Chương 63: Team Leader

"Shin. Do you think we're going to hell?"

"I don't know. Doesn't matter, as long as you're with me." …

"Shin. Is that country really worth so much?"

"No. Disasters without end. Plague and famine. Barren and desolate."

"Then why does Lord Fujino want it so badly?"

"I don't know. He'd sacrifice anything for it."

"What if one day he decides to sacrifice you?"

"Then I'd ask him to throw me as far as he can. Kick me out of his world entirely. That way, I'd only have you." …

"Shin. Where are you?"

"Shin. I'm so scared."

"Please don't leave me alone."

"Shin! Shin!" … Shin jolted awake. He sat up hard, breath rough and uneven. For a moment he just sat there, heart slamming, sheets twisted around him. His hand went to his forehead. Cold sweat, already starting to dry. He got up. Left his room. The air outside was sharp with pre-dawn chill. More than a year. He stood there and let the cool settle over him. More than a year since Danzō made his promise. He still remembered the look on Tsume's face when she'd found out. Sheer terror, barely held.

For a long time after that, she hadn't let him come home. Tsume hadn't told him much more about Danzō, but through her expression he could roughly tell that the man was completely untrustworthy. However, for Shin, he could afford to take a few more risks—Danzo still held far greater value that he could exploit. Then Danzō had stopped coming. Weeks passed, then months, and slowly Tsume had relaxed her grip. That worried Shin more than the visits had. Does he still remember what he promised? He let the thought go.

Fifth-year break was almost here. He'd know soon enough. He went back inside, washed up, and waited for Kiba. They ran into Shino on the way to the Academy. The three of them fell into step together.

"Almost break time," Kiba said, walking beside Shin with his hands behind his head.

"It is." Shino nodded from Shin's other side.

"I'll be training my clan's secret technique over the break. My father said he'd help."

"Training..." Kiba made a face, thinking of his own clan training waiting for him. He glanced at Shin, then stepped ahead, turned around, and started walking backward in front of them both.

"Any plans? We could all train together." Shin considered it. No real plans — same as every other year. Some practice, maybe some rest. Or maybe no break at all, if he graduated early.

"Shin?" Kiba waved a hand in front of his face.

"You still in there?"

"Sorry. Nothing." Shino looked at him with quiet curiosity. Kiba sighed, laced his hands behind his head, tilted back, and walked straight into someone. He stumbled.

"Oh, sorry about that," he said immediately, already laughing, already turning with a scratch of his head before he'd even looked up.

"Watch where you're going." The voice was flat and cold. Kiba's expression froze. Shin looked at the person. White clothing. Long brown hair, braided neatly down the back. And the eyes: white pupils, pale as Hinata's. He recognized him at once. Neji Hyuga. Top of the graduating class. A year above them. Shino had recognized him too. Kiba still hadn't.

"The way you talk," Kiba said, voice rising.

"I just apologized—""You bumped into me. Now you're arguing about it?"

"Why you—" Shin caught Kiba's arm before he could step forward. He moved up beside him, easy and quiet.

"Sorry about that," he said, and smiled at Neji.

"It was our fault from the start." Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Neji didn't respond. He was looking at Shin with sharp, unreadable eyes.

"Shin Takami," he said.

"Is something wrong, Neji Hyuga?" Neji held his gaze a moment longer, then let out a low sound and crossed his arms.

"Why are you wasting your time with someone like this?" His gaze flicked briefly to Kiba." That's it!" Kiba's voice cracked. He was already rolling up his sleeve. Shin held on.

"Kiba's outstanding," Shin said.

"In every way." Kiba went still. Some of the fury left his face. Neji's lip curled.

"Outstanding? If you're not first, you have no meaning." He turned and walked away without another glance, his braid straight down his back. The izakaya was warm and low-lit, full of muffled voices and the smell of grilled fish and rice wine. Yugao stepped inside first, Hayate a step behind her. She scanned the room until she found the corner table, Buichi Yamamoto in his standard flak jacket, two katana resting flat on the tabletop beside him. Seated next to him was a girl.

"Sensei." Yugao raised a hand. They crossed the room and bowed in unison.

"Buichi-sensei. Good evening."

"Buichi-sensei — koff — good to see you."

"You made it." Yamamoto smiled at Yugao, warm and easy. His empty sleeve hung pinned at the shoulder. The girl was already on her feet. She bowed to them both, hands folded, very proper.

"Yugao-senpai. Hayate-senpai. My name is Sōen Kuriyama. I'm Buichi-sensei's student." She had black hair pulled up into a long, high ponytail, and wore a blue dress that fell past her knees. She looked about twelve. Yugao and Hayate returned the bow. They exchanged a glance and sat down. Sake was poured. Sōen, too young to drink, got tea.

"How long are you back for?" Yugao asked, after the first sip.

"Hard to say. Depends how things go." Yamamoto refilled his own cup.

"Your jonin assessment, how is it? You pass yet?" Yugao paused.

"Last time was too rushed, I didn't make it through. This time should be different." His face split into a grin. He raised his cup. She topped it off without being asked. He was still grinning when his gaze landed on Hayate, sitting quiet across the table. He let out a small sigh and shook his head.

"Once you pass," he said, turning back to Yugao, "I'd actually like to ask a favor."

"Of course, Sensei."

