skin. Soothing.In a way that only the weather during the transitional period from summer to autumn could be. It was perfect. It made Yuuki feel calm. Peaceful.

The sun was warm. The wind was cool. Like two complementary colors, they cancelled each other out. The boy felt neither cold nor hot. The boy felt nothing.

But didn't he just feel peacef-…?

His head was empty — empty of worries, empty of thoughts, empty of turmoil. The boy was gently rocked by the tranquility of his own heart. Got lost in the nothingness of his own mind.

You can't change the past. Sometimes, you couldn't change the future. Most of the time, in fact, you couldn't change the future.

So, was there any point in denying the inevitable?

The helplessness, the fightless acceptance, felt bitter on his tongue. The boy felt choice-less. The boy felt young. The boy felt like a child. The knowledge came from somewhere deep within his soul—no child should be treated this way. No child should feel forced. No child should be forced. This knowledge rang with quiet fury in his heart.

The boy was like a piece of a broken glass, shattered into a million pieces. The boy felt old. The boy felt like an adult. Something deep within him… told him—no adult should be treated this way. No adult should be forced in such a manner. This knowledge echoed with icy clarity.

However, the fragmented boy did not feel that there was anything wrong with it. The fragmented boy did not think it was wrong. It was not the first time; it would not be the last.

The fragmented boy felt out of sorts. The fragmented boy felt nothing. The fragmented boy felt… fragmented.

The fragments of the boy-… no, the boy, full of fragmen-?

Who was he again? What was he again?

Swiftly wading through the ocean of people, the boy found a suitable place for him to stand. His eyes set on the target—he took a step towards it. He extended his leg. Then he felt it. It started at the tip of the wooden geta and spread further upward, through the ankle. Startled, he tried to remedy the situation by taking the leg back to himself. But it was already too late.

His bubble burst.

The blow was sudden.

The cacophony of sounds assaulted his fragile eardrums. Yuuki had to put his hands on his ears and close his eyes tightly to lessen… everything. Then, the boy directed all his senses within.

Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

Was the steady beat of his heart. After a moment, Yuuki got accustomed to the environment surrounding him. He lowered his hands and looked around.

'Right. Today was a day of joyous celebration. The first official day of the Academy.'

There was a tall man standing just a couple of meters away from him. He was loudly laughing with his head thrown back and his spit flying out of his mouth. The brilliantly bright smile on his face looked quite ugly, as it was too wide for his long face. His eyes were crinkled in happiness. The wrinkles surrounding them looked like fat rolls of Chinese Shar Pei.

The man looked proud.The chest thrust out. Chin up. Like he was the one, who achieved something monumental today.

Yuuki did not try to eavesdrop, but the man's voice was just too loud, spreading like an echo to everyone in his vicinity. "My Riri-chan made it into class B," bragged the man to his friends? Relatives? Innocent victims who just happened to stand nearby? The eavesdropping boy did not know.

Yuuki himself was in class A. Was it good? Was it bad? Did it even matter? The man made an emphasis on the letter 'B'… so, it was probably important?

"Unfortunately, I didn't have enough talent to get accepted when I was younger," the man tried to sound casual, nonchalant. But Yuuki heard the notes of bitterness in his voice. "-but at least my daughter, my pride, can carry the future of our family."

Konohagakure was a shinobi Village founded by shinobi for shinobi. The Civilian Council could only hold so much power. Especially when all members of the Council were — in one way or another — connected to shinobi. The best way to form connections with the ruling part of the village was to directly become part of it.

This was one of the reasons why, no matter how dangerous the life of a shinobi seemed, there was no shortage of willing participants. The only problem was … the same way with that man—not everyone was talented enough to get in. The size of chakra reserves, defined by nature at birth, played an important role whether you were accepted or not. Though the reserves would increase with time and training, it would still be proportional to initial amount. Fate was rather cruel in that regard.

The boy glanced at the filled-out documents in his hands. The very first form was 'SR-2346'. Many would have been green with envy if they had seen it in his hands.

This form, which required civilian children to complete a contractually specified period of service, was rarely issued. It was given only to children who were deemed to have a high enough potential for this line of work. What made it so enviable to others was one specific privilege it granted.

An exemption from paying Academy fees. Although they were not as high as those in civilian schools, they also were not considered all that low. The only other group, who did not have to pay the fees, were orphans.

