1 The Canopy Emerges

Haruna was an utterly ordinary young ninja from Konoha.

She entered the Ninja Academy without distinction, nursed a quiet crush on someone in an unremarkable way, and graduated just as uneventfully.

Well, her graduation was actually not quite so ordinary.

She was the only one in the past five years to be rejected twice in a row by the supervising Jonin, resulting in her repeating a year twice and ending up at the very bottom of her class.

Fortunately, a year after Haruna’s graduation, the legend of her repeated retention gradually faded, replaced by newer hotspots.

“Hello, here is my proof of mission completion.”

The brown-haired girl handed the receipt to the ninja in charge at the mission exchange office.

“This is your sixth solo D-rank mission this month, right? Quite diligent.”

The middle-aged ninja promptly stamped the paper. He was familiar with Haruna’s reputation as a hard worker.

“But, little Haruna, you’ve also advanced into the final preselection for the Chunin Exams. Don’t waste all your time on these trivial cat-chasing, dog-walking tasks.”

“These are just small change.”

The man handed her a small pouch of payment and earnestly advised, “Improving your strength is the foundation of being a ninja.”

“Alright, thank you, sir.”

Though she thanked him politely, Haruna wasn’t truly concerned about the final exam.

She had just gotten lucky to be carried through the first two rounds by some strong temporary teammates, which allowed her to reach the preselection.

Haruna was keenly aware of her true abilities.

Those who reach the final round were basically monsters. No matter who she faced, she would immediately concede—at least that way her defeat would look somewhat dignified.

As for now—

The girl weighed the pouch of money in her hand and felt a small sense of satisfaction.

While the Genin were all focused on the Chunin Exam results, the village had a backlog of D-rank missions, which she could happily grind through.

Haruna’s life goal was to accumulate years of experience to become a Chunin by completing safe C- or D-rank missions, then save one million ryo to buy a home and retire.

Though D-rank missions paid only a few thousand ryo and were mostly hard physical labor, the girl optimistically thought that if she lived frugally and worked just a bit harder, she could manage it.

In a village where even the bottom-rank ninja dreamed of becoming Hokage, her modest ambitions were truly out of place.

Especially when—

“Haruna?”

A gentle yet slightly surprised voice called out.

At the sound, the girl’s good mood instantly vanished.

She forced herself to resist the urge to turn away and leave as if she hadn’t heard, instead responding politely, “Jonin Kakashi, what a coincidence. Are you here to turn in a mission too?”

“Hmm, yes. Something came up,” the silver-haired Jonin replied tersely.

Haruna didn’t know what to say.

In this village, Kakashi Hatake was the one person she most wanted to avoid.

Though most people saw him as a cheerful, laid-back elite Jonin who wore a mask, the undeniable truth was that nearly every hardship and setback in Haruna’s life so far had been brought on by Kakashi.

Seeing her silent and distant demeanor, Kakashi sighed inwardly.

He had just noticed that the girl had been in a cheerful mood holding her money pouch, but the moment she saw him, her expression instantly soured.

He wondered if he was less intimidating than before.

As a senior, Kakashi tried to break the awkwardness with some small talk.

“How’s your exam preparation coming? Why suddenly come to the mission exchange office?”

Haruna answered honestly, “I’m planning to give up on the exam. Otherwise, getting injured and needing treatment would be troublesome.”

“After all, I have no ninja talent whatsoever.”

Hearing this, Kakashi felt somewhat uncomfortable.

Because those were his exact words from before—cold, harsh judgments he had made about Haruna.

Before taking over Team 7, Kakashi had been the supervising Jonin for three graduating classes.

Having just retired from the Anbu, the Third Hokage hoped the youthful energy of these students would help him emerge from his dark past.

Yet Kakashi still carried the Anbu’s ruthless style; his attitude was extreme and sharp.

Especially when faced with the trio graduating at that time, he couldn’t help but compare them to memories from his past.

Consequently, he had coldly and harshly failed all three classes on the grounds that they lacked the qualities of a ninja.

Until he encountered Team 7, he hadn’t realized his attitude was wrong.

He had been searching for traces of Minato’s class in the kids, but no two leaves in the world were identical.

Haruna was the most pitiful scapegoat.

Because she had faced him twice in consecutive years and had been sent back to repeat both times.

Kakashi swore he never meant to single her out.

He could clearly see that Haruna was a good girl—team-oriented and emotionally stable.

The problem was her talent was simply too mediocre, and her presence too weak.

In both graduation exams, Haruna had tried to cooperate with her two teammates.

But none of her teammates respected each other, and they all looked down on her as the bottom of the class.

So the entire trio was held back.

This year, Haruna was finally not assigned to his team.

Because the new students formed groups of three, she was the extra repeat student.

The Third Hokage, feeling sorry for the girl, assigned her to pair with two lower-ranked Genin who had graduated before but lacked teammates.

But they reportedly had no cooperation, were from different years, and didn’t get along.

Pure bad luck.

