Ino took the lunch she had left on one of the wooden pillars and sat down, resting her back against it.
Hinata looked at her sadly, but there was nothing she could do about it, so she held her lunch box for a few seconds before sitting down with her back against one of the pillars.
After that, Ino and Hinata began eating their lunches. From time to time, Hinata glanced toward Toru, who simply stared at the horizon with an expressionless face.
'Toru-kun... I'm so sorry...' Hinata thought.
She had been watching Toru for many years, but even after all that time, she still couldn't understand him.
Turning her attention back to Ino, who was still eating her lunch with an angry expression on her face, Hinata sighed. She knew Ino could be a little intense at times, but seeing her grab Toru by the hair and yell in his face was a side of her that Hinata had never seen before.
'That idiot. Good thing he won't be on the team anymore,' Ino thought. 'Now I just have to focus on getting stronger so I can win Sasuke's heart.'
Taking a breath, Ino glanced at Toru for a second. Her angry expression only grew stronger as she remembered why she was so angry, but she also remembered being saved. At that moment, even if only for an instant, she had been able to see Toru's face, and she couldn't help but think of that expression as she remembered it.
'Empty...'
Toru's face showed no sadness, anger, or happiness. It was simply an expressionless face. Sometimes, it even seemed as though Asahi was always sleepy.
Ino stared at Toru carefully.
'Isn't he angry or sad about failing?'
There was no way she could understand him. Even so, Ino thought about what she had done once again. Toru had saved her. She would have failed if Toru hadn't been there.
'Ahg! He's seriously an idiot!'
Getting up from her spot, Ino walked over to Toru and looked him in the eyes. For a moment, Hinata thought Ino was going to punch Toru in the face, but that wasn't what happened.
Holding up an onigiri in her hand, Ino said:
"Eat."
Toru raised his gaze.
"What?"
At the question, Ino clenched her teeth. She knew she was disobeying Yamato, but she still felt like she had to do this.
"Just eat the stupid onigiri!"
Using force and closing her eyes, Ino shoved the entire onigiri into Toru's mouth, causing Hinata to get up from her spot, slightly startled.
When Ino opened her eyes, Toru was chewing the onigiri. Since Ino's hand was covering the boy's mouth, she could feel the movement of Toru's mouth, which made her immediately pull her hand away.
"Thanks..." Toru said.
"Hmph! That's the least you could say. Besides, I'm not doing this for you. I only did it because I don't like owing anyone anything."
Ino looked away. This made a faint smile appear on Hinata's lips, so she approached Toru and held out her chopsticks with a piece of fried shrimp between them.
"You can have some of my lunch too, Toru-kun."
Toru responded with a slight nod and opened his mouth. This made Hinata smile, and without waiting much longer, she fed Toru.
"You three!"
Yamato's voice echoed through the area. Hinata and Ino looked around, searching for their sensei, but they couldn't find him.
Suddenly, different branches began emerging from the ground. They intertwined, forming the shape of Yamato's body. Seconds later, the wood took on color.
"Yamato-sensei?" Ino and Hinata said.
Ignoring the girls' words, he approached the three of them.
"You three!" the sensei said in an authoritative tone.
"Sensei, we can explain," Ino said in a desperate attempt. However, she was ignored.
"You three!"
The anger on Yamato's face seemed to grow, but in the next second, his expression changed into a smile before he spoke again.
"You passed."
Hinata and Ino froze when they heard what Yamato had said.
"We passed?" Hinata asked, to which Yamato responded with a smile.
"Yes. All of you passed. Toru too."
'I knew it...' Toru thought.
"But how? You found Toru," Ino said. After all, she didn't understand anything that was happening.
Because of this, Yamato replied with a faint smile:
"A long time ago, someone taught me something..."
Yamato looked at his students for a moment before a serious expression formed on his face.
"You should never abandon a comrade, no matter if you have to break the rules, because if you do, you'd be the lowest piece of trash in this world."
Everyone looked at Yamato expectantly. Somehow, his words sounded incredibly sincere.
'So... we all passed?' Ino thought. It was still very confusing.
"Yamato-sensei, what will happen with the test?" Hinata asked. She looked a little worried and confused.
"The test at the beginning was just a trap. Everything was planned for this moment."
After hearing Yamato, Toru's eyes briefly glimmered.
'It took me a little while to figure it out. I knew the sensei was planning something. I realized it when Yamato-sensei didn't catch me the moment he found me. It was far too strange for a Jounin to be so slow when catching a smaller and slower target.'
Toru had already anticipated everything that was going to happen, which was why he remained silent the entire time. He was basically trying to make Ino angry, forcing Yamato's plan to play out so he could discover what would have happened.
'I was lucky that Yamato-sensei's supposed secret plan was actually real. I don't even want to imagine what would have happened if I had been wrong. I risked my life as a shinobi, but in the end, it worked.'
It had basically been a stroke of luck.
"That's all for today. You're officially a team now, so we'll begin taking on missions tomorrow," Yamato said, making Toru look in his direction.
Crossing her arms, Ino said:
"That's right... missions."
She was still a little confused about everything, but she tried to forget what had happened.
"Missions are divided into different difficulty levels depending on the ninja team assigned to complete them. For now, you're rookie genin, so your first missions will only be simple errands requested by the villagers," Yamato explained, placing a hand on Toru's head.
"I'll see you tomorrow at 8 a.m. Toru, I expect you to arrive early just like you did today."
Toru raised his gaze, looked at Yamato, and replied:
"Being punctual is one of the many talents a ninja should have."
Yamato smiled at his student's response. He could already see the bright future that awaited his team.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Ino, Hinata. Good work."
With those words, Yamato disappeared, leaving the three students alone.
"This was the hardest day of my entire life. By the way..." Ino said, looking at Toru, who had already disappeared.
"What? When did he leave?"
Hinata replied in her soft voice:
"He left when Yamato-sensei disappeared." For some strange reason, she looked very happy.
"Seriously, that guy is so weird."