Yuuhi Kurenai looked around the small arena that was located at the base of the tower in the Forest of Death taking note of all of the Genin that were here but paying especial attention to her students. Just enough teams had passed for there to be a preliminary round prior to the third phase of the Chunin Exam, and as she looked at who was there, she also reflected on who was missing.
Team 10 had failed in the first round of the Exam, so Asuma wasn't there for her to talk with, and wasn't there to cheer her students on as she cheered his on. Team 7 had never even made it to the Exam, and three of its four members were already dead, with the fourth looking to follow them soon if what she'd heard about the Haruno girl's reaction to the news of the Uchiha boy's passing was true. The news of Uchiha Sasuke's demise in the Forest of Death had hit her team hard when they heard it since the Uchiha boy had been the second of their classmates to die.
When she'd heard the news, she had wanted to take time out to comfort her students over their most recent loss, but there had been no time to do so. She would have to wait until the preliminaries were over to make that time, and she would make sure to take as much time as her students needed. As what had happened to Team 7 had clearly illustrated, you never knew who you were going to lose next or when.
Of the rookie teams that had formed this year, hers had been the only one to make it through to this point, and right now she wasn't too certain that they would progress to the third phase of the Exams.
In the Arena below where the Genin who would be participating in the preliminaries stood watching with their senseis, Inuzuka Kiba grinned victoriously as he looked down at his fallen opponent. Akado Yoroi may have been larger than him, older than him, more experienced than him, and able to absorb Chakra, but he'd had an advantage throughout the entire fight. Akamaru.
It had been a two-on-one battle with the odds firmly in his favor. The only way this fight could have been any easier would have been if he'd been up against Naruto...
He felt a stab in his chest as he remembered that Naruto was gone.
The boy who he'd cut class with on occasion, the boy who he'd sometimes gotten into trouble with, the boy who had yapped at his heels, constantly insisting that he was stronger than him, the boy who had helped him teach Akamaru the Dynamic Marking technique as part of a prank was gone, and he would not be coming back. He would never be able to brag about this fight to a jealous Naruto. He would never be able to hold this win and the fact that he was passing on to the third phase of the Exams over Naruto's head. There would be no wild scrap with Naruto after the boy launched himself at him after having had enough of his teasing. Naruto was dead.
He was no longer smiling as he reached the balcony to watch the rest of the fights.
Shino asked why his teammate was so unhappy after advancing, and his teammate clammed up. There was only one subject that was not spoken of for the sake of harmony in Team 8, and that subject was Naruto. Hinata had gone into mourning over the boy's death, and any mention of him had a detrimental effect on her.
As he headed down to his own fight, he wondered how and why Kiba's opponent had reminded the other boy of their deceased classmate. The man who was in his early twenties had been completely unlike the brash child who had constantly disrupted the harmony of their class in a way that wasn't entirely negative.
Deciding to focus on that later, he turned his mind towards the battle that was ahead. While he missed his loud former classmate in his own way, he could not allow that to distract him from the task that was ahead.
Hinata was in tears by the time her fight was over. It hadn't even been a fight, she had given up before the first blow had landed. She had always known she was weak, and this was further proof of it. Neji was right to despise her. Her family was right to disregard her. She was weak, and she and everyone else knew it.
She had once tried to be strong. There had been a time when she had been willing to pick herself back up and try again, but that time was over. It had ended when Naruto had died. She had loved Naruto and had wanted to be like him. Naruto, despite being a failure at almost everything, had been strong. He had never given up no matter what, and wouldn't let anybody keep him down. Every time Naruto fell, he would jump back up again, increasingly determined to rise higher.
One time, Naruto fell and couldn't get back up again, and that had only been because he was dead. Had Naruto not died, he would have gotten back up with his customary smile just as he always did, dusted himself off, and tried again. But, Naruto was dead, and there was no getting back up from that.
Without Naruto there as an example and a reminder, without Naruto there to constantly strengthen her resolve, she found fewer and fewer reasons to rise each time she fell. In the days and weeks and months following Naruto's death she had weakened even further, feeling what little strength and determination she had gathered over the years slip away with each passing day until there was nothing left. Today, she had fallen without even trying to rise. She had given in without trying to land a single blow. Each one of her cousin's words had cut into her because they had all been true.
She had fallen for the last time. There was no getting back up from this.
Edited 12-3-12