Paying money for something you did not want, did not chose to begin with —made no sense. This form was the only one that granted this privilege for special talents like Yuuki.

The boy looked at the small unimpressive lump of strawberry blond hair clinging to that man's—her father's leg, too afraid to even look at others. Well, maybe…she will grow out of…this in the future.

In comparison to the blindly proud, almost indifferent man — the couple, on the other end of the man's boasting, looked somewhat worried but pensive after listening to that man's words. And their energetic daughter had already run off to mingle with other children. "Our Reika would also be the first generation in our family-"

Yuuki got tired of their loud chatter, so he moved to another place. Although there were more people here, most of them either stood silently or spoke in hushed whispers. The atmosphere felt solemn. It was not nearly as festive as it was back there.

The people in front of him were all wearing different variations of the yukata. While it was still traditional, it was not as cumbersome and complicated as his own attire. Everyone had the same symbol embroidered on their clothes — on the back, on the shoulders or on their front lapels. A clan. Hyuga. If he was not mistaken. Though the air among them seemed somewhat subtle, they still looked united. It must have been such a relief not to be alone.

The boy, standing behind them in five layers of intricately embroidered kimono, felt out of place. Looked out of place. He did not fit. Did not fit with joyful civilians. Did not fit with united shinobi.

With an expressionless face, Yuuki apathetically looked at the crowd. They all exuded different emotions. Joy. Anxiety. Pride. Sadness. With a bout of melancholy passing in mere seconds—nothing else remained in his heart except bone deep weariness.

There were dark smudges under his eyes. His pale, almost transparent, skin was tinged with a sickly pallor. His gaze seemed rather indifferent. The gentle curve to his mouth could hardly make the boy look more approachable. Yuuki looked like a polite, proper and well-behaved child. Distant. Yuuki looked distant. As if he were in his own orbit and couldn't care less about anyone else.

Suddenly, everyone quieted down. The man appeared on the platform in front of them.

Sarutobi Hiruzen. The Third Hokage. The student of Lord Second. The sensei of the legendary Sannin. The Professor. The God of shinobi. The esteemed leader of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The War Hero of The First Shinobi World War. The person who was on the forefront of the First, and personally led the Second one. The Shinobi, whose achievements would not fit only on the pages of one book.

The man of great power and reverence. The figure of absolute authority and trust. The trust in him was established almost to a fanatical degree. The belief in him, the belief that he always had the Village's best interests in his heart, was unshakeable.

The experiences he went through were almost unimaginable to normal people. The leader, whose prestige and popularity were never questioned.

That was Sandaime Hokage.

Even Yuuki, who did not leave Okiya all that much and spent only two years in Konoha, deeply respected him. That was an Elder — someone who went through two wars. It was difficult not to respect the man.

The boy was honestly surprised that their leader carved the time in his impossibly tight schedule to come congratulate little brats like them. Perhaps his feelings were influenced by all these stories about the greatness of Hokage— but the average looking man in his thirties -even with his ridiculous big hat on his head - looked truly awe-inspiring. Even though his sole presence commanded authority, there was an edge of something almost like… kindness in his gestures and speech.

The boy stared, zoned out, at the platform, where the Hokage had previously stood. He did not look away, even after the man had already left.

Only the shout of "Class A! After me!" brought him out of his musings.

As he walked in the direction of the classroom, following behind his now sensei — the excited chatter of children was but a meaningless buzz in his ears.

The grass beneath his feet was green and lush. In Yuuki's eyes, it appeared colorless and dry. It looked like if he stepped on it— it would easily turn into dust and disappear in the tendrils of the wind.

From the corner of his eye, he saw a cluster of small red wildflowers. The red was downright glaring on the colorless grass.

The boy couldn't help but notice the similarities between these red flowers, that overshadowed all other plants in their vicinity with their beauty, and the man, who tried to kill him; his mangled body smeared across the cement floor, like a splash of red paint on the white canvas.

Beautiful red color that was lost in colorless.

The way his body was plastered all over the ground… was about the same as these chaotically scattered wildflowers.

The series of individual flowers connected to each other through the system of roots. They were one, singular, alone, but they were many. Scattered. Fragmented.

Feeling an unimaginable pull, Yuuki stepped onto the small red splotches on the ground. They were so delicate and fragile.

