The Night Before Graduation, Root Planted Another Pawn

"Tomorrow, don't point that spear at the examiner's throat."

Asuma pushed the spearhead aside with two fingers. A small hole corroded by poison had already appeared in his collar.

Chiba withdrew the Metal Wood.

"What if the examiner attacks first?"

"Then don't touch his throat. His hands and feet are up to you."

"What if they're from Root?"

"Leave them breathing so I can write the report."

"I thought you didn't report your trump cards?"

Crippling an examiner doesn't count as a trump card. It counts as an accident."

Asuma touched the tear in his collar, then added another entry to the bottom of the training sheet.

"This outfit counts as repair expenses too."

"The clothes aren't part of the clan grounds."

"They were damaged in the clan grounds."

"Go ask the Hokage."

"The old man will tell me to ask you."

They argued all the way to the courtyard gate before Asuma finally stopped, rolled up the training sheet, and tossed it into the brazier.

A month's worth of content quickly burned into ash, leaving behind not even the words barely passed.

"I'll be at the third examination room tomorrow morning."

"Proctoring?"

"Maintaining order. And seeing whether anyone embarrasses themselves by bringing ten lousy knives."

"I'm only bringing one spear."

"Then don't lose."

The Ninja Academy had suspended all regular classes. Those registered for early graduation were gathered in the first-floor classrooms, with only their admission slips and ninja tool inspection forms on their desks.

Naruto held his pen over the last field for a long time.

"What color is the emergency evacuation signal?"

Kiba turned around while sprawled over the desk in front of him.

"Red."

"What about a distress signal?"

"Also red."

"They're both red. How can anyone tell them apart?"

Shikamaru closed his own form.

"Emergency evacuation is three consecutive shots. A distress signal is one shot, followed by yellow."

Naruto lowered his head and filled it in again.

"How do you remember all that?"

"Because Iruka-sensei explained it six times."

"I heard it six times too."

"You slept through every one."

Iruka walked over from the podium and took Naruto's form away.

"Why does the name field say Uzumaki Genin?"

"I'll be one after tomorrow anyway. Writing it early saves time."

"Change it back first."

"Sensei, that's called confidence."

"You wrote your candidate number wrong too."

Naruto reached out to snatch it back, but Iruka had already pressed the form onto the desk.

"And you, Chiba. During the field mission, you are not permitted to leave your team without authorization, cross the designated boundaries, or run seventy li in pursuit of a target."

"How large is the area this time?"

"Five li."

"Too small."

"If you dare step beyond the fifth li, I'll personally drag you back."

Chiba looked at Iruka's left shoulder, which still bore traces of an old injury.

"You can't catch me."

"I'll notify Asuma."

"He might help me."

Iruka took a piece of chalk and wrote a line on the back of Chiba's admission slip.

"Cross the boundary without authorization, and your qualification will be revoked."

"Writing it on the back doesn't make it a rule."

"Tomorrow, I'll write it on the front."

Sasuke handed over his ninja tool inspection form.

"Are students allowed to fight one another during the field mission?"

"It's permitted when competing for mission items. Attacking vital areas will result in immediate elimination."

"Does Wood Release count as attacking vital areas?"

"That depends on where he hits."

Sasuke turned his face toward Chiba.

"See you in the second stage."

"Get through the first stage first."

"The written exam won't stop me."

Naruto leaned forward from between them.

"Neither of you is taking first place. Luck matters most in the field mission, and I've been lucky since I was little."

Shikamaru pushed him back into his seat.

"Last week, when you drew lots, you got the only blank slip."

"That was because someone cheated."

"You made the lottery tube yourself."

The dismissal bell rang three times, but Iruka still left the examination procedure written on the blackboard.

Chiba noted the locations of the three examination rooms. Before leaving the academy, he checked the field map once more. The northern river channel and western woods were both marked as prohibited areas.

Those two places were the best for ambushes, and the best for hiding people.

Shikamaru waited for him by the door.

"Are you planning to take first tomorrow?"

"We'll see."

"That means you are."

"What about you?"

"My mom wants me in the top three, or I'll have to make up classes after the exam."

