Uchiha Shuri's Reluctance

Their conversation started the same way it always did: with a noisy argument.

Shuri refused to listen to reason, Sakumo got angry at her attitude, and Diejian tried to smooth things over.

The endless arguing had even left Diejian exhausted, but if he gave up here, his dream of becoming a Genin would be over.

He told himself to stay calm, stay calm, and formed a hand seal.

"Uchiha Shuri. Diejian saved you. Can't you even say thank you?"

"Hmph. If the Senju are willing to withdraw from this exam, I might even grant you a 'thank you.' Well? What do you say?"

"Still talking back..."

Unable to take it anymore, Sakumo stepped forward, making no effort to hide his anger, and reached for Shuri's collar.

A friend of the Senju was an enemy.

As the saying went, hate the house and its crow—Shuri seemed to think she'd "won" by provoking Sakumo into anger. An irrepressible smile spread across her face.

Shuri lifted her skirt and pulled three short rods from the straps around her thigh.

The three rods danced deftly in her hands, quickly joining together into a long staff. She pointed its tip at Sakumo.

The tension was about to erupt—

"Here."

"Wow, thank you."

It was Diejian speaking.

Shuri answered without thinking, then froze at what she'd done.

Between Sakumo and Shuri, who stood facing off—

An arm suddenly slipped between them.

In his hand was a rose.

Diejian held out a fresh, beautiful rose to Shuri.

Seeing the rose before her, Shuri's rhythm and the tense atmosphere thrown off, she couldn't help feeling honestly pleased for a moment.

Watching Shuri fluster, her face turning red and then pale, Sakumo's shoulders slumped as if all the fight had gone out of him.

"You! Senju! That's dirty—!!!"

As if to get back at him for ruining her rhythm, Shuri swung her arm at Diejian.

Diejian looked a little sad. Shuri followed his gaze in confusion and saw the rose in her hand, on the verge of falling apart.

If she brought her fist down like that, the petals would surely scatter.

Reluctantly, Shuri slowly lowered her raised arm, trembling slightly. She looked awkward and unsure what to do.

"I don't want it!"

After several moments of indecision, Shuri pushed the rose back toward Diejian.

Diejian accepted it with a smile and tucked it into a lock of Shuri's hair.

"Don't just touch me whenever you want, Senju!!"

Shuri knocked Diejian's hand away with her staff and stepped back to put some distance between them, but the red rose remained in her hair.

In the dead of night, when everyone was asleep.

Konohagakure, the Hokage's residence.

Two figures moved in the dim office, where candlelight flickered.

They were the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, and Kagami Uchiha, the Jonin in charge of Team Six.

"So, how did it go?"

"Honestly, I don't think they have much hope. Diejian does have a pretty strong sense of teamwork, though. The problem is the other two... or rather, my little sister."

Tobirama gave a thoughtful "Hmm..." as he watched Kagami answer wearily.

But if Diejian couldn't even manage one Uchiha, then in the end, nothing had changed.

If Diejian lacked the capacity for it, Tobirama would simply reject him this time.

The test for Diejian, Shuri, and Sakumo ended with none of them managing to take a bell from Kagami.

Sakumo, Diejian, and Shuri had each acted on their own, never showing any teamwork to the very end. Kagami was disappointed, but still held on to a little hope for Diejian's efforts.

He'd originally planned to fail them immediately if they abandoned Shuri even once while she was caught in a genjutsu. But no matter how badly Shuri treated him, Diejian never abandoned her.

At this point, Kagami, as her older brother, felt apologetic for the way he'd treated his hopeless little sister.

He felt deeply sorry that his sister had caused Diejian and Sakumo to fail.

Kagami begged Tobirama to wait until tomorrow to make his decision.

"No. Rules are rules. I already said this, didn't I? Diejian is the next head of the Senju. If he can't even manage this level of teamwork, he can't fulfill his duties. It means he still lacks the capacity for it."

It was a strange sight: Kagami Uchiha defending Diejian Senju, while Tobirama Senju scolded him.

Ignoring Kagami's plea, Tobirama raised his hand, ready to stamp Diejian's file with "Rejected."

In an instant, the sound of shattering glass and footsteps rang out beyond the door.

The "Rejected" stamp rolled to the ground, and the air in the room suddenly turned cold.

"What is it?!"

"Are we under attack?"

"What are the guards doing? How did the enemy get in here... Monkey!"

Tobirama sprang to his feet, drew a kunai, and rushed toward the door.

The hallway was eerily silent.

He gathered chakra to sense his surroundings and felt someone nearby.

As he approached, he saw Sarutobi Hiruzen, covered in blood, slumped against the wall.

"Monkey! What happened? How could someone of your skill be taken down so easily...?"

Tobirama lifted Hiruzen, who had gone limp from his injuries.

It seemed he'd only passed out. Tobirama let out a relieved breath.

But the next second, he sensed someone approaching from behind.

Was it the ninja who took down Monkey...?

Tobirama deliberately kept his back turned and waited. The ninja took the bait and lunged at him from behind.

Tobirama spun around at once, using the momentum to try to stab his attacker with the kunai—

"Not so fast!!"

"You! Diejian?"

As Hiruzen—no, Diejian, who had transformed into him—grabbed his arm, Tobirama stopped in astonishment.

Then the intruder who'd lunged from behind—correction, Uchiha Shuri—wrapped both arms around one of Tobirama's legs and desperately tried to keep him from moving.

Tobirama could have dealt with Diejian and Shuri easily if he'd truly wanted to. But the enemy invasion had turned into a children's prank, and his anger was shifting in a different direction. That was what created the "opening."

Taking advantage of it, Sakumo slipped into the Hokage's office.

The moment Kagami saw Shuri, he seemed to understand what was going on and decided to let it play out.

Sakumo began opening the drawers of the Hokage's desk one by one, searching for the "Pass" stamp.

Yes—the members of Team Six had somehow decided, "If we can't get the bells, why not just stamp ourselves as having passed?" And so they'd decided to raid the Hokage's residence.

Shuri, easily persuaded to come along on the pretext of attacking the Senju, and Sakumo, eager to test his skills, had both fallen for Diejian's plan. Now the files of Team Six had been stamped "Passed"—

"You lot know what the consequences will be, don't you...?"

An expression like a demon's appeared on Tobirama's face as he held two of his teammates, silenced by force, in either hand.

Sakumo realized what awaited him. Kagami watched the rose swaying in his sister's hair and smiled at the three of them, thinking, That was some fine teamwork.