Sarutobi sighed, a deep sorrowful sigh, one imbued with the weight of decades of responsibility. 'I feel old,' he thought as he absently watched Haku clean the arena. It was a rather interesting display of ninjutsu and physics as the young man constructed a pipe of ice to drain the room without flooding the rest of the building. The Hokage hardly cared. He was aware of it as he was of everything that went around him. No shinobi reached his age without being able to do that.
His thoughts lingered on far more important things. 'Such unfortunate timing,' Sarutobi despaired. 'The village had finally recovered from the attack of the Nine Tail and the Uchiha massacre, and now this happens. Whether the whispers of conflict Jiraiya's heard were legitimate or not, there will be war now. The Kazekage will accept nothing less.'
The Third frowned, not caring who saw it. 'Let Baki stew over it.' he thought grimly. 'I can't give Shukaku back. Danzo, and far too many of the jonin would be against it and the argument in their favor certainly has merit.' As he ruminated on the subject he repacked his pipe and lit it, breathing the smoke in deep and puffing it out in swirls. 'So war it is. With Sand, and likely with Cloud or Rock as well. The Kazekage is not so foolish as to challenge the Leaf by himself.'
He watched the names of the next contestants scroll across the scoreboard out of the corner of his eyes. The name on the right stopped at Ten Ten, while the one on the left rolled over a few more times before stopping at Naruto. 'Ah, Naruto.' Sarutobi smiled sadly, watching the boy jump down to the tournament floor. 'That's what's bothering me,' he realized. 'It's not the coming war. There will be always be war in this world, and as long as we have the will of fire we'll always win.' He was confident in that. 'What's bothering me is that there will be another jinchuriki in Konoha a year from now, and there's really only one option. Konohamaru. He's so like that boy, and now he'll be more like him than he ever imagined.'
It was times like these that Sarutobi hated himself and hated the village. The First's dream was so far from being achieved. 'Oh, it's better than it was, but the young still fight and die, this tournament a case in point', he despaired, looking out over the arena has dozens of Naruto's attempted to bob and weave between a hail of steel throwing knives, several dispersing into smoke as they were pierced.
'Were once there was a constant drip of blood as clans fought for influence, now there is intermittent deluges as nations war for dominance. And it's tournaments like this that hold back the red tide.' He thought morbidly.
Sarutobi was jolted out of his introspective melancholy as the real Naruto maneuvered himself into striking distance, only to have Ten Ten doge out of the way of his lunging punch with a spin that brought her in close. Face to face, chest to chest, and a blood soaked right hand with a kunai in her fist driven deep into his gut.
'That's it,' the Hokage thought with disappointment, wondering how the girl had kept track of the real Naruto. It was easy for him of course, but it should have given her more difficulty. It was an impressive show of battlefield awareness. The rest of the crowd wasn't so dispassionate in their analysis. Sakura let out a shriek of alarm and Hinata swayed back and forth, hands pressed to her mouth as if she couldn't decide whether to faint or vomit.
Then Naruto screamed, "AAAHHHRR!" a short great piercing roar, that reminded the Third of a night he well remembered more than twelve years ago. With that scream came an eye searing flash of orange chakra, full of hate and power. The boy's left hand latched onto the right arm of the suddenly frightened kunoichi, stopping her from jumping back and holding her in place for a brutal haymaker. There was a sickening crack as his fist plowed into the girl's face and the power of his blow tore her from his grasp, sending her pinwheeling limply out of control until she impacted a wall with a thud.
It was all over in a split second, hardly giving the audience a chance to react. The fight finished, the Kyuubi's power cut off like a light, and the stunned boy slumped to his knees. Hunched over, pressing his hands to abdomen with a face screwed up in pain, he hardly looked the conquering hero.
"The winner is Naruto Uzamaki," Hayate proclaimed anticlimactically, the medics already loading Ten Ten onto a stretcher.
