The Two of Them Took Another Step Forward

The Sharingan.

A Kekkei Genkai passed down through the Uchiha Clan.

It granted its wielder the Dojutsu Power to read, memorize, and replicate an enemy's movements.

The flow of Chakra within the body not only enhanced dynamic vision but also boosted physical abilities themselves.

Its ability to mimic an enemy's techniques by copying their Hand Seals made it a feared Dojutsu among ninja who possessed secret techniques.

"But my Lava Style is a Kekkei Genkai—you can't steal it!"

In a lush forest, Juri and Dodai faced off.

Kekkei Genkai of the nature-transformation type were abilities that could only be wielded by so-called "geniuses," who were born with two or more nature transformations.

Even the Sharingan couldn't use them.

So, on one side were the Sharingan and a "deadweight," while on the other were a Lava Release user and a Water Release user.

With Tsugima unable to move, the situation was overwhelmingly unfavorable, but Juri smiled as if she couldn't be happier.

"Ah... this is wonderful. I can feel it... I can see it... the color of your Chakra, its fluctuations."

With an excited, breathless voice, Juri pressed a hand to her cheek in a beguiling gesture.

Tsugima's mouth twitched.

To Dodai and the others facing them, the "Uchiha" were terrifying.

But to Tsugima, Juri before him was terrifying in another way.

Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger—the Hand Seals were formed at a dizzying speed.

Dodai tried to flee with the Kirigakure Genin, but the eye Tsugima had taken from him seemed to start hurting, and he lost his balance for an instant.

The Kirigakure Genin hurriedly began forming Hand Seals.

Juri finished hers a moment earlier. She drew a deep breath, then leaned back.

"Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu!"

"Water Release: Water Wall!"

The flames pouring from Juri's mouth grew larger before their eyes.

The flames she had steadily built up swelled into a massive fireball, more than large enough to swallow a person, and bore down on Dodai and the others.

The Kirigakure Genin countered with Water Release.

A huge mass of fire collided with the wall of water.

The enemy seemed to have poured a considerable amount of Chakra into it. The water wall was thick and enormous.

"You dared look down on the Uchiha... no—you dared look down on me!"

—A deafening crash.

After a brief standoff, the fireball shattered the water wall.

The spray turned to steam.

"Juri actually broke through Water Release head-on with Fire Release..."

Even for Tsugima, breaking through Water Release with Fire Release was difficult.

Unless there was an overwhelming gap in strength, it was almost impossible.

Tsugima was at a loss for words.

"I'm Juri, a Konoha Genin—the Sharingan's Juri."

She declared herself to Dodai and the others, who had been blown away by the shock wave.

Through the swirling smoke, Juri stood calmly, her hair fluttering in the wind. Tsugima couldn't take his eyes off her.

With her back to him, Juri glanced over her shoulder and flashed him a cool, confident smile.

That look, as if to say "no need to explain," was her answer to Tsugima.

Tsugima smiled wryly, thinking, She really holds a grudge, as Juri answered with action for all his repeated failures.

"After all that, I can't just keep quiet. That wouldn't be very manly."

Tsugima got to his feet. His steps were unsteady, but he couldn't show weakness.

He shoved every bit of ninja food he could find—Military Ration Pills, Blood Replenishment Pills, and the like—into his mouth, focusing on the flow of Chakra within him and his "tenketsu."

Even if it meant pushing himself too hard, Tsugima had to stand beside her now.

Letting Juri make up for every mistake he'd made would be a matter of pride.

"Be careful. That guy's short sword is coated with a slow-acting poison."

Tsugima leaned close to Juri's ear from behind and whispered.

He pretended not to notice her slight shiver at the breath brushing against her ear, and continued.

"My Katsuyu won't make it in time to treat you. Listen: one hit, and it's over."

"I'm not going to make such a rookie mistake. Right, Senju?"

"That's easy for you to say..."

Tsugima's mouth twitched as a slick smile appeared on Juri's face.

Juri raised her staff, while Tsugima drew his Kunai.

His body still wouldn't obey him, so they'd probably have to let Juri take the lead while he supported her.

Tsugima glanced at Juri standing beside him.

Those bright, gleaming crimson eyes were proof of the Uchiha Clan.

At that moment, Tsugima and Juri—Senju and Uchiha—stood side by side.

Tsugima understood what that meant.

Deep behind eyes that stung as if he were on the verge of tears, and deep within a body that seemed ready to tremble, an explosive flow of Chakra seared his soul.

"Juri. We're Senju and... Uchiha. I imagine you have your own thoughts about that, but I'm counting on you in this fight."

