After much deliberation, Hatake Sakumo accepted the sword on the table.
"Miss Yui, thank you for keeping it safe all this time."
The moment Yui chose to return the sword to Hatake Sakumo, he had understood what kind of person she was.
Making a new friend was nice, too.
After accepting the sword, he thought it over and made up his mind.
He unstrapped the other sword from his back.
"Here... Miss Yui, please take this sword as thanks for keeping mine safe."
Hatake Sakumo held out the short sword in its black scabbard.
Seeing what Hatake Sakumo was doing, Sako stood beside him in utter shock.
"Sakumo, you..."
Sako tried to stop Hatake Sakumo, but he held her back.
"This is my spare sword, but now that I have my main sword back, I won't need it anymore," Hatake Sakumo said, scratching his head. "So I'd like Miss Yui to have it."
Yui gave the short sword in front of her a puzzled look.
From the workmanship of the scabbard and hilt alone, she knew it had to be a fine blade.
He was giving it to me? He was that generous?
Yui hesitated.
She pointed at the sword, then at herself.
Then she looked at Hatake Sakumo with a strange expression.
"Why?" Yui was confused. She had only kept it safe for a few days. Was such an expensive gift really necessary?
Hatake Sakumo seemed to guess what was troubling her and explained, "Consider it a gesture of friendship..."
"Besides, I don't need this sword anymore, do I?"
"Though it isn't as good as my family heirloom, this sword was also forged from chakra metal."
"It's still far better than most ninja tools."
"Please, Miss Yui, take it."
Hearing that, Yui was genuinely tempted. Forged from chakra metal-now that was something special!
A gesture of friendship? That sounded nice, too.
"Then thank you, Sakumo."
In the end, Yui picked up the sword from the table in front of her.
"Sakumo, that was a gift from my father," Sako said indignantly beside him, staring at the sword in Yui's hands.
She seemed utterly unable to understand Hatake Sakumo's decision.
"I'll explain when we get home..." Hatake Sakumo said in a low voice.
Sako gave a soft huff. "You'd better have an explanation when we get home..."
In the end, the four finished lunch in an odd atmosphere.
Yui stared absently at the name on the scabbard.
"Wave Breaker..."
What a wonderful name!
With that, she strapped the sword onto her back again.
As they walked along, Yui gazed absently at Hokage Rock in the distance.
"By the way, Yui, how did you meet him?" Nai Hyuga asked.
After all, Yui spent every day within the clan compound and had no time to meet anyone else.
She barely knew anyone in the clan, let alone the village.
Yui froze for a moment, apparently not expecting Nai Hyuga to ask that.
"I met him one night..."
"At night?" Didn't they spend their nights training at the Training Ground?
"Yui, at least think your lies through first..."
Nai Hyuga stared at her with a decidedly unfriendly look.
How was I supposed to explain this?
Her stare made Yui's skin crawl.
In the end, she told her everything that had happened a few days earlier.
"What? You actually sneaked out by yourself after training?"
"Don't you need to sleep?"
Now Nai Hyuga finally understood why Yui always looked so listless during the day.
As expected, Yui received a thorough scolding.
Even their nightly training sessions together were canceled.
Nai Hyuga also said she would watch Yui at night to make sure she rested properly.
Hearing that their nightly training had been canceled, Yui grew anxious.
She still wanted to salvage the situation.
But there was nothing she could do. Nai ignored everything she said.
Just as she was trying to think of something else to say, they reached the classroom.
"Ah..." Yui sighed.
Forget it. So be it.
Their afternoon lesson was an outdoor training session.
Yamada Hideko took the entire class out to the school field.
"All right, there are three parts to this afternoon's lesson."
"First, running laps around the field. Fifteen laps for the girls and twenty for the boys. No using chakra to help yourselves."
"Second, shuriken and kunai throwing practice. Again, no using chakra to help yourselves."
"Third, taijutsu sparring. I'll select pairs of students to spar with each other."
"Completing either of the first two exercises earns you one credit each. The last exercise also earns you one credit, win or lose, but you have to be willing to participate."
"If you don't participate, you won't receive any credit. Both participants must form the Seal of Reconciliation before and after the match."
Yui's eye twitched as she listened to the training requirements.
This field had to be four hundred meters around! Fifteen laps for the girls-wasn't that six thousand meters?
Who could handle that?
But Nai Hyuga beside her showed no reaction, seemingly unbothered by any of it.
Looking over the class, Yamada Hideko gave them no time to prepare.
"All right, girls first. Finish, and you'll earn one credit."
"Do your best."
Yui felt like crying, but no tears came.
Why did the girls have to go first? They weren't even giving me time to warm up.
Still, when she remembered that the boys had to run five more laps than they did, she felt better.
Though she grumbled inwardly, her feet kept moving as she followed Nai Hyuga.
At first, Yui felt full of energy and ran quickly behind Nai Hyuga.
But after four or five laps, her legs grew heavier with every step.
By then, she could barely keep up with Nai Hyuga.
"Nai... hah... how are you so good at this?"
Yui couldn't help admiring Nai Hyuga. They had been running for so long, yet she wasn't even out of breath.
It was as though she hadn't exerted herself at all.
Nai Hyuga noticed Yui slowing down and eased her pace as well so Yui could keep up.
Five laps, six, seven... ten.
By the time they reached their tenth lap, only three or four people remained on the track.
Only those few were still hanging on.
Yui glanced to the side.
Well, look at that. Apart from Nai Hyuga and me, there were two others.
They were Tsunade and Sako.
Both familiar faces.
"Hah... hah..."
Sako's breathing grew increasingly ragged, and an unnatural flush spread across her face.
Finally, on her eleventh lap, she couldn't hold on any longer.
She ran straight off the field.
Seeing this, Hatake Sakumo hurried over to support her.
"Sako, get some rest first."
Yamada Hideko looked at the three still running on the track and nodded.
"Three still going today. Not bad..."
Before you continue