Chapter 17 - Third Times

There were preliminaries, in the end. Of the twenty-three teams that had gone into the Forest, only nine made it through. Four from Leaf, two from Sand, and one each from Mist, Stone, and Cloud. Nine teams, twenty-seven students.

Benio kneaded the skin between her eyes, at this. "These preliminaries are going to last forever," she sighed, the final count confirmed, once the 120 hours were up. "I swear, kids these days are getting way too good at this."

(It was really a curious phenomenon, this. The number of ninjas applying to become chuunin was at an all-time low, most children from ninja villages choosing to be promoted to genin and not pursue any further education. It was far more attractive to live a peaceful life like a civilian than to live by the ninja code, especially in the smaller countries.)

(In a strange sort of reaction to the increasing culture of demilitarization, the genin that did choose to train further worked harder to improve themselves than many generations before them, on account of the passion they had to want to improve themselves In the first place.)

(Either that, or because they were forced to.)

Luckily, this surplus of students wasn't really Benio's problem; it was the Third Chief Commanding Officer's. But she still wanted to stick around and watch. She especially wanted to see how that little team of Sasuke's would do, the ones that had shattered the speed record. More or less everyone did.

All the students, their nine senseis, and the Hokage were gathered in the largest hall with the Third Chief Examining officer, a Hyuuga man named Hakkou. Naruto poised his hand for a high five when he entered, while they were waiting for the students to arrive, and asked what the brace on his right arm was for, when he was rejected.

"Just a sprained wrist, I'm fine," was his laughed reply, so Naruto laughed too. Hakkou was only thirty-two, but his hair was already prematurely white. He had a bandage on his cheek, as well.

Sasuke stood with his hands behind his back, a neutral expression on his face, Naruto noticed. They said nothing to each other.

Once everyone was in the chamber, Naruto gave a neat little speech about the nature of friendship and international alliances - how useful, that each of the teams were from one of the Five Great Nations - and, as always, encouraged them to do their best, and that it was great honor to even make it this far. That there was no shame in failure.

Reactions were mixed when Hakkou explained that the preliminaries and subsequent tournament were based on individual merit, and that a lone failure would not doom one's teammates. Sighs of relief. Increases of worry. Bursts of confidence, born from the shackles of teamwork getting cast aside.

The eliminations began immediately. Chouko dropped out, once Hakkou gave the okay. She was already a chuunin, so there was no need for her to continue.

"Good luck, you two," she said, giving a reassuring pat on the back to both of her teammates.

"Like I need luck," Shikake said, with her dry, usual smirk. "I've got it covered."

"Thanks, Chouko-chan," Inou told her. He couldn't bring himself to smile. His father was watching.

With Chouko out of the ranks, the total was down to twenty-six. Thirteen pairs. It was still too much. Nobody else volunteered to drop out.

Until the first match was announced. Senritsu Go'on, of Konoha, versus Yamori, of Suna.

Yamori bowed out without question. "It's the freaking bear guy!" he explained to his teammates, after leaving the ring. "I don't stand a chance!"

The two remaining genin in his team just sighed at him. (And prayed, with varying degrees of intensity, they wouldn't have the same, terrible luck.)

As it happened, none of them had to battle Go'on. The genin he was paired against from Iwa, later on, wasn't nearly as lucky, however.

"How in the heck can anyone move that fast?" his defeated opponent gasped, holding his bruised sides. He received no answers.

Go'on just smiled shyly, rubbing his sore knuckles as he sat back down to watch the rest of proceedings, receiving a pat on the back from Sasuke.

Kyou got knocked out fairly early on by a Kumo ninja. Just like Sasuke had warned, he still didn't know where he was punching.

"I'm sorry, I disappointed you all…" he said to his teammates, his sensei, left eye swelling up, blood drying beneath his nose, when he finally came to.

"I'm not disappointed in you," Sasuke told him. "You did an excellent job."

"There's always next time," Sunao added, with a smile, and Kyou smiled back, feeling a lot better.

A few more matches happened, none of them terribly interesting. Mist versus Leaf, Leaf winning. Sand versus Stone, Sand winning. Kyou began to doze, face already cleaned-off, leaning against Go'on's shoulder there on the sidelines. His forehead protector felt cool against his swollen eye.

Things got interesting when it was Sunao's turn, paired against Aburame Shida, a kunoichi, eyes concealed by dark glasses, hair pulled into bushy braids. The fight ended in a tie, Shida drained of the chakra needed to feed her beetles, Sunao drained of the strength needed to attack and defend with the string of kunai on a wire that she had been favoring lately.

"No regrets," she said, managing to laugh, once it was all over. "Always wanted to fight an Aburame, anyways…" Now her only problem was coming up with another person she wanted to fight, now that she'd had this experience.