"I have no intention of getting close to a Senju."

As if reliving a moment from the past, their eyes met.

Her voice was so clear, it sounded like she was reciting a poem.

"Even if you say you don't want to get close... we're a team of two now. You could say our fates are bound together."

"Hmph... that makes me sick."

Juri shot a glance at the man beside her and poked him in the throat with her staff, thunk, thunk.

Yet, contrary to her words and actions, a gentle smile lingered on Juri's face.

And Tsugima was the same.

It was a long, difficult road.

He'd never expected it would take nearly dying for them to get along. It was a surprise.

It was a relief that the Jonin assigned to the "Uchiha" was such a kind person.

Pushed by Dai, Sakumo had silently become a guiding light, while Tobirama had given them many trials in the hope that his students would grow.

Even when she wasn't there, the warmth Tsugima received from Ina stayed by his side.

To say he felt uneasy inside—

That would be a terrible lie.

"But—"

Juri drew her staff back and glanced at Tsugima through her narrow eyes.

Juri lightly flicked her earring with a fingernail, catching Tsugima's attention.

"—I'm willing to hear what a 'friend' has to say. I don't care what happens to the Senju, but I don't want 'Tsugima's' position to suffer."

During the Genin advancement exam, Tsugima had asked Juri about her ambition.

At the time, Tsugima had felt a kinship with Juri, who carried on her clan's dream in her own way.

And from the bottom of his soul, he'd wanted to praise that dream.

So, when the Hokage's residence was attacked, Tsugima had planned to ask Tobirama to make Juri and Sakumo Genin in exchange for returning to the facility himself, and had acted on that assumption.

Looking back, perhaps Tsugima had been mistaken from the start.

Someone had once said that a ninja's true calling was self-sacrifice.

Tsugima had once considered that a virtue, too.

But the exam had called for no self-sacrifice, nor had it needed any.

What it called for was the judgment to choose unity in the face of an unreasonable situation, and a heart that cared for one's fellow villagers.

What was needed was the ability to restrain the fear of being disqualified and the selfish desire to become a Genin—both of them together, a truly noble "resolve to endure."

If a mission was completed by a team of familiar comrades, perhaps none of that was necessary.

But that wasn't always the case.

Even among people from the same village, there might be those you'd never even met.

When teamed up with someone like that and facing mortal danger, could you still think of your comrade? This was by no means an exam that asked, "I'm going to die, so you should run."

Back then, Juri had revealed the "truth of her heart" in the form of her dream.

But Tsugima had failed to reveal his own "truth of the heart" to Juri, who, awkward as she was, had tried to face him head-on.

There was only one thing left for Tsugima to do.

He had to share the sentiment he'd put off for far too long—the "first and last" of its kind.

So they could put an end to their misunderstandings and become comrades who could truly face each other as equals.

"Juri, my dream is—"

"Tsugima, there's a Kunai at two o'clock. The Kirigakure Ninja seem to be trying to fall back and pierce us with Water Release. The real one's using Stealth Technique, and the Shadow Clone's drawing us in. Take him out."

"Understood."

Tsugima deflected a Kunai in the mist.

Juri's Sharingan spun in every direction, missing none of the enemy's movements, even through the mist.

"Shadow Clone Technique."

Tsugima gave the task of drawing out the enemy to the Shadow Clone he created, while he used Stealth Technique to suppress his presence.

The Shadow Clone ran off, making a sound that wasn't too conspicuous, while Tsugima followed quietly.

The moment the enemy's Water Release struck the Shadow Clone head-on and it vanished with a bang, Tsugima shot toward the caster like a gale.

Dodai seemed to realize Tsugima's intent and tried to block his way with a Lava Style: Wall, but Juri's Sharingan, which could sense Chakra, wouldn't let him.

But Dodai was an excellent ninja, too.

The mist kept him from using Genjutsu, but the Sharingan could see the color of Chakra, so Dodai's movements were clear as day to Juri.

Even so, Dodai, badly wounded and wrapped in Rubber Armor, held his ground against Juri and refused to give way.

"Got you. Fire Release: Twin Dragon Flame Bombs!"

Tsugima sensed the Kirigakure Genin within his own field of sensory perception—the Domain.

His heightened emotions shook his soul, granting Tsugima a new Fire Release Ninjutsu.

Two flames burst from his pursed lips, closing in from both sides to block the Kirigakure Genin's escape.

The fire dragons gouged the ground with their jaws, and an explosion rang out.

The Kirigakure Genin reflexively jumped backward, both feet leaving the ground.

