CH_121

"If you really do have such an incredible ability, I'm not sure whether being your teammate is a good or bad thing." Neru said with a smile—but her meaning went far beyond the surface.

"Enough. We won't be teammates for much longer anyway—no point overthinking it. At least you're still alive." With that, Tōji started heading back to the arena.

"So cold. If we're not teammates anymore, doesn't that mean we can be friends instead?" Neru's words carried a deeper weight.

"Forget it. I'm not confident I can live as securely as you just yet—it's too early for that kind of talk. And besides, we don't seem like the type who could fully trust each other." Tōji said flatly.

"Tch." Neru shrugged it off.

As they walked, Tōji paused and said, "Let's grab Natchi and have a nice meal with the captain. Who knows if we'll ever have the chance to eat together again."

"Sure—call it a farewell dinner!" Neru's tone carried a hint of emotion. "Come on—don't just stand there."

The two returned to the contestants' waiting room. Natchi had already finished his match, and the weakest contestants—Suzume and Tsubaki—had both forfeited.

No one had left yet because they were all waiting for Yūhi Shinku to give his closing remarks.

There was also supposed to be a speech from Minato afterward.

Good thing Tōji and Neru made it back in time.

When Natchi saw them, he waved them over quietly.

"Natchi." Tōji greeted him in a low voice.

"Are you okay? I heard you were in the hospital last night." Natchi's first concern was Tōji's health.

"I'm fine. You won your match, I assume." Tōji felt a little moved by Natchi's concern.

He realized that while trying to dodge the Land of Water mission himself, he hadn't thought to get Natchi out of it too.

Of course—he'd barely managed to save himself, and he wasn't exactly the most loyal person.

"Won it in style!" Natchi grinned without a care in the world—and that simple, unburdened smile was exactly what made Tōji like him.

"Captain Kenji's heading out on another mission soon—probably without us this time. After this is over, let's grab a meal with him as a send-off. What do you think?" Tōji asked.

"Sure! But I'll need to let my family know first." Natchi, completely unaware of anything, was still riding high on the excitement of likely being promoted to chūnin.

Tōji and Neru exchanged a glance.

Neru also planned to announce at the dinner that she was leaving the squad to join Konoha's medical corps.

Once they became chūnin, Tōji and Natchi would most likely no longer be on the same squad. Instead, they'd each lead genin teams on low-risk missions.

The only time they'd be reassembled was for high-risk missions or wartime.

After all, the genin who were still led by jōnin on low-risk missions were either from major Konoha clans or the new generation favored by the Hokage faction.

On the surface, Konoha was about to enter peacetime—which meant most ordinary new genin would return to being led by chūnin.

Without any special arrangements, someone like Natchi, once promoted, would lead fresh graduates on "daily missions."

Of course, someone with Natchi's skill set could also be assigned to border patrol—and Tōji was that type too…

But border patrol missions still carried medium-to-high risk in the coming years, and Tōji wasn't eager to take those.

In any case, after this parting, the squad was effectively disbanded. And Kenji could be considered as never returning as their supervising jōnin.

Both Tōji and Neru chose not to tell Natchi—his intellect and scheming weren't suited for that kind of burden.

By then, Minato had already moved to the final step of the Chūnin Exams—announcing the promotions on the spot for those who passed!

The eleven examinees walked downstairs together to the center of the arena to receive their chūnin appointments.