"You're not really subtle, you know?"
"Mmh?"
Reiji and Sakumo stood alone beneath the shadow of a tree, waiting while Kushina and Hizashi planned a short distance away. They had moved far enough that Reiji could not hear what they were saying, but he could still see them clearly. Kushina was making large gestures with her hands, with a animated expression, while Hizashi listened with his usual seriousness, nodding occasionally and adding something of his own.
"You're using the D-rank missions as a punishment," Reiji said, keeping his gaze on them, "or at least as pressure. You're making them desperate enough to train harder than they normally would, and you're using me as a measuring stick to give them a goal." His eyes narrowed slightly. "I can see why it works, but I think it's unnecessary. If you keep doing it, you'll only create division and resentment between us."
Sakumo hummed, sounding more entertained than offended. "You're really perceptive." He tilted his head toward Reiji. "You're also really no fun."
Reiji said nothing.
Sakumo's smile lingered. "You talked about resentment using 'us,' but it sounded like you only meant your teammates. Not yourself."
Reiji's expression did not change.
Sakumo studied him for a moment longer, then gave him a strange smile. "You've changed, Reiji. In these six months, you've grown stronger than I expected, but that's not the only thing. You're more level-headed than before too." His smile widened faintly. "It seems your punishment was effective after all."
Reiji kept his face placid.
Inside, his thoughts sharpened.
Does he suspect something?
"It was boring," Reiji said. "That's all. I had nothing else to do, so I trained more seriously. I didn't want to fall behind my former classmates."
"Really?" Sakumo asked lightly. "Curious. When I asked Soichiro about you, he complained that you weren't training as much as before."
Reiji gave him a sideways look. "I seriously doubt my father would do something like that."
"You'd be surprised. He's a pretty sensitive guy once you know him."
Reiji did not answer.
Did my father really…?
"Reiji."
The tone made him turn.
Sakumo was looking at him with a softer expression now.
"I know that, growing up, you want your independence," Sakumo said. "That's normal. But don't forget your father." His gaze drifted briefly toward Kushina and Hizashi before returning to Reiji. "I understand it better now that I'm also a father. Our child becomes the center of our world, whether we say it properly or not. So even if Soichiro doesn't tell you, I know it weighs on him."
He reached out and patted Reiji's head.
"But I think you already know that, so I won't worry too much."
Reiji swatted his hand away, irritation rising before he could stop it. "I know," he grumbled. "Stop saying things like that. It's embarrassing."
Sakumo said nothing.
He only smiled, then turned his attention back toward his other students.
Reiji watched him from the corner of his eye.
He changed the subject completely.
Had Sakumo only wanted to talk about his father, then? Or had there been something else beneath it? The question lingered, unpleasant and unresolved. After a moment, Reiji dismissed it. Trying to understand Sakumo too quickly was a waste of time. He had learned that much already.
Sakumo never revealed anything he did not want known.
"Okay, we're ready!" Kushina shouted.
Reiji turned his head as she ran back toward them, all restless. Hizashi followed behind her at a slower pace, his expression composed, though the focus in his eyes made it clear he had not been any less involved in whatever plan they had made. The two of them stopped a short distance away, Kushina practically bouncing on the balls of her feet while Hizashi settled beside her with quiet restraint.
Sakumo clapped his hands together, far too pleased. "Good. Then we'll keep the rules simple. Like I said before, you can use anything in your arsenal. Taijutsu, ninjutsu, weapons, tricks—whatever you think will work." His smile widened slightly. "Go wild. If I sense someone is actually in danger, I'll intervene."
Reiji shifted his weight, rolling one shoulder as he watched them. Kushina's excitement was obvious. Hizashi's was not, but the way his fingers flexed once at his side told Reiji enough. They were taking this seriously.
"For Reiji," Sakumo continued, turning his gaze toward him, "victory means incapacitating both of you or forcing you to give up. For you two, victory means landing one clean hit on him. A real hit," he added, lifting one finger. "Not a graze. Not brushing his sleeve and claiming destiny favored you."
"Yes, sensei!" Kushina said, pumping her fist.
Hizashi only nodded, his pale eyes already fixed on Reiji.
Sakumo looked back at him. "Ready, Reiji?"
Reiji rolled his neck once, feeling the faint pop of tension ease from his shoulders, then nodded.
"Ready."
"Good." Sakumo stepped back, the damp grass bending beneath his sandals as he gave them space. "Everyone take your positions. I'll give the signal."
