Genma admits he's forgotten some things in his life.
He'd forgotten his Shinobi ID number two weeks after he'd become a Genin and had to refamiliarize himself with a new one when he became a Chunin.
He'd forgotten his own birthday two years ago when he came home on the heels of a mission and had to refamiliarize himself with Raidou's Disappointed Look.
He'd forgotten how terrifying Hatake Kakashi could be when he was really truly angry , and is currently refamiliarizing himself with the way the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end just at the proximity, the way the the air crackles with ozone like the promise of a natural disaster.
Genma is beginning to wonder if he should scoot a couple of meters to the right. Or a couple kilometers .
"I'm sorry ." Kakashi states with perfect unruffled calm, except the chakra in the air is anything but calm. "But did you just tell me that I can't see my own Genin?"
The Chunin looks about ready to internally combust just standing there, but he holds his ground admirably, which is more than can be said of Genma had he been in the same position.
"I understand your concern Jounin-sama, but if you go to the tower now you'll invalidate the second exam results! If you would please just wait until the end of the test period–"
"What's going on?"
The voice is easily recognisable as Iruka's, and Genma's relief is immediate– he's always been shitty at crisis negotiation and Kakashi looks about ready to go full goddamned papa-wolf on this poor unsuspecting Chuunin.
The Chuunin looks relieved for about a fraction of a second before he seems to register that most of the kids in the exams right now are his students, and abruptly goes pale again.
"The chakra monitors cut out over sections 28-34 of the Forest." Kurenai states from over by the control console. She's been fiddling with the mechanics for a while– as the most technologically apt of the Jounin present– checking for faults in the regulators and chakra transcriptors. "It's not a problem on this end, either." She states with finality, rising out of her crouch and wiping oil off on her thigh wraps. "Something happened on the sensing end to take them offline."
"There was a chakra surge thirty-four minutes into the blackout." Kakashi rumbles to Iruka, voice a hair short of a growl. "Jounin level, if not higher. My team was in the center of the affected areas, and not just mine."
Iruka's eyes fix on the Chuunin as he steps forward, placing his paperwork calmly down on one of the nearby tables and placing himself pointedly into Kakashi's personal space, which is either brave or absolutely nuts. Kakashi moves to adjust his stance somewhat unconsciously, and the atmosphere thins out again.
"Rikka," Iruka addresses the administrator firmly. "Explain to me exactly what happened."
The kid takes a deep breath. "Due to an unknown malfunction, roughly half an hour ago, chakra screening visuals of the Forest of Death cut out over the south-central portion. We've been working to reestablish connection, but in the interim we've lost the chakra sight-signatures of Konoha teams 7,8, and 10, as well as Taki's team 4, Kusa's team 1, and Oto's team 2."
"The foreign chakra flare was 9 minutes ago." Kakashi snaps, interrupting. "I will not stand here twiddling my thumbs over protocol when my team is in possibly lethal danger." The atmosphere flares thick and angry again with the words, and Iruka has to put a hand on Kakashi's arm to remind him to check his temper. Asuma is practically vibrating on Genma's other side, jaw clenched so tight his cigarette is practically pulp between his teeth.
"Jounin interference from any country will invalidate the exams!" Rikka snaps back, and Iruka puts a hand on his chest to keep him several paces back. It's probably the only reason the kid is still unharmed, because Genma knows that animal stirring behind Kakashi's eyes– It's been a very long time since Kakashi has dared care about anything enough to want to defend it, and protective instinct runs high and feral in Hatake blood no matter how it's tempered– If Kakashi believes his kids are in danger, nothing on this earth will stop him from getting to them; the Sandaime could stand in his way and it wouldn't matter.
"There's interference already!" Asuma snarls, stepping forward. "If there's a breach in the exams and we do nothing–"
"Enough."
Iruka's voice is low and calm, but there's a power to it that draws the attention and focus of every eye in the room. It stills the vibration of conflict in the air, and everything quiets.
Once the room has stilled, Iruka focuses on the Chuunin administrator. "Rikka, you will go to the Hokage and file an Alert of Potential Infiltration." His tone brooks no argument, but the kid tries anyway.
"But–"
"It wasn't a suggestion, Rikka." Iruka cuts in. "It's what you should have done as soon as you were alerted to the presence of foreign chakra in the exam. Go now."
Chastised, the boy steps away, stooping to fetch a scroll from beside one of the desks before he goes.
Iruka turns back to Kakashi. "You have better control over your temper than that." He accuses. "Which means it was more than just a chakra spike that's getting to you."
"It wasn't just foreign chakra." Kakashi rumbles. "It was the fox's too."
Iruka's eyes flash wide. "You're sure?"
"Positive."
Iruka's eyes track sideways as he thinks, fingers tapping idly against Kakashi's arm.
"I'm not going to stand here and do nothing," Kakashi says firmly, "Exam or no exam."
"I'm not asking you to." Iruka assures. "They make allowances for interference on the basis of medical emergency. Physicians registered to specific candidates have even more leeway."
"Ikari." Kakashi surmises.
Iruka nods and turns to Genma, eyebrow raised expectantly.
Genma can feel himself go a little green at the mere notion. "What, me ? No way, make him do it." he whines, gesturing to Kakashi.
Iruka narrows his eyes dangerously.
Genma suppresses a flinch. "If I die in that office it's on you." He mutters.
Iruka's response is dust dry."I'll take my chances."
Kankuro drums his fingers quietly against the point of his hip as he leans against the tower wall, resisting the urge to scratch at his puppeteer's paint. Temari is sitting at his right, placing a slim adhesive bandage over a shuriken gash on her leg, the only open wound obtained between the three of them.
Gaara stands stick straight on his other side, his back a line parallel with the pale grey walls. He's been completely silent since they arrived, even more eerily than usual, his presence filling the air of the room with a prolonged uneasy stillness. His eyes are far-away and glassy in a manner that makes Kankuro nervous, red hair falling over the sheen of lightless turquoise like slashes of blood.
They're currently the only ones in the Tower and have been for a while, nearly a full hour if Kankaro had to guess; there are no clocks on the walls and no windows on this floor to judge sunlight, so it's impossible to be accurate.
There's been no signs of the other teams so far, not even the strange dark dressed Konoha shinobi that had been tripping up Kankuro's instincts since the exams began. The team they had encountered and obtained their heaven scroll from had been tragically weak, easy prey, but he still can't shake the feeling they got lucky.
Temari smacks him in the leg hard enough that he winces– she's still finishing up on puberty and doesn't know her own strength sometimes– and he looks down to find her smirking at him.
"You're gonna put creases in your face paint."
Kankuro gives her a wry half smile in return. "I know, I just… Still getting a weird feeling is all."
"You and your feelings." Temari murmurs back, almost fond, shifting to stand and smoothing the wrinkles out of her thigh wraps absently.
