The next morning, I was woken up by a loud clearing of the throat. Tired, I lifted my heavy head and blinked into the room. Sunlight was streaming through one of the windows and blinded me. I squinted and recognized two figures standing in front of me. Green chunin vest, black hair, brown eyes...definitely Shikamaru. Next to him...a small, fragile girl with big brown eyes and short hair. Matsuri. At the sight of her, my enthusiasm was rather limited. A quick glance next to me made me realize that Gaara was still sitting in place.

Ignoring the other two for a moment, I looked at the red-haired Suna Nin. Had he been sitting here next to me all night?

Gaara turned his head towards me and nodded slightly, almost as if he could read my mind. A slight smile spread across my lips. It was nice to know that I wasn't alone here all night. We hadn't made it back to the hospital, which probably explained the appearance of the other two. Shikamaru was still standing in place, looking more patient than the girl next to him.

My gaze slid to the chest, lingered on it, and the smile on my lips became a little sad. So many memories connected with last night. Beautiful and sad, a perfect balance. Things that still brought tears to my eyes. My mother, of whom I finally had a picture in front of my eyes, her legacy, the katana, the mask, my fingers slid to the chest as if of their own accord and drew invisible marks in the wood. So beautiful.

A shadow fell over me and I recognized Matsuri, who was slowly stepping towards my place, a curious glint in her eye. She didn't want to, did she? Her fingers reached the wooden object and seemed as if they wanted to lift the lid.

„What's in there?"

CLANG. Faster than she could look, I had leapt up and struck her far too curious hands. I glared angrily at the other girl, causing her to take a step back. With all due respect, this was my privacy. She couldn't just rummage through things without asking the owner.

The brown-haired girl looked towards her sensei for help.

„But... Sensei Gaara, surely you were allowed to..."

I resisted the urge to bang my head against the table. Didn't the girl understand anything about the word privacy? But well, then I had to give her a reason so that she would understand.

„That's because I've known your sensei for a long time and we're friends," I explained. My voice wavered a little on the penultimate word, it felt so new on my tongue. And yet so beautiful.

Something shot into her eyes and I squinted thoughtfully... was it hurt, envy, anger? Wait a minute...which way did she think we were...she wasn't jealous, was she? My lips pressed together. Matsuri misunderstood the whole thing from the ground up.

„Listen..." I started, but was interrupted by Shikamaru, for whom the situation seemed to have gone on a little too long.

„Can't you put it off until tonight? I actually had a few activities planned for now and I don't want the others to stand around downstairs and nag me." Well. He sounded motivated.

While the other three waited outside, I changed my clothes and put my weapons on. The katana was made invisible and attached to the back of my belt. Whatever Shikamaru was planning... maybe I could come up with a surprise here, even though I had little experience with this weapon. But practice always makes perfect and I had to start as early as possible.

Shikamaru led us to one of the many training areas, some of which were in the forest. He had set up a real obstacle course there. With the help of a rope ladder, we climbed about eight meters into the air. From there, we crossed a small suspension bridge to a tree that had no branches. Only a loose rope dangled down from it, presumably to swing over. The last tree had several forks down to the ground, which we apparently had to shimmy down. But that was by no means the end.

There were lots of traps on the ground. A pit that you had to jump over, followed by a fallen tree, presumably to slide through at the bottom and a short stretch to sprint down.

He had come up with quite a few ideas and I already suspected what was in store for us.

The black-haired Nara stood in the middle of the square and asked us to come a little closer. All the current genin from Konoha were standing there, along with the chunin from Sunagakure and Matsuri.

„So...I thought that if our friends from Suna are already here, we could deepen the relationship a little by having a little competition here. Similar to our last games. I'm sure the genin from Konoha still remember that...I blindly mixed the teams...and drew them that way too. So it's all up to chance. He grinned slightly before he fished a piece of paper out of his trouser pocket and began to read.

„I'll start with team one, which consists of Naruto, Matsuri and Tenten. The second team is Choji, Kiba and Kankuro. You already know each other. Next are Gaara, Sakura and Tora. Lee, Temari and Neji in team number four. And finally... Hinata, Ino and Shino in the fifth."

There was a loud murmur. I caught Matsuri's disappointed look towards Gaara. I couldn't really blame her, as she didn't know a single member of her team. But that was actually what this game was for. To improve relations between the big countries. So it wasn't a bad idea of Shikamaru's to turn it into a kind of competition.

„Since there's an odd number of teams, one has to run twice, so it gets a longer break. The rules are very simple. You just have to complete this course and make sure that the opposing catcher doesn't get his hands on you."

