"Ah... that idiot is going to do something stupid."

Izumi stopped playing with the ash-gray puppy lying on her lap with his tummy exposed and looked at Hana, who was frowning. She followed Hana's eyes and found herself looking at Takuma and Hiji standing in the middle of the circle. Takuma had his back to her, but she could see Hiji talking.

That surprised Izumi. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen the two boys talk, if ever. Well, she hadn't seen or heard Takuma talking to anyone— at least, not recently.

"What do you mean?" Izumi asked.

Hana jutted her chin towards the boys. Her nose wrinkled as she said, "That idiot only smiles that way when he's thinking of doing something stupid. I have seen it too many times."

The puppy in Izumi's lap suddenly turned on its belly and hopped away to join his other two triplets in Hana's lap. She giggled as the two other pups seemed displeased at the entrance of their third brother. They tried to push each other to make space on Hana's lap but could only pile up on each other to fit into the small lap, though none seemed uncomfortable and even leaned into Hana's touch as she scratched behind their ears.

Izumi honestly couldn't imagine that the three Haimaru brothers were supposed to be triplets of ferocious ninken capable of tearing apart their enemies with fangs and claws while possessing noses that could pick up even the faintest of scents that had been purposefully obscured and use them to track down their targets.

After all, they were so small and cute.

She turned to the boys. Hiji was Hana's cousin, an Inuzuka from the ninken pup resting atop his head and the same red fang markings on his cheeks just like Hana's. Even their taijutsu styles were the same.

'Duh, they're from the same clan, silly,' she said to herself.

She liked Hana much more than Hiji. Hana was her friend, after all. But she was also smarter than her, nice, and so fun to hang around with. And the Haimaru brothers were always together with Hana, which was an added bonus in Izumi's eyes. Hiji, on the other hand, wasn't so nice: he was annoyingly loud, always bothered the class and the instructors, and often did mean things to others.

He once tried to drag her by the ponytail. She had taken revenge the next time they had sparred. He didn't bother her after that.

Izumi looked at the other boy— Takuma. He always seemed... away. Every time she saw him, she would always find him alone and quiet. Be it in classes, during the lunch break, or at the outdoor training lessons, Takuma was always by himself. Even when they went out to the forest to camp, Takuma was always alone, even when he was struggling.

'How can he be so undisturbed?' Izumi had often thought— no matter what was happening in the classroom around him, nothing seemed to matter to him; he kept doing whatever he was doing at that moment.

She knew for a fact that he didn't listen in class; just today, she had seen him reading one of the fourth-year history books and taking notes. She wanted to ask why he was reading last year's book, but he looked so concentrated that she didn't want to bother him. She did manage to find that chickenpox was why he didn't come to the academy for two weeks— she was glad to hear it wasn't something grave.

Izumi saw Kibe return to the field. The spar was about to start.

"—One minute, I say he lasts a minute—"

"—Idiot, that's too much. He will be on the floor in twenty seconds at most—"

Izumi frowned when she heard some of her classmates whisper to each other and laugh. It was rude of them to speak so. But, at the same time, she couldn't deny what they were saying.

Takuma wasn't very good at taijutsu... that was an overstatement— Takuma was bad at taijutsu.

Izumi looked at the boy with his back to her. No matter how she looked at it, Takuma wasn't fit to be a shinobi. He couldn't hold out on his own in spars, his weapon skills were poor— she hadn't seen him hit a bullseye in months, and he couldn't even use jutsu— not even poorly, they just simply didn't seem to work for him.

He was so bad that she couldn't even call him incompetent.

She wanted to ask why he was even in the shinobi academy, but asking that would be rude, so she kept that question to herself.

'He's good at math, though,' she thought. He was unnaturally good at math, finance, and even physics— and could always answer the teacher's questions.

'It would've been better—'

"Start!"

Kibe announced the start of the fight. Hiji wasted not a second and leaped forwards. Takuma had already assumed the standard academy taijutsu stance; he didn't fall backward or charge ahead; instead, he sidestepped Hiji's incoming kick.

'Correct move... but he's too slow,' she thought.

Hiji pivoted on the spot and launched a punch toward Takuma. Whatever chance Takuma had created to counter had vanished by Hiji's superior speed and balance. Takuma could only kick out to match Hiji's punch. Takuma was flung back as result of the impact— the Inuzuka was also stronger than Takuma.

Hiji laughed loudly as he jumped and drop-kicked Takuma right in the chest. Takuma, to give him merit, crossed his arms over to block but was still hurled back violently. Hiji was like an uprooting whirlwind, not allowing Takuma to gain even a moment of foothold. He was like a beast hungry for Takuma's flesh, who could only retreat and defend himself to prevent being ripped apart.

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Izumi had fought both the Inuzukas in her class multiple times. The Inuzuka brand of taijutsu leaned heavily on ferocity and pure aggression; it was heavy-handed and attack-dominant. It was brutish and brawlish. So much unlike her own Uchiha style of taijutsu that operated on counterattacks and attacking vital points to cause efficient damage at the most opportune times.

