His breathing was actually steady, his chakra stable. He had barely even sweated, and his steps were as light as if he were taking a stroll.
He was certain Orochimaru would see straight through him if he pretended to be exhausted. His earlier strained expression had been put on deliberately for Kazuya and Kakashi.
Once Orochimaru picked up the pace and he accelerated to put some distance between himself and the others, he could no longer be bothered to pretend.
Kakashi and Kazuya, on the other hand, were another story.
Kakashi was pale and breathing heavily, clearly struggling to keep up with Orochimaru.
Kazuya was doing much better. Although he looked somewhat bedraggled, with sweat on his forehead and unsteady steps, his impassive face remained expressionless.
A faint smile lingered at the corners of Orochimaru's mouth, and amusement glinted in his golden, slit-pupiled eyes. Whenever he glanced back, his gaze always lingered longest on Uchiha Makoto.
Uchiha Makoto noticed that Orochimaru had been watching him all along.
He's doing this on purpose.
He's definitely doing this on purpose.
Testing the team's physical limits with a long-distance sprint, while also... watching for anything unusual about me?
Uchiha Makoto understood perfectly well, but there was nothing he could do.
He simply couldn't fake exhaustion convincingly in front of Orochimaru. The physical vitality granted by Life Return was too obvious. Anyone with even a little expertise could see it.
He could only grit his teeth and keep up the act, all while silently griping about Orochimaru eight hundred times over.
Another hour passed.
Kakashi had started gasping, his chest heaving. Kazuya was visibly stumbling and had nearly fallen several times.
Uchiha Makoto wore an exhausted expression, but his body showed no signs of fatigue whatsoever.
Orochimaru finally slowed down.
He didn't stop. He merely reduced his pace to normal, as though nothing had happened.
"Rest for ten minutes," he said evenly. "Drink some water."
Kakashi and Kazuya immediately collapsed onto the ground, pulled out their canteens, and gulped down water as desperately as if they hadn't had a drink in three days.
Uchiha Makoto sat down too, making a show of drinking while surveying his two teammates' miserable condition.
"Cheng," Orochimaru called suddenly.
"Sensei?"
"Impressive stamina." Orochimaru licked his lips, his golden, slit-pupiled eyes fixed on him. "Even better than I expected."
"Thank you for the compliment, Sensei." Uchiha Makoto lowered his head as alarm bells blared in his mind.
"It wasn't a compliment." There was a hint of laughter in Orochimaru's voice. "It was a fact. Your stamina already surpasses that of many jonin."
Uchiha Makoto said nothing.
Kakashi and Kazuya both looked over, their gazes complicated.
Envy? Jealousy? Wariness?
All of the above.
Ten minutes later, they resumed their journey.
This time, Orochimaru didn't sprint, maintaining a normal pace.
But Kakashi and Kazuya were already spent, running on sheer willpower. Their steps were so unsteady that they seemed to be walking on cotton.
Uchiha Makoto was perfectly fine. He even started counting the trees beside the road, and by the time he reached the two hundred and eighty-seventh, they had finally arrived.
It was evening, and the setting sun had dyed the horizon orange-red.
Their destination, a small village on the Eastern Border of the Land of Fire, finally came into view.
The village was small, with a few dozen wooden houses arranged in a pleasing pattern. Wisps of cooking smoke rose into the air, making it look peaceful and serene.
But Uchiha Makoto frowned. It was too quiet-unnaturally so.
The village chief was a man in his fifties named Yamada. At the sight of the Konoha ninja, he became so excited that he nearly dropped to his knees, hurrying forward with tears streaming down his face.
"You're finally here!" He clasped Orochimaru's hand, his voice choked with emotion. "Those bastards from Kumogakure keep coming to harass us. We simply can't take it anymore..."
Orochimaru unobtrusively withdrew his hand. "Give me the details."
"Yes, of course..." Yamada wiped away his tears. "About half a month ago, unfamiliar ninja started appearing nearby. They were all wearing Kumogakure uniforms and Kumogakure forehead protectors. They don't enter the village, just wander around outside. Sometimes they even injure villagers who go into the mountains to gather herbs..."
He pointed at several bandaged villagers nearby, his voice filled with grief and indignation. "Look! They're the ones those ninja injured!"
Uchiha Makoto followed his pointing finger.
The villagers were indeed wearing bandages, some around their arms and others around their legs. They looked quite pitiful.
But...
He narrowed his eyes.
The bandages were clean, glaringly white, without a single trace of blood seeping through.
And those villagers looked far too healthy. Their faces were rosy, their eyes bright, and their steps steady. How did they look anything like people who had been beaten and injured?
He glanced at Orochimaru.
Orochimaru's expression hadn't changed, but a barely perceptible flicker of amusement passed through his golden, slit-pupiled eyes.
Kakashi had noticed too. His dead-fish eyes narrowed, and his hand had already crept toward the short sword on his back.
Kazuya remained expressionless, as though none of this concerned him.
"Understood." Orochimaru nodded, his tone calm. "We'll investigate. We'll stay in the village tonight and begin searching the surrounding area tomorrow."
"Of course, of course!" Yamada nodded repeatedly, beaming. "I'll arrange your lodging right away! Thank you all for your hard work!"
He turned and left, his steps far too sprightly for an old man.
Uchiha Makoto watched him go and sneered inwardly.
Full of holes. They barely even tried.
Still...
He glanced at Orochimaru, then at Kazuya.
Orochimaru definitely saw through it.
What about Kazuya? He's with Root. Root might even have staged this whole performance. He must know.
Kakashi has probably figured out most of it too.
Should I play dumb, or call it out?
Uchiha Makoto considered it and decided to wait and see.
After all, he was only a seven-year-old genin right now. A little innocence and naïveté were perfectly normal.
"Sensei." He moved closer to Orochimaru and asked quietly, wearing just the right amount of confusion. "Those villagers... don't seem very badly hurt?"
Orochimaru looked down at him, a meaningful smile curling his lips.
"Well spotted."
And that was all.
Uchiha Makoto waited a few seconds. When no further explanation came, he could only rub his nose and step away.
Fine! Orochimaru wants to test me. Or rather, he wants to see how I'll react.
Then let's see how this little performance plays out.
That night, the four of them stayed in the house the village chief had arranged. It was crude but reasonably clean, with clean bedding laid out over the tatami.
Orochimaru said he was going to check the situation at the border and wouldn't be in the village that night.
He left the three of them to investigate on their own.
Uchiha Makoto lay on his bedding with his hands behind his head, listening to the insects gradually begin chirping outside the window.
He mentally reviewed everything he had seen and heard that day.
All the clues connected in his mind, and the puzzle gradually came together.
"Of course a destined protagonist with a built-in system like me can't go out on a simple mission without something unexpected happening."
"But with my current strength, ordinary threats don't scare me!"
He murmured to himself, a smile curling his lips.
Moonlight spilled through the window, falling across the boy's calm face.
A faint red gleam briefly flashed in his black eyes.
His two-tomoe Sharingan slowly spun in the darkness.
"Then I'll play along."
Outside the window, the night deepened.
The game had begun.
Before you continue