Inside the Hokage Office, the clerical Genin formed by Uchiha Shinichi's clone vanished like a wisp of smoke, leaving behind only a few airy words that nevertheless carried crushing weight, echoing through the deathly still air.
"The game has only just begun..."
Minato Namikaze stood motionless. The breeze drifting through the window stirred his golden hair, but his usually warm, gentle eyes now seemed coated in a thin layer of ice.
I lost.
By the rules, he had suffered an utterly crushing defeat.
In less than three days after the assessment began, his teacher had casually "completed" all three tasks in a manner that bordered on performance art.
The graffiti on Kage Rock had become the village's latest after-dinner talking point; the "theft" of the S-Rank Scroll had turned into a cup of tea gone cold; and the most important "hostage," Kushina Uzumaki, remained missing.
Most terrifying of all, through a "surprise" no one had anticipated, Shinichi had proved that he could infiltrate the village's most central, most heavily protected location as though no one were there.
This was no longer an assessment.
It was a one-sided lesson delivered through overwhelming superiority.
A lesson for him, and for all of Konoha, in just how laughable the word "foolproof" was before a true "legend."
"That bastard..." Tsunade gritted her teeth, veins standing out on her beautiful face as her chest heaved.
She was not angry at Shinichi for fooling around. She was angry at herself, and at everyone present, for letting him play them all so easily.
"Minato, you..." Looking at his friend's tense profile, Nawaki could not find the words.
Comfort? Encouragement? Faced with such a hopeless gap in strength, any words would ring hollow.
"I'm fine."
Minato Namikaze spoke softly, yet with remarkable clarity.
He slowly turned, his gaze