A flare of chakra and intent draws Kankuro's attention away from his sister temporarily. "Someone's coming."
A bare second later the doors to the tower are thrown open, startling the Chuunin proctor on duty into leaping out of her chair. Into the space of the tower spills all nine of the strange Konoha Genin that have been giving Kankuro's nerves a run for their ryo since test one. Most of them are surrounding a dark haired boy that held up by his teammates; a blond haired bright eyed boy and a girl with rosey ponytail. They move immediately to one of the alcoves set into the walls, laden with cushions meant for the teams to rest on while they wait for the testing period to end.
The tension in the room immediately ratchets into high gear as the nine strange Konoha-nin crowd into the relative privacy of the space, completely ignoring the proctor when she attempts to initially get their attention.
Kankuro immediately attunes his senses on their conversation, straining his ears to catch the intense and lowered voices. He scrapes together what information he's been able to glean on them– intelligence gathering has always been a strong skill of his– and tries to piece together their conversation.
He knows very little about the team in the center– they'd been on opposite-ended gates during the start of the second test and across the room from one another during the first, so other than noting a strange proficiency at nonverbal communication, Kankuro knows virtually nothing about them.
Other than that he knows a few names; the sharp-eyed Genin with the high jagged pony-tail goes by Shikamaru, and the blonde kunoichi on his right is Ina or Ino or something similar. He knows that the bigger boy in the red armour is their other teammate but hasn't caught his name, and the Gennin with the nin-dog on the other team is known as Kiba. Kankuro has little information on the final two, though he recognises the girl as a Hyuuga on sight– their clan is famous even in Suna.
The black haired boy in the center sits down heavily on the floor with his back pressed hard against the wall. The tendons in his neck stick out sharply in otherwise well-concealed pain, one hand clamped like a vice over the junction between his neck and shoulder. The blond boy attempts to get a look at whatever is under the injured one's hand, but the darker boy waves him off with a growled statement that Kankuro doesn't hear, and the two bicker quietly back and forth before blondie backs off a little, grudgingly, and cedes his spot next to him to make room for the Hyuuga girl.
Kankuro sees the veins around her eyes pulse and the skin tighten, and she speaks gently, an askance of permission maybe.
The dark boy nods and slowly lifts his hand, but Kankuro doesn't see what's underneath it because the Hyuuga's shoulders block out his line of sight as she moves to examine whatever it is.
"Off, idiot." The dark boy snaps with emphasis at blondie, loud enough for Kankuro to hear.
"Bossy." Blondie grumbles.
"You need your back looked at, moron." Their kunoichi teammate agrees. She's sitting beside her darker cohort and looks mildly out of breath, the sharp-eyed Shikamaru kneeling down beside her.
"What's wrong with his back?" The other blonde, Ino, asks. Her clear-sky eyes scan the dark, somewhat shiny material over the boy's back. "Nothing looks scorched."
"Armour-silk doesn't burn." Shikamaru explains.
Is that some kind of body armour? Kankuro wonders, filing the information away for later.
The wolfish Kiba hisses through his sharp teeth when blondie pulls the strange top over his head, and even Kankuro finds himself wincing sympathetically as it peels away from a swath of vicious second-degree burns, angry red and sickly yellow and even unnaturally green in some places.
"The hell man, what happened to your healing factor?"
"He's suppressing it on purpose." The dark boy answers before his blond companion can, the disapproval in his voice obvious.
The boy just sticks his tongue out childishly in response.
Their teammate rolls her eyes and tries to sit up further. "He still should have healed at least some already. The chakra must have left behind corrosive residue that needs to be purified–"
Shikamaru places a hand on her shoulder to stop her advance and raises an eyebrow. "Yeah, I don't think so." He says firmly. "Your chakra vessels are still damaged too close to your wrists."
The kunoichi's mouth tightens in stubborn defiance that Kankuro finds familiar; Temari's lips perse the same way right before she's about to tell some to fuck-the-hell-off .
But before she can say anything further one of the other Genin, a boy with a heavy hooded jacket and sunglasses perched on his nose despite being indoors, sits back on his heels at her other side.
"Allow me, please." he offers, soft and polite. "Show me what I need do and I will replicate it to the best of my ability."
The kunoichi doesn't hesitate long before nodding, just a second or two of indecision before she begins to walk him through a half-dozen hand signs. "The chakra wash only needs to be a few seconds long at each pass, you just have to make sure the emission is high enough to counter…" she hesitates for a fraction of a second. "You know."
Glasses boy nods like he does. "Of course," and moves to blondie's side.
"Now let me see those again." Shikamaru says to the pink-haired kunoichi, sitting cross-legged and reaching for her arms.
She grumbles but gives them over, and Kankuro notices some pretty nasty bruises painting the surface of her forearms that, oddly enough, look more than a day old.
Kankuro continues watching, bemused and wary and inexplicably fascinated as they talk and work and bicker and fuss over one another in easy sibling-like camaraderie that's more than a little unsettling.
Kankuro knows abstractly that Konoha-nin are known for their teamwork, but this kind of inter-team trust and cooperation is not something he's ever witnessed himself– competition between teams and colleagues in Suna is highly encouraged to develop individual strength and healthy suspicion of others, so this kind of thing is not something the three of them are at all familiar with.
"The proctors are acting weird." Temari says finally, peering around Kankuro to get a better look at the alcove. "What's going on over there?"
But apparently that's enough attention to trip some nerves, because Shikamaru turns in that moment to level an ebony eye on them, lurking on the periphery of the room the way they are, and makes a subtle gesture to his teammate in the red armour.
The bigger boy looks over at them, then pointedly steps to the side and seems to grow a dozen centimeters , shielding the majority of the alcove with his bulk and neatly cutting off Kankuro's line of sight.
"Dammit." He mutters under his breath. "I was getting some good intel."
"Nevermind that." Temari snaps. "Look."
She shrugs her shoulder in the direction of the door, where the Chuunin that has taken and tested their scrolls is talking fast and businesslike with the one that's been babysitting them.
The former has, tucked in his arms, no less than ten scrolls, enough for five teams when only three more have entered.
"The fuck is wrong with this test?" Kankuro mutters.
Temari hums her agreement and starts pointedly sharpening her kunai.
"You little shits just can't do anything by halves, can you?"
Naruto huffs. "It's not like we did it on purpose ."
"Uh-huh." Ryouta grumbles, unconvinced, casually unrolling a pair of seal tags from the wad in his pocket and placing a Barrier of Silence up around the little nook the Rookie Nine have packed themselves into. "Damage report."
"We're fine." The Uchiha insists stubbornly.
"Wasn't asking you, shrimp." Ryouta counters, turning to Sakura. "Damage report."
"For the most part, nothing we couldn't handle, though it could have been much worse." She admits. "Biggest problem is that whoever hit us was after Sasuke, and managed to get him with some weird kind of jutsu that's causing him pretty serious pain."
