“So, are you getting included in the team assignments too, same as us?”
Tenten had walked a few steps ahead when the question occurred to her.
Chiba tilted his head, puzzled.
“Would I be some kind of special case?”
“You don’t think so?”
Tenten found the whole thing genuinely strange.
What normal shinobi rolled out a brand-new technique every month or two before he’d even graduated?
At this point, she’d gone a stretch of one or two months without hearing anything new out of him and it felt distinctly wrong, like something was missing.
“I suppose that’s fair.
Though barring anything unusual, I’d expect a normal assignment same as everyone else.
No idea who the instructor would be, honestly.”
Chiba shook his head.
Privately, he had a guess.
If his memory served, this was roughly the year Kakashi was due to formally step down from ANBU.
He recalled reading that Kakashi had already started taking on students in recent years, though the failure rate ran extremely high—one hundred percent, as things currently stood.
Judging by how often Kakashi had turned up around him lately—
His instructor was very likely going to be Kakashi Hatake.
That would fit the Hokage faction’s usual pattern too.
Tenten’s case was harder to call.
Might Guy seemed plausible, but she could just as easily end up on his own team.
Among this year’s crop of students, aside from Tenten and Neji, there really wasn’t much standout talent to speak of—the rest would probably just get sorted into groups to round out the numbers.
Chiba thought it through.
Tenten noticed him drift off and assumed he’d landed on some new idea, holding her breath and staying quiet beside him.
After a moment, Chiba looked at her, puzzled.
“Why the face?”
“Ah, I didn’t want to interrupt your thinking.”
Tenten brushed her hair back, a little embarrassed.
“Nothing like that.
Anyway, you should keep pushing your training—get the chakra threads up to combat readiness soon.
I hear there’s another exam waiting after graduation.”
Chiba reminded her.
Tenten’s expression changed instantly.
Another exam?
This—
That seemed excessive.
They’d already been assigned teams, and now there was still more testing to get through?
She couldn’t wrap her head around it.
Still.
Chiba sounded certain enough that she believed him without question, nodding gravely.
Chiba got ready to leave.
He wasn’t especially close to this year’s class—aside from Tenten and Lee, there wasn’t really anyone else to talk to, so this had genuinely just been a look-in visit.
Now that he’d seen what he came to see, he meant to head off.
As he turned to go, though, a flash of blond hair caught his eye out past the training grounds’ throwing range.
Naruto Uzumaki.
Come to think of it, if Kakashi ended up taking him on as a student instead, wouldn’t next year’s team assignments for Naruto shift entirely?
He mulled it over, then let out a short laugh at himself.
Whatever became of Naruto, Sasuke, and the rest wasn’t really his concern.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.
Just remembered something—the hospital’s going to start selling that medicinal soak I’ve been developing in a few days.
You should pick some up when it’s out.”
“That was you?”
Tenten’s eyes lit up, and suddenly it clicked why she hadn’t seen much of him lately.
So that’s what he’d been buried in.
Chiba gave a small nod, then held a finger to his lips.
“Just let Lee know.
Don’t spread it around beyond that.”
“Mhm.”
Three days later, word reached Chiba.
The medicine had cleared review, testing had come back positive, and it was cleared for sale.
Several clans had already gotten wind of it ahead of time, the Ino-Shika-Chō families most of all.
The Academy’s exams had more or less wrapped up by now, and news of the new medicine had spread across Konoha as fast as it hit the public notice boards.
Two points of sale had been arranged.
One at Konoha Hospital, the other at the Nara clan’s herbal shop.
On the fourth morning, Chiba showed up for his usual shift and found the hospital wrapped in a line stretching from inside the building all the way out onto the street—an enormous, buzzing crowd, loud enough to be a little alarming.
And.
Glancing over the crowd, he immediately spotted one figure that stood distinctly apart—
Where everyone else stood upright, head up, this one person had their feet in the air instead.
Chiba walked over.
“Sensei Guy, what are you doing here too?”
“No missions on lately, figured I might as well come stand in line while I’ve got the time.
Wouldn’t mind picking some up myself, if I can.”
Might Guy grinned.
Chiba said, lowering his voice, “Sensei Guy—”
“Chiba!”
A shout of greeting rang out from up ahead.
Chiba looked up.
Following the voice, he spotted Tenten near the front of the line, waving at him.
Behind her, a girl shrank back slightly.
Something about her build and dress felt familiar—a classmate, probably, but for the life of him Chiba couldn’t place a name to her.
Someone who always sat off to the edge of the room, if he remembered right.
Chiba thought it over for a moment, then murmured to Guy, “Sensei Guy, I actually developed this medicine.
I could put in a word for you.”
“No need, I’ll just wait my turn.
This is training too, kid!”
Guy said it while still balanced upside down, giving a smooth thumbs-up and flashing his broad white smile.
Since he’d put it that way—
Chiba just nodded and made his way forward, coming up beside Tenten, who was nearly at the front of the line now.
She lit up with something close to delight seeing him approach.
“Chiba, thanks for the heads-up yesterday—otherwise I’d probably be stuck in this line a lot longer today.”
Tenten laughed.
“It was nothing, just mentioned it in passing.
By the way—who’s this?”
Chiba glanced past her.
The girl had shrunk back further behind Tenten, close to slipping out of the line entirely.
“This is—”
“I’m so sorry, you probably don’t remember me.
I’m Tsukihikari Wasa.
It’s, it’s an honor to meet you!”
“I sat next to you once when I came in late, I think.
Sorry, I blanked on your name for a second.”
Chiba dug through his memory.
He recalled arriving late once, slipping in through the back door, and ending up in the seat next to her.
This girl—
Seemed to have a touch of social anxiety about her.
“It’s fine.
I always sit in the corner.
It’s normal not to notice me.”
Tsukihikari Wasa said quietly.
Just then, Tenten glanced back at the line behind them.
“This line’s gotten out of hand—it’s practically reaching the street now.
Chiba, could you think of some way to fix this?”
So that’s why she’d called him over.
Fair enough, honestly.
With this much crowding, even moving through here properly was becoming a struggle.
Chiba nodded.
“I’ll go talk to someone.
I’ll have something reasonable worked out shortly.”
“Great, thank you!”
Tenten pressed her hands together in gratitude.
Chiba waved it off.
“It’s nothing.
Having everyone bottleneck here like this isn’t good for anyone.
We’ll switch to a numbered-ticket system—take a number, come back when it’s called.
Let me go mention it to one of the staff.”
Leaving that many people crowded together in one spot really wasn’t ideal at all.
Except—
“Chiba, so it’s true—you’re that prodigy everyone’s talking about, Yanagyū Chiba!
Incredible.
Does this medicine really do what they say it does?”
“It absolutely works as described.”
Chiba answered quickly.
“What’s the price on it?”
“How’d you even come up with this, at your age—”
“Are you seeing anyone?”
The questions started off reasonable enough, all related to the medicine, but quickly veered into territory that made Chiba’s expression shift fast, and he beat a hasty retreat through the crowd.
Tenten couldn’t help a laugh behind her hand, though a small twinge of guilt crept in alongside it.
If it hadn’t been for her, hardly anyone here would’ve even recognized him in the first place.
Wasa, meanwhile, peeked cautiously out from behind her, watching him go.
Chiba fled straight for the medical division and let out a breath of relief once he found it empty.
That was terrifying.
Thankfully, no one dared follow him in here.