Chapter XIV
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Tatsuya saw Yumiko standing in front of the class, searching for a seat while casually greeting others. So he quickly called out to her.
"Yumiko! Over here!" Tatsuya called, pointing to the seat in front of him.
Looking over in his direction after hearing his voice, she smiled slightly and walked over to take the seat in front of him.
"I didn't see you in the test? Where were you?" she asked, her voice calm as she sat down in her seat.
"I was with them, but I did find your brother, Sasuke. He was in the same test room as them," Tatsuya said, pointing to Ino, who had also gone with Hinata to help out Maya.
"Oh! That explains," she said, nodding her head. "Sasuke and I were assigned to different test rooms."
"So… how was the test? I'm sure you aced them," Tatsuya asked. Although he already knew about her results from Tsubasa, he still asked.
"Heh, don't overpraise me, Tatsuya. I'm not that good," she said, waving her hand. "Though...you were half right in your guess. I was indeed top in my local test room."
"Well, that wasn't really a hard guess," Tatsuya said, rubbing his chin. "Everyone expects the Uchiha princess to be the top of her class."
"You're still on that title! Should I call you Hyuga prince then?" she said, sighing internally. While she appreciated people recognizing her efforts, being called a princess was a bit too much for her. It made her feel pretentious.
"Well, why not? I think prince is quite a good title. Don't you think it will suit me? Tatsuya—the Hyuga Prince. Heh," Tatsuya said, chuckling at his own words.
"..." Yumiko deadpanned upon hearing his words, but suddenly, her eyes glazed over for a moment, as if she was distracted which Tatsuya noticed.
"Hey! You alright?" He asked.
Yumiko snapped out of her thoughts as she saw Tatsuya waving his hand in front of her face, gazing at her with a concerned expression.
"Oh! I'm alright. It… was just your words that were too corny for my ears that it distracted me," Yumiko said.
'Lie,' Tatsuya immediately thought.
Due to his Byakugan, which he had activated before he was able to see if she was lying through her micro-expressions. As she was no match in acting compared to Tsubasa.
Due to his unique condition with the Eyes of Eros, Tatsuya could conceal the bulging of veins during Byakugan activation with some light training. Even an experienced Uchiha would have a hard time noticing anything different, unless they possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan.
It made him pondere why Yumiko would lie to him and appear distracted, but he dismissed it, considering it normal for people to be distracted sometimes during conversation or tell small lies.
"Oh, come on! Don't tell me you didn't like my little joke," Tatsuya said, a playful smile on his face.
"It seems your humor has gotten worse with just training during the holidays at home," Yumiko teased, trying to hide her amusement.
Tatsuya mockingly gasped, placing a hand over his heart, "Worse? I thought it was a masterpiece! Perhaps it's the refined taste of a Uchiha that I failed to grasp."
Yumiko laughed, "Hymph. It needs to have some training, rather than you. You are already strong enough."
Tatsuya rubbed his chin, said "Hmm ... Extra training in humour? Maybe I would do that if I were a jester and not a ninja."
Their exchange continued as they awaited all the students.
"But seriously, are you okay? You seem a bit distracted today," Tatsuya asked, trying a probing question.
"Hmm?... I'm fine" Yumiko said. "Why do you ask?"
He shrugged, "Well, I just thought you were a little distracted. Maybe you were nervous about the test results?"
"Oh, that," Yumiko said, waving a dismissive hand. "I'm not worried about that. I'm sure I did fine."
"Not worried about Sasuke surpassing you? I am sure you would not like being left behind, maybe even your Princess title will also be snatched by him," Tatsuya taunted her a little.
Yumiko rolled her eyes. "Sasuke leaving me behind? Please, Tatsuya, I'm not that weak to be left behind by him."
Tatsuya raised an eyebrow. "Confidence is fine, but overconfidence kills."
"Well, it's not just about confidence; it's about knowing my capabilities. Sasuke is talented, but so am I. And my so-called 'princess title' is safe," she retorted with a smirk.