In that instant of suspended air, Tsugima seized his opening, released his Chakra all at once, and poured even more of it into his legs.

"Gah..."

The Kirigakure Genin took Tsugima's headbutt to the stomach and flew backward, spitting blood.

Tsugima circled behind the airborne Kirigakure Genin and caught him.

But there was nothing gentle about the way he caught him. He simply stuck out one arm, clumsily.

Using Tsugima's arm as a pivot, the Kirigakure Genin's body bent backward into a U-shape.

Bones creaked, and the Kirigakure Genin rolled his eyes back and spat blood.

"That was... Body... Flicker? Too... fast..."

Tsugima laid the unconscious Kirigakure Genin on the ground.

He began searching the man's body for a scroll, but noticed his body's build and let out an awkward sigh.

"To stab with it is a spear, to swing it is a naginata, and to hold it is a sword... It's incredible how well you can use it."

The scene shifted to Juri and Dodai.

Dodai tilted his head to evade a thrust, ducked to avoid the staff swinging down, then swept out with a kick.

Juri planted her staff in the ground to block the kick, then used it as a pivot to deliver a spinning knee strike.

It was in the perfect position to crush Dodai's head—but Dodai pushed his body up with the force of his hands pressing against the ground, then arced over Juri.

Faced with a staff technique that changed at will, Dodai fled into the air, where he couldn't move—Juri used the momentum of her spin to pull her staff from the ground and swing it.

Its crescent-shaped arc could have sliced a body in two if it had been a sword.

Dodai formed Hand Seals in midair and spat a rubber membrane from his mouth to protect himself.

But the force of the resilient staff couldn't be completely stopped. Wrapped in rubber, Dodai was sent flying into the distance.

"Don't think you can escape!"

Juri rapidly formed Hand Seals and unleashed Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique.

Smaller than the last one and therefore faster, the fireball chased after Dodai.

With a booming explosion, the flames scattered and vanished into the mist.

"Oh?"

"You can even block that, Uchiha!"

Dodai used a Rubber Wall as a springboard to leap, then launched an all-out attack with a high-speed movement that even used the Body Flicker Technique.

The wound Tsugima had inflicted on his foot played a large part in his ability to defend against it.

With no way to recover, Dodai once again felt the disadvantage of a prolonged battle firsthand.

"Pierce him!"

The flexible, writhing staff finally won the clash with Dodai, slamming its tip into his solar plexus.

Even the rubber membrane couldn't completely absorb the impact.

Dotō exhaled all the air in his lungs and skidded across the ground.

His breathing ragged, Dotō forced himself to his feet, enduring the pain in his solar plexus. The mist around him began to dissipate.

Dotō understood what it meant and lowered his head in regret.

"Looks like our partners are taken care of. You'd better prepare yourself, too."

The mist cleared. Juri stood at the front, and Tsumema at the back.

Trapped with no way out, Dotō glanced at the Kirigakure Genin slung over Tsumema's shoulder.

"Did I lose...?"

Katsuyu continued treating Tsumema's injuries.

He was far from fully recovered, but now that Tsumema—whose skills surpassed the Kirigakure Genin's—and Juri, with her Sharingan, had him caught between them, there was no way to turn the tables.

He might have managed to take one of them down with him.

But this was the Chunin Ninja Exams, not a mission to die for.

Even so, there was no guarantee they wouldn't kill him just like this.

Dotō set his scroll on the ground, signaling that he hoped they would let him go.

"It might not even be real. Kill him and take the scroll!"

"Stop, Juri. That's enough."

"Tsumema, why?!"

"This is an exam, not a fight to the death. Besides, I owe him one for what happened earlier. Konoha Ninja don't stoop to dirty tricks. Sorry about this. Take this guy with you, too."

He meant the negotiation in which Dotō had given his name, only for Tsumema to attack before he could finish speaking.

It had been dishonorable. Even when dealing with an enemy, Tsumema didn't want to do something like that.

Tsumema stepped back, and Dotō moved one step closer to him. Juri, meanwhile, stepped forward.

As they shifted positions while keeping their distance, Juri retrieved the scroll.

After confirming that Juri and Tsumema weren't attacking, Dotō hoisted the Kirigakure Genin onto his back and vanished from the area with the Body Flicker Technique.

"Juri!"

The sudden death match, the excessive use of her Sharingan, and the widespread use of ninjutsu—

Juri had exhausted her Chakra. As soon as she saw Dotō flee, she lost consciousness.

Tsumema rushed to Juri as she staggered, caught her slender body, and gently stroked her dirt-covered cheek.

Her eyes drooped and her lips relaxed as she slept, making him smile despite himself.

