Author's Note: The prelims will be as in canon. I didn't see why that would reasonably change, and I wanted to show with a few fights how things have changed because of my divergence. However, the final matchups and the battles during the invasion will all be brand new.
4.
On the afternoon of the fifth day, we were all gathered together in the tower's main room, which was a vast stone chamber with two floors: a bottom floor, and then an upper floor balcony that went all around the room and could be accessed from two staircases on the other side of the room. At the front of the room, overseeing everything, was a huge, painted pair of stone hands doing a ninja hand seal. The Hokage stood under the hands, a row of Jounin sensei behind him, the first and second examiners on either side of him, and two rows of Chuunin standing on either side of the examiners.
The Genin were collected in three neat rows in front of the Hokage. I counted twenty one people in all, or seven teams: me, Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Lee, Neji, TenTen, Gaara, Temari, Kankurou, Zaku, Kin, Dosu, and Kabuto. Kabuto's two teammates were the only ones I didn't recognize by name. I wondered if that was enough for a pretest.
"First of all, congratulations on passing the second test," Anko began. "Hokage-sama will now explain the third to you." It felt like a step up - like only the important ones got the speech from the village leader.
"The third test will now begin," the Hokage said, louder than usual, in deep, raspy tones. His hands were folded neatly behind him. "But before I explain the third test, there is something that I would like to make very clear to all of you. There is a reason why we do a joint exam with our allied Hidden Villages. There are many pretty words said about it: 'to heighten good relations', 'to heighten the level of ninja on an international scale'. These words disguise the truth. The Chuunin Exam, ever since its inception, has taken the place of war." He let these words sit heavily on us for a moment.
"Throughout history, the elemental countries have always been at war with one another. No alliance has lasted through all of time. To avoid wasting unnecessary military power, in recent times the elemental countries have taken to deciding on a place, time, and specifications for our wars. To have them within safe boundaries, so to speak. A front was put up for this, entitled 'the Chuunin Selection Exam'. The Chuunin Selection Exam's true purpose is, and always has been, competition. International competition."
"So we're not really being tested on whether or not we're good Chuunin?" asked Naruto.
"The Exam does test to see who are worthy to be Chuunin and who aren't, that is true. But that is not its only purpose."
"Sir," I said, raising my hand - now that someone else had asked a question, it made me feel safer, "don't wars between ninja happen anyway?"
"They have in the past, that is also true. I never said it was a good system," the Hokage said dryly, and there were some chuckles from the older ninja assembled around him. "But that is the system. You are fighting in this exam for your country's, and your village's, honor. And I thought it was important to remind you of that in preparation for the third, and final, test."
I swallowed, feeling a weight coming down upon me. It was intimidating, being spoken to like this. It was as if there were some sort of invisible standard that we all, individually this time, would have to live up to. But even I wasn't prepared for what came next:
"The third test will be something like a spectator sport. The fighting will be done in an arena filled with viewers. Feudal lords and celebrities from all over the world will be invited as my personal guests. Kage who have participating ninja will also attend." It's always a big thing, when some of the best ninja in the world meet. Kakashi's words echoed back to me. I saw the Kazekage's children straighten, out of the corner of my eye. "The third test will involve individual one-on-one battles. All the people assembled will see them. They will see every move you make, how you fight, everything you do. If there is a significant difference in power between one village and another, the successful village will be flooded with jobs and its country's military prestige will heighten in the international eye. If a village is seen as weak, everything I just mentioned will decrease. You are to be shown off, paraded as an example of what your village has to offer."
"So we're risking our life in these battles for the good of our village?" Kiba asked.
"For your village... and your country. And also for yourselves. A ninja's true power is only born in life or death battles," said the Hokage.
And yeah, that was great. I could risk my life, no problem. I hadn't really expected to make it this far anyway, so I couldn't complain about being offered such a chance. But... to fight in front of all those people? I hadn't expected that. It frightened me, strangely more so than the idea of dying via sand coffin at the hands of Sabaku no Gaara.
"So what does all this have to do with good relations?" TenTen asked. "Why the lie?"
The Hokage smiled dryly. "It's not a lie," he said. "For two countries to decide only to kill each other in an Exam is good relations in the world of the ninja."
I wondered, once again, what I had gotten myself into.
