Good Friends of the Opposite Sex

Kagami scolded them, telling them not to do anything underhanded. Juri merely snorted and said she was only asking.

"But as ninjas, we can use any means necessary. As long as the mission succeeds, that's all that matters. If there's a chance it'll work, we should consider every possible method."

"You're not wrong, but it still doesn't feel quite right."

Watching Juri proudly puff out her small chest, Sakumo gave an exasperated smile.

"That's how it is, everyone. I'm counting on you. Well, I have to discuss the Chunin Ninja Exams with Lord Hokage, so I'll be going. I'll leave the money here."

Kagami put down the money for all four of them, then got up to leave.

As you'd expect of a Jonin, he seemed to be doing well financially. Whenever the four of them got together, Kagami usually paid for the meal.

What a lifesaver—this was the heartfelt thought of Diejian, who had the sorrowful duty of "paying tribute" to Tsunade and Ina.

"So, shall we go train for the Chunin Selection Exam?"

"Ahh. I thought this was a meeting about our next mission, so I made other plans afterward... Sorry!"

Diejian tossed the dessert into his mouth, washed it down with a gulp of water, and suggested the three of them train together.

But Sakumo declined apologetically and hurriedly left his seat.

Stunned by that unexpectedly quick response, Diejian watched Sakumo go, then muttered forlornly, "What the..."

That guy's been so inconsiderate lately, Diejian thought, turning his gaze to Juri, who was uninvolved and poking at her dessert with a toothpick.

For some reason, the one who had grown close to Juri wasn't Diejian, despite all their entanglements. It was Sakumo.

Compared to how badly they'd gotten along at first, Juri was actually closest to Sakumo.

"Juri, do you know something?"

"Hmph. Of course I do. We're teammates, after all. Oh? Don't tell me you don't know, Senju? You don't know about this? You really don't? Fuhaha, fuhaha, fuhaha!"

Just as expected, Juri leaned back and looked down at Diejian, laughing at him.

Tormented day and night by the regret of having his best friend stolen away, and the frustration of being beaten by Juri—who treated him so poorly—and by the friend who'd gotten close to her first, Diejian was at a loss for words in the face of Juri's smug laughter.

"Well, if you really want to know, I suppose I could tell you."

Juri had laughed so hard she was out of breath. With a wicked grin on her face, tears welled up at the corners of her eyes.

Before the irritated Diejian could refuse, Juri seemed to decide on her own that he wanted to know. Her clever lips moved as she said, "You really are useless. No wonder you're a Senju."

Diejian narrowed his eyes in resignation.

"Is this really okay? Doing something like this?"

"Senju, don't act like some goody-goody now. You're clearly into this, so don't give me that crap, idiot."

Diejian and Juri crouched under the shade of a tree, whispering and keeping out of sight.

Diejian used the stealth technique Tobirama had taught him over the past two years, while Juri used the one Kagami had taught her. Together, they kept a close eye on their target.

The target's thick silver hair swayed as he glanced now and then toward the clock tower, dressed in long sleeves and pants despite the sweltering heat.

"Is she really coming? What if this is a trick?"

"Hmph. Men who can't accept reality are so pathetic. Are you really that upset that Sakumo beat you to it?"

Juri's comment annoyed Diejian, but it was true, so he had no answer.

"Hey, Senju, looks like she's here."

"Let me see. Oh? Is that..."

A girl ran toward the silver-haired boy—Sakumo.

Her white dress stood out against the bright midsummer sunlight, and her face was made up as if she were heading into battle.

She was a girl from the Inuzuka Clan, a fellow member of Diejian's class.

"Those two... Are they, are they in that kind of relationship?"

To sum up the rumor Juri had casually spread earlier, it was that "spring had come for Hatake Sakumo."

Learning that his friend was rapidly climbing the ladder to adulthood, Diejian couldn't hide his shock. He'd followed them using stealth techniques to find out the truth.

"Why didn't he talk to me about it...?"

"Are you stupid? If he told you, you'd spill it to Yamanaka Ina, and then you'd both come running over to stick your noses in. Have some self-awareness."

Juri snorted and said that was what Sakumo had told her.

Diejian realized she was right and nodded.

But why would he talk to Juri about it? Diejian felt a crushing sense of defeat and scratched his head hard.

Seeing Diejian's flustered expression, Juri's face twisted with wicked delight, as if to say, "This is exactly what I wanted to see." She covered her mouth, trying to stifle her laughter.

Watching Sakumo and the girl smile at each other and say, "Sorry to keep you waiting," and "I just got here," Diejian trembled. "You've got to be kidding me! What is this, some cliché scene?!"

Desperately trying to convince himself he wasn't jealous, Diejian looked so pathetic that Juri found it even harder to hold back her laughter.

"Hey, Senju, they're moving."

