"Kakashi sensei, why did they put a sheet over Sasuke?" asks Naruto, shocked and distressed.
Karin does not want to hear the answer. She knows.
"Naruto…" Kakashi says, his head in his hands. "That means Sasuke is…"
"She's dead." Tenzou does not mince her words, they drop like stones.
Naruto's eyes widen. Then he pushes past Tenzou, Itachi, Mikoto, Arashi and Iruka to climb into his grandmother's lap. Kazama wraps her arms around Naruto, who hides his face in her shoulder and doesn't make a sound.
Sasuke is dead. Sasuke is dead.
Karin does not even know Sasuke that well, but for some reason she feels sick. She gets up and runs to the Ladies' toilets, making it just in time to throw up into the the toilet. Her mother appears beside her, patting Karin's back. "It's alright, Karin. This is normal in the shinobi world."
"It shouldn't be!" snaps Karin, turning to latch onto her mother.
"I know," says Karin's mother, sadly. "But you learn to see it and not hurl your guts up after a while. It doesn't get any easier though. But we must endure."
Fugaku stares at the white sheet covering Sasuke. What does a white sheet mean again?
"Sir, please," says one of the medics, patiently. "You need to move out of our way, we have a job to do."
Fugaku keeps staring at Sasuke. His eyes are still burning. He rubs at them, but that does not make it any better.
"Lord Fugaku," says a woman, and a hand is placed on his shoulder. "Your daughter is dead."
Fugaku turns to look at the woman. She is ANBU. He does not recognize the mask, though. "She can't be dead," says Fugaku.
"She is dead," repeats the strange ANBU - on second thoughts, that is an ANBU mask, just one that hasn't been used in a while. "But you cannot mourn until the day is over. You must return to your post."
Fugaku stares at the ANBU. then he turns and looks at Sasuke. Then he turns back to the ANBU. He must be there for the Hokage when the invasion starts. "But who will watch over Sasuke?" he asks.
"I will stay by her," says the ANBU. "You MUST return to your post. This is the shinobi world: we cannot grieve the fallen until the battle is won, or the battle will be lost." The ANBU pulls a pair of sunglasses out of her cloak. "Now put these on to hide your eyes, and go back to your post."
"Why do I need to hide my eyes?" asks Fugaku.
"Look in the mirror," says the ANBU, holding up a small hand mirror.
Fugaku looks. Then he puts on the sunglasses to hide the tears. He pulls back the sheet covering Sasuke's face. She looks happy. Was it because he held her at the end? Fugaku leans forward and plants a kiss on his daughter's forehead.
Then he goes back to his post.
Deputy Kinoko leaps down to where the North Patrol is scouting the area. "What's the status?" she asks.
"Nothing to report," says Kyabetsu, the patrol leader.
"Nothing from the other patrols either," says Kinoko. "I wonder how far into the exam they are planning to attack."
Kyabetsu mutters something that sounds like, "If they're even coming."
Kinoko rolls her eyes. Kyabetsu is not the only one who doubts that an invasion is coming, but Kinoko trusts the Chief. His plan is set up so that all foreigners will see is tightened security for the Chunin Exams, nothing to worry about or be alarmed by. If nothing happens, that is all the public will think. If something happens, they will be glad security was tighter. The whole plan is simple but brilliant, although the whole thing hinged on half the clan having a legitimate excuse to go to the Finals.
Kinoko hopes Sasuke will do well, win even. She's a talented kid.
Naruto is heavy in Kazama's lap. He has not moved for a long time. She keeps her arms around him though, noting that Iruka is holding Naruto's hand.
Mikoto and Itachi are crying their hearts out. The moment Mikoto started crying, Arashi put his hand on her shoulder, only for Mikoto to turn and weep on his shoulder. Tenzou has her arms around Itachi, who is still clinging tightly to Minoru. Arashi has an arm around Mikoto, but he keeps looking over at Naruto to see if Naruto has moved, or made a sound, or even started to cry.
Down below them in the arena, a boy named Shino is preparing to fight a boy named Kankuro.
"Shino Aburame Vs Kankuro," announces the proctor.
