Hot air blew against my back. The sun was merciless. Getting up from my stiff squat, I dashed to a tree for shade and crouched down again. I kept my eyes focused.

Where was he?

"Pst. Twelve O'clock."

I spun around. "Oh, phew. It's you."

"Thought I was someone else?" Hana asked.

"Sorry, heat is getting to me. Where?"

"There."

I scanned the area. I saw a huddled group. They were hidden behind the bushes, but I made out the red cap on one of their heads.

"Should we ambush them?" I asked Hana.

Hana tied her hair into a tighter ponytail. "We have only about six more minutes. Maybe it's wise to wait."

"It's too hot," I said, impatient.

"How many belts have you got?"

From my pockets, I pulled out two belts. "You?"

"Five, including mine."

"Sweet!" I said. We slapped a high-five.

"Then we should wait," she said. "I see five of them and two of us. We'll lose eight belts if we fail. Better to just wait out our victory."

"Great, except we aren't winning."

"What?"

"We aren't winning. Ayame's beaten. So that just leaves you, me, and Tamaki. I say we move. Let's go."

I moved away from the tree.

We circled the field, stalking our prey. No one heard us yet. Hana and I exchanged a nod.

"ATTACK!"

I tackled down one boy. We crashed into a second boy. While everyone was shocked, I grabbed their belts.

Hana gave her opponents a chance. She counted to three, then rammed into one boy in the dirt, wrestling for the belt.

"RUN! It's the crazy girls!"

"Oh, come on. Stop being wussies," Hana said, dodging a punch. She extended a foot, tripping her opponent. As he fell, she pulled his belt away.

"Hey Minoji, give me your belt, and I'll let you go," I said. "Because you had a lot of nerve to bully Ayame like that."

He backed away. "She tripped by herself!"

I blinked. "Oh. I thought—nevermind."

"Minoji, just give us your belt before we get nasty," Hana said.

Minoji tossed it and ran away. The rest of the guys had ran off too.

"Got two."

"Two here."

"Hell yeah! That was way easier than—"

My face planted flat the ground. Dizzy, I sent my fist up to my attacker. He caught it. I felt my arm bend back.

"Ow OW! Stop that!" I kicked.

Gin pinned me to the ground. How did I not notice him disappear during the ambush? Damn!

"You lose."

"Hana!"

Unanswered, I looked up. Hana was surrounded by boys.

"HANA RUN!"

"What. Do you. Think. I'm trying to do?" She dealt a blow. Through the confusion, she pushed one boy aside and ran off. They chased her, leaving me alone with Gin.

I tried to escape. I failed. Seeing as I had no choice, I did the only thing that came to mind. I head butted him.

Our skulls collided. He fell back, his cap falling off.

"Oh—"

"My—"

"GODS, THAT HURT."

"You are crazy!" he said.

"Maa got leass you off." I shook my head, then flipped up. "Fight for it?" I asked, going into battle position.

Grinning, he did the same, adjusting the cap on his head. "I've got six," he told me smugly.

"Five. But once you lose, you'll have zero," I taunted.

I charged. Gin moved out of the way. I did a ballet spin skin. My foot hit something heavy. One poof of smoke later, I saw I kicked a log.

"Hey, no fair! Since when can you do that!" I shouted. "Subs haven't even been introduced yet!"

"Thought I'd surprise—"

I jutted out an elbow, cutting off the voice behind me.

We fought until we heard the whistle. I cursed, within touch of his belt. Calling it a truce, again, Gin and I left for the center field.

Teacher Funeno was waiting for everyone in center field. We were the first to arrive.

Teacher Funeno shook his head. "Again, Ginjiro? Ayae? The goal is to capture each other's belts."

"We did," we said, showing him our stashes.

"In stealth."

We laughed sheepishly.

Funeno sent us to the bathroom to clean up. We dropped our belts and raced each other to the school building.

"Guys won," Gin bragged.

"Not after that embarrassing defeat two minutes ago!"

"You're probably the only girl left. Admit it, girls lost."

"You forget Hana."

"Four against one? She got no chance."

"It's Hana. You wimps got no chance," I said. "And don't forget Tamaki."

"Thought she lost already."

"Nope!"

I headed to the girl's bathroom. Gin went down the other hallway.

I splashed my face. In my mirror, I saw I had twigs and mud all over. And a bloody nose. Before I left, I made sure my nose stopped bleeding. I did not want to risk a gusher, so I stole a roll of toilet paper and stuffed it in my humongous pant pockets.