"Though Sasuke might look good with the princess title if he were able to steal it. Don't you think so?" she mused.
"I am sure he would," Tatsuya chuckled.
Talking with her, Ace thought, 'Her personality is the same as five years ago. There is not even an ounce of change that I can spot. No wonder even Yuu-san was perplexed by her behavior. While five years is a long enough time for someone to heal, he didn't believe that someone with Indra's gene would be able to come out of that massacre as nothing.'
'The most easy possibility would be that her brain had just hidden the trauma and memories of the event for its survival, causing her not to remember anything and be the same as before.'
'But, of course, things would definitely not be that simple, right? Otherwise, I would not have gotten the mission for it,' Tatsuya contemplated.
Clack.
The sound of the door opening resonated again as another person entered the classroom, wearing a face that literally said, 'I can't care less about anyone. Stay away from me.'
Who else could it be other than our 'Emo Boy - Sasuke.'
Entering the classroom with his classic walking style of keeping his hands in his pockets, which made some of the girls have hearts in their eyes, he looked around the classroom, likely trying to find an empty seat. During this, his gaze briefly paused in my direction. He stared into my eyes for a second before looking away and now staring at his sister.
Yumiko immediately waved at him with a big smile on her face, and seeing her face, it immediately caused a small twitch to form in the corner of his mouth, as if he were trying to force a smile.
Tatsuya chuckled, observing Sasuke's forced smile. The relationship between the siblings had been a little strained for quite some time.
Sasuke didn't take Yumiko's change in personality after the incident quite well, especially considering how quickly she bounced back to her previous nature.
Well, that was understandable.
He likely felt uncomfortable with how she didn't change or express any desire for revenge. It might have made him think that she never loved their family.
It was like a small betrayal to him.
Though Tatsuya didn't think that was true. He had personally seen that Yumiko did love her family very much and was not emotionless toward their death.
He had witnessed how happy she became whenever her mother used to pick her up from the Academy.
It was just that, in her case, while she was undoubtedly sad for their death, she didn't have any negative emotions affecting her mind.
As for why she still maintained her bubbly personality, it was a mystery to him that required further investigation.
It was like the curse of Uchiha Hatred didn't work on her.
Sasuke seemed to ignore Yumiko's waving and opted to sit in another seat offered to him by a girl who was fangirling towards him.
Yumiko, feeling a bit sad that he ignored her, asked Tatsuya, "Why is he always so distant to me nowadays? It's as if I'm not even his sibling. What happened to him?"
"....You really don't know why?" Tatsuya asked rhetorically. Not catching a clue was obviously surprising. But was the Uchiha princess really that dense, or was it a facade?
Personally , He did think that she was partially responsible for their strain in the relationship. After all, which sibling wouldn't be a little disappointed when their only living kin, who isn't their enemy, had almost little to no reaction to an incident that had scared them so much?
But since he didn't know the reason why she was like that, he didn't blame her.
"I really don't know why he is like that? Can you tell me?" she asked with an eager expression.
".... Maybe he is just jealous of your Princess title. Heh," Tatsuya said, shifting the topic.
Yumiko asked, folding her hands to her chest , "If you don't want to answer, just don't. I know you well enough to tell when you're trying to change the subject."
"Ha- Ha… I got caught, my bad," Tatsuya gave a nervous laugh. It seems she had quite good intuition.
BOOM!
Suddenly the door of the classroom was slammed open, and a rolling orange ball of a person burst into the classroom, almost breaking the door and slammed right into the other side.
The person in an orange outfit from head to toe quickly stood up from the fall, brushing off the dust, and gazed at everyone, especially locking eyes when met with Sasuke.
"Ahem! Everyone! Your future Hokage is here! Dattebayo!" Naruto greeted everyone in the classroom, his charismatic smile and wide grin radiating infectious energy. The enthusiastic proclamation filled the room with a mix of amusement and eye rolls from the students.
