Tap! Tap! Tap!
On the stairs leading to the third floor, Haruno Sakura walked at the front by the left-hand railing, Second Pillar followed in the middle of the stairs, while Uzumaki Naruto trudged along by the inner wall at the very back, his shoulders slumped.
Clearly, he had fallen into another one of his own insignificant dead ends.
It seemed Sakura had regained her confidence!
As they walked, Second Pillar could not help glancing at Haruno Sakura ahead of him. From that resolute back, he could no longer see the Sakura who had seemed so troubled.
At the same time, a sense of relief and reassurance crossed his mind.
It was only after entering the Ninja Academy earlier that he had finally figured out why his teammate had been acting so strangely.
The reason she had often acted out of character, especially whenever the Chunin Exams or anything related to them was mentioned, could only be that she had lost confidence in herself and doubted her own strength.
And the reason for that was probably what he had said before.
That she was not even as good as Naruto.
It was then that Second Pillar realized he might have hurt his teammate.
That was why, during the earlier genjutsu Barrier, he had specifically mentioned the areas where she excelled, namely genjutsu and general ninja aptitude.
Now, it seemed the results had been quite good.
In a sense, it was Second Pillar's way of showing concern and apologizing.
"Hey! Dead last, didn't you prepare for the Chunin Exams? I remember making it very clear when we gave up the investigation that you needed to prepare properly. You..."
As that thought crossed his mind, Second Pillar cast a sidelong glance behind him and suddenly spoke.
Huh? Naruto?
Prepare? Hearing that, the