The practice advice in the hallway came early.
Naruto had barely shoved his workbook into his desk when Mizuki called him to the door.
"I heard from Iruka that you improved in yesterday's mirror practice." Mizuki stood in the hallway, speaking softly, with a folded sheet of paper in his hand. "This is for you. It's not homework, just a little suggestion."
Naruto reached out instinctively, but when his fingertips were about to touch the edge of the paper, he stopped.
Che, sitting in the last row, happened to see that hesitation. In that moment, it mattered more than if Naruto had rejected it outright. Before, whenever someone said, "You've improved," Naruto would usually look up first, then rush over and eagerly soak up every word. Now, he looked at the paper first, then at Mizuki's hand.
Mizuki's smile did not change.
"What's wrong?"
Naruto scratched his head. "Iruka-sensei said that a note someone gives you isn't necessarily a path."
Several people in the classroom turned their heads. Kiyo's eyes lit up as if he had found a second piece of meat in his breakfast, and Morita Yu kicked him under the desk to keep him quiet.
Mizuki sighed softly. "Iruka is still too nervous. Does advice from a teacher to a student count as a note too?"
"Then I'll show it to him first," Naruto said.
It was not an elegant thing to say. It even sounded a little blunt. But when Che heard it, the tightness in his chest eased slightly. Naruto had not suddenly become smarter. He had simply finally learned to pause halfway before reaching for praise.
When Iruka entered the room, Mizuki was still standing outside. Naruto handed over the paper like he was passing over an Explosive Tag that could go off at any