So easy to destroy.

The fragmented boy met fragmented flowers.

They tickled his ankles. The open toes of his sandals. The morning dew felt cold on his skin. Suddenly, Yuuki disappeared in a flurry of red. Starting from his toes and spreading upwards along the contours of his form, his body dissolved into a thousand of bloody red petals. After a moment, those soft scarlet petals, that were carried away on the wings of the wind, rose high into the sky.

Turned out, he was the one colorless and dry, turning into dust with a mere touch. More fragile than a delicate flower. Easy to destroy.

There were no roots holding him down.

The boy was alone. But there were many-…

—there was no one by his side.

The boy was alone.

There was no one holding him down.

The boy was alone.

Perhaps, it was Yuuki's position by the window of the first row or his unusual composure compared to others, but sensei decided, that the dark-haired boy would be the first to introduce himself.

Perfect bow. Perfect poise. Perfect grace. The movements were fluid like ever-changing currents of water, effortlessly sucking in everyone's attention.

The boy stood next to his sensei. In the middle of the classroom. Under the stares of everyone. The young boy's long eyelashes trembled, casting a shadow that looked mesmerizing under his eyes. His long silky hair lay gently on his shoulder. His lightly colored thin lips curved in a gentle arch.

The pretty boy straightened his back and looked at his classmates. The folds of his white kimono swaying in tandem with his every move. "My name is Okihara Yuuki. Please take care of me in the future." His voice was pleasant to hear. Clear and melodious, like the splashing of water in a mountainous little stream.

The boy apathetically scanned the group of people in front of him, automatically storing away their information in the back of his mind. He was seeing the scars on their hands, their clothes —much simpler than his own, their eyes, noses, and mouths —but not seeing their faces.

Not seeing them as humans.

Colorless classroom, colorless faces, colorless Yuuki.

Without even noticing that all eyes were focused on his form, he continued walking down the aisle.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

Resonated the dull sound of his footsteps -wooden Geta meeting wooden floorboards- in the otherwise silent classroom.

Without sparring anyone a glance, he took his seat. Like a puppet carefully controlled by strings, his sitting posture looked flawless and impeccable. Effortless. Even though others knew that it was uncomfortable to sit so upright on a wooden bench—the boy made it look easy. Too easy. Like it was supposed to be that way all along. All those who sprawled around like a dripping liquid on their seats instinctively straightened their backs as soon as they caught the boy out of the corner of their eyes.

The man, who introduced himself as Imaru-sensei, loudly coughed, destroying the subtle atmosphere that filled the room. With that cough, the murmurs and hushed whispers broke out all around him. From the side, Yuuki could feel how his desk mates and those behind him kept trying to sneak glances at him, failing at their stealth.

"Next to Okihara. You… the one with the glasses," sensei called his desk mate, who was sitting on the right side of Yuuki.

Flustered and confused, the boy first got up and then sat down. "Sensei, can I just say the introduction here…without going all the way to the podium?"

"…Sure."

Yuuki instantly knew he committed a faux pas. It was a standard greeting taught at the school affiliated with Okiya. It seemed to be incorrect thing to do here.

The boy with dark blue hair, tied into an intricate braid, looked intently at his desk mate — he wanted to know the correct way. To him, it did not make sense doing it from the seat. What was the point of introduction if only part of the class could see you? It felt disrespectful to both sides.

Feeling pressured by the weight of everyone's attention, the poor boy started sweating. Yuuki's intense gaze, literally a couple of centimeters away from his face, was even more burdensome. "I-'m I am Tsu-Tsuchiba Kisanji. I am seven y-years old. I like playing tag and fish-fishing. My dream is— I-I have seen this one guy doing it— to send balls of fire from both h-hands and feet-," the boy's face was red, his eyes darting around everywhere, "-s-so, I want to become strong and cool shinobi one day."

The classroom was so silent you could hear the pin drop. With a stutter, he squeezed out, "T-that's it…"

'He sure is sweating a lot.' Yuuki noticed absentmindedly.

'Well, no matter. Basically, he just needed to share more information about himself. His mistake didn't seem like that much of a big deal.'

"Applaud your new classmate, Tsuchiba Kisanji." The children's response was lackluster.

"Okay, next. The senbon chewing guy."