Reiji faced Kushina and Hizashi from a dozen meters away.
The damp grass shifted faintly beneath his sandals as he settled into position, the air between them still carrying the burnt smell left behind by Kushina's earlier fire.
Reiji exhaled slowly.
So how should I do it?
He was tired of D-rank missions too. He wanted them finished as much as the others did, maybe more after the sewer incident. But if he let himself get hit, Sakumo would notice. There was no doubt about that. Worse, Reiji was entirely convinced the man would carry out his threat and trap them in another month of chores just to make a point.
He glanced briefly toward Sakumo.
Or at least, that probably what that man is thinking.
Their sensei stood off to the side, relaxed beneath the trees, looking far too amused by the situation.
Reiji's mouth tightened.
Of course, Sakumo probably did not expect him to go all out. Lethal techniques were out, and so were most of the options that would end the match too brutally. Too obvious, and Sakumo would see through him. Too careless, and Kushina and Hizashi would notice something was wrong. He had to give them a real fight, pressure them enough for the result to mean something, and still leave enough room for the outcome to look natural.
Annoying.
He had not truly sparred with Kushina and Hizashi much now. Once the difference between them became clear, Sakumo had mostly kept him separate, making him train against him instead while the other two worked on their own weaknesses. Reiji had watched them improve from the side, but watching was not the same as fighting.
He did not think they were weak.
Not exactly.
But against him?
That was different.
Reiji lowered his center of gravity slightly, one foot sliding back through the damp grass as his fingers flexed at his side.
Still, they seemed confident.
Had they been warned in advance? If so, that would make things easier.
A faint smile touched Reiji's mouth.
Don't disappoint me.
***
Kushina never understood him.
The thought came almost absently as she stood across the training ground with Hizashi at her side. Reiji stood in front of them, calm as always, his posture loose, his hands at his sides, his black eyes fixed on them without giving anything away. They were so dark she could never really see his pupils, never really tell where his attention settled or what passed behind that empty stare. Sometimes it felt like looking at a closed door.
She did not know him. Not really.
The first time she had met him, she had hated him almost immediately.
She had been afraid then, though she would have bitten her own tongue before admitting it aloud. Everything in Konoha had felt too large, too unfamiliar, too full of people watching her with smiles that did not quite reach their eyes.
She had been alone, surrounded by strangers, and she had forced herself to gather enough courage to speak first because waiting in silence had felt worse. Then he had answered, and she had regretted it almost at once. He had been mean. Arrogant. Worse than that, the look he had given her had reminded her of the old people back home before she left, the ones who stared as though she was something troublesome that had forgotten its place. Someone insignificant.
After that, she had wanted nothing to do with him.
He had looked weak and girly anyway, she had thought back then, with a vicious little satisfaction that had not lasted very long.
She had made friends after that despite how tight her chest had felt in those first weeks. She had adapted, slowly, stubbornly, but surely. Living with her aunt and her family was suffocating but with her grandmother there it had still been bearable. Now—
Kushina's fingers twitched at her sides, and she shook her head sharply, red hair shifting over her shoulders to knock the thought loose.
Not now. She could not afford to think about that now.
It was only later that she had realized Reiji was like that with everyone. Teachers, classmates, villagers, clan heirs, civilians; it did not matter. He looked at all of them the same way, as though they were standing beneath him. The worst part was that he could almost get away with it. He was talented. Not just good, not just better than the rest of them, but talented in the kind of way people lowered their voices to talk about. One of the most talented children since the founding of Konoha, if the scraps she had heard in passing were true.
She envied him.
The feeling burned hotter than she liked to admit, crawling under her skin and settling behind her ribs.
She wanted to be like him.
Not cold, not cruel, not that insufferable way he had of speaking as if every word from other people bored him, but free. Free to say what she wanted without someone frowning. Free to do what she liked without being pushed into a role before she could even understand it. Free to look her aunt, her aunt's husband, her father, her mother, her brother, and all those old people back home in the eyes and tell them to go to hell.
She would not be an object. She would not be something passed from one set of hands to another because other people had decided what she was supposed to become. She would become so strong that nobody would dare tell her where to stand or what to carry. If she became Hokage, who would have the right to order her around then?
It was a foolish dream.
Her hand closed into a fist, nails pressing into her palm hard enough to sting.
