Two months later, the Ninja Academy reopened.
Shikamaru slouched over his desk, chin in hand, eyes drifting across the classroom as students trickled in. Beside him, Choji crunched steadily through a bag of chips.
"Hey, Choji," Shikamaru muttered, half-awake. "After all that… do you think Sasuke's even coming back?"
"Huh?" Choji paused for half a second, then kept eating. "Coming back from what?"
Shikamaru sighed. "Never mind."
He leaned back, mildly irritated. Two months had passed, and Choji still hadn't noticed anything strange. If even Choji was oblivious, then the other one probably was too.
Shikamaru flicked his eyes toward the blond boy across the room.
Naruto sat with his chin propped up, scowling at the door, glancing over every few seconds like he was waiting for something. As the classroom filled, the empty seat near the window remained unclaimed.
Naruto's irritation slowly shifted into restlessness.
The door slid open.
The room quieted.
Sasuke stepped inside, dressed in a blue high-collared shirt and white shorts, expression calm and unreadable. He walked in without hesitation, as if nothing had changed.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Even at their age, the students weren't blind. Sasuke had missed the final exams. The Uchiha police had vanished from the streets. Other Uchiha students were gone. Adults spoke carefully now, if at all.
Most of them understood, at least in part.
Sasuke ignored the looks. Curiosity, sympathy, unease. He had seen all of it before. In the past two months, every trip into the village had drawn the same silent attention.
Some meant well. Some didn't. Others simply didn't want misfortune near them.
None of it mattered.
"SASUKE!"
The shout rang through the room.
Sasuke felt the gaze immediately. Hot. Competitive. Familiar.
He didn't need to turn to know who it was.
Still, he did.
Blond hair. Blue eyes. Whisker marks stretched across a grinning face.
As expected.
Uzumaki Naruto.
Sasuke let out a quiet breath that might have been a laugh and turned away, scanning for an empty seat.
Naruto bristled. "Hey! You just ignore me? What was that look just now?"
He jumped to his feet. "You skipped the finals because you were scared of losing to me, right?"
Thud.
Sakura's fist landed squarely on his head.
"Idiot," she snapped. "Shut up!"
Naruto opened his mouth, thought better of it, and slumped back into his seat under her glare.
Sakura exhaled, then looked toward Sasuke. From a distance, her eyes lingered on him, concern plain. He seemed different. The sharp confidence was gone, replaced by something quieter.
Something distant.
Sasuke placed his bag down, took his seat, and closed his eyes.
He felt everything anyway.
Sakura's worry. Naruto's clumsy concern wrapped in bravado. The rest of the class watching from the edges of their vision.
Naruto's provocation hadn't been cruelty. It never was. It was instinct. The same instinct that drove him to shout, to act out, to draw attention when he didn't know what else to do.
A way of saying you're still here.
The door slid open again.
Iruka entered, stacks of papers under his arm. His eyes paused on Sasuke for a fraction longer than necessary before moving on.
He said nothing.
Stepping to the front, Iruka cleared his throat. "Welcome back. We're starting a new term today. I'll begin with attendance."
Sasuke listened with half an ear.
Academy life.
It wasn't a bad place to start.
He had books now, but much of what they contained was beyond him. Like staring at equations without knowing the symbols yet.
Foundations came first.
The rest would follow.