Sarutobi thought that she was going to be fine, 'likely just a concussion and broken jaw, nothing the med nins can't fix.' It was Naruto that was the problem. Not that he was going to die or anything, even if he was a normal genin the medics could have healed him, and that flash of the Nine Tails chakra had no doubt accelerated the boy's already potent regenerative abilities. No, it was the flash itself. Glancing up at the on looking genin, the Hokage knew Naruto's secret was out. Coming immediately after Shukaku's little temper tantrum, there was no way anyone watching would fail to recognize that chakra for what it really was.
Baki and Temari were examining Naruto with knowing eyes, while Kankuro simply stared at him in horror. Sasuke was stroking his jaw with one hand and nodding as if things were finally starting to make sense. Shikamaru looked likewise enlightened, leaning on the railing with his elbows, chin resting on the back of folded hands as he looked down and analyzed the boy. Sympathy etched on her face, Hinata looked like she was going to burst into tears. Sakura's face was full of worry and consternation. The rest of the crowd was awash with a mix of conflicting emotions, which was certainly better than Naruto usually got from those in the know. Fear, worry, sympathy, pity, disgust; the emotions roiled around in a mass of despair.
And then as quickly as it had formed, the bubble of gloom that had settled upon the genin was popped when Naruto jumped up to celebrate his victory. Or he tried to anyways, attempting to leap up from his kneeling position upon hearing Hayate's declaration. He was halfway up out of his crouch before his "Yes!" turned into a yelp of pain and he was writhing on the floor in agony, hands pressed tightly to his stomach as he rolled around.
"Same old Naruto," Ino deadpanned, shaking her head as if surprised she'd ever thought otherwise and the rest of the crew seemed to agree, united in exasperation over the blond's exuberant idiocy.
"Oi! Stop moving moron! You're gonna make it worse!" yelled an irate medic, as he and his partner tried to wrestle the genin onto a stretcher. They quickly gave up and simply tied him down before carrying him off.
Sarutobi just shook his head in amusement, 'same old Naruto indeed. The boy will be fine,' he thought, lips quirking into a small grin. 'And so will his peers; perhaps there is hope for the future after all.'
'Well, that was...interesting,' Haku mused to himself, as he took in the aftermath of Naruto's outing as a jinchuriki. 'Looks like being a happy go lucky dumbass really helped him out there.' There'd been a real danger that after being exposed to the psychotic disaster known as Gaara, the other genin would shun Naruto after the revelation, but his pure joy and painful attempt at celebration had reminded them who he really was and they'd accepted him. 'These kids are better people than I gave them credit for,' Haku thought ruefully. 'I guess my view of humanity is still stained by my experiences in Kiri, but at least it means when I get surprised, that more often than not I get a good one.' He smiled, 'it's no wonder Jariaya loves it here.'
"Haku, Naruto's going to be okay, right?" Sakura asked in a quiet voice. Her face was smooth, but Haku could see the worry swirling around in the depths of her jade eyes. He opened his mouth to reassure her, but was cut off by Kakashi.
"Definitely, Naruto's...burden," Kakashi said tentatively as if searching for the right word, "gifts him with more than just a massive supply of chakra. I noticed in Wave that he also has significant regenerative capabilities. He'll be fine."
'Now that's interesting,' thought Haku. 'It explains how he survived the beating he got from Orochimaru in such relatively good shape.'
"That's great!" Sakura said, her voice warming as some of her worry faded away, "But why didn't we," she started to ask before being waved off by Kakashi.
"Classified, and it remains so until new orders come down," He said apologetically. "I can't really say anything about it, no matter what you've figured out, and neither should you. We're stretching the law to the limit as it is."
Sakura opened her mouth as if to object, looking distinctly annoyed, but she seemed to sense the seriousness of the situation and just shut it, and nodded her head.
Haku could commiserate with her. Shinobi rules, while based in solid principles, were often rigidly adhered to in defiance of common sense, and this was a case in point. 'Once Naruto started going on missions outside the village, his secret was a secret not long for this world. His abilities were just much too conspicuous.' He archly pointed that out, "The rules are the rules sensei, but this is an instance that seems more like closing the weir after the fish have fled. Now that Baki knows, Hidden Sand will know by the time the day is done and the rest of the villages within the week. It would be a bit odd for everyone in the world to know but the actual village involved wouldn't it?" Haku asked teasingly.