"Thanks for all your hard work."

He scooped the peacefully sleeping forest beauty into his arms and smiled at her.

But Tsumema's injuries had been far worse than Juri's to begin with.

Katsuyu's treatment and the boost from Chakra Release had kept him going, but he couldn't maintain it forever.

"Haah... This doesn't bode well."

They'd managed to take care of things thanks to Juri, but their very first fight had been against an opponent like that.

Thinking that there were people of that caliber all over the place made Tsumema feel nothing but weary.

Tsumema sighed and vanished from the area.

"Mm..."

"Are you awake, Juri? Here, have some water."

"Sorry."

Still groggy with sleep, Juri accepted a tube made from a piece of whittled wood.

The water inside sloshed—the forest's bounty.

The cold water moistened her throat and cleared her head.

"What happened to me after that?"

"You slept for a day and a half. You overused your Sharingan and wore yourself out."

She'd kept pouring Chakra into her newly awakened Sharingan so she could search for enemies in the mist.

After the exams, they should ask Tsumema's grandmother, Mito Uzumaki, to give her a checkup.

Tobirama had told them that overusing the next stage of the Sharingan—the Mangekyō Sharingan—could lead to blindness.

Even with an ordinary Sharingan, it couldn't hurt to be careful.

Juri agreed to the checkup, returned the empty tube to Tsumema, and let out a breath.

"What about the enemy?"

"No problem. I've covered the area with a concealment barrier and set up an alarm barrier, too. I also sent out a few Shadow Clones to patrol, using only a tiny amount of Chakra. We'll know if anyone approaches."

He took a Military Ration Pill from his pouch and handed it to Juri.

With Katsuyu's treatment, the natural recovery from sleep, and the nourishment from medical food, she should be all right for now.

Maybe he was being a little overprotective, but that was more or less how Tobirama had treated Tsumema during their training.

"I see... Sorry."

"For what?"

"I lost consciousness and caused you trouble. I'm useless."

"Don't worry about it. I'm a Shadow Clone. The real me is over there, asleep. I'm about to reach my limit, too, so I'll leave things to you from here."

With a poof, Tsumema disappeared before Juri's eyes.

Juri stared blankly at the spot where he'd vanished, then glanced over at the sleeping real Tsumema.

"Feels like I got the short end of the stick. You, Tsumema..."

She stood and clenched and opened her hands, as if checking how they felt.

She raised and lowered each leg in turn, then rolled her shoulders a few times.

When she opened her closed eyes, her irises were red, each with Two-Tomoe.

Other than the stiffness in her back from sleeping in an uncomfortable position, she felt fine.

The stiffness would probably stop bothering her after a while.

Juri sat beside the sleeping Tsumema and took some portable food from her pouch.

It was a filling ninja meal made by the Konoha Cafeteria.

Bored, Juri nibbled at it in small, squirrel-like bites as she waited for Tsumema to wake up.

"Good morning, Juri."

"It's not morning! You sure slept well!! ...Are you all right now?"

"Yeah, I'm great. The wounds were deep, but it wasn't my first time surviving something brutal. I ate Military Ration Pills, Blood Replenishment Pills, ninja food, and medical food before I passed out. I figured I wouldn't die. How long has it been?"

"When I woke up, it was a day and a half later. Two more days have passed since then."

"So that makes three days... We're still one scroll short. We need to get moving."

His body was nowhere near fully recovered and riddled with problems: sore muscles, dizziness, hunger, stiff hands, feet, and shoulders, and bones that creaked.

Still, it was within acceptable limits.

He owed that tolerance mostly to Tobirama's training.

The various training exercises he'd once thought downright cruel had paid off. Tsumema felt they'd been worth enduring after all.

That said, once he became a Chunin or Jonin, missions that required him to stay awake and keep going would probably become routine.

There was nothing he could do about that.

After finishing a quick meal and checking his condition, Tsumema sent out a Shadow Clone to patrol.

Then he felt a change—the Shadow Clone that had gone out to patrol vanished, and its experiences returned to Tsumema.

"I got a report from my Shadow Clone. Looks like we've got some prey on the hook. The other clone is leading them this way. Get ready."

Tsumema stood and slid the short sword resting beside him back into his belt.

Juri followed suit, gripping the staff propped against the tree trunk.

The ones who'd fallen into the trap were Genin from Sunagakure and Konoha.

Though one was a Konoha Genin, most of them weren't from the same class as Tsumema and Juri.

They were strangers to the two of them.

But the others seemed to know them.

They'd probably come after Tsumema because they thought he was a "dead last."

