“My name is Naruto! My dream is to become Hokage!”
Next to the homeroom teacher, Iruka, a boy with spiky yellow hair stood on the podium, introducing himself.
He reached up to adjust the goggles on his forehead, revealing a confident smile that he would surely achieve his dream in the future.
In Konoha, children always aspire to be like the Hokage.
For Naruto, becoming Hokage was both a dream and an undisguised desire to get closer to everyone and make friends.
However, his self-introduction and declaration of wanting to become Hokage were met with no response in the classroom full of new students.
“So that’s Naruto… Compared to Sasuke, his self-introduction is much quieter.”
In the back row of the tiered classroom, Ino, with her striking short blonde hair, watched Naruto at the podium with interest.
Before Naruto rushed to the podium to introduce himself, the highly anticipated new student from the Uchiha Clan had earned cheers from the girls with his family’s prestige and pleasing appearance.
But everyone’s reaction to Naruto’s self-introduction was complete silence.
The ordinariness Naruto displayed created a stark contrast when compared to the extraordinary Sasuke.
He has one nose and two ears just like everyone else, but Naruto just gives off the impression of a very ordinary guy…
The various rumors about Naruto in the Village were endless.
I thought those statements might be somewhat biased but generally consistent with the facts, but it seems that’s not the case.
After first seeing Naruto at the Ninja Academy, Ino quickly lost all interest in him.
She no longer paid attention to Naruto on the podium, turning her head and curiously asking her deskmate, “Sakura, have you seen him before?”
Does my previous life count as ‘before’?
The short-haired girl with sakura-colored hair sitting next to Ino really wanted to answer that way.
But in the end, she only sighed silently in her heart and answered Ino’s question in her current identity as “Sakura.”
“No.”
Sakura answered Ino’s question with the shortest possible reply.
As for Ino’s interest in Naruto, Sakura wasn’t surprised.
After all, Naruto had been a prominent figure in Konoha since birth.
Not only did adults have various opinions of him, but children, influenced by what they heard, were naturally curious about him too.
This was the source of Ino’s curiosity about Naruto.
Pure curiosity, without any other intentions mixed in.
Ino didn’t even harbor ill will towards Naruto.
Unlike Sakura, a transmigrator who held no ill will towards Naruto.
Ino’s attitude towards Naruto stemmed from her own upbringing.
Ino was the daughter of the head of the Yamanaka Clan, the ‘Boar’ of the Ino–Shika–Chō, one of the three great Ninja Clans that had been active in Konoha’s political center since its founding.
Her father, Yamanaka Inoichi, was one of the Fourth Hokage’s close confidantes during the Fourth Hokage’s reign.
Under Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen’s prohibition against discussing Naruto’s background, Yamanaka Inoichi’s attitude towards Naruto was more rational than that of ordinary Ninja in the Village.
This rationality possessed by the parents, even if Yamanaka Inoichi couldn’t explicitly state it, was still subtly conveyed to his child, the naive and innocent Ino.
Or rather, the Ninja Clans who experienced the Nine-Tails Rampage several years ago had more or less instructed the children in their clans not to harbor ill will towards Naruto.
However, precisely because Naruto’s current status was too special, to avoid suspicion from the Village’s higher-ups, even if they harbored no ill will towards Naruto, they also had no need to offer him help.
As Konoha’s third Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, the one legally responsible for his care was not Konoha’s prestigious clans, but the Third Hokage, who had once again taken over the Hokage’s duties after the Fourth Hokage’s death.
If everyone in Konoha treated Naruto with the same cold indifference as the Ninja Clans, perhaps it would be easier for Naruto now.
Unfortunately, this was the Ninja Academy.
The Ninja Academy was established during the Second Hokage’s reign, enrolling students from all over Konoha, teaching Ninjutsu equally to children of Ninja Clans and commoners, and training them to become Ninja, serving as an official educational institution.
The attitudes of the children from the powerful Ninja Clans towards Naruto, however, became a minority in the Ninja Academy.
Because of Konoha’s prohibition regarding Naruto, in the distorted information spread through rumors, the commoners’ children who had formed incorrect perceptions of Naruto constituted the majority in the Ninja Academy.
The malice formed by public opinion thus constantly lingered around Naruto.
“Iruka-sensei! Why can such a guy enroll?!”
A sharp voice emerged just as Naruto, after waiting for a response to his self-introduction to no avail, was about to give up and return to his seat.
For a five- or six-year-old child, facing such blatant malice directed at them, it was impossible to think of the correct way to respond.
Naruto could only stop in his tracks, looking blankly at the person exhibiting malice towards him, then, fearing his gaze would further enrage them, he quickly averted his eyes before he could even clearly see the person’s appearance, lowering his head to look at his feet.
In the back row of the classroom, Sakura was silently watching the student who had suddenly spoken up to question.
Excluding the three members of Team Guy, who were a year ahead of Sakura and the others, the nine Konoha 11 members, including Sakura, were all in the same class, and this classmate who questioned Naruto was clearly not among them.
It was an unknown Extra A.
“This guy doesn’t even qualify to be a Ninja!”
The person defined as an extra by Sakura was still being aggressive.
And this made Naruto lower his head even further.
It has been said that in a new circle of people, your performance on the first day and others’ attitudes towards you will determine your status in that new circle for a very long time.
Applying this theory to Naruto now, he would have a very difficult time in the Ninja Academy for the next few years.
