September 11, morning.
In the middle of class, two figures—one tall, one small—suddenly appeared at the doorway of Class 1, Year 4.
Yuya, who had been lecturing, walked over at once. After a brief exchange, he led the shorter figure to the front of the room.
In an instant, every eye in the classroom fixed on that small silhouette.
One student's eyes brightened ever so slightly. It was Minato Namikaze.
As for everyone else, most of their attention was drawn to Kushina's hair, their faces openly curious. After all, red hair was an exceedingly rare color in the ninja world. With Mito Uzumaki's hair already turning pale with age, it was even rarer to see someone with such vivid crimson in Konoha.
Under the scrutiny of the entire class, Kushina Uzumaki looked visibly nervous. Her gaze flickered from side to side, and she didn't dare meet anyone's eyes.
Sensing her unease, Yuya gave her shoulder a reassuring pat before turning to the class. "Starting today, this student will officially be joining our class—"
Before he could finish, Kushina Uzumaki—who had been shrinking in on herself the whole time—seemed to gather every ounce of courage she had. She suddenly lifted her head, squeezed her eyes shut, and shouted, "I'm Kushina Uzumaki!"
Because she had kept her head lowered for so long—or perhaps because of her accent—her voice came out a little shrill.
The moment she heard herself, Kushina's face flushed bright red. She hurriedly covered her mouth.
The entire class burst into laughter.
"Look at that hair. That's ridiculous."
"How can someone be that red? It's so weird."
"With that round face and red hair, she looks just like a tomato."
"This is the first time I've seen hair like that. Judging by her accent, she's probably from another village."
"Huh? Seriously? I don't want to be in class with someone from another village. The other classes will laugh at us."
"..."
The whispers and snickers stabbed straight through Kushina's pride.
She had come here wanting to get along with her new classmates. Now, under that wave of ridicule, she had an almost reflexive urge to snap back—to say something loud and grand, anything that would keep these people from looking down on her.
Then a single voice cut through the classroom.
"So noisy..."
The words were spoken casually, almost lazily, yet the effect was immediate.
The students who had been laughing the loudest felt a chill race down their spines. They flinched, shut their mouths at once, lowered their heads, and tried their best to make themselves disappear.
That one sentence instantly smothered the anger rising in Kushina's chest. She turned, almost instinctively, toward the source of the voice.
At the desk in the back row, seated alone, Gojo Yoru was resting his cheek on one hand with a pencil in the other. He looked up as if the noise had interrupted his work, then cast a cool glance toward the front of the room.
His beautiful, icy blue eyes met Kushina Uzumaki's deep blue ones.
A few seconds later, Yoru withdrew his gaze. Lowering his head again, he said in an even tone, "Sit here with me."
Yuya's eyes lit up. Smiling at Kushina, he said, "Kushina, you can sit with Yoru Gojo. He's the top student in Year 4. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask him directly."
Then he turned to Yoru and added, "Gojo Yoru, take care of your deskmate."
Yuya understood Yoru better than the other students did. He knew the boy was just eccentric, not cruel, so he felt perfectly at ease arranging the two of them to sit together.
The classmates, however, didn't know that.
Looking at Uzumaki Kushina, they could only pity her.
Being seated beside the Great Demon King—what terrible luck.
"I... I understand."
At that moment, Kushina herself was also full of curiosity about the boy who had just spoken up for her.
Hearing Yuya-sensei's arrangement, she immediately responded, then jogged over and sat down beside Gojo Yoru.
She never noticed that someone else's gaze had followed her the whole way—gentle, quiet, and faintly tinged with regret.
As soon as she sat down, Kushina politely introduced herself again, this time in a much smaller voice. "H-hello. I'm Uzumaki Kushina."
The response she expected never came.
Yoru merely glanced at her, then used the tip of his pencil to point at the neatly stacked books beside him. "Those are my notes from last semester. If you want to read them, help yourself."
After saying that, he ignored her entirely.
So cold.
Seeing him up close, Kushina Uzumaki finally understood why everyone else reacted the way they did.
White hair. White brows. And those eyes alone were enough to make a person feel chilled. The way he looked at people, the way he spoke—it was all so sharp and distant that it felt intimidating.
