The faint moonlight made the water in the wash basin glow eerily. Looking down at his face reflected on the water's surface, Naruto grimaced as he recalled his recent revelations. He couldn't think of a word to describe how he felt. It was as though he had been blind, and his eyes had been newly opened to the real world. As though a bubble that had separated him from the truth had dissipated.
But unfortunately, this reality had never been something he wanted.
All of his musings from childhood seemed silly to him now. How could he have never connected the dots before? His entire life, the other villagers had isolated and despised him. Reasoning it out, he had concluded that their driving factor was hatred, and he now knew for sure that he hadn't been wrong there. But now he saw that there was an even bigger factor: Namely, fear.
He had been orphaned the night that the Nine Tails attacked, but unlike the other orphans, he had been kept separate from them. And that was because the villagers, unlike him, had known that something colossal like the Nine-tails could not have been defeated, not even by the Fourth Hokage, but only sealed away.
To think that for ten years, they had had to live within the same walls as the monster that had killed their loved ones...
Naruto gazed down at the whisker-like marks on the face that stared back at him from the water's surface. After a moment, he broke the surface of the water with his hand, contorting his reflection.
Why had he never questioned the seal that appeared on his belly when he nudged the red chakra in his body? He had just dismissed it and never thought about it again after his initial curiosity. Naruto felt sick at the vague memory; how many other markers had he missed because of his lack of attention?
Suddenly, feeling an overwhelming urge to vomit, he covered his mouth. His headache had been growing increasingly worse all day, and now his head was throbbing again. Panting, Naruto leaned back against the sandy wall for support as his surroundings spun dizzily around him. As soon as the nausea had passed, he splashed some of the cold water on his hot face and then went to lie down on his bed.
His heart pounding, he dazedly wondered whether he had contracted some kind of strange desert bug, before his heavy eyes closed shut.
...
The day the second exam ended, everyone who had finished was taken out to the field of dunes where all the tunnels opened up to the surface. With the exception of the Konoha rookies, it was the first time since they had come into Suna that they had seen any of other genins. Taking a cursory look around during their short walk, Naruto noted that besides his and Neji's team, only Kabuto's team had made it from Konoha. However, none of the teams from the other villages seemed to have fared any better; overall, they looked rather more disheveled and worn down.
At the field, as expected, a large number of Suna shinobi officials were waiting. However, standing beside them were a number of foreign jōnin – including one very familiar face.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Mayu called out in surprise, coming to a stop.
The jōnin raised a hand in casual greeting as he strolled over. "So you guys are still in one piece, I see."
"Did you expect any less?" Rai snorted, folding his arms across his chest. Ever since he'd been kicked out of the Suna kitchen, he had been in an irritable mood.
"Are you supposed to be here?" Mayu asked skeptically.
"Hey, now. It's custom for the sensei to be present during the third exam," Kakashi explained. "In fact, there are usually a substantial number of spectators from every village during the third exam. After all, the Chūnin exam is what decides which ninja will be showing up on the battlefield."
Mayu's eyes widened. "But all the nations here are allied, aren't they?"
"Alliances can, and have, changed in a heartbeat," said Kakashi in a solemn voice. "The man – or woman – you shared a drink with over the campfire could be the one to stab you in the back when the fire dies." Suddenly, he clapped his hands together, startling them. "But enough of that business. You three should just concentrate on the upcoming exam."
As if taking that as a cue, the Suna chūnin who had picked them up, Tsubusa, raised a hand in signal. Kakashi, as well as the other foreign jōnin returned back to their formation. When the genin had all amassed into a single group, he spoke. "As of now, the second test of the Sunagakure Chūnin Exam is – " The rest of his sentence was cut off, as with a sudden flurry of sand, a red and white figure burst out of one of the tunnel holes in the ground.
"Whew. I almost overslept – that was way too close."
As one, all heads turned to stare at the genin who casually brushed the sand off her head.
"Isn't that – Fū?" Rai hissed unnecessarily into Naruto's ear. Hearing her name, the green-haired kunoichi looked their way with an unexpectedly hard expression on her face, and Rai involuntarily took a step back.
"Ahem," Tsubusa caught their attention with a cough. "As I was saying, as of now, the second test of the Sunagakure Chūnin Exam is now over. Taking into account the most recent...arrival, twenty-four individuals coming from a total of eleven teams have passed. Congratulations!" At this point, a particularly bedraggled looking Ame team was unable to contain their joy, triumphantly thrusting the tips of their umbrellas up into the air.
"The Kazekage will now address you all." Tsubusa nodded towards the group of Suna shinobi, which parted in the middle to reveal a robed figure of middling size. Stern dark eyes bored into them from beneath the green pointed hat that denoted him as the strongest shinobi of Sunagakure.
"Congratulations on making it this far," said the Kazekage in a deep and raspy voice. "However...it is too early to celebrate." He pointedly looked towards the celebrating members of the Ame team, who shrunk under his gaze.
"The Chūnin exam is a valuable tool for evaluating the performances of the future generations of shinobi. You can think of everything until now...as a preliminary test to weed out the worthless from those with potential.
It is only from this point onwards that your mettle will truly be tested. The third exam, which will take place two weeks from now, will be a series of fights in which you must be the victor, in order to proceed to the next round." Rai nudged Mayu, who had paled. "I cannot stress enough the importance of your display during this third exam.
You may be merely genin now, but you will, in the future, be the soldiers of your village. In a sense, you are showing the strength of your village to the other villages. A weak showing will reflect poorly on your village, and invite stronger villages to take advantage. In essence, from here on out, you are determining the futures of your villages." The Kazekage looked balefully around at them; it was completely quiet.
"Now, according to your individual performances from the first and second exams, every person, with no regard for nation or team, has been divided into eight separate brackets. The victors of each bracket will face each other, until there is only one remaining, who will be guaranteed a pass in the exams."
Breaking the silence, the group of genins began to murmur amongst each other. The Kazekage raised a hand to quell them. "This does not mean however, that only one person will be passing. From this moment on, every single one of you is being considered for a promotion to the chūnin rank. So I expect you all, as representatives of your respective villages, to prove yourselves in these rounds." At these words, a tall and bald Suna jōnin stepped forward.
"Thank you Kazekage-sama. I will take it from here," said the jōnin, bowing deeply. He straightened up and turned to look at them.
"My name is Satetsu, and I will be the head referee for the third exam. To start things off, due to the larger than expected number of remaining contenders, there will be a preliminary round. You will be divided into divisions where three, instead of two, genins will fight each other.
There will be no rules besides that you must remain in this field. The fight will continue until two of you are dead, knocked out, or admit defeat. There may also be a situation in which the winner has been clearly decided; rather than unnecessarily adding blood to the field, I will step in and declare the victor." He cleared his throat.
"Now then, you were each individually evaluated during the first and second exams, and using these results, the divisions have been drawn to be as fair as possible."
Several Suna chūnin rolled out a large white cloth with a tournament bracket chart etched on it in dull black ink.
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