Akira stared at the picture of Team 7 on her nightstand for a half-hour when she woke up that morning.
She didn't move, just opened her eyes and studied the faces on the photograph, deep sapphire eyes still cloudy from sleepiness. She stared at the goofy excited look on Sakura's face, the annoyed expression on Sasuke's, the enraged Naruto, the bright smile on her own face, and the look of amused exasperation on Kakashi's. Akira didn't get up right away even after that. She thought about the events with Gaara the previous day and wondered what had compelled her to talk with him like that—what had compelled her to seek out the vile aura of the demon in the first place?
Akira heaved a sigh. Her gaze finally left the group picture and went to the sky outside. It was still dark, with no trace of the sun rising. A few twinkling stars shone over the village, gleaming peacefully, blissfully unaware of the dread rising in the girl that was staring up at them. Today was the final part of the Chūnin Exams. Akira had been training non-stop for the entire month. She'd trained alone for the most part, but Kakashi had helped a lot, getting her to better control her lightning-style jutsu and come up with some new ones. Her training with Maru was sparse at best, but it was always intense. There wasn't a night spent training with him that Akira went home and didn't feel like her body was on fire. He always pushed her to her limit, and Akira wanted to punch him for it, but she couldn't say that it didn't work. The pain attributed to the curse mark was nearly non-existent now, and the girl's control of water had been refined to its finest. However, the feeling that Maru was all levels of wrong kept increasing with each day. Split-second flashes of her memory were returning little by little and each time they did, Akira grew more and more uneasy in Maru's presence.
It took a while, but Akira finally got out of bed. She swung her legs off the side of her bed and her toes curled back when they touched the cool wooden floor. Akira went to the bathroom to take a very long hot shower and came back to her room to get dressed. She sat on her bed for a short time, staring at her wardrobe, wondering what she should wear—thousands of people were going to be staring at her, so it warranted some thought. Eventually, Akira gave up and shrugged. She threw on a grey high-collared tanktop and her black hakama pants that were lying around the room, and wrapped her father's bandanna around her waist, foregoing the numerous fabrics belts she normally wore. Akira pulled on an old pair of jikatabi and stared at a few of the haori in her wardrobe before grabbing the only purple one she owned and draping it over her shoulders.
When the sun was beginning to rise, Akira began making breakfast, expecting Sasuke to wake up soon. She made a "breakfast of champions" as Naruto would have called it, with steamed rice, pickled vegetables, miso soup, natto for Sasuke, tamagoyaki and yakizakana. When Sasuke walked into the room, Akira poured them some green tea, and they sat down in silence. Neither of them spoke for the entirety of their meal, but Akira could sense Sasuke looking up at her once in a while, seemingly on the edge of saying something. However, the words remained unspoken, and Sasuke stood up to clear everything up once they were done. Akira went back to her room and strapped her holsters, pouches and gourd to her body, then left the apartment without a word.
Akira walked through the streets almost aimlessly, but she was looking around the village, admiring the flowering plants and the trees that shed petals and leaves as she walked underneath them. She gave small greetings to shop owners working before the rest of the village woke up and to the cooks prepping food at their stalls for the morning rush. After a long while wandering, Akira ended up at the stadium where the final part of the Chūnin Exams was going to take place. The place was deserted and Akira wandered through the stands, running her hands along the benches on her way down to the battlefield. It was very sandy, with a few patches of barely green grass that had been trampled on by years' worth of ninjas. The walls around it were tall and made of solid concrete, and with not a tree or bush in sight for cover or tactical purposes, the battlefield was quite barren.
Soon, the rumbling of footsteps reached Akira's ears and she knew that the crowds were beginning to gather and set up for the battles to come. Akira heaved a sigh climbed up the concrete wall, then jumped from one row of seats to the next until she was high enough to jump atop the roof of the stadium. The townspeople had begun to gather on the main street and the gates to the stadium were opened to welcome a few masterfully crafted and ornate carriages being pulled by cows that hadn't worked a day in their lives. Akira jumped down to the entrance gates of the arena and watched everyone walk past, including her potential opponents and former competition, listening in to their conversations to see what they were saying about the matches. Most people seemed to be eager to see Neji fight which didn't surprise Akira, as he was the number one rookie last year. Many others were anxious to see her and Sasuke fight. Others remarked how strange it was that Naruto had made it to the end.
"You shouldn't be here," Akira said. She'd felt a familiar presence behind her, hidden in the shadows. "I will not be seen talking with you, Maru."
"Don't worry, my dear. No one will see me in your company and your reputation will remain untarnished."
"I wouldn't be worried if you weren't so sketchy."
"Finally concerned that I may be hiding something, are we?" Maru said. He almost sounded amused.
"Something like that."
"What am I hiding, Akira?"
Akira glanced over her shoulder. There was a smirk on Maru's face and it seemed more malevolent than usual. Maybe it was just the growing unease from her returning memories making her paranoid, but there was something hiding behind that smile of his and Akira didn't like it at all.
"Something," she said quietly. "And I know it's nothing good. Now, go away."
"That's no way to treat your sensei."
"You're not my sensei, Maru," Akira hissed. "You're some weirdo I took lessons from. The second these Chūnin Exams are over and you go back to the hole you crawled out of, I'm going to forget you exist."
"Your words wound me, my dear."
"Yeah, right."
Maru chuckled. Akira could feel his breath on her skin.
