Hmph, and he vowed to defeat me? Losers should accept that they were born as losers." - Neji
"Naruto..." - Lee
Nothing changed in the fight, Yoroi was still sucking Naruto's chakra.
Naruto tried a few times to use the shadow-clones jutsu to escape his opponent's grab, but because his chakra was sucked, he couldn't control his chakra at all and the activation failed.
This made him look even dumber.
Before this, most didn't have any expectations for him, but now they even questioned what he is even doing in this exam.
"Oh man, why couldn't Naruto be my opponent..." - Shikamaru
"Yeah, even I would have probably won..." - Ino
'Naruto. Come one. This isn't like you! Didn't you have displayed some awesome skills against Orochimaru?' - Sakura
"This is easily the most boring fight of all today." - Kiba
"AAAAAARGHHHH!!!!I HAVE ENOUGH!! HOW MUCH CHAKRA DO YOU HAVE?! Whatever I will just end it now. And because you wasted so much time of my time, I will kill you." - Yoroi
He took out a kunai with his other hand, while still grabbing Naruto's head, so he couldn't move.
The scatterbrained Jonin wasn't sure if she should end the fight and Kakashi was also getting ready to step in.
But Yoroi wouldn't let someone intervene, he needed to blow his frustration off.
His kunai was only a distraction.
He still held his kunai and did like he was about to slash anytime, but he instead increased the power of his grip, to squeeze Naruto's head like a melon.
"Your village is really funny. You have some awesome guys and then you have such unbelievable losers like him. And coincidentally he is the one who barked the loudest. And now he is about to die." - Kankuro said that to Eiji who was next to him.
"If I were you, I wouldn't underestimate Naruto. He is easily the strongest of all of us here." - Eiji
"What? Are you serious? No, you are probably joking around aga-"
"No, I'm not joking. You know, your village isn't the only village, who is sealing monsters into humans." - This time Eiji said that with a huge grin while looking at Gaara.
"!"
'How does he know?' - Kankuro was starting to sweat.
'This boy is dangerous if he somehow knows about our plan...' - Baki
Gaara was almost jolted awake and had big eyes when he heard that.
Meanwhile on the battle stage.
For Naruto, the time seemed to freeze.
Then there was a voice only he could hear: "Stupid boy, I can't let you die here, or else I would die in such a laughable manner."
Kakashi was right about to step in when suddenly everyone could hear a pulse.
It seemed to be soft, but at the same time you could hear it all around in this hall, it spread like a shock-wave.
Unfortunately, Orochimaru fiddled with his seal around, so Naruto's chakra and Kurama's were mixing in an unstable way.
Which means, Naruto got more chakra from Kurama then he needed to defeat a significant character like Yoroi.
Red chakra started to flow around Naruto's body and his eyes were fox-like.
"What the - ARGHHH!!!" - Yoroi's arm was grabbed by Naruto.
He felt how his bones were crushed just from Naruto's grab!
'Looks like I don't need to intervene anymore, but...no, it doesn't seem like Naruto lost control and even when with Lord Hokage here I don't need to worry.' - Kakashi
Neji who was spectating, lost his indifferent expression when he felt that this chakra was even more powerful than Sasuke's with the curse mark.
Even more, the chakra felt terrifying, something he felt for the first time in his life.
He decided to use his Byakugan.
"Who... no rather, what is he?" - Neji had a completely shocked face.
"Naruto..." - Sakura was completely worried.
First Sasuke got some strange power after being bitten by a pedo snake, and now Naruto displayed some strange power as well!
"You don't have to worry Sakura. This is something which belongs to Naruto for a long time. It isn't something he got from Orochimaru." - Kakashi
"My God, this chakra feels even more terrifying than Gaara's..." - Kankuro
Eiji was just shrugging his shoulders, while Gaara locked like he is about to lose control and molest some child.
Anyway, Yoroi was pretty unlucky.
For such a weak and insignificant character like him to have to face a powered up Naruto was - you could only describe it as him being totally slaughtered.
Naruto started to attack him, while Yoroi was sent flying from one wall to another.
"PLEASH SHTAP!!! I SHURRENDER!!" - Yoroi cried out.
His face was completely trashed and his sunglasses were completely destroyed.
