A Month

Training ground.

Morning. The dew had not yet dried, and fine droplets clung to the blades of grass, making faint cracking sounds beneath his feet. Ringo stood before the wooden posts. The card slots opened, and all the cards spread out in his vision like a fan.

One month.

Thirty days from today until the finals. His opponents. Among the final eight, Neji and Gaara were the two most dangerous. Naruto and Sasuke were classmates, so they could not face each other before the finals. The remaining Temari, Kankuro, and Shikamaru were not primary threats.

"The real enemies... are Neji and Gaara."

Ringo pulled out Neji's card. Eight Trigrams Palm: Revolving Heaven. An all-around defense, with Chakra rotating at high speed to form an absolute barrier. Every frontal attack would be deflected, and every ninjutsu torn apart by the rotational force.

"Revolving Heaven isn't without weaknesses."

The system analysis began operating. Data from Neji's preliminary-match battles was pulled up. Before Revolving Heaven activated, there was a 0.2-second Chakra gathering period. Its rotational speed peaked 0.5 seconds after activation, then declined by 3% for every second it continued. Most importantly, Revolving Heaven's defensive layer was physical. It used Chakra to spin the air; it was not an energy barrier.

A physical defense. It could be penetrated by frequency.

Ringo opened the recipe slot. Two cards were placed inside. Sound Wave Fragment (purple, from Dosu) + Wind Cutter (gold, from the Land of Waves).

The synthesis paths popped up automatically.

Path A (Stable · 80%): Wind Release: Advanced Wind Cutter (gold+). Reliable. But it could not break through Revolving Heaven.

Path B (Risky · 55%): Sound Wave + Wind Cutter → gold "Wind Release: Wind-Pressure Sound Wave." It used sound waves to create ultra-high-frequency vibrations in the air, carried by wind to penetrate Revolving Heaven's rotating air layer. It would not break through—it would pass through.

Path C (Extreme · 15%): Unknown synthesis. It might yield an orange secret art, or it might destroy both cards.

Ringo chose B.

It was not that he was unafraid—fear was useless. If he faced Neji in a month and could not break Revolving Heaven, he would only be beaten helplessly. A 55% success rate was enough.

Synthesis began.

The two cards collided inside the slot. The purple light of the Sound Wave Fragment and the gold light of Wind Cutter repelled each other, like opposite poles of magnets forced together. The card slot trembled, and Ringo's fingers trembled with it. The Sound Wave Fragment began to crack apart. It did not turn to dust; it broke into smaller sound-wave units, each emitting a piercing buzz.

The Wind Cutter Fragment was wrapped in the sound-wave units. The wind rotated, and the sound waves vibrated. The two forces did not merge—they alternated. The wind passed through, and the sound waves caught up. The sound waves vibrated, and the wind accelerated.

Ding.

The card slot fell silent.

A new gold card floated up. "Wind Release: Wind-Pressure Sound Wave." The card's surface was etched with patterns of wind and waveforms of vibrating sound. They crisscrossed like threads of two colors woven together.

Ringo placed the card into the equipment slot. He raised his right hand, and Chakra flowed along a new path. Wind surged from his palm, carrying ultra-high-frequency sound waves. The air vibrated into ripples visible to the naked eye.

Cracks appeared in the wooden post.

It had not been snapped by the wind. It had been shattered by sound waves—from within.

"It can penetrate Revolving Heaven."

Ringo put away the card and looked to the other side of the card slots. Orange. Boil Release: Steam Ninja Art. His only orange card. It was enough against Neji, but not enough against Gaara.

Gaara's absolute defense. Sand Armor plus automatic defensive sand—two layers of protection. Steam could penetrate the automatic defensive sand, but it could not break through Sand Armor. Chidori could pierce it, but he did not have Lightning Release.

"Shukaku is orange-tier. I only have one orange card. Not enough... I need more."

A bottleneck. The remaining cards in his slots. White ×12, purple ×7, gold ×5. None were enough to synthesize a second orange card. Unless he used an extreme path, but with a 15% success rate and the cost of -1 card slot capacity, he could not afford it right now.