'Of course it doesn't have to go that way,' Haku pondered, 'the Hokage could have the Sand team eliminated, but that would simply ensure war, and he will at least try to negotiate a peaceful resolution.' He hoped so anyways, he'd seen enough of the ruinous consequences of war as a child.
"I've seen odder," Kakashi replied with a closed smiling eye. "The ninja world can often be a strange and contradictory place."
"That's true enough," Haku laughed.
Hayate's sickly voice somehow managed to carry over the chatter of covert conversations, "The third match of the preliminary exam will be Shikamara Nara and Kiba Inuzuka." The furtive discussions of Naruto's condition faded away.
Team Ten's sensei spoke up for the first time since offering me congratulations upon my return to the viewing stand after defeating Gaara. "I know what you're capable of Shikamaru, so don't let us down. I prefer a more laid back method of instruction, but if it doesn't get results I'll move on to a more hands on approach," Asuma said, exhaling a long puff of smoke, tapping his cigarette against the wall he was leaning against, pieces of dull red ash drifting to the floor.
Shikamaru looked skeptical at that, and Haku could understand that. Asuma was definitely a man who exuded a cool casualness that could be mistaken for easygoing indolence. Anyone who knew where to look though would see his loose stance for what it was, a fluid and flexible posture from which he could respond to almost any attack. It was the confident bearing of a master and just what you'd expect from someone bearing the sash of a one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja.
The Nara boy may have been unintimidated by his master, but that definitely could not be said of his teammate. "Shikamaru, you can jump down there or I'm gonna push," Ino declared.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he answered in a world weary tone as he vaulted over the railing. "What a drag."
Kiba followed with a much more enthusiastic "Yahoo!", landing in a crouch with Akamaru in his arms. Placing his dog on the floor, Kiba beamed a feral grin at his opponent. "Better give up now Shikamaru, or the beating I'm gonna lay down on you is going to be way more than troublesome."
"If you give up, I'm going to tell your mother!" Ino yelled down.
"Sheesh, she's more troublesome than you'll ever be." Shikamaru groaned. "Let's just get this over with."
"Then let the fourth match of the preliminaries begin," Hayate intoned.
Haku wondered how much Kiba knew about the Nara's signature shadow techniques. Family techniques weren't something expounded upon in the academy obviously, otherwise they wouldn't stay family techniques. Furthermore it seemed unlikely that Shikamaru was one for sparring after school with friends, let alone going all out if he did. 'Unless Kiba saw Shikamaru in action during the exam this will probably be a short match,' he thought. 'Kiba's obviously a bruiser who likes to get up close and go hand to hand.'
Kiba didn't bother responding to Shikamaru, he just tossed a soldier pill to his dog and then downed one himself. The action was instantaneous as the air around the boy seemed to ripple with excess chakra and Akamaru turned as red as his namesake.
Shikamaru just slouched in place, not looking particularly impressed. It was a stance Haku thought well suited for provoking this opponent into rash action. Kiba didn't waste any time proving him right, crouching down and letting Akamaru hop onto his back while he, performed several quick hand signs and growled "Man Beast Clone!" The wild boy somehow grew even more savage looking, teeth and claws lengthening, muscles bulging, joints popping and shifting grotesquely. There was a puff of smoke and Akamaru transformed into a duplicate of his master.
"Prepare for pain Shikamaru! Quadruped no jutsu!" Kiba howled, him and Akamaru launching themselves at their target with impressive speed for genin, only to jerk pathetically to a halt halfway to their target. "What the hell!?" Kiba cried out in confusion, an inky black shadow pooling around him and Akamaru's feet and leading back to Shikamaru.
'Well, that's it for that match,' Haku thought in disappointment. 'Decided even faster than I expected.'
"Shadow Imitation Technique complete." Shikamaru said with a lazy smirk. "You're bound by my shadow and are compelled to follow my movements, while allowed none of your own." He proclaimed, waving an arm in front of himself to demonstrate, Kiba and his dog copying his movement perfectly. "Let's not make things too difficult, just give up."