"I don't care about any of this," said Gaara, breaking through the moment clearly, in the tone of someone who was used to being listened to. "Tell us the details of this life or death test." Death, it seemed, was all that mattered to him.
"Very well," said the Hokage. "I will begin an explanation of the third test, but -"
In an obviously practiced and somewhat cheesy move, one of the ninja I'd thought was a Chuunin ran out and knelt down in front of the Hokage.
"Please, Hokage-sama," he said, "I am Gekkou Hayate, the judge for the third test. Let me explain."
"Please do," said the Hokage, nodding once.
Hayate stood and turned around. He was pale, thin, and sickly looking. "Before the third test, there is something we need to do," he said, and then he broke into a hacking cough that was physically painful to listen to. So we would have to do a pretest. How did one pretest for a life or death battle? Hayate continued at last, "... We will have preliminary one on one matches in this very room. Half of those in this room will continue on to the final round of the third test, half of those will lose their battle and will not be able to be selected as Chuunin. Injury or death are also possible."
So that was how you pretested for a life or death battle. With another life or death battle. Despite myself, I was nervous.
"There are too many examinees left," Hayate explained, shrugging, because some people had made noises of protest. "There can only be a certain number of matches in the final round, or the spectators will get bored. It's standard regulation."
Boredom. We were fighting now to avoid boredom. The ridiculousness of it.
"We are also pressed on time, so anyone who wants to quit after hearing the explanation, just raise their hand. You will no longer be tested in teams..." Here, Hayate had another spurt of horrific coughing. "... The matches will begin immediately."
"Immediately?! But we just got through with the second test!" That came from someone on Ino's team.
"I'm not ready. I'll quit." And that voice came from Kabuto, the older Genin who had tried to quiet down the rookies before the first test. All the Konoha rookies looked up, startled.
"But Kabuto-san, you've been trying so long and working so hard!" said Naruto immediately. He must be referring to something Kabuto had said while I wasn't there.
Kabuto smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. I don't think I'm ready. I'm too worn out to do well."
"Who's ever ready to fight to the death? It's never going to get any easier, Kabuto-san." I tried to seem reasonable - not aggressive.
"I'm sorry..." said Kabuto again, looking downward.
Gekkou Hayate consulted his notes. "Yakushi Kabuto of Konoha? Alright, you can leave."
Kabuto said something to his teammates, who seemed displeased - it sounded oddly like, "He's already left, so what's the point?" - and then gave us a shy sort of smile as he left. He was far too contented with leaving. There was no shame with him, as there had been with the people who had quit during the first test. Either he wasn't a very good ninja or he hadn't entered the Exam with very fervent hopes of becoming a Chuunin. Yet Naruto said he'd tried at this Exam before and was working hard at it. How very puzzling.
I suddenly realized that the only other person looking away from the examiner besides the rookie nine was Sabaku no Gaara, who turned vaguely curious eyes to Naruto and then turned his stare to me. It was impassive and entirely unnerving.
"May I assume there are no other people who wish to retire early?" Hayate asked, with a slight cough. Everyone looked around to the examiner again.
I looked around me. All the others either were hard to read or obviously had some determination to stay. I thought of myself for a moment. Did I want to retire? The risk of death somehow seemed more overt than it had before. There was also the chance that if I made it through the pretest, I would have to fight in front of all those people. But if I would have to do that eventually to make it to Chuunin anyway... I mean, I did want to make Chuunin. I didn't think I'd get to the final round, but I owed it to myself to at least try, didn't I? I could only hope that whoever was my opponent didn't kill me. And on that note, I would keep my promise to my friends. If Gaara was my opponent, I would surrender.
But for now, at least, I kept my hand down.
"Alright. They will be one on one matches, as has already been said," said Hayate. "Now that we have exactly twenty people, we will have exactly ten matches. The winning ten will advance to the third test. There are no rules in these matches from here on out. You both go on until one person either is knocked unconscious, dies, or surrenders - whichever comes first. However, what I say goes," Hayate coughed, rather ruining the effect of his words, "so if I judge a match is over, it stops immediately."
That was when a panel in the wall next to the giant hands slid aside. An electronic bulletin board was revealed behind it. All twenty names would be put into the bulletin board, and then it would randomly select two names for each battle, crossing those names off the list as it went along. Anko had someone start the board, and then in a moment the first two names appeared in gold on the screen:
Akadou Yoroi vs Uchiha Sasuke
Akadou Yoroi must be one of Kabuto's teammates. He was big, an older Genin, and certainly more experienced. "Be careful, Sasuke," I said.
