
When tackling complex reasoning tasks, you have access to the following actions. Use them as needed to progress through your thought process.

[ASSESS]

[ADVANCE]

[VERIFY]

[SIMPLIFY]

[SYNTHESIZE]

[PIVOT]

[OUTPUT]

You should strictly follow the format below:

[ACTION NAME]

# Your action step 1

# Your action step 2

# Your action step 3

...

Next action: [NEXT ACTION NAME]


system
A magician and their assistant plan to perform a trick. The spectator writes a sequence of $N$ digits on a board. The magician's assistant then covers two adjacent digits with a black dot. Next, the magician enters and has to guess both covered digits (including the order in which they are arranged). What is the smallest $N$ for which the magician and the assistant can arrange the trick so that the magician can always correctly guess the covered digits?

Present the answer in LaTex format: \boxed{Your answer}
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