Sasuke lifted his eyelids: "...Boring."
Rock Lee had already rushed forward.
A punch. Sasuke sidestepped to dodge.
The second punch arrived at his waist. Sasuke raised his hand to block it.
A third kick swept across. Sasuke jumped up to evade.
A fourth punch.
Bang.
That punch smashed into Sasuke's abdomen.
Sasuke bent over.
Rock Lee's next kick swept against the back of his knee, forcing him to drop to one knee.
"Sasuke!" Naruto rushed forward and swung a punch.
But Rock Lee sidestepped and delivered a kick.
Naruto went flying, crashing into the bushes.
Rock Lee's fist stopped an inch from Sasuke's face.
"You lost," Rock Lee said.
Sasuke knelt on the ground, head bowed. His fingers dug into the soil, his knuckles turning white.
Then, they heard a soft chuckle.
It was very soft, so brief it felt like an illusion.
Rock Lee turned his head.
Shinji was leaning against a tree trunk, a hint of that curve still lingering on the corners of his mouth.
It wasn't mockery; he truly hadn't been able to hold it in.
Rock Lee looked at him: "Do you want to fight too?"
Shinji originally wanted to shake his head, but then he thought about it; Rock Lee's taijutsu was decent, and warming up in advance wouldn't be bad.
The next moment, he straightened up and walked forward.
One step, two steps, three steps. He stopped in front of Rock Lee.
"Let's try taijutsu," he said.
Rock Lee's eyes lit up: "Alright!"
The moment the words left his lips, he had already rushed out.
A punch aimed straight for his face. Shinji tilted his head to dodge, simultaneously slamming a fist toward Rock Lee's ribs.
Rock Lee retracted his arm to block. The force of the punch made him take half a step back.
Rock Lee's second strike arrived. A kick.
Shinji raised his knee, striking the side of his lower leg.
Rock Lee used the momentum to turn, sweeping his other leg across.
Shinji bent his waist, the wind of the kick brushing over his head.
Rock Lee landed.
Shinji had already straightened up, slamming a fist toward his chest.
Rock Lee crossed his arms to block. That punch sent him sliding half a step back.
Before he could steady himself, Shinji's second punch arrived. Block again, retreat again.
A third punch. A fourth punch. A fifth punch.
Rock Lee retreated five steps.
Shinji advanced five steps.
Rock Lee's foot slipped, and he lost his balance. Shinji's fist stopped an inch from the center of his forehead.
Sunlight fell upon that fist.
The surroundings were so quiet that one could hear their own heartbeat.
Rock Lee looked at that fist, then at the pair of eyes behind it. Those eyes were very deep, very calm.
"Your taijutsu is already very strong."
With a sincere compliment, Shinji withdrew his fist.
He turned around.
He walked back to the end of the line.
He leaned against the tree trunk and closed his eyes.
No one spoke.
Naruto crawled out of the bushes, clutching his stomach, his mouth hanging open in shock.
Sakura's hand was still covering her mouth.
The ninja tool in Tenten's hand dropped to the ground.
Neji's eyes were wide open.
Sasuke was still kneeling on the ground, but he had his head raised, staring at Shinji.
Guy jumped down from the tree and stood beside Rock Lee. He looked at Shinji, his eyes beneath those thick eyebrows shining astonishingly bright.
Rock Lee's taijutsu was very strong. Everyone knew this.
Might Guy's path was taijutsu specialization, eight hundred squats a day. It was only natural that he was strong.
But Shinji.
That dead last who hadn't been assigned to a team three times.
That invisible person standing at the end of the line whom no one paid attention to.
He had used pure taijutsu to suppress and beat Rock Lee.
Rock Lee was still standing in place, looking at his own hands. Then he looked up at Shinji: "You are also very strong, stronger than me."
Shinji did not open his eyes.
"But I will catch up to you."
The wind blew, and the leaves rustled.
The line remained where it was. Everyone's gaze fell upon him.
Shinji kept his eyes closed.
But he could feel that gaze.
Coming from the edge of the crowd.
Kiba stood there, mouth hanging open, forgetting to close it.
He looked at Shinji, looking at the dead last he had always looked down upon, looking at the figure that had pushed Rock Lee back punch by punch.
The eyes behind his sunglasses were wide open.
He remembered the things he had said in front of Hinata a few days ago.
"Don't you have any self-awareness about your own situation?"
"Hinata is the eldest daughter of the Hyuga main family; you have no qualifications."
Those words now acted like a boomerang, circling around and smashing fiercely back into his own face.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something. But nothing came out.
He just stood there, his face pale.
"Shinji-kun... so cool..."
Hinata stood beside him, her eyes bright, the corners of her mouth curved.
She looked at Shinji, at the boy leaning against the tree trunk with his eyes closed, and her heart beat very fast.
Kurenai Yuhi glanced at Kiba but said nothing.
Shino adjusted his sunglasses and also said nothing.
But silence itself was a kind of voice.
Shinji finished registering smoothly, took his examination admission ticket from the window, and turned to leave.
The line was still very long. Naruto's golden head was bobbing around in the crowd, still a dozen people away from the window.
Naruto was standing beside him, arguing about something.
Sasuke was leaning against a tree trunk, eyes closed, with no expression on his face.
Shinji walked past them.
Sakura looked up at him, opening her mouth to say something, but Shinji had already walked past.
...
He was walking back along the path by the edge of the training ground.
Sunlight leaked down through the gaps in the leaves, falling onto Shinji's shoulders.
The wind blew over, carrying a hint of the scent of grass. It was very quiet.
Then, Shinji heard footsteps.
Three people were walking over from the opposite side.
Walking at the very front was a short boy, carrying a huge gourd on his back, with a deep red character engraved in the center of his forehead: Love.
He walked very slowly, each step steady, but his eyes were as hollow as two dried-up wells, seeing nothing, yet appearing as if he had seen everything.
Sunagakure's Gaara.
Kankuro followed behind him, carrying a puppet wrapped in cloth, his gaze scanning the surroundings vigilantly.
Temari walked at the very back, carrying a huge three-star fan on her shoulder.
Shinji brushed past them.
In that instant, his gaze shifted from Naruto in the distance to Gaara.
Naruto. Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
Gaara. Ichibi Jinchuriki.
The protagonists of two eras, on this ordinary afternoon, brushed past each other with a distance of a dozen meters between them.
He thought of more.
Nine-Tails, Ichibi, Ten-Tails. The God Tree fruit, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, Infinite Tsukuyomi, the Fourth Ninja World War.
The scenes he had seen in his past life flashed through his mind like fragments.
They had once been as far away from him as clouds in the sky—visible, but unreachable.
But now, he had the Sage Body.
Although it was only at the primary level, and his body could not yet keep up with his consciousness.
His combat power was also only at the Chunin level for the time being.
But that was the Sage Body, something inherited by the Senju Clan, the bloodline of the Sage of Six Paths.
Since he had this.
Could he not also scheme for the power of the God Tree?
Become the second Sage of Six Paths? Or perhaps even higher!
The moment this thought emerged, Shinji himself did not realize that his gaze lingered on Gaara for an extra half-second.
Half a second.
That was enough.
Gaara suddenly stopped in his tracks.
When he stopped, Kankuro and Temari also stopped.
Kankuro was just about to open his mouth to ask what was wrong, when he saw a slight furrow in Gaara's brow on that face which usually held no expression.
Gaara turned his head.
His gaze crossed over Kankuro's shoulder, landing on the retreating figure in the distance.
An ordinary Konoha Genin, black hair, ordinary build, ordinary attire, with nothing special about him.
But just at the moment he had passed by.
Hostility.