The boy with shaggy chin length blond hair sighed and said, "Shiraniu Gen-"

Yuuki was not all that interested in his classmates. So, he stopped listening to them altogether, rather finding the view outside the window to be more fascinating.

The wind seemed to pick up, and the trees started shaking more intensely. The fallen leaf swirled and danced around in the air, then suddenly it landed on the glass pane of the window. Right in front of the boy's face. Half green, half yellow.

The world stood on the cusps of a new season.

Soon, in a couple of weeks. Maybe, even in a matter of days, everything will be dyed gold and red.

The leaf fell down towards the ground. Slowly. So very slowly it slid down the glass pane. Yuuki watched how, with every twirl in the wind, the leaf became redder and redder.

Drip.

In the silence, that filled the room, this sound was the only thing he heard. It was like a drop of an ink that fell into the clear waters dyeing everything black. Once the leaf touched the earth, the soil, the colorless grass— the world was also dyed in red. Instantly. Within a blink of an eye.

In the place of the innocent leaf, only the mutilated body of the man stared back at him. The broken bones and pool of blood. The eyes protruding out of his eye sockets glared back at him with intense hatred and unwillingness to die.

The six-year-old boy was hallucinating again. Yuuki did not even see properly the body of that man that day. It was just one last glance in the direction of his assailant before he passed out. But the picture in front of him was so clear. So vivid. He knew this image was false. Rather than hatred, his eyes must have contained fear or confusion. But even if he knew, the vision in front of him did not disappear. Yuuki put his hand on the stomach, right beneath his ribs that were crushed just couple of weeks ago. It was difficult to breathe again.

The more he looked at this mangled corpse, the wider the smile on its face became, like these pieces of bones were laughing at him. The boy could not look away, too transfixed by the gory picture.

Suddenly, something warm touched his shoulder. Yuuki flinched from the unexpected touch, as if he was scalded by a hot iron. "Hey, emmn, Okihara-san?" The boy, his desk mate, stared awkwardly back at him. "We are finished already… for today. Everyone has left."

Yuuki blinked and looked around the classroom. It was empty except for the two of them. "Thank you for letting me know. I am afraid I got lost in thought." Yuuki gave that polite, gentle smile which was taught in Okiya. It felt like the clay mask on his face was breaking, the sharp edges digging into his skin. Smiling was the last thing he wanted to do right now.

With a loud bang, the door of the classroom slammed open. "I am so sorry I was late! I am Uchiha Obito!" The boy in a blue tracksuit loudly shouted, with his eyes shut tightly, like he was afraid of seeing the reactions of other people in the room.

"There was this one granny-… huh?"

The classroom, that looked like a small auditorium in a university, was divided into two parts by the aisle between them.

Yuuki took a random seat on the left side of the room. No one greeted him. He greeted no one.

Suddenly, before he could even unpack his own bag, someone tapped him on the shoulder. Yuuki glanced at the boy from yesterday, the one who sat next to him. With a gentle smile, he said with confusion thick in his voice, "…Yes?" The boy looked awkward, like he wanted to say something but couldn't.

Instead of receiving the answer, Yuuki was grabbed by the arm and taken to the other section of the classroom. The muscle in his arm cramped, just for a second, from the unpleasant touch of a stranger. Could he speak with his words or what? Did he always have to touch him here and there? How many times has it been already?

The next moment, Yuuki was sitting on the right side of the room. The boy, who dragged him around for no apparent reason, finally whispered the answer into his ear. The hot breath, hitting the side of his face and earlobe, felt unpleasant. "You can't sit there."

Yuuki, who spent years in Okiya, immediately grasped the situation. It was one of those unwritten rules again.

'But, why? Was the sitting arrangement based on exam results or something?'

"Do you even realize, who was the boy you were sitting next to?" Yuuki glanced at his previous place. The rows were packed with children. He just happened to take the first empty seat that he saw.

There was a flash of clear white color among the darkness. White hair. A boy. He seemed smaller than others. But he still seemed just a regular boy to him. What was so important about him?

The confusion was visible on Yuuki's face. "He is'shn…" the awkward boy, whatever-his name-was, whispered with excitement thick in his voice. His slurred words were barely heard with how quiet he was trying to be. "-of the 'White Fang'! Can you believe it?! How cool is this?!"