Sasuke brushed me off in irritation, eager to test himself.
"Those whose names were called, please step up," Hayate said in a firm tone. "This match's fighters are Uchiha Sasuke and Akadou Yoroi! Are there any objections?"
"No," said Sasuke and Yoroi as one, looking at each other. Yoroi seemed, in his own way, as angry and determined as Sasuke.
Hayate also looked out at the surrounding other Genin. But I certainly didn't have any objections. Sasuke could fight if he wanted to. "Lucky bastard," I distinctly heard Naruto mutter, and I fought back my amusement.
"We will now begin the fights. Everyone other than the two fighters, please move upstairs to the balcony. Your Jounin Sensei will meet you there," said Hayate.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto called out, and it wasn't in an angry tone after everything Kakashi had put us through, which had to be some sort of miracle.
He rushed over, and Kakashi said as usual, "Don't hug me."
Standing near him, I turned to the fight beginning below. "Do you think Sasuke will be okay?" I asked our Sensei.
"We'll just have to see," Kakashi said simply, but he was watching closely.
Sasuke and Yoroi got into stances across from each other. "Begin!" Hayate called, and Sasuke activated his Sharingan.
Kakashi's eyes widened. "Did he get that when -?" So he had heard. I nodded.
"I thought your teammate said he didn't have the Sharingan!" Lee called down the balcony to me; Neji had raised an eyebrow.
I smiled sheepishly. "Until recently, he didn't. I'm sorry, I'm not allowed to say any more."
Lee and Neji looked down at the fight with renewed interest. So did several other people. It was another, visceral reminder that blood was what mattered in the world of the ninja.
Yoroi seemed to prefer close combat; he ran forward and engaged Sasuke in it, and at first it seemed like Sasuke was obviously coming out on top. His Sharingan allowed him to read Yoroi's movements like an expert and block them even before they were finished, and Yoroi was about Sasuke's speed so Yoroi kept being pushed farther and farther back. Yoroi didn't seem too worried about this, and I also noticed an odd flash coming from his hand whenever he made contact with Sasuke. At first, I didn't connect the two puzzling details; Sasuke didn't seem to notice either thing at all and was instead savoring the fact that he was winning, smirking confidently.
But then something strange began to happen. Sasuke's moves began to seem slower, and more sluggish. He started to block slower. Once, he was punched and flew all the way across the room, sliding, because he couldn't block in time. I gasped involuntarily.
"What happened?" shouted Naruto. "He was winning!" There were some similar murmurs going up and down the balcony.
"What - what are you doing with that chakra in your hands?" Sasuke asked, and even his speech seemed slurred; he stood, sagging, with effort. "At first, I thought you were just using it to help your blocks and amplify your abilities... but..."
Yoroi smirked. "I can suck chakra out of people's bodies," he said quietly, "with my hands." That was why he was a hand to hand expert!
Yoroi ran at Sasuke again, who shouted, "Fine! Then I'll just copy!" He narrowed his eyes, the tomoe in the Sharingan twirling, and he went to block and then grab Yoroi's arm... And nothing happened.
Sasuke's eyes widened.
"Unluckily for you," said Yoroi, "my body's been genetically modified. It's an innate ability. No copying allowed." Then he grabbed Sasuke's arm, and Sasuke sagged, the Sharingan twirling rapidly...
"Sasuke!" I shouted. "Turn it off! You're going to get chakra exhaustion!"
Sasuke closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, they were merely black. He broke with effort out of Yoroi's hold and started backpedaling as fast as he could, throwing kunai at Yoroi to keep him away. Yoroi blocked all the kunai with the flat part of his own and kept advancing. If it were me, I'd have activated a genjutsu, a long distance spell, and tried to defeat Yoroi that way, but Sasuke didn't really have anything like that.
To his credit, he tried the one thing like that he did have. With what must have taken an enormous amount of chakra effort, he let a series of small fireballs fly from his mouth and straight at Yoroi, firing them across a great expanse with precision as Yoroi ran to dodge them. Yoroi was fast; he got a couple of stray burns, some singed clothing, but Sasuke couldn't get a clear hit on him to kill him.
Then Sasuke collapsed, and I cried out involuntarily.
