Neji Hyuga lowered his hands and stood still, breathing lightly. His pale eyes looked down coldly at Sasuke, who lay motionless on the ground, and his voice rang with undisguised scorn. "Hmph. Is that all you've got, Uchiha genius? You're not even good enough for a warm-up. And with strength like that, you dare go near Naruko?"
Iruka-sensei frowned. He glanced at Sasuke on the ground, then at Neji's icy expression. With a sigh, he stepped forward to announce the result. "The winner is clear. In this assessment, Neji Hyuga—"
"W-wait."
A hoarse voice, strained with pain, cut Iruka off.
Under everyone's astonished gaze, Sasuke Uchiha braced himself on trembling arms and struggled to push himself up.
He swayed as though he might collapse again at any moment, but he gritted his teeth and slowly, unsteadily rose to his feet.
His left cheek was swollen, blood seeped from the split corner of his mouth, and the agony in his abdomen had left his forehead beaded with cold sweat. Yet his black eyes remained fixed on Neji. Defiance burned in them, along with something deeper.
"I haven't lost." He spoke one word at a time, quietly but with startling clarity.
"Sasuke! Are you crazy?! Just surrender!" Naruko could no longer hold back. She pushed to the front of the crowd, her blue eyes full of worry, her voice rising with emotion. "You can't beat him! Stop pushing yourself!"
Naruko's cry pierced Sasuke's heart like a red-hot needle.
Her concern was real. But her certainty that he would lose cut even deeper, wounding his Uchiha pride and the soul that had returned from hell, a soul that refused to admit defeat so easily.
Surrender? Surrender to someone who attacked me for such a ridiculous reason? In front of Naruko?
Never!
Sasuke slowly