Chapter 61: Volume 2 – Chapter 10: The Two-Faced Man

The day after Tsuchigami returned to the village...

Just as he was about to kick back and enjoy some time off, seven or eight masked ANBU found him and handed him a giant schoolbag.

"Tsuchigami, this is your mission."

He stared at them in disbelief. He thought he'd dodged the bullet—turns out, they just saved it for later.

With a resigned sigh, he slipped on his mask and coat, hoisted the oversized bag onto his back, and stepped out the door.

The ANBU followed right behind, practically breathing down his neck.

"What's with all of you?" Tsuchigami asked, confused.

The ANBU all shook their heads in unison. "Nothing. We just wanted to see which poor kid was this unlucky—uh, we mean, impressive!"

Last night, the eight of them had pulled an all-nighter just to skim through the books. Whether they actually contained hidden intel? Still a mystery.

They barely managed to solve the first-grade problems.

But by the time they hit second grade, when terms like triangles, quadrilaterals, and isosceles trapezoids showed up—they were lost.

Especially those symbols—x, y, z—and that baffling stuff like: "the ratio of the opposite side to the hypotenuse of an acute angle ∠A is called the sine of ∠A, denoted sinA."

It completely wiped them out.

This crap was harder than ninjutsu.

To be fair, second grade normally wasn't this hard. But Reiji had cobbled the material together from fragments of his own memory.

Totally incomplete and chaotically organized, full of random leaps in logic.

Whatever he could remember, he wrote down. When it got hazy, he threw in some physics, maybe some chemistry—a whole academic hotpot.

Tsuchigami looked at his colleagues, sighed wordlessly, and headed for the Senju clan's old compound.

He knocked.

A moment later, an elderly woman opened the door.

"Hello, who are you looking for?"

"Rie Sakuhō."

The woman nodded, shut the door, and went inside.

Not long after, a chubby little girl in a kimono came skipping out, holding a colorful pinwheel.

In her other hand, she was tugging Tsunade along.

"Sis Tsunade, hurry! It's gotta be my brother!"

Rie excitedly pulled Tsunade in a light sprint.

The door creaked open again as Rie peeked out.

"Huh~ Where's my brother?" She scanned the group. Not a single familiar face. Her cheeks puffed out in disappointment.

Tsuchigami stepped forward and placed the enormous backpack—easily half his size—on the ground.

"Rie-chan, this is—"

Before he could finish, Rie cut him off, suddenly hyped again.

"Wait! Don't say anything! Is my brother inside?!"

She tiptoed up to the bag, eyes sparkling, and gently grabbed the edge of the flap, slowly unfastening the buckle.

"Ta-da! Gotcha!"

"!!!"

But the moment she saw what was inside, her face twisted in horror. She shoved the bag away with both hands.

It toppled over.

Dozens of "Little Exam Tyrant" and "Happy Vacation" workbooks spilled out and scattered across the ground like confetti.

Rie stared at the mess, her smile frozen in place like a broken doll.

Tsuchigami rolled his eyes. Completely speechless.

Tsunade stood to the side, covering her forehead with a hand.

Yep... definitely his style.

...

Another month passed. It had now been two months since Reiji was hospitalized.

Most of his visible injuries had healed.

With the help of a bunch of flustered, adorable nurses, Reiji finally had his bandages removed.

Sure enough, still dark as ever. No fading.

Keeping a straight face, he quickly got dressed.

The beautiful nurse beside him blushed, eyes shimmering with a vague, unreadable glint.

After all, when you're used to seeing little elephants, catching sight of a big one? That's rare.

Once dressed, Reiji bounced on the spot a couple of times, clenched his fists, feeling fired up.

But he didn't smile—he was playing the role of a reformed protector, and protectors weren't supposed to grin.

Well, unless you were that lunatic Deadpool.

After thanking all the doctors and nurses, Reiji walked out of the ward.

Waiting just outside, dressed in a figure-hugging uniform and a tight skirt, was Amai—bored out of her mind.

The moment Reiji stepped through the door, their eyes met.

Then he froze.

His gaze dropped instinctively—two inches south—and locked onto her chest.

He was stunned.

Holy crap... what is that? A Tailed Beast Ball?!

That was Reiji's first reaction.

Why are there two Tailed Beast Balls?!

That was his second.

Amai, noticing his gaze, immediately raised her clipboard to shield her chest.

Envy...

Reiji suddenly felt like being human wasn't all that great after all.

"Ahem." Amai lightly cleared her throat, giving him a sharp glare.

Reiji snapped back into character—droopy-eyed, groggy, and half-asleep. He pointed lazily at the clipboard in front of her chest.

"Apologies. Lately, anything round reminds me of a Tailed Beast Ball. Would you mind keeping some distance?"

Amai's face turned pitch black. Her look of disgust flickered and vanished, and she instinctively stepped back two paces.

"Raimei, you've wasted four minutes and thirty-eight—no, thirty-nine seconds of my time. Come with me to the Raikage's office. I'll brief you on the way."

"The Raikage's office?" A glint flashed through Reiji's eyes.

Muttering to himself, he started walking and followed Amai's lead.

Side by side, the two left the Kumogakure Hospital.

"First, let me introduce myself. I'm Amai, secretary to the Raikage."

Reiji gave a lazy grunt and glanced sideways at her.

All he could think was: I, Reiji Sakuhō, openly and shamelessly envy the Raikage!

Unaware of his internal monologue, Amai continued.

"First thing—show proper respect when you meet Raikage-sama."

"Yes, ma'am," Reiji nodded.

"Second, your previous squad has been dissolved. Your former captain and one teammate have been reassigned to other units."

He nodded again, like an emotionless bobblehead.

Not surprising. A four-man team loses one to death and another to injury—of course it gets dissolved. It's not like they're the main characters.

Amai side-eyed him.

She had asked his teammates about Raimei's personality. That's why she found him so strange now.

The guy had changed completely during his hospital stay.

He used to be arrogant—really arrogant. Now he looked like he hadn't properly woken up in weeks.

No... something was definitely off.

Determined to test him, Amai casually asked, "Raimei, your team's been disbanded. Aren't you upset?"

"Hm? Did they die?" Reiji turned his head, eyes flat, and looked at the baby-faced, big-Tailed-Beast-Ball secretary beside him.

"No, no—they're alive," Amai quickly shook her head.

"Oh." Reiji scratched his nose, replying in a muffled tone, "Then what's there to be sad about? It's not like Okufu... he's already dead."

He looked up at the thundering sky. In that moment, his whole demeanor shifted—serious, reflective.

"People... don't really have time to be sad in this life. If you're alive, sadness is a luxury. If you're dead, you can't feel it anyway."

Amai went quiet.

She was the one who compiled the list of casualties—how could she not know who Okufu was?

After a long silence, she asked, "I'm sorry. Were you close?"

"Not really."

"He saved me. That's all. I just feel like I owe him something... so I figured I'd carry the dream he never finished and keep moving forward."

As he spoke, Reiji smiled faintly, a little bitter, a little mocking.

In his mind, a familiar face surfaced—tight-lipped and always anxious.

Mizukuma... what was your dream?

Amai stopped walking.

She could feel it. The weight behind his words—the quiet, heavy sorrow he carried.

"Heh... what a joke," she muttered, watching Reiji's back as he walked ahead. "Says there's no time to grieve, yet hides pain deeper than anyone."

"A man who says one thing and feels another."