"Um… hi. Is this seat taken?"
The blond boy stood beside Tōma's desk, shoulders tense, voice hesitant. Uzumaki Naruto, the village's loudest future problem, currently spoke like someone afraid of being chased away.
"You can sit here," Fujimoto Tōma replied calmly. "I just got here too."
"Really?" Naruto's eyes widened. "Awesome!"
He dropped into the seat beside Tōma with barely contained excitement, relief spilling across his face like sunlight after rain.
Tōma didn't react much on the outside.
They weren't strangers. Long before today, Tōma had already known who Uzumaki Naruto was. After realizing what world he'd been reborn into, curiosity had pulled him toward the village's most infamous child.
Back then, he'd kept his distance. Watching only.
Becoming Naruto's friend hadn't been part of his plan. Naruto was the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki. ANBU eyes would be everywhere. Getting close carried risks far beyond playground trouble.
The Third Hokage might let curiosity slide after an investigation.
Danzō wouldn't.
Even a passing note in the wrong report could turn into a disaster for someone as ordinary as Tōma.
And then there was the village itself.
Anyone who approached the "monster" tended to get labeled alongside him. Isolation by proximity.
So when Tōma had first seen Naruto wandering the streets, he'd stayed far away. He'd heard the whispers. Felt the stares. Even from a distance, the suffocating pressure had been impossible to ignore.
If he swapped places with Naruto, reincarnation or not, his mind wouldn't have stayed whole.
Gaara came to mind.
No. Actually… if it had been Tōma, maybe it would've gone worse. If people insisted he was a monster, he'd eventually make sure he deserved the title.
You want a monster? Fine. I'll give you one.
The moment that truly linked them happened later.
Naruto had tried to buy food with extra money. The shopkeeper had thrown him out, coins scattering onto the ground. Someone had stepped on them. People laughed.
Tōma hadn't stepped in.
Instead, he'd bought the food Naruto wanted himself. Followed him into a quiet alley.
"You were trying to buy this, right?" Tōma had asked.
"…Yeah."
Naruto's voice had been small.
Tōma handed the food over. Naruto stared like he didn't understand what was happening. After a long moment, he'd hurriedly wiped the dirt off his coins with the cleanest part of his clothes and offered them up.
Tōma counted them. More than enough.
He left with a faint smile, like he'd made a profit.
Truth was, the money meant nothing. It was just cover. Distance, preserved under the excuse of greed. A single interaction. No visible closeness.
Even that had been impulsive.
But watching it on a screen was one thing. Seeing it in front of him, hearing the laughter, feeling the weight of it all… it had been unbearable.
And in the end, this had been the only way he could help without dragging Naruto deeper into trouble.
Naruto, of course, hadn't understood any of that.
To him, it had been the first time someone treated him without disgust.
After that, Naruto's eyes would search for Tōma whenever they crossed paths. Once, he'd almost run over to him.
Then he stopped.
The looks around them did the talking.
Naruto understood. If he went over, Tōma would suffer too.
So he'd passed by instead.
Tōma had let out a quiet breath of relief.
Naruto never approached him again.
Now, sitting beside him in the Academy, Tōma felt that familiar knot twist in his chest.
Too kind. Even now.
Naruto approached him today because there were no adults nearby. Children were simpler. They repeated words without fully understanding them.
Adults were different. Their malice had weight.
In school, maybe Naruto thought, it wouldn't matter as much.
Tōma sighed inwardly as he watched him out of the corner of his eye.
How did you turn out like that?
Between the Nine-Tails inside him and the relentless hatred outside, this outcome was almost impossible.
If anything, blame destiny. Or Ashura. Some cosmic hand forcing kindness onto someone who had every reason to shatter.
The thought made Tōma uneasy.
A personality decided before birth wasn't comforting. It was terrifying.
He hoped he was wrong.
The classroom door slid open.
A young man with his hair tied back stepped inside, a scar running across the bridge of his nose. He coughed twice at the podium.
The noise barely dipped.
Tōma recognized him immediately.
Umino Iruka. Chūnin. Naruto's first real teacher.
Iruka had lost his parents during the Nine-Tails incident too. He hadn't known how to face Naruto at first. Eventually, Naruto had worn through that wall.
That alone made Iruka worth respecting.
And useful.
"I'm Umino Iruka," he announced. "I'll be your teacher. Just call me Iruka-sensei. We'll start with roll call. When I say your name, stand up and introduce yourself. I'll go first."
"My name is Umino Iruka. I like Ichiraku Ramen. I admire positive, hardworking people. I don't have anyone I dislike yet. I hate mixed rice. My goal is to become a great teacher and raise excellent shinobi."
Then the names began.
"Nara Shikamaru.""Akimichi Chōji.""Yamanaka Ino.""Haruno Sakura."
When Sakura stood up, Tōma's expression flickered.
Sorry, he thought quietly.
According to his plan, some distances couldn't be avoided.