Inou and Karai both made quick work of their matches. Sasuke stopped paying attention after their successes, the rest of the genin picking each other off or otherwise dropping out.

In the end, there were eight left.

From Leaf, Nara Shikake, Senritsu Go'on, and the Uchiha siblings, Inou and Karai.

From Sand, a young man named Garyuu, who eyed his opposition with black eyes, tapping his nails against each other, running his tongue over his teeth behind his lips.

From Mist, a young woman named Natsuhaze Hari. There were beads in her hair and needles in her sleeves, and behind the high collar of her sweater there were thin scars like stitch marks over her mouth.

From Cloud, a boy named Ichii. He wore a winner's smile, his hair somehow impeccable and pale, his forehead protector a badge of honor, tied to his arm.

From Stone, a youth named Chouso with clay-caked palms, brown hair pulled into a high knot, bangs falling over the left eye.

The air in the ring was warm, still smelling of sweat and blood and metal.

The real tournament would begin in September, well over a month away. Naruto congratulated them all on their hard work, both winners and not-winners, and had the eight of them draw numbers from out of a box, to decide the upcoming matches.

Uchiha Inou versus Senritsu Go'on.

Nara Shikake versus Chouso of Stone.

Uchiha Karai versus Garyuu of Sand.

Ichii of Cloud versus Natsuhaze Hari.

The participants were encouraged to train hard and prepare as well as they could over the coming month, and when he gave the word, Hakkou declared the preliminaries over.

Everyone went home.

Karai had wanted to accompany her teammates out of the Forest, with Masao-sensei. Sanji and Usui had both been defeated quickly in the preliminaries and, more than anything, she wanted to apologize to them for making them look bad. Her match had been an absolute cinch of a thing, over and done very quickly. Compared to her, they must have looked like absolute fools. In any other circumstance, she'd have helped them, or held back, but…

"You will be going home with your brother and me," her father said, instead. "Come along."

Her father was there.

So, she had no choice but to follow. To give it her all. She'd apologize to her team later. She'd feel bad for them now. That was only fair.

Inou wasn't smiling, but Karai could see how excited he was.

You did a really good job, brother.

He didn't respond, but she didn't plan on saying any more, anyways.

The Forest was very dark and very still as the jounin senseis and chuunin proctors cleared the path and began leading the teams out and away. Kyou and Sunao tagged along ahead of Sasuke and his family, and received smiles and words of encouragement when they finally left the Forest, before they both went home.

"You made it very far. You'll do better next time. Get your rest."

So they did.

(Sasuke almost never said these kinds of things to his children.)

(At least, not to Inou and Karai, not yet.)

(But certainly to Takeru.)

When Kyou finally returned to his house, going up a flight of stairs to the room she shared above the shop with his father, he was greeted with a warm, sleepy hug after the lights got turned on. His father did not even ask if he had made it to the finals or not. "Look at those battle scars! I bet there's a story behind this," he said, touching his forehead with his son's and smiling, arms around his shoulders. "You wanna tell me about it?"

"Dad, is that even a question?" Kyou replied, holding his book and his clothes with both arms, his grin a clownish parody from all of the swelling.

He felt happy to be home.

Sunao was tackled by, in this order exactly, her four year old little brother, her seven year old little brother, her six year old little step-sister, and her exasperated stepmother, home for the first time in weeks. They'd been utterly unable to sleep, kept awake by smuggled candies and general excitement. "Leave Sunao alone, she must be exhausted!" she said, prying little arms away, left and right.

"Nah, I'm all right," Sunao replied. The hugs and the chatter and the everything was a better medicine to her than any sort of bandage, right now. She went into the kitchen to find the rest of the family waiting for her, around the kitchen table, some of the kids waking up, their heads resting on their arms. The rest were all on the couch. The credits of a movie were running on the television.

She felt relieved that the house was still in one piece.

Go'on didn't go home for a while, instead choosing to stay behind and talk to the Hokage about, well, things. Really, it was more the Hokage's idea than his, mostly because Go'on opted not to follow Sasuke out of the tower and the Forest immediately after the preliminaries, like everyone else did.

"You're turning into something of a legend, y'know?" the Hokage said, cheerfully, with that grin of his that even Go'on knew well. Every child that had spent any time at the academy knew that grin. "Since I hear you were the one that led your team through the Forest."

"Yeah, I… guess I did…" Go'on replied. "Dunno if I'm much of a legend, though…"

"Well you're impressive enough to make Gaara write a letter back to me. Like, immediately. That's something," the Hokage said. He laughed. "Since I had to write and tell him something when I heard about how fast you guys were, y'know?"

Gaara? The Gaara? The Kazekage? "Wh-what did he say…?"

"Not much, honestly. Mostly wondering how the heck ya did it," the Hokage replied. His grin softened, and he blinked. "How did you do it, anyways?"