When we got back to the fields, all the students were gathered. Funeno announced the total belts of each team.

Girls won. Hana and I had twelve. Tamaki had three, coming out of the adventure spotless. Another girl had hid the entire time, adding one more. To break the tie, Dai showed with two more after beating up the boy who dared steal hers.

I cheered. The girls all high-fived.

After school, I saw someone I did not think I would see in a while.

"Shisui!" I called.

Shisui waved back, two ice cream cones in hand. Laughing, I snatched the cone from him.

"Long time no see, squirt."

Shisui had been gone for a whole month for some mission in Suna.

In that month, Shisui had not changed much. I knew he wanted a Suna tan to impress a certain girl. He was as pale as ever. My dad aside, who got sunburns, no one in our clan ever tanned. Not that it mattered. Kurenai had already had a new boyfriend.

"Was the mission good?" I asked, licking my ice cream. Ah, cold.

"Eh, sandy. Came back early." He waved the topic away. "How's the academic building of torture? They fixed the air conditioning yet?"

"Yeah right. They haven't even bothered. So now we just bake in the fields all day. We played flag race."

"Ah, I remember those. How many did ya steal?"

"Five."

"Only five? I'm disappointed. I could have gotten at least ten."

"Oh, shut up." I shoved him playfully.

I finished my ice cream. Halfway through our walk home, I unzipped my backpack and tossed to Shisui a stack of books. "Since you're here, help me carry those?"

He juggled as I piled more things on top.

"Wait, wait, I thought I fixed your scroll?"

"It exploded. And burned all my homework. Then the police came," I deadpanned. "Apparently somebody didn't do the sealing technique right."

My room had burnt walls and shattered window. Oh, and a missing roof. It had been a miracle that I was not hurt. Still, I had to scrub ashes out of my hair with five showers and ten bottles of shampoo.

My clan fixed most of the house but not the roof. So now I had bird poop all over my carpet.

And because my closet burned down, I had to borrow clothes from Gin.

Shisui owed me a big shopping spree.

Shisui laughed nervously. He decided he'd rather talk about this mission after all. Sand. More sand.

He got me a fan as a souvenir.

"Huh!"

I turned it in my hand and smiled.

"Thanks!"

Shisui also got me something else.

"And I got these!" He handed me two pieces of paper.

"What are they?"

"Tickets to the fall Chuunin Exam. You see, Itachi's been released…"

I froze.

"And, well, he'll be in it."

I stood in place, my foot glued to the road. I stared at him like he had two heads.

"It would be great if you would go and support him? You know, in the finals? Uh, squirt? You okay?"

I needed time to recover.

When I did, I handed the tickets back to Shisui with more force than needed.

I paused, then opened my mouth, then closed it. I could not find the words I wanted. Finally, I said, "Shisui, I haven't seen Itachi in two years. He's your friend, but he's not mine anymore. You can keep those."

Shisui sagged. "You're still upset with him, aren't you?"

"I'm not upset. I just think that if Itachi doesn't want to see me, it wouldn't be right for me to see him." I was surprised by I smoothly I said that.

I quickened my pace. Shisui caught up and handed the tickets back.

"No refunds!"

"I—"

"Come on, squirt, you can't really believe that. Itachi misses you."

"No, he doesn't," I said.

"Yes, he does, and he needs your support. So go or give the tickets to someone else. But I ain't taking them back."

I looked at him hard.

Shisui shrugged. "Besides, Itachi can't avoid you there, can he? Just sayin'."

I pointed at him. "Aha! Itachi is still avoiding me! If he doesn't want to see me, then I don't either. I'm not going!"

Shisui played along in his Shisui way. "But why would he possibly intentionally avoid someone for so long for the sake of an unpleasant encounter. In fact, he is deriving more satisfaction from your stress out over this trivial issue of not being able to see him, which only point to the fact that you do wish to see him, and said hypothesis can be proven by your statement above, which I quote, "If he doesn't want to see me, then I don't either," implying that the only reason you are keeping up with this charade of not wishing to see him isn't because you do not wish to, but because of your belief that he does not wish to. Because any set of induction skills can successful conclude you really do want to see him. And bad."

My eye twitched. Those were some big words.

He continued, "Why? Due to my understanding of your character—"

"What! Okay, stop right there."

Silence.

"Okay," I said, after a lot of thought. "First of all, half of that did not make any sense. Second of all, you are using random facts to make a wrong point sound right. You start with, "If he doesn't want to see me, then I don't either," which does not mean, "If he does want to see me, then I do too." You are also assuming he wants to see me in the first place, which is wrong too. I think I can say I know myself best to know, and I do not want to see Itachi."