"You could come in fourth."

"She'd say I did it on purpose."

Shikamaru slipped a packet of soldier pills into his pocket.

"If the field mission teams are assigned randomly, don't leave me behind."

"Can you keep up?"

"I can calculate where you're going beforehand."

"What if you calculate wrong?"

"I'll lie down and wait for rescue."

When Chiba returned to the Senju Clan Grounds, Bai Ye had already repaired the final gap in the eastern wall. Soft Bone had been woven into a dense bone mesh along the base of the wall, then covered with a layer of ordinary soil.

Chiba stomped on the newly laid ground.

"Not enough load-bearing strength."

"It's meant to stop people, not your fists."

"What about underground?"

"Three layers. The outermost sends a warning, the middle traps people, and the innermost kills them."

"What if Root agents come in?"

"Break their legs and throw them out the front gate. I remember."

"What about Anbu?"

"Ask for their warrant first."

"What about Asuma?"

Bai Ye pressed an exposed bone spike back into the mud.

"He's come twenty-seven times. He brings cigarettes every time, so let him in."

"What about Yotsuki?"

"See whether he has food in his hands."

Chiba handed him the Root Network map of the clan grounds.

"After I graduate, I'll be going out on more missions. I'm leaving the clan grounds to you."

Bai Ye did not take it immediately. He asked first,

"How long will you be gone?"

"I'm not sure."

"What if Hidden Sound Village finds this place?"

"Kill them."

"What if Danzo comes personally?"

"Retreat into the cave and snap the innermost red vine."

"What will it do?"

"Notify me, and the Hokage."

Only then did Bai Ye tuck the Root Network map into his clothes.

"Go without worry. Without your command, no one will set foot in the Senju Clan Grounds."

"Asuma is an exception."

"Then no one, and one chain-smoker."

Chiba returned to the main house, and the World Tree panel unfolded with his thoughts.

[Conditions for the next stage of evolution.]

[Defeat a jōnin-level target.]

[Current evolution points: zero.]

The four leaves of basic Wood Release, Poison Wood, Bone Wood, and Metal Wood glowed around the trunk, while more than half of the structural fusion nodes had already been completed.

A fifth gray leaf floated higher above.

A jōnin-level target would not appear in an ordinary graduation exam, unless someone intended to turn the exam into something else.

Before nightfall, all examinees were assigned to the dormitories on the eastern side of the academy. Their ninja tools were sealed away together and would be returned before they entered the examination grounds the next day.

Naruto claimed the bed by the window. He tossed and turned for half an hour, making the bedframe creak until the people next door started knocking on the wall.

"Chiba, are you asleep?"

"No."

"Sasuke definitely isn't asleep either."

Sasuke's answer came quickly from across the room.

"Shut up."

Naruto rolled over and sat up.

"You really are awake. Whoever loses tomorrow treats everyone to ramen."

"What are you using to pay?"

"They'll give us mission money after we pass."

"Pass first."

"Chiba, you're in too."

Three knocks sounded from outside, each separated by a different interval. It was the old emergency signal used by the orphanage pharmacy.

Chiba climbed out the window and landed behind the dormitory. Fine roots had already spread over the corner of the wall.

Yotsuki stood beside the drainage ditch. His right hand was hidden in his sleeve, while his left repeatedly gripped the medicine case handle. His fingernails had already scratched several shallow marks into the leather edge.

"This is the first time you've come looking for me on your own."

"I only have half a quarter-hour."

"Are Root people following you?"

"No."

"Then speak."

Yotsuki did not raise his head. He nudged pebbles by the ditch into the water with the tip of his shoe. After a moment, he reached up to touch the Cursed Seal near the base of his tongue.

"If I tell you, what will you do?"

"I'll listen first."

"Can you promise me you won't leave the proctors' sight tomorrow?"

"No."

"Then at least don't meddle in other people's business."

"Whose business?"

Yotsuki raised his face, his lips bloodless. His right hand, hidden in his sleeve, finally loosened, leaving four red marks in his palm where his nails had dug in.

"During tomorrow's exam, Lord Danzo has arranged for people to tamper with things in secret. Naruto is the target."