"Uhmm, I guess Uzumaki Naruto won." - Scatterbrained Jonin
"YEAH!! I WON!!! I ADVANCED TO THE THIRD EXAM!!!"- Naruto was jumping happily around, oblivious to how he got so strong suddenly and the atmosphere around him.
"Oh man, now it turns out that Naruto is a freak as well...at least you won't betray me, Choji." - Shikamaru
"(Potato-chips noises)" - Choji
"HOW MANY BAGS OF CHIPS DO YOU HAVE STILL HAVE??!!" - Ino
"Mpfmhmhm" - Choji
"I didn't understand a word..." - Ino
"What happened to Naruto? I thought he was a total loser...even Akamaru is scared of this weird chakra which popped out of him..." - Kiba
After celebrating enough, Naruto's and Neji's eyes met.
Naruto got instantly serious and did the pose again, which he did when he vowed to defeat Neji.
"So what? You think you can escape your fate of being a loser just because you showed some strange power to defeat this pushover?" - Neji
"You...just you wait. I will defeat you and smack your face until you stop saying this stupid fate stuff." - Naruto
Sparks flew between them and they got so fired up that they would have started to fight each other right here if it wasn't for the screen showing the participants of the next fight.
It was Gaara vs Lee!
Naruto walked beside Kakashi and Sakura.
"Well done, Naruto." - Kakashi
"...Congratulations..." - Sakura said that with a worried face.
"Hey, what's wrong Sakura?" - Naruto
"Nothing."
Anyway, the fight between Gaara and Lee started.
Needless to say, this fight was a real show for the spectators, and Eiji had goosebumps watching it in real.
Some old feelings he has forgotten started to surface again.
'Right, even though in terms of safety it sucks living in this world, it's still nevertheless the world I immersed myself for years in my previous life. I laughed and cried watching the journey of Naruto and all those people...'
Being born and living in this world for so long, his former life was already starting to get blurry and felt like it was someone else's memories and not his.
His thoughts were interrupted when Temari returned from the bathroom.
"It's Gaara's turn? It looks like it's already ov- wait, what happened here? Why is Gaara injured and what happened to the battle stage? Hey! Answer me Kankuro!" - Temari
"Sorry...it's just his opponent was unbelievably strong. And the other Gaara almost fully awakened..." - Kankuro
"Almost? So we were lucky he didn't snap?" - Temari breathed out some air.
She then looked at Eiji but didn't show any emotions, like nothing out of the ordinary happened.
"Anyway, guys. I think I should go to my team now. They probably think I ditched them for a chick, so see ya!"
Eiji then went to his team.
"..."
"What? Alright I get it, but wouldn't you all agree that it would have been awkward for me to return instantly after all that?" - Eiji
"Koff, I have much I want to say to you, but I guess it has to wait." - Hayate pointed at the screen.
The next names were placed there.
Akimichi Choji vs Nogami Kotaru!
"Oh, it's my turn. I honestly think I stand a good chance against that fatso." - Kotaru
Far away at team 10 Choji's ears twitched slightly.
'Did I really hear that now or was I just imagining things?' - Choji
His expression and mood turned completely serious.
'I was worrying if he would be even in the mood to fight, but looks like he is up for it." - Asuma
When Choji and Kotaru were in their positions, Shikamaru and Ino started to cheer Choji on.
"GO GET HIM!" - Shikamaru
"YOU CAN DO IT, FATSO!!" - Ino
"Ugh...! SHUT YOUR MOUTH AND KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN! I'M GONNA END THIS MATCH FAST SO I CAN COME BEAT YOU UP!" - Choji was shouting towards Ino.
Meanwhile on Kotaro's side.
Eiji was picking his nose, while Arina was at least showing a "Fight on!" pose, even if it was half-assed and with a bored expression.
"..."
'Do those guys even care if I win or not?' - Kotaru
The fight started.
Choji instantly used the Multi-size Technique and the Human Bullet Tank to charge at Kotaru.
"What the-" - Kotaru was surprised by Choji's weird jutsu and just managed to barely dodge this giant rolling meatball.
Choji smashed into the wall, but he just rolled back towards Kotaru again.
'This is bad, I'm forced by him to stay on the defense!' - Kotaru dodged Choji again and again, but Choji would just always crash into the wall and then change the direction.
"Damn, I won't just keep dodging passively. Here I come!!" - Kotaru started to throw paper bombs on the ground, making it essentially a minefield.
