The gap

The black sedan glided smoothly through Jujutsu High's old-fashioned gates and stopped in the open space before the Main Building.

Assistant Supervisor Yoshino watched Madara Uchiha get out, seeming about to say something, but ultimately offered only a respectful "Thank you for your hard work" before driving away.

Madara stood on the familiar campus, the afternoon sunshine falling warmly over him and dispelling the last trace of chill left by the Shinto shrine's ruins.

The air smelled of vegetation and earth, and faint shouts drifted over from the distant Training Ground.

He rolled his shoulders and headed toward the Training Ground.

Sure enough, before he even drew near, he spotted three familiar figures.

Panda and Toge Inumaki were training hard.

Maki Zenin, meanwhile, was practicing the most basic blade swings, her naginata slicing through the air with a fierce whistle.

Sweat slid along her jawline.

"Oh, Madara, you're back." Panda noticed him first and waved a paw in greeting.

"Yeah, I'm back." Madara walked over, his gaze sweeping across the three of them. "Where's Yuta?"

"Yuta?" Panda scratched his head. "Seems he got an urgent assignment and went abroad. Special Grade Sorcerers are always busy, you know. Always coming and going without warning."

His tone held a little envy, along with a trace of worry for his companion.

Inumaki put away his kunai and nodded. "Salmon."

Maki stopped swinging as well, planted her naginata on the ground, and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Her eyes behind her glasses turned sharply toward Madara. "More importantly, you didn't break anything on this mission, did you? The cursed tool I lent you."

Madara's expression remained unchanged as he answered calmly, "Ahaha, of course not."

Susanoo was more useful than any cursed tool.

Maki stared at him for two seconds, seemingly trying to find a crack in his expression, but Madara's face gave nothing away.

She snorted and turned to resume her swings, her voice carrying over with her movements. "Good, then. Remember to work hard on your missions and earn some money so you can pay me back for that last tanto. It was worth a lot. Don't think you can dodge the debt."

There was a stubborn determination in her back. Madara watched her working up a sweat and said nothing.

Panda leaned closer to Madara and added in a lowered voice, "Well... what Maki actually means is, be careful on your missions. Don't die. You can buy another blade if it breaks, but once someone's gone, they're really gone."

Madara nodded. "Yeah, I understand."

"Hey! What are you two whispering about over there?!" Maki shouted without looking back, bringing her blade down in another fierce swing.

"Madara! Get over here! Let me see whether you've been slacking off this week, and whether you've improved at all after that field assignment!"

Panda immediately straightened his back, clasped his paws behind him, and turned his round eyes toward the sky, pretending he hadn't been the one talking.

"Yeah, Madara, off you go. Maki's calling you."

Madara looked at Panda, then at Inumaki beside him, who was pretending to be very busy. He fell silent for a moment. "Am I going alone...?"

Panda patted him on the back with a paw. "What are you talking about? Haven't we been right here all along?"

He pointed to himself, then to Inumaki. "We're right behind you! Moral support is still support!"

Inumaki nodded vigorously too, giving him a thumbs-up. "Salmon, salmon!" (You can do it!)

Madara looked at them, then at Maki ahead, gripping her naginata with her presence in full force, and sighed. "...There's no one behind me."

In the physical sense.

"What are you dragging your feet for?!" Maki urged again, impatience in her voice.

"Coming!" Madara answered, shrugging off his jacket and tossing it aside. He loosened his wrists and ankles as he walked toward the center of the Training Ground.

The fight began.

Maki had no cursed energy. This was her weakness, but also her advantage.

Her "Heavenly Restriction" granted her extraordinary physical strength, reaction speed, and sensory acuity far beyond those of ordinary people.

Combined with her day-after-day training that bordered on self-abuse, her mastery of taijutsu had long since reached an exceptional level.

Her movements were simple, efficient, and swift, without the slightest excess. Every attack went straight for a vital point.

Madara did not activate his Sharingan.

He wanted to know how far he could go without relying on those eyes' perception and prediction, using only the physical foundation he had honed over the past week and Madara Uchiha's combat memories.

