The day started with Chojuro eating an apple for breakfast and setting out for the tower. He jumped from tree to tree for several hours, when all of a sudden, two shuriken came flying at his face. Chojuro flipped out a kunai just in time to deflect them. He landed on the ground and faced the one who had tried to kill him, a boy who looked to be around fourteen, with spiky, jet black hair and beady black eyes. "How convenient," the boy said smirking. "I have an Earth scroll and you just happen to have a Heaven scroll." He pointed at the scroll strapped Chojuro's side. "Y-you won't be able to defeat me easily," Chojuro warned.
"Hn!" The boy lunged at him. As he raised his fist, Chojuro stepped out of the way to dodge the blow. He then punched the boy in the chest and sent him flying backwards. Although he didn't look it, he was actually very strong. The boy crashed into a tree and, due to inertia, swung his head back and smashed it into the tree. His limp body slid slowly down the tree to the ground. Chojuro walked over to him, crouched down, and pulled the Earth scroll out of his pocket. "I'm sorry," he mumbled to the unconscious ninja.
Just then, a kunai shot down and pierced the teen's back, killing him instantly. Chojuro blinked in surprise and looked up to see Suigetsu standing in front of him. "W-why did you do that?!" he cried angrily. "I thought I'd do you a favor and kill this piece of trash. Besides, it didn't look like you were going to get the job done," mocked Suigetsu. "Suigetsu, you didn't have to ki-" "Dammit, Chojuro! We're shinobi, it's what we do! If you don't like it, you should just quit!" he interrupted, annoyed. As he turned to leave, he looked back and added with a smirk, "Besides, you're too soft to be a ninja." With that, Suigetsu left Chojuro kneeling beside the corpse, clenching his teeth in frustration.
Chojuro finished the last of his food for dinner and spent rest of the evening and most of the night trudging tiredly through the marshy Swamplands. At around 3:00 AM, he finally arrived at the central tower. He took the Heaven and Earth scrolls out from his shuriken holder, unrolled them, and placed them criss-crossing each other on the ground. "I hope this works," Chojuro muttered as he made the Tora hand sign. The scrolls glowed luminously, getting brighter each second. Then, with a puff of smoke, Mei Terumi appeared before Chojuro. "Oh, Chojuro! I thought you'd never summon me," she said, her rusteel red hair blowing in the wind. "M-Mei-sama!" cried Chojuro. "It's pretty late. We should get you to bed," she continued. "You'll need your strength for tomorrow." "Er, o-okay," Chojuro said, blushing.
Mei pressed her hand against the seal on the door and it opened instantly. Chojuro stepped in shyly after Mei. She led him up a flight of stairs and down the hallway to an empty bedroom. "You can rest here," she said sweetly. "Good night, Chojuro," she added with a smile before turning to leave. "G-good night, Mei-sama." Chojuro walked into the room and let his bag drop to the ground next to the bed. He took his glasses off and set them down on the nightstand. Without bothering to take off his shoes, the exhausted boy fell onto the bed and sank into a deep sleep.