"Your brother killed my best friend," says Shino.
"I'm sorry," says Kankuro. "Gaara is in a delicate mental state."
"I only wish to tell you that I am not going to take it out on you," says Shino. "This is a fight between shinobi - feelings do not matter."
"Oh."
"Begin!" commands the proctor.
Kankuro pulls out an ugly puppet, and Shino sends out a cloud of insects. The pair of them fight, Kankuro trying to keep away from the insects and Shino trying to avoid the puppets. They seem to be in a bit of a stalemate until Shino does not dodge fast enough and gets cut. Then Kankuro is swarmed by insects, collapses, is unable to move and is declared the loser. Shino explains that in that brief moment of contact, he sent one of his female beetles down the chakra strings connecting the puppet to Kankuro, and all the male beetles in the hive swarmed Kankuro in excitement.
Kankuro grins and says Shino is lucky he won when he did, or Kankuro would have won. Then he pulls out a small injection needle with a brightly coloured liquid in it and tosses it to Shino. "That's the antidote to the poison I coat my puppet's weapons with. The poison would have knocked you out long enough for me to be declared the winner, then killed you after a few hours, during which time you may or may not have woken up, and I would have given the medics the antidote," explains Kankuro. "Inject yourself with that anywhere, the antidote works straight away."
Shino does so and heads back to the contestants' box.
Mikoto and Itachi's crying has lessened, but they are still soaking the shirts of their respective comforters.
The next match is between Shikamaru and another sand ninja, this one a young lady named Temari. Shikamaru outsmarts her after retreating, kneeling down and thinking for a bit. He makes use of the tunnel Naruto made when he dealt Neji the final punch. Kazama is surprised Shikamaru hasn't surrendered…
"I give up," says Shikamaru, who has Temari trapped in his Shadow Possession jutsu, and is obviously in control of the match.
...There we go.
Shikamaru then makes some excuse about this whole affair being troublesome, him not having enough chakra to finish the match, and also being disappointed because this was fun and he had the next 200 moves planned out.
Kazama pats Naruto's back comfortingly and shakes her head. "No surprises there, Shikamaru always did hate exerting himself."
Ino turns and says, "Asuma sensei told Shikamaru that if he fought in his match he could sleep and watch the clouds tomorrow, but if Shikamaru forfeited without even trying, Asuma sensei would work him into the ground tomorrow. Looks like Shikamaru chose the option with less energy use involved."
The next match is not of any particular interest to Kazama. The only contestant from the Hidden Sound who made it to the finals is fighting a boy from the leaf named Kabuto. Kabuto obviously has the Sound boy totally outclassed and wins in a matter of minutes.
After that, Naruto's teammate Madoka has his match. His opponent, apparently a member of Karin's team, puts up quite a fight before succumbing to Madoka's genjutsu. Kazama is preoccupied wondering if Naruto will snap out of his stupor long enough to fight his next match.
Oh no. Naruto is fighting Gaara next.
Eizo-Mori is colouring in a picture of a girl and a kitten. By 'colouring in' Ibiki means 'scribbling all over the page with a blue pencil in one hand and a grey pencil in the other'. Like all toddlers, Eizo does not bother keeping inside the lines. The girl is mostly blue and the cat is mostly grey, though. Eizo stops colouring and frowns at the picture. Then he smiles and nods once. Eizo puts down his pencils and holds up his fat colouring book. "Pretty Nee-chan!" he tells Ibiki.
Ibiki smiles. What an adorable kid. "That's a very nice picture," he tells Eizo. And he means the picture, not the colouring. Eizo doesn't need to know that, though. "I am sure your sister will love it."
Eizo smiles, showing his tiny teeth. Then he slaps the book down, rifles carefully through the pages, selects a picture of a unicorn and starts scribbling all over it in bright pink and orange.
An ANBU enters and whispers in Ibiki's ear, "The patrols have found nothing as of yet. We are all on standby."
The ANBU vanishes and Ibiki is left wondering if it was really necessary to inform him that the invasion hasn't started yet. He can tell that for himself.