The square fell quiet.
Shin-chan lay on the ground with Shiro as a pillow and was almost asleep.
A while later, Kakashi suddenly turned toward the base of the mountain.
"Uchiha Toru is surrounded."
Shin-chan stood up and looked down from the Hokage Rock. From here, the whole village looked tiny, the houses like little blocks, and he couldn't really see what was happening below.
"Where?"
"There." Kakashi pointed. "Four genin. They've surrounded him."
Shin-chan tilted his head and stared for a long time, but still couldn't see anything.
"Then let's go save him."
"If we go save him, there's a good chance we'll get caught too," Kakashi reminded him.
"Mm."
"If we don't go, you've already made it here. That means you win."
"Mm."
"Did you think it through?"
Shin-chan dusted off his butt. "I thought it through."
"And you're still going?"
"Toru is my friend." Shin-chan didn't hesitate at all. "If my friend is surrounded, I can't just watch."
Kakashi stood there, looking at Shin-chan's back. He couldn't help sighing, then followed him.
"Didn't you say you weren't going?" Shin-chan looked back at him.
"I didn't."
"You did just now."
"What I said was, 'If we don't go, we win.'" Kakashi walked beside him. "I never said I wasn't going."
"Then why are you going?"
Kakashi was silent for a moment, then said very softly, "Because... you're my friend too."
"What?" Shin-chan didn't hear him clearly.
Kakashi shook his head and sped up.
The two of them moved quickly, with Kakashi running in front and Shin-chan following behind.
"Left," Kakashi said.
They turned into the alley on the left.
"Straight ahead."
They crossed a small road.
"He's just up ahead, at that intersection."
They slowed down and peeked out from the mouth of the alley.
Ahead was a T-junction.
Uchiha Toru stood in the middle of the road, his back against a wall.
Four genin stood in front of him, two directly ahead, one on the left, one on the right, sealing off every path.
"Something feels weird." Shin-chan scratched his head, but also felt like nothing was wrong.
The four genin were getting closer and closer.
"Whatever." Shin-chan ran out. "If we don't go now, Toru's going to get caught."
The two genin saw him and reached out to grab him.
Shin-chan ducked down and slipped into the encirclement like a loach.
"Toru, I'm here to save you!"
Shin-chan reached out to pull him.
The moment his hand touched Uchiha Toru's shoulder—
Poof!
White smoke scattered.
Uchiha Toru was gone.
Standing there instead was a genin in a green flak jacket, smiling, one hand resting on Shin-chan's shoulder.
"Caught you."
Shin-chan froze.
He looked down at the hand on his shoulder, then up at the genin's face.
"Huh? You're not Toru."
The four genin standing around them all started laughing.
"Transformation Technique," Kakashi's voice came from behind his mask. "It was a trap from the start."
"That's right," the genin said with a grin. "You came after all."
Shin-chan blinked, then let out a breath of relief.
"That's great."
The genin froze. "What's great?"
"Toru didn't get caught." Shin-chan looked relieved. "I thought you'd surrounded him."
The genin looked at him, and his smile paused. "You... aren't worried that you got eliminated?"
"I am," Shin-chan said. "But as long as Toru is okay, that's good."
He turned and shouted toward the alley entrance, "Kakashi, don't come over! It's fake! Toru is fine!"
Kakashi stood where he was, looking at Shin-chan's serious face. After two seconds of silence, he turned and ran.
He ran fast. In a few leaps, he vanished at the far end of the street.
A few genin instinctively tried to chase him, but the leader stopped them.
"Forget it. Let him go." He looked down at Shin-chan. "We already caught this one."
Shin-chan crouched down, picked up Shiro, sat on the ground, and watched the direction where Kakashi had disappeared.
"Kakashi better win."
The genin beside him couldn't help laughing. "You've already been eliminated. If they win, won't you feel awkward?"
"Awkward?" Shin-chan scratched his head. "Toru is my friend. Kakashi is my friend too. As long as my friends are fine, that's good. If they win, that's even better."
The genin looked at him, and his smile softened a little.
"You little brats are really something."
Shin-chan sat on the ground, placed Shiro on his lap, and started talking to him.
"Shiro, do you think Kakashi can make it?"
"Woof."
"Yeah, I think so too."
"Woof."
"Then what are we having for lunch? I'm so hungry."
"Woof."
The genin around them looked at one another, not knowing what to say.
On a distant rooftop, Yūhi Shinku stood watching everything.
From Kakashi reaching the Hokage Rock first, to Shin-chan arriving after him, to the two of them running down to save "Uchiha Toru," and finally to Kakashi running off alone—
He saw it all.
A genin beside him leaned in. "Should we send more people to stop him?"
"No need." Yūhi Shinku shook his head.
"But..."
"Today's game ends here."
The genin froze for a second, then nodded and said nothing more.
Yūhi Shinku stood on the rooftop, looking in Shin-chan's direction.
That kid had been eliminated, but he looked happier than if he'd won.
Just because his friend was safe.
Yūhi Shinku stood there for a long time, and the corner of his mouth lifted into a faint smile.
When Kakashi ran back to the Hokage Rock square, Uchiha Toru was leaning against the railing.
Seeing Kakashi return alone, Toru froze.
"Where's Shin-chan?"
"He got caught." Kakashi was breathing hard. "He got caught when he came to save you."
Uchiha Toru looked confused. "Save me?"
"It was a trap," Kakashi said. "They had someone disguise himself as you and let himself get surrounded. Shin-chan saw it and went to save you."
Uchiha Toru was silent for a long time.
"He... didn't know it was fake?"
"He didn't." Kakashi walked over to the railing and leaned against it. "I told him he might lose if he went. He still went."
Uchiha Toru lowered his head and said nothing.
After a while, footsteps sounded on the stairs.
Yūhi Shinku came up, followed by several genin. One of them was carrying Shin-chan over his shoulder.
The moment Shin-chan was set down and his feet touched the ground, he ran straight toward Uchiha Toru.
"Toru, are you okay?"
Uchiha Toru lifted his head and looked at Shin-chan's face. His mouth opened slightly.
"Why... why did you come save me?"
"Because you're my friend," Shin-chan said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "If my friend is in danger, of course I have to save him."
"But it was fake."
"I didn't know it was fake." Shin-chan scratched his head. "But what if it really had been you getting caught?"
Uchiha Toru said nothing.
He lowered his head and looked at the ground, his eyelashes trembling faintly.
"Idiot."
His voice was so small that only he could hear it.