The classroom filled with a mix of amusement and exasperation as Naruto's loud entrance disrupted the relative calmness.
Sasuke sighed, clearly irritated, while Yumiko couldn't help but chuckle at the familiar spectacle.
"Again?"
"Can he slow down, at least for today?"
"Ugh, does he ever get tired?"
"Is this his only way of seeking attention?"
"Who does he think he is, disrupting the class like this?"
"Seriously, he's like a broken record."
"It's like he's trying too hard."
"Someone should tell him we don't need a daily announcement."
The negative comments swirled among the students, with most expressing annoyance at Naruto's entrance.
As Naruto walked to his seat, he seemed to dismiss the negative comments as if they were nothing more than small fry he could gulp down in a single breath.
However, Tatsuya, with his eyes, noticed the subtle micro-twitching of Naruto's expression, betraying that the comments hadn't gone unnoticed.
He sighed and said in a low voice, " Be quiet!... Sensei is coming" and immediately everyone quieted down.
While they could make fun of Naruto, they couldn't ignore Tatsuya's words. He was not only the heir of the currently strongest clan in the village but also undeniably strong – someone they couldn't beat even if they ganged up on him..
Thus, they could only agree with him. Besides, Tatsuya wasn't a bully; so most of them didn't have a problem with his request.
As the classroom hushed, Naruto plopped into his seat, not much farther than Tatsuya, with an easygoing grin.
"Hey, Tatsuya! What's up? And thanks," Naruto greeted energetically, slapping Tatsuya on the back as if they were long-time buddies.
Tatsuya turned back and said, "Ahem…No worries, Naruto. And I am good." He didn't hate Naruto, but neither did he like him too much.
Before coming into this world, he liked Naruto quite much. After all, which Naruto fan wouldn't like the protagonist? But that changed the moment his old memories came into this world.
His perception changed, and a new perspective was given to him which changed his views very much.
If the modern world Tat-..... N-no, wait what was my old name? Tatsuya tried to remember what his old name was as a heavy frown formed in his mind.
But no matter how much he tried, he couldn't remember it. He even tried to resound every single alphabet in his mind to see if he feels some familiarity with one of them. But nothing came, not even a bit.
Ultimately, he had to give up. 'Sigh, I'll leave it to my future self, so where was I?.. Ah~Yes..'
If the modern Tatsuya was a normal dude with a normal average view on society, it being black & white.
The Tatsuya of the Ninja world had a much more real and broad perspective of the Ninja world, which if he didn't have together with the clan backing, he would have had to satisfy himself with just living a life as a civilian as his naive personality would have for sure had him killed him.
But it was not that his modern memories were not important; they were very important. Because if he didn't have them, he would have at most become a second Neji in this world. His modern memories gave him the ability to think outside of grounded ninja thinking, which most were accustomed to.
And you can't forget the information about canon that he got with his modern memories, which, even with the world being changed, gave him quite a headstart.
Thats why his opinion on Naruto changed a bit.
First, he admired Naruto's determination and willpower for sure. Coming out as a good person after such a challenging childhood is not something anyone with weak willpower can achieve. His ability to self-sacrifice for a friend is not something you can find in just anyone. He is a best friend you can get.
But he couldn't help but also dislike the naivety of Naruto. For example, praising and admiring someone (Obito) as an amazing person and trying to save him even after committing genocide, even to children, just because they said they wanted to become Hokage, is seemed like one of the most messed-up things to say.
Other than him not being able to see the big picture in things, ultimately his opinion on Naruto was quite mixed, if he had to say.
While he was lost in his thinking, Tatsuya didn't notice that Yumiko was staring very intensely at his contemplating face.
.
.
.
.
{He is… acting a little different today.} A hollow and rough voice sounded in Yumiko's mind.
'Hmm?... What do you mean?'
{.....I don't know. I…just felt like it.}
'....'
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