Because in the forest that night, what had she done? Nothing. She had frozen. She had stood there with fear crawling up her spine and her breath trapped in her throat, unable to move, unable to think, unable to do anything but stare while the world broke open around her. She had already given up before she even understood that she had. She had cried.
But Reiji had not given up. He had fought until the bitter end. He had saved her life, and what had she done to repay that?
She had run away.
I was… no. I am still that pathetic girl from that night.
The thought made her stomach twist, but she did not look away from him. Even now, after all the training, after all the bruises, after forcing herself to stand back up again and again until her legs shook, reality had a cruel way of reminding her how small she still was when he stood in front of her. Reiji was not looking down on her with words this time. He did not need to.
I want him to acknowledge me.
The thought came so fiercely it almost embarrassed her. Her jaw tightened, and heat rose beneath her skin. She wanted to show him that she was not the same helpless girl from before.. That she could stand beside him instead of behind him. That one day, when those dark eyes turned toward her, they would really see her—not as a burden, not as someone to protect because she was too weak to protect herself, but as an equal.
"You ready?" Hizashi whispered on her right.
Kushina exhaled slowly, forcing the tightness in her chest down into her stomach.
"Yes," she said.
"We do as we planned," Hizashi murmured, his pale eyes never leaving Reiji. "You're the one landing the blow. Don't forget that."
Kushina's mouth twitched despite herself. "Yeah, while you're the one getting pummeled."
Hizashi sent her a dry stare from the corner of his eye.
She stuck her tongue out at him.
"Ready?" Sakumo called.
Kushina rolled her shoulders once, dug her feet into the grass, and felt the nervous heat in her chest sharpen.
They all nodded.
"Begin."
They moved the instant Sakumo gave the signal.
Kushina pushed off first, the grass bending under her sandals as she threw herself forward with Hizashi a step to her right. Reiji waited for them without shifting, calm in a way that made something hot and annoyed coil in her stomach.
She hated that look.
She closed the last few steps with her fist drawn back, twisted her hips, and drove a punch straight for his face with enough force to make the air snap around her knuckles.
Reiji moved at the last instant. His hand came up, not to block her head-on, but to slap her strike aside at the wrist. Before she could pull back, his fingers closed around her arm, one hand catching her wrist and the other pressing near her elbow.
The world tilted.
Her feet left the ground as she was thrown over him making her stomach lurch. She caught a flash of Hizashi entering from the side, palms stabbing toward Reiji's ribs and shoulder, but Reiji did not meet him the way he met her. He slipped around the first strike, leaned away from the second, and turned his body just enough that Hizashi's fingers cut through empty air instead of flesh.
Kushina hit the grass on her shoulder and rolled with it as she forced herself back to her feet. Her breath had barely settled before she rushed in again, anger pushing through. Reiji's back was to her for half a heartbeat while Hizashi pressed him, and she took it.
She jumped, swinging her leg toward the back of his head with a sharp twist of her hips, but Reiji dropped low before her heel reached him. His body folded under the kick, one hand brushing the ground for balance, and then he pivoted on that same low stance. His leg swept out in a arc and struck her supporting ankle just as she landed.
Her balance vanished.
Kushina's foot slid out from under her, and she crashed onto her side with a grunt, the impact knocking the air from her chest. She did not stay still. The moment she saw Reiji's leg near her, she reached for it, fingers clawing for his ankle. If she could hold him for even a second, Hizashi could hit him. But Reiji was already moving, knees bending before she completed the grab. He jumped, light and sudden, pulling both legs out of her reach as Hizashi's palms shot through the space where his torso had been.
Then steel flashed above her.
Kushina's eyes widened as Reiji twisted in the air and sent a fan of shuriken down toward her while she was still on the ground. She shoved one hand into the grass, trying to roll, but a hand caught the back of her collar and yanked hard enough to choke her for an instant.
Hizashi dragged her out of the line of fire, sandals tearing through the grass as the shuriken buried themselves where her body had been a heartbeat earlier. Even while being pulled, Kushina clenched her teeth and snapped her own wrist forward, throwing several shuriken back at Reiji while he was still airborne, she refused to just be carried away like baggage.
Reiji answered by drawing a kunai.
He parried the first two shuriken , the strikes ringing bright in the morning air. The rest should have forced him to land badly, but his body twisted in a way Kushina did not understand, shoulders turning, knees tucking, the kunai catching one blade while the others passed close enough to stir his hair. He dropped to the ground in a crouch, light on his feet, and then vanished.