Shisui blinked. He moved his index finger, tracing over my words. After drawing a few loops in the air, he raised his eyebrows high.

"Wow, when did you get smart?"

"I go to school."

Shisui sighed. "Fine. Then don't go."

"I won't."

"You definitely won't."

"Yes."

"Not at all."

"Yes."

"But you will go anyway even if right now you are saying that you won't go."

"No."

"So, you aren't saying you won't go?"

"Yes– No! Shisui, stop tricking me!"

"Don't learn that in school, now do ya? See you at the Konoha arena in a week!"

I gritted my teeth. "I. Am. Not. Going!"

"Don't care," he sang. "You may learn a thing or two. Oh, and going back to our discussion earlier, just because point A, "If he does not wish to see you, you do not wish to see him," does not imply point B, "If he does want to see you, then you do too," it still does not prove point C, which is that you do not want to see him. Which is independent of whether he wants to see you or not."

"Even if it doesn't prove C, you can't prove your part either," I tested, having no idea what we were saying anymore.

"Oh, I think I'll have my proof in a week. You'll show up. After all, you don't want to waste such an opportunity for the sake of an argument you already lost, now do ya?"

"I didn't lose. If I don't show up at the Chuunin Exam, then I win. Ha!"

"Yeah, but you lost at the same time. I just bamboozled you into not going just so you can win a silly argument and spite Itachi."

"And I lost how?"

"You just proved point D. If you really aren't upset over the fact that you can't see him, then you wouldn't care you can't, now would you? And if you didn't care, then why would you waste two perfectly free Chuunin Exam tickets, tickets that you can't get under any other circumstances, and not just enjoy the show? The show that is only this time being held here, in Konoha."

I crossed my arms. "Shisui, have you thought that I just don't want to watch Itachi in the match?"

"Squirt, Itachi isn't the only participant. You are so caught up thinking of him, you seemed to have missed the fact that the Exam is an exciting competition of worldwide ninjas." Sensing my lack of a comeback, he grinned wider. "Nice try, but I grew up with Itachi and twisted logic. You're eons away from winning these arguments. Of course, you can prove me wrong. In that case, I guess you'll catch Itachi again in another two more years or so. Oh, crossroad, gotta go. See ya, squirt!"

"Can you stop calling me 'squirt,'" I said. "I'm not short anymore. Last month, I grew a centimeter."

"Really? It looks like you shrunk."

"Because I don't grow like crazy like you!"

He laughed.

After Shisui was gone, I looked at the tickets once more. I stuffed them into my pockets.

That night, I collapsed onto my bed, staring at the crumbled tickets. Front row seats. These were only second best to balcony seats. I doubted even Tamaki could afford these.

I thought of Itachi. He was one of my first friends in Konoha. But for two years, he had been gone. His family had been gone. Over the seasons, no matter how much I had wanted to see him, I could not.

Shisui was right. If I wanted to see Itachi again, this was my one chance.

But did I want to see him anymore? When I was eight years old, I had been so hurt over this. Month after month I had chased after him, to make sure he was okay, to make sure we were okay. But if Itachi wanted to break our friendship, then maybe he was not worth it. Friendship was not supposed to hurt. It was not supposed to be one-sided either.

I slammed a pillow over my head. "What do I do? Go or don't go?"

The stars were silent above. If they were going to whisper some mystical answer, now would be a great time to hear it.

"Come on, guys. What happened to your cosmic powers? Aren't you supposed to have all the answers?" I yelled.

When I got no reply, I searched in the dark. I lit my lamp and shook my future ball. Screw symbols in the sky when you have a future ball.

.

The day came. I found myself braiding my hair, ribbon in my mouth. My dad popped in my room.

"Someone's dressed."

"Yorum sumpose toome." I removed the ribbon from my mouth and weaved it into my hair. "You are supposed to be."

"How about a kimono, then?"

"Not that dressed!" I did not want to show up to the Chuunin Exams in sweatpants, that was all.

"Okay. And I'm sorry again that something came up."

"It's fine. I'm going with Gin."

"Your detention buddy?"

"It was an accident! So what if we spilled mop water on the teacher."

"You dumped it on the teacher as a misfire of trying to soak your friend," my dad said, disapproving.

"Well, Gin fired first. And we paid the detention, alright?"

"And the time before?"

"We thought rocks were a permissible weapon."

"Uh-huh. And the time before that?"

"Okay, that one was my bad. But the time before that, I swear I didn't see them when I tested my kick."

