The equipment room was missing a bundle of wooden stakes.
Naruto was the one taking inventory.
He was still grumbling when he entered with the bags, saying he wasn't the equipment room's gatekeeper. But Iruka had told him to count them, so he squatted on the floor and laid them out one by one. Short wooden stakes, padded batons, wrist guards, Substitute Logs—everything was separated according to the bags used that morning.
Kiyo stood in the doorway, watching the show.
"How far have you counted?"
"Don't talk."
"I was just concerned."
"Whenever you're concerned, I forget."
Morita Yu dragged Kiyo backward. "Then worry less about the world."
Che had been on the way to turn in his workbook. When he heard the equipment room suddenly fall silent, he changed direction and headed for the door.
Naruto was crouched on the floor with two rows of wooden stakes in front of him. His expression was awful.
"One bundle's missing."
Kiyo leaned in. "Are you sure?"
Naruto grabbed the stakes and counted again. When he reached the end, his face turned even darker.
Iruka hadn't arrived yet. Only the few of them were in the equipment room. The window was half-open, and the dampness after the rain clung to the wooden racks. The inventory board on the wall showed that thirty bundles of wooden stakes had been checked out for the north field that morning. Thirty should have been returned as well.
There were twenty-nine now.
Sasuke walked over and glanced at the stakes on the floor. "You carried them back?"
Naruto immediately looked up. "What do you mean by that?"
"I asked if you carried them."
"I did. So what?"
"Did you drop any on the way?"
It was a perfectly normal question, but Naruto bristled at it and shot to