Encountering an Enemy

A man stood in the grass.

He was lean, with a sheathed short sword at his waist.

His clothes were caked with mud and bits of grass, as though he'd been out in the wild for a long time.

Both sides stared at each other.

Silence stretched for about two seconds.

Jiraiya was the first to react—or rather, his mind skipped over every question a normal person should have asked and went straight to the answer he wanted most.

"Oh!"

He clapped his hands, excitement filling his voice.

"The exercise has a part like this too?!"

Tsunade didn't move.

Jiraiya turned to her. "The teacher didn't mention it! They even arranged for someone to play an enemy and ambush us? This is so thrilling—"

He was already pulling a wooden kunai from behind his waist when he got halfway through the sentence.

"Take this!"

Jiraiya flicked his wrist, spinning the weapon. He'd practiced the move in front of a mirror more than a hundred times and thought it looked cool.

Then he lowered his center of gravity and charged.

A seven-year-old couldn't run all that fast, but Jiraiya had courage to spare.

He didn't think about tactics or watch his footing. He charged straight ahead.

He held the wooden kunai at his side, taking the third thrusting stance they'd learned from their textbook.

Jiraiya thought, Tsunade's watching.

At school, he couldn't beat Kitahara Kaede in a proper match, and his grades still ranked near the bottom.

But real combat was different. Real combat was about guts.

Jiraiya might not be good at anything else, but he had guts in spades.

Seeing the white-haired boy charging at him, the man tensed, instinctively tightening his grip on the branch in his hand.

His eyes darted around. After confirming there was no one else nearby, he turned his attention back to the two "enemies" before him.

A blond girl and a white-haired boy.

Neither came up to his chest.

They were even shouting things about acting and teachers. They looked like they were from the Ninja Academy.

The white-haired one was charging at him with a wooden kunai.

The man relaxed, the corners of his mouth stretching into a grin.

Tsunade wasn't watching Jiraiya.

She was looking at the man's forehead.

The symbol on his Forehead Protector wasn't Konoha's.

Four wavy lines: Kirigakure.

And a deep slash ran across the center of those four lines.

Tsunade's mouth opened.

"Jiraiya, get back—!"

By the time she shouted, she was already moving.

But it wasn't Jiraiya who moved.

It was the man.

Without a hint of preparation, he went from standing still one moment to appearing right in front of Jiraiya the next.

Jiraiya's kunai was still raised in midair; he was only halfway through his thrust.

His eyes caught a glimpse of a gray-blue hem sweeping across the bottom of his vision.

Then came the impact to his stomach.

Jiraiya felt everything in his stomach surge upward. The rice ball he'd eaten that morning lurched up and down in his throat.

His feet left the ground, and he flew sideways.

His back slammed into a tree trunk with a dull thud.

The wooden kunai flew from his hand, who knew where.

From charge to collapse, it had taken less than three seconds.

The rest of Tsunade's warning caught in her throat.

In those three seconds, a hundred thoughts flashed through her mind.

A Kirigakure Forehead Protector. The slash. Showing up in Konoha's back hills. Attacking without a word.

He'd struck without hesitation, choosing the most efficient way to subdue his target—a knee to the stomach, enough to knock him out but not kill him.

This wasn't something the Ninja Academy would arrange.

This was a real rogue ninja.

Tsunade took up a standard defensive stance. It might not do any good, but it was the only thing she could do.

Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced toward the tree.

Jiraiya was hunched against the trunk, one hand clutching his stomach.

He hadn't passed out, but his face was pale.

"...Jiraiya!"

A muffled voice came from that direction.

"D-don't shout so loud..."

Jiraiya coughed twice and spat up a mouthful of acid.

"...I'm fine."

He braced himself against the tree and tried to stand, but his legs gave way, and he slid halfway back down.

His knee knocked against a tree root, and he grimaced in pain.

But he kept trying to push himself up.

"I'm fine... That guy... He caught me off guard..."

His voice came out in fits and starts.

Tsunade didn't look back. Her eyes stayed fixed on the man.

He didn't pursue them.

He stood where he was, tilted his head at the wooden kunai on the ground, then looked at Jiraiya by the tree.

There was no killing intent, but no pity either.

Just a hint of impatience—the kind you felt when someone delayed your journey.

His gaze shifted to Tsunade, and his right hand settled on the hilt of the short sword at his waist.

He took a step forward.

Tsunade's breath caught for half a beat.

Only one thought remained in her mind—

There was no escaping.

At the summit.

Kitahara Kaede tossed a wooden plaque in his hand.

Eight points.

He looked down at it, satisfied.

He'd searched half the mountain to find it, tucked into a narrow crevice in the cliff face.

Three children lay sprawled on the ground not far away.

He hadn't beaten them up.

—All right, he had.

They were from another group. Outnumbering him, they'd tried to snatch his plaque and rushed him all at once.

Kitahara Kaede had taken down two of them in two moves. The third had tried to run, tripped over a tree root, and knocked himself out.

He stowed the plaque in his waist pouch, brushed his hands off, and headed back the way he'd come.

It was time to meet up with Tsunade.

A chime suddenly rang in his mind.

[Chime—Side Quest Triggered: Hero Saves the Beauty]

[Quest Objective: Kill the hostile target and ensure Tsunade's survival.]

[Quest Reward: Based on combat rating. A flawless victory and an emotional outburst from the target will greatly improve the score.]

[Failure Penalty: Simulation terminated. This run's score will be reset to zero.]

Kitahara Kaede stopped walking.

He stared at the words on the screen, his brow slowly furrowing.

Hero saves the beauty.

Kill the hostile target.

...How cliché.

Then it hit him—no.

"Kill."

Not "defeat." Not "drive off."

Kill.

The Ninja Academy's exercise wouldn't involve a target they needed to "kill."

Something had happened to Tsunade.