And Go'on just shrugged, not really knowing how to answer. "I just… did, I guess…"

He went home when the Hokage did.

And his mother was very, very proud of him.

He felt safe, in his home.

It was late when the Uchihas returned to their own home, well past midnight. The lights in the house were still on.

Only Ino was still awake, it seemed, and she went to greet them in the hallway when they came in. "Well, how'd it go?" she asked. She was smiling, but it was a lesser smile, tinted with the preparation of sympathy.

"They both made it to the tournament finals," Sasuke replied. He didn't sound pleased. He began taking off his shoes.

The caution in her smile all but melted away, replaced by relief. She almost started to cry. "I knew you could do it," she said, stepping forward to embrace her two children, who were still standing.

"Don't coddle them," Sasuke said. He stood, and began heading down the hallway. "It's only going to get harder from here on out."

She didn't respond, but she held them more tightly, almost protectively.

"I'm going to go take a bath," Sasuke continued, and left. She heard him close the bathroom door behind him, from further down the hallway.

She let go of her children in the quiet that resulted.

"Inou, Karai, I am very proud of you. And I'm sure… your father is, too," she told them, holding them by their shoulders and smiling. "Even if he doesn't really show it." Her face fell slightly when she found that neither of them were looking at her, eyes to the floor in opposite directions. "…Inou, what's wrong?" she asked.

"…I'm fine, Mom. Just… tired," he replied.

"Oh, well, I bet you are," Ino said, smiling again. "Why don't you two go get some sleep? You must be exhausted."

No response. Ino took a breath in, and out, reforming her smile, taking out the false edge that her sense of obligation gave it.

"Tell you what. Tomorrow, I'll let you do anything you want. No matter what your father says," she said. There was a spark of rebellion in her eyes, and her voice. "Sleep in, watch TV, have candy for breakfast… whatever you want. I'll even make your favorite sushi for dinner."

"Can you make crunchy rolls, Mom?" Karai asked, finally looking up, finally smiling like usual.

"Any kind of sushi you want," Ino replied. Karai giggled. "I'll even get fancy tuna for you, Inou, I know how much you like that. That sound good?"

"…I'm gonna go to bed," Inou said, breaking away from his mother's grip on his shoulder and kicking his shoes off. He shuffled up the stairs.

"Mom, it sounds great," Karai said, holding her mother's arm almost reassuringly. "Thank you so much."

The door to Inou's bedroom slammed shut. Ino gave Karai a hug. "You're welcome, honey. You deserve it."

In his room, Inou flopped on the bed, his head hurting, feeling incredibly dirty. He wanted to wash his hair.

He wondered, miserably, why he wasn't happier. Why he wasn't happier.

"It's only going to get harder from here on out."

Oh. That was why. Of course.

He didn't even try to think about his opponent. Senritsu Go'on. In his exhaustion, he name sounded only vaguely familiar.

He fell asleep with his clothes still on.

It hurt to be home.

The next day, as promised, their mother let them sleep in. Inou still woke up habitually early, after the sunrise, but he stayed in bed, awake, waiting. He wouldn't leave unless his father made him. He ended up falling asleep again, when the house remained silent, not a person coming up the stairs for him. He changed into his pajamas, first, but he didn't take off his necklace.

He finally left his room in the afternoon to take a bath. He had his wet hair combed behind his ears, after when he entered the kitchen; the air smelled like rice and breakfast, and his mother was humming softly at the sink as she dried dishes. She turned around to look at him as he entered.

(Ino always thought he looked so handsome with his hair out of his eyes. He was the one that looked the most like his father, she always felt, with his sharp eyes and features. But she never told him this.)

(Takeru didn't look like Sasuke at all.)

"Did you sleep well?" she asked him. He didn't say anything, sitting at the table, leaning back in his chair. "What can I make you for lunch?"

"Whatever, I don't really care," he said.

"Well, luckily for you I have some rice left over from breakfast. I'll make you some onigiri," she replied. "I'll put okaka tuna in it, I have some in the fridge, I think."

"…thanks, Mom."

She opened the fridge. "You're welcome, honey."

Karai came downstairs, shortly afterward. She was dressed in a clean purple frock, but her hair was unruly as ever: straight in the front, sticking out everywhere in the back. She had bathed the night before, after her father. "Oh, Mom, you're making onigiri!" she said.

"You want some?'

"No, but thanks, though," she said. "Where's Dad?"

"He's out." Ino shut the fridge, and set the pot of leftover rice and the okaka on the counter. "He won't be joining us for dinner tonight."

"Why?"

Ino paused. "He said he had other plans."

(From an argument the night before: "What in the hell is worth celebrating? They aren't chuunin yet, this is not worth celebrating. This is not worth celebrating!")

