The new paper lanterns at the ninja academy were too white.
So white that Kiyo did not quite trust them. He stood in line watching for a long while, then suddenly asked Morita Yu, "Has it never been through anything?"
Morita Yu was wiping dust from his palms. "What does a lantern need to go through?"
"Like getting scorched and wrinkled by Zhen Shu."
Zhen Shu shot him a cold look.
Kiyo immediately changed his tune. "That was just an example. It could also be respected by me."
"Staying away from it would be respect enough," Morita Yu said.
The paper lantern on the table was more proper than Mine's. Its bamboo frame was round, its paper surface smooth, and even the sensing paper inside had been cut neatly, without a single gap. Yet precisely because it was so neat, it was hard to know where to begin. Old lanterns had wrinkles and patches; you knew where they had been heated before. This new lantern had nothing written on its face, like a blank form that had just been handed out.
The chief examiner had been replaced by a woman named Hyuga, not an Uchiha. Her eyes were pale, and so was her voice. She read the rules without any rise or fall. "Keep your hand half an inch from the paper. Do not touch it. You only need to make the sensing paper react. Record the time it lights up, the color, and the duration."
Kiyo whispered, "She makes it sound like the lantern already knows."
Che said nothing. He saw Shuhei standing farther away, nowhere near this table. Takuya and Mine had also stepped back. Today's assessment had placed familiar people at the edges and strangers before the table. That in itself was part of the test.
A