Kushina's breath caught.
Shunshin—
She saw him too late, a blur at the corner of her vision, low beneath her line of sight. Reiji appeared under her guard with one leg already rising, and instinct screamed before thought could form. Kushina crossed both arms in front of her head. The kick slammed into her guard with a crack of force that shot pain through her forearms and up into her shoulders. Her teeth clicked together. The ground disappeared beneath her again as the blow launched her backward and upward, the sky tilting over her head while her arms went numb from wrist to elbow.
Below, Hizashi was already on Reiji.
His palms blurred, each strike sharp and direct, forcing Reiji to keep moving. Kushina twisted in the air, fighting to orient herself as her hair whipped across her face. She could see Hizashi pressing him harder than before, his pale eyes fixed on every shift.
Still, Reiji refused to clash with him directly. He slipped between the strikes, stepped outside Hizashi's reach, bent away from a palm aimed at his chest, then drove a kick into Hizashi's stomach just as the Hyūga overextended. Hizashi staggered, breath bursting from him, but he forced himself forward again.
Now!
Kushina pulled chakra into her chest. It came hot and heavy, filling her lungs until the pressure felt too large for her ribs. She compressed it, forced it tighter, then let it expand in a pulse that matched the hard beat of her heart. Heat crawled up her throat. Her stomach clenched. For one fierce instant, all the frustration, all the humiliation, all the stubborn need to make him move burned together behind her teeth.
"Fire Release: Fire Breath!"
Flames poured from her mouth in a wide torrent, roaring down over Reiji and Hizashi alike. The air between them turned orange, heat washing back over her face even from above. Kushina fed the jutsu harder, anger sharpening her control as the fire thickened and spread, swallowing the grass in smoke and heat. She knew Hizashi could protect himself. They had planned for this. He had to. The flames churned below her, bright enough to make her eyes water, and for one heartbeat she thought they had him trapped.
Then something snapped out of the fire.
A chain.
Kushina's eyes widened as the metal flashed through the flames and wrapped around her ankle. It tightened before she could pull away, biting into her leg, and then yanked. Her body lurched sideways in midair, balance breaking all at once. The breath in her chest hitched, the chakra flow scattered, and the fire died on her tongue in a broken cough. She barely had time to understand that she had been caught before Reiji came through the smoke and hit her.
His kick struck the side of her head.
Pain burst white behind her eyes. Kushina hit the ground hard, rolling across the grass until dirt filled her mouth and her ears rang. For a moment the whole training ground spun around her, sky and earth trading places in ugly flashes.
She forced one hand under herself, blinking through the blur, and saw Reiji standing several paces away. His sleeves and clothes were scorched in places, blackened along the edges, but he was still looking fine.Still looking at her like she was nothing.
What? How did he do that?
She had not seen him use Ice Release. She had not seen anything but flames, the chain, and then pain.
At the edge of her vision, Hizashi pushed himself upright with difficulty. The back of his kimono was scorched, smoke curling faintly from the fabric, but his skin looked mostly unharmed beneath it.
Kushina did not have time to stare. Reiji stepped toward her, and she rolled sharply to the side as his foot came down where her face had been. Grass and dirt sprayed against her cheek. He did not continue the pressure. A volley of shuriken cut through the air from behind him, forcing him to turn and retreat with a light hop, his kunai coming up again as the steel passed between them.
In the next instant, Hizashi was at her side.
"What happened?" Kushina whispered, pushing herself onto one knee. Her head throbbed with each heartbeat, and her arms still ached from blocking his earlier kick.
Hizashi did not take his eyes off Reiji. Reiji, annoyingly, did not press them. He simply waited again, a few strands of dark hair stirred by the wind, the faint burns on his clothing the only sign that Kushina's fire had touched him at all. Hizashi's mouth tightened, and for a moment he looked almost embarrassed, as if the answer tasted bitter before he even said it.
"…He used me as a shield when I used Water Veil to protect myself."
Kushina blinked.
That was absurd.
Even after all this time, part of her still could not accept it. Hizashi and Hiashi had been monsters in taijutsu at the Academy, even before using the Byakugan. Nobody could beat them in close combat. Nobody normal, anyway. Arata had managed it a few times when he used his Sharingan, and Minato was Minato, but Kushina had learned quickly not to put Minato in comparisons unless she wanted to feel miserable for the rest of the day. And now she had to train every day beside someone like this. Someone who could toy with even the like of Hizashi.