Gaara and Sakura looked attentively in Shikamaru's direction. Damn, I really had overslept that he wanted to say something. Well, it could happen sometimes, and the Nara knew that I could also be a bit wacky from time to time, so nothing earth-shattering.

The black-haired man looked at his cheat sheet.

„Exactly. The first teams to compete will be two and three. Team two will be the catcher." The others immediately put their heads together, conferring, although I already suspected who it would be. We, on the other hand, weren't loud at all, just looking at each other before Sakura looked at me.

„I think you should run, Tora. I've never seen anyone as fast as you. Not even Sasuke." Her look turned wistful while my heart jumped in surprise. Never in my life would I have thought that she would compare me to the renegade Uchiha and then put me above him. But it seemed that Sakura was changing too. I nodded my thanks to her and waited for Gaara's agreement, who stared over at the opposing team unperturbed.

„Sakura is right. Because escaping this could be difficult."

I looked up. Standing at the starting position for the run was none other than Kiba Inuzuka, who was grinning broadly at me and rubbing his hands in anticipation. My eyes narrowed. I certainly wouldn't. I wouldn't lose against him.

We nodded briefly to each other before I got into position in front of him and waited for Shikamaru's signal. My whole body tense, I looked over at my team, who were looking at me intently. Sakura smiled slightly, while Gaara just nodded. They trusted me and I wouldn't let them down.

„Oh, and one more thing..." Shikamaru added. „You are forbidden to use all jutsus."

Double reason to stay focused.

I daringly noticed how they started counting before my run began. I had a five-second head start before Kiba would follow.

„Three."

Breathe in.

„Two."

Concentrate.

„One."

Breathe out.

„Go"

Go.

Sakura

As if stung by a tarantula, Tora ran towards the ladder and jumped, clung to it and began to pull herself up with her arms alone, not bothering with the small steps. Kiba followed her up three seconds later. I clenched my hands into fists. She was very fast, but still, it almost seemed like Kiba was catching up, he had more strength than her. His fingers reached for her foot, but she pulled it back just in time and swung herself up the tree.

She didn't rest for one fateful second, kept running, didn't really seem tense. On the contrary, her eyes shone with excitement and enthusiasm. Still, she didn't seem mocking, since Kiba hadn't been able to catch her yet. Rather, the course and running away seemed like fun. But why then? Shouldn't we stay serious and focused? I just couldn't figure her out. Because I still didn't know anything about Tora. Only her abilities, but not a shred of her past. She kept quiet about that. Just like Naruto.

The others were shouting wildly in the background. Cheering on either Tora or Kiba. Naruto was naturally in favor of the brown-haired girl, while Hinata seemed quite torn between her teammates. No wonder. The hyjuga watched the wild chase with wide eyes.

Meanwhile, Tora had crossed the suspension bridge and sprinted towards the rope with long strides. She gripped it with both hands. Kiba lunged forward. His fingers reached past her shirt by a hair's breath.
I let out a relieved breath as she swung herself up the nearest tree. But what was that? Kiba pushed himself off the branch with his feet and flew after her. Damn, he could jump a long way. Tora also seemed to notice the impending danger, slipping off her sandals from one second to the next before her toes dug into the rope and she pulled herself up. Sweat glistened on her forehead as Kiba's hands gripped the rope and he began to follow her. A fire burned in her eyes that I had only seen in Naruto's, so intense. Instinctively, I knew that she would do everything in her power not to fail here. Almost as if her reputation or her life was at stake. Which was crazy.

Kiba laughed as Tora climbed higher and higher into the treetop.

„Dead end, Tora," the Inuzuka announced. Sweat was also pouring down his forehead, but Tora didn't look desperate or scared at all. Something flashed in her hand and in the next moment, Kiba was on his way to the ground. Perplexed, he sailed to the ground, but immediately caught himself again and stood cat guard underneath the tree, seemingly waiting for Tora to come. She had noticed him long ago. Kiba waited until she was on the ground, unprotected, it seemed. Undeterred, he ran towards the girl. Triumph shone in his small eyes before he jumped off. But Tora kept running. Now I'd had enough.

„What are you doing? Don't run towards him Tora, you have to..." I paused. Someone had grabbed my arm. It was Gaara. The Suna Nin's gaze was fixed on the brown-haired girl, tensely following her movements.

„She knows what she's doing," the redhead said in a composed tone.

I froze in surprise at the trust he was obviously placing in Tora. Since when had that been the case? He had changed a lot in general. He was no longer as hateful as before, tried to get along with his fellow human beings and seemed to be less feared.

