Teacher Mizuno finally used the old map on the wall.
Kiyo had been on guard since early morning. He had heard yesterday that they would be studying maps today, so when he entered the classroom, he deliberately kept away from the wall, as if he were afraid the map would suddenly speak and ask him where north, south, east, and west were.
"It won't eat you," Morita Yu said.
"I know." Kiyo stared at the map. "But it looks like it knows a lot of roads."
When Che sat down, he looked at the map too. Its edges were curled, the village markers had faded, and several roads were drawn straighter than they were in reality. There was no Nine-Tails Night on the map, no future clan massacre, no streets Naruto would one day run through, and no nighttime road Sasuke would take when he left the village.
It was only an old map.
When that thought surfaced, Che did not rush to believe it. He knew too well that he was best at making the words "only" sound like a protective charm. The map was only a map, Itachi only passed by, the list was only a list—but behind every "only," something else could be hiding.
Teacher Mizuno tapped the ninja academy's location with her pointer.
"Today, we'll only look at three places: the ninja academy, the infirmary, and the evacuation assembly point."
Kiyo whispered, "What about the cafeteria?"
Morita Yu said, "No."
"Then the map is incomplete."
Teacher Mizuno acted as if she had not heard him and continued, "Mark the three points on your own sheet of paper and connect them. Do not draw places we haven't discussed."
Che received his paper. It was tiny, and even drawing three points made it feel crowded. The ninja academy,