CH_101

Tōji chatted with Tsubaki the whole way back…

Even Tōji didn't know he had such a talkative side—though part of it was that he'd have felt awkward if they'd walked in silence.

But he really did feel that chatting with someone who wasn't particularly sharp was incredibly easy. At least he could steer the conversation however he wanted, without having to think carefully about what to say.

There was a saying from his previous life—something about how talking nonsense improves happiness?

Most of what Tōji had talked about with Tsubaki was probably nonsense. He wasn't sure if his happiness had improved, but he definitely felt less stressed.

Two exams in a row over the past few days, and now preparing for the final one in three more days… the Chūnin Exams were tiring.

Just as Tōji was about to say goodbye to Tsubaki and turn onto the road leading to his house…

"Kazamatsuri Tōji! You bastard! Stop right there!" Anko!

Anko was shouting from afar, looking like she was determined to hunt him down today.

"Sorry, Tsubaki—I've got to go!" With that, Tōji started forming seals…

【Earth Release: Earth Clone Technique】!

The moment the clone appeared, both Tōji and his clone used Body Flicker to flee in different directions…

"Uh…" Before Tsubaki could react, Tōji was already out of sight. "Tōji seems pretty strong…"

"Hey—you! What's your name? The one from the other class—Tōji was with you just now, right?" Anko and Tsubaki hadn't been in the same class, but Anko at least remembered that Tsubaki was a classmate from the same year.

"Huh? What do you want with Tōji…" Tsubaki was intimidated by Anko—this particularly fierce and rude girl was the infamous "Big Sister Anko" from their year!

Tsubaki also knew that this notorious figure who'd terrorized the Academy was also Orochimaru's disciple…

"Forget it—asking you is useless!" Seeing that Tsubaki seemed weak and harmless, Anko didn't bother bullying her. She casually chased after one of the "Tōjis."

"I couldn't even tell which one was the real Tōji…" Though Anko was already far away, Tsubaki still stared in the direction she'd gone, muttering weakly.

Her hands unconsciously came together in front of her chest, palms rubbing against each other, her gaze still fixed blankly into the distance… "I'm probably not going to beat Tōji, am I…"

…

By the time Tōji had nearly reached home and realized Anko hadn't caught up, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

『If Anko had made it into the third round, she'd be a lock to win both matches!』 Though Tōji had never seen Anko's fighting style, her sheer intimidating presence was already a winning factor.

『Good thing my opponent is Tsubaki!』 Tōji also had a lingering question. 『Isn't this year's Chūnin Exam a bit too lenient? It doesn't compare at all to the one in the savior's era!』

『Then again—making it to the third round doesn't guarantee promotion. Tsubaki just got lucky making it this far—but in the third round, luck alone won't cut it.』

『It must be nice being from a big clan～ Those with the resources don't even have to attend the Academy—they can get promoted to chūnin purely through clan recommendations.』

『Only those few rookies were sent to the Academy just to save face for Konoha—and also to help those seed candidates build connections.』

Thinking about how the major clans claimed to have lost most of their members in battle while still maintaining hundreds or even thousands of shinobi, Tōji found it all a bit fake.

『Is that how you build clan prestige?』

『As far as I know, only the Senju clan genuinely poured their members into Konoha, and even the few that remained just "merged" into the village.』

Thinking about the Uchiha clan, who would eventually be wiped out, Tōji sighed and thought to himself: 『The ones who plant the trees—and the ones who come after, all gone～』

Shaking his head, Tōji pushed open the door and called out, "I'm home～"

But his parents weren't off work yet.