"Wandering around in school fields after school hours."

"Ballet ended early. What else could I do except play a little?"

"Destroying said fields."

"It was muddy, okay?"

"Smuggling food into classrooms."

"We were hungry after trying to run away."

My dad sighed. "I'm beginning to think that kid is a bad influence."

I rolled my eyes. "Dad, chill. Good luck with research."

"Thank you! My team believes this might work this time. You see, when we placed the—"

"Yes, yes, good luck and see you later!" I shooed my dad out of my room.

Outside, Gin was waiting for me by his usual place at the gate. On our way to the arena, I gave Gin one of my crumbled up tickets. He held the ticket up to the sunlight.

"Wow, Ayae, these are hot. How did you get front row?"

I mumbled under my breath.

"What?"

"Nothing," I said. "Come on. Race you!"

Our backpacks shuffled behind us as we ran.

The Exams did not begin for a while, but there was already a giant line that wrapped around the Konoha arena five times.

Gin and I exchanged a nod. We got on our knees. We crawled through the mob of legs to the front entrance. A pair of security guards stopped us before we made it in. One guard caught my arm and pulled me up. The other guard got Gin.

"Hey! Let go!"

The guards held us. "Not a chance, kids."

I flashed my ticket. "We aren't sneaking in. We have tickets."

Surprised, the guard took my ticket and examined it. He looked skeptical. "Where did you get these?"

"Got them from a friend," I said.

The guard frowned. "You mean stole."

"She did not steal that!" Gin snapped.

"Then you did."

"He- We did not steal anything!" I said. "Are you going to let us in or what?"

Luck was on our side. Just then, the crowd separated for a big escort.

"All hail the Fire Daimyo and Princess!"

Everyone, including the guards, bowed in respect. In that moment, Gin and I were freed. We sneaked inside.

Passing by us were a group of dancers and musicians. In the center were four people lifting a carriage. There were two silhouettes behind the silk curtain to the carriage. A fan slid the curtain aside. The princess peeked through the curtain.

I was surprised to see the Fire princess. She was pretty. Her lips were red. She had flowers in her hair buns. But all the makeup and fanciness aside, she looked only a few years older. In fact, her face looked like mine.

Gin tugged my sleeve. "Come on."

Together, we squeezed through the crowds to the front of the arena. Matching the ticket numbers to the seat numbers, I saw we got first row. If we wanted, we could jump over the railing and land in the arena after a drop.

Everyone around us looked rich. Political leaders, industry owners, noblemen. I looked up to the balconies. I saw the Hokage lighting his pipe. Beside the Hokage was another Kage. He was bulky and had dark skin. The third Kage was hidden by his robes.

Above the Kages, in the highest tower, the Fire Daimyo sat with his daughter. They were served drinks. The curtains pulled down around them.

Below the Kages, in the lower balconies were noble clan families. Ms. Hyuuga sat with the other women of her clan. They were all beautiful with long hair and pale eyes. In the front was a little girl clutching her father. The father was staring furiously at someone.

I followed his gaze.

Oh hell no.

It was my clan. Shisui was being badgered by one of my uncles. The Uchiha elder sat in the center, alongside two men. One of them was Itachi's father. Itachi's father had his arms folded, glaring back at the Hyuuga father before focusing on someone else.

I followed his gaze and found the contestants' balcony. One of the contestants looked nervous. His knees were shaking. His hand clutching the railing hard.

The others looked calm. One was smirking.

Then I saw the smallest of the contestants, standing mostly in the shadow.

The distance was too great. I could not make out too many details, but my heart skipped a beat.

Itachi moved and disappeared behind one of the doors. I stood up from my seat.

"What are you—"

"I need to check something," I said.

"But-"

"Go get popcorn or something. I'll be right back."

I passed seat after seat. I saw ninjas entering a hallway. I wondered if that led anywhere, so I followed behind and found stairs. After a billion steps down and several halls, I saw an opening. I ran back when I caught glimpse of the arena floor. Wrong way!

Thinking it must have been upstairs, I tried the second floor. The door to the floor was locked, so I tried the third floor.

It was a maze. I gave up and settled for any door, any door at all. I heard a voice behind one and cracked it open.

"Should we send him out, my Lord?"

"Not at all! I find him entertaining."

"Thank you! Now stop talking about me like I'm not here."

I heard the Fire Daimyo laugh. He fanned himself. There was an older man next to him. The older man had white hair and traveler clothes. There was a giant scroll on his back.

"I like you," the Fire Daimyo said. "Witty as always, my friend."

