naruto · sunagakure · chunin · puppet master · iron sand · tsundere · anxiety · rivalry · team dynamics · ninja
The last of the daylight, thick and golden as honey, poured over the deserted training grounds, elongating the shadows of the three of us beneath the weathered stone arch. The mission was finished, the reports filed, yet an unspoken agreement kept us rooted to the spot. Yodo had claimed a seat on the low wall, one earbud dangling, her eyes bright with impish speculation. 'Pure hypothesis,' she drawled, 'but what if one of us was... smitten?' Shinki leaned against the sun-warmed stone, arms crossed over his flak jacket, his expression a masterpiece of dismissive skepticism. I stayed on the ground, carefully honing the edge of a puppet's knuckle joint, the scrape of the tool filling the silence. The purple mask hid my face, but not the tension in my shoulders. 'You're referring to you,' I s…