But Choji, even when he rolled on a bomb and it exploded, didn't stop rolling and instead just rolled faster because of the explosive force from the bombs.
"WHAT THE FU-" - Kotaru saw now that he made a huge mistake.
His bombs were helping his opponent while limiting his dodge options.
Seeing that the situation was hopeless, he decided to give up.
"I didn't know that Choji was actually pretty strong..." - Arina
"Well, no matter how they look, the Akimichi Clan belongs to the four noble clans of Konoha." - Eiji
A dejected Kotaru returned to them while they were chatting.
"Don't worry, you tried your best." - Arina
"...thanks" - Kotaru
"His best is not a good standa - I mean don't worry, next time you'll get 'em!" - Eiji
"...you wanted to say my best isn't a good standard, right?" - Kotaru
Eiji just started to shamelessly ignore him and started to pick his nose again.
"Koff, do you remember what I said before this chunin exam to you? The important thing is to accept your shortcomings and work on them. If you fall a thousand times, you have to stand up a thousand times!" - Hayate
"Yes, sensei! Thank you." - Kotaru
The next match was Shikamaru vs Kin (Otogakure girl).
Everything went the same as in the original timeline.
So now it was only one match left.
And one lucky one who would advance without a fight.
There were only Kiba, Kankuro and Arina left.
But out of these, Arina was the only one who was hoping to be the lucky ones, the other two wanted some action.
And then the screen showed the names of the combatants for the last match.
Natori Arina vs Inuzuka Kiba!
"This sucks." - Arina
"Good luck!" - Kotaru
"Koff, good luck!" - Hayate
"Good luck. By the way, the Inuzuka Clan is known for fighting with their dogs, so try to kick his dog as hard as you can." - Eiji
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" - Kotaru
"Hey, that's rude. I wanted to be a good teammate and give her some advice..." - Eiji
Arina ignored her teammates and went grudgingly down: 'I was so close to being the lucky one and now that. My luck is the worst...'
When she went down, Kiba was already there waiting for her and talking to Akamaru: "After watching all those fights you also wanted to move around, right Akamaru?"
"Uhm, I don't think it's a good idea to let your dog fight with you..." - Arina
"Dogs are counted as weapons like kunais and shurikens, so it's allowed..." - Scatterbrained Jonin
"Yeah, you heard her girl. I and Akamaru are inseparable." - Kiba
"But it's not about it being allowed or not. If we fight, I might injure the dog and I would feel bad..." - Arina
"You are right! I also like dogs and I understand you. Hey, you there, I changed my mind, your dog is prohibited from fighting with you!"
"..." - every one of the spectators
"WHAT?! You can't be serious, me and Akamaru are a team. We won't fight without each other!!" - Kiba
"I don't care, I make the rules!! I won't let a poor dog participate in a bloody match!!" - the mostly emotionless scatterbrained Jonin was now suddenly really zealous.
"What the, how can you be a Konoha shinobi? Shouldn't you know about my clan using ninkens all the time?" - Kiba
"I know about that. But now I decided I will fight for the freedoms of the ninkens!! After this is over, I will start a campaign and pressure Lord Hokage to forbid the use of ninken!!"
"What? You can't be serious." - Kiba
'This is starting to get problematic...' - Hiruzen
"TO HELL WITH YOU!!!" - Kiba argued heatedly with the scatterbrained Jonin.
"..." - Arina who started this situation was watching silently while feeling a bit awkward.
"How do you talk with me? Don't you know I can just disqualify you? Well, it doesn't surprise me that someone who abuses animals has no brains..."
"Abusing? Does Akamaru look like he is abused?"
"Woof!" - Akamaru tried to defend his owner.
"No, but maybe you are manipulating him to think that he is treated well..."
"What the -"
"HAHAHA, it sure is great to see that our village shinobis can debate on their respective views on what is right, but don't you think now isn't the right time for that? Many people are waiting and want to finally finish with the preliminaries." - Before the situation could escalate any further, Hiruzen stepped in.
"I-I'm sorry Lord Hokage...it's just...I feel bad for this dog..."
"Finally, can you please tell that crazy woman over there to let me fight with Akamaru!"
"Hmm, what about this, if she sees that your dog is in danger, she is allowed to step in and stop the match, which results in your loss. With that, both of you should be happy, right?"