"What? Hell no!" Kiba exclaimed. "You can't keep this up forever," he said, clearly straining to break free. "When I get loose, I'm gonna beat you to a pulp!"
"Man Kiba, why do you have to be so troublesome," Shikamaru groaned in disgust, running his hand through his hair in frustration. "You can't win," he said, turning to his left and pulling a kunai from his right thigh holster. Kiba and Akamaru mimicked his movements exactly, the latter facing the right wall and the former facing Akamaru's back.
Shikamaru continued in a disinterested academic tone, "Now, seeing as you're a comrade I don't want to kill you or maim you, but what do you think will happen if you throw that kunai and nail Akamaru in the back of his shoulder? If he survives, he'll probably be lame for the rest of his life."
"Don't you fucking dare," Kiba demanded, panic edging into his voice.
"Just doing what I have to do," Shikamaru said, cocking his arm back. Haku wondered if he'd go through with it, he didn't seem the type but you could never tell what people were willing to do until they're were put to the test.
Apparently Kiba wasn't willing to risk it, "Okay, Okay, I give up!" he shouted with a scowl.
Shikamaru looked over to the proctor, and let go of his jutsu when Hayate pronounced "Winner of the fourth round, Shikmaru Nara!"
"Yeah! That was awesome Shikamaru!" Ino cheered, jumping up and down in glee. "Just you wait until it's my turn to strut my stuff," she crowed, turning to Sakura. "I'm going to prove in front of everyone here that I'm the superior kunoichi and the woman who's going to steal Sasuke's heart and make him mine." She declared, shooting the raven haired boy what she no doubt thought was a smoldering look.
Haku thought the whole scene was a bit ridiculous, like a child aping her elders, coming close but just not getting it quite right.
"In your dreams pig!" Sakura shot back, "the one who's going to marry Sasuke is going to be me!" Apparently not willing to stay on the defensive, she threw in a dig at the blonde "A bossy nag like you would make a terrible wife." The way she said it was as if it was almost an afterthought, just something so obvious it didn't even need to be said.
Ino started to scowl and Haku could almost see the steam as she puffed up and got ready to blow her top, but Sasuke mercifully intervened.
"There's not going to be a wife," Sasuke insisted, rolling his eyes and putting a distinct emphasis on the article.
The girls went dead silent at that, staring at him in shock, while Shikamaru having finally trudged up the stairs, caught the end of that and blurted out "You're going to marry two?" in a tone of horror. He was looking at Sasuke with stupefied fascination, as if he just couldn't decide whether the Uchiha boy was crazy or a fool.
Haku arched an eyebrow, "Well, it is legal. Given the demographic structure of shinobi forces and the high mortality rate, hidden villages always have a skewed gender ratio. Sasuke likely feels that being the last of the Uchiha clan, he needs the edge to facilitate a more rapid rebuilding of his clan."
"Oh, is this something you've spent a lot of thought on?" Kakashi asked, and despite the mask you could just hear his sleazy smile. "You have the same problem after all."
"Ah, well Lord Jiraiya badgers me about it all the time." Haku said with a slight blush of embarrassment over his master's antics. "If it happens it happens, but I just can't see it. The first wife is hardly likely to welcome a second is she? It has domestic disaster written all over it." And that was something he was definitely wary of, after all he had learned from hard experience how bad a marriage could go. Just last night his dreams had been haunted by his mother's scream.
Haku was shaken out of his impending melancholy when Sasuke gave a derisive snort. "Better not to marry anyone at all, you don't need to be married to have children." He said as if explaining the obvious. "Two women is not nearly enough to revive the clan, the Uchiha clan had nearly two hundred members before the massacre."
"Love and leave 'em, hey?" Kakashi said contemplatively, "not the safest of strategies when dealing with kunoichi, they can be...creative when expressing their displeasure." He sounded like he knew this from experience, and Haku wondered about the story behind it. Kakashi continued, "They're going to catch onto you once you leave a few kids behind."
