You Pass

The mountain stronghold lay in ruins beneath the moonlight, severed limbs and broken arms scattered everywhere.

Amid the sea of blood, Hoshi and Sakumo sat back-to-back on a relatively clean boulder, gasping for breath.

The two of them looked like blood-soaked gourds, sticky blood covering them from head to toe, but they had no time to wash up.

They were simply out of strength. Of the eighty or ninety bandits in the stronghold, the two of them had killed more than eighty percent. Even slaughtering the same number of pigs would take an enormous amount of effort, let alone people.

The battle had not been especially dangerous, but it had exhausted them badly. They were only seven or eight-year-old children, after all. Having hacked away nonstop for over an hour without collapsing was already proof of their extraordinary stamina.

At that moment, even moving a finger felt like too much trouble. How could they possibly care about the blood all over their bodies?

While the two recovered their strength, Torifu stretched lazily and emerged from the woods. Unbothered by the blood on them, he came over and rubbed both their heads. Shinku at the side was not left out either.

"Very good. I'm extremely satisfied with all three of your performances. Hoshi and Sakumo, your abilities are impressive—far beyond my expectations. And Shinku, you overcame your psychological trauma at the critical moment and actively saved yourself. Excellent, all of you. You've passed my assessment."

Huh? An assessment?

Hoshi tilted his head and studied Torifu. "Didn't you say there wasn't going to be anything like that?"

Torifu gave Hoshi a sly wink. Paired with his fierce-looking face, it made Hoshi shudder. "I only said there wouldn't be a Survival Exercise. I never said there wouldn't be an assessment."

Seeing Hoshi's expression that clearly said, Yeah right, like I'd believe that, Torifu awkwardly cleared his throat. "It's not like I wouldn't teach you if you failed the assessment. It's just that, during this mission, if you had truly needed me to step in or asked me for help, then I wouldn't have taught you my real skills afterward. Wouldn't that tarnish the name of Torifu Akimichi?

"But you exceeded my expectations and completed the mission, so naturally, I'll teach you seriously from now on. I won't hold anything back anymore."

Seeing that the three still wore expressions that said, I'll just quietly watch you show off, Torifu waved his hand sheepishly. "Alright, alright, I handled it poorly, okay? I'll give you these as compensation. How about that?"

As he spoke, he raised a hand and tossed a small bottle to each of them.

Sakumo caught his bottle and asked curiously, "What is this?"

Torifu explained, "These are Military Ration Pills specially made by the Akimichi Clan. Unlike the ones sold on the market, they aren't particularly effective at restoring Chakra, but they're first-rate when it comes to restoring physical strength.

"Eat an amount about half the size of your fingernail, and it should be enough to get you back to Konoha.

"But these are only for emergency hunger relief. They taste awful and have little nutritional value, and eating too many will affect your digestive system. So don't eat much of them normally."

Hoshi and the others fully believed that. Just thinking about how Torifu could spend two hours eating nothing but grilled meat made it clear how much the Akimichi Clan consumed on a daily basis.

During real battles and missions, there was not always time for them to eat, so Military Ration Pills for special occasions like this were certainly indispensable.

Too exhausted to even walk, Hoshi and Sakumo exchanged a glance and silently took out half a pill each, stuffing them into their mouths. A moment later, their expressions became wonderfully colorful.

They tasted fucking awful.

But awful as they were, their effects were remarkably obvious. After resting a while, the two indeed felt less hungry. Their entire bodies still ached weakly, but at least they were no longer unable to walk.

Supporting each other, they found a stream and roughly washed the blood off themselves. Otherwise, looking as they did, they would have been seized by the Patrol Unit the moment they reached the village gate.

After washing away most of the blood, the four returned to Spark Village, handed over the mission to its client, and hurried back to Konoha.

What Hoshi and the others did not know was that not long after they left the village, another team quietly returned to Konoha.

After entering Konoha, this team made no announcement. They simply headed silently into the Hokage Building.

Knock, knock, knock...

"Come in."

Upon hearing the voice inside, the person knocking paused. He took a deep breath, gripped the doorknob, and pushed open the door to the Hokage's Office.

When he saw Hiruzen Sarutobi sitting in that seat with his head down as he reviewed documents, a flash of jealousy and resentment passed through his eyes. As though afraid someone might notice it, he quickly lowered his head. By the time he looked up again, his face had changed into a smile.

He sauntered forward, pointed vaguely at Hiruzen, and burst into laughter.

"You've only been Hokage for a short while, yet you're already looking quite the part, Hiruzen."

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked up at the familiar voice and froze when he saw who it was. Staring at that familiar face, he asked in surprise, "Danzo? Didn't you say you would return with the main force in half a month? Why are you back already... and what happened to your eye?"

At the mention of his eye, Danzo's body trembled. He instinctively lowered his head and covered the bandage-wrapped eye with one hand. Only after taking a deep breath did he speak in a somewhat hoarse voice.

"It's nothing. Just bad luck. I lost an eye on the front lines, that's all."

Hearing that, Hiruzen did not think much of it and asked with instinctive concern, "Is there any chance of recovery? Koharu is leading Konoha Hospital's senior staff in research on eye transplants. Why don't you go see them someday?"

"I said it's nothing, so it's nothing! Why are you asking so many pointless questions?!"

At the suggestion of having his eye examined, Danzo reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, his voice abruptly rising with agitation.

The moment the words left his mouth, Danzo realized he had misspoken. He lowered his head slightly and spoke softly to Hiruzen.

"Sorry. I got a little emotional."

Hiruzen was startled by him as well, but he assumed Danzo was in a bad mood after losing an eye and did not take it to heart. He merely waved it off with a smile.

"What's the big deal? Back when we were doing missions together under Sensei, didn't we argue all the time too?"

After a long silence, Danzo finally said, "It's different now, Hiruzen. You're the Hokage now."

Hiruzen's smile froze on his face, and for a moment, he did not know what to say.

But Danzo took the initiative to change the subject. "Forget that useless talk. One reason I returned early today is that the front lines have already entered a ceasefire. There was nothing for me to do there anymore."

And I also wanted to avoid everyone else's eyes and come ask what you were really thinking. Why had you agreed to a ceasefire with Cloud Village so easily?"

Hearing this, Hiruzen hesitated for a moment and instinctively glanced at the people behind Danzo.

Seeing this, Danzo turned to those behind him and said, "Go outside first. I have some things to discuss with Hiruzen."

What Hiruzen failed to notice was that, in front of Danzo's subordinates, Danzo did not address him as Hokage at all.

Why were there still so many classes even when I wasn't at school? I'm crying—what about you guys?