Ryouta narrows a glare at the Uchiha. " 'Fine' my ass ." He grumbles as he sits, crossing his legs in the center of the alcove and pulling out his diagnostic kit. "Now, from the beginning, so that I have something conclusive to tell your homicidal sensei. What happened?"
He checks Sasuke out first while they explain, listening as Hinata rattles off her observations to him about strange chakra's depth and charge and nature and things only a Hyuuga could glean, all while Naruto recounts the event from start to finish, pausing every once in a while to let Sakura or Shikamaru add their pieces.
He can feel his blood pressure jacking up higher with every word, first in disbelief and then in full goddamn fury , and his chest is filling with some bizarre mixture of disbelief and protective rage; the first because the longer Naruto speaks the more certain Ryouta is that he knows exactly who attacked them, and the second because if that snake bastard gets within a 20 klick radius of these kids again he's going to find out the hard way that they are protected .
Shiki's voice pops up in the back of his head like a conscience would if Ryouta had one, reminding him to rein in his temper before it gets away from him.
He finishes up patching Sakura's damaged forearms and adds a chakra cleanser just to calm his own nerves, since Naruto's back is already healing fine and doesn't require his intervention. He takes a deep breath through his nose, packing up what little of his supplies he had to use and tucking the kit back into his vest.
"Hey Uchiha, do me solid, will you?"
Sasuke blinks at him curiously, tilting his head a little. "Sure, what is it?"
Ryouta fishes into his hip pocket for the little glass sphere he needs. He'd almost forgotten he had the thing– it's been more than half a decade since it's been of any kind of use to anyone– and he makes a mental note to give Shiki another raise for reminding him the thing existed.
"I know you were pretty young so you might not remember," he says as he holds out the glass sphere suspended between two fingers, "but do you know what this is?"
To the untrained gaze it looks like a regular old glass eye, solid polished white but for the ring of a plain grey iris and the inky dot of the pupil, but Sasuke clearly recognizes it on some level, reaching out to take it from Ryouta's fingers.
"I think… I remember my father having shelves of them on stands in his office. But they were different, red in the iris like Uchiha eyes without the tomoe." Sasuke says softly, eyes creased in the corners as he tries to remember. He wouldn't be the first Uchiha to be frustrated by the fuzziness of memories recalled before the activation of their sharingan.
"That's because this one is empty." Ryouta explains. "The Uchiha used them to present eyewitness reports to the Hokage and various councils. It retains visual information and allows it to be projected to an audience."
Sasuke nods in understanding. "How do I fill it?"
Ryouta shows him how to charge the retainer and how to use eye contact to link it's chakra based memory to Sasuke's photographic one. The process, Mnemoric Linking, is something only a fully developed Sharingan is capable of, the process of projecting memory outward in the form of a complex chakra imprint similar to how one might spin a high level genjutsu. The boy catches on fast, as Ryouta knew he would, and his only question after that is where he should start remembering.
When he's finished, Ryouta pockets the now crimson eye and stands.
"I have to report to the Hokage now. Do not get into any more S-class fights while my back is turned, alright? And do me a favor."
The terrible trio actually sits back and listens, which is a tad freaky.
He pulls one of his cigarettes out to put preemptively between his teeth, but doesn't light it. "As soon as this portion of the exam is up, go see your godsdamned sensei, will you? Before he actually goes for the exam administrators with his teeth ."
"I'm going to die."
"You're not going to die, Aoba."
"Lies."
Hayate's only response is a wrenching cough, and Aoba instantly feels guilty for whining.
"Look, I'll do it , obviously , but I'm just warning you that there is a high probability of my death occurring down in the arena."
"It's not going to get you killed." Hayate informs him dourly, working the lid off his pill bottle and pouring a pair of bright orange capsules into his palm. "Maimed at most."
Aoba hands him his canteen with a grimace. "Thank you, I feel much better now." he grumbles, the bite of sarcasm softened by the lines of concern on his face. "You gonna be alright?"
"Not the first attack I've had, Aoba." Hayate murmurs, popping his pills and taking and drink. "I'll be fine."
"Want me to get Yugao?" Aoba asks, taking his canteen when Hayate hands it back. His friend shakes his head.
"No, I don't want her to worry. She has enough on her plate right now."
"She's your partner, she's got a right to worry about you." Aoba chastises, but doesn't press further, leaning over to glance at the papers Hayate is putting together in front of him. The little administration room is quiet, the only noise coming from the occasional soft thumping of feet down the hall outside.
Hayate points out a few key bits on the papers and begins to explain Aoba's new duties as proctor. "So according to the rosters, seven teams made it through second portion, which needs to be about halved before the third portion. We're doing single-round knockout elimination as a preliminary."
"Which teams made it? Other than the Rookie Nine, obviously." Aoba says with a careless wave of his hand, and Hayate laughs.
"Gai's team did, as did the Sand team and one of the Cloud teams. Another of our teams as well, though one of their members dropped out, so it's just two of them remaining."
Aoba runs the numbers and goes pale. "Uh, doesn't that mean that, by default, at least two of the Rookie Nine will be fighting each other?"
"You're not going to die." Hayate reiterates, then goes back to the sheet and continues. "Because of the number of applicants each fight has a time limit of one hour. You have right of judgment for ties, and can rule either a double elimination or a dual victory if both applicants show continued promise."
"Why the change in protocol?" he asks, flipping the roster around to skim his eyes over the Kumo team that passed. That probably means the Raikage is going to be hanging around. Fabulous . "There wasn't a time limit before, and it was supposed to be an all or nothing brawl."
"Sandaime is showing off, I think. He wants as much of a chance for a spectacle as possible, and the Rookie Nine are the definition of a spectacle. This way there's a larger chance of more of them making it through, bigger fights, more to rub in A and Rasa's face."
"Fair enough." Aoba allows, standing up from the table and cocking a hip against it as he gathers the papers he needs.
But then he starts and almost slings them to the four corners of the room when Anko screams down the hall so fast the air current slams the door to the room shut, and Aoba really did not need that heart attack today thanks.
"What the hell crawled down her crop top?" Aoba growls.
Hayate blinks at the still vibrating door. "Not sure I want to know."
"Kakashi-sensei!"
The backstage of the testing arena suddenly fills with the sound of Sakura's voice, and Kakashi breaks off his conversation with Gai mid-sentence to turn.
He will deny to his dying breath the sigh of relief that leaves his mouth when he's sees the three of them making their way over to him, deny the way his muscles unlock and his shoulders dip with gratitude.
Sakura runs up and leaps at him, and he turns enough to catch her at the curve of his shoulder with one arm, glad for the evidence that she's whole and healthy and unhurt. She's a little rattled, Kakashi can tell by the slight tremble in her usually iron spine, and knows that whatever happened, it could have been far worse than it was.