"Father?" the princess said.

"One moment, darling," the Fire Daimyo said. "So how has been your journey?"

"Well, I've got a massive collection of information I can't wait to write down. I've been driving my publisher mad in fact—"

"She still hasn't left you alone?" the Fire Daimyo said.

"Nah. Same with the editor. I think she had enough of my chicken scratch," the traveler said, laughing. "No matter where I flee, she always finds me."

"Father…"

"Hold on, darling. When you are finished, have it delivered prompt-prompt to the capital. I have been dying for the next part of the series."

"My Lord!" said a man in black robes and top hat. "Please."

"Oh, you'll get your copy too," the Fire Daimyo assured, waving his fan at the counselor.

"That's not what I meant!" the counselor said, covering his face out of embarrassment. "I don't believe now is such a time to be discussing such inappropriate—"

"Ah! But what is inappropriate? I am merely capturing nature in its purest form. And that, my friend, is my art to you," the traveler said with a humble bow.

"Brilliant! Just brilliant! Well said," the Daimyo praised, clapping his hands enthusiastically. With his fan, he pointed to one of the servants. "Are you recording that? Hurry, hurry, while the memory is still fresh!"

The servant dipped his brush in ink and wrote on the scroll.

The traveler sweat-dropped. "My Lord, I'm flattered, but that is not necessary."

"Yes, it is. I want each of your words recorded onto this parchment here."

"Some words are only meant to be heard once, and that has an impact greater than being read a thousand times."

"More brilliance! Did you get that down?"

"Oi, didn't you just get what I said? Stop writing what I'm saying! And don't write that either! I told you to stop! Stop that brush!"

"You are truly amusing, Jiraiya." The Fire Daimyo chuckled, covering his mouth with the fan.

"Father!"

"Oh! Right, yes, darling?"

She pointed to the curtains. "The match is about to begin."

"Oh! Thank you, darling."

"Ah, then it is time I bid my farewells," the traveler said.

"You shall not stay?" the Fire Daimyo asked, disappointed.

"Nah. Catch you later, and thanks for the drinks!" With that, the traveler disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The Daimyo sighed, fanning himself. "Let's now enjoy the show, shall we?"

"Father, may I..."

I closed the door.

I scurried back. I did not want to miss the match myself. I ran back down the hallway when I bumped into someone.

It was the traveler.

"Princess?"

"Uh..."

The traveler noticed his mistake.

"Are you looking for your parents?" he asked, squatting down. "The audience is that way." He pointed down the hall.

I thanked him and followed his directions. I heard his wooden shoes click on the floor. His footsteps faded.

Miraculously, I found my way back to my seat. Gin had his hat filled with popcorn.

"Where'd you go?" he asked.

I frowned. "Not where I wanted to."

"Well, at least you're back. The match's about to begin. They are introducing the people now and— what the—! Since when was your cousin in this thing? That's your cousin, right?" Gin pointed to Itachi as he entered the arena.

Oh yeah, that was him. Uchiha right there.

"Since now?" I squirmed in my seat.

"You knew, didn't you?"

"A little. Okay, a lot. But I didn't know until I got the tickets, I swear!"

"Whatever."

Gin stuffed his mouth with popcorn.

I sighed. "Gimme popcorn."

We watched each contestant be introduced by name and country. A creep in straitjacket. A teenage girl. A boy chewing on a twig. A tall masked man. A muscular man. A jittery kid.

There were many different headbands, but I saw only one for Konoha. Itachi's. He stood still, paying little attention to the cheers when his name was announced. Mindlessly, I clapped with the audience.

Then, Itachi looked up. He made eye contact with one person.

Me.

.

Taijutsu, the art of hand to hand combat. The grace of each punch, each kick, each drop and flip. The power of each bone snapping crunch lie in taijutsu. The skill to disable the opponent with a single jab to the muscle.

Ninjutsu, the art of unlocking spirituality. To be able to unleash one's nature and emit it into the surroundings. Whether for an offensive expulsion of fire, or a defensive concealment into the shadows. This skill becomes the unique talent that defines the ninja's role and path.

Genjutsu, the art of tampering with the mind. By bewildering and overpowering the senses, one can create the ultimate betrayal of the human body to the human mind. It is the skill that remains the most arcane, yet also the most silent and deadly.

To have one mastered means someone worthy of recognition. To master them all means fulfilling the requirement of a perfect shinobi. At least, that was what my textbook said.

