So all that effort was for nothing?

Uzumaki Hayashi looked back.

Gekko Hayate stood a few meters away, holding the bouquet he had just bought and quietly watching them.

Who knew how long he had been standing there?

The cheers that had been roaring a moment ago faltered. Someone fell silent first, then the hush spread through the crowd.

Eyes all along the street shifted back and forth between him and the Jonin.

Only then did Uzumaki Hayashi remember what he looked like right now-one foot still planted on someone else's face, one hand poised above the boy's nape, lining up a finishing move.

His heart tightened.

Not good.

Anyone who saw him like this would think he was about to commit murder in the street.

Just great. His victory had looked spectacular, and now getting caught looked every bit as ugly.

He quickly ran through his defense-the other guy had drawn a blade first, and everyone on the street could testify to that. This was self-defense. Excessive self-defense at most. Just a tiny bit excessive.

While he was figuring out how to explain, someone beside him beat him to it.

"Jonin Gekko!"

Ino Yamanaka stepped out in front of the crowd and pointed at the boy on the ground, her voice urgent and clear. "That isn't what happened! It was him! He was the one who drew a weapon first!"

"Look, it's still stuck in that post! He pulled out a kunai that big and tried to stab Hayashi!"

Gekko Hayate looked where she pointed, his gaze settling on the wooden post beside the street.

The Kunai that had thunked into the post still had its handle quivering.

He looked at the Kunai, then at the boy sprawled on the ground, then at Uzumaki Hayashi, who was still standing on him and hadn't had time to drop his pose. His sigh grew even longer.

"Honestly." He looked at Uzumaki Hayashi, his voice flat. "Let that little boy go already."

Only then did Uzumaki Hayashi lift his foot off the boy's face, smoothly tucking his hovering hand behind his back.

The whole movement flowed seamlessly, as natural as could be.

As though he really had just been standing there.

Gekko Hayate's eyes followed his retreating foot to the face of the boy on the ground.

A complete shoe print marked that face, mud and all.

He sighed again and gave two quiet coughs.

"Honestly." He shifted the bouquet to his other hand before continuing. "I knew you'd cause trouble the very first time I saw you. Really..."

The very first time?

Uzumaki Hayashi blinked.

At the flower shop? No, he hadn't caused any trouble back then.

Further back... that only left-

Well, damn.

So the ANBU who had delivered his living allowance that night was this guy?!

No wonder. No wonder his Mind's Eye of the Kagura hadn't picked up a trace of malice that night, just a listless hint of sleepiness. No wonder those two coughs had sounded so familiar.

Everything fit.

Uzumaki Hayashi was completely speechless.

He had even bowed earnestly to the man that night and called out a hearty thanks to the Third-so all that effort to make a good impression had gone to someone already on his side.

No, the real point was that the polite image he'd spent all evening carefully cultivating had gone completely to waste.

If he'd known this would happen, why had he even bothered bowing?

Gekko Hayate had no idea what was going through his head. He stepped forward, bent down, and hauled the boy off the street, then reached his other hand toward Uzumaki Hayashi.

"Come along. When children fight, there has to be somewhere to settle it."

From the looks of it, he intended to escort both the bigger boy and the smaller one away.

The boy cooperated, straightening up on wobbly legs, docile as a little chick-as though all that viciousness he'd shown when drawing his blade had gone straight out the window.

But the other hand, the one reaching for Uzumaki Hayashi, was blocked by the crowd.

"Hey, hey, what are you doing?!"

"What gives you the right to take the little girl away?!"

"We all saw it! That boy drew his blade first!"

"Exactly! If she didn't fight back, was she supposed to just stand there and get stabbed?"

The bystanders swarmed in all at once, talking over one another and hemming Gekko Hayate in completely.

A woman out shopping for groceries set her basket on the ground and planted herself at the front. By the looks of it, he wasn't getting past her easily today.

A man from a roadside shop stepped forward too, without even taking off his apron.

"Sir Jonin, if you're going to arrest someone, it should be the one who drew the blade!"

Children even squeezed through gaps in the crowd and tilted their heads up to stare at him, making him more uncomfortable still.

Gekko Hayate froze.

He shifted left, and the left was blocked. He shifted right, and the right was blocked. Even two stems in his bouquet were knocked askew.

In all his years doing this job, when had so many civilians ever surrounded him and barred his way?

He stiffened awkwardly and gave another two quiet coughs before explaining, "I'm not trying to give her a hard time. It's just a fight between children. I'm taking them to see the Third so he can decide what to do. Is that all right?"

"That's more like it."

Someone in the crowd muttered that, and only then did they slowly clear a path.

Uzumaki Hayashi turned back to say goodbye to Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka.

"Hayashi, you'll be okay, won't you?"

Sakura Haruno clutched his sleeve, still worried, and wouldn't let go for a long while. "Why don't we go with you?"

"No need, no need." Uzumaki Hayashi pulled his sleeve free and smiled at both of them. "It's not like Grandpa Third is going to eat me. Go on home."

"All right." Ino Yamanaka took it in stride, waving at him. "Come over to my place again sometime! Say hello to the Third for us!"

"See you at school tomorrow!"

Uzumaki Hayashi waved and turned to follow.

Gekko Hayate led the way, looking sickly and coughing every few steps. The boy dangled in the middle, held by the back of his collar, not even daring to breathe too loudly.

When they passed the street where he lived, the boy's steps noticeably slowed. Gekko Hayate tugged his collar, and he obediently followed again.

Uzumaki Hayashi walked at the rear, watching the figure ahead carrying a boy in one hand and flowers in the other. The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

Wasn't this guy being a little too nice to him?

That extra glance at the flower shop was one thing, but even after all that commotion, he hadn't really done anything to him. Even his remark about "causing trouble" hadn't sounded the least bit reproachful.

...Maybe that bow he'd given him that night hadn't been wasted after all?

They hadn't gone far when Gekko Hayate suddenly stopped.

He turned back, a smile appearing on his sickly face as he looked at Uzumaki Hayashi.

"Did you get hurt back there?"

Uzumaki Hayashi: "..."

Huh?

Hadn't this guy just said he was going to haul him off to see the Third?

Why was he asking whether he'd been hurt now?

What was this supposed to be?