"...yes." - scatterbrained Jonin
"...I guess." - Kiba
'I think trying to kick his dog-like Eiji told me is really the best tactic after all...' - Arina
After a lot of difficulties, the final match finally started!
Arina instantly charged at Akamaru and tried to kick him.
'What the, wasn't she the one who started all this by saying she would feel bad injuring Akamaru'? - Kiba was caught off guard and jumped in to defend Akamaru.
But she ignored Kiba and focused entirely on Akamaru.
'This girl...she is really shameless! Fine, if you play dirty, don't complain that I don't hold back!' - Kiba started to use the Passing Fang to rotate towards Arina.
'This technique has a lot of power, I need to dodge it!' - Arina saw that this attack might be dangerous and decided to dodge, which lost her the pressure on Akamaru.
"Yeah, now we can show that girl our teamwo-" - Kiba was interrupted when Arina started to through kunais and shurikens at Akamaru.
"WHAT THE HELL?! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL HIM??- Kiba
She ignored him and started to take out paper bombs.
"..."
The scatterbrained Jonin couldn't take it anymore and jumped in to grab Akamaru.
But Kiba ignored it and attacked Arina out of spite, he was really angry towards her for targeting Akamaru like that and wouldn't let her easily off.
He could have easily defended Akamaru, but choose to let the examiner defend him so that he can get the chance to get his revenge on her.
Arina didn't expect this and was caught off guard.
The attack was powerful and injured her.
She spat out some blood before fainting.
"WHAT?! HEY YOU!! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?! WASN'T THE MATCH ALREADY FINISHED WHEN THE EXAMINER STEPPED IN?? HOW CAN YOU DO THAT TO A GIRL??!!" - an angry Kotaru was shouting from the spectator area.
"Hmph, someone who tries to injure Akamaru will be my enemy forever! Even if it means failing this chunin exam!" - Kiba
"YOU!!!"- Kotaru wanted to go down and smack him but was stopped by Hayate.
"Koff, stop it. It wouldn't help her now doing that, wouldn't it? Instead, it's better to not waste any time and let her get treated instantly."
"Uhm, so because I stepped in but the opponent was knocked out before I could stop the match, it will be a draw: both are unable to advance to the third exam!" - the scatterbrained Jonin said that while hugging Akamaru, who tried to get free from her.
After hearing that, Hayate appeared and looked at Arina: 'This is bad!'
"HEY! WHERE ARE THE MEDIC-NINS?!" - Hayate
"S-sorry!!" - A group of medic-nins rushed and picked Arina up.
"SENSEI!!" - Kotaru was shouting towards Hayate.
Even Eiji had a worried expression.
"Koff, I know what you want to ask. Don't worry, if they treat her in time everything should be fine. Still, I will stay near her just in case."
With those words, Hayate followed the medic-nins.
Eiji and Kotaru didn't know that this would be the last time they would see their sensei.
"Uhm, so everyone who has won their match, even though one of you isn't here, congratulations!" - scatterbrained Jonin
"Well then...starting now I shall begin explaining the finals..." - Hiruren
Meanwhile, Hayate was accompanying Arina and the medic-nins until the medic nins stopped before a room and said to him: "Sir, please stay outside of the room while we treat her. After we are done, you can visit her without problems."
Hayate sighed and did as he was told.
He decided to go take some fresh air while waiting.
There was a balcony in this tower, with a great view of Konoha, but when he got closer he noticed the presence of two people discussing something in secret.
'Why would anyone be here at this time? Something is really fishy here...' - Hayate slowly got nearer until he could hear their voices.
"The preliminaries have concluded. They will now proceed to the finals."
"How tranquil...or rather how naively peaceful this nation has become while all the other countries are busy with military expansion races..."
"So if we strike now...?"
"Well, yes...although I doubt it would be any fun to kill that old feeble geezer..."
"!" - when he heard that, Hayate was sure that those two had bad intentions, so he decided to go nearer so that he could identify them and report them subsequently.
But when he saw them, he knew that he made a big mistake.
Fear, as he has never felt before, overcame him and he was full of sweat.
His ears were ringing as a warning sign, but he didn't dare to move any muscle.
'I-Its Orochimaru! One of those legendary three...'
Hayate wasn't listening to their conversation anymore, because he was solely focused on not making any sound and trying to get his fear under control.