You could guess what kind of level shinobi with such poor information-gathering skills had.

Besides, Juri had awakened her Sharingan during these exams. They basically couldn't lose.

The result was just as expected: the Konoha Genin fell easily to Juri's Sharingan Genjutsu.

They'd learned their lesson from what happened with Dotō, too.

The Sunagakure Genin's skill was the only unpredictable factor, but he seemed to know only Wind Release. Juri's Fire Release swallowed him up, and he disappeared.

"That was boring..."

"You went too far. You could've killed him."

Tsumema summoned Katsuyu to give emergency treatment to the Sunagakure Genin, who was twitching and nearly charred to a crisp.

He'd never liked killing when it wasn't necessary.

"You're such a softie." Juri glanced at Tsumema with her black eyes.

But people like him were the scariest when they got angry.

Juri gave a bored snort.

After getting their second scroll, Tsumema and Juri headed toward the tower said to stand at the center of the forest.

When Juri and Tsumema reached the tower, the first thing they did wasn't follow the sign's instruction to "open the scrolls you've collected." Instead, they groaned, "I'm exhausted," and collapsed onto the floor.

Their accumulated fatigue made them want to fall asleep right there.

But they were shinobi, after all, and didn't actually fall asleep on the spot.

Kagami appeared through the summoning formula written on the scroll they'd opened. He was about to smile and offer them a few words of praise when he saw his pupils sprawled out in such a disheveled state.

He scolded them for being so slovenly, but their exhausted appearance still worried him.

What shocked Kagami most was the "bald spot" on Tsumema's head that came into view when he looked down.

A restless urge to ask about it, coupled with the sense that it would be rude, washed over Kagami Uchiha.

He'd also noticed the change in Juri's bearing and the awakening of her Sharingan, but the bald spot had made a stronger impression.

Incidentally, Tsumema had lost his hair when Dotō's rubber bullets tore it out.

"You finally made it! You took so long, I was worried sick—uh, y-you two... What happened to you? Are you all right? Are you alive—?"

"You look so relaxed... We've been through a lot."

"A whole lot."

"What happened to you?"

After briefly informing them about the next exam, Kagami disappeared. Ina poked her head out from the door behind him.

Worn out both physically and mentally, the two remained sprawled on the floor even after Ina appeared.

Ina was dressed casually, and it looked like she'd arrived a long time ago.

Ina said that she'd initially spent some time getting a feel for the terrain and bonding with her partner, but once they'd talked things through to a certain extent, she'd launched into an onslaught.

She'd made full use of her innate talent as a sensor, repeatedly searching for and crushing her opponents. As a result, Ina had finished the second exam in about half a day.

After that, she'd spent three days waiting for Tsumema to arrive with Kagami, without even going home.

Moved by Ina's kindness, Tsumema trembled with emotion, thinking what a great person she was.

Juri, on the other hand, inwardly scorned the last member of Team Six, who, according to her, had been the first to reach the tower but had already gone home.

When Ina asked what had happened, Tsumema and Juri told her about their ordeal.

At the name Tsumema mentioned, Ina blinked.

"Dotō? I heard that the strongest Genin in Kumogakure was called that."

"Seems like it. I thought it was weird, too—he was way too strong. The second group was no big deal, which made it stand out even more. Seriously, why did we run into someone like him right at the start..."

"Your luck really is the worst. But you're alive, so that's what matters—good work."

Ina reached out a slender finger, white as a White Fish, toward the sprawled-out Tsumema.

Tsumema grinned, clasped her hand tightly, and stood up.

Ina gently rested one hand against Tsumema's cheek, now streaked with mud and blood.

With her free hand, she took out a handkerchief and wiped away the blood and dirt.

Beneath the grime, fresh scars came into view. Even after the wounds healed, the ugly marks probably wouldn't disappear.

"These are honorable wounds, earned protecting my comrades."

"Don't say stupid things!"

Ina lightly slapped Tsumema's proudly smiling face, then traced the scar with her fingertips as if soothing it.

The delicate pressure, somewhere between touching and not touching, tickled. Tsumema squirmed a little, and then his butt took a hit.

"Ugh!"

"You're pathetic. What a loser."

Juri, who had stood up at some point, kicked the butt of the lovestruck Tsumema.

She gave an unhappy snort and turned her head cutely away.

As for Tsumema, the blow hit his exhausted body harder than expected. His knees buckled and trembled.

That impact pushed Tsumema's body to its limit.

Unable to support even his own weight, his arms shook as he pleaded, "Hey, h-help me," then he toppled to the floor with a thud.