"...The winner is Chōji Akimichi!"
Iruka announced the result. Watching the two students make the sign of reconciliation, he nodded, then flipped through his roster and called out clearly:
"Second match: Shikamaru Nara versus Shino Aburame! Please step forward!"
As the announcement finished, within the crowd, Shikamaru Nara yawned lazily, wearing an expression that seemed to say, "Why do these troublesome things always find me?"
"Shikamaru, come on! Cheer up!"
Ino Yamanaka, standing behind him, slapped his back forcefully and shouted with full vigor, "You have to beat that Shino guy!"
However, no sooner had she spoken than a low voice sounded silently behind her.
"Yamanaka, could you please refrain from saying such things right in front of me."
"Waaah!"
Ino Yamanaka was startled by the sudden voice and shrieked, whipping around.
She saw Shino Aburame standing silently behind her. His goggles obscured his eyes, making his expression unreadable.
"W-when did you get here?" Ino blurted out awkwardly.
"..."
Shino Aburame didn't reply. He simply adjusted his goggles in silence, then wordlessly walked around her and headed straight to the center of the training ground.
He stood still at the position designated by Iruka, as quiet as ever, but Shikamaru Nara, standing lazily opposite him, could feel the low pressure radiating from him.
While Shikamaru loved to slack off and secretly nap during class, he actually knew the personality of every classmate in the room like the back of his hand.
Though Shino was aloof and taciturn, he had his own code of conduct and disliked being ignored. Once ignored, he would sulk and was quite vengeful.
Being on his bad side could mean being "accidentally" harassed by bugs, finding a few "lost" insects inside one's clothes, or having bugs "just happen" to land on one's head while walking...
"Just thinking about it is a complete drag," Shikamaru muttered inwardly.
It's not an exam, why bother being so serious?
So, right before Iruka was about to announce "Begin," Shikamaru decisively raised his hand.
"Heyyy~" He drew out the sound, saying in his heavily fatigued tone, "Iruka-sensei, I forfeit."
Iruka paused, and the surrounding students expressed a mix of surprise and a sense of course.
"I can't beat Shino anyway, so I might as well save time and effort." Shikamaru let out a huge yawn.
Iruka sighed, having grown somewhat accustomed to Shikamaru's manner, and announced: "Second match, Shino Aburame, wins!"
The field immediately erupted in jeers. Ino Yamanaka stamped her foot in frustration: "Shikamaru! You lazy bum!"
Shikamaru paid no attention, hands in his pockets, and ambled off the field.
Meanwhile, in the gathered crowd, Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki stood side-by-side.
If one observed closely, they would notice a subtle atmosphere around them.
Excluding Riyosuke Chiba and Karin, who stood in front of Naruto, the other classmates nearby, whether consciously or not, maintained a barely perceptible distance from Naruto.
It was as if an invisible barrier separated him from the majority of his peers.
Many students' eyes, whether directly or covertly, involuntarily drifted toward Naruto, their gazes mixed with complex emotions.
Curiosity, confusion, timidity, pity...
But more than anything, there was an awkwardness and hesitation about how to interact with him normally.
Say hello? Afraid of saying the wrong thing.
Get closer? Feeling a little creeped out.
Pretend not to see him? That feels deliberate.
This sense of helplessness led them to choose the safest method: maintaining distance.
Naruto naturally sensed this atmosphere. His azure eyes calmly watched the match on the field, showing no particular emotion on his face, but feeling an unexpected peace deep inside.
Truthfully, this level of distance was already much better than he had imagined.
Naruto knew clearly that someone like Sasuke, who could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him as usual—unafraid and unwavering—was an extremely precious exception.
As for Shikamaru Nara, Chōji Akimichi, and Kiba Inuzuka, who came from ninja clans and were still willing to communicate and interact with him as before...
Perhaps it was because their family backgrounds gave them a deeper understanding and insight into a Jinchūriki, or perhaps it stemmed from their own better upbringing.
And for the students from civilian backgrounds, who had witnessed his terrifying rampages, the fact that they merely kept their distance now, without showing overt dislike or rejection...
This was actually due to his now pleasing appearance.
Therefore, the fact that Riyosuke Chiba and Karin could still stand in front of him as usual was quite touching for Naruto.
One was a civilian student with little background, and the other was a transfer student who was equally somewhat aloof and had only recently arrived in Konoha.
Their choice to approach him, to stand in front of him, required not just goodwill, but a courage to believe in himself despite the rumors.
And this unexpected closeness was as precious to Naruto as Sasuke's trust.
"The young mistress of the Hyūga Main House seems... different from before."