It seemed that their conversation was concluded and Kabuto was about to leave, when Orochimaru stopped him:" Kabuto...you...if you want to stop me, your only choice is to kill Sasuke now."
"!" - Kabuto
"There's no way you could kill me, eh? Even if you are strong, you're no stronger than Kakashi, so...heh, I'm joking. Now...you may go now! I'm putting my trust in you...oh right. On your way out, can you take some trash out?" - Orochimaru
"...I would have done it even if you wouldn't have said that"
'! I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE AS SOON AS PO-' - before Hayate could make up his mind to leave he was already struck by Kabuto's chakra scalpel.
"That's really weird, I thought everyone should be in the main hall listening to the old geezer. So why did a random Jonin decide to wander here around?" - Kabuto
Like that Hayate died.
It's ironic: Eiji tried his best to come up with all sorts of plans to save him, but even before the plans could play out, he died just like that.
Eiji relied entirely on his future knowledge and focused on the way Hayate would die originally, without considering the possibility that he may die in another way at another time.
Of course, theoretically, everyone could die at any time, so saving Hayate from any kind of danger would be impossible and wasn't a mistake on Eiji's side.
However, what was a huge mistake, was that Eiji should have known that in this world fate exists.
He knew that Naruto was destined to bring peace, so that means it is almost certain that everyone is in this world is affected by fate.
Wasn't it peculiar, that even though because of the presence of his team, many matches were different from the original timeline, but when it came to the important ones, like Neji vs Hinata, they were still the same?
It's almost like, there was a mechanism in this world, which made sure that everything stayed on its "right tracks".
Eiji should have noticed it - or rather he didn't want to notice it.
So did Hayate die because it was his destiny, or was it destiny that Eiji didn't pay attention to the possibility that he might die another way?
Right now, Eiji was still unaware, but soon he would come to learn of the cruelty of fate in this world and how hard it is to change.
would like to let you all go now, but first there's one last thing we have to do before the finals." - Hiruzen
"HEY, COME ON!! I NEED TO START TRAINING NOW!!" - Naruto
"Now then, don't be so impatient...there are slips of paper inside the box Anko is holding...each of you, take one." - Hiruzen
"I'll come around, so line up, okay?... One per person!" - Anko who was still in Eiji's clothes went around with the box.
When she went to Eiji so that he could draw his paper, he of course had to make a comment:" Is it a lottery for getting you as a maid for a day? But with such clothes, you will be an insult to all maids!"
Anko's eyelid twitched and suddenly drew her kunai, which touched his throat: "Listen here kid, I really have enough of your shit! If you open your mouth one more time towards me, I will make sure that you will mysteriously disappear before the finals.Do you understand?"
"Sorry, I just thought everyone was a bit nervous and wanted to brighten up the tense atmosphere..." - Eiji
"Really?... Well, I guess you would be kinda nervous so I let it pass. But mind your tongue now when you are standing in front of me!" - Anko
"What, you really believed that? I was just telling some shitty exc-" - A fist interrupted him, which knocked him instantly out.
Hiruzen sighed, but he didn't intervene since he would like to finally finish his explanation and with Eiji continuing to piss Anko off, it would take way longer.
"All right...does everybody have one now? Then starting at the left, each of you read out the number written on your slip!"
Every Genin who won the matched said their number out loudly.
"So Uchiha will be number 4...while Nakamura drew 8..." - Ibiki
Then after Hiruzen told him to, Ibiki showed the pairings of the tournament.
Afterward, Hiruzen explained the tournament rules, how everyone can theoretically become a chunin despite losing in the very first round.
...
"Well then! Good work, all! You are dismissed until one month from now!" - Hiruzen
Everyone left the hall after hearing that while leaving the unconscious Eiji behind.
After some time Eiji finally woke up.
"Oh shit, what happened. I only remember how I bullied Anko..."
"Bullying? Haaaa, whatever everyone else already left, but since you missed the explanation from Lord Hokage, he ordered me to explain everything concerning the finals you have missed..." - Anko who was leaning against the wall walked towards him and squatted in front of him, while he still struggled to get up.
"Finals...? Oh right, tell who I'm up against!"
"What? Hey, wouldn't it be better to first listen to my explan-"
"Who cares about this shitty stuff. Come one tell me already!"
