One month had finally passed since the preliminary rounds of the Chunin Exams, and now the day of the finals had finally arrived.
The Chunin Exam Stadium was more crowded than it had ever been before.
Thousands of spectators filled the stands, their voices blending together into a constant roar of excitement and anticipation. Merchants from across the Land of Fire had travelled great distances to witness the event, while wealthy nobles and influential figures occupied the higher sections of the stadium, their seats reserved far above the common spectators.
Most importantly, the Daimyo of the Land of Fire himself had arrived.
His presence alone elevated the importance of the event. Part of the reason why, even when Hiruzen Sarutobi wished to cancel the entire event because of the sudden appearance of Orochimaru out of nowhere, he couldn't.
This Chunin Exam couldn't be cancelled; otherwise, Konoha would lose trust and credibility with the Daimyo.
The Chunin Exams had never simply been about determining promotions. They were an opportunity for villages to display their military strength to the world. Every genin stepping into the arena represented the future of their village, and their performance would influence how allies, clients, and rival nations viewed them.
A strong showing could attract more missions.
A weak showing could do the opposite.
As a result, every hidden village took the finals seriously.
Konoha was no exception. Nor were its guests.
Representatives from multiple hidden villages had arrived to witness the matches, but two groups attracted more attention than the others.
The shinobi of Sunagakure.
And the shinobi of Kirigakure.
The weight of a small hidden shinobi village sending a team to Konoha's Chunin Exam and one of the five great villages sending their team to Konoha is completely different.
Especially when the Kages of the said great villages themselves arrive, and unlike the original plans that had once been discussed behind closed doors, there was no disguised infiltrator standing among them today.
The man leading Sunagakure's delegation was truly the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa himself.
Beside the delegation of the Hidden Mist stood the Fifth Mizukage, Mei Terumi, whose presence had surprised many within Konoha.
Near the special seating area reserved for foreign leaders, Hiruzen Sarutobi personally welcomed both village leaders.
The old Hokage smiled warmly as they approached.
"Kazekage-dono, Mizukage-dono. Konoha welcomes both of you."
Rasa returned the greeting with a polite nod.
"You are too kind, Hokage-sama. It has been many years since I last visited Konoha." And indeed it had been long; the last time he arrived here was as a genin, a long, long time ago.
Mei smiled elegantly.
"The village appears to be thriving. It seems the Leaf has recovered well since the war."
A simple compliment.
Yet all three immediately understood the hidden meaning.
Recovered well.
How much military strength had Konoha regained?
How many elite shinobi did they possess now?
How dangerous had they become?
Especially after the infamous Nine-Tails attack on Konoha.
Hiruzen's smile never faltered.
"We have been fortunate. Peace has treated us kindly."
Rasa's eyes narrowed slightly. How much of that was just false bravado and how much of it was reality was the real devil between the lines, wasn't it?
Depending on it, their plan to attack Konoha under the pretext of the Chunin Exam might work or fail.
"Peace rarely lasts forever," he added.
"Unfortunately," Hiruzen replied.
For a brief moment, silence settled between them.
Mei broke it first.
"I hear several exceptional genin will be participating today. The reports regarding Konoha's younger generation have been quite interesting."
Another probe. But this wasn't exactly a probe; Mei Terumi had one particular person in mind when she was asking about this.
A certain pink-haired genin, or at least that's what her intelligence reported, was the genin who fought Yagura.
She personally found it hard to believe.
Hiruzen chuckled softly.
"You flatter them. They are merely children trying their best."
Neither Rasa nor Mei believed that for a second. Both knew that the old monkey Sarutobi Hiruzen was far from the benevolent old figure he portrayed himself to be.
Especially not after the reports both villages had gathered over the past month.
A Konoha shinobi is connected to the disappearance of a Raikage.
As for how they even found this intel, it was Kumo themselves. Instead of keeping the news tucked under their armpits, knowing sooner or later it would slip out anyway—perhaps not who killed the Raikage, but at least news of his death—the few wise men of Kumogakure among its more or less brass population decided to let the matter out.
At least this would shed some light on Konoha's rising strength after over a decade of peace.
Of course, neither even thought that a genin had killed the Raikage; that was absurd. But for Konoha to have a shinobi of that calibre in its roster while other villages had no knowledge of them on their own was telling of Konoha's depth.
And that by no means made Konoha's next generation any less impressive. It was open knowledge that the following batch of genin who would participate in the Chunin Exam were mostly heirs of the most influential clans of Konoha.
Calling them Konoha's future was not wrong; this batch of genin was arguably the most important one after Kakashi's generation and Minato's generation.
Both were geniuses in their own right, especially the Yellow Flash of the Leaf. Even after his death, tales of that horror had been spoken whenever the tragedies of the Third Shinobi War had been brought up in conversations.
