1/2

Year 45 of Konoha, on the eve of the Third Shinobi World War.

The autumn air was crisp and clear.

At the Ninja Academy's target range.

Aburame Jianxing leaned against a tree trunk, the afternoon sunlight warm upon him. Behind his sunglasses, his eyes narrowed contentedly, his long lashes seeming to cradle streams of golden light.

It was so comfortable that it made him want to go: meow, meow, meow.

Beside Jianxing squatted a handsome black-haired boy with a carefree expression, a grass stem between his teeth and a roguish air about him. He held a twig and drew intently on the ground.

Hyuga Ryosuke, a member of the Hyuga Branch Family and one of Jianxing's few friends. His defining traits were a pretty face and a wildly unreliable soul.

"What are you drawing?" Jianxing asked curiously.

"Can't you see for yourself?"

"I did. I asked because I couldn't understand it."

Ryosuke stared at the drawing on the ground and pondered for a moment. "Sorry, it's too abstract. I can't understand it either. Just think it's whatever you think it is."

He really was that unreliable!

"Being a ninja is such a waste of your artistic talent," Jianxing said sincerely.

"I think so too."

Ryosuke agreed wholeheartedly and laughed without the slightest shame. He tilted his head up slightly, and the sunlight fell across him from the side as though he had ten levels of beauty filter turned on, drawing shrieks from the girls around them.

"So handsome!"

"I'm dying! I'm dying... He looked over here!"

"Relax, he was looking at me. Get lost, ugly!"

"..."

Ryosuke put on a troubled look while secretly feeling delighted. Two words described him perfectly: secretly smug.

"Shallow," Jianxing said disdainfully.

"Who? Me or them?"

"Both."

"Blatant Envy." Ryosuke looked at Jianxing teasingly and