Minato and Reiji were in a league of their own.
And they were the people Kushina had to surpass if she wanted to be free one day. How was she supposed to become Hokage if people like that stood ahead of her? How was she supposed to make anyone listen if she could not even force Reiji to take them seriously?
"Hey," Hizashi snapped under his breath. "Focus. This changes nothing. We do what we planned."
Kushina swallowed the bitter taste in her mouth and nodded. Her fingers curled into the grass before she pushed herself upright. Across the training ground, Reiji watched them with something almost like amusement in those unreadable eyes.
"Are you finished," he asked, "or do you want more time?"
The heat in Kushina's chest surged again.
She answered by dragging in a breath and sending another torrent of flames straight at him.
Flames roared across the training ground, flattening the grass beneath their heat and turning the air orange between them. This time, though, she felt something different almost immediately. Not saw. Felt.
A cold pressure pushed back against the edge of her fire, making the heat twist and hiss as if her flames had struck winter itself. Steam burst outward in a thick white cloud, swallowing the space ahead of her, and through it Reiji emerged, his shape dark behind the vapor, already moving.
But Hizashi was there to meet him.
Again!
Kushina forced more chakra into her throat and spat a third wave of flames toward them. The heat burned at her tongue and dried her lips, but she held the jutsu steady, pouring fire over the place where Reiji had appeared. Through the roar, she caught only broken shapes: steam surging, shadows shifting, Hizashi slipping out from the side behind a veil of water that clung around him in a thin protective layer. Reiji was cutting a path through her flames again, she could feel it in the way the fire split, in the way the cold pressure kept advancing through the heat instead of breaking.
No, you don't!
Still maintaining the jutsu, Kushina began to backpedal, sandals scraping over the grass as she forced more distance between them. Her lungs already burned from the repeated techniques, but she refused to stop.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Hizashi's hand flash to his pouch. He pulled several paper seals free and slapped them against his own body. Kushina recognized the markings instantly. Of course she did. She had drawn them herself, hunched over a desk until her fingers cramped and her eyes stung, swallowing her pride long enough to ask her aunt to teach her this particular seal.
They were crude, barely worth bragging about by her aunt standards. But they were enough, each one holding a small Water Veil inside. With those seals, Hizashi could keep fighting inside her flames without worries.
Kushina could not see properly through the fire and steam. She could barely hear anything beyond the roar of her own jutsu, the hiss of evaporating water, and the crackle of grass blackening beneath the heat. But she could feel movement inside it, the pressure of Reiji pushing forward, the sharper interruptions where Hizashi clashed with him and forced him to shift.
Suddenly an ice wall surged up from the ground, pale and thick, cutting across the path of her flames. Fire struck ice with a violent hiss, steam exploding upward as the wall held against her.
Kushina's eyes lit up.
There.
She released the flame for only the smallest fraction of a second, just long enough to slap a prepared seal against the trunk of a tree behind her as she jumped back. The paper lit at once, ink lines glowing red, and another torrent of fire burst from it, replacing her own stream so smoothly that from the other side of the ice wall it would look like she had never stopped. The flames were weaker now, thinner and less furious than the ones from her own mouth, but that could pass for fatigue. After three fire techniques in a row, anyone would expect her to start weakening.
She landed lightly, knees bending to absorb the impact, and immediately moved.
She could not see what was happening behind the wall, but a heavy crash shook the other side of it a heartbeat later.
The sound rolled through the training ground like something solid breaking, and cracks spread across the ice from within, sharp lines racing over its surface. Hizashi was buying time for her. Bruised, burned, probably freezing by now, but still holding Reiji there.
She would not waste it.
Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique.
Kushina dropped into the ground.
The earth swallowed her up to the shoulders, then over her head, cool soil closing around her like heavy water. For an instant, panic clawed at her throat. The darkness was tight, pressing from every side, full of the smell of damp dirt and crushed roots, but the seal in her hand tugged faintly in one direction, pulling toward the matching mark she had placed on Hizashi earlier. She clung to that pull and moved, chakra forcing the soil aside just enough for her to pass through it.
She was not really talented at ninjutsu. Sakumo-sensei had said something about her having too much chakra or something.
But Fire Breath had been different. It did not require delicate shaping, not compared to the other techniques. It let her take that huge, stupid amount of chakra and turn it into heat and force.