At this moment Anko decided it would be better for her mental health to just ignore him as much as possible while finishing Hiruzen's task, so she just showed him the tournament list.
'Oh no...it's sand emo...'
While Eiji was preoccupied with his own thoughts, a Konoha shinobi suddenly appeared next to Anko with a panicked expression: "Lady Anko, Lord Hokage has ordered you to stop your current task and come with me because of an urgent matter..."
"Urgent matter?"
"Yes, the dead body of Hayate was found..."
"What are you waiting for? Lead the wa-" - before she could finish her sentence, Eiji stormed at the Konoha shinobi and grabbed him at his collar.
"You...repeat what you just said..." - even though he said it non-loudly, the way he spoke that, was really intense.
"Eiji!! Are you out of your mind? What are you doing to a fellow Konoha -" - Anko stopped mid-sentence because he just shot a glare at her, which spoke more than a thousand words.
'Right, wasn't Hayate his sensei? Damn, what a shitty situation I found myself in here. This brat isn't half bad when he is serious and if he completely snapped now and starts attacking me and the guy over there, this could end up pretty ugly...what should I do?' - Anko who was still not in her best condition because of the curse mark, moved her hand towards a kunai.
"Eiji listen, calm down. We don't know the situation, maybe he mistook him and it isn't Hayate...we should first check the situation out. So let him go, or else he won't be able to lead the way..." - Anko
"But Lady Anko, I don't know if he is authorized to come al-"
'Tsk, this idiot!' - while Anko was lamenting that this Shinobi couldn't read the situation at all, Eiji kicked him in his stomach.
When he landed on his on the ground and started to grunt from the pain, Eiji already started to approach him slowly with his sword drawn:"Listen here now, you will tell me everything or el-" - but he was interrupted by Anko, who threw a kunai from behind at him.
Despite not even looking, he dodged it without any difficulties, but Anko used the time to get herself between those two.
Eiji stopped in his approach to look at Anko, while she was taking out two kunais which she held in a cross stance in front of her chest.
Anko smiled while saying: "Do you really want to start a fight now? While your sensei's murder uses the time, we are wasting here, to escape?"
"!"
Eiji realized that her words made sense, so, amidst his furious and confused state, he tried his best to calm down.
His head was filled with thoughts like: 'He was supposed to die at another time...is this a joke? Am I dreaming?'
But through his willpower, he managed to quieten those thoughts to a level where he could think rationally.
He let his sword glide back into the sheath and signaled her with his head to let the shinobi lead the way.
'Thank god this worked out...' - Anko sighed and helped the shinobi to get back up.
The shinobi was still holding his stomach in pain, so Anko shouted: "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? DIDN'T YOU SAY YOURSELF IT'S URGENT?!"
"YES!! I'm sorry Lady Anko!"
Hiruzen was standing with a bunch of Anbu and Ibiki while looking at Hayate's corpse when Anko arrived with Eiji.
"You are finally here Anko..."
"Sorry, I was held back..."
While she was saying that, Hiruzen looked briefly at Eiji but didn't say anything.
"Anyway, Ibiki, what do you think?" - Hiruzen
"I have never seen an injury like that: his cut on the neck looks like a highly skilled surgeon amputated it..." - Ibiki
"That is indeed an unusual technique the culprit used...but more importantly is the question who the culprit is and why did he kill him. But the thing which bothers me the most is, why did the culprit just leave the body behind, which may give us clues leading to exposing him..." - Hiruzen
Ibiki and Hiruzen continued to discuss.
Meanwhile, Anko was surprised that Eiji kept silent the whole time and didn't start crying or charge to hug Hayate's body, but Eiji didn't have any place left to feel any sadness.
Instead, he was full of wrath.
After seeing the cut on Hayate's neck, he knew who killed him.
He also could guess why Kabuto left the body behind like that.
Kabuto was in a rush to try to kill Sasuke before he was stopped by Kakashi, so he just didn't have time to deal with his body.
Unfortunately, Kakashi wasn't here right now to report what happened at his side with Sasuke, so they were still all clueless except for Eiji.
But he wasn't in the mood to talk, instead, he kept all the rage silently inside him and thought about the various ways he would kill Kabuto.