Kakashi had heard from Sakura that Haruna, who had repeated two years, was not in a good place at the Ninja Academy.

She was two years older than her classmates, and everyone knew she had been harshly criticized by the supervising Jonin as an unqualified ninja, so she had no friends.

Kakashi felt somewhat responsible.

But since Haruna always avoided him as if he were a villain, he didn’t know where he could help her.

“Teacher Kakashi!”

At that moment, a loud, cheerful voice sounded nearby.

A blond youth rushed over excitedly.

“Finally found you! You’re always teaching Sasuke, come train with me! I want to learn the Chidori too!”

“Huh?”

When Naruto reached Kakashi’s side, he suddenly noticed the familiar girl standing beside him.

“Ha-Haruna?” The boy instantly lowered his usually boisterous tone.

“You came to see Kakashi-sensei too?”

Kakashi found it strange—Naruto rarely restrained himself like this in front of others.

In fact, Naruto’s demeanor could be described as reserved now.

Haruna shook her head.

“I’m here to turn in a mission, just happened to run into you.”

Naruto was surprised and quickly said, “The individual battles are about to start soon, aren’t you going to train?”

“Ahem.”

From Kakashi’s attitude, Naruto belatedly realized he had probably said the wrong thing again.

Sure enough, Haruna lowered her eyes and didn’t respond.

Speaking of which, Haruna’s bangs had grown a bit long again... just like before.

Back then, when Naruto liked to play pranks to get attention, Haruna was one of his targets.

He had always been curious what Haruna looked like beneath her bangs, so one day he lifted them with a smile.

He joked, “We’ve been classmates so long, but I’ve never seen your full face before.”

“Stop being so gloomy—”

But then he met a pair of eyes filled with panic and subtle inferiority, yet extraordinarily clear.

That look was very familiar to Naruto.

His words abruptly stopped, and the phrase “gloomy” stuck in his throat, unable to be spoken.

He instinctively wanted to apologize, but Haruna lowered her head and hurried out of the classroom.

Shikamaru, who had a good relationship with her, went after her to comfort her, and later said that Haruna had cried because of Naruto.

It was the first time Shikamaru had ever sternly scolded Naruto’s pranks.

Not only Shikamaru, but others in the class thought Naruto had gone too far that time.

“Naruto is always so mischievous.”

“He just likes making others unhappy. That’s when he’s happy.”

Sakura, who had also been pranked by him, was especially united in resentment with Haruna.

But Naruto never meant to make her cry.

And since then, he never played pranks on any girls.

He had always wanted to apologize to Haruna, but until graduation, she never spoke more than a word to him.

Naruto was naturally friendly with many people, easygoing, and could quickly get along even with new clients.

Only with Haruna did he always awkwardly refer to her as “Haruna-san.”

After graduation, they were merely peers, no longer classmates.

But for some reason, he could never change that form of address.

It was as if she would never call him “Naruto” like others, but always “Uzumaki.”

Uzumaki.

Actually, he didn’t dislike it.

Because no matter how angry she was, she never called him “Nine-Tails.”

The more she emphasized “Uzumaki” due to their prank-induced distance, the more it showed she never hated him for being called “Nine-Tails” by the villagers.

With Kakashi-sensei nearby, Naruto felt he had gathered some courage.

Now was the perfect time to apologize!

The blond boy took a deep breath—

But then Haruna glanced at the clock on the wall, her expression suddenly changing.

“Mrs. Sato asked me to help soothe her child. I’m running out of time, so I have to leave first.”

“Good luck with your exam!”

With those words, the girl hurried away.

Naruto looked at Kakashi in confusion.

“Haruna,” Kakashi hesitated before gently saying, “she’s different from you. She’s very special.”

Though both were at the bottom of the class, Naruto was loudly striving to become Hokage and win everyone’s recognition, energetically preparing for the Chunin exam.

Haruna busied herself grinding D-rank missions to accumulate experience and save for retirement, choosing to drop out of the important individual trial.

Kakashi also knew that Haruna’s parents had died when she was young.

Besides going to school and working, she still had to visit their graves, so she woke up very early every day.

Kakashi often saw her returning hurriedly from the cemetery to school in the early morning, her hair tips still wet with dew.

Training to get stronger was not everything in life; ordinary people had ordinary lives.

And for ordinary people, just surviving was already very hard.

“I see.”

Naruto knew nothing of the backstory. He simply watched the girl’s hurried figure disappear and wondered sincerely:

When would Haruna-san forgive him?

*

Haruna squeezed in two missions before the Chunin Exam final preselection finally began.

Rumor had it that nobles and daimyo would be watching the final exam, and even the Kazekage would attend alongside the Hokage.

For anyone seeking fame among the great nations, this Chunin Exam was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

At this moment, the chief examiner, Gekkō Hayate, announced the matchups.

“First match: Haruna versus Uzumaki Naruto.”

“I’m fighting Haruna-san?!” Naruto’s shocked voice could be heard from far away.

“Idiot!” Sakura whispered sharply. “Why are you shouting so loud? Wanting to bully her again?”

