The Preliminary Finals

The light in the treatment room was dim.

Hinata lay there, bandages wrapped from her shoulder to her wrist. Ringo sat beside the bed without saying a word.

...She had already said what needed to be said: thank you. Hinata's hand still held one of his fingers. Her grip was light, but she had never let go.

The electronic screen outside the door buzzed twice.

Ringo stood up.

"I'm going to fight."

Hinata's fingers tightened slightly, then slowly loosened. "Win... then come back... and tell me."

"Okay."

The corridor was long. Footsteps echoed between the stone walls, and the electronic screen flashed at the far end: Ringo vs. Dosu.

A Sound Ninja. Sound-wave attacks. The leader of the trio that had fought Hinata earlier.

When Ringo entered the arena, Dosu was already standing in the middle. The sound-wave device on his arm buzzed, stirring ripples through the air.

"So you're that... steam brat?" Dosu's voice came from the device, carrying a metallic resonance. "I heard you stood up for the Hyuga clan's young lady... Too bad, she was already beaten by Neji—"

"Are you done?"

Ringo's voice was flat. In the card slot marked No Interest, the golden rune of Steam Ninjutsu spun, while the orange glow of Boil Release flickered.

"Match... begin!"

Dosu raised his hand. Sound waves burst from the device, compressing the air into an invisible wall that crashed toward Ringo. This kind of attack could not be seen or defended against; it struck the internal organs directly.

Ringo did not dodge.

Steam rose from his hands. It was not white.

It was gold.

Boil Release: Scorching Mist Technique.

Steam collided with sound waves.

The sound waves passed through the steam, but the steam was meant to envelop them. The speed at which sound traveled through it was reduced, and high-frequency vibrations were absorbed by droplets of water. What had been a sharp blade became a dull boom.

Dosu froze for an instant.

Ringo was already in front of him.

Steam Ninjutsu—one punch.

His fist, wrapped in golden steam, smashed into the sound-wave device on Dosu's chest. The crack of metal shattering was sharper than the dull sound of flesh and bone. The device's casing split open, sparks exploding from the sound-wave circuits inside as Dosu was blasted backward.

He slammed into the wall.

The very same spot where Sasuke had crashed during Ringo's first fight.

He did not move.

Hayate Gekko raised his hand. "Winner—Ringo."

The whole arena fell silent for two seconds. Naruto sprang up from the stands, his voice louder than Dosu's sound waves had been. "Ringo, you didn't even take a minute!!"

Kakashi leaned against the railing, lowering Make-Out Paradise by half an inch. He said nothing, but that half-inch was enough to show that he was watching.

Ringo turned around. He did not look at the audience, Naruto, or Kakashi.

He looked toward the treatment room.

A line of text popped up in the system.

"From—Dosu—Sound Wave Fragment, purple, dropped. Pick up?"

Ringo picked it up. The purple card slid into the card slot beside the earlier Wind Cutter Fragment. The recipe slot flashed: Sound Wave + Wind Cutter, synthesis path available, adventure grade, success rate 55%.

Leave it for now. This was not the time.

He walked back into the passageway. The electronic screen was still flashing as it announced the next match, but Ringo did not look at it. He went straight back to the treatment room.

Hinata's eyes were open.

"I won."

"Mm..."

"How long did it take?"

"One punch."

Hinata smiled. The movement pulled at her wound, and she sucked in a breath from the pain, but she still smiled.

Because he had come back to tell her.

"You... didn't look at me... while you were fighting, did you?"

"Mm..."

"Why... didn't you look?"

"Because... if I looked at you... I'd think it wasn't that you lost, but that I failed to protect you. But that kind of thinking is wrong. You don't need me to protect you. What you need is for me to believe in you. So I didn't look, not because I don't care, but because... I wanted to let you finish your fight yourself."

Hinata did not answer. Her fingers moved in Ringo's palm, as though she were writing something.

Ringo could not make out the words.

But he knew what they meant.

Footsteps sounded in the corridor. The medical team wheeled Sasuke inside. His curse mark was acting up again, black patterns repeatedly spreading and contracting across his neck. Kakashi followed behind them. He glanced at Ringo and Hinata, said nothing, and simply stuffed Make-Out Paradise into his pocket.

"The preliminaries are over," Kakashi said. "The final eight are Naruto, Sasuke, you, Gaara, Neji, Temari, Kankuro, and Shikamaru. The finals will be in one month."

The Third Hokage appeared in the doorway.

His hat was pulled low, and smoke from his pipe curled into thin strands beneath the dim lights. He first looked at Hinata, then at Ringo, before turning his gaze to Kakashi.

"Kakashi... your students... each one is more troublesome than the last."

"Third Hokage..." Kakashi scratched his head. "That... is true."

The Third Hokage walked up to Ringo and shifted the pipe at the corner of his mouth.

"You only threw one punch at Dosu just now. Because you didn't want to fight him. You only wanted to win. Once you won, you wanted to leave. To see someone more important."

Ringo said nothing.

"That's good." The Third Hokage exhaled a puff of smoke. "Not every battle requires you to give it everything you have. Some battles... only require victory. After winning... you go do what matters more. That is how adults fight."

The Third Hokage turned and headed for the door. His hat lightly bumped the doorframe. He paused.

"In one month... at the finals... the daimyo of every nation and the Five Kage will all be present. This will be your stage, where you show yourselves to the world. Show... yourselves."

He left. The smell of tobacco lingered in the treatment room for a long time.

That night.

On Konoha's rooftops.

Ringo sat alone. He was not training, analyzing, or synthesizing.

He was simply sitting there.

The moon was the same as it had been that night—the same moon beneath which he had told Hinata, "Right now is when I want to see you."

The card slot opened automatically. Every card was neatly arranged: white ×12, purple ×8, gold ×6, orange ×1. Boil Release glowed faintly in the lower-right corner, while the rune of Steam Ninjutsu slowly rotated along the edge.

Thirty chapters.

From the first time he had picked up a white card to today. From the orphanage to Team 7, from the bridge in the Land of Waves to the campfire in the Forest of Death, from Haku's Ice Release Fragment to Neji's Respect Fragment.

He had obtained orange.

He had obtained Boil Release.

He had obtained steam.

And there was also... a girl who brought him medicine whenever he was hurt.

Ringo closed the card slot.

"One month from now... Gaara... Neji... whoever it is, I'll win. So those people can see that an orphan can also... synthesize his own destiny."

He stood up.

The wind swept over the rooftops, carrying the scent of fireworks from Konoha's streets. Someone set off firecrackers in the distance. The preliminaries were over, and Konoha's villagers were celebrating the new generation of ninja.

Ringo did not smile.

But neither did he frown.

He merely stood there.

On the rooftop.

Beneath Konoha's sky.

Standing upon... his own destiny.

Inside the card slot, a new card was being generated automatically. It had not been picked up. The system had given it to him on its own.

"Detected—host—completed Volume One. Identity established. Automatic synthesis: Will Fragment, white. Effect: all synthesis stability increased by 5%."

White.

The most basic quality.

But he had earned it himself.