It was horrible to watch afterward. Sasuke had used up all his chakra. He kept trying to get to his feet, shaking, and he kept collapsing backward. Yoroi walked right up, Sasuke was crawling to get away, and Yoroi placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder and began draining away the rest of his chakra. His eyes sagging and then closing, Sasuke quickly collapsed.
Even Kakashi's eyes had widened. Naruto looked stunned.
It was incredibly disheartening just to watch, the beautiful boy who had been the best in our class being defeated so easily in a wider arena. How could any of the rest of us rookies possibly hope to win our own matches?
I waited and waited... and Yoroi kept standing there, draining away chakra... and suddenly my eyes widened and the blood drained from my face. "He's going to kill him!" I shouted, distraught, moving to run toward Sasuke no matter how stupid it would be. Kakashi held me back, and I saw down the balcony that Asuma-sensei was having to do the same with a shouting Ino. I looked up to glare furiously at Kakashi-sensei! How could he stop me from helping -?
But Kakashi's face looked pained. "You can't interfere," he said. "In these matches, such things are allowed."
"But Yoroi's a Konoha nin, too! He doesn't have anything to prove!" I shouted, emotional. "There's no reason for this!"
And Yoroi kept standing there, smirking, draining away chakra. I looked pleadingly at Hayate, who was standing off to the side of the lower floor. Hayate met my eyes and sighed. "Alright," he said at last, "the match is obviously over. I'm intervening. Akadou Yoroi is the winner. Medics, please come take away Uchiha Sasuke."
And I watched, helpless and distraught, Kakashi still holding me back, as medics came and put Sasuke on a stretcher, taking him away. I watched until he'd disappeared behind a set of doors. At last, when Sasuke was gone, I relaxed, heavy and saddened and worried. "Kakashi-sensei," I said, turning to look up at him, "I know you usually wait to be asked and I don't have any business telling you how to run your team. But when this is over, you should really give more training to Sasuke and Naruto."
Kakashi nodded, not looking at me, something tight around his eyes.
When I looked away again, Gaara across the room on the other balcony met my stare. I glared at him furiously, upset, and Gaara raised an eyebrow. He seemed almost puzzled by how upset I was. Well, of course he was puzzled, I told myself, he was an emotionless psychopath. I forced myself to look away, trying not to be nervous at how interested in me that emotionless psychopath still seemed.
It was not a promising start to the preliminary matches.
The electronic bulletin board was started again. The next two names flashed up:
Abumi Zaku vs Aburame Shino
"Who's the poor, pathetic ninja who's supposed to be having a go at me?" Zaku crowed.
Shino, the quiet "creepy bug kid", said nothing. But a little line formed between his eyebrows.
Hayate had the two fighters step up and announced the beginning of the match, stepping aside.
Zaku started out big, slamming Shino with twin air blasts from his hands and throwing him against the wall. But Shino refused to go down, even as he was battered about by air blasts. Then, all of a sudden, it was all over. Zaku went to start another air blast and then screamed out. The air blast didn't work. While Zaku was crippled in pain, Shino zipped quietly behind him and knocked him out neatly.
Everyone was left staring, uncertain as to what had occurred.
"... I noticed his air blasts were only possible because of two long metal tubes running through his arms and connecting to open holes in his palms," Shino explained tonelessly after a moment. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking. Then Shino pointed a finger, and from out of the holes in Zaku's hands crawled bugs. Hundreds and hundreds of bugs. So many they'd plugged up the air holes. "In my clan, we have what are called kikai bugs," said Shino quietly. "They live on our bodies and feed off our chakra, and in return they let us control them and fight for us in groups, also sucking the chakra from others. They can be quite... useful."
The bugs retreated one by one to their place inside Shino's sleeve.
Hayate was called over to check, but there was really no denying it. Zaku was unconscious and his arms were ruined. The chakra in the air holes, seeking a way out, had burned gruesomely through the skin of his arms, revealing the ruined remnants of the metal tubes underneath the bloody tissue. "This match is over," said Hayate quietly, standing. "The winner is Aburame Shino."
Shino showed no emotion and simply went back to his place on the balcony like nothing had happened as Zaku was also taken away on a medical stretcher. It was an eerie fight, not much more reassuring than the first.
"What the hell?" Naruto asked loudly, surprised. "Was Shino that strong the whole time?"
