"Sasuke? Is that Sasuke?"
Neji Hyuga and Hyuga Hinata set off in one direction. Behind Second Pillar, who had been about to head forward without knowing which way to go, came a voice carrying both hesitation and surprise.
"S-Sakura?"
Hearing that voice, Second Pillar instinctively turned around. Reflected in his scarlet eyes was a Pink-haired Girl. In the faint light, seeing the mingled surprise and joy on her fair face, he instinctively spoke.
Yet at the end of his words, he could not help adding a question mark.
"Yeah."
However, although the Pink-haired Girl—Haruno Sakura—wore an expression of mingled surprise and joy, she did not rush over in delight. Instead, she hesitantly stopped several meters away, looked at Second Pillar, and gently nodded.
Then, silence fell between them.
It seemed neither of them dared to move forward.
"Ninja song, ninja machine."
However, the silence was quickly broken. Haruno Sakura took a deep breath, as if making up her mind. She quietly drew a kunai from the small of her back, assumed a guarded battle stance, and spoke in a low voice.
"When the enemy is in turmoil, that is the time to infiltrate. A quiet place is not a hiding place. The most important thing for a ninja is to seize the moment and know when the enemy will let down their guard."
Second Pillar was initially startled. Then, upon hearing those words, his eyes immediately lit up, and the sentence slipped from his mouth.
It was the code they had agreed upon during the second test.
"Thank goodness! You really are Sasuke!"
Haruno Sakura let out a long breath and spoke with unconscious delight.
At the same time, after saying that, it seemed she had finally cast aside some heavy burden. She jogged over.
*Sakura... she really has grown