Below were eight ninjas approaching that same perfection. For over a decade, never had there been a preliminary twice. Thirty three genin qualified for the finals, yet they slashed the numbers twice, leaving behind only the best of best. Whether for politics or pleasure, this particular Chuunin Exam was the jackpot.

The audience was restless. Everyone itched for the fightings to begin. People pooled money at the betting table.

"I'd put my money on him. He ranked second during the last Exam! He almost made it!"

"Heard some frightening information on him. All assassination missions."

"A lone kunoichi among the leagues and the Kage is betting on her!"

"So this is the heir of the Uchiha."

While the gossip spread, most of the contestants left the arena. Itachi left as well.

Two contestants stayed: one ninja from Kusa and one ninja from Iwa.

"Hey, see that man over there?" Gin pointed to the Iwa ninja who was waving to all his fans. "He's from Iwa. This is his third time in the exam. On his previous try, he made it to second place. I don't know why he was not picked for chuunin though, since second is usually enough."

I watched the Iwa ninja flex his muscles, earning a few faints from the ladies in the crowd. He was tall, bulky, and shirtless. He was not shy to show off his tan. On his bandana was the symbol of two rocks.

Gin then pointed to Kusa ninja. He told me about his clan's ability to merge in with their surroundings. The Kusa ninja was in baggy khaki. He had pasty skin and bleached hair.

"How do you know so much?" I asked Gin, suspicious.

"I have my ninja smarts," Gin bragged.

"No. Really." His ninja smarts was my ninja smarts. He got his information from somewhere, probably the same place as his mysterious popcorn.

Gin gave a sheepish grin. From his pocket, he took out a booklet. "Got a copy of the betting cheat-sheet," he said.

"Where did you get that?"

Gin kept his voice low. "Err, don't look back, but you'll see a noble three seats back looking for something."

"You what?"

"Same place as popcorn, okay? He dropped it, so I picked it up."

I flipped through the pages of the booklet. Might as well see what was in it.

There was a profile of each contestant. I saw information like country, clan, age, mentor, techniques, abilities, missions, success rate, betting odds… My jaw dropped. The booklet went as far as to listing diseases, diet, chakra type, and blood type.

I looked up. Blood type? Did I even know my blood type?

It was the ultimate stalking book! I read about the Iwa ninja on the first page. Now I knew he liked mountain hiking, wrestling, and… statue making? You got to be kidding.

"Why would anyone have this?" I asked.

Gin shrugged. "It's a tournament, Ayae. If you are going to bet, you would want to win. I think the book is to help rich asses rig everything in their favor."

"Wow."

Before I could read anything else, the match began. The contestants shook hands. Then they backed up to a comfortable distance, both in battle position.

The Iwa ninja made the first move. He sprinted forward and leaped up. While landing, he punched the ground. Everyone felt the aftershock.

The ground of the arena had split in two, with rocks coming out in spikes. After a few hand signs, the Kusa ninja melted into the ground just in time.

The Kusa ninja reemerged behind the Iwa ninja and stabbed a knife in his back.

My eyes widened. The crowd went silent.

The Iwa ninja exploded in a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared, a monumental stone statue stood in his place, featuring the Iwa ninja in a show-off heroic pose. The statue stood ten feet tall in all its terracotta glory, half naked, with full eight-packs. One arm curled up into biceps, while the other hand shot out into the sky in a salute, dangling the Kusa ninja by the back of his shirt.

Unable to free himself, the Kusa ninja stayed in the air.

The silence shattered. The crowd burst out laughing. Gin laughed with them. I covered my face, embarrassed for the Kusa ninja.

The real Iwa ninja leaned against one of the rocks. He laughed and bowed to the audience.

Out of sympathy, he threw a shuriken. It ripped through the Kusa ninja's shirt, freeing him. The Kusa ninja landed on his feet, embarrassed.

"All good fun, eh?" the Iwa ninja said. His dialect was different from Fire's. The ladies fainted again at the foreign accent.

Hissing, the Kusa ninja threw a dagger.

The Iwa ninja caught the dagger between his fingers before it reached his nose. "You attempt to kill me, albino boy? Well, if you insist on being so serious." He straightened himself up. He cracked his neck. "Then I guess I should respect your wishes."

He banged both his fists into the earth. Boulders flew into the air. They shattered into a million rocky spikes. With a thrust of his arm, the spikes launched in all directions. Including mine.

I slammed the booklet to my face, as if that would protect me.

The spikes hit some unseen barrier and crumbled into dust. People in white masks made a barrier around the crowd. I slumped in my chair. Front row seats? Not a good idea.

