Bai had thought he arrived quite late, but after looking around, he realized the two male protagonists of the Naruto world hadn’t arrived yet!
“The great me has arrived!”
Just as Bai was marveling at how the Will of the World favored the two main leads, a noisy voice echoed from the classroom entrance, instantly drawing everyone’s attention.
Everyone in the classroom instinctively turned toward the door, only to see a blue-eyed, blond boy burst in with exaggerated face paint.
Judging by his uncomfortable demeanor, he probably wanted to hide his real face behind the thick makeup, yet making such an over-the-top entrance seemed designed to draw everyone’s gaze.
Such contradictory behavior was baffling, but knowing the boy’s identity made everything clear.
The newcomer was none other than the absolute protagonist of the Naruto world, the future Seventh Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki!
“What on earth is that!”
After a brief silence, Kiba Inuzuka, with a small white dog perched on his head, burst into loud laughter, pointing at Naruto: “Are you planning to perform an opera for us, kid!?”
As Kiba’s laughter grew wilder, several boys beside him joined in mockingly, and even Shikamaru beside Bai couldn’t help a grin.
He couldn’t help it—Naruto Uzumaki looked far too ridiculous right now!
“Is this guy an idiot?” Sakura frowned behind Bai.
Hearing this, Ino and Hinata looked at Naruto with odd expressions as well.
Technically, as the son of handsome Minato Namikaze and beautiful Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto’s looks weren’t bad at all.
Otherwise, the priestess Shion from the Land of Demons wouldn’t have blushed at his side profile, and Menma Namikaze in the Infinite Tsukuyomi space wouldn’t have been a heartthrob!
Besides the six whiskers on his face and his tacky fashion sense, Naruto’s personality was a major factor dragging down his appearance.
As everyone knows, being a comedian reduces attractiveness by 30%!
First impressions mattered greatly.
Pulling a stunt like this on his very first day of school meant no one would care what he actually looked like later on!
On the other side, Naruto fell silent amid the waves of laughter and disdainful gazes.
But looking closely, one could see the corners of his painted mouth curling up slightly, and tiny teardrops overflowing from his eyes.
Although they were laughing at and mocking him, Kiba and the others were treating Naruto as a fellow human being rather than a demon fox.
Their mocking stemmed from Naruto doing something silly, rather than treating him like a monster without reason, free of hateful insults.
To Naruto, this was already a rare taste of happiness!
“What gives you the right to talk about me, you jerk!”
After a brief pause, Naruto suddenly pointed at Kiba and yelled, “You’re no different!”
“Huh!?” Kiba flared up in anger, baring his teeth as he confronted Naruto head-on, “This is the signature face marking of the Inuzuka clan, completely different from your opera makeup!”
“Blehh!” Naruto stuck out his tongue, retorting exaggeratedly, “In the end, you’re just like me!
This is my unique face marking too!”
“Who has face markings this ugly!”
Kiba complained.
Just as he was about to say more, he froze, staring at Naruto in disbelief.
Just when Naruto thought Kiba would glare at him with hatred like the villagers, Kiba pointed at Naruto’s eyes and blurted, “You’re actually crying!?
Hahaha!
You’re killing me!
Man, if you said you were crying earlier, I wouldn’t have picked on you!
Hahaha!”
Naruto was delighted for a second, then grew even angrier, flailing his arms as he lunged at Kiba.
But current Naruto possessed monstrous chakra with zero clue how to use it, lacking any foundation in taijutsu, Genjutsu, or ninjutsu, making him no match for Kiba who came from a shinobi clan.
Since Kiba assumed Naruto was a crybaby, his attacks were mostly playful roughhousing rather than genuine harm.
Sitting in his seat, Bai could see the happiness and excitement gleaming in Naruto’s eyes as Kiba pinned him down.
Seeing this, Bai smiled slightly and provided a voiceover: “Ding!
Achievement unlocked: Partners in Crime!”
In this classroom, even children not from noble clans were at least children of shinobi.
Unlike ignorant villagers, they wouldn’t hate Naruto without reason, nor would their parents forbid them from making friends with him.
Even if one or two disliked Naruto, it was nothing in this class—to Naruto, this room was practically paradise!
“What?” Shikamaru asked in confusion as he noticed Bai’s lips moving.
“Nothing!” Bai shook his head.
“Just thought it was amusing!”
Bai didn’t elaborate, and Shikamaru wasn’t one to pry.
Rolling his eyes, Shikamaru slumped onto his desk to sleep.
“Bai!” Suddenly, Naruto spotted Bai.
His blue eyes lit up bright as a surge of energy erupted from nowhere, breaking him free from Kiba’s hold.
He ran over excitedly to greet Bai: “You’re here too, that’s awesome!”
Bai was startled, responding after a moment, “Oh!
Naruto!”
“You guys know each other?” Shikamaru asked curiously.
“Well, we had ramen together…” Bai nodded, speaking with slight hesitation.
This wasn’t the first time Bai and Naruto met.
A year ago, when Bai had a craving to try Ichiraku Ramen, he ran into Naruto.
To be honest, Bai wanted to lend a hand back then, but he knew Hiruzen Sarutobi wouldn’t allow Naruto to form deep bonds with anyone outside his control before entering the Academy.
Therefore, Bai only exchanged a few words with Naruto during occasional visits to Ichiraku Ramen.
They knew each other, but without deeper interaction, Bai considered them mere acquaintances.
Bai actually wanted to offer Naruto more—at least helping him avoid living solely on instant noodles and ramen, though Teuchi was quite kind to Naruto.
But considering Uncle Teuchi wasn’t a shinobi, Bai dropped that idea, keeping his relationship with Naruto strictly as ramen buddies.
That was why Bai felt surprised when Naruto came over specifically to greet him.
What Bai didn’t realize was that what he considered a casual acquaintance was seen by Naruto as a genuine friendship—though Bai understood Naruto’s plight, he hadn’t experienced it firsthand, so he couldn’t fully empathize.
To Naruto, anyone who didn’t glare at him, insult him, or hurl stones at him was already a good person; let alone Bai, who was willing to eat ramen and talk with him!
“We’re friends!” The moment Bai finished speaking, Naruto shouted loudly, looking around Bai’s seat.
With Shikamaru and Choji beside Bai and the three girls occupying the space behind, Naruto simply found an empty seat at the desk directly in front of Bai, sitting down and chatting endlessly with Bai as if he had unlimited topics.
Shikamaru took a deep look at Naruto.
Intelligent as he was, he could see deeper realities: before the Hokage loosened restrictions on Naruto, becoming friends with him was dangerous.
But since Bai could still sit here unharmed, it meant Bai hadn’t crossed the line or triggered the Hokage’s suspicion.
At this thought, Shikamaru breathed a sigh of relief.