The class photo took over an hour to finish. Finally, Hayashi and Hinata were walking out of the school gate, surrounded by the murmur of hushed conversations.

His Observation Haki kicked in, heightening his awareness of the subtle cues around him.

As they strolled, snippets of gossip reached his ears.

"Look at that boy, sitting all alone on the swing," a woman whispered to her companion. "It's that kid."

"I can't believe they let him graduate," the other replied. "After everything he's done..."

His steps slowed as he tuned into the whispers, his brow furrowing.

"He's nothing but trouble," a man chimed in. "I don't want my child anywhere near him."

The words felt like icy daggers, each one aimed at the lone figure on the swing set.

As Hayashi and Hinata walked out of the school gate, they came across Naruto sitting alone on the swing set, his head bowed in silence.

The crowd's cold stares and cruel whispers surrounded him, but he seemed oblivious to it all.

Yet, he sensed the pain and isolation emanating from the young boy, a pain no child should ever have to endure.

It struck him then - the injustice of it all. The hero, who carried the burden of the Nine-Tails, was being treated like an outcast by the very people he protected.

The villagers' hatred and scorn hung over Naruto like a dark cloud, threatening to crush his spirit.

But what struck him most was Naruto's resilience.

If it were anyone else, they would have been consumed by bitterness and resentment, their hearts hardened against the village that scorned them.

Yet he endured, his spirit unbroken despite the overwhelming negativity surrounding him.

Shaking his head, Hayashi parted ways with Hinata at the entrance to their respective homes.

With the sun still up, he didn't see the need to escort her all the way back to her house.

After returning to his room, Hayashi placed the ninja forehead protector on the counter and changed out of his kimono.

Next, he headed to the bathroom for a refreshing shower.

Feeling revitalized, he put on his exercise clothes and headed to his training ground to tackle the day's tasks. For the past two years, his daily routine had remained the same.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

His goal was to make 300 precise sword cuts every day, and he'd mastered the art of wielding a sword with precision, making each swing a controlled slash.

Hayashi continued his practice, the rhythmic swings of his sword echoing through the surrounding area.

----------

When night fell, he knew that the events surrounding the Scroll of Sealing incident were about to unfold. But he had no intention of getting involved.

It seemed like a fool's errand to get caught up in such a scheme.

From what he knew, the plan was to catch a spy while letting the Fourth Hokage's son learn from the scroll as a consolation prize.

After a two-hour jog through the leafy pathways, Hayashi returned home, showered, and retired early.

As he lay in bed, he gazed out the window, captivated by the star-studded night sky. His mind was far from sleep, lost in thought.

Tomorrow, the team assignments would be announced, but Hayashi was still in the dark about which team he'd be joining.

One thing was for sure, though - it wouldn't be Team 7. The Third Hokage wouldn't pair the top student with the runner-up.

Naruto and Sasuke's paths were already connected, thanks to their unique circumstances.

They were meant to be together, and it was unlikely anyone else would be added to their team.

With two guys already on board, it was even less likely that a third male member would join them.

Similarly, Team 10 was reserved for the new generation of Ino, Shika, and Cho.

That left Team 8, which was composed of ninjas with sensory abilities.

But Hayashi's own sensory abilities were unknown to Konoha, making it unlikely that he'd be assigned to this team.

Considering all these factors, he wondered how the Third Hokage would place him on a team.

The thought of being randomly assigned to an ordinary team left him feeling uneasy.

It wasn't the team itself that bothered him, but the possibility of being stuck with incompetent teammates who might not even make the cut for survival drills.

The last thing he wanted was to be a babysitter.

With a deep breath, he decided to leave it up to fate. He closed his eyes, letting his worries drift away as he fell asleep.

----------

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Hayashi, someone else was struggling with the same concerns about the team assignments.

That person was the Third Hokage.

In the dead of night, after resolving Naruto's theft of the Scroll of Seals, Iruka had submitted the list of graduating students for the year. He now pored over the names, categorizing them with care.

If Hayashi weren't in the picture, assigning the students to teams would have been a simple task. But his presence complicated things.

Normally, the children of the six major clans would have been divided into two teams, followed by the Uchiha clan and the Jinchuriki in separate teams.

Then, adding a girl Naruto had a soft spot for would have completed the arrangement of the new generation.

However, the boy's presence threw a wrench into his plans, leaving him in a predicament.

The Ino-Shika-Cho teams were set in stone, which meant Hayashi was left with Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Hyuga Hinata, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto as the remaining students.

This would have formed two perfectly balanced teams.

But as Hayashi had predicted, pairing the top two students together would give them an unfair advantage, potentially sparking conflicts, especially if all team members were male.

If Sasuke and Naruto were excluded, only the children of the Inuzuka, Aburame, and Hyuga clans remained – two boys and one girl.

But grouping them into a single team would mean pairing the additional top student with the average students, which wasn't ideal either.

The Third Hokage puffed on his pipe, his eyes fixed on the ninja file on his desk. "Yusuke Hayashi, that genius..."

He gazed at Hayashi's photo, and a wave of familiarity washed over him.

Suddenly, his mind flashed back to the image he had seen when using the Telescope Technique. A nostalgic smile creased his face.

"Is this the same child who practiced swordsmanship? And now he's this year's top student..." he sighed as his thought drift back to the past.

"He reminds me of Minato and Sakumo, two of the greatest shinobi I've known..."

As memories of the past came flooding back, his expression cleared. He reached for his seal and stamped it onto Hayashi's file.