"Hey, pinky!" The Kumo instructor barks, startling us all out of our hug. "Competitors box. Now."
"Good luck, both of you!" Sakura says, and after one last glance at the proctors, darts out the door.
...
The Kumo proctor shakes his head, muttering something about Konoha nin and their inability to keep things professional, and beckons us over. "You're Naruto and Sasuke?" We both nod, coming to stand at attention in front of the four remaining proctors. "ID?"
Sasuke relays his number and I follow suit. The proctor hums. "We're all set, then. You." He points at Sasuke. "Go with Taysuke. He'll bring you to your entrance." The Kiri proctor heads for the door, Sasuke close behind, and the Kumo shinobi turns to me and tilts his head to last of the four doors not yet used. "You're with me, kid."
He pushes open the door on the far right wall, ushering me through into the stone hallway beyond it. We move through another dizzying series of hallways, moving in a wide arc through the stadium's underground, until we turn left onto a tunnel with light streaming in from the other end, and the proctor pulls to a stop.
"The arena's on the other end of this tunnel," he says, leaning against the stone wall. "Don't head out right away. The… announcer will call you and your opponent out once he's done with the introduction. Just hang around inside the exit until he does."
I nod. "Got it."
"Remember what the Kiri proctor said," he warns. "We won't be intervening for you. Don't get in over your head."
"I've got this," I reply, conviction strengthening my tone for the first time since we left Konoha. The proctor's lip curls up.
"That's what I like to hear. Go nuts, kid." A heartbeat later he disappears in a Body Flicker, and I start down the tunnel.
As I grow closer to the light a dim roar begins to drift by my ears, similar to the sound of Konoha's market district at midday, but even greater. I get about halfway down the hall before I start distinguishing between the miasma of sound. Shouts, catcalls, and all manner of chatter pour in from the tunnel's exit. I come to a stop when I see the wall rising up on the other side of the arena, and take a moment to marvel at the sheer distance between my tunnel and Sasuke's. The arena has to be almost twice as large as the one in Konoha, and I can't even see the whole thing from here.
I ease back a few steps, leaning against the wall and closing my eyes. I breathe deep, sharpening my focus, running through all the tricks and techniques Asuma taught me over the two week break. My hands clench and unclench, wisps of wind circulating between my fingers and dancing along my palms in a soothing rhythm.
I'm halfway through my visualization of Ideal Fight Scenario #2- the one where Sasuke botches all of his ninjutsu and knocks himself out- when the low roar of activity outside is overtaken by a single, booming voice.
"GOOD MORNING, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" A loud cheer goes up at the voice, and I peer back out onto the arena to get a look at its owner.
I see a samurai, decked out in the standard garb of bulky plated armor and four swords, standing in the middle of the arena with his arms spread out wide. He has long, spiky black hair falling over his bone white armor down to his mid back, and even from this distance I can see the wild grin on his face. What the-
"The Land of Iron welcomes you!" He cries. "To the sixth bi-annual Chunin Exams!" Another cheer goes up, and the bizarre samurai basks in the cacophony of sound before continuing. "My name is Itoh Jo and I will be your host for this most honorable of events, along with five of the shinobi world's finest." He swings his arms around some more in a grand gesture, then points up at something out of my range of view.
"Introducing: Taysuke, elite jonin of Kirigakure! Genma, special jonin of Konoha! Darui, elite jonin of Kumogakure and right hand of the Yondaime Raikage! Nampo, elite jonin of Sunagakure! And last but not certainly not least, Kurotsuchi, elite jonin of Iwagakure and granddaughter of the Sandaime Tsuchikage himself!" The crowds roar their approval for each announcement, noise level varying from respectable for our representative to near deafening for the Tsuchikage's daughter. How many people are out there, anyway?
"And now for the great warriors themselves! Allow me to direct your attention to our most honored guests, the leaders of the Five Great Hidden Villages! The five kage!" I grimace as the noise spikes again, rubbing at my right ear.
"Calm down, will you?" I mutter. "We haven't even started yet."
"Not to be forgotten, give it up for the five great lords who made this all possible! The Daimyo!"
I snort. "Yeah, I bet they did."
"And of course, our own beloved leader, without which the Land of Iron would be but a pale shadow of its current self. MIFUNE!"
It takes a good long while for the accumulated cheers for all the national leaders in attendance to die down, and by the time it does I can see a small blot of blue and white hanging back in the other tunnel. Sasuke.
"For those of you that have attended this magnificent tournament in the past, this will be just a refresher," Jo continues. "But for all of you new to these proceedings, this is the final trial those lucky twenty-four genin who have progressed past all three of the initial tasks will face before their promotion to chunin. A no holds barred tournament to decide once and for all who is truly the most skilled genin in all the Elemental Nations!" He announces, his voice and posture radiating glee, and the crowd responds in kind.
"Today you'll see the conclusion of the first and second rounds of the tournament, a total of eighteen matches separated by a four hour intermission after the twelfth match, so that the competitors might rest. And tomorrow, the semifinals and the threeway finals match will be conducted with an intermission of equal length between them. In total, that is twenty-two matches consisting of the best of the best of the next generation of shinobi. Are you ready!?"
Yes.
