Konoha Year 31.
Class 3-A was eerily silent, the sunlight making the chalk dust drift lazily in the air.
At the back of the classroom, by the window in the so-called "Protagonist's Seat," eight-year-old Kamiyama Ryo was fast asleep.
His chin was pressed firmly against the desk, as if glued there. His eyelids were too heavy to lift, and his entire being radiated: "I'm done, I'm exhausted, just let me sleep."
The afternoon sun shone on his strikingly red hair, but it failed to wake him.
At the front of the classroom came a few stifled giggles, like the buzzing of mosquitoes.
Ryo rubbed his face against the desk in irritation, which only made the sharp lines of his jaw stand out more.
Just then, the teacher, Kimura Shū, pushed open the door, bringing in a little girl.
Her red hair blazed like fire, framing a small, round, and rather cute face.
"Quiet down, class!" Kimura Shū's voice broke through the drowsy air in the back. "We have a new student joining us today." He gestured for the red-haired girl to step forward.
The girl took a deep breath, then shouted bravely, "H-hello, everyone! I'm Uzumaki Kushina, 'ttebane!" Her voice was crisp, but the strange, rolled-tongue verbal tic at the end stood out clearly.
That single shout stirred up a hornet's nest.
The entire class burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! Look at that hair!"
"It's as red as a tomato!"
"Hey, hey, her face is all red now, she looks even more like one!"
The jeers poured down without mercy. Kushina felt like a stone sinking into mud, sinking deeper and deeper.
Her throat tightened. She blinked furiously, trying to hold back tears. But no matter what, they welled up, and her vision blurred.
No! She couldn't just take it. She suddenly looked up and, with a desperate shout, declared, "My dream is to become the first female Hokage of Konoha Village!"
That was like pouring oil on the fire. The laughter grew louder, full of mockery.
"Hahaha, she's insane!"
"An outsider, a red tomato, wants to be Hokage?"
"Go back to your countryside home!"
"Daydreamer! You don't deserve it!"
The words stabbed her like thorny knives. Kushina's face burned hot, she couldn't tell if it was from shame or anger.
This time, she couldn't hold back her tears. She threw her head back hard, trying to stop them from falling.
Kimura Shū frowned, about to speak, but his voice was swallowed by the uproar.
Minato Namikaze, sitting near the podium, couldn't stand it anymore. Seeing Kushina's eyes turn red, determination surged in him. His hands braced on the desk, fingers turning white, ready to stand and defend her.
But then,
"Shut up!"
The roar, like a thunderclap, drowned out everything. "You're too damn loud! Are you tired of living?!"
The classroom instantly froze.
All laughter, all mockery, all whispers vanished as though their throats had been seized.
Every eye, filled with shock and disbelief, swish, turned to the back by the window.
A living nightmare had awakened.
Ryo was awake.
He lifted his head from the desk with a sharp crack of his neck that echoed in the dead silence.
He opened his eyelids, revealing silver-gray eyes filled only with irritation at being woken and a fierce, cutting intensity as they swept across the class.
Those caught in his gaze felt as though a cold wind had sliced through them. The loudest laughers from earlier shrank their necks, not daring to breathe.
Oh no!!!
They had been so busy mocking the new red-haired girl that they forgot the truly terrifying redhead in this class.
Ryo's red hair, to them, was a warning sign, a symbol of violence. He was absolutely not someone to provoke.
Why?
Because when he first entered the academy at six, his red hair had drawn the same mockery and bullying.
His family was poor and without backing, his parents gone, leaving only a few distant and insignificant Senju relatives.
However, Ryo had a cheat with a somewhat cliché name, "the Strongest Legacy System." Likely due to his red hair, it first granted him the legacy of Red-Haired Shanks, the Yonko from the One Piece world.
After the system's modification, Ryo inherited Shanks's physique. Even as a child, he became abnormally strong, with passive skills like massive stamina and rapid regeneration, a blend of Shanks's traits and Senju blood, plus 30% of Shanks's combat experience and techniques. As Ryo grew, the system would gradually unlock more, until he inherited everything Shanks possessed.
(Note: 30% = Jonin, 30–60% = Jonin–Kage, 60–80% = Kage–Super Kage, 80–100% = Super Kage.)
(System condition: Next stage unlocks only when Ryo fully digests the current inheritance and his body is strong enough.)
Moreover, Ryo was inherently ruthless and extremely hardworking.
The result went without saying.
At the academy, whether it was seniors bullying juniors or classmates joining in mockery, anyone who dared insult his red hair was "persuaded" physically by his fists.
The words "Don't leave after school" were no joke when coming from him, they struck fear in everyone's heart.
Could the teachers control him?
The truth was, most of them, after weighing their own strength, weren't even sure they could subdue this ferocious little monster.