As soon as Sakumo and the girl started walking, Juri tapped Diejian on the head with her fist.

Ignoring Diejian's cry of "Ow!", Juri followed them from a short distance away.

"Sakumo... Where are you going? Take me with you, too..."

"Fuhahaha! Your friend beat you to it! How pathetic!"

"You're one to talk."

Diejian calmly shot back at Juri's taunting, and his words seemed to hit harder than she expected.

As if she'd only just realized it, Juri's gaze wandered. She began muttering something about how, if she wanted to, she could get one or two guys... Her thoughts drifted elsewhere.

Finding that disturbing, Diejian quietly put some distance between himself and Juri.

"Hey, they turned the corner. We'll lose them."

Diejian and Juri picked up the pace a little to catch up with Sakumo and the girl as they rounded the corner.

But when they turned the corner, Sakumo and the girl had already disappeared.

"They're gone... They noticed us..."

"Yeah. That's my friend, all right."

Far away from the two who regretted their failure, Sakumo wearily pressed a hand to his forehead.

"So that's what happened."

"Oooh!! That's so youthful!!!"

"You always say that, don't you? Well, it is pretty youthful."

"Thanks for the encouragement!!"

At the Training Ground in the afternoon.

After finishing their sparring match, Diejian and Dai sat on a mat and ate their packed lunches.

Lately, Diejian had always found himself swept along by Dai's boundless enthusiasm, and he naturally smiled.

"Well, it's best not to get involved in other people's love lives. You could get kicked by a horse."

"I didn't think I'd ever hear something so sensible from you, Dai."

Diejian blinked in surprise, while Dai laughed at having shown his friend a new side of himself, his enthusiasm at its peak.

But Dai's words made sense.

Maybe I got a little carried away, Diejian thought. He smiled at Dai, planning to apologize another time.

Dai gave him a thumbs-up and said, "Yeah!", his enthusiasm a little too much for a summer afternoon.

As Diejian packed up his empty lunchbox, an unfamiliar figure approached him.

Diejian raised his head in puzzlement and saw a girl he didn't recognize standing there.

She was so slender she looked as though she might melt into the summer sky. She wore a straw hat, and her skirt fluttered in the breeze.

Watching her long eyelashes tremble slightly, Diejian let out an admiring breath. "She looks like she stepped out of a painting."

"Rei! What's up!!"

"Wait, Dai, you know her?"

The girl, who seemed to carry a faint air of melancholy, was apparently someone Dai knew.

Dai was exuberant to the extreme; Rei was delicate to the extreme.

Diejian had never imagined those two together. He stared blankly, comparing them.

"Here. You forgot this."

"Oh! Thanks!!"

"And your lunchbox. I'll take it back."

Rei's voice was as soft as a whisper, while Dai shouted at the top of his lungs.

It seemed Rei had brought Dai a change of clothes. She took a green leotard out of her basket.

Dai took the leotard and handed Rei his empty lunchbox, giving her a thumbs-up. "It was really good!"

What in the world was going on? Unable to hide his confusion, Diejian asked Dai how the two of them were connected, bracing himself for the worst.

"We're relatives and childhood friends!!"

"I made his lunch."

No way.

You've got to be kidding.

It can't be...!

Diejian tried to deny reality in his mind, but he could almost hear Juri saying, "You're the idiot."

Crushed, Diejian fell to his knees, trembling with defeat.

First, he'd found out that Sakumo—someone he'd looked down on and underestimated—was actually quite popular. Now even Dai, whom he'd assumed was just another training-obsessed idiot, had a girl he was that close to. Diejian couldn't help feeling shaken.

"Uwoooooooo!"

Diejian let out a desperate howl and fled the Training Ground at incredible speed, leaving his lunchbox behind.

"W-what's wrong?"

"I don't know."

"Is that so! Has Diejian finally understood what youth is all about?! In that case, I'm going to run around the village fifty times on my hands!"

Rei's quiet murmur, "I don't think that's it," failed to reach Dai as he ran off after Diejian.

"So that's what happened..."

"Then why did you come to me?! You're in the way!"

After fleeing the Training Ground, Diejian somehow ended up at the Hokage residence.

Tobirama was reviewing documents about the Chunin Selection Exam. He blinked when Diejian suddenly flung open the door and barged in.

After hearing what had happened, Tobirama thought it was a trivial matter.

Why make such a fuss over a woman? That was his take.

"Why don't you go see the Yamanaka Clan's daughter?"

"Ina's working..."

"So am I! I'm Hokage! I'm busy!"

As if grasping at a lifeline, Diejian clutched the hem of Tobirama's Hokage robe and dragged him along.

Completely speechless at his disciple acting like a spoiled child, Tobirama kept saying, "You're in the way, you're in the way."

"You could go see Monkey, too!"

"Big Brother and Miss Biwako are nowhere to be found. And Monkey already has a woman."