(Sasuke had a habit of leaving whenever Ino put her foot down, really put her foot down. Going on walks, instead of giving her the satisfaction of a surrender.)

(The way that he yelled at her, at his children, ensured that this was a very rare occurrence, however.)

"Figures," Inou said. A strand of wet, black hair fell into his face, but he didn't bother pushing it back into place.

"So, I was thinking of making sushi for dinner tonight. That's what you wanted, yes?" Ino continued. She scooped rice out of the pot and began to shape it with her hands. "I know how much you like fancy tuna, Inou, would you like me to go to the store and get some?"

"I don't care," he said.

Ino stayed silent, shaping the onigiri, putting the okaka in it. "Then I'll do that. And Karai, I know you like crunchy rolls, yes? Hm, if Hajime decides to actually be home for once, I could maybe make those cream cheese rolls he likes so much…"

Nadeshiko didn't like fish, not very much. But Ino figured she'd maybe make something like a sesame or a sweet tofu roll, for her.

And Takeru, well. Chances were that he was going to be with Sasuke or a lady friend, that night, but Ino would make him something plain, in case he stayed home. His tastes were far simpler than his personality let on.

"Can I help you make any of it, Mom?" Karai asked. She had gone to the pantry, and had opened a bag of rice crackers.

"Oh, no, no, honey, let me handle it," Ino replied. She finished one onigiri, and began another. "You just relax, today. You deserve it."

"Okay, if you say so…" Karai stuck a rice cracker in her mouth; she started towards the hallway. "N'gonna go wa' tee-bee, wanna gome wif, meesan?"

Inou didn't respond. He looked out the window, nonchalantly.

"Inou, why don't you go join your sister?" Ino said.

"Hey, you said I could do whatever I want today, right?" he said, glaring at his mother for a moment, then looking back out the window. "I don't wanna watch TV."

"Inou…"

Karai bit the cracker in half, and chewed. "S'okay, I'm just gonna watch some cartoons or somethin'. You don't have to join me," she said, smiling. "I missed a lotta stuff 'cos of the exams! Gotta catch up, y'know…"

At least Karai could smile about it. She left.

Ino finished making the onigiri and put them in front of Inou at the table. "Well, eat up. "

He stopped slumping in his chair, sat up, and ate slowly, self-consciously, even though he was hungry beyond words. Ino began cleaning up.

The muffled sound of the television came drifting down the hallway, and with it came Nadeshiko. "You made onigiri?" she said, standing in the doorway.

Ino sighed. "I just put the rice away… Do you want me to make you some? I think I have enough left for one or two more."

"No, no, it's okay, you don't need to do that for me," Nadeshiko said. "I'm still full from breakfast."

Inou had stopped eating. The rice felt cold and sticky in his hands. He stared at the table.

"So, I'm thinking of making sushi for dinner tonight," Ino continued. "Nadeshiko, what do you want me to make you?"

"Oh. It's been a while since I've had sweet tofu sushi, but I know how long it takes you to make…" Nadeshiko held her elbow with one hand, holding her chin with the other.

"That's no trouble at all. I'm already making crunchy rolls and fancy tuna sushi, it's not like I'm expecting this to be over and done in a moment," Ino replied, laughing. "I'll make you sweet tofu sushi."

Nadeshiko paused, for a moment. "Fancy tuna…? We have fancy tuna?"

"No, no. I was going to go to the store and pick some up after I finished here."

"Let me do it for you. I'm not doing anything today," Nadeshiko said, tilting her head, her curtain of black hair falling slightly sideways.

"Nadeshiko, you don't have to…"

"No, really. What do you need for tonight?"

The onigiri crumbled between Inou's fingers. He put it down and went to go join Karai in the living room as his mother began forming a grocery list with Nadeshiko.

His older sister was gone when he went to retrieve his lunch, ten minutes later, since he was still hungry. Thank goodness.

He was even more grateful that she hadn't brought up the chuunin exams, or even addressed him while there in the kitchen. That would have been awful.

He ate the rest of his lunch in the living room, Karai munching away at her rice crackers. She had on a movie, one he recalled liking as a kid. It wasn't so bad.

They ate sushi, that night, without their father, or Takeru. But Hajime decided to be home and eat with them, and he did enjoy the cream cheese rolls his mother had made for him. He congratulated Inou and Karai tiredly, with his sigh-like voice. "Hope that Dad isn't too hard on you, from here on out."

Normally, Ino would have told him to not say such things. But Sasuke was not there, and neither was Takeru. They weren't around to hear it, or do anything about it.

It didn't make either of them feel much better, however. Even when he was gone, when there was actually a sort of peace in the house, their father was still there, to them. Especially to Inou, who always seemed to hear his voice in his absence.

But at least their mother seemed happier.