This jutsu was not like that. This one had taken countless hours over the last few weeks, hours of dirt in her mouth, and failure after failure when the ground refused to move the way she wanted. She had never shown it to Reiji during training. Not once. He could not know.
It is pathetic.
The thought came bitterly as she dragged herself through the earth, following the tug of the seal. Training in secret for weeks just to surprise her own teammate once. All of this effort just for one measly blow. One touch. One moment where he did not see her coming.
But she did not care. She had passed that point a long time ago. Since that night in the forest. Since her grandmother's death. Since every moment she had stood still while other people decided what she was allowed to be. She only wanted to show him that she was not the same girl anymore. That she could be someone too. That she could reach him. That she could touch him. That maybe, one day, she could believe she might stand where he stood.
The seal tugged harder.
Kushina clenched her teeth, gathered chakra through her legs and shoulders, and burst upward.
The ground exploded around her in a shower of dirt, grass, and broken roots. She came out beside Hizashi in a rush of debris, hair whipping across her face, lungs dragging in cold air. The first thing she saw was Hizashi, bruised and battered, frost clinging to his kimono and hair while Reiji held him by the collar with his feet barely touching the ground. The second thing she saw was Reiji's face.
His eyes widened.
Kushina's heart kicked hard against her ribs.
For the first time since the fight had begun, he looked surprised.
He still moved. Of course he did. Even caught off guard, his body reacted faster than most people could think. His leg snapped toward her stomach, sharp and brutal, and the kick landed before she could fully guard. Pain drove through her gut. Spit flew from her mouth, and her knees almost folded from the impact, but she dug her feet into the torn grass and refused to be sent away. Not this time.
With a strangled cry, Kushina wrapped both hands around his leg.
Her arms burned. Her stomach screamed. She planted one foot, twisted her hips, and pulled with everything she had, using the force of his own strike and the stubborn weight of her body to drag him over her shoulder.
For once, Reiji left the ground because of her.
She threw him.
His body slammed into the earth hard enough to crack the ground beneath him, the impact sending dirt jumping around them. Kushina heard the sharp breath leave his lungs, saw his face tighten with surprise as he stared up at her from the broken grass.
A smile spread across her face, fierce and breathless despite the pain in her stomach.
So you can look at me like that.
***
Reiji stared up at the sky for a moment, but all he could see was red.
Kushina stood over him, covered in dirt from the shoulders down, her hair wild around her face and one hand pressed briefly against her stomach where his kick had landed. She was breathing hard enough for her shoulders to rise and fall with each breath, and her legs looked like they wanted to shake beneath her, but the grin on her face was bright, victorious, and entirely too pleased for someone who had barely managed one throw.
"What are you smiling like that for?" Reiji asked.
Kushina blinked, as if only then realizing what expression she was making, and let out an embarrassed laugh. "Nothing."
Then she turned toward Hizashi, who was still on the ground looking thoroughly miserable, and her grin returned full force.
"Yeah!" Kushina shouted, jumping into the air with both fists raised. "We won! No more D-rank missions!"
Hizashi only groaned from the scorched grass.
"Come on, Hizashi," Kushina said, laughing. "A little enthusiasm."
"Do you see me?" he muttered.
She laughed even louder.
Reiji sighed and pushed himself upright, ignoring the two of them as he brushed loose dirt from his sleeve. His gaze shifted instead to Sakumo, who was approaching with his hands in his pockets and a look of deep satisfaction on his face.
Reiji's eyes narrowed.
"You set me up."
Sakumo tilted his head, all innocence. "What do you mean?"
"Since when can Kushina use a Doton technique?" Reiji asked, voice flat. "And why has she never shown it during training?" His gaze flicked toward the scorched tag on the tree, then back to Sakumo. "Also, when did they have time to prepare all those paper tags with seals already inscribed on them? This fight was not decided on the spot. They knew about it."
Kushina suddenly found the ground very interesting. She rubbed the back of her head with a sheepish grin, not quite meeting his eyes.
Hizashi, still on the ground, coughed once and looked away.
Sakumo smiled.
"We've been found."
Reiji's glare sharpened. "Was this stupid plan yours too?"
Sakumo shook his head. "No. That was all them." His smile widened slightly. "I only told them about this fight during our first training session. I thought giving them a clear goal might help."
Reiji slowly turned toward his teammates.
Kushina had stopped looking embarrassed and was now wearing a grin far too proud for someone covered in dirt and sweat,. She reached down and helped Hizashi to his feet. The Hyūga accepted the help without complaint, though his face made it clear he had enjoyed very little about being used as a shield, punching bag, and firebreak in rapid succession.
