The change in plans forced Roy to completely compress his pace of life.
In the final year of the Ninja Academy, everything was accelerating.
The days were filled with increasingly harsh practical training, and the nights were for his own secret training.
He was like a tireless machine, precisely planning every minute.
The entire atmosphere of the academy had changed.
The lighthearted laughter was gone, replaced by the heavy gasps of exhaustion and the occasional, barely suppressed groans of pain coming from the training grounds.
Theoretical classes had been compressed to almost nothing, and the faces of the chunin instructors no longer held any gentleness, only sternness and indifference.
"You would be dead on the battlefield!"—this phrase had become their new catchphrase.
Everyone understood that the school was no longer a greenhouse, but a highly efficient weapons factory, continuously producing parts for the meat grinder known as "war."
Today's lesson was a team capture-the-flag exercise held at Training Ground Three.
The whole class was divided into four groups for the competition.
The rules were simple: seize the flag in the center of the field and bring it back to your starting point.
Roy glanced at his group assignment: Obito Uchiha, Rin Nohara.
He immediately deemed this team doomed in his mind.
One was a dead-last who charged in recklessly on sheer passion, one was a medical ninja specializing in support with almost zero front-line combat ability, and then there was himself, whose taijutsu was average and who everyone considered a "theoretical type."
This lineup was practically born to be cannon fodder.
Their opponents, meanwhile, were the elite team led by Kakashi Hatake. Almost all the strongest students in the class were on that opposing team.
"Hey, Roy!" Obito, completely unaware of the situation, approached with his usual excitement. "We've gotta beat that smug Kakashi this time! You come up with the plan, and I'll be the first to charge in!"
Rin, however, looked very worried and said quietly, "Kakashi-kun is very strong. There's no way we can beat them in a straight fight."
Roy ignored Obito's boasting. His gaze cut through the crowd, landing on the white-haired boy in the distance, who was quietly wiping a kunai.
His mind was already working at high speed, inputting everyone's data and personality traits, constructing a dynamic sand table.
He knew very well that a genius like Kakashi was efficient, deadly, and extremely confident—even arrogant.
In his eyes, teammates were likely just burdens.
In an exercise like this, there was a ninety percent chance he would choose to act alone, ending the fight as quickly as possible.
And Obito was passionate, impulsive, and stubborn, but his strengths were… he could take a hit, and he had a loud voice.
One extremely quiet, one extremely loud.
One wanted to solve the problem as fast as possible, the other could create the biggest chaos.
The core of the plan lay right here.
"Obito," Roy spoke, his tone calm. "I need you to be the decoy."
"Ha? A decoy?" Obito's face immediately fell.
"Yes," Roy looked at him, his expression devoid of any hint of a joke. "Charge in from the front. Make as much noise as possible, draw Kakashi out. Your only mission is to hold him off, no matter what it takes. Even if you can only buy ten seconds."
"Isn't that just sending me to die?" Obito complained.
"Didn't you always want to prove you're stronger than him?" Roy's voice was quiet, but it hit Obito's weak spot precisely. "Challenge him head-on, stall him with your willpower. That's your victory. I'll have Rin support you from behind to make sure you don't get taken out in one hit."
"Challenge… Kakashi?" Obito's breathing quickened, his mind immediately filling with heroic images of himself engaged in an epic, hundred-round battle with Kakashi. Any previous dissatisfaction vanished in an instant, and he nodded firmly. "Alright! Leave it to me!"
"Rin, your job is to maintain Obito's condition with healing techniques from a safe distance, and at the same time, use kunai to harass the other two members of the opposing team. Don't let them get close to the tower easily."
"I understand," Rin nodded seriously.
"What about you?" Obito couldn't help but ask.
"I'll take the other route," Roy said calmly. "And go take the victory. Remember, both of your efforts are to create an opportunity for me."
The sharp whistle signaling the start of the exercise sounded.
"Konoha Style Taijutsu: Whirlwind!" Obito let out a loud yell, using his best technique. Like an out-of-control cannonball, he charged straight out from the eastern treeline, making a huge commotion.
Almost simultaneously, within the shadows of the dense forest to the west, Roy's figure slipped out silently. He slowed his breathing, suppressed his presence, and made not a single sound.
His Heart Net expanded silently, like a massive radar grid, clearly reflecting the dynamics of the entire battlefield into his mind.
The battle in the east began quickly.
Just as he predicted, Kakashi had indeed intercepted Obito alone.
"Dead-last, you're too noisy," Kakashi's voice drifted over from afar.
"Shut up!" That was Obito's roar.
Roy didn't turn to look.
Within his perception, the situation was crystal clear. Obito's attacks were wide and full of openings, each one effortlessly deflected by Kakashi with minimal movement.
Kakashi barely even moved his feet, looking completely at ease.
On the other side, Rin's long-range harassment also played its role, successfully holding up the two opposing team members.
Everything was going according to plan.
Obito's chakra was rapidly depleting, but his willpower proved to be surprisingly tenacious.
He was like a cockroach that just wouldn't die, knocked down again and again, only to stagger back up under Rin's long-range healing techniques and charge back in.
Nine seconds, ten seconds… Obito had bought more time than Roy had expected. The guy's durability was a useful piece of data.
It seemed Kakashi had finally had enough, no longer treating it as a game.
He had seen through Obito's intent and decided to stop wasting time, needing to end this annoyance with a decisive blow.
He lowered his center slightly, accelerated, and in an instant closed in on Obito's side, preparing to knock him out completely with a knife-hand strike.
Right now!
The moment Kakashi focused all his attention on Obito, Roy, who had been lurking in the shadows on the west side of the tower, moved.
He moved like a weightless cat, using both hands and feet to silently climb the rough outer wall of the tower.
To the east, with a grunt, Obito was sent flying by a kick from Kakashi, crashing heavily to the ground and losing consciousness.
"It's over," Kakashi withdrew his foot, preparing to deal with the others.
But just then, with a sharp whistle, a red signal flare rose from the top of the tower, exploding in the air.
Kakashi spun around, seeing Roy standing on the tower top, their team's flag in his hand. He looked down at him calmly, even indifferently.
For the first time, a sharp, distinct contraction appeared in Kakashi's usually languid eyes.
The exercise ended, Roy's team victorious.
When Rin revived Obito and he learned of the team's win, he immediately started shouting and celebrating excitedly, completely forgetting he had been taken down in a single blow.
Roy stood within the team, listening to the teacher's undisguised praise and the classmates' murmurs of surprise mixed with jealousy. His expression remained gentle, but inwardly, he was exceptionally calm.
An impulsive but durable pawn, a reliable support pawn.
Used correctly, they could bring down a king who far surpassed them in strength but didn't understand how to utilize the overall situation.
This was so-called team tactics.
Roy made his final assessment of the exercise in his mind.