"Are you saying I'm the only one without a woman...? Hey, Kagami, do something!"

Tobirama asked Kagami, who happened to be there, for help, but Kagami just laughed and stayed put.

He seemed to find Diejian's behavior fascinating.

Kagami was hiding it from Diejian and Juri, but he also had a woman he was close to.

He probably thought that if he got too involved, he'd get dragged into the mess.

"With all this noise, we can't even talk. Kagami, come here!"

"Yes, sir."

Unable to put up with his utterly disrespectful disciple any longer, Tobirama swiftly took off his Hokage robe.

He touched Kagami's shoulder as he approached and used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport away, leaving Diejian to yell in frustration, "Damn it!"

"So that's what happened..."

"Why did that make you come looking for me? I'm going out with Jiraiya and the others today, so I can't."

When Diejian returned home, he stopped Tsunade just as she was about to leave.

Her limbs were starting to lengthen, and she wore a cool, easy-to-move-in kimono. A shawl covered her thin chest, which was slightly exposed.

Seeing that familiar outfit, Diejian realized she was imitating Ina.

Her brother had rarely come to her for comfort, hoping she'd spend time with him, and Tsunade's heart wavered a little. But she'd arranged to meet her friends today long ago.

If it were only Jiraiya, she might have been able to make an exception, but she'd promised to meet other classmates, too. She couldn't back out.

Diejian understood that. He wasn't the kind of pathetic older brother who'd say, "Come on, make an exception!"

He slumped into a chair, dejectedly hanging his head.

Tsunade watched him and gave a helpless smile.

"Huh...?"

Tsunade gently lifted Diejian's chin with her fingertip.

The next moment, Diejian felt something soft and warm against his forehead.

It was Tsunade's lips touching his forehead.

"Hehe. Maybe next time!"

Tsunade blushed shyly and gave Diejian a smile as radiant as a sunflower.

"See you later!" she said to the still-dazed Diejian, then hurriedly ran out of the house.

It was wonderful to have a little sister. Warmth filled Diejian's chest as he savored a happiness that felt almost heavenly.

"Senju, you jerk! Why didn't you come to me?!"

"Huh? Why?"

Still basking in the satisfaction of Tsunade's concern, Diejian strolled along a road in Konohagakure, grinning.

Even when the people around him looked at him from a distance as if he disgusted them, he didn't care.

Just then, a beautiful girl with glossy black twin tails appeared in front of him.

Smack. Diejian gently pushed aside the fingertip pointed at him.

Juri looked annoyed, the corner of her mouth twitching, but Diejian only tilted his head.

Juri's point was simple, yet hard to understand. Put as briefly as possible, it was: "If you're looking for a girl you're close to, isn't there one right here?"

But given Juri's personality, she would never say something like that to Diejian.

Even if Diejian really went to Juri, she'd probably just laugh at him loudly and leave it at that.

Diejian was sure that was how it would go, so he hadn't turned to Juri for help.

In fact, Juri had been looking forward to it, excitedly imagining that if Diejian came running to her in tears, she could tell him, "You're no friend of mine!"

Where had Juri gotten the news that Diejian had gone on a rampage? That was an interesting question. In any case, she'd assumed he would come crying to her.

And what had happened? Diejian was strolling around in the hot afternoon, looking perfectly cheerful.

Overcome by an indescribable sense of defeat, Juri ran up to Diejian without even wiping away the sweat streaming down her face.

"Why? I mean... never mind... N-never mind! You idiot!"

"Huh?"

She'd rushed over, but didn't know what to say to Diejian, so Juri tried to bluff her way through by shouting.

She was trying to force her way through on sheer attitude. Diejian narrowed his eyes helplessly.

Perhaps his expression frightened her. "W-what are you looking at, you jerk?" Juri pulled back half her body, her eyes darting around.

"Ugh, forget it! I hope you trip and hit your head!"

"What was that about?"

Diejian watched, dumbfounded, as Juri turned and ran off. Then he pulled himself together and headed for a shaved-ice stall.

"So that's what happened..."

"So I'm the last one? Hey, isn't that a little weird?"

"What's weird about it?"

Ina sat in a chair, propping herself up with her elbow on the desk.

After finishing his shaved ice, Diejian had made his way to Ina's family's flower shop before sunset.

He hadn't set out to come here in the first place. He'd just been walking, and then suddenly he'd found himself here—that was how it had happened.

Ina's older sister—the "former" poster girl of the Yamanaka Flower Shop, who would fly into a rage if she heard herself called that—welcomed Diejian, so he went inside.

Ina's room was as neat as a girl's should be. Compared with Diejian's room, which was close to a dump, they weren't even in the same league.

Diejian had his Shadow Clones clean on a regular basis, but he was the sort of man who couldn't keep things tidy. Even his Shadow Clones would give up cleaning and bury themselves in books. He was that hopeless.

