On Your Left

Early the next morning, Hayato got up bright and early.

Although he had made plans to train with Seiichi and Rin, he wasn't about to skip his usual morning workout.

"Hey! Hayato, that's cheating!"

Rin's voice rang out from atop the wall. The two-story house where Hayato lived had been left to him by his parents, which was why he didn't have to live in the Police Force dormitory.

It had a small private courtyard, though it wasn't very big.

Hayato lowered his hands and smiled at Rin, who was sprawled across the top of the wall. "I'm just used to working out in the morning. How is that cheating?"

"We agreed to train together, but you've been secretly getting stronger. How is that not cheating?"

Rin jumped straight down from the wall. Hayato shook his head and opened the gate.

Seiichi wore his usual cool expression. When he saw Hayato, he nodded. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Seiichi."

After greeting him, Hayato gestured behind himself. "Want to come in for a drink of water first?"

Seiichi paused, then shook his head.

"Come on. Seiichi came over to get me first thing in the morning. He's even more eager than I am."

Rin took Hayato by the hand and spoke.

At that, Hayato glanced sideways at Seiichi, only to see him looking a little embarrassed, his eyes fixed firmly on Rin.

Noticing Hayato's gaze, Seiichi composed himself. "I just thought we shouldn't be too late, so you wouldn't say we couldn't keep to a schedule."

Hayato smiled warmly. "Then let's go. Breakfast is on me today."

"Let's go!"

Rin raised both hands in the air, while Seiichi turned his head away and followed at a leisurely pace.

So... were all Uchiha tsunderes?

Then Hayato remembered that he was technically an Uchiha too, and hurriedly shook his head.

No way. He'd never do something like that.

By the time the three of them reached the training ground, quite a few Uchiha were already training there.

Most of them were members of the Police Force.

Some even had one or two little ones with them, carefully guiding them through their movements.

They were clan members who had married young, and the little ones were their children.

"I didn't expect there to be so many people."

Hayato couldn't help remarking. He usually trained in his own courtyard and had never made a point of coming here.

"This is nothing. There'd be even more if some of them didn't have shifts to cover."

Rin led Hayato to a familiar spot and pointed at the training ground in front of them.

"How about we start with a few laps?"

"If we're doing it, let's see who can run the most," Seiichi said, crossing his arms. Clearly, he wanted to teach Rin a lesson for what he'd just said.

"Huh?! Do we have to? We're only training. If we run that much, won't we be too tired to do anything else?"

Rin turned around, looking troubled.

"It's fine. Let's make twenty laps the baseline." Hayato was thinking along the same lines. It would be a good chance to get a feel for his body's current strength.

The training ground in the Uchiha Compound was much larger than the one at the Ninja Academy. Twenty laps here were about the same as fifty laps there.

"Well? Are you in, or is it just the two of us?" Seiichi glanced at Rin, his tone faintly challenging.

"Tch, fine! I'm in!" Rin retorted, refusing to back down.

Hayato stretched for a while, then crouched down. "All right, let's start."

"One."

"Two."

"Three!"

Whoosh!

All three took off at the same time. Hayato ran in the lead, with Seiichi close behind.

Watching their pace, Rin paused in surprise, then smiled and sped up to catch them.

"Don't run out of steam halfway!"

"You're the one who shouldn't!"

Their movements made the Uchiha training nearby stop and turn to look.

They couldn't help smiling. They had been that young once, too.

"Seriously, Hayato! I'm not surprised Seiichi can run like this, but why don't you look tired at all?"

After more than ten laps, Rin was gritting her teeth and struggling to keep going. Seeing Hayato still looking so relaxed, she couldn't help shouting.

Hayato glanced back at Rin and said softly, "I hope you don't fall apart."

"Huh?"

Rin stared at him in surprise, then saw Hayato speed up again.

Whoosh—

Hayato's figure blurred into afterimages as he raced ahead.

Seiichi, who had always thought Hayato was at most as fast as him, watched with his pupils contracting.

"He can still speed up?"

At the thought, Seiichi gritted his teeth and pushed himself to go faster.

"Those two are freaks!" Rin muttered. She knew her own limits; there was no way she could speed up again.

If she collapsed here, she'd never live it down.

"On your left."

Just as Rin was a little more than halfway through a lap, a voice sounded beside her ear. A gust of wind swept past, kicking up sand that stung her eyes.

"What... what's going on?"

Rin didn't stop running. She just stared ahead, completely baffled.

Beneath the rising sun, Hayato's figure raced onward.

"No way..."

As if she'd realized what was happening, Rin immediately picked up her pace, as though a monster were chasing her.

When she passed the halfway mark again, Seiichi, his face pale, overtook her.

Seeing that it wasn't the figure she'd expected, Rin let out a breath of relief. But the next instant, she froze.

"On your left."

A voice rang out, and Hayato raced ahead once more.

"Come on! That's too much!"

Now Rin understood exactly what Hayato had meant about her falling apart.

He was practically rubbing her face in the dirt.

Before she'd even run another half lap, Hayato's calm "On your left" finally broke Rin.

"Are you ever going to stop?"

"Don't you think he's gotten even faster?" Seiichi had caught up to Rin. He was nearly at the end of his strength.

Rin was taken aback by his words. Then she thought about it and realized he was right.

"N-no way..."

They'd been running for a long time. Normally, people got slower as they went, so why was Hayato getting faster?

Hayato was very pleased as he kept running. It was only when he exercised that he truly realized how powerful the foundation of his Sage Body was.

Though its description mentioned accelerated injury recovery, that didn't mean it had no other benefits.

They were few, but they were more than enough to make him happy.

"Which family does that boy belong to?"

A Uchiha elder who happened to be passing by stopped for a while and asked.

"Elder, he's just an ordinary member of the clan. Though this is the first time I've seen him training here."

The elder had just been about to leave when he saw Shisui, renowned within the clan, walking toward the boy.

"Shisui? What does he want with him?"

Hayato stopped running and looked at Shisui, who had come up to him with an apologetic expression.

"Hayato, could we talk again?"