"Ahh…" Yuuki, in fact, did not know how cool it was. Or what 'White Fang' was. And even less what it had to with him sitting next to the white hair.

The space around the boy remained empty, like he was placed into an invisible bubble, no one could come in. It felt like it was some sort of mutually agreed arrangement, only Yuuki knew nothing about. If him not sitting there made things better, then he would move his ass. It was just a seat. Yuuki could go with the flow.

'Wait… did that boy have some sort of contagious disease? It would explain… a lot.' Inwardly, Yuuki thanked the boy for getting him away from the source of disease. 'Should he get checked at the hospital later?'

There was also another bubble of space around an ordinary looking boy with tanned skin and dark brown hair. 'Could there be two of them? Why were they allowed in the building?' Everyone looked at the two boys, but no one dared to talk to them.

"-and, emmn, your parents are civilians, right?"

Yuuki, who has never even met his parents, "… Yes."

The boy exclaimed with joy like he has won a lottery. "Knew it!" Then he fidgeted in his seat, embarrassed by his own sudden, loud outburst. "Emm… I mean," the boy cleared his throat, "it was pretty obvious with you being…-" The boy made weird gestures in the air like Yuuki was supposed to get what he meant. And then, that boy just pointed at Yuuki's entire body from top to bottom, "-like that." Yuuki wondered if he should take offense to that.

Under Yuuki's unimpressed eyes, he changed the topic. "A-anyway, on the left side, only those from shinobi families are sitting."

The dark-haired boy looked at that side and, indeed, there were clan symbols on their clothes, and the children themselves seemed… different. Kinda bored. Relaxed. Composed. While this side teemed with contained excitement and nervousness. They were fidgeting, murmuring, sneaking glances at the other side. The line between them was distinct.

In his years of staying at Okiya, he met many high-ranking shinobi, and they were just normal people. Mostly. So, the boy genuinely did not understand the separation thing. And he did not get, why they were looking at the other side with something like awe in their expression. Weren't they all just classmates? Why were civilian children treating them like a different race?

The dark-haired boy forgot how, when he first came to Konoha, he kept asking Shikaku all sorts of nonessential questions about shinobi. And his awe was no lesser than theirs.

Yuuki felt rather lethargic and apathetic about everything. He could admit that, at the moment, he was not really the best conversational partner.

For two years, he was slaving away to become Yagura's heir apparent. Future replacement. And now, all his efforts, all his skills went down the drain. The boy hasaccepted his fate, his path — there wereno more doubts left in his heart that were previously hidden there. And then, out of nowhere, he was slapped in the face with a new fate, which he also had no choice but to accept. Was that a joke?

The thing was… he actually loved Fine Arts — he would not have spent hours after hours practicing, if he was not interested in them. The boy enjoyed dancing and singing and painting. It was fun. It was interesting. He was good at it.

And now… his world would be filled with violence, the sparks of a metal on metal, and death.

Frankly speaking, he got used to the safety of Konoha. Yuuki remembered exactly how desolate the way to this place was. The starving people, the bandits, the fear. War. The boy was afraid of the war. He only saw the partial consequences of it, but it was already enough. And shinobi were the essential part of the war. And he was to become a shinobi.

The rest of their conversation was spent in the same manner — with enthusiastic chatter of the boy and Yuuki's noncommittal hums.

The first lecture, the first day were… difficult.

The focus of his previous schooling was simply different. To begin with, he had zero knowledge about chakra and its system. It was an absolutely new territory to him. But everyone in the class just looked… bored, whether it was the right side of the room or the left.

Someone even asked sensei if they could skip all that basic stuff, which apparently even idiots knew.

For the first time in his life, Yuuki felt truly ashamed of himself. With his natural talent, natural predisposition for art, he never actually struggled with anything. Even when he first came, and everything was new. The moment he held dizi in his hands, the spark lit up in his eyes. With everyone starting the race at the same line, Yuuki shot up like a bullet from the very beginning. While the progress of others was more gradual, more normal— with crawling, walking, stumbling and only then, running. His was meteoritical.

For the first time in his life, the genius boy was experiencing what it felt like not to be the best at something. With children from Shinobi background being already at a halfway point of the race, the civilian children standing at the starting line, and Yuuki looking at them from what felt like a kilometre away.

It was one thing with the subjects he was never systematically taught. But the things he was taught, all seemed… wrong? The focus was on different parts.

