Chapter 9 - The redhaired arrived

3 weeks later

"Okay class, calm down. Today we have a new classmate, coming here from another village to study in Konoha's academy" Said the first-year class 1-A academy's teacher

"Oh, is it a guy or a girl?" "Hmph, coming here to leach off the strongest village, this new classmate is impudent" "True, true, we don't need an outsider in our village" The teacher's declaration caused a ruckus among the students.

"SILENCE!" Shouted Amato. He took a deep breath, calming himself. Even if he thinks the same thing as his students, it's an order from the Hokage, so he can only let it be. And it's not like it will change anything for him, so he doesn't really care about it.

Meanwhile, Minato looks at this scene with disinterest 'They truly are pitiful, Konoha is the strongest village? It isn't the case anymore, they think we still have that monster Hashirama as a Hokage? The Sandaime is just one human, even if he is really strong in the end the third Raikage can take him down. The worst is that the civilians think they are big shot just because they are part of Konoha, I've never seen such a ridiculous misplaced pride. At least the clans have kekkei genkai to be proud of, but they are just weakling... Sigh, human stupidity'

"Minato, do you think the new student will be strong?"

"Hm, who knows. I just hope she will not be boring" Answering to Tsume, Minato unconsciously smiled. During those three weeks since coming into this world, his clone became a good friend with her. She was truly interesting, thanks to her he was never bored even during those dull lessons, she always does something amusing. Hanging out with her is thousands of times better than with the 'true' Minato's friends, a boring bunch of boastful kids.

'But today is Taijutsu class, so I'm forced to come here. Even if there is no way that my clone will lose against them, there is no harm in taking precautions. The term 'lucky shot' doesn't exist for nothing'

"Bark bark" Looking down at Tsume ninken, a cute dark grey and white dog, Minato petted him and asked "You think so too Kuromaru, maybe he or she will be able to outprank Tsume"

"There is no way!" Argued Tsume.

"Tsume Inuzuka! What do you not understand in the word silence?!" Exclaimed a fuming Amato sensei

"Sorry sensei" Tsume glared at Minato, and turn her head the other way with a huff.

'Cute' Thought Minato

'This girl Tsume give me a headache with all her pranks, and she even ropes in the good student Minato, sigh... A teacher life sure is hard' Thought Amato "Kushina, you can enter"

The door opened, and a cute, round redhaired head peeked through the door. Her purple eyes blinked and analyze the class that she will be for the years to come. The rest of her body followed. She then walks to the teacher's desk and stopped near it.

"Introduce yourself to the class" Urged the teacher

"I'm Kushina U-U-U...I'm Kushina Uzumaki and I will become Hokage dattebane!"

Silence reigned for a moment before a series of laughter rang out in the class "HAHAHAHA"

"A girl Hokage, what a joke" "An outsider wanting to be Hokage, she is foolish" "Return where you come from outsider!" "Look at her hair, she looks like a tomato!" "Tomato hair!" "Tomato hair!"

"Tomato hair! Tomato hair! Tomato hair!" A chorus then ensued, with nearly all the students taking part in it.

Kushina was mortified, not only she said her verbal tic aloud, but those people were mocking her. Fuming, her face began to redden, and when she was ready to explode and pummeled them, a huge "Silence!" from Amato sensei stopped their ruckus.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Amato sigh internally, and exclaimed "Go take a seat Kushina, we will review the theoric lesson on the Academy Taijutsu before going outside to practice mock battle" Seeing that the prospect of a battle made them overlook the new student, the teacher sigh in relief 'Even if I want to do nothing with an outsider, she is somebody that was here on the Sandaime's recommendation, I can't have her complained on the first day, if not I will be fired'

Meanwhile, Kushina cooled herself 'When I become Hokage they will be forced to respect me, even if I have a different hair color and am an outsider' Talking of outsider, she missed her home already. Since she came here, people have been mean or indifferent to her. Compared to her home where all of them were kind, it has been a too sudden change.

Looking around the class, she decides to go with the seat behind the blond effeminate boy and the feral woman 'At least I didn't see them openly mock me, maybe they will accept me'

Seeing Kushina seating behind the 2 troublemakers, Amato hoped that they will not rope him her in, unaware that she will be the true terror of his class, and began his class.

"Hey new girl, are you good with pranks" Whispered Tsume to Kushina, still a bit peeved that Minato thought that somebody is better than her at them. 'And what's their problem with her hair, this girl is super cute, truly others guys are just a bunch of idiots. Compared to them, Minato is pretty wild' Thinking of that, a soft blush crept on her cheeks. The beginning of a mini child crush starting to show.

Startled that somebody talked to her without mocking her, Kushina answered her nervously "Ye-Yeah, from where I come from we do a lot of prank practice. The shinobi there said that it's good for stealth, so we have an annual prank competition in which all the village participate, and the best earn a prize" At the end of her explanation, she beamed sunnily, thinking of all the goods moments that she had at home.

Tsume opened her mouth in shock. A prank competition! Looking at Kushina in jealousy, she exclaimed "You're so lucky, I wish there was something cool like that in the village. But with all the stuck up clans here, there is no way we can do that" Thinking for a bit, she continued "Ok, I challenge you in a prank contest, for the title of the best pranker of Konoha!"

"Hmph, I won't lose dattebane!" Puffing her ċhėst, Kushina hurriedly put her hands on her mouth, with her heart sinking thinking that the only person that talked to her will dislike her because of her verbal tic.

Tilting her head, Tsume didn't understand why Kushina was horrified. Looking at where her eyes were directed, it was on her. Scratching her head, she looks puzzled. "Do I have something on my face Minato?"

"Hm..." Minato knew why Kushina looked horrified, after all he has a basic grasp of her character from the anime. But putting up a front, he put his head just in front of Tsume's with their noses nearly touching and analyzed her carefully.

'Too close' Tsume began to panic, her heartbeat speeding up because her animal instinct deemed him worthy sensing his power. At the same time, her alpha pride came out and clash with her instinct, balancing her feelings. She was at loss at what to do, never having felt those different sensations.

Retrieving his head, Minato exclaimed innocently "Nop, there is nothing on your face", while inwardly thinking how cute she was, unaware that she blushed not because of her crush but because her instincts screamed at her to pounce on him.

"Yo-Yo-You two" Having witnessed the scene, Kushina was blushing a storm, not of anger this time.

"Oh, the newcomer with beautiful red hair. Don't listen to those morons and don't cut your hair because of them, it will be a loss for such magnificient color to disappear because it's different from theirs." Exclaimed Minato, thinking exactly what he said. Compared to the brown color that the majority of Konoha citizen has, red is exotic and a good change of pace.

Smoke came out of Kushina ears, her mouth opened and closed unable to utter a word, while in her head a storm took place 'He called my hair beautiful, he thinks red is a magnificent color'

Seeing the 2 girls in their thoughts, Minato scratched his head 'I hope they will not become useless fangirls for such a simple thing, if not I will have to find somebody else to hang out with in school' Shrugging his shoulders, he began to brainstorm on different training possibilities.

Meanwhile, Amato-sensei observed them since the beginning, and was glad that the new arrival put a stop to those little monsters pranks 'They're so calm, I hope that it will last'