The matches proceeded, one after another. Each thrilling contest had the spectators roaring their approval. By now, no one in the audience was making comments about the contestants' average age. This was because all of them—whether Konoha's young talents or the Sand's trio—had displayed strength and strategic thinking that far surpassed that of an average chunin. Some of the chunin observing in the arena even began to doubt themselves, wondering if they had perhaps gotten promoted through connections.
"It's finally Uchiha Sasuke's turn!"
"Everyone else's matches have been so spectacular; this is the last scion of the Uchiha clan! That settles it, I'm betting this month's entire salary on him!"
"Hey, hey, hey! You're not serious, are you?"
"…"
"The average skill level of this new generation is truly high," Kamizuki Izumo remarked. He had reason to suspect that any one of the genin on the field could have taken the top spot in his own year's exam.
"What's even more terrifying is that most of them are this year's graduates," Hagane Kotetsu couldn't help but add, clicking his tongue. The Sand trio might be slightly older, but compared to the average chunin promotion age of twenty, they were also incredibly young.
"…Truly terrifying."
"Konoha really is brimming with talent…" Even the Sand siblings had to admit this fact. They knew their own situation best. Among the three of them, apart from Gaara, both he (Kankuro) and Temari were actually a few years older than most of their Konoha opponents. In other words, their presence here was, to a large extent, due to an age advantage. At the same age, would they be able to compete on equal footing with the Konoha ninjas? Truthfully, they had no confidence. Perhaps they could use their family background as an explanation—after all, the Konoha ninjas opposite them were mostly direct heirs of prominent Konoha clans—but were they not also the children of the Fourth Kazekage?
"It's Gaara's match now, isn't it…" Kankuro looked at his younger brother's back, his tone unreadable, uncertain whether it was filled with deep emotion or sorrow.
"…" Temari glanced at the Fourth Kazekage on the high platform, wondering what their 'father' was thinking at this moment… Their privileged birth had brought them a life free from material worries and an unobstructed future, but they had also paid a corresponding price: harsh training, cold family relationships, a life path planned out for them by others…
Gaara's situation was even more extreme. Their 'father,' in order to gain more political resources, had willingly allowed his child, still an infant in his mother's arms, to become the One-Tail Jinchuriki. Coldness, discrimination, assassination attempts… these became the things Gaara would face for his entire life.
No. His short life.
Looking at her brother's back, Temari felt a dull ache in her heart. Both she and Kankuro understood that this might be the last time they saw Gaara, the last time they stood together with their own younger brother. After all, in the 'Konoha Crush Plan,' Gaara's mission was to release the One-Tail within Konoha's village walls. To unleash a 'nuclear weapon' in the enemy's main stronghold, even if this 'unleashing' wasn't of his own volition… regardless of whether the plan succeeded or failed, there would only be one outcome for Gaara.
And that was— Death!!
It was a tragic thing, but it was the truth. Of course, if Gaara chose to defect from the village, with his strength, it was possible he could survive. But the education they had received since childhood was to sacrifice everything for the village, that the village's interests were paramount, even if it meant offering up their own lives. This ideology, through family influence, the personal examples set by their relatives, and their schooling, had become deeply ingrained in their thoughts and actions. Therefore, regarding this Konoha Crush Plan, even though the outcome was already clear, they could not, and would not, evade it.
Time flowed by, second by second.
To everyone's disappointment, the last scion of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Sasuke, still had not appeared. Theories of him fleeing, of conspiracies… all sorts of conjectures continuously surfaced in the minds of the spectators. Those influential figures running the betting pools, in particular, were growing restless, speculating whether someone had deliberately held up Uchiha Sasuke to manipulate profits. The Uchiha clan's name carried significant weight, but that was the weight of the past, especially when substantial profits were at stake. The Uchiha, with only two survivors, no longer possessed the power to make certain ambitious schemers shrink back in fear.
A ninja whispered something in the head proctor's ear. After listening, the proctor addressed the anxiously waiting audience: "We will wait another ten minutes!"
"…Is this the weight of the Uchiha name?" On the second floor, all the participating contestants remained silent. If it had been one of them instead of Uchiha Sasuke, would anyone have been willing to wait? Most likely not. Though cruel, they understood that this was reality…
The hands of the clock ticked slowly onwards. The audience's hearts felt as if they were being scratched by a cat's paw—itchy with anticipation. The more unobtainable something is, the more one yearns for it. That was precisely the situation at hand. If Sasuke had appeared on schedule, the attention on him might not have been so intense. But the longer Sasuke failed to appear, the more his entrance became the climactic event, the more all the spectators yearned for his arrival.
Just as only one minute remained…
Poof!
In the arena, two figures, accompanied by dissipating smoke, slowly appeared in everyone's line of sight.
ROAR!!!
Upon seeing the faces of the arrivals, the arena erupted as if a lit fuse had reached a powder keg; the cheers were deafening.
"Hiss…" Among their peers, all the male genin watching this scene felt their teeth ache. Though they knew he was good at putting on a show, they had never imagined he was this adept at it.
"As expected of Sasuke-kun, so cool!" Ino cheered. "Right, Sakura?"
"Right." Sakura let out a deep sigh of relief, her body slumping weakly against the backrest of her chair. She had been truly terrified, terrified that Sasuke had been taken away by that Orochimaru. Seeing her best friend recover from her agitated state, Ino also felt a wave of relief wash over her.
"We're not late, are we?" Kakashi asked, scratching his head with a smile.
"Just barely. The match is about to begin," the head proctor said, shaking his head slightly. After Kakashi left the arena, he looked at the two opponents standing opposite each other and immediately announced the start of the match.
"Sandfall Gaara…" Uchiha Sasuke looked at the Sand ninja opposite him, let out a light breath, and his figure instantly vanished from his spot.
Bang, bang, bang!
In the span of just a few breaths, several waves of sand erupted around Gaara—proof that he was being attacked.
"Little Lee, those look like your moves," Shikamaru commented, glancing at the green-clad kid beside him. Lee's opponent in the preliminaries had been Kiba, who, despite his explosive luck in getting a bye, had unfortunately been no match for Lee's overwhelming strength and had been defeated without any real contest.
Lee watched Sasuke on the field, whose speed was now comparable to his own when he removed his leg weights, and remained silent. He no longer remembered how many laps he had run, how much sweat he had shed, how many bandages he had changed, or how much ointment he had applied to achieve that speed… Just one month, a mere one month. And Sasuke had achieved a speed similar to his.
An ordinary person versus a genius? The question he had dismissed from his mind a month ago resurfaced once more. Compared to a genius… does hard work truly make a difference?