"Sensei."
And that Sasuke's voice, low and calm, but there's an uneasy tone beneath the word that sends Kakashi's hackles up, and Naruto hasn't said anything at all, and that's more telling than anything else.
He steps away from Gai, moving to kneel before them and toning his voice low so that only they can hear. Sakura doesn't release her hold from around his neck so Kakashi makes no move to put her down, instead adjusting so that she's almost sitting on his shoulder instead.
"I am so proud of you."
Kakashi keeps his voice quiet and clear and doesn't repeat it, but Sasuke's breath hitches audibly and Naruto's eyes go a little wide.
Kakashi doesn't say it often– he prefers to show it, to let them know through gestures and subtler things; because Kakashi has never really been good with words that mean anything, is so clumsy with the emotion that clogs up his chest that the syllables jumble and stick in his throat.
But right now he needs to say it, needs to force the words out and make them tangible. Concrete.
They need to know that what they've done is nothing short of incredible .
They all nod but don't respond for a long minute, and Kakashi takes another deep breath.
"You've passed." he says firmly.
And that does startle words out of them, surprised huffs of 'what?' and 'but the exam isn't over' and 'seriously?'.
"In light of the events that took place in the Forest of Death during that exam's second phase," he clarifies, "And the skill and ingenuity displayed during the unexpected conflict, team 7 of Konoha has been granted an automatic pass regardless of the outcome of the exam's third phase." Kakashi relays verbatim from the declaration of the council, and he's really not so sure why all his kids look so surprised.
The decision of the exam board had been unanimous after all.
Kakashi lurks in the corner of the room beside Shikaku as Ryouta taps his foot grumpily in the center before the curved table at which the council is seated, the Sandaime smoking irritably at the center. Ryouta isn't for once, which is surprising because it either means that he's somehow completely out of cigarettes or he's too stressed to smoke, which is generally bad news for anyone within snapping distance. He's not the only one who thinks so, if the way the exam board is leaning back in their chairs is any indication.
He's already given his rendition of events as conveyed to him by the teams involved, primarily team 7 but also the side testimony of teams 10 and 8.
Old Homura is the first to speak up. "Are we certain of the level of individual the contestants encountered? They are only Genin after all, it's quite possible they misinterpreted."
"It really isn't." Ryouta counters evenly. "The report was corroborated by peers, and there is another factor that adds credibility to it.
"Oh?" Sarutobi queries. "And what might that be?"
"All three of them report that the attacking shinobi was wearing the face of a Kusa-nin as a disguise, and that they managed to do enough damage to remove the facade. According to their report, the shinobi had some very… distinctive clan markings."
"What kind of markings exactly?"
"Violet." Ryouta says grimly. "Pointed and curved over the tops of the eyes."
All the blood abruptly drains from Sarutobi's face.
"Please tell me you're not serious."
"Deadly."
"Oh don't be obtuse!" Madame Utatane crows. "That traitor doesn't have the nerve to come back here, not after all these years."
"He has more than nerve." Ryouta snarls. "He has motive ."
"No." Homura denies. "The children must have seen wrong."
Kakashi wants to snarl at them that his 'children' have more common sense and better reasoning skills than some people in this room , but Shikaku taps knuckle subtly against his arm and shakes his head minutely.
It wouldn't help . The gesture says.
Kakashi takes a deep breath through his nose and purposefully relaxes each of his muscles one by one, allowing himself only the clench of his fist hidden tucked in his pocket.
This isn't like him– it's not in his nature to be impulsive, to act irrationally, but protective instinct is wreaking havoc with his usually adamant control, and being stuck here unable to act grates on his nerves like an iron file.
"See, I thought you might say something like that." Ryouta says easily, adding a vindictive edge to a grin that's all teeth, and reaches into his hip pouch to pull out something small and spherical, something Kakashi hasn't seen outside the mission archives since the fall of the Uchiha clan– an ocular retainer. "So I brought some proof, courtesy of Uchiha Sasuke, if you'd care to have a look."
The last part of the sentence is purposefully directed first at Homura, and then at Utatane. A scathing remark at their tendency towards willful ignorance and Ryouta's opinion on it.
Before either council member can even respond to the implied slight against their character, Sarutobi extends a wrinkled had and makes a statement that cuts off their protests. "Give it here, Ikari. I will be the judge."
Ryouta tosses the sphere underhanded and Hiruzen catches it at the same time he makes a hand sign.
"Katon: Sun Flutter."
The Hokage's palm alights around the retainer with golden fire that is more light than heat, bright enough to cast the walls in a soft yellow akin to sunbeams. For a moment nothing happens, the light washes into all the corners and casts lengths of flickering shadow, and then the sphere nestled in Sarutobi's hand begins to glow like a hot coal, and Ryouta steps out of the way as the retainer flashes.
The air fills with a soft hum as light streams from the point of the iris and paints the wall opposite the Hokage with colour. There's a pause, a stutter of green leaves and dark tree trunks tripping into motion, and the memory begins to play in a wide sheet of light for the whole room to see.
For the beginning of the memory, the council is quiet. But as the attack progresses and Kakashi watches his team counter and attack and protect each other against this overwhelming force, the silence changes.
Quite turns to hush, hush to disbelief, disbelief to awe. Hands rise to mouths in an attempt to cover surprise, Homura and Utatane share pinched expressions of confusion, Hiruzen's eyes are focused wide and unblinking.
In that moment Kakashi knows that they see a portion of something that he has always seen, determination and strength and intelligence and a level of potential that is truly genuinely frightening .
They see three twelve year old Genin during their first Chuunin exam giving pause to a legend , a legend of power and singular strength that underestimated them and paid for that mistake , a mistake that cost him not only his pride but his chance to get at what he so obviously came for.
They see a single young Konoha team fight a Sannin to a standstill, see their ingenuity and fortitude and faith surmount the insurmountable .
It's clear now that no one in this room had any idea what they were about to see, no inclination of the magnitude of this discovery, a revelation that has nothing to do with the potential infiltration of an S-rank missing nin.
And still they only see a faction of what Kakashi sees.
Because as Kakashi watches the memory play out, watches the way the three of them move and read each other and fight in vicious perfect tandem, surprise is not an emotion he feels.
Pride is.
Teams 8 and 10 intervene and not long afterwards the memory cuts out, leaving the room dim and charged with dumbstruck silence.
After a long moment Hiruzen begins to rattle off orders to bring the village to alert level three, and to activate team adherence protocols to track down Orochimaru if he's still in the village, or root out his influence if he isn't. Shikaku nods his acknowledgement and vanishes in shadow, there one blink and gone the next.
Out of the following silence madam Chinami, chairman of the exam board, moves for team 7's immediate acceptance for the rank of Chunin.
Not a single voice dissuades her.