"Your Chakra has a three-second gap when you release the sound wave."

Ringo turned around.

Hinata stood at the edge of the training ground. Her injuries had not fully healed, and her shoulder was still wrapped in bandages, but she was already on her feet. Her Byakugan was activated, the veins at the corners of her eyes slightly bulging.

"That sound wave just now. For three seconds after you released it, your Chakra flow speed dropped to half its normal rate. It isn't that you lack Chakra. Your meridians are cooling down. If I were your opponent... those three seconds would be your opening."

Ringo froze.

"You've been watching?"

"I told you. Your opponents are my opponents. I may not be able to compete, but I can help you analyze them."

Hinata walked over, her Byakugan focused on Ringo's Chakra meridians. She raised a finger without touching him. Two centimeters away, she traced a line along the path of his meridians.

"The sound wave comes from here. The Heart Meridian of Hand Shaoyin. The meridian needs three seconds to regain its elasticity. If you follow the sound wave with steam immediately, the two currents of Chakra will collide inside your meridians. It isn't that you can't chain them—it's that you need to stagger them."

"How do I stagger them?"

"Use your left hand."

Hinata pointed at Ringo's left hand. "Your right hand for sound waves, your left hand for steam. Different meridians, so they won't collide. But you need to practice. The steam in your left hand will be a little weaker. Still... it'll be enough. Fill those three seconds with steam from your left hand. Your opponent won't be able to catch you."

Ringo looked at her fingers. Slender and fair, with bruises on the knuckles left over from the preliminaries. But they were steady now. They no longer shook as they once had.

"Thank you. This... is more useful than any synthesis."

Hinata's face reddened slightly.

"I'm not helping you... I'm helping myself. Because the people you'll face in the finals are my opponents too. I can't compete anymore, but... I can make you win for me."

Ringo did not answer.

He raised his right hand, gathering sound waves in his palm. His left hand—steam. Two streams of Chakra flowed simultaneously through two different sets of meridians. His right hand buzzed, while his left hand burned.

The sound wave. Released.

The cracks in the wooden post deepened. Steam from his left hand. Golden mist burst from it and wrapped around the post, its heat instantly evaporating the moisture on the wood's surface.

The gap was less than a second.

Hinata's Byakugan tracked the flow of his Chakra. "Much better. It only took 1.2 seconds just now. Keep practicing. You should be able to reduce it to under 0.5 seconds."

"Again."

Ringo gathered Chakra once more.

Hinata stood beside him with her Byakugan activated, a faint curve at the corner of her lips that was difficult to notice. It was not a smile. It was relief. Because she knew that what she could do was not fight for him. It was make him fight better.

On the training ground, wooden posts shattered one after another.

The alternation between sound waves and steam grew faster and faster. Three seconds became two, then one, then nearly simultaneous. The sound wave in his right hand had not yet dispersed when steam erupted from his left. The two streams of Chakra intertwined in the air, the sound of wind mixing with the hiss of steam like a rhythm yet to be completed.

The sun climbed from the east to directly overhead.

Ringo stopped, panting. His clothes were soaked through with sweat and clung to his back. Hinata handed him a towel. It was not a new towel, but her own, folded neatly, with a faint medicinal-ointment scent that would not wash out at the corners.

"You... always carry this around?"

"Yes. Because... you sweat a lot whenever you train. Every day."

Ringo took the towel. The scent of ointment reached his nose. It was not unpleasant. It was warm. The same scent as the ointment Hinata had given him for the first time.

"Hinata."

"Mm?"

"When the finals are over, win or lose, I want to take you somewhere. Not a training ground. Somewhere else... somewhere farther than this place."

Hinata's eyelashes trembled.

"Where?"

"I haven't decided yet. But... I won't go alone. I'll go with you."

Hinata lowered her head. Her ears had turned completely red, but she did not retreat. She stood beside Ringo, her arm brushing his. They were so close that if they moved any closer, they would be shoulder to shoulder.

"Okay," she said.

Her voice was very soft, but the wind across the training ground carried it into Ringo's ears.