With this fearsome reputation, Ryo reigned at the top of Class 3-A, no, the entire academy.
For three years, everyone lived under his shadow, miserable.
All knew that once this red-haired boy, who loved to sleep, opened his eyes, he was a human T-Rex.
So, his single low growl of morning temper was enough, the class instantly went silent.
Kushina was completely bewildered. What had just happened?
…
"Hmph! Boring!" Ryo saw the cowards shrink like quails and his irritation faded slightly.
He glared around the room, his gaze like a blade scraping across faces, full of warning: Make another sound? I'll show you what happens when you interrupt my sleep.
Satisfied, Ryo slammed his head back onto the desk with a thud, sticking himself there once more.
In short, even if the world ended, no one was allowed to disturb Ryo's sleep.
As for why he was always so sleepy?
He couldn't help it.
Ryo was just an ordinary poor kid in Konoha. His ancestors were once Senju, but ever since the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, disbanded the clan and everyone gave up the surname, by Ryo's parents' generation, almost nothing was left.
His parents died early, leaving only a run-down house where heavy rain outside meant rain inside as well.
Plus a few cheap-sounding C-rank ninjutsu scrolls, forget about anything like Kage Bunshin, and meager savings that weren't even enough to pick his teeth.
And worse, Ryo's body.
"He had inherited the iron-blooded physique of Shanks. His appetite was bottomless."
How long could his parents' pitiful inheritance last? It was gone in an instant.
On top of that, Ryo trained like a maniac.
So at night, after training, he had to sneak to the outskirts of the Forest of Death to hunt for food, wild rabbits, fruits, wild boars, anything edible.
For two years of school, this was his routine.
The result, class in the daytime was his only recharge time.
That's why his temper was so bad.
Being woken from deep sleep? Morning grumpiness, MAX.
Vaguely, he thought he heard someone mocking his red hair again?
Unforgivable. Ryo's mental blacklist was already noting down names.
Damn it, wait until after school. Let's see how I deal with you clueless brats.
As for the new student?
What new student?
His eyelids weighed a ton, his brain hadn't left deep sleep mode, so he hadn't even noticed an extra person at the front of the room, let alone who it was.
…
The classroom air froze solid.
Seeing the terrifying redhead flop back down and resume snoring, everyone let out an extremely quiet, relieved breath, as though surviving a disaster.
"Shhh," "Hoo," "Softer! Don't wake him again!"
The students even held their breath, terrified of disturbing the sleeping volcano again.
The ones who had mocked Kushina earlier were drenched in cold sweat. Had Ryo heard them insulting red hair? If so, they were doomed.
"Kushina-chan," the teacher at the podium sighed in relief, lowering his voice unconsciously as if meeting someone in secret. "Find yourself a seat."
Kushina still had a faint blush of anger on her cheeks, her light blue eyes misty.
She looked around, clutching the hem of her clothes nervously.
Empty? Empty? Empty… The only empty seat was next to that terrifying red-haired boy.
Under the whole class's sympathetic and gloating eyes, as if watching someone march to their death, Kushina gathered her courage. Step by step, she moved softly to the window seat.
Her heart pounded like a drum. She carefully pulled out the chair, making almost no sound, then quickly sat like a little rabbit.
"Ahem… Alright, class, let's… continue the lesson." The teacher cleared his throat, still barely louder than a mosquito, and hurriedly resumed lecturing to divert attention.
Kushina quietly turned her head to observe the boy beside her, his flame-red hair buried in his arms as he slept soundly.
Although he had been terrifying just now, his eyes as sharp as knives, he had helped her, hadn't he?
Everyone mocked and isolated her, but he hadn't joined them. And he had the same red hair as her.
Kushina remembered Grandma Mito's gentle words, "Make lots of friends at school."
Her small fist clenched under the desk, cheering herself on.
Yes! Isn't this her chance to make her first friend? He's the one!
"Um…" Kushina summoned the greatest courage of her life, cheeks flushing again. She leaned slightly toward Ryo, voice soft and timid, full of twelve-thousand percent anticipation. She whispered to the red-haired boy with his head buried in his arms, "H-hello! My name is Uzumaki Kushina. Can we… be friends?"
After her words fell, only the teacher's low lecture and the occasional shhk of chalk on the board could be heard.
Kushina held her breath, waiting.
Nervous? Excited? Both.
One second… two seconds…
His reply, "Hoo… snore… hoo…"
Soft, steady snores rose from the red-haired boy's head.
Kushina: (?_?)…
Her expression froze. Her blue eyes blinked, then blinked again, staring at the unresponsive sleeper.
At that moment, Kushina felt as though a tomato had hit her on the head, dull, sour, and embarrassing.
Her first attempt to make a friend, defeated by snoring?!
Her balloon of courage went poof, completely deflated.
(To be continued.)
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