The door closed behind Roen with a soft click, wood settling into place as the latch caught. The desk sat ahead under the side light, papers stacked near the edge, the Hokage already looking at him.
[Skip interval complete]
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Cognitive Dampening Mode: INACTIVE
Something slipped out of place. His step landed half a beat late, like the ground had shifted under him and his body hadn't caught up. The room held steady, but he didn't. His hand came up at his side on instinct, fingers tightening once, then again, like it needed to remember where it was.
Cognitive Dampening Mode: ACTIVE
The delay snapped into line. The drag vanished. Everything snapped into place balance, timing, weight like his body had finally caught up to something it had been chasing for years.
The Hokage glanced down at the paper, then back up.
"Roen."
A short pause
"You've passed."
He reached to the side and picked up a forehead protector, thumb brushing once across the metal before setting it on the desk between them.
"You'll be placed on Team Five. Training Ground Three."
Roen's eyes dropped to the band, then lifted again.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama."
Sarutobi watched him for a moment. The corner of his mouth shifted slightly not quite a smile, but close enough to feel it.
"Take it. Your team will be waiting."
Roen turned, hand already on the handle. The door opened without resistance, hinges giving a short sound as he stepped through and let it shut on its own.
The hallway stretched ahead as he stepped out.
He kept walking. The control held, but something underneath it hadn't caught up yet.
The ground felt different under his feet. Not softer. Not harder. Just exact. Each step landed where he expected it to. No correction. No drag.
People moved past him and he didn't need to adjust for them. The space was already there before they stepped into it.
A vendor pulled a cloth over a stack of crates as he passed, fabric catching once on the corner before slipping into place. Roen cut through the middle of the street without slowing, turning at the dip in the stone where the ground fell slightly underfoot.
The forest came back before anything else did.
Tree line. Open ground. The way Itachi had looked past him instead of at him.
"…I've got a mission."
That was the last time.
Cognitive Dampening Mode: INACTIVE
The quiet came back with it. Not sharp just enough to feel what had been missing. Two years of movement, training, repetition and now all of it sat in him at once, not separate anymore.
It wasn't ahead of him anymore.
Roen stepped off the path and into the clearing.
They were already there.
One near the center. One just behind.
Genryu.
Itachi.
Roen slowed. Just for a step.
He hadn't expected that. Not like this. Not both of them.
The distance closed the rest of the way.
Genryu didn't shift his stance. Didn't turn fully.
"You're late."
Roen stepped in.
His foot hit the dirt and held.