Over the next several days, Shirayuki Haruba poured nearly all of his energy into training the nature transformation of his wind-style chakra.
Sometimes it was just a single hair, a book, and his palms pressed together — and he'd sit there working at it for an entire day.
During this time, Uzuki Yugao didn't have any missions, so she often came by to keep him company.
And when Yugao stayed with Haruba… it was the whole day.
Haruba often complained that Konoha's chunin had it way too easy. Otherwise, how could she have so much time to keep dropping by his place?
Konoha was just too… urbanized. Take Sunagakure, for example — with how their missions were split up, there probably wouldn't be enough work to go around for each shinobi to even get one assignment.
If you didn't work there, you'd probably starve.
And once Shirayuki Yazan saw that Haruba had Yugao acting as his personal little instructor, he stopped interfering.
There were still a few days before Haruba's next mission, so Yazan used that time to train at the practice grounds himself.
With his current strength, training in this tiny courtyard would've been a disaster — just a few swings of his sword, and the place would be rubble.
"It looks like you've already got the basics of chakra nature transformation down."
"Much faster than I did back in the day."
Yugao's eyes warmed as she looked at the split hair in Haruba's hand, genuinely happy for him.
Haruba gazed down at the single strand in his palm, cleanly cut in two, and felt all the fatigue from the past few days vanish in an instant.
He quickly plucked out a few more hairs to try again.
One… two… three…
His movements grew more precise, his cutting speed faster.
A few minutes later—
"Huh?"
Rubbing at the bare spot he suddenly felt, Haruba realized with horror the gravity of the situation.
Pfft!
Yugao couldn't hold back a bright, clear laugh at his frozen expression.
Then she reached out with her slender, delicate hand to help smooth his hair, shifting it just enough to hide the slightly bald patch at his temple.
"It's fine. You can still cover it."
Seeing Yugao fighting back her laughter, Haruba's face darkened with exasperation.
"…I've already mastered nature transformation. Doesn't that mean I can move on to the next step?"
Yugao took a few deep breaths, calming herself before answering.
"Yes. The next step is to infuse your wind-style chakra into the blade of your sword."
"This is different from the usual chakra coating. Wind chakra has a cutting property, so it's very easy to damage your own blade if you're not careful."
She pulled out a bamboo practice sword she'd prepared earlier and handed it to him.
"Start with this. Once you can channel chakra into it without leaving even a scratch, you'll have succeeded."
Haruba accepted the bamboo sword. But as soon as he began channeling chakra into it—
Sure enough, a thin cut mark appeared along the surface.
He tried several more times, but when his chakra reserves began to run low, he stopped.
The poor bamboo sword had suffered greatly, its surface now lined with several fine slices.
Seeing this, Yugao quickly offered comfort.
"It's perfectly normal to fail at the start. Just keep practicing, and you'll get it."
Then a mischievous glint flashed in her eyes.
"So… I think you should continue training here at home for now. Wouldn't want anything to disrupt your progress."
"…Haaah."
"I get it."
Haruba took a deep breath and answered seriously — while also taking a bite of the fruit she handed him.
The truth was, he had no way to make big money right now.
To make big money, he needed power. To gain power quickly, he had to draw cards. But to draw cards, he needed… big money.
A perfect deadlock.
So for now, he chose to focus on sword training. After all, his Vacuum Sword technique was already impressive, and once his chakra reserves grew, it would be even stronger.
Meanwhile, as Haruba buried himself in training—
"Haruba's not coming again today?"
Tenten sat at the front of her family's ninja tools shop, resting her chin in her small hands as she watched the crowd pass by.
"If you don't show up today, I'm not talking to you anymore!"
Her relationship with Haruba was half business, half friendship. Because of her upbringing, Tenten had studied ninja tools from a very young age, which didn't leave her with many friends in the village.
Haruba was basically her only real friend. And ever since they'd met, it was rare for them to go this long without seeing each other.
Right now, Tenten just felt… restless. Completely out of sorts.
"Is he still mad because I lost my temper last time?"
"But that was his fault! Liking money more than me, of all things…"
Her cheeks flushed red as she imagined the possibility. She thought and thought, but couldn't find a clear reason.
"He's not off with Ino and Sakura, is he…?"
"…Forget it. I'll go find him myself!"
Worry lighting her eyes, Tenten jumped up from her chair with a swish. She only made it a few steps before she stopped, reconsidered, then ran back to the counter to grab a few explosive tags.
"Dad, I'm going to practice my throwing!"
And with that, she dashed off down the street.
Her father, polishing a shuriken behind the counter, froze for a moment — then several veins popped on his forehead.
Elsewhere—
"Haruba's not coming today either?"
Ino, resting her cheek in her hand at the Yamanaka flower shop counter, looked just as bored.
"Don't tell me that rich little Tenten bribed him not to hang out with us…"
A strange sense of danger prickled in her chest.
She glanced around the empty shop. Hardly any customers today. With that, she hopped off her stool.
"Mom, I'm going to go find Sakura!" she called toward the back, where her mother was arranging flowers.
Before her mother could reply, she bolted like a startled rabbit, afraid she'd be told to stay.
"Oh! Sakura?!"
Ino had barely made it down the street when she ran into a pink-haired girl with a red ribbon tied around her head, her forehead gleaming in the sunlight.
"Ino?!"
Sakura startled at her sudden appearance.
"Sakura, were you coming to see me?"
Ino noticed Sakura was walking in the direction of her family's shop.
"Uh… um… yeah…"
Sakura's eyes darted away, her words stumbling, clearly not wanting to admit the real reason.
Ino's eyes narrowed suspiciously. She cupped Sakura's face in both hands, forcing her to meet her gaze.
"You were going to my place to see if Haruba was there, weren't you?"
"Mmmff… mmm…"
Sakura's whole face squished in Ino's grip, her words dissolving into muffled noises.
Looking at her friend's pouty, wronged expression, Ino sighed and let her go.
"S-sorry, Ino…" Sakura mumbled, embarrassed.
But before she could say anything else, Ino grabbed her hand and broke into a run.
"Forget it. Let's go find Haruba together."