"Introducing!" He roars, throwing an arm out towards Sasuke's tunnel. "Uchiha Sasuke of Konohagakure!"
Sasuke strides out to the center of the arena, and is immediately assaulted by a hail of catcalls, cheers, and boos, all intermixed with one another. It's actually a pretty even split between the good and bad, which is weird considering how outnumbered we must be up in the stands. But that might just be his clan name winning him some blind favor.
The exuberant samurai announcer waits until Sasuke comes to a stop a few feet away from him, and then promptly drops his left arm and throws his right one up. "And his opponent! Uzumaki Naruto of Konohagakure!"
My hands clench into fists, dispelling the strands of chakra weaving between them, and I exhale one long, slow breath. Then I square my shoulders, set my jaw, and walk into the light.
The sound hits me like thunder.
I realize as soon as I step out of the tunnel that the glimpses of sights and sounds I'd been getting had been nothing at all compared to the real thing. I find myself pausing just outside the entrance of my tunnel, entranced by the circular walls rising up and up and up around me, and the stands rising above those.
I crane my head around, sweeping across the hundreds upon hundreds of seats, all filled to bursting by the multitude of people in attendance. I lift my gaze higher, straight up, and see the dark, jagged underside of one of the Three Wolves. It isn't until I hear a familiar voice somewhere behind me, far above, that I'm snapped out of my stunned stupor.
"I don't get it, Kurenai-sensei," The voice, Kiba's voice, complains loudly. "Why couldn't we compete this year? Naruto's team all made it to the finals, and we could beat them easy! Right, Akamaru?" Kiba's dog barks in agreement. I roll my eyes and continue forward.
As I close the distance between myself and the proctor, I take another look at the arena around me. My perspective shifts with practised ease, and I consider the terrain around me with a tactical eye.
Now that I get a good look at it, the length of the arena from one end to another is closer to three times the size of the stadium back at Konoha. The ground beneath my feet is made up of dirt, frozen even more solid by the all pervasive chill. Good for dancing around, bad for taking hits. The walls of the arena are ridiculously tall, rising up around me as high as some of the apartments in Konoha's residential district. They're made of smooth stone, and look like they'll be able to take more than a few hits. Good for slamming opponents into with the Great Breakthrough.
And then there are… those.
I hadn't noticed them from my vantage point inside the tunnel, but now they're impossible to ignore. A veritable forest made of earthen trees reaching up to the sky. I cut through the arena to its center, passing by trees too dark and smooth and jagged to be alive. There are no leaves on their branches, but there are roots, and they're holding strong. I look all around the arena, counting almost a dozen earthen trees, so tall the jonin proctors crouched at the top of the arena's walls could step up onto their branches.
I file the strange constructs away in the back of my mind, vowing to utilize them somehow in the near future, and come to a stop across from Sasuke.
As soon as I do, Jo launches off into the rules of the match, which the proctors had already briefed us on back underneath the stadium. I take the time to search the tallest heights of the spectators stands, glancing over nobles and businessmen who could probably buy the entire apartment district I live in if they felt like it, searching for one box in particular. It doesn't take me long to find it.
The Kage box sits just above the Daimyo box, both set in the best possible vantage point this stadium could provide. It's difficult to make out the individual Kage from that far up, but their seating arrangement is clear enough. The Raikage and the Tsuchikage, a bear of a man and an old midget respectively, are positioned on the far right. A younger looking man garbed in the vibrant blue robes of the Mizukage sits beside them, and to his left is a man I don't recognize at all. That must be the Mifune guy, I guess.
And there, on the far left side of the box, are the Kazekage and the old man.
I hadn't been able to get in touch with the Sandaime like I'd wanted to before the tournament. Hatake made it clear that he was in the company of the Land of Iron's leader and that if I tried barging into a meeting of the world's most powerful figures without an invitation he'd burn my headband himself. In the end, I decided to let it drop.
I've still got a secret to keep, after all. I'll just have to talk to the old man about my seal after the tournament. And if whatever Kazu did to me causes problems during my fights, I'll deal with them myself. Believe it.
"And now, if our proctors would be so kind," The eccentric samurai calls, and now that I look at him up close I can see the small mic looped around his ear, projecting his voice to ridiculous volumes. At his words each of the jonin around the wall run through hand seals and press their palms to the stone, calling a barrier into being.
It takes the shape of a shimmering yellow dome overtop the arena, shining bright with energy for a few moments and getting an appreciative murmur from the crowd before fading from sight. The proctors remain in their crouched positions, though, making clear its continued existence.
"Uchiha Sasuke!" The announcer exclaims, turning his attention back to us. "Are you ready?"
I finally look at my teammate, and find him staring right back at me. "Yes," he says, voice curt. My eyes narrow.
"Uzumaki Naruto! Are you-"
I fall into my Taijutsu stance. "Yeah."
The crowd roars in anticipation, and Jo raises a hand up, a wide grin on his face. Sasuke slides back into his own stance. "Then without further ado, let the tournament BEGIN!" The announcer performs a flashy backflip away from the center of the stadium, the stands erupt with noise, and Sasuke and I surge forward.
...
if you want to read ahead of the public release you can join my p atreon :
p atreon.com/CarriePoppins