If Yuya-sensei hadn't just said he was the top student, Kushina would have assumed Gojo Yoru was the class delinquent.
And yet, that only made her more curious about him.
The way he acted now was completely different from what he had done for her moments earlier.
A cold, aloof personality paired with actions that had clearly helped her—someone like that definitely had a story.
What was more, after being mocked by the whole class, Kushina found herself instinctively drawn to the only person who had stepped in. She wanted to know this deskmate of hers better.
Unfortunately, she couldn't think of anything to say.
So she could only sit quietly at his side.
Because they were in the back row, everyone else had their backs to her. That gave Kushina the courage to look around and size up the class properly.
The next second, her eyes met someone else's.
With everyone else facing forward, that single glance from a boy who had turned to sneak a look at her stood out far too much.
Kushina had no idea whether this person had been one of the ones mocking her earlier. So without hesitation, she glared back fiercely.
Minato Namikaze, caught off guard by the sudden glare, froze for a second before hurriedly turning away.
On the surface, Gojo Yoru remained focused on the reading comprehension exercise in front of him. In reality, however, he had been paying close attention to Kushina the entire time.
The moment he saw that exchange, he nearly laughed out loud and shattered his entire persona on the spot.
A bull-headed interloper who knew the plot was truly invincible.
Now that he had cut straight through the first stirrings of that shared destiny, Minato Namikaze's chances of catching Kushina Uzumaki's attention again had likely dropped straight into the abyss.
After all, during their time at the Ninja Academy in the original story, Minato and Kushina had barely interacted at all. He had mostly hidden in the background and watched her in silence, practically a male version of Hinata Hyuga.
And after Kushina noticed him, she had only taken him for some spineless guy standing around to watch the show and laugh at her.
If Minato hadn't later rescued her during the Cloud ninja incident, who knew how long it would have taken for Kushina Uzumaki to change her opinion of him?
But now Gojo Yoru was here.
A bull-headed warrior with full knowledge of Kushina Uzumaki's personality and future.
By the time Minato finally scraped together the nerve to approach her, he would probably be receiving nothing but cold suspicion—and perhaps even a discreet warning from the ANBU.
While writing in the workbook with practiced calm, Gojo Yoru's mind was already racing.
How should he interact with Kushina Uzumaki from here?
How could he earn her favor as quickly as possible without drawing the suspicion of the higher-ups?
The answer couldn't be too abrupt. It couldn't be too deliberate. He had spent years crafting this unsociable mask of his, and if he changed too quickly now, it would only make people wary.
That meant he had to move naturally.
Slowly.
He had to let Kushina come closer of her own accord.
A transfer student from a destroyed homeland. A girl isolated by mockery. A child carrying grief, confusion, and anger she could barely express. Someone like Kushina would never lower her guard simply because a stranger tried to be nice.
But if that stranger was the only person who had stood beside her when everyone else laughed...
If that stranger remained cold on the surface yet always happened to leave room for her, always happened to shield her at the crucial moment, always happened to understand what she was feeling without forcing her to speak...
Then the bond would grow by itself.
People in pain were always most sensitive to warmth hidden beneath indifference.
That was especially true for Kushina Uzumaki.
Gojo Yoru knew that better than anyone.
He also knew he had to be careful.
Too much concern, and the village's higher-ups might take notice. Too much distance, and someone else might slip into the opening he was trying to create.
No—what he needed was balance.
Just enough.
Enough for Kushina to remember him.
Enough for Hiruzen Sarutobi to see value in the development.
Enough for everything to unfold exactly where he wanted it to.
Gojo Yoru had no idea that while he was acting diligently and quietly solving the exercises in front of him, someone else was also watching him with equal attention.
In the Hokage's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi—still known to the world as the Hero of the Ninja—had already developed the habit of smoking from a pipe. Thin trails of smoke curled around his face as he sat before the crystal sphere.
Through the Telescope Technique, Hiruzen had witnessed the entire scene from the moment Kushina Uzumaki stepped into Year 4, Class 1.
He saw the laughter.
He saw the tension.
He saw the moment a single sentence from Gojo Yoru silenced the room.
And now, through drifting smoke, his narrowed eyes remained fixed on the white-haired boy inside the crystal.
"Hayate and Mio's child..." he murmured softly.