The nobleman next to me laughed at my panic.

"Silly girl. As if they could harm us," he scoffed, sipping his sake. My nose wrinkled at the smell the alcohol. I leaned toward Gin.

Gin had his mouth open with the popcorn still in it. He was in shock. When he came around, he turned to me. "Whoa."

"I know," I whispered. Man, that was dangerous.

"That. Was. AWESOME!"

Nevermind.

I shrunk into my seat, while Gin leaned forward, his nose centimeters short of the barrier.

The Kusa ninja dodged and snaked around the spikes. He submerged into the ground again. But this time, the Iwa ninja slammed both of his palms into the earth. He created a shockwave in the ground. The ground was waving, going from solid to liquid. Trees and bushes rocked back and forth, beginning to sink.

The match ended when the Kusa ninja floated up, unconscious. The ground hardened again into a smooth plain. The Iwa ninja was the winner.

The crowd cheered.

A particular section of the audience rooted, "IWA! IWA! IWA!" Gin joined them. The rest of the people from Iwagakure clapped, though with a lot more enthusiasm than in the beginning. Others were booing. Accusations of cheating were shot into the air.

The Iwa ninja bowed to it all. Then he stomped on the ground and mud slid out for a dramatic exit.

Two medics rushed to the Kusa ninja.

A small intermission took place, and I returned to the booklet. This booklet had been right.

"Dude, that was just— Man! I have got to tell my bro this. Did you see that? He punched the rock and it went like B-BOOMM and…" The popcorn flew in the air as Gin punched air.

"Mhm." I shooed, too busy flipping through the pages.

Gin picked up his fallen hat and dusted off the corn crumbs. "That was the coolest thing ever. He's so going to win this!"

"Maybe." I scanned through the names.

Gin peeked over my shoulder. "Looking up your cousin?"

Uchiha. Found him. I skimmed, and then slammed the booklet shut, disappointed.

Nothing.

Itachi's profile only said that he was of the prodigy Uchiha clan, had the Sharingan, and had good speed and movement.

"Are you worried?" Gin asked. "He's next."

"I know."

"He'll get murdered. Have you seen his opponent?"

I winced. "He won't. He's pretty good." I reassured myself. Itachi could fight. Gin was not there that day.

"He better be if my bro lost to him," Gin scoffed.

The proctor announced the next match.

Itachi walked into the arena alongside his opponent, an Ame ninja.

Itachi extended a hand in courtesy. The Ame ninja did not shake his hand.

The Ame ninja wore a gas mask that made his breathing heavy. He had on a beige straitjacket with pockets and plastic tubes that carried his oxygen. His back was hunched. His arms dangled before him like lead weight. The Ame ninja looked like he belonged on the hospital bed, not in a fight. Yet, his eyes were bloodshot. From him was a chilling aura.

I shuddered and tugged on Gin's sleeve.

"Hey, read to me about that guy?"

Gin looked for the Ame ninja in the booklet.

"Hurry!" I rushed.

The proctor whistled.

Already, the second match was different from the first. Instead of separating and moving into defense positions, these two contestants did nothing.

Itachi stood still.

I was shaking Ginjiro like a madman. Why was Itachi not moving away? Going into some defense position? At least get out a damn kunai!

"Who is that guy? Is he dangerous? He won't kill Itachi right? I need to know! Now!"

"Stop... shaking... can't... read!" Gin slurred.

Below, the tension was strong. The Ame ninja began to circle Itachi, one step at a time. His arms lugged behind him. He made his way to Itachi's back. Itachi did not move.

Then, without warning, two shuriken were sent flying. They breezed past Itachi's face at such a rapid speed, his hair fluttered. Itachi did not blink.

"Heh. No fear," the Ame ninja rasped. More heavy breaths. Inhale. "I'll give you a chance to surrender…" Exhale. "Before I bleed that pretty little head…"

"I shall return your offer," Itachi said.

The Ame ninja's chuckle rose to a creepy laugh. In a flash, clones trapped Itachi within a circle. A swarm of weapons attacked him from every angle.

Itachi had already leaped into the air. He deflected any kunai coming at him with his own, scattering all of them so precisely that each flew toward an Ame ninja clone. The clones splattered into vapor.

The vapors regenerated back into a replacement clone.

When Itachi landed on the ground, he was in the same trouble.

"I closely studied your…" Inhale. "Battle style at preliminaries…" Exhale. "I know you like running and attacking from the shadows. Taking advantage of size and stealth like a coward mouse. But now…" Inhale. "You are in plain sight and…"

Exhale.