The only time he ever cleaned was the day before Ina came over.

"Haah..."

At Diejian's response, Ina wearily pressed a hand to her forehead.

Diejian awkwardly scratched his head, wondering if he'd done something wrong, and Ina let out a long sigh.

In the summer heat, her hair was cut short. The clip she used to hold down her slightly grown-out bangs was a cheap everyday one, its color somewhat worn.

"But now that I think about it, it's surprising. She was a really gloomy girl when she was at the facility."

"Oh, you mean Juri?"

"Yeah. She'd hardly respond when you talked to her, and when she did, she acted all high and mighty. Back then, she even badmouthed popular Diejian."

"Don't say 'back then.'"

"Well, those days were tough too." Ina smiled.

Back then, Juri had been the only one who disliked seeing Diejian fawned over as the "Young Master and next Lord Hokage."

Ina didn't say so outright, but Juri had been a little like a bullied kid.

To Ina, who knew Diejian well, some of the things Juri said about him had made her want to nod and admit, "He can be like that." But to the girls who only shrieked their support for Diejian, those comments were deeply unpleasant.

On top of that, Juri was pretty enough to attract the boys' attention, and when she did speak, she was haughty. Naturally, she didn't make many friends.

As the leader among the girls, Ina had put a stop to the more underhanded behavior, but she couldn't rule out the possibility that something had happened in the shadows without her knowledge.

Even so, Juri had silently endured the slander and insults aimed at her, like a doll.

Ina had thought that was simply the sort of girl Juri was—but now she was like this.

"People really do change. I wonder if someone had an influence on her."

"Maybe."

Diejian nodded with his eyes closed.

Ina crossed her legs and placed both hands on her knees.

Ina didn't know what Diejian was thinking now.

But just as joining Team Six had changed Juri, Diejian was also changing, little by little.

Ina, who had watched Diejian all this time, knew that better than anyone.

"Uchiha Juri," who was so fixated on "Senju."

"Senju Diejian," who watched Juri as an "Uchiha."

Diejian had once told Ina that Juri had something in common with her.

When Ina heard that, she'd thought, "Juri and Diejian are like two sides of the same coin."

And now, "Uchiha Juri" and "Senju Diejian" were crossing the boundaries between their clans and nurturing a friendship that belonged simply to "Juri" and "Diejian."

Ina had noticed how Diejian said that name more and more often, casually and without thinking.

It was all right to feel a little uneasy, wasn't it? Ina smiled sadly to herself and glanced at the dried flowers hanging on the wall.

They were the flowers Diejian had given her.

And she wasn't the only one who had received flowers like these.

There was someone else. Ina remembered what had happened two years ago.

Juri had once come to the Yamanaka Flower Shop.

It was around the time the Genin promotion exams had ended and Team Six had just taken on its first mission.

Juri had held a brand-new vase filled with clean water.

But the flower inside was a rose on the verge of wilting, with only a few petals left.

No matter how much she watered it or added fertilizer, its once-vibrant color wouldn't return. Wearing the lost expression of a child who'd wandered off, Juri had come to Ina.

Ina happened to be minding the shop, and by nature, she couldn't bring herself to treat Juri harshly.

A wilted flower couldn't be restored.

Then at least, she wanted to preserve the memory.

Juri's wish to bring the flower back to life couldn't be granted, and it was already too late to turn it into a dried flower the way Ina did.

So Ina suggested preserving one petal as a pressed flower.

Then...

What was that faded flower swaying beside Juri's ear?

And what had the dried flowers decorating this room once been?

Had Diejian noticed?

No. Knowing him...

He probably hadn't. Ina sighed, her heart cold with loneliness, certain of it.

"Come to think of it, you've kept all the flowers I gave you. That makes me happy. They're really beautiful."

Diejian smiled at the dried flowers on the wall.

As if he'd hit a nerve, Ina's body gave a sudden start right then.

The dried flowers hanging on the wall were a keepsake of precious memories for Ina.

And Diejian had called them "really beautiful."

As Ina sat dazed, her thoughts roiling inside her, Diejian seemed to suddenly remember something and pulled a small object from his clothes.

"I bought this at a stall before coming here. For some reason, I felt like buying it."

In Diejian's hand was a pink hair clip carved with a bush clover.

Ina drew in a sharp breath. With Diejian's relentless series of advances, she felt some kind of emotional meter rising rapidly.

"Honestly, you..."

As if she couldn't help herself, Ina let out a long sigh.

Diejian furrowed his brow, confused by her unexpected reaction.

The sun slowly sank.

Brown light streamed in through the window, bathing Ina's room in gold.

Diejian's profile—and his shadow—fell across the wall of Ina's room.

As Ina quietly drew closer, Diejian felt a slight tremor of uncertainty. Their silhouettes overlapped.