"This one." He reached over and rested his hand briefly on Sōen's shoulder.

"I've got my posting at the border, probably for a while longer. After you make jonin, I want you to take over guiding her. Train with her, keep an eye on her." Sōen stood up at once and bowed to Yugao. She was sweet-natured. Poised, well-mannered, genuinely lovely and something about her reminded Yugao of herself, enough that Yugao found herself warming to the girl before Yamamoto had even finished speaking.

"The timing works in your favor," he continued.

"The current graduating class is about to leave the Academy. Once you pass the assessment, you can put in for a genin team. Sōen would fall under your guidance from there."

"All right," Yugao said. No hesitation.

"Thank you, Yugao-senpai." Sōen bowed again, soft and sincere.

"No need for senpai. Just call me neesan." She scooted Hayate sideways out of his seat and pulled Sōen in beside her.

"Yugao-nee." Sōen said it brightly and meant every syllable.

"Sōen trained her swordsmanship under me," Yamamoto said across the table to Yugao, who was still holding Sōen's hand.

"You'd be a natural fit to build on it." The evening found its rhythm — stories from the border, village gossip, a few things that drew real laughter from all four of them. They didn't see each other often. There was always more to say than they had time for. ……" Kakashi!" Yamamoto looked up. His face had gone ruddy from the sake. Two figures stood at the entrance. One had silver hair and a mask.

The other looked a few years younger — long black hair, a clean-featured face, and a metal mask covering the lower half of it, the Leaf's symbol etched into its surface.

"Kakashi-senpai." Yugao raised a hand. Kakashi glanced across the room and gave a small nod. He and the younger shinobi made their way over.

"Out drinking?" Yamamoto asked, grinning up at him. Kakashi gave him a flat look. Yugao, Hayate, and Sōen rose and bowed.

"Come sit with us," Yugao said. Kakashi nodded. The table was big enough. Two chairs were found.

"This is Sōen Kuriyama," Yamamoto said to Kakashi once they'd settled.

"The genin I told you about."

"It's an honor, Kakashi-sama." Sōen was already on her feet.

"I've admired you for a long time."

"Hello." A single look and a nod.

"I'm Tenzō." The younger shinobi bowed.

"I was on Kakashi-senpai's team." Introductions made, the table picked up where it had left off. Sake went around. Tenzō poured quietly for Yamamoto.

"Yugao," Kakashi said, after a while. He'd been quiet behind his mask, listening more than talking.

"Are you really ready for this?" There was a faint crease at his brow.

"The jonin assessment isn't just about strength. The peacetime standard is much stricter than it used to be." He'd passed his own assessment during the Third Shinobi World War, when what mattered was raw power and staying alive. Peacetime demanded more — strategy, judgment, leadership, the ability to think in multiple directions at once. Yugao had failed on tactical reasoning last time around. Tenzō glanced at her, expression unreadable behind his mask.

"What are you implying?" Yamamoto set his cup down, frowning.

"What does my Yugao lack?"

"I'll tell you this," he added, before Kakashi could answer.

"Once she makes jonin and takes Sōen as her student…" Kakashi shook his head quietly. Exhaled once. He thought she was moving too fast. He'd known Yugao when she was under his command, and what he knew of her told him the same thing now: even after making jonin, she shouldn't be rushing straight to leading genin. In peacetime, only jonin led genin teams. That was the design. Jonin had trained every aspect of themselves.

A poorly guided genin could be led astray, and the village cared too much about the rising generation to leave that to chance. These were the people who would hold everything up someday. She still had a way to go. In the graduating class, Neji had his chin in one hand and his gaze on the window. The instructor's voice blurred into something he stopped registering somewhere around the second minute. Theory lectures. The same things he'd heard a hundred times.

It was almost graduation, and they were still treating this like year one. He wanted out. He'd outgrown this place completely. Not one person in this cohort had ever given him a real reason to pay attention. His mind drifted back to this morning. The fifth-year — Shin Takami. His name came up all the time, heard in passing, repeated in hallways. Well-liked. Easygoing. Good with everyone. Which Neji found exactly as hollow as it sounded. What did being liked accomplish? Some people were born exceptional.

That was what it meant to be a genius. A genius and an average person were not the same kind of creature, and pretending otherwise served no one. Shin was in the same year as his own cousin — Hinata, who was soft and weak and had been failing to live up to the Hyuga name since she could walk — and apparently in the same class as one of the Uchiha. An Uchiha who had lost to a commoner. The clan had been in decline for years. No wonder they'd been wiped out.

The instructor paused mid-sentence, then stepped out of the room, called away by a voice in the hall. Noise filled the space he left behind. When he returned, he wasn't alone. A boy walked in beside him. Black hair. Skin pale in a way that suggested very little sunlight. A delicate face, almost pretty. Somewhere around Neji's age. Every head in the room turned. Neji's included.

"Settle down," the instructor said.

"We have a transfer student joining the class. Please welcome him." Transfer student. Into the graduating class. Neji's eyes narrowed slightly. That wasn't how it was supposed to work. The boy stepped forward. He stood with easy posture, nothing forced about it, and smiled at the room.

"Hello. My name is Sai. Nice to meet everyone." A small, practiced bow. Neji looked at that smile. He couldn't have said exactly why it bothered him.