"That's the Aburame clan," said Kakashi. "They're reclusive by nature."
The next match was called:
Tsurugi Misumi vs Kankurou
"Kakashi-sensei," I asked, puzzled, "why doesn't Kankurou have a surname?"
"None of them do," said Kakashi, surprising me. "Surnames are not a thing that occur in Suna. Actually, more to the point, Lee and TenTen on Gai's team don't have surnames either."
"But Rock..." I began.
"Is a surname Lee crafted for himself," said Kakashi, and then he said gently at my confusion, "When civilian children are orphaned in Konoha, they lose their surname. Only the bloodline clans get to keep their surname."
Lee was an orphan? I never knew that. I thought of losing the name "Haruno." "But that - that's not fair," I said, frowning.
Kakashi shrugged. "It's the way things work," he said.
"So why do I have a surname?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Because the Uzumaki were a clan. A foreign clan. They were destroyed in the Third Ninja War and one of the survivors came here. That survivor was your mother," said Kakashi, surprising both of us. "She died during the Kyuubi attack. But the Uzumaki are why you have such huge chakra and such enormous endurance."
Naruto was still back at the last part. "... You knew my mother?" His eyes were wide with wonder.
"Another time," said Kakashi, almost evasive. He nodded behind us. "The match is about to start."
We turned around. Kabuto's other teammate and Sabaku no Kankurou were facing each other across the arena floor below. Kankurou had taken off the wrapped-up weapon strapped to his back, which had to have his puppet inside it.
The boy I didn't know, Misumi, seemed more serious and less arrogant than his teammate, who was watching closely and seemed almost challenging. But he still rushed in and attacked first. I wondered if Kabuto was the only one on the team who seemed to have any sort of reserve.
Misumi used a technique where he unhinged his joints and then controlled his limbs with chakra. He wrapped his rubbery limbs around Kankurou, pinning him in and then wrapping his arms tightly around his neck. Misumi ordered Kankurou to surrender.
I waited for Kankurou to use one of his chakra strings to get Misumi's limbs out from around his neck, but Kankurou did not. "Never," he said instead, dramatically, and I knew at once that something was up. I glanced at his siblings. Temari was watching closely, but didn't seem especially afraid. I distinctly saw Gaara roll his eyes and look away.
I went back to watching Kankurou and Misumi just in time to see, startled, that Misumi had broken Kankurou's neck! But something was wrong. There was this weird - clanking sound coming from Kankurou's broken neck. And I realized it a second before anyone else besides perhaps Kakashi did: that wasn't Kankurou. It was a puppet.
And then pieces of Kankurou's "face" began coming off, revealing themselves to be bits of hardened sand under an illusion. (So Gaara did help his siblings?) Underneath the face was the mechanical face of a puppet. The puppet's face turned right around in its socket, staring at a startled Misumi eerily, and then several mechanical arms came out from the puppet, wrapping the rubbery Misumi up in a vice-like grip. Misumi struggled, but he couldn't move - he was subdued.
That was when out of the wrapped up container came the real Kankurou, controlling the puppet with soft blue chakra strings that he suddenly let become visible for everyone to see. I was startled again. How far in advance had the Suna siblings been prepared for this battle?
"Since his opponent cannot move," said Hayate, "the winner is Kankurou."
"Two against one!" said Naruto. "That can't be legal. Can it, Kakashi-sensei?" He turned around to Kakashi. This did not seem to appeal to Naruto's innate sense of fairness.
"It's allowed," said Kakashi, nodding.
"It's just a weapon, Naruto," I pointed out. "Like a kunai, or a spell. Shino's bugs were the same thing - they weren't another human being. They were a weapon. I heard that Kankurou's brother can manipulate sand, sort of like Haku could manipulate ice. That's the same. They're all just weapons."
Naruto seemed thoughtful. "So... the weirdos are the ones who are prepared?" he said at last.
"In this case, yes," said Kakashi.
Hayate turned on the board to begin the next match. The names scrolled through and scrolled through... And that was when they hit on the next two names.
There was a long silence as I started at the board in disbelief, horrified, and my opponent did the same. I felt a bundle of nerves start up in my stomach.
"Well, Sakura," said Naruto at last, "you'd better hope you're pretty fucking bizarre."
The next match was Haruno Sakura vs Yamanaka Ino.