"But wait, what about your test, sensei?" Sakura demands, hopping off his shoulder so that she can face him.
Kakashi blinks at the three of them, at the sudden stubbornness in bright eyes. "What?"
"We don't care about the village exam." Sasuke clarifies archly, like that much should be obvious.
"We still have to pass your exam, remember?" Naruto stresses. "That's the whole point ."
And Kakashi's brain just kind of… stalls.
Somewhere in the back of his head he remembers Iruka saying something about exclusive respect, remembers Ryouta and Anko both stating on separate occasions that his brats were terrors that didn't listen to anyone else, didn't care what anyone else thought, superiorly ranked or not. He'd thought them dramatic at the time, knows his cubs to be stubborn and willful and independent and had thought they'd just had trouble dealing with it.
But it's true, Kakashi can see it in the surety reflected in their expressions– it's obvious to them, a matter of fact. It doesn't matter if they've already been handed a Chunin rank, because they don't care about the village's measure of their strength.
They care about Kakashi's.
He starts a little when Naruto waves a hand in front of his face. "Kakashi-sensei?"
Terrifying indeed. He thinks.
Terrifying and stubborn and incredible and his.
"Aoba-san looks a little nervous." Ino giggles.
Shikamaru hums, trying to suppress the grin that wants to curve his lips.
He probably should be nervous. Shikamaru muses to himself. Last time he got between two of our 'Rookie Nine' it didn't exactly end well.
"Probably just wants to get this show on the road before there's too much property damage." Is what he says aloud.
Choji chuckles as he leans forward on the railing, snapping a bite off an energy bar with his teeth.
The combat lottery rolls through the contestants, selecting one of the pair of lone Konoha nin, and then the Kunoichi of the Suna team. Shikamaru watches as the combatants take their stances in the arena, clocks the body language and chakra levels, notes the ease with which the Suna kunoichi swings her enormous fan to bear, and already knows what the outcome will be.
"Oh this looks like it'll be fun."
Shikamaru tracks his eyes sideways as Kiba comes over to plop down cross-legged beside him, the eager forward curve of his back and the excitement in his eyes a stark contrast to Shikamaru's careless slouch.
"It'll be over before you think." Shikamaru mutters sleepily, eyes slipping closed. He stretches his other senses, feels where Kiba's shadow touches his knee, where Choji's crosses his, where Ino's washes against the wall by his arm. Hinata's glides towards them as she steps to kneel next to her teammate, Shino's slashing by as he settles into a backwards lean against the railing next to Choji.
"The Suna team seems rather skilled." Shino muses, securing his hood in place as a gust of chakric wind rushes through the stadium. "It's interesting to see the differences in style between villages, even in the small things."
Hinata hums, tilting her head. "The chakra composition is… rougher? More abrasive." She decides.
"Reflects where they grew up." Shikamaru murmurs, cracking one eye open to observe. "The desert is an abrasive place."
"Does that mean Kumo is a conceited place?" Kiba asks testily. "Because the arrogance coming off team supreme over there is so strong I can smell it from here."
Shikamaru tracks his gaze sideways to size up the Cloud team. The one closest to him is the Kunoichi, platinum hair pulled up into a high tail and pale blue eyes narrowed in disdain as she watches the fight below them. The boy sitting at her feet could easily be her twin– he has the same silvery hair chopped short on one side and left long on the other, and the same impatient icy eyes. The shinobi that must be their team leader is leaning with one arm on the rail, his mahogany hair braided over a shoulder, a snobbish tilt to his mouth, a haughty angle to his jaw.
That's not gonna last long.
"I hope I get one."
The words come, perhaps the most unexpected, from Choji , who's still leaning against the rail and pointedly not looking in the direction of the Kumo trio.
"Oh?" Shikamaru questions, soft and serious, and Choji nods, chewing through another energy bar.
"Mhm." He says easily. "When we first came in they made fun of team 7 for ' running to their sensei .'"
He says it so casually, like he's talking about what he ate for breakfast, but Shino goes rigid next to him, Kiba's eyes flash so hot that Hinata has to put a hand on his arm to keep him from jumping to his feet, and Ino's nails click sharply against the metal blade of her nagamaki.
Shikamaru's rage is a softer thing, quieter, and has no outward sign but for the subtle tightening of the skin around his eyes, the way his shadow seems to hum at his back.
"Is that right."
Like the universe has answered some kind of unspoken request, the next battle match-up is Choji and the Kumo kunoichi.
Team 7 shows up as Choji hops over the railing, a pleasantly neutral smile spread over his features, and Shikamaru almost feels sorry for the kunoichi.
Sakura lets out a relieved breath. "Oh, just in time. Did we miss anyone else?" She asks as she leans against the wall next to Ino.
"Not yet." The Yamanaka assures, checking her friend over for stress in a subtle sweep of her gaze from head to toe. "You manage to calm your sensei down?"
"Kakashi-sensei was actually pretty calm by the time we got there." Naruto remarks as he drops down on the other side of Ino's legs next to Shikamaru to extend the half circle he, Kiba, and Hinata are creating on the balcony. Sasuke slumps tiredly over Naruto's legs, pillowing his head on the Uzumaki's knee with a groan and shutting his eyes.
"Is he alright?" Hinata asks softly.
"Headache." Naruto murmurs. "His chakra is fighting with the chakra in snake-freak's botched seal-thing."
"Like an allergic reaction." Kiba states, remarkably on point.
"Exactly like that, actually." Naruto agrees.
There's an adhesive bandage with another seal sketched overtop it pressed over the affected area of Sasuke's neck. Naruto presses two fingers two it and the seal responds to him, flickering with delicate lines of chakra that flash and feed into Naruto's skin.
"Diagnostic seal?" Shikamaru asks.
"Sort of. I'm trying to figure out how to pry this stupid thing off before it manages to set any further."
"Stop freaking out so hard, idiot." Sasuke growls unexpectedly, eyes still closed. "You'll figure it out."
"If it were a normal seal I would have already." Naruto grumps back softly. "But the damn thing is so ingrained and convoluted it's making my eyes cross."
"Didn't know your sensei was a hothead." Sakura remarks to Ino, who's eyebrow ticks up.
"Asuma-sensei?"
Sakura nods. "He was totally going a passive-aggressive round with the Kumo Jounin-sensei while we were in there."
"He does kind of have a temper." Shikamaru allows. "Are they heading out here soon?"
Sakura nods. "Any minute now. They had to be briefed for the potential infiltration of the exam."
Kiba snorts. " Potential my ass."
Akamaru barks in agreement, but the sound tapers off into a growl and Shino goes inexplicably tense.
"Hinata…"
The word is spoken as warning, a clear heads-up, and Hinata's back stiffens just as Kiba sniffs the air experimentally and bares his teeth.
"Ugh, more arrogance. I swear if he starts this shit up again–"
"Kiba." Hinata snaps, uncharacteristically sharp of her. "Don't."
