Chapter 41: Companionship Is the Longest-Lasting Confession

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One hour later.

On the training field of the Ninja Academy, students from each grade and class had been separated into small groups and assembled.

Class 1-A

"You have a week off. Remember to come back to class after one week."

Iruka stood in front of the group and announced the week-long holiday.

"Yes!"

"Got it."

"Remembered."

The responses were scattered and half-hearted, but Iruka didn’t get angry. This wasn’t exactly the time to be angry, either.

"Alright, dismissed!"

The moment he announced their dismissal, the students scattered in all directions.

The Ninja Academy had only just reopened, yet in the blink of an eye, the students were already being given a week-long holiday.

Outside the Ninja Academy...

Well, what used to be the academy entrance was already crowded with parents waiting anxiously for their children.

Parents from the major ninja clans were also standing around, looking worried.

The parents of the first-year students, however, were as calm as old dogs.

They had already heard from the teachers who were keeping people behind the cordon outside the academy that the first-year students had been in the auditorium when the incident happened, and the Hokage had been there as well.

With so many ANBU around, all the new students had been safely protected.

As for the students in the other grades, those who reacted quickly had simply jumped down from the second or third floor.

For students in the second grade and above, jumping down ten or eight meters was already nothing particularly difficult.

Besides, the Ninja Academy grounds were relatively spacious, and the buildings weren’t packed closely together. Those who managed to jump down safely hadn’t suffered any serious injuries.

Unfortunately, some of the classes that reacted too slowly had reportedly lost several students.

That was why many parents of the older students were extremely worried.

Before long, students began emerging from the academy one after another.

Some parents burst into tears of joy!

Those who couldn’t find their children broke down in tears!

Naruto and Hinata slowly made their way toward the entrance.

After glancing around, they immediately noticed Uchiha Izumi standing to one side.

There were also quite a few parents from the various ninja clans whose children were in their class.

What Naruto hadn’t expected was that even Hyūga Hiashi had personally come.

Hiashi also noticed Hinata and Naruto walking together.

Instead of showing any displeasure, he even gave Naruto a friendly nod.

They could already be considered comrades-in-arms.

If it weren’t for Naruto, his daughter might have been handed over to Kumogakure by Konoha.

There was no way Hiashi could bring himself to dislike Naruto.

Did he not know that Naruto and Hinata had slept together back then?

He knew!

Did he not know that Hinata had spent more than half an hour changing clothes before leaving that morning?

He knew!

So he had already guessed that once Hinata came to the Ninja Academy, the two little brats would inevitably end up together again.

He had long since mentally prepared himself for it.

The fact that Naruto was the Fourth Hokage’s son would eventually be revealed anyway, and his status was more than enough to match the Hyūga clan.

Besides, Naruto was currently all alone.

If things really developed that way, having him marry into the Hyūga clan probably wouldn’t be a problem either.

Forget it.

He would just let the children’s affairs develop naturally.

Putting those thoughts aside, Hiashi walked over.

"Uncle Hiashi."

A genuine smile appeared on Naruto’s face.

After all, this was his future father-in-law. Naturally, he was sincere.

"Father."

Hinata, on the other hand, felt a little guilty. She lowered her head as she walked over to Hiashi.

She had no idea that her father had already started thinking about having Naruto marry into the Hyūga clan.

She was still worried that her father wouldn’t allow her to associate with Naruto.

Hiashi nodded before saying to Naruto,

"Naruto, I’ll take Hinata home first."

"Alright. Take care, Uncle Hiashi. Goodbye, Hinata!"

Naruto politely bid them farewell.

Hinata secretly turned her head and waved at Naruto, not daring to say a word.

On the other side, after seeing Hiashi leave, Uchiha Izumi was just about to walk over when she suddenly stopped again.

A little girl wearing clothes embroidered with the Yamanaka clan crest suddenly ran up to Naruto.

Behind her, a pink-haired girl with a large forehead was repeatedly making encouraging gestures.

"Uzumaki Naruto, my name is Yamanaka Ino. Can we be friends?"

Ino boldly ran over and held out her hand.

She looked courageous enough, but the nervous expression on her face and the worry hidden deep in her eyes betrayed her true feelings.

"Sure. Just call me Naruto."

Naruto smiled and lightly shook Ino’s hand.

There was no way he would refuse when a little girl came over asking to be friends.

From a distance, Sakura saw Naruto shake hands with Ino and excitedly shouted,

"Yay~!"

Ino’s already-red face immediately turned even redder.

"Mm. Naruto, you can call me Ino too. See you next week."

After throwing out that sentence, Ino hurriedly ran back to Sakura.

Sakura looked at her with an expression of frustration.

"Ino, why didn’t you take the chance to get closer to him? Didn’t your parents have something to do and couldn’t come? You could’ve asked Naruto to walk home with you!"

Ino had already used up every ounce of courage she possessed just by taking the initiative to ask Naruto to be her friend. How could she possibly have had the courage to keep talking?

But she certainly couldn’t admit that.

That would be far too embarrassing!

"Sakura, what do you know? If you cling to a boy too much right after meeting him, he’ll hate you.

"Just like I did. I made friends with him and then left, leaving him with a deep impression of me without giving him a chance to learn anything about me.

"That leaves room for his imagination.

"Then he’ll become curious about me. He’ll think about me from time to time.

"He’ll wonder why I wanted to be friends with him.

"He’ll wonder what kind of person I am.

"He’ll wonder what I like.

"He’ll wonder what we’ll talk about the next time we meet and what that meeting will be like.

"Before he knows it, he’ll be looking forward to seeing me again!"

She spouted a complete load of nonsense, yet she delivered it so confidently that it sounded perfectly reasonable!

"Wow~! Ino, you’re amazing! How do you know so much?"

Sakura was completely stunned.

She looked at Ino with admiration, even though she didn’t really understand any of it.

"..."

Elsewhere.

"Pfft!"

Uchiha Izumi, who had walked over to Naruto, couldn’t help bursting into laughter.

"Naruto, do all the girls in your class have this many thoughts going through their heads?"

Ino and Sakura hadn’t been speaking very loudly.

But with Izumi’s strength as a jōnin, a distance of several dozen meters was nothing. As long as she wanted to listen, she could hear every word perfectly.

Naruto merely smiled without saying anything.

Izumi wasn’t about to let him off that easily.

Instead, she teased him,

"Not bad, Young Master Naruto! You haven’t even been here for half a day, and you’ve already managed to charm two little girls!"

"How could they possibly compare to you, Izumi-chan? Alright, let’s go home."

As he spoke, Naruto took Uchiha Izumi’s hand and started walking home with her.

Although Izumi was usually nagging him nonstop and Naruto always acted annoyed with her, that didn’t mean he genuinely disliked her.

He was only annoyed because Uchiha Izumi always treated him like a child.

Perhaps things would change once Naruto truly grew up.

As for the other girls, none of them could compare with Izumi.

Not Ino.

Not even Hinata.

To put it bluntly, Naruto was simply attracted to them right now.

He was an honest man about it.

There were also some lingering feelings from his previous life.

Perhaps after they experienced more things together in the future, those feelings might undergo a qualitative change and turn into genuine affection.

But at this stage, there really wasn’t much emotional attachment.

Izumi was different.

They spent every day together.

Naruto had already grown accustomed to Uchiha Izumi’s presence.

If one day Izumi suddenly wasn’t by his side, he would definitely feel extremely uncomfortable.

After all...

Isn’t companionship the longest-lasting confession of love?