—Students, today we have a new cssmate. Everyone, give her a round of appuse and welcome her —said the teacher, gesturing toward the cssroom entrance.

  That was when Kuroya’s eyes widened upon seeing the person walking in: a girl with long red hair.

  —Come on, girl, introduce yourself to your cssmates.

  —Hello everyone, my name is Kushina. Kushina Uzumaki. Nice to meet you, please take care of me from now on —she said with a slight bow.

  Kuroya was completely stunned. He hadn’t expected this at all. It wasn’t pnned, not even within the realm of possibility.

  He looked around and couldn’t help but notice the blond boy: Namikaze Minato.

  —Is this a coincidence? —he wondered, but it was too strange, even for him, to consider it just a coincidence.

  Now that he thought about it… why were his memories of his cssmates so hazy? He questioned it internally, but couldn’t keep thinking —the teasing of the new student by the others pulled him out of his thoughts.

  —She has red hair.—That’s weird. Have you ever seen redheads before?—No, there aren’t any redheads in Konoha. Is she a red-haired demon?—Nonsense, she looks more like a tomato.

  Hearing those comments, Kushina, who was nervous and insecure, began to turn red. But it wasn’t from embarrassment —it was from contained anger. She was about to explode.

  —This is getting annoying —thought Kuroya as he stood up. —Shut up, you idiots! You’re annoying —he shouted, unintentionally releasing a small amount of Chakra.

  The civilian ninjas instantly turned pale. They colpsed back into their seats, breathing heavily, clutching their chests.

  The Uchiha, on the other hand, cheered at the dispy of Kuroya’s power.

  —That’s it, Kuroya! Show them the power of an Uchiha. Those idiots who speak without thinking deserve to be crushed by members of our cn.

  Kuroya, however, was very confused. He didn’t understand why he had acted like that. It was as if he had lost control of his body for a moment.

  —That was… strange —he murmured weakly as he sat down.

  The teacher sighed upon seeing the Uchiha celebrating, knowing he couldn’t intervene too much without getting into trouble.

  —Student Kushina, find an empty seat and sit down.

  —Yes —Kushina replied, bowing slightly to the teacher.

  She looked over the cssroom full of students and found several empty seats. Among them, one was next to the bck-haired boy who had shouted to silence the bullies.

  Previously, that seat had been occupied by another child, but after being hit by the wave of chakra from Kuroya, he had quickly moved away with a pale face, looking for another pce to sit.

  Since there weren’t many options left, and he didn’t seem like a bad person, Kushina decided to sit there.

  —Hi, I’m Kushina Uzumaki, nice to meet you —she said, greeting Kuroya.

  Kuroya was still confused. He hadn’t expected her, of all people, to sit next to him. He hesitated for a few seconds on whether to respond, but since he had been taught to be polite, he didn’t refuse to answer.

  —Kuroya Uchiha, nice to meet you.

  Seeing that their first interaction had gone well, Kushina continued talking with Kuroya. He grew increasingly confused, but didn’t refuse to talk to her, and they chatted for a while until the teacher interrupted them for talking during css.

  —Uchiha, Uzumaki, silence! —he said firmly.

  Both immediately apologized.

  That was when Kuroya finally snapped out of it and couldn’t help but think:

  This is going to bring me a lot of trouble in the future...

  The teacher resumed the lesson. Kushina listened attentively at first, but soon started to fall asleep. Ever since she arrived in Konoha, she hadn’t been able to rest properly, due to the nerves of being in an unfamiliar pce and not having anyone to talk to, other than Mito Uzumaki. So being able to have a conversation —even a brief one— had drained all her energy.

  When css ended, Kuroya noticed that she was still asleep beside him.

  —Is she exhausted...? —he wondered, unsure whether or not he should wake her.

  But when he saw the looks his cssmates were giving the red-haired girl, he knew their attitude wouldn’t be kind. Not until Kushina proved her strength… as the future host of a jinchūriki.

  Still, he didn’t want to intervene too much, so he left with the other Uchiha, leaving the girl behind. But as soon as he walked away, he heard a barrage of awful nicknames hurled at poor Kushina.

  These kids are too much. They should know there’s a limit to anyone’s patience, he thought. If Kushina were weak, they could easily mess with her… but “Kushina” and “weak” were words that didn’t go together —at least not in front of kids their age.

  This is going to be a fun show. I can’t miss it.

  —Kuroya? —one of his cssmates asked when he saw him turn around.

  —Go on ahead. I just need to take care of something real quick. I’ll catch up —Kuroya replied as he headed back toward the cssroom.

  His Uchiha friends, confused, left without saying anything else.

  Kuroya stayed at the doorway, waiting for the show.

  Kushina, still half-asleep, suddenly jolted awake. Her face, burning with anger, turned as red as her hair as she realized she could no longer hold back her fury.

  —Haha! She’s mad! Quick, look! Her face looks like a tomato! —mocked one of the boys.

  It was the st thing he said before being knocked down by a punch from Kushina.

  She was furious. Her red hair started floating as if the air around her was vibrating with rage. A terrifying chakra burst into the room, leaving everyone frozen.

  —Idiots! —Kushina yelled, no longer able to contain herself. She grabbed the kids, one by one, and threw them to the ground with a few well-aimed hits.

  Seeing Kushina with her hair fring and surrounded by a fierce aura, Kuroya was stunned. He hadn’t expected her to already have the Kyūbi inside her. He thought that would happen ter.

  The kids who had mocked Kushina ended up with swollen, bleeding faces. The cssroom looked like a war zone. And that alone proved how strong Kushina really was.

  —That girl’s strength is anything but normal. She might look like a cute girl… but when she’s angry, she’s more like a demon —Minato said in disbelief.

  When he first saw her, he thought she was really cute, especially her long red hair, which immediately caught his eye. But who would’ve imagined that this redhead had such absurd strength?

  Kushina’s rage calmed down quite a bit after beating up the ones who teased her and gave her nicknames.

  But just then, Minato couldn’t help but mutter:

  —She really does look like a red demon…

  —Red demon!? You think that’s funny?! If you say that again, I’ll hit you! —Kushina, who had already calmed down, fred up again at Minato’s words.

  She smmed the desk so hard that Minato nearly fell out of his chair in fright.

  —N-No! It was a joke, just a joke —he said, clearly scared, seeing the mark left on the desk. A few drops of cold sweat ran down his forehead. He didn’t even want to imagine what would happen if that punch had been aimed at him… he’d probably end up with one or two broken bones —if he was lucky.

  Looking around, Kushina stormed out of the cssroom.

  Only to find Kuroya, who was still watching the show from the doorway.

  —What are you doing? —she asked, irritated.

  —Just watching. I was going to help if things got out of control. But looks like that wasn’t necessary —Kuroya replied. —Wanna grab something to eat? My friends and I are going to the restaurant where my sister works. They serve good food.

  Kushina nodded. That burst of anger had left her starving. She was hoping to meet up with Aunt Tsunade and eat with her, but going with kids her age sounded much more tempting.