Kiba's anger banks back to a simmer in his slit pupiled eyes, but doesn't go out. "I don't see why you even make the effort to get through to him." He mutters crossly. "It's like having to watch you bang your head on a wall."
Clan drama must be coming to a head. Shikamaru thinks grimly.
Naruto is thankfully too tired and too engrossed in monitoring Sasuke's seal to much notice what's going on, which is a small blessing, because it's not otherwise like the Uzumaki to stay out of conflict. Shikamaru shifts a little anyway, stretching out and pulling one knee up in what might look outwardly like lazy shift, but is more intended to place himself as a physical barrier between Sasuke's half-asleep form and the figure that cuts towards them.
He closes his eyes again to complete the ruse, tucking his arms behind his head, and feels the shadow that sweeps over the floor.
"Neji-niisan." Hinata greets her cousin stiffly.
"Hinata. I'm to speak with you." A cool, hard voice intones.
"I"ve already said my piece, Neji. There's nothing more to discuss." The cultivated apathy in Hinata's voice makes Shikamaru's skin crawl with the wrongness of it– Hinata has one of the biggest, most giving hearts Shikamaru has ever known, on par with Choji's and seconded only by Naruto's , and the resigned note to her voice is not something Shikamaru appreciates being there.
"You can only avoid the subject for so long before I'm forced to start this." Neji's voice chastises, imperialistic and frigid.
"And you can only repeat the same thing so many times before you realize my answer isn't going to change."
And Shikamaru almost smirks at that, almost gives away the surge of pride he feels for their little Hyuuga. The same steely defence and strength so obvious in her taijutsu it starting to show through in her voice.
"This is childish." Neji snaps, and Shikamaru can't help but lift his lashes a little to get a good look.
The frosty white of Hyuuga robes drape over the Genin's shoulders like a layer of snow on a marble statue, the only cut to the pale skin and cloth the slash of dark bangs framing his face and the steel gleam of his hitai-ate.
Someone's bitter . Shikamaru muses, logging the strain of the elder Hyuuga's stance and rigid angle of his jaw away for future reference.
"Yes it is." Hinata fires back.
The anger in her voice draws Naruto's attention up, the emotion pinging off whatever deep rooted sense the Uzumaki uses like a second set of ears. He looks back and forth between the two Hyuuga, eyes narrowing in a manner that suggests Shikamaru's going to need to get involved before the Uzumaki's good intentions make the clan drama any more dramatic.
Turns out he doesn't have to.
"Not your fight, idiot." Sasuke murmurs, and Shikamaru is unsurprised by how easily the Uchiha reads his teammate's behavior even with his eyes closed and his attention mostly elsewhere– stopped being surprised by it a long time ago. "Besides." he murmurs tiredly. "She's doing just fine all on her own."
Naruto doesn't answer, merely shifts his shoulders and snorts sharply through his nose, but he leaves it be while Hinata and and Neji trade calculated barbs about how Hinata's training outside the compound is 'extracurricular nonsense that embeds your errors' and how Neji, prodigy or not, has no right to tell her who she can and can't train with, and that her father should voice his opinions to her face and not use Neji as a mouthpiece to preserve his pride.
Asuma exits the arena's backstage a minute or so into the argument just as Choji smashes the Kumo kunoichi he's fighting against the wall like a bug.
The Jounin barks a laugh as Choji withdrawals his expanded fist back to normal size, looking up at the sound to see his teacher lean over the railing with a wide grin, cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth.
"Whoa, hotshot. Didn't even give the kid a chance did ya?"
Choji smiles genuinely, rubbing an embarrassed hand over the back of his neck.
The Kumo Jounin is staring openly at the arena, a tall, severe looking woman with close cropped pale hair styled to slant sharply over her eyes.
"You were saying something about superiority?" Asuma comments with vindictive charm to the Kumo Jounin, a continuation of an unheard conversation.
The Kunoichi huffs instead of answering and stalks off towards her Genin.
"You going to start a fight every time I turn my back?" Kurenai teases, sauntering over.
"Probably." Asuma remarks cheerily. "Better not take your eyes off me then."
Ugh
Shikamaru suddenly has a burning desire for earplugs.
Thankfully Kurenai turns towards the two arguing Hyuuga and narrows her eyes.
"Neji, return to your team please. This is not the appropriate time or place for an argument, there are currently better ways to spend your energy."
Neji reins in a snapped response with a scowl– barely– and nods stiffly, sending another hard glance Hinata's way before turning away.
Hinata is practically seething as he leaves, strong hands balled into white knuckled fists.
The lottery rolls again, calling everyone's attention upwards, and the line-up reads Tenten vs. Hyuuga Hinata.
Hinata rolls to her feet, anger still tight in the lines of her shoulders and around her bright opalesque eyes, but there's determination there too, something that hardens her anger into actual defiance .
"Kiba, hold on to this for me, please." She says, unwrapping the beautiful black obi from around her waist. For a fraction of a second Shikamaru wonders if she's going to be reckless and remove her armaments– the fight is with Neji's teammate after all– but she doesn't hand Kiba the obi. Instead, she folds the reinforced silk over the railing with care, smoothing out the wrinkles, and strips .
Hinata wrenches the Hyuuga-white robe off her shoulders with none of the same care she paid the obi, revealing the black sleeveless top of armour-silk beneath it, katsu bands stark against the pale skin of her arms.
She deposits the garment haphazardly in Kiba's lap, and the Inuzuka comes alive with surprised and victorious laughter. Shino doesn't bother to hide the pride in his smile as he looks to her, Naruto and Choji break into wide grins, and Ino whoops.
"Kick ass, Hinata." Sakura demands, and Shikamaru can't help his smile, can't help glancing in the direction Neji stalked off.
Then he almost barks out a laugh of his own, because the elder Hyuuga looks like a slap to the face would have surprised him less.
In one move Hinata has put herself and her team before her clan, is entering the arena as an individual and not a Hyuuga.
Sasuke's chuckle draws Shikamaru's attention away from the entertainment that is Neji's face, glancing down at the Uchiha's smirk.
"Atta' girl." He murmurs, leaning a little closer into Naruto's side, and that's definitely not a coincidence.
Naruto's grin softens a bit, still retaining it's edge of triumph, and drapes an arm over his companion's back.
Hinata practically trashes the arena thrashing poor Tenten. With Hinata's rare temper riding high, she didn't stand a chance.
"Would have been even better if Hinata had actually gone up against Neji." Shino muses. "More satisfying."
"I'd be more than happy to cave his face in." Kiba growls. "But you're right, wouldn't be as vindicating."
A few minutes later, the lottery calls out Inuzuka Kiba vs. Yamanaka Ino .
"Ah fuck."
Ino laughs, twirling the arc of steel that is her nagamaki with skillful fingers. "Ready for this, dog breath?"