This experience of being humiliated in front of everyone, even if Sakura, the transmigrator, put herself in his shoes, she couldn’t guarantee she could endure it.
Yet, even though she could understand the shame and pain Naruto was currently experiencing, she still watched with cold eyes.
It wasn’t that she was worried that casually engaging in “actions inconsistent with the original plot” would disrupt her greatest advantage as a transmigrator: predicting the future direction of the story.
If she could effortlessly follow the plot and achieve the same “New Sannin” title as in the original, Sakura would certainly be happy to see it.
But Sakura would not deliberately try to “correct” things that differed from the original.
It’s impossible to fully predict people and events that haven’t occurred; Sakura’s very existence as a transmigrator is the best proof of that.
Sakura’s reason for watching Naruto with cold eyes now was actually more pure…
she didn’t want to be targeted by Naruto.
Or to be more precise, she didn’t want Naruto to fall in love with her!
The original story never detailed when Naruto fell in love with Sakura during their Ninja Academy days.
This was a random event that even the transmigrator had no information about!
She absolutely had to avoid this event!
It would be fine if she graduated from the Ninja Academy and was assigned to another Ninja team, but if she ended up in Team 7, just like in the original story—Sakura didn’t want Naruto to confess to her from time to time—and it wasn’t just about Naruto, Sakura not only didn’t want Naruto to like her, but she also wouldn’t fall in love with Sasuke.
The fundamental reason was—Sakura, as a transmigrator, was a man in her previous life!
Nothing is ever perfect.
If she had to choose a soul-transmigration target from Team 7, even if it wasn’t Sasuke—though it would be a bit regrettable not to be able to cover her eyes and shout “Amaterasu” at people—
But becoming Naruto wouldn’t be bad either, and while Kakashi was a bit weak, if she really had to pick him, it wouldn’t be terrible.
Unfortunately, she had no choice and transmigrated as Sakura.
“What a pity.”
Sakura’s untimely sigh escaped her lips.
Attracted by Sakura’s sudden, somewhat inexplicable self-talk, Ino shifted her attention from Naruto’s current predicament to Sakura.
Ino now saw Sakura in a posture of extreme ease and laziness.
Sakura rested one hand on the desk, propping herself up with her elbow, her chin resting in her palm, her five fingers naturally curled and lightly pressed against her lower lip, observing the farce in the classroom with the attitude of a detached bystander.
Ino stared at Sakura, and suddenly remembered her first meeting with Sakura.
At that time, Sakura was also surrounded by a group of annoying people, who mocked and insulted Sakura for being an ugly broad-forehead.
But Sakura handled everything calmly.
If it were Sakura, this farce in the classroom would definitely not happen.
Somehow, Ino just instinctively believed this.
Of course, Sakura was completely unaware of Ino’s thoughts.
She indeed had the thought of “watching a live broadcast,” which is why Ino noticed her detached attitude.
Although it wasn’t a happy scene, Sakura still found it quite interesting.
Especially interesting was Iruka, the character who truly fulfilled the role of “father” for Naruto.
The attitude he was currently displaying towards Naruto was not what she had seen through anime or manga in her previous life.
After all, according to the original setting, Iruka’s initial attitude towards Naruto was no different from other villagers in Konoha who disliked Naruto.
The current timeline was the first day of Ninja Academy enrollment, and Iruka was not yet the “teacher” and “father” who understood Naruto.
So, Iruka’s true stance regarding Naruto’s attitude was actually on the side of the student who questioned Naruto.
The reason he was defending Naruto at this moment was simply because of his position as homeroom teacher and the Third Hokage’s request.
“Any member of Konoha is eligible to attend the Ninja Academy, and every student’s enrollment is approved by Lord Third Hokage, so Naruto can certainly study here.”
Iruka’s tone when speaking up for Naruto was quite formal and businesslike.
He was somewhat impatient that the interruption caused by Naruto’s self-introduction had wasted too much class time.
After invoking the Third Hokage to silence the questioning student, he also didn’t accept Naruto’s attempt to thank him for helping, merely urging Naruto to return to his seat.
“The next person to introduce themselves can come up to the stage.”
The class rhythm instantly returned to normal with Iruka’s words.
For children, introversion is the normal state of their personality, and the pressure of having to introduce themselves in front of everyone made them temporarily forget to direct malice towards Naruto.
“Next up… Sakura.”
Iruka glanced at the student roster in his hand and read out the name of the student who was supposed to introduce herself after Naruto.
Hearing her name, Sakura stood up gracefully from her seat and walked towards the podium.
The view from the podium was much wider than from the student seats.
Sakura’s gaze swept over several of the Konoha 11, and she began, saying:
“My name is Sakura.”
“My dream is to successfully graduate from the Academy and become a Ninja, then save enough money to retire directly at the age of 20!”
Come to think of it, transmigrating as Sakura isn’t all bad.
The darkness of the Ninja World has nothing to do with Sakura…
Compared to the other Konoha 11 who have to struggle with all their might for reasons such as family, background, talent, or even destiny…
Sakura can either live with ambition or live the slacker life she yearned for in her previous life but couldn’t pursue due to circumstances!
If she could find pretty girls to be slackers with in her slacker life, then life would be even sweeter.
After all, even though Sakura is a transmigrator, who says she can’t just slack off in her second life?!!
Besides, her gender even changed after transmigrating.
She’s paid such a huge price, so why can’t she just enjoy herself?