History. It seemed like the sort of subject that will be taught the same everywhere. It was not like he was in different Village with different perspective on things. It should have been the same.

It should have been, but it was not.

The things, he had been taught in a great detail were skimmed over; the things that were skimmed over had been taught in a great detail.

Imaru-sensei taught them battle strategies and instilled the notion that everyone except Konoha were bastards. He also explained a lot of very bloody, very gory information in great depth, that he, somehow, managed to present as great and awe inspiring instead.

Previously, in history class he learned which noble family had how many sons, what some people were famous for, the general state of affairs. They were supposed to be conversational partners, so it would not do—making them too ignorant. Could you imagine the client asking about your opinion on Tobirama Senju, and you say 'Ah! That merchant from Suna' — you would lose a client very fast.

Generally, teachers asked to remember the basic overview of affairs — they did not harp about it much. It was enough not to make too dumb of mistakes. But if you mistook one scion of a wealthy family for another, the ruler would meet your knuckles.

Imaru-sensei, brimming with excitement, wanted to show the greatness of Konoha shinobi. On the dark green blackboard, he drew the ingenious tactical maneuver of their Village military forces, that brought us a great victory in the battle of Hācho gourd. It happened only two weeks ago. It seemed like this victory was very impactful on the situation of the Village, because sensei drowned the children sitting in the first row with his spit with how excited he was.

Surprisingly, it was one of the few things he kinda, sort of understood. It felt familiar somehow.

And there was a reason for that —the army was led by Nara Shikaku.

Yuuki had shivers.

The boy knew why it felt familiar. It looked like one of the Shogi matches Yagura and Shikaku had played.

Yagura won that day. Shikaku lost almost all his pieces. Nothing happened to those little wooden chips except getting back in the box. People were not Shogi pieces though, were they?

Yuuki had shivers.

The boy wondered if Yagura knew about what had transpired in reality. The innocent game with a lot of confusing rules, which he had never bothered to take seriously, did not seem all that silly anymore.

That day, when he came back from Academy, he leaned his forehead against the wall for a long time, trying to keep his tears at bay. He was tired. It felt unfair.

With red eyes, his homework and Shogi board in hand, he toddled towards Yagura's room.

"Yuuki! How was your first day at the Academy? Was it fun-" His words stuck in his throat as soon as he saw the child.

The older man immediately crouched to the eye level of the boy and checked his temperature. From the side, the servant's nervous 'Yagura-sama!' 'Your clothes!' were heard, but the father son duo did not pay them any attention.

"What is wrong? What happened? Your eyes are all red. Why were you crying?" Yagura started undressing the boy to see any possible injuries.

The dam broke. Yuuki's lower lip wobbled, and he choked on a sob.

"What is it? What is it? Why are you crying?" Yagura gently started wiping away his tears and snot with the sleeve of his expensive kimono. The usually stoic man seemed extremely frightened and panicked. "Let's go to the hospital."

He was about to take the boy in his embrace and personally carry him there, when Yuuki suddenly said, "I- I think I, sniff, am s-s-stu-stupid."

"Ah?" Yagura froze for a second, then his brows furrowed in anger. "Who said that?"

The boy started wiping away his own tears with his sleeve. "No one. I-I d-don't," Yuuki took a deep breath in, "un-understand, hick, anything at all."

The boy handed him the papers with his homework. "Can you… help me with this?"

The servants from behind were muttering something along the lines of 'How dare you' but were silenced with one glance from Yagura.

"And I think, I want to learn… Shogi again," Yagura's eyebrows stuck in his hairline from surprise. "-seriously this time…"

After washing the face of the crying boy, Yagura had a universal experience of helping his child with his homework.

The acclaimed genius, who could beat even Shikaku in Shogi, felt inexplicably stupid doing an elementary school work.

The first two weeks of the Academy were tortuous. And they did not even start the tiring physical training yet.

The atmosphere between the two groups at the Academy was subtle. Honestly, Yuuki could not be bothered with either side.

In Konoha, everyone had a high regard for shinobi. Considering the fact that most jonin, the highest rank of shinobi shy Hokage, were from clans with their mysterious abilities — the feeling of inferiority of civilian portion of the class was almost natural. The attempts of children to make connections, influenced by their parents, and the general mentality of civilians were contributing to this division as well.