Still, none of them showed their true thoughts.
Polite smiles remained on their faces.
Compliments continued to be exchanged.
And while the Kages and nobility gathered in the upper sections of the stadium, the true focus of the day was gathered elsewhere.
The finalists.
Beneath the massive arena, in the waiting area reserved for the participants, the next generation of shinobi had begun gathering one by one as they waited for the matches to begin.
The atmosphere was far less formal than the one above.
For some, this was simply another battle.
For others, it was the opportunity of a lifetime.
Sukuna arrived alongside Kiyomi, Sakura, Karin, and Naruto.
The four of them immediately attracted attention.
Not because they were loud.
Quite the opposite, most people simply couldn't ignore Team 11 and Team 7 anymore.
After everything that happened during the Forest of Death and the preliminary rounds, rumors regarding these two teams had spread, at least among the higher ranks of the Jonin circle.
Naruto stretched his arms above his head and grinned.
"I can't wait anymore. I've been training for a whole month. Just you wait, I'll show what powerful technique I have learned under Pervy Sage."
"You've been eating ramen for a whole month," Karin corrected.
"Training and ramen."
Karin rolled her eyes.
Sukuna ignored them entirely.
Nearby, Kiyomi leaned against the wall with her arms crossed.
"Where is that emo face?" Sukuna grumbled, knowing fully well how late both Kakashi and Sasuke originally were in canon.
Kiyomi herself looked a bit irritated upon seeing that her brother was nowhere to be found.
"Playing Chidori with his Jonin sensei."
Naruto snorted.
"Of course not. He's learning from Kakashi-sensei."
Sakura sighed.
"It's Kakashi-sensei's fault, he's always late. Just hope they arrive on time," Sakura grumbled.
Meanwhile, another group stood further away.
The Sand siblings.
Temari was speaking with Kankuro while Gaara stood nearby, arms folded as usual. They both had long been eliminated from the exam; only Gaara was to participate in the finals now.
The red-haired jinchuriki stood alone near the far wall, completely isolated from everyone else.
His arms were crossed as he silently waited for the matches to begin.
Several genin glanced in his direction before quickly looking away.
No one wanted to approach him.
Especially after what happened during the Forest of Death.
Turns out, Orochimaru and Sukuna weren't the only ones making noise back in the Forest of Death. Gaara had done his fair share of troublemaking himself, killing gods knew how many genin while most eyes were on both Sukuna and Orochimaru's chaos.
Naruto frowned slightly.
"He's the guy who beat Bushy Brow Guy."
"He is dangerous," Kiyomi replied.
"That he is, so if any of you end up fighting him, I suggest giving up sooner rather than later," Sukuna added.
Not far from them stood Haku.
The Mist genin appeared calm as always despite the attention he occasionally received from curious Leaf shinobi.
Beside him stood Suigetsu, who looked thoroughly bored.
"This place is annoying," Suigetsu complained.
Haku smiled helplessly.
"You've said that twenty times."
"And I'll say it twenty more."
"What about Kimimaro?" Suigetsu suddenly asked.
Haku's expression turned complicated; even he had no idea what was going on with Kimimaro. After the preliminaries, none had seen him.
"He returned to Kirigakure. His injuries needed treatment." Suddenly, Zabuza arrived out of nowhere and replied, almost startling both Haku and Suigetsu.
Suigetsu clicked his tongue. "Keep doing that and we'll need medical attention too."
The conversation continued casually until Sakura suddenly noticed something.
"Where's Neji?"
The question caused a brief silence. Sukuna frowned. He himself wasn't certain of Neji's condition. For the last month or so, he had cut off his connection from anything that could distract him and focused solely on learning his Curse Mark power.
Part of the reason he replaced himself with Sakura and Karin in the hospital. He had no idea.
Tenten, the only remaining participant from Team 9 in the Chunin Exam Finals, also glanced around.
Lee frowned.
"He isn't here."
"Was there any news from the hospital?"
"I don't know. I went to meet him countless times in the hospital, but they wouldn't let me," Tenten stated.
"Didn't Guy-sensei mention anything?" Tenten asked.
Lee shook his head. "He never mentioned Neji's condition. Every time I wished to ask, he stated he himself was unaware besides the fact that Neji was under the direct supervision of Lady Tsunade herself."
And so far, two genin were missing from the official roster who were participating in the Chunin Exam.
Both Neji and Sasuke were absent.
And while the chattering was increasing, the announcement finally rang out.
The Chunin Exam was starting.
And the first match was none other than a rematch between the last draw from the preliminaries to finalise the winner.
"Kiyomi Uchiha VS Neji Hyuga."
xXx
A/N : The Finals is finally starting. Thank god, it feels like it been ages.
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