But by no means was the Inuzuka taijutsu crude in nature. Izumi narrowed her eyes as she observed Hiji; even though he was nowhere showcasing his full breadth of skill against a weak opponent like Takuma, she could still see the dexterity and coordination in the movements that required quick reaction time and high control over one's body.

'He's good,' Izumi thought. Hiji's movements might look sloppy to an untrained eye, but to Izuma, who had trained to look for chances to launch counterattacks, Hiji's attacks looked calculated, and every move was made for a reason.

Between Hiji and Hana, she had to give Hiji an edge regarding taijutsu. Hana was smarter and better than her cousin when it came to other shinobi skills, but in taijutsu, she was no match. The Inuzuka taijutsu simply suited someone like Hiji, who seemed to revel in all-out aggression, in contrast to the much more laid-back Hana.

Izumi glanced at the black pup that sat by the side. Hiji hadn't let his ninken fight with him. There wasn't a need for someone like Takuma. She looked at Hana's Haimaru triplets— it made her wonder if the number of dogs would make a difference. Advanced clan techniques had no place in the academy taijutsu spars. She had yet to see how Inuzuka worked together with their ninken in fights. Just like no one had seen the full extent of what she could do as an Uchiha.

She also couldn't ask Hana. Even though they were friends, things like those were clan-related information— and the only way she would come to know more was either by witnessing it or if she became a trusted teammate with an Inuzuka.

"Stop!"

Kibe announced the end of the fight.

Hiji, who was now on his knees, stopped punching down at Takuma, who was on his back with his hands raised up to protect himself from the flurry of punches that had rained down on him a second ago.

Hiji stood up. He pumped up his arms and hooted in victory. His ninken ran up to him and jumped into his arms, yipping in joy as he licked Hiji's cheek.

As for Takuma... he slowly got to his feet. His face was swollen, and discoloration had already begun to appear; it would only worsen. Even his arms spotted red bruises from taking Hiji's punches and kicks. Izumi could guess there would be other bruises hidden inside the clothes.

'It would've been better if he was in a civilian school,' she thought.

Takuma held his head down as he limped to the middle of the circle and raised his hand to form the Seal of Reconciliation.

Hiji scoffed and walked away without completing the Seal of Reconciliation.

"Hiji, come back here at once!" Kibe yelled at Hiji, but Inuzuka stuck his tongue out before running away.

Kibe could only sigh in return. He turned to Takuma and said, "Go to the medical room and get yourself fixed up... Maybe it was too early to let you rejoin."

Takuma nodded and walked away towards the building with his head hanging down.

"He overdid it," Izumi said. It was called sparring for a reason. People rarely went all out, and even though Hiji had by no means gone all out, he had overwhelmed Takuma beyond what was acceptable.

Hana nodded, her lips pressed into a bitter line. Having a clan member act this way publicly was bad for the clan's image.

Izumi followed Takuma with her eyes until he disappeared into the building.

Today again, he was... alone.

———

Takuma limped his way to the academy's medical room.

Yet another loss. He was used to it by now. A Loss A Day— until he became numb to the feeling of getting beat down by anyone and everyone that was put in front of him.

Yes, he was used to it...

Takuma clenched his fist, but his hand refused to listen to him; no matter how hard he tried, the clench had no strength behind it. He couldn't even do something as easy as that properly.

'— But, I do think my first win is just around the corner—'

Why had he said that? Takuma scolded himself; now, he looked like an ignorant idiot. There was no way a weak man like himself would win a fight.

The irony of the situation was even funnier. He had been beaten black and blue by the same bully he had run away from to avoid trouble.

He had run away.

'You are weak,' said a voice in his head.

To stop the bullying, he hadn't confronted his bully or stood up against him... No, he had run away from the situation by pretending to be unbothered by it. He had thought himself clever by resolving the problem this way, and all it took in return was that he needed to carry his belongings with him.

Takuma scoffed.

All he had done was allow a bully to change a part of his life.

If he had truly settled the bully situation, he wouldn't have to carry all of his books with him for fear of getting them destroyed. If he had truly settled the situation, he wouldn't have to change how he acted around Hiji and his friends.

It was pathetic.

He was pathetic.

'— Maybe it was too early to let you rejoin—'

It was his own fault that he had ended up being beaten into a pulp. If he was stronger, he could've held his ground.

'—I am sorry, young Takuma. This old man will take all the responsibility. It was because of me pushing you that you ended up in such a state—'

If he had been stronger, then he wouldn't have ended up in the hospital. If he had been stronger, Maruboshi wouldn't have looked at him like he was fragile and weak. If he had been stronger, his training load wouldn't have been lightened.

If he had just been stronger...

He reached the medical room. The threshold was uneven, with the medical room floor raised higher than the corridor. Takuma's foot caught up in the edge of the raised floor, and he tripped forward, ending on his knees with his body supported on his elbows.

"Ah! Are you okay, kid!" The nurse came hurrying towards him to help him up.

But Takum wasn't paying attention.

'It's all my fault. None of it would've happened if I had been stronger...'

Takuma clenched his hands into fists. This time they obeyed him. He could feel his nail digging into his flesh.

He needed to be stronger.