Sakumo looked between them, pleased with himself. "And it seems they managed to surprise you."
Reiji grumbled but didn't respond.
"Your teammates are not as useless as you might think, right?"
Reiji frowned at him. "Since when did I say that?"
"You didn't need to." Sakumo's gaze remained on Kushina and Hizashi. "I saw it. For you, having them beside you or being alone is almost the same, isn't it? You don't expect anything from them."
Reiji said nothing.
A few meters away, Kushina was talking animatedly, her hands moving as fast as her mouth while Hizashi stood beside her with the exhausted patience of someone enduring a storm.
Sakumo watched them for a moment, his smile lessening now.
"You may be right about yourself," he said. "You're talented. Frighteningly so. In the history of Konoha, there probably haven't been enough kids like you to count on both hands."His eyes shifted back to Reiji. "But that does not mean your teammates are ordinary. It does not mean they are not geniuses in their own way. And it certainly does not mean they are less determined than you to grow stronger."
Reiji's gaze moved back to Kushina and Hizashi.
"You saw what they were capable of after only a few weeks," Sakumo continued. "Give them a goal, give them a reason, and they will chase it. Just like you."
Reiji's mouth tightened slightly.
Sakumo's smile softened. "Don't give up on your team too soon. You're lucky to have them." A faint pause. "And whether you like it or not, they're lucky to have you too."
Reiji stared at Hizashi and Kushina with a complicated expression.
"You let them win."
For a fraction of a second, Reiji allowed himself to become still.
It was brief. Barely more than a pause in his breathing. His face did not change, and his posture remained loose.
But it was enough.
"What do you mean?"
Sakumo's smile widened. "Whoa. You really are becoming a good liar."
Reiji's gaze sharpened. "Stop beating around the bush."
"You fought well," Sakumo said, hands still tucked lazily into his pockets as the wind stirred the scorched grass around them. "Convincingly, even. But I've sparred with you enough by now to know when you're holding back." His eyes shifted briefly toward Kushina and Hizashi before returning to Reiji. "You had multiple chances to end it."
Reiji's eyes narrowed. "You have no proof."
Sakumo's smile thinned into something sharper. "Do I need any?"
Reiji said nothing.
"I think you know by now that I was serious," Sakumo continued, his tone still light, though his eyes no longer matched it. "If you lost on purpose, I really was going to add another month of D-rank missions."
He kept his expression still, but his fingers twitched once at his side before he let them relax.
Sakumo noticed. Of course he did.
"I was surprised, honestly," the jōnin added. "The proud Reiji, willingly letting someone else take the win? The old you would have crushed them and complained about the consequences afterward."
Reiji exhaled through his nose, slow and quiet. "I get it. Don't drag this out. Do whatever you want."
Sakumo blinked, then pouted slightly. "You really are no fun."
For a moment, the old teasing tone returned. Then it faded just as quickly.
"But no," Sakumo said. "I won't take this away from them. They earned their win, even if it is a hollow one."
Reiji scoffed. "So you're not making good on your threat after all. I knew it."
"No," Sakumo said.
His voice remained casual.
"After all, another month of D-ranks was what you wanted from the start, wasn't it?"
For the first time, something inside Reiji stopped.
Slowly, he looked back at Sakumo. The man was no longer smiling. He simply stared at him, calm and piercing, as if searching for a crack beneath the surface.
Despite himself, Reiji allowed a small smile to show.
How careless.
I walked right into his trap like a fool.
Sakumo saw it, and a smile returned to his own face.
There was no warmth in either expression.
"Say hi to Sensei for me, would you?"
Then he stepped past him.
He did not wait for Reiji to answer.
Sakumo walked toward the other two, hands still tucked lazily into his pockets. Kushina noticed him coming and immediately turned her full attention on him, practically bouncing in place as she began talking again, probably demanding confirmation that they were done with D-ranks forever. Sakumo chuckled and ruffled her hair, and she beamed at him.
Then he turned to Hizashi and said something quieter.
Reiji could not hear the words from where he stood, but he saw the effect. Hizashi did not answer at first. He only lowered his gaze slightly, composed as ever, but after a moment a small smile touched his face.
Reiji watched them in silence.
They're lucky to have me?
His eyes settled on Kushina's smile.
Reiji's expression did not move.
You're a good liar too, Sensei.
***
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