Sasuke's low voice next to him pulled Naruto's thoughts back to reality. He subconsciously turned to look.
He saw a rare seriousness in Sasuke's eyes.
Naruto followed Sasuke's line of sight, which fell upon Hinata Hyūga, standing alone in the distance.
The current Hinata Hyūga was indeed completely different from the fragile figure in his memory who always lowered her head, spoke softly, and blushed easily.
Her slightly lengthened blue hair was tied back. The small face that should have shown timidity and meekness was now devoid of expression.
A visible weariness was etched in her brows, as if she hadn't had a peaceful night's sleep in a long time.
The cuffs of her sleeves and pant legs were neatly tied with leg wraps, and her entire being exuded an inner and outer tension.
Looking at this Hinata, Naruto felt as if he was seeing the former self who, long, long ago, before meeting his teacher and the Great Fox, had to endure everything alone.
No.
There was still a difference.
The former Naruto passively bore all the malice from the outside world, like a wounded young beast, longing for warmth but only able to lick his own wounds.
The Hinata before him seemed to actively reject everything around her, as if she had built an invisible high wall around herself, pushing everyone away.
"It's truly unbelievable."
Sasuke spoke next to Naruto in a voice only the two of them could hear.
His gaze was fixed on Hinata. A flicker of complex emotion—sympathy, but more so, a coldness—passed through his dark eyes.
"I never thought that Hyūga Neji would do the same thing as that man," Sasuke's voice was suppressed.
Naruto had naturally heard about the chilling tragedy that had occurred within the Hyūga clan.
The patriarchs of the Main House had been almost completely slaughtered, including Hinata's father, Hiashi Hyūga.
And the one who did all of this was the immensely talented Hyūga Neji, whom Hinata had always revered like an older brother.
Undoubtedly, Sasuke was one of the very few who could truly understand the searing pain of "having everything taken away by the person closest to and most admired."
The trauma left by the night Itachi Uchiha massacred the Uchiha clan still faintly throbbed deep within his soul.
Looking at Hinata now, he saw a reflection of his past self, who stood confused in the rain, staring at his parents' corpses, his entire world instantly collapsed.
The air of all-encompassing rejection that Hinata carried was intensely familiar to him.
It was the posture of trying to wrap one's last thread of vulnerability in ice and hatred.
"If it weren't for Brother Shisui's guidance, and the forgiveness and help from Brother Yakumi and the other clan members, I probably would have ended up just like her now," Sasuke thought.
Just then, Iruka's voice rang out again, pulling his thoughts back to the present.
"Sixth match: Hinata Hyūga versus Sasuke Uchiha!"
As Iruka's voice fell, Naruto turned to Sasuke beside him and joked, "It looks like the one who needs to be careful might not be me after all."
He was responding to Sasuke's previous reminder at the shooting range not to get hurt.
Though his tone was light, Naruto's gaze was serious.
In her current unstable mental state, Hinata Hyūga was like a string pulled to its absolute limit; any slight provocation could trigger an overreaction.
Sasuke caught the warning in Naruto's words and also felt a sense of trouble, but he said nothing more, simply stepping into the center of the arena.
Sasuke Uchiha and Hinata Hyūga stood face-to-face.
Hinata Hyūga emotionlessly raised her hands, straightening her index and middle fingers, crossing them over her chest to form the Confrontation Seal.
Sasuke mirrored the hand sign, his eyes calmly observing his opponent.
Observing her at such close range revealed more signs.
White bandages wrapped around her hands, and distinct dark-red bloodstains seeped from her knuckles and palms, staining the bandages with spots.
This was certainly not the result of ordinary training but the kind of mark left only by prolonged, high-intensity Taijutsu practice.
In the days after Itachi's defection, Sasuke had also tried to gain power through such self-destructive, frantic training but was promptly and strictly stopped by Uchiha Shisui.
Hinata, clearly, had no one to restrain her like that.
Following the immense upheaval in the Hyūga clan, with few Main House survivors, Hyūga Aoi was needed to comfort the frightened women and children of the Main House.
Hinata's mother was not a ninja and had fallen ill from the grief of losing her husband. Her younger sister, Hanabi, was still very young.
All the pressure had fallen onto the shoulders of this once-fragile young mistress of the Main House.
She was forced to be strong, using almost cruel training to numb her pain, tightening her spirit to forcibly hold up the home that had nearly completely collapsed.
Even if, every night, those bloody images appeared in her dreams, jolting her awake.
The scene of Hyūga Neji gouging out her father's eyes, and that chilling line, "If Itachi Uchiha can do it, why can't I, Neji Hyūga?"...
"Begin!" Iruka commanded.
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