Kiba stands and makes an exaggerated bow. "After you, flower girl."
"Yup" Aoba mutters below them, resigned. "I'm gonna die."
Aoba doesn't die.
He does almost get decapitated though.
Sasuke feels Naruto stiffen when his name is called on the lottery. He's set to face down one of the Kumo-nin, Akio.
"You're worrying too much, moron." Sasuke mutters as he sits up and blinks his eyes open. The light still stings his sensitive renina, but he feels stronger for the rest, for the temporary moment of peace Naruto sheltered for him.
"I'm not worried about the fight, jerk." Naruto counters, blue eyes fierce. "I'm worried about you using your chakra."
"I'll make it quick then." He decides. "Kakashi-sensei's test is for us to prove a point, right? I don't have to prove it now."
Naruto nods, holding up a hand, and Sasuke clasps it hard, squeezing once. "I'd wish you luck, but–"
"We don't need it." Sasuke finishes, and despite the irritating pain and the weariness brought on by his aggravated chakra, he feels perfectly steady.
"Don't break his face too bad." Sakura adds as he stands, holding out her own arm, which he grips firmly. "Knowing Ikari-sensei, he'd make me put it back together."
"No promises."
She sticks her tongue out at him as he goes.
He body flickers into the arena almost lazily, stuffing a hand in his pocket as he waits for his opponent to join him.
The platinum haired Kumo-nin looks him up and down, obviously taking in the weary lines around his eyes and tired slant of his shoulders that Sasuke doesn't bother to hide. He smirks, obviously taking Sasuke's exhaustion as weakness.
"This won't take long." The cloud shinobi chuckles.
"Hmm." Sasuke murmurs tiredly. "You're right."
The pale shinobi stalls, his confidant smile faltering at Sasuke's agreement as Aoba calls start.
Sasuke meets his opponent's eyes steadily, no urgency or rush in the gaze, and lifts his arm out to his side, forming a simple seal with his other hand.
The shinobi doesn't respond immediately, which is his first and last mistake– by the time Sasuke has finished priming the jutsu, the fight might as well be over.
Lightning splits and crackles over his knuckles, twining in arcs to dance up his forearm. The shinobi's eyes fix on his fingers– Sasuke can see him attempting to track the potential path of a mid-range ninjutsu– but this isn't ninjutsu.
It's an elemental augmentation of taijutsu .
Sasuke shifts, an almost halfhearted sway, and then he moves , a flicker fast enough that he vanishes completely.
The ninja spins, too slowly to effectively track Sasuke's speed as he comes up behind him, leg arcing out in a sweep. Akio attempts to leap out of the way to avoid it but doesn't manage it quickly enough, the kick catching him at the ankles and throwing both his balance and his purchase out from under him.
For a whole half-second the Kumo-nin is horizontal, hovering at a flat parallel with the ground, and then Sasuke's palm slams point blank into his opponent's chest, hard enough to break ribs, but just shy of putting them through the Kumo-nin's lungs.
The lightning discharges, knocking the shinobi instantly unconscious and tearing outward in a wave of angry, seething power.
The battle is over in a handful of seconds.
Sasuke steps away, gritting his teeth as the chakra use chases fresh pain through his body, but he remains steadfast on his feet, does not falter.
One second.
Three.
"Oh fucking hell." Aoba swears. "Call! Victor, Uchiha Sasuke!"
"That was a tad overkill." Kakashi chastises Sakura after her match, eyes tracking Gai's mini-me across the arena as he faces off against the unnerving little Suna-nin. It's not looking good– Lee is talented but he's also outmaneuvered, and his opponent has the added benefit of being batshit insane.
"Oh and Sasuke's match wasn't?" Sakura complains.
"Extenuating circumstances."
"Hn." Sasuke huffs, leaning back to back with Naruto as Sakura cleans her tools in front of them. Naruto is nose deep in scrolls and not really paying attention, eyes scanning through symbol after symbol with slightly unnerving speed.
"B-plus." Kakashi decides.
"I'll take it." Sakura returns with a grin. "Besides, I still have the rest of the exam to improve my grade, right?"
Kakashi nods, flicking a glance around the arena balcony. Teams 8 and 10 are still nearby, though the victors are lazing around, either sleeping or talking quietly. Kiba and Ino have both moved on though their round, having not only drawn the fight out past the time limit to establish a tie, but so thoroughly wrecked the arena floor that they'd needed earth jutsu just to flatten it out again. Shino sits at the edge of the group, eyeing the seething Suna-nin he'd bested before Sakura's match from behind his glasses. Baki speaks lowly with the puppeteer, a face Kakashi is familiar with due to various less-than-friendly encounters.
After he's finished casing to his paranoia's content, he turns and takes a seat beside Sakura. In the quasi-privacy created by the ongoing match, Kakashi reaches out to ruffle her hair.
"That disruption jutsu was very clever. What gave you the idea for it?"
Sakura smiles proudly, eyes sparkling. "It's a derivative of Shiki-san's jutsu, actually. Anti-resonance wave. I combined it with one of my favorite water jutsu so he wouldn't see it coming."
Kakashi hums, setting his jaw on his fist. "Well you've certainly made it your own."
He admits to chuckling to himself at the face the Kumo team leader had made after she'd implemented it. Not matter how many hand signs he'd formed his chakra would not obey him, until he'd eventually loosed a jutsu that had quite literally blown up in his face.
Kakashi turns to Sasuke, whose eyes are closed like they've been for most of the preliminaries. "How're you holding up, cub?"
Sasuke cracks an eye a little, the ebony crescent unfocused under the heavy lid. "Been better." he admits. "Been worse."
Kakashi nods, having expected that answer, more or less, and dips into his pocket for one of the little glass bottles Ryouta had brewed up for him. "Here. Drink this." He passes the bottle over, clear glass filled with equally clear liquid, and Sasuke takes it without hesitation, doesn't even question it as he pulls off the cap and takes a long swallow. He blinks at the bottle, running his tongue along his teeth at the odd taste.
"Not water, then."
Kakashi shakes his head. "Chakra restorative. Easier on the system than a soldier pill. Three mouthfuls every hour."
Sasuke nods, taking two more swallows and then recapping the bottle. Sakura reaches for it before he can decide what to do with it, and he hands it over without fuss so that she can tuck it into one of the pouches on her belt. He then turns his head over his shoulder, glancing over Naruto's at the scrolls spread out in his lap.
"Take a break, idiot. You're gonna go cross-eyed if you stare at that much longer."
Naruto groans, but straightens his back a little and rubs at his eyes. Before he can open his mouth to protest Kakashi interrupts.
"He has a point, Naruto." Kakashi says gently. "You've read that last line six times now."
