Three days passed.
Three long days of D-rank missions: weeding gardens, catching stray cats, and cleaning old man Kaito's gutters while he barked orders from the ground. Naruto complained endlessly. Sakura tried to stay optimistic. Sasuke kept his mouth shut but wore a permanent scowl.
Hyuk said nothing. He just did the task. Efficiently. Quietly.
But each day, as they returned to the Hokage's office and reported completion, something behind Hyuk's eyes seemed to darken. This wasn't what he came for. He hadn't trained to play errand boy for civilians who feared their own shadows. The power he sought wasn't buried beneath someone's cabbage patch.
Kakashi noticed. Of course he did.
"You're bored," the jōnin said casually one morning, eyeing Hyuk as the team assembled outside the village gates.
Hyuk didn't reply. He adjusted the strap of his weapon pouch.
Naruto stepped forward with a yawn. "Can we not spend today chasing animals again? Please?"
"No cats today," Kakashi said, eyes curving into a smile. "We're leaving the village. A client needs escorting to the Land of Valleys. He's expecting danger."
Naruto fist-pumped. "Now that's more like it!"
Sakura's brow furrowed. "Should Genin really be sent on a mission like that?"
Kakashi shrugged. "Consider it your first C-rank mission. You'll be fine. I'll be with you, after all."
Hyuk didn't care about the mission rank. But the words "expecting danger" stirred something in him. Finally, a test worthy of his time.
---
Their client was a merchant named Renji, sharp-faced and fast-talking, pulling a cart laden with rare herbs and scrolls. He looked them over with skepticism.
"These kids are supposed to protect me?" he muttered.
Kakashi gave a casual wave. "You'll be in good hands."
Hyuk's expression didn't shift. Let the man doubt. It didn't matter.
They traveled at a steady pace through winding forest trails, the sun beating down and cicadas droning overhead. Naruto cracked jokes. Sakura half-laughed. Sasuke stayed silent. Hyuk trailed behind them, a shadow detached from the rest.
As the sun began to dip, they made camp near a creek. Naruto eagerly built a fire. Sakura helped unpack supplies. Sasuke kept watch in the trees.
Hyuk moved without a word, setting up his own spot a good ten meters from the group.
He didn't want small talk. He didn't want bonding. He wanted silence—and the company of his own thoughts.
But Kakashi, ever watchful, drifted toward him anyway.
"You know," the jōnin said, voice low, "a team isn't just something you're assigned to. It's a choice. You can keep resisting it, or you can use it."
Hyuk didn't look up. "I don't need a team."
Kakashi sighed behind his mask. "That's what I used to think, too."
Hyuk said nothing. The air between them hung still, heavy with unsaid meaning.
---
That night, Hyuk's sleep was restless. Shadows danced across the inside of his eyelids, flickers of memories he didn't ask for: his mother's soft voice, the echo of steel in the training yard, his father's cold instructions.
"Do not rely on others. You carry your bloodline alone."
He opened his eyes to the dark canopy above and sat up silently, scanning the woods.
Something was wrong.
There—just beyond the edge of the camp—a flicker of movement.
He rose without a sound, sliding into the trees. A kunai slipped into his hand as naturally as breath. He moved like a ghost, trailing the disturbance through the underbrush.
Two masked men, clad in faded gray, crouched behind a boulder overlooking the camp.
Rogues.
Armed. Whispering.
Planning something.
Hyuk's eyes narrowed. He didn't call out for help. He didn't return to the others. Instead, he stepped forward.
The first man barely had time to turn before Hyuk's kunai sank deep into his side. The second lunged with a blade—but Hyuk twisted under it, sweeping the man's legs and driving his heel into his throat.
Both collapsed soundlessly.
Hyuk stood over them, breathing calm, unmoved.
A voice behind him.
"…You didn't alert the team."
Kakashi.
Hyuk turned, blood still drying on his blade. "Didn't need to."
Kakashi didn't smile this time. "That wasn't the point."
---
The next morning, Team 7 woke to find the rogue bodies laid neatly beside the campfire. Naruto paled. Sakura gasped. Sasuke's eyes flickered.
"You took them down alone?" Sasuke asked, not impressed—interested.
Hyuk met his gaze, unblinking. "They were slow."
Sasuke studied him for a beat longer, then turned away without a word. But something had shifted. Respect, perhaps. Or competition.
Naruto, meanwhile, bristled. "You could've gotten hurt, you know! Why didn't you wake us?"
Hyuk didn't answer.
He didn't owe them one.
---
When they finally reached the Land of Valleys, Renji paid them with shaking hands and too many words of gratitude. Hyuk ignored it.
On the way back to Konoha, the silence between the four Genin stretched—no longer hostile, but not quite comfortable either.
Something unspoken passed between them. A flicker of understanding. They still weren't friends.
But they had shared something.
As the village gates came into view, Kakashi paused and turned.
"This mission was more than an escort," he said. "It was a chance to learn who you are on the field."
His eye shifted to Hyuk.
"And Hyuk? You've proven you're strong. But there's more to strength than being alone."
Hyuk said nothing. His mind was elsewhere already—far beyond the gates of Konoha, beyond petty missions and ideals about teamwork.
He wasn't done. Not even close.
But for now, he walked beside them.
Not with them.
Beside them.
Silent. Calculating. Watching.
Like a flame waiting to ignite.