Loud cheers and disappointed shouts made me look up. Tora had dropped to his knees and slipped under the jumping Kiba. He seemed to be furious, because a growl escaped his throat before he turned back to continue pursuing her. He didn't give up, but neither did she.

They both quickly overcame the numerous traps, pits and other dangers. I noticed how Tora stumbled slightly, but immediately caught herself again and tried to make up for the precious second she had lost.

She pinched her lips together, pain flashing in her silver eyes. Startled, I froze, hoping she hadn't hurt herself. But the way she put her left foot down showed that she had landed wrong. Nothing seemed to be broken. Then she wouldn't be able to walk at all. However, it could also be that all the adrenaline had taken away the pain for the moment. But hopefully that wasn't the case.

She barely managed to jump over the pit, slid under the tree trunk and scrambled the last few meters to the finish line. Her eyes were bleary with exertion before she continued to limp, finally crossed the finishing straight and collapsed right there. Her breathing was heavy and rattling. But the joy in Tora's eyes was unmistakable.

Kiba, who had crossed the finish line a few seconds after her, ran his fingers through his sweaty hair and approached his teammate, helping her up. I slowly followed him. He carefully patted her on the shoulder.

„You're definitely intangible," he said half aloud, but I still understood.

Intangible? Yes, he could be right. Tora really was incredibly fast. Faster than anyone I'd ever seen run before. I hurriedly pushed myself between the two of them and began to examine her foot.

I didn't care that the next race had already started, as I was trying to heal Tora's foot. It was slightly swollen, but nothing seemed to be broken. Green chakra enveloped it. A bead of sweat appeared on my forehead before I sighed with relief and put the foot down. Tora looked at me gratefully before standing up and taking a few cautious steps.

Tora:

Sakura had done a great job. My foot no longer hurt as much as before. Nevertheless, I didn't dare put too much weight on it. The pink-haired girl looked up at me with shining eyes.

„You ran really well. A few times I thought he was going to catch you, but in the end..."

A jubilant cry made me look up. The overzealous Lee had actually managed to catch Naruto, who returned to his team quite dejected. Disappointment was in his blue eyes. Understandable. I gave the Uzumaki an encouraging pat on the shoulder. Even though I hadn't seen his run... he had certainly given his all.

„So. Now that four teams have already run, one more team has to run and that will be...I drew lots beforehand...the third one."

I grimaced at Shikamaru's words, but didn't dare contradict him. He had already drawn it before, and he was very fair, he would never want to disadvantage a team. I put my foot firmly on the ground to try it out and put more weight on it. The expected pain didn't materialize. Good. Then I would run again.

Gaara approached me and looked me in the eye questioningly. I swallowed slightly.

„Are you sure, Tora?"

I nodded resolutely before my legs moved of their own accord and lined up at the starting line. But this time I was the catcher instead of the victim. Maybe that was a good thing, because then I wouldn't be under so much pressure. Of course, I also wanted to win, but as the pursuer, I still had a reputation to lose. Kiba would always tease me about it and I still had my pride somewhere.

Team five sent Hinata into the race. Of all people, it was her. Couldn't it be Ino? I bit my lip. I didn't care about Kiba, but Hinata was my best friend. She wanted to become stronger and I should give her the chance to show it. But I still shouldn't let her win.

Hinata ran off. She was fast. I had never really seen her sprint before. But now... My bare feet dug into the ground before I took off. It was much easier to run and climb that way, but it was important not to ram a spike or anything like that into your foot. That could be painful.

My toes dug into the rope ladder to help me climb. Hinata had already reached the platform and bravely took a running start over the branch to reach the short rope. She swung a little shakily to the other side and landed roughly. It took her a little while to get back on her feet. This was my chance. My toes clawed into the wood before I bravely pushed myself off and jumped towards the dangling rope, hoping to grab it. The rough fibers cut my palms as I clung to it. I held on tightly, letting go as I reached the next branch.

My left foot hit the ground first and made a terrible cracking sound. It was flooded with a sharp pain and I recoiled, only for there to be nothing behind me. My arms flailed and I saw movement in the others out of the corner of my eye. No. They weren't supposed to help me. I had to make it on my own or this was over. I struggled desperately to regain my balance.

But it didn't help, my body toppled towards the ground unchecked. Then a thin, slender hand grabbed mine. Broke my fall. I looked up in surprise. Standing above me was none other than Hinata. She had helped me, had turned back, even though she could have won.

She doggedly pulled me up. Determination on her face.

„I never let my friends down, even if it costs me victory in this case."