The aspect of familiarity has also played its role. Each side created their own small groups — where everyone knew each other from somewhere. It was easier to hang out with someone you know, you have something in common with.

Life of shinobi was interconnected with people. From clients to fellow shinobi to administrative staff. You constantly had to work with a lot of people. Not always it would be someone you liked or even could stand. But it did not mean you could just wave your hand and not do it.

In a way, how the students handled this situation was lesson on its own. At least it was something the boy gathered. It might actually not be the case.

The dark-haired boy also found out interesting tidbit of information — apparently, the duo, which he deemed contagious, were as healthy as one could be. Yuuki did avoid them for a week straight, though — too afraid to catch whatever they had.

The reason for the weird reactions of others was also revealed, with no effort from Yuuki's side. The information came in a form of chatterbox boy, who would not shut up.

Turned out, one was the son of Hokage, another — son of the hero of the entire Village.

The initial hesitation of children disappeared after couple of days, and slowly others started approaching them. Kakashi made his reputation as an 'arrogant, aloof brat with high self-esteem' spread in a record time. Granted, those children were pretty invasive. The boy did not shy away from telling them how much he thought about their behavior.

Asuma seemed to bask in the attention for a while, until he… was not. Until he found out, they would not get lost no matter what.

They were treated like children of the rich and famous from before. Curiosity, envy, awe, fear, excitement, caution. All members of noble clans were treated this way, but those two boys were special existences even amongst them.

In a way, there was this sort of attitude that you had to be worthy to stand by their side. Quite ridiculous.

All of that seemed awfully complicated and reeked of politics, which had nothing to do with the boy.

Yuuki appreciated being filled in, but he also just wanted to be alone. His mind was a mess. Everything was new. He tried to keep to himself, for the most part. But just because he did not say much, it did not mean other people did not notice him.

It's actually the quiet ones who often drew the most attention. There was this constant whirlwind of motion and sound all around, and then there was the quiet one, the eye of the storm.

Yuuki failed to notice, that alongside the contagious duo, he was also a special existence in his own right.

The boy walked unhurriedly to his seat, when suddenly someone, who did not look where they were going, knocked into his shoulder.

His assailant exclaimed, "Hey! Watch where y-"

Inuzuka girl blushed, when she noticed it was Yuuki. "W-well, I mean-n, my bad."

Yuuki showed a gentle smile, "it is no big deal, Inuzuka-san." Then the boy turned away and continued walking without paying attention to anyone.

"Yuuki-kun!"

The reason for his headache greeted him. The small group gathered around the chatterbox boy. They all seemed to know each other from somewhere.

Yuuki inclined his head in a show of greeting. In his eyes, everyone appeared as though their faces were smeared by a stroke of black paint. The boy was simply disinterested in everyone. His focus is mostly on his studies that he was trying desperately to improve. Though, if he was asked anything, he would always politely reply, but never engaging in conversation himself first.

The reason for his headaches was a chatterbox boy, who could not get the memo that he was not interested. Only years of training in Okiya prevented him from outright telling him to get lost like Kakashi did to others.

He would have felt bad for the boy, if one second, when he actually did pay attention to him, he did not notice the sense of superiority the boy exuded while talking to Yuuki. He seemed to relish in the feeling of being the only one talking to otherwise mysterious and unapproachable boy.

Currently, Yuuki was going through his notes during lunch.

"Why are writing all of that down? This stuff is so simple. I memorized it ages ago…" The annoying chatterbox was on.

Because he bloody did not know. "I like to keep my notes organized."

"What daycare did you attend?" What was a daycare? "Homeschooled."

With the time, Yuuki's reply became shorter and shorter. 'Is it so?' 'Hm' 'That's fascinating' 'Oh my…'

'You must be patient. You must not lose your composure. Shouting and cursing is something only vulgar people do.' — the words of his previous teachers rang inside his head.

Yuuki gave the stiffest smile imaginable. "Excuse me. I would like to review my notes. May we converse at a later time?" Preferably never. The look in his eyes was cold as icy glazier.

The chatterbox finally left his side. From the distance he could hear the shouts: "Did you see that? I told you I were friends with him, humph." Yuuki did not really get how it was a bragging matter, but whatever.

