Chapter 14: Drawing Attention
Ring ring ring...
The morning dismissal bell rang. Yoru rose and exited the classroom through the back door.
Having just received her textbooks and copying Yoru's notes, Kushina Uzumaki immediately stood and followed.
Throughout the journey, Kushina's mouth never closed.
What did she witness?
Wherever Yoru passed, students ahead—whether boys or girls—invariably stopped and made way.
Male students standing particularly close turned to face the walls, terrified their gazes might meet Yoru's.
Even so, certain male classmates encountered in the hallway couldn't escape misfortune.
Simply because a male student occupied too much space on a stairway section Yoru was passing through, Yoru grabbed him by the hair and scraped his face against the wall. The boy didn't dare even groan.
Witnessing this, other students hurriedly faced walls or crouched with knees hugged, shrinking into balls to minimize their presence.
Only female classmates received no special treatment from Yoru.
Seeing Yoru actively picking fights, Kushina stood dumbfounded.
She finally understood why everyone in class feared Gojo Yoru.
This guy truly was a delinquent!
"Why are you following me?"
Exiting the school building, Yoru suddenly stopped, turning to look at Kushina secretly trailing behind, his brow furrowed.
Yoru's gaze startled Kushina. Her eyes instinctively averted.
Immediately after, as if remembering something, she suddenly met Yoru's stare bravely, declaring righteously: "Yuya-sensei told you to look after me, so I wanted to follow you and learn about the school."
Yoru stared at Kushina for several seconds until guilt crossed her face and her gaze turned evasive again. Only then did he speak slowly: "If you're afraid of being bullied, you just need to do what I do—beat them into submission until they fear you."
"I still have training. No time to babysit you."
With those words, Yoru headed toward the school gates.
Kushina stared blankly at Yoru's retreating back. The confusion in her heart instantly dispersed like clouds.
So that's it!
No wonder she'd felt such dissonance.
Yoru wasn't actively picking fights. Rather, if he didn't act this way, his solitary nature would make him a target for bullying.
Rather than be bullied by others, he proactively bullied them, making everyone fear him!
He'd helped her because he saw his former self in her?
In that moment, goosebumps rose across Kushina's entire body, her heart surging with excitement at finding someone similar.
Therefore, Kushina once again caught up to Yoru, constantly following behind him.
Yoru acted as if he hadn't noticed Kushina behind him. After leaving school, he came to an abandoned training ground in the forest and began Body Flicker practice.
As whooshing sounds of displaced air reached her ears, Kushina once again stood slack-jawed.
Before her eyes, a black blur resembled a pencil scribbling wildly across the training ground's paper—horizontal strokes, left-falling strokes, right-falling strokes—black lines crisscrossing everywhere.
This revealed just how fast Yoru moved.
And this was merely the tip of his iceberg.
Five minutes later, having finished warming up, Yoru appeared beside a training dummy. He pulled up his pant leg, removing weighted iron plates strapped to his calf.
Tossing the weight plates aside—whether deliberately or coincidentally—they struck a nearby training dummy.
The next second, the dummy shattered as if rammed by a wild boar.
After bouncing in place a few times, Yoru once again vanished in a blur.
This time, the training ground no longer showed crisscrossing black lines.
Without using sensory techniques, only someone with powerful eyesight could barely catch a blurred afterimage.
Even more incredible, while the previous flickering blur had kicked up fallen leaves and produced harsh air-cutting sounds, now this blur's movements produced absolutely no sound—like a ghost's flash step.
"This kind of Body Flicker is unbelievable... Is he really just a fourth-year student?"
These words didn't come from Kushina. The young girl had already frozen in stunned silence, completely speechless.
The speaker was an ANBU member hidden in the forest using invisibility techniques, responsible for secretly monitoring and protecting Kushina Uzumaki.
As the Hokage's direct special forces, every ANBU member's greatest expertise was never ninjutsu but assassination and reconnaissance.
Among these, Body Flicker Technique was one of their specialties.
Every ANBU member had practiced ordinary Body Flicker to perfection, incorporating elemental attributes to develop elemental-style Body Flickers or taijutsu-style high-speed movement.
They'd assumed ordinary Body Flicker practiced to their level had already reached its limits.
But now, he witnessed a child many years younger displaying even more advanced Konoha Body Flicker beyond even their capabilities.
That ghostly speed, soundless footwork—all demonstrated powerful chakra control and reaction ability.
"A Body Flicker prodigy?"
This ANBU member and Hiruzen Sarutobi—who continued observing Yoru—both couldn't help muttering aloud.
Yoru hadn't detected the ANBU hidden in the shadows.
But he could guess he'd likely entered Hiruzen Sarutobi's sight.
Today was Kushina Uzumaki's first day at the academy. Hiruzen would certainly pay close attention.
Especially to Gojo Yoru, who'd become her desk mate. He was definitely on the watch list—possibly already having all of Yoru's intelligence investigated.
Therefore, Yoru deliberately brought Kushina to train here during lunch break precisely to display talent that wasn't yet world-shaking.
In an era before Shisui the Teleporter's birth, Yoru—with ordinary Body Flicker surpassing normal limits—successfully attracted Hiruzen Sarutobi's attention and importance, earning the "Body Flicker prodigy" label.
And this was merely the beginning.
To earn Hiruzen Sarutobi's approval and investment, Yoru needed to prepare many more surprises for the Third Hokage.
After practicing Body Flicker for another ten-plus minutes, Yoru finally stopped.
While retrieving and reattaching the weight plates, Yoru looked at the distant Kushina, brow furrowed: "Why did you follow me here again?"
"I... I..."
Her mind still completely blank, Kushina stammered wordlessly.
"Whatever..."
Yoru promptly gave her an out, asking: "Can you fight? Want to be my sparring partner?"
"C-can I?" Kushina's eyes immediately lit up as she nodded like a pecking chicken. "I can fight! I'm really good at fighting!"
As if to prove herself, Kushina rolled up her sleeves, striking a muscle-flexing pose—absolutely adorable.
"Then you'd better not cry later."
Yoru's lips curved into an arc as he charged toward Kushina.
One boy and one girl, two children with no regard for gender differences, began brawling.
"I see..."
Watching this scene through his crystal ball, Hiruzen Sarutobi revealed a slight smile, his eyes filled with appreciation.
He'd assumed Gojo Yoru was a troubled child with personality defects from losing both parents.
Now it seemed this was simply a good kid skilled at self-protection—cold exterior, warm heart.