"Yes, you're amazing, and I'm useless. Happy now?!"
Suddenly, Sakura shouted, shoved Ino away hard, and ran off.
Ino hadn't expected Sakura to react so strongly. Caught off guard, she fell to the ground, scattering everything in her hands.
"Damn it, what's gotten into that billboard brow?"
Ino was furious as she climbed to her feet and immediately began checking her new clothes.
Then she noticed that the new clothes she'd just bought were not only dirty but torn, too. It pained her terribly!
By contrast, the scrape on her leg merely made her frown.
Her first instinct was to go settle the score with that billboard brow!
But after just two steps, she stopped, hesitating.
Because when Sakura had pushed her away and run off, she'd seemed to be... crying?
Had the things she'd said just now been too harsh?
"Forget it. I'm in a good mood today, so I won't stoop to that billboard brow's level."
Ino took a deep breath and began gathering the things scattered on the ground.
Among them was a pink hair ribbon in the latest style. She'd haggled for ages before buying it for over ten thousand ryo.
Gradually, night fell.
At the training ground, a petite figure was still working up a sweat instead of going home.
Five shuriken flew toward two targets. Three hit the bull's-eyes, one went wide, and one missed the targets entirely.
Sakura gritted her teeth and reached for her ninja tool pouch again, but it was already empty. There was nothing left inside.
Her body swayed slightly, and she let herself fall backward onto the grass.
"Practicing with shuriken at night isn't a good idea, unless you also have a kekkei genkai like the Sharingan that can largely offset the disadvantages of darkness."
A figure approached as