"Then comes the child support demands, custody battles and assassination attempts." Shikamaru interjected shaking his head. "You'd have to be insane to consider it." Haku had to agree, to put it mildly this didn't sound like a wise course of action, and was definitely not what he'd been implying when he'd told the boy to sire a few children before going out on his fratricidal quest.
Sakure and Ino were watching the conversation like spectators of some horrific accident, struck uncharacteristically dumb by the horror of it all. Haku hadn't realized that a person's face could turn so red. He took a few steps step back, 'don't want to be in the way if one of them snaps,' he thought.
"You're overthinking it, nobody said anything about love." Sasuke objected, shaking his head. "If I need comrades to take down Itachi and his crew of psychopaths, then so be it, but I don't need or want to be any closer to anyone else. Any kids I have will end up being targets by default, but their mothers don't have to be."
"So, women are just going to bear you children because you ask nicely," Haku asked skeptically, confused about where the boy was going with this. 'He's more socially stunted than I thought, but then again, how can any of us be surprised,' he thought with dismay. 'He suffered even worse than I did, I lost two people precious to me, and he lost that a hundred times over.'
"Obviously not, but they'll give me what I want if I give them what they want." Sasuke replied in a tone that made it clear he thought it was all self-evident. "Property prices are high in this village because available land is limited by the walls, but I'm the unwilling inheritor of a whole housing district that's just sitting empty. If a woman give's me a child, they'll get the deed to an apartment. Have a second and they can trade that apartment in for a small house, a third and a larger house, and so on. We'll draw up a signed contract and everything to make it official, prohibit resale until the kid reaches their majority, etc."
"But Sasuke!" Sakura objected, tears brimming in her eyes, "No kunoichi, no woman will do that that isn't a... that isn't a complete..." She stuttered to a stop, unwilling to say the word.
Sasuke rolled his eyes in disgust, "We're ninja Sakura," he said in exasperation. "We kill people for money, we lie and we steal. If a kunoichi is willing to do that, then she won't balk at a few nights on her back."
Sakura jerked back like she'd be slapped and Ino hissed in a razor sharp breath. Haku could tell she was working up to an explosion. Trying to head her off at the pass he interjected, "It won't be a psychologically healthy lifestyle for anyone involved,"
"And we shinobi are well known for our concern with mental health issues," interrupted Kakashi with a deadpan delivery as he flipped through his little orange book.
Haku swallowed a growl of aggravation, shooting an annoyed glare at the older ninja. 'What is his problem?' Haku wondered. 'His student's going to screw over his entire life and he thinks it's time for jokes. I know the longer we manage to survive the more eccentric we get, but this is ridiculous.'
Shikamaru shook his head in disapproval, "with the promise of property and children with those eyes, he'll probably get more takers than you'd expect. There are a lot of undistinguished shinobi families that would like to get a connection to a great clan, especially at an opportune time like its re-founding. Troublesome doesn't do the situation justice, it's going to be a complete train wreck."
Kakashi nodded his head, "He'll probably attract a lot of gold diggers and clan kids with daddy issues who think they're the only one for him. Not exactly the quality marriages the Uchiha clan was known for, but I guess he's going for a quantity over quality approach."
"No," Ino said coldly, her face still and shading into a burgundy rage. "It's not, that. He just thinks that the mother's contribution doesn't matter at all." Her voice was climbing in volume as she pointed at him accusingly. "He thinks the Uchiha clan is so great that it doesn't matter who he fucks, the Uchiha bloodline will win out. If so, I feel bad for the mothers, having to raise a pack of inbred, brain damaged pricks like him!"
Hayate jumped up onto the railing, balancing on his heels and cleared his throat, an action that turned into a hacking wet cough, "This is all very interesting, but if you don't get down there immediately Yamanaka, you forfeit."
"Wha..?" Ino turned to him and asked, clearly flustered.
"You vs. Hinata, now" Hayate answered with a bob of his head back towards the center of the floor. Hinata was already standing there alone, dry washing her hands in worry. She looked up to the stand, and raised a hand to awkwardly wave.
"You gotta be kidding me," Ino growled out and vaulted over the rail.