Anyway, Hiruzen couldn't do anything else currently, so he said: "Sigh...Anko, you go and inform the guards to not let anyone out of Konoha while the investigation is going on! Ibiki, you go and look through everyone's profile who was at this tower today and look for anything suspicious! The rest of you, clean here up!"
He looked at Eiji and tried to think of words to comfort him, but when he saw the rage in his gaze, he decided it would be better to leave him alone for the time being.
Meanwhile, Kabuto who just escaped from Kakashi smiled amused while thinking: 'Looks like I really made a scene today, those Konoha folks will probably heighten their security. Well, it's not like they will ever catch me hehehe...'
Hayate's funeral.
A bunch of his former shinobi colleagues were present like Kakashi, Anko, and his former teammates Ibiki and Tokara.
Kotaro and Arina, who was treated successfully, were also there.
They only knew him for a short time, but he was everything they could ask for as a sensei.
Of course, Hiruzen was present as well, but overall the funeral was pretty short since Konoha was on high alert right now and didn't want to waste precious manpower.
So after this short funeral, everyone left except for one.
It was Eiji.
Back then he searched the whole village, but couldn't find any trace of Kabuto.
He couldn't quell his desire for revenge, so he was sitting at his sensei's grave with feelings full of sadness, rage, and regret.
But he wasn't the type to wail when losing someone dear, instead, he would keep all his emotions silently to himself.
After hours passed, while he sat there by himself, he started to think about where it all went wrong.
Was it his fault?
Did he change things too much, so that a butterfly effect appeared?
After thinking for some time, he realized that he relied too much on his future knowledge and didn't think of the possibility of him dying at another time in another way.
He sighed and looked at Hayate's sword lying on the grave.
'Looks like not everyone gets an emotional death scene where they can say goodbye to their loved ones..' - Eiji thought with a sarcastic smile.
But then tears finally started to flow down.
No matter how tough he tried to act or how much he tried to ignore his feelings, in the end, he was human.
He just sat there silently with his thoughts for hours, when he could feel the presence of someone from afar.
He could feel the gaze of this person, so he called out: "You being an Anbu, I wouldn't be able to feel your presence if you wanted, so why don't you just come out, instead of letting me notice you?"
Hearing that, a female Anbu with straight purple hair and a cat mask was walking slowly towards Hayate's grave until she stopped right in front of his grave.
Through the whole process, she didn't look at Eiji for even a second, but after gazing silently for a moment at Hayate's sword, she finally said some words: "Before leaving for my mission, I had a bad feeling. But I decided to ignore it and focus on the mission. When I returned and got the news I rushed straight over here, but I even missed his funeral..."
Eiji looked at her but didn't know how to reply, so he just kept silent.
She also didn't say anything for a while, so they were just looking silently at his grave.
After some time, she picked Hayate's sword up and drew it out of the sheath.
She looked at it and finally broke the silence with a voice full of hatred:"Who was it?"
Eiji replied emotionless without looking at her: "The village believes, that it was a henchman of Orochimaru. Kakashi told that the probability was high, that it was a guy he thought not long after sensei's death, called Kabuto."
"So the village isn't sure and has only guesses?"
"The Anbu's corpses, which were killed by this Kabuto guy at Kakashi's side, showed similarities in the way sensei was cut."
"So it's probably this Kabuto guy...and I suppose the village wasn't able to capture him, or else we would already know for sure..."
Again a long silence.
She was the one breaking it again: "Tell me, how was the funeral?"
"The old man held a speech, but other than that, nothing noteworthy happened..."
Because of her mask, Eiji couldn't tell if she was crying or not, but she started to grip his sensei's sword tighter.
She also didn't say anything else, so silence descended again.
After some time she decided to leave while taking Hayate's sword with her, but then she stopped and turned towards Eiji: "He talked a lot about you...make sure not to die..."
Eiji didn't respond and continued to sit there.
He didn't know how much time passed, but his parents and Tenten came at some point, but he just told them he wanted to stay here for a bit longer.
They thought it would be best to let him be by himself for the time being, so after leaving something to eat and drink, they left.
Eiji didn't touch the food and continued to be immersed in his own thoughts.
He dedicated so much time and effort trying to save Hayate, but in the end, it was all for nothing.
What was he supposed to do now?
Get revenge?
Just forget it and live normally?
At some point, he fell asleep but was woken up by the presence of someone.
It was Hiruzen.