It's not what he wants to say. What he wants to say is that this is not a burden that should fall on Naruto's young shoulders, that he should let someone more qualified take care of the issue, except there isn't anyone more qualified. Even Jiraiya with all his years of experience in the field of sealing can't hold a candle to the wealth of knowledge and skill Naruto has inherited from Uzushio and nurtured in himself. Even if he doesn't always have complete conscious access to all that knowledge, it obeys him when he needs it, and even a fraction of it is greater than that of most shinobi that call themselves 'seal masters'.
There's also the fact that even if Jiraiya or someone similar was more qualified to help lift the embedded seal from Sasuke's person, Sasuke would hardly let anyone else even try .
"I'm so close though." Naruto complains. "I'm just missing something."
Kakashi's response is cut off by Aoba's voice, sharp above the noise of the arena.
"Time call! Victor, Sabaku no Gaara!"
Kakashi peers over the railing to get a look at the result. Lee looks bad, clutching one arm hard as if it's broken, but he's still standing, which is a relief. Tenten and Neji have to help him out of the arena regardless though, the Hidden Lotus having taken it's toll on Lee's young body. He want's to berate Gai for teaching the kid something he wasn't ready for out of favoritism, but the boy executed the technique well, so Kakashi keeps his opinion to himself. Besides, the same could almost be said of him, for teaching his own brats a jutsu that they needed the help of a Bijuu to pull off in battle.
Then again, his kids had also had the sense of self to only risk something of that level in an emergency situation.
The lottery rolls, and the match for the second-to-last battle is announced.
Akado Yoroi vs. Uzumaki Naruto
Naruto groans and taps his foot against Sakura as he rolls up his scrolls. "Swap me, yeah?"
Sakura nods and takes his scrolls from him, scooting into his place as Sasuke's backrest and settling in with a whetstone and a couple of Kunai. Sasuke supports his own weight only long enough to allow for the swap and then slumps tiredly against Sakura's strong back and closes his eyes again.
Neji leans back against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, as Lee is escorted away for medical treatment. He deactivates his byakugan, having already done his own catalogue of Lee's injuries– distal spiral fracture to the humerus, three broken ribs, twisted ankle, half dozen contusions– and refocuses his eyes forward.
"You could at least pretend to be worried." Tenten snaps testily. Rising to her feet and dusting off her combat pants. He'd helped brace Lee's arm until the escort arrived, so Neji's intervention hadn't been necessary.
"Would my being worried aid in his recovery?" He returns. "Lee has suffered worse."
"I'll have you suffering worse." She snarls, taking a threatening step forward. But Gai-sensei, predictably, bars an arm at her shoulders to keep her from actually attempting to throttle him.
"Now now, it's not the time–" he tries, but Tenten just bites out a response over his attempts to calm her down.
"I'm just about sick of your attitude, Neji. Sooner of later it's going to bite you in the ass and I'm going to sit back and judge you for it. See how you like it."
"You think I'm judging Lee for being hurt in battle?" Neji asks coldly.
"I think you don't care and that's worse . A few more minutes in that ring and Lee could have been in a lot worse shape than a broken arm a few busted ribs." She snarls over Gai's arm. "We're supposed to be a team , Neji, and I'm tired of your arrogant little Solo Act!"
"Enough, Tenten." Gai says firmly.
"Call!" Aoba's voice interrupts. "Victor, Uzumaki Naruto."
That startles Neji into looking over. He knows the name, the student who graduated in last place from the academy, and one of the Genin Hinata has been brushing her clan off to train with. Neji's obviously missed something critical, because the Uzumaki is standing in the center of the arena, unfazed and entirely unharmed, one wrapped hand stuffed deep in a pocket and the other raised out in front of him, forearm crooked in a defensive bar.
His opponent is passed out on the floor in front of him.
Yoroi Akado . Neji recalls the name. Known for a complex ability that allows him to absorb chakra through touch.
He activates his byakugan, studying the man's unconscious form for information.
What he finds is bizarre– the man looks to have fallen unconscious due to several bursts in his chakra veins, even a couple of blown tenketsu… a chakra overdose?
That hardly makes sense.
He puts away the information for later use, instead casting his gaze around the arena again, searching for the only face he hasn't yet seen in combat. If the ninth battle is over, then by process of elimination, he knows who his own opponent will be.
The lottery rolls as soon as the Uzumaki clears the arena and someone has scraped his opponent off the tiles, and Neji looks sideways as the match is called.
Hyuuga Neji vs. Nara Shikamaru
Neji admits that he doesn't have a great deal of information on Shikamaru himself, aside from that fact that he fits the stereotypical image of a lazy Nara male. As if to prove this point, Shikamaru takes his time swaying to his feet, muffling a yawn against his palm and tipping his head to the side to roll the muscles of his shoulders.
He's not even taking this seriously, is he?
He vaults over the railing into the arena and Neji follows with a body flicker, placing several meters of distance between them when he lands… which still puts him practically at the center of the area, since Shikamaru is so close to the long outer wall he's practically leaning on it. It would be good strategy if Neji thought it was intentional– it limits Neji's own attack strategy and prevents him from flanking effectively.
"I hope you realize that I won't be going easy on you just because the outcome of this match is obvious." Neji says lowly as the Nara gives another lazy stretch.
Shikamaru huffs, almost amused, rubbing the long fingers of one hand into the muscles of his opposite shoulder. "You gonna keep talkin' Hyuuga?" the Nara drawls, "Because I'm pretty sure we have a time limit."
Neji's already sore temper flares hot at the careless disregard, the veins around his byakugan eyes tightening in reflex. "Very well." Neji snaps. "Let's get this over with, shall we?" The words are derisive and caustic, and serve as Shikamaru's only warning as Aoba calls for match start.
Neji flashes forward, launches a strike at the other ninja's head right out of the gates. He's not expecting to connect, only to chase Shikamaru from his corner.
He does neither.
Shikamaru avoids his strike by millimeters .
Neji's fist lodges in the wall, wrist nearly flush with the curve of Shikamaru's neck beneath his jaw, plaster and stone chips scattering over the Nara's shoulder. There's no reaction, he doesn't even so much as fucking tense, and as the dust clears, the Nara opens one burnished eye, completely uncowed by the presence of an enemy well within his guarding distance.
It's not an evasion, it's a fucking taunt.
Neji's so stunned that for a fraction of a second he doesn't even move, his brain grasping for context where there is none.
"Over with?" Shikamaru drawls, and then suddenly he's dissolving into the shadow behind him, the darkness sliding away from under Neji's arm and coalescing behind him, and Neji spins, dislodging his fist from the wall as he turns. Shikamaru reappears from the shelter of his shadow, the darkness dripping away from him like water, the subtle gold of his earrings flashing bright in contrast.
"Come on, Hyuuga," the Nara rumbles, something hard flashing in the Genin's dark eyes, something like a challenge. "You didn't actually think I'd make this easy on you."