The dark-haired boy gave a cursory glance at classroom. Everyone seemed to be still shrouded in darkness, face smeared with black paint. Yuuki did not remember the name of a single person in the room.

The rabbit with a half severed neck was standing on the boy's desk and furiously screeching at his face. Red eyes were filled with hate and pain and blame— they were silently condemning him for his sins.

All of a sudden, he felt a warm comforting hand on his skin. He blinked and glanced at the person next to him. Rin. Warm honey eyes stared back at him.

The girl did not ask anything. She did not demand anything. She was just a comforting presence by his side.

It has been a week since the training camp. Their friendship was still new. Tentative.

"Yuuki-kun, have you heard," the boy turned to the right and looked intently at Rin, giving every sliver of his attention to the girl next to him, "-apparently, someone new would be joining our class today." Rin whispered information into his ear.

The boy raised his eyebrows in surprise and looked at the door, as if he was expecting said person to appear right the next second.

Whoever it was, he disliked them already. Even the esteemed contagious duo had to go through proper procedures of getting accepted. And this person just appeared out of nowhere, after a month of the Academy. He would not have to go through the camp like the rest of them, either. It reeked of favouritism and back door.

Who could possibly be more important than the son of Hokage? The son of Fire Daimyo?

The boy imagined many scenarios in his head of some spoiled princeling in obnoxious clothes kicking open the door, whining after doing one sit up, throwing phrases like 'Do you know who my father is?' etc.

Their classroom would become so much louder and chaotic. Yuuki made a face just thinking about it.

Like a whirlwind, someone entered the room with a loud bang. Well, he expected that but still-

Yuuki's jaw hit the desk as soon as he saw the person who came in.

The boy, with the ugliest haircut he has ever seen, stood next to sensei's desk. The child appeared visibly tense and nervous, but still held his head high in front of everyone. His clothes were slightly worn out, and his hands, though wrapped around the tape, were battered, as if he was punching tree stumps moments before he entered the room.

"Everyone! Pay attention here!" Imaru-sensei loudly said, like the entire classroom were not assessing the boy already.

Yuuki heard a groan of misery from the side. "Do you know him, Kakashi?"

The contagious boy number one stared at the ceiling in a daze. "No…"

"I am Might Guy, and I am going to become the strongest shinobi!" The bowl hair boy shouted with too much enthusiasm.

Well, their class became way more chaotic and overall louder, but not in the way he expected.

"I am so sorry, I am late. There was this cat-"

"Uchiha, just sit down already." After a month, sensei gave up ever making a boy come in time.

When Obito saw the place by Rin's side being occupied by Yuuki, he gave him the dirtiest look unimaginable.

Yuuki shot him a gentle smile in return. He was not moving away from Rin.

One day, when Yuuki was gathering his things into a bag, the chatterbox bumped into his side, whispered maliciously 'Traitor' in an angry voice and ran away.

Obito looked at the retreating back of that boy with his brows furrowed, visibly upset by the slight towards his kinda friend. Uchihas. "What was that?"

Yuuki tilted his head to the side, genuinely bewildered, "Did we have someone like that in our class?"

Everyone looked speechlessly at him.

"You will see… I, Great Obito Uchiha will concur this tree."

Just a month prior, Imaru-sensei taught them 'Cat Steps'. Many attempted to climb the tree with chakra. It seemed Obito had at least a bit of success, if he wanted to show it to the boys of their class. Especially after sending a provocative glance in Kakashi's direction, who already mastered tree walking.

Obito, standing ten meters away from the tree, took off and ran towards its trunk. Suddenly, a lovely giggle was heard nearby.

At the moment, where the boy was supposed to step on the vertical surface, he looked in Rin's direction, forgetting the functions of his own body.

With a loud thud, the dark-haired boy, the member of the prestigious and noble Uchiha clan, slammed face-first into the tree trunk.

After a moment of silence, the laughter resonated from all directions.

"Pfff… hahaha." Yuuki, unable to stop himself, doubled over in full body laughter himself.

With bright wide smile on his face and beautiful iridescent lights in his eyes, Yuuki looked truly mesmerizing.

Others stared in shock at the boy, as this was the first time they had seen him laugh.

"Haha… that was, huff, so dumb."

Rin quickly ran towards the boy, intending to check the injuries. Only then, did others remembered that it probably hurt a lot, and the boy might have broken his nose.

He did.