“I’m not!”

He just didn’t know what to do.

Was he supposed to throw punches at Haruna like he did against Sasuke?

No way!

Haruna remained calm; no matter who she faced, she was ready to concede immediately.

The only difference was that if she faced Gaara from the Sand Village, she would concede at lightning speed; if it was Naruto, she didn’t have to be so panicked.

That’s right, even the notorious bottom-rank ninja Uzumaki Naruto from Konoha was stronger than her.

After all, not all bottom-rankers were equal.

“Are you ready?” Gekkō Hayate looked at the two Genin, his voice deep. “Then, the match begins!”

Just as Haruna raised her hand to concede, a light screen suddenly lit up on the ceiling above the arena.

The unexpected occurrence caused a mild commotion.

“What’s that?”

“Looks like there’s a video!”

The Third Hokage frowned, his expression grave. “It’s the aura of space-time ninjutsu.”

“So far, no source of personnel detected. It’s possible there’s an enemy ninja infiltration,” Kakashi said.

Ino, not understanding complex ninjutsu, stood among the spectators gazing upward with the other Genin.

Could the match still proceed?

Would they have to evacuate?

She silently complained to herself—until the screen revealed a young woman with a high ponytail and blonde hair, very familiar to her.

The young woman with green eyes was strikingly beautiful.

She wore a white lab coat, and those with sharp eyes could read her badge: [Apprentice Psychiatric Medical Ninja Yamanaka Ino].

?!

That was herself?

“Is that Ino’s sister?”

“Idiot, her name is right on the badge!”

“When did Ino become an apprentice psychiatric medical ninja?!”

“Seems like something from the future.”

The Ino on the screen was oblivious to their chatter.

[Ino pulled open the curtains, letting bright sunlight flood the consultation room.

“Getting more sunlight will improve your mood.”

She smiled gently at the patient. “This consultation room is arranged using the latest medical technology contributed by Orochimaru to the village. I’ve specially improved it, adding some secret arts from our Yamanaka clan.”

“Not only does it better help post-battle ninjas escape mental danger, but it’s also widely applicable and offers better privacy.”

She winked at the person opposite her.

“Knowing your special status, rest assured, nothing from the consultation will be disclosed.”]

“I never expected you’d still be so unreliable when you grew up, Ino,” Sakura teased. “You say you’ll keep patient secrets, but we heard everything.”

“That’s not even me talking,” Ino blushed and clenched her fist in protest. “And how would I know? Shouldn’t the one who leaked the patient’s privacy be blamed—the technology provider?”

Technology provider?

Sakura suddenly realized—wait, that name—

Orochimaru?!!

The Third Hokage’s hand trembled slightly as he held his pipe.

Orochimaru, the legendary S-rank rogue ninja of Konoha, once his most proud disciple.

Orochimaru had been silent in the ninja world for years, and the Third Hokage hadn’t heard news of him for a long time.

He never expected that the traitor would one day contribute medical technology to Konoha.

“If it’s Orochimaru, then leaking patient privacy wouldn’t be surprising,” Kakashi said.

Hmm... Though Orochimaru’s character was indeed questionable.

“But it’s not a matter of character,” the Third Hokage said.

The key question was how that traitor could collaborate with Konoha in the future.

Could it be that...

[“Alright, please describe your condition.”

Ino spoke gently.

“In accordance with hospital regulations—I must first inform the patient.

“The psychiatric healing department is newly established in the village, with few precedents to reference.

“The research in this area is not yet mature.

“But I will use all my skills and the help of everyone who cares for you.”]

At this moment, as adult Ino’s gaze shifted, the screen also showed the patient’s figure.

And everyone recognized the patient as well.

On the screen appeared a delicate young woman with soft, long brown hair cascading over her shoulders, dressed in a white dress.

[She looked just barely over twenty, but her eyes were lifeless, filled with lingering gloom and fatigue, like a rag soaked in rainy season’s dampness.

The brown-haired girl paid no attention to Ino’s preamble and spoke matter-of-factly—

“I want to divorce Uzumaki Naruto.”]

Ino’s eyes revealed shock and astonishment.

This young couple had been married just three years—their grand wedding that attracted the five great nations’ congratulations was still vivid in her memory.

The bride became even more weary and anxious at Ino’s surprise.

Realizing her shallow experience made the patient uneasy, Ino composed herself with some apology.

But honestly, anyone hearing Haruna’s words would be surprised.

She actually wanted a divorce?

Why?

Her husband was none other than the Fourth Great Ninja War hero Uzumaki Naruto!

Uzumaki Naruto, the ironclad candidate for the Seventh Hokage, handsome and sunny, righteous and selfless, the strongest man in the world without equal.

Moreover, Naruto was devoted—no matter the admiration from others, he remained faithful to his wife.

Yet this girl, envied by countless people as a perfect Cinderella, repeated once again:

Yes, she wanted a divorce.

“If I don’t divorce soon, I really feel like dying.”