The result was-he was overwhelmed.

Maki was astonishingly fast, her footwork nimble as the wind, her punches and kicks heavy as mountains.

Madara could use his experience and technique to predict the general course of her attacks, but his body's reactions were always half a beat too slow.

His blocking arms shook with numbness, his evasions were somewhat clumsy, and every attempt to counterattack was thwarted by Maki with a trickier angle or a faster change of moves.

Thump!

Smack!

Thud!

The dull sounds of bodies colliding rang out across the Training Ground.

Madara was driven back again and again, but his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

He could feel himself improving rapidly.

Fortunately, Maki knew exactly how far to go, holding back the force of every hit.

Even so, Madara accumulated quite a few bruises, though they were all superficial injuries. The greater problem was how quickly his stamina was draining.

"Not bad," Maki remarked, breathing a little harder during a brief lull after they crossed past each other and separated. A trace of approval flashed in her eyes.

"Your technique's still pretty rough, and you've got plenty of openings, but you're improving much faster than Okkotsu did back then."

Panting, Madara wiped the sweat from his forehead and gave a wry smile. "Haha... maybe."

He knew this improvement was probably largely due to the subtle influence of Madara Uchiha's combat instincts, but Maki's guidance was indeed crucial.

"Well, then." Maki steadied her breathing, her gaze sharpening once more.

"The warm-up's over. Now I'm going to keep picking up the pace. Watch closely!"

The moment she finished speaking, her figure abruptly blurred!

She practically became a string of afterimages, attacking Madara from multiple directions!

Madara's pupils contracted. His brain raced, trying to track every attack's trajectory, but his body was like a rusty machine, utterly unable to keep up with his mind's commands!

Predictions flashed through his mind, but his body only managed the first block before the follow-up attacks rained down like a violent storm!

Thump! Bang! Thud!

He barely blocked two blows before taking one to the shoulder and another to the side of his abdomen. Though Maki held back, the impact still made him grunt and stagger.

...I'm so screwed.

The quip flashed through Madara's mind as his body lost its balance and toppled backward.

Maki did not pursue him. She drew to a stop and raised her chin slightly, watching Madara sitting on the ground, gasping for breath.

"That's all you've got? Your stamina's still terrible, and your endurance isn't good enough either. You're really useless." Though her words were harsh, her tone held little mockery. It was more like stern prodding.

Madara lay on the ground, staring at the blue sky, his chest heaving violently and sweat soaking the hair over his forehead.

He tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"You're just too strong, Maki-san... Are you really a Grade 4 Sorcerer?" He continued playing the newcomer who "didn't know much about the inner workings of Jujutsu Society."

Maki fell silent for a moment, then walked aside, picked up her water bottle, and took a sip before speaking flatly. "...There are a lot of reasons. The Zenin Clan has been pulling little tricks behind the scenes all along."

She did not explain the family's internal disputes in detail, merely glossing over them, but the coldness and resentment in her tone were unmistakable. "But they won't be able to hold me back for much longer. Hmph."

Madara sat up and looked at her sweat-soaked back.

This seemingly hot-tempered, straightforward girl probably bore far more than she appeared to on the surface.

"I see," he answered, without pressing further.

There were some things outsiders had no right to comment on unless the person involved chose to speak.

"Go get some rest." Maki set down her water bottle and picked up her naginata again. "I'm going to practice a little longer. Without a solid foundation, everything comes crashing down."

"Understood." Madara braced his hands on his knees and stood up, every muscle in his body protesting.

He nodded to Panda and Inumaki, who were still pretending to look at the sky, picked up his jacket, and slowly headed toward the Dormitory.

Behind him, the sound of the naginata cutting through the air rang out again, firm and powerful.

Panda and Inumaki exchanged a glance, then each picked up their equipment and resumed their training.

The afternoon sunlight stretched their shadows long.

This was everyday life at Jujutsu High: ordinary and grueling, yet full of a vitality that strove ever upward.