To Your Left

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

Although he had an appointment to train with Seiichi and Rin, he wouldn't skip his own morning routine.

"Hey! Hayato, that's cheating!"

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

He had a small, private courtyard, though it wasn't very large.

Hayato finished his hand seals and looked at Rin, who was perched on the wall, with a smile. "I'm just used to morning training. How is that cheating?"

"We agreed to train together, but you're secretly making progress. Isn't that cheating?"

Rin jumped down from the wall, and Hayato shook his head before opening the front gate.

Seiichi wore a cool expression, nodding when he saw Hayato. "Morning."

"Morning, Seiichi."

After greeting him, Hayato gestured behind him. "Do you want to come in for a glass of water first?"

Seiichi paused, then shook his head.

"Let's go. Seiichi came looking for me first thing in the morning; he's even more impatient than I am."

Rin grabbed Hayato's hand and spoke up.

Hearing this, Hayato glanced sideways at Seiichi, only to see the guy looking a bit shy, his gaze fixed firmly on Rin.

Noticing Hayato's look, Seiichi composed his expression. "I just thought we shouldn't be too late, lest you say we aren't punctual."

Seeing this, Hayato smiled gently. "Alright, 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 slow pace.

So... are all Uchiha tsundere?

But then, remembering that he was also an Uchiha, Hayato shook his head repeatedly.

No way, he couldn't bring himself to act like that.

When the three of them arrived at the training ground, they saw quite a few Uchiha clansmen already there training.

Most of them were members of the Police Force.

Some even brought along one or two little tykes, guiding their movements with great seriousness.

These were the clansmen who had married early, and the little ones were their children.

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

Hayato couldn't help but sigh. He usually trained in his own courtyard and had never specifically come over here.

"This is nothing. If some weren't on duty, there would probably be even more."

Rin, familiar with the place, led Hayato to a spot and pointed to the dojo in front of them.

"How about it? Shall we run a few laps first?"

"Let's make it a competition to see who can run more." Seiichi crossed his arms, clearly wanting to use this to teach Rin a lesson for what she said earlier.

"Ah?! No way, it's just training. If we run like that, won't we be too tired for the rest of the exercises?"

Rin turned back with a troubled look.

"It's fine, let's just set the baseline at twenty laps." Hayato had the same idea; he wanted to properly test his current physical strength.

The Uchiha clan's dojo was much larger than the one at the Ninja Academy; twenty laps here were equivalent to about fifty laps over there.

"Are you in or not? If not, it'll just be the two of us." Seiichi glanced at Rin, slightly provocative.

"Tch, you're on!" Rin retorted, refusing to be outdone.

Hayato did some stretching, then crouched down. "Alright, let's start."

"One."

"Two."

"Three!"

Whoosh!

Three figures bolted at the same time. Hayato took the lead, with Seiichi following closely behind.

Rin was stunned by their speed for a moment, then smiled and accelerated to catch up.

"Don't run out of steam halfway through!"

"You're the one who should worry about that!"

Their movements caused the Uchiha clansmen who were training to stop and look over.

They couldn't help but smile; they had once been that young, too.

"Wait, Hayato! I'm not surprised Seiichi can run like this, but why don't you show any signs of fatigue?"

After a dozen laps, Rin was already gritting her teeth to keep going, but seeing Hayato still looking so relaxed, she couldn't help but shout.

Hayato glanced back at Rin and said softly, "I hope you don't break down after this."

"Huh?"

Rin was stunned for a moment, and then she saw Hayato actually accelerate once again.

Whoosh—

Hayato's figure instantly left an afterimage as he surged forward at incredible speed.

Off to the side, Seiichi, who had always assumed Hayato was at most on par with him, felt his pupils constrict sharply at the sight.

"He can actually accelerate again."

Thinking this, Seiichi gritted his teeth and pushed his own pace.

"Two freaks!" Rin pouted. She knew her own limits; there was absolutely no way she could speed up any further.

If she collapsed here, it would be a massive embarrassment.

"On your left."

Just as Rin was about to finish a little over half a lap, a voice reached her ears, followed by a gust of wind that kicked up dust and blinded her.

"What... what is going on?"

Rin didn't stop, just stared ahead in utter bewilderment.

Under the morning sun, Hayato's figure was moving forward at a blistering pace.

"No way..."

As if realizing something, Rin quickened her pace, as if a monster were chasing her from behind.

After running another half-lap, Seiichi, his face pale, overtook Rin.

Seeing it wasn't the figure she had feared, Rin breathed a sigh of relief, only to freeze the very next instant.

"On your left."

With those words, Hayato's figure surged ahead once more.

"Don't! This is too much!"

At this moment, Rin finally understood what Hayato had meant by "breaking down."

He was practically rubbing her face in the dirt.

Less than half a lap later, another calm "On your left" was enough to make Rin snap.

"Are you ever going to stop?!"

"Don't you think his speed is getting even faster?" Seiichi had caught up to Rin's side, though he was now barely able to keep moving.

Hearing this, Rin paused, then thought about it—it really did seem that way.

"No... that's impossible, right?"

They had been running for a long time; under normal circumstances, people should be slowing down, so why was Hayato getting faster?

Hayato, who was still running, felt quite satisfied. Only while exercising did he truly realize how strong the foundation of his Sage Body really was.

Although it was labeled as accelerating injury recovery, that didn't mean it had no other effects.

Even if the benefits were minor, they were enough to make him happy for now.

"Which family does that kid belong to?"

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

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

Hearing this, the elder, who had been about to leave, saw Shisui, who enjoyed a prestigious reputation within the clan, walking toward the boy.

"Shisui? Why is he looking for him?"

Hayato stopped running and looked at Shisui, who had arrived in front of him with a look of guilt on his face.

"Hayato-kun, can we talk again?"