"Make them regret doubting you."
"Don't need to tell me twice."
With a cocky grin on her face, Akira stepped forward and joined the crowd filing into the arena. With her head held high, Akira headed straight for the opening that led to the battlefield. Lights nearly blinded her as she stepped out, but her dark eyes adjusted the harsh lighting they'd put in the arena after a few seconds. Hundreds if not thousands of people were lined up in the stands gazing down at the line of competitors forming at the centre of the battlefield: Akira, Gaara, Kankuro, Neji, Shikamaru, Shino, Temari. Sasuke and Naruto were nowhere to be found, however. It didn't surprise Akira that Naruto was late, but she'd seen Sasuke this morning so there was no reason he should be late.
"You look worried," Shikamaru said as Akira walked up beside him.
"Yeah, I've got a few things on my mind," she said, sounding concerned.
"Okay, the fact you just admitted to it without hesitation has definitely made me worried. What is it?"
The smirk on Maru's face was still bothering her and it was making her nauseous. It was clearly because of the memories returning. His voice, his moves, the sinister gleam in his eyes, they'd all become familiar. He'd been in the Forest of Death, or he was at least a part of the interconnected events that she couldn't remember, but she didn't know how.
"Something's going to go wrong today."
"What is?"
"I have no idea, I just... feel it," Akira sighed. "And I know I'm going to kick myself for not seeing it coming."
Just then, Naruto came barrelling into the arena. He slid in on his stomach, shouting, leaving a huge cloud of dust in his wake. Akira looked down at him, confused, as he explained he was late because of a pack of bulls that were chasing after him. Shikamaru helped him up and looked equally concerned with the reason for Naruto's tardiness as Akira.
"Okay, we get it—bulls! Now, stand up straight and present yourself to the crowd," Akira said in a hushed voice.
"Right, right," Naruto said, straightening himself out and beaming to the crowd. He turned to look at Akira. "Why're you wearing that? Isn't it gonna be hard to move in?"
"Naruto, if I'm wearing a haori despite the fact it's annoying to manoeuvre in, it means I must have a reason."
"You just pulled it out of your closet, didn't you?" Shikamaru said, deadpan.
"Shut up."
Akira took a deep breath, trying to calm herself and erase the nagging feeling that something was doomed to go wrong. She looked up at the topmost area of the stadium to spot the Hokage. He was sitting alongside the Kazakage, Gaara's father. Akira wondered if he knew just what kind of man the Kazakage was. Did he know what he'd done to his own son?
"Welcome all, and our deepest thanks for coming here to the Village Hidden in the Leaves for this year's Chūnin selections," the Hokage said, his voice echoing through the arena. "We have come to the final competition between the nine candidates who made it through the preliminaries."
"Nine?" Shikamaru whispered. "Ten of us made it through."
"Well, Sasuke's late," Akira noted. "Who's the other one?"
"That Sound ninja guy, Dosu."
Akira grew nervous. She looked through the stands and the main viewing area, but couldn't spot Maru anywhere.
"We ask that no one leave until all the matches have been completed," the Hokage continued. "Now, everyone—enjoy!
Everyone cheered, except for the proctor standing before the eight ninjas hoping to become Chūnin. He turned to them and pulled out a piece of paper from his breast pocket. It was the matchings for the final exams.
"We've withheld the matchings for the final round because of unexpected changes in the number of people participating," said. "Dosu Kinuta will not be participating in the final rounds, therefore there is an uneven number."
Akira frowned. Something was definitely amiss.
"After showing the preliminary battles of the present contestants, the crowd was asked to pick their favourite match-ups. The first battle will be between Neji Hyuga and Naruto Uzumaki."
Naruto cheered which just made Neji look angrier than he usually did.
"To deal with the uneven number of contestants, we'll move to a miniature elimination round. Akira Uchiha will fight Shikamaru Nara."
Akira and Shikamaru looked at each other and smirked, then shared a fist bump.
"The winner of that battle will go on to fight Temari. Then, Kankuro will fight Shino Aburame. Finally, we will have Gaara and Sasuke Uchiha fight, leaving enough time for the latter to arrive."
"Uh, question. Question?" Naruto spoke up.
"What is it?" the proctor said, a little annoyed.
"What about Sasuke?"
"If he doesn't show up by the time his name is called, he automatically forfeits the match to his assigned opponent. Now, listen up!" the proctor continued. "The terrain's different, but the rules are the same as before: there are no rules."
The beginnings of a smirk twitched at the edges of Akira's mouth. Shikamaru glanced at her from the corner of his eye and frowned a little. The last time someone said there were no rules, Akira looked scared and worried. So, to see a wry smile and a confident gleam in her eyes was strange and it worried Shikamaru.
"The match continues until one candidate acknowledges defeat or dies. That being said, if I determine a match is over, then it's over. Anyone who continues the match after that is immediately disqualified. No arguments are permitted. Understood?"
"Understood," the candidates chorused.
"Good. Now, the first two opponents—Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuga—stay. The rest, go to the waiting area."
Akira pat Naruto on the back and glared at Neji before heading up to the waiting area which overlooked the battlefield. She let out a long sigh and leaned forward against the railing. Naruto and Neji were facing off, already insulting each other, and Akira crossed her fingers. Naruto was going to have to defy all odds to beat Neji Hyuga, but deep inside Akira knew that he'd come out victorious—no doubt about it.