"Dead."

More weapons flew from all direction. I snapped shut my eyes.

Thump.

Thump-thump-thump.

"Fire style…"

My eyes opened. I was blinded by the light and heat.

From the air, Itachi blew a breath of fire the size of the arena. The Ame ninja and his clones stared, bewildered, unable to dodge something of that size. They were eaten by the flames and disappeared into the light. I shielded my face when I felt the burn against my cheeks.

By the time the fire was gone, the ground sizzled. Itachi stood in the center of a crater, ignoring the gasps from the audience. He looked around. He turned to the untouched woods in the far edges of the arena.

"Come out."

A band of wires shot out from the woods, taking everyone by surprise. The wires wrapped around Itachi and trapped him before he had a chance to escape.

From the shadows, the unharmed Ame ninja came out.

"How did you know?" the Ame ninja rasped, his breath heavier. His eyes were rolling in joy.

"Your arms are incapacitated," Itachi said. "The weapons were hidden in the shadows and suspended among the surrounding trees by wire. The clones were merely meant to deceive, so your real position would not be revealed."

"You realized too late." The Ame ninja chuckled, but it turned into a wheeze. "I'll kill you… you… little…"

My eyes widened as the Ame ninja lifted an arm. The sleeve slid up and showed a rotted hand with a knife out the palm.

My breath hitched. The Ame ninja was serious. He was coming to kill Itachi.

"Shit!" Gin cried, shaking my shoulder. "This guy does assassinations, Ayae. Your cousin should yell forfeit while he still can, and the proctors can interfere!"

I was stammering.

Step.

Inhale.

Step.

Exhale.

Step.

Inhal-

A bare grin. "My offer still stands," Itachi whispered. The wires strangled him tighter. He watched the Ame ninja step closer, less than a meter away.

One more step…

The Ame ninja fell onto the ground, gasping for air. His body jerked in panic. Inhale exhale inhaleexhale.

Itachi looked unimpressed.

The Ame ninja gasped for air, going blue and purple. His eyes were wide and watery as he stared in fury at the boy above him.

The jerking stopped after a long minute.

The proctor did a countdown, before raising his hand.

"Winner! Konoha shinobi, Uchiha Itachi!"

The crowd roared. There were cheers, the Konoha audience giving deafening applauds. Shisui rooted as the loudest of them all.

My mouth was open. I was as dumbfounded as Gin.

"What…"

"Just…"

"Happened?"

Then Ginjiro saw. He pointed to the unconscious Ame ninja on the ground. His back revealed his oxygen pipe. It was sliced wide open.

Only after a long time did I realize what happened. The Ame ninja was doomed from the start. After one glance, Itachi had already figured the Ame ninja's weakness. He made one slit into the pipe the second the match started. Not even the Ame ninja himself knew, until it was too late.

And Itachi made sure it was too late. His lone attack was not to burn the Ame ninja. Fire ate everything, but most importantly, it ate the air. Then all he had to do was wait.

Itachi did not need to lift another finger.

I could not find any words.

I laughed at myself. "He made it in, dummy," I told myself. "Of course he'd be good enough to fight."

All that time, I was worried over nothing. I became grim though. The Ame ninja was hurt before the match even began, making him one of the weaker opponents. What if Itachi did not face him, but one of the other six opponents?

The medics carried away the Ame ninja, fumbling to find an oxygen mask. Itachi easily broke free of the wires. Then he walked out of the arena. His match was finished.

In the next match, a kunoichi flipped her hair. It was blonde and cropped short. She was well built, with full breasts and wide hips. Mounted on her back was a falchion sword. The band wrapped stylishly around her arm showed her home in Iwa as well.

On the other side was a boy from Suna. It was noon now, the weather hot. But he covered every part of his body with armor. He looked sick, his knees shaking. He held a katana.

Two seconds in, and I was pretty sure who was going to win.

The Iwa kunoichi cocked an eyebrow. "Well, this is a waste of time."

"Wh- whatcha talking about?" the Suna ninja asked, regripping the sword in his sweaty hands.

"I've seen your battles, hon. A weak Konoha girl and an injured Yuga boy." She stepped closer to him.

Once close, she toyed with the tip of her opponent's katana. "And luck in both places. While I fought off the murderous Kiri and Kusa." She looked boredly at the Suna ninja, tilting the katana down with a finger. "How do you expect to attack me with this stick? You are not even holding it right."

Angry, the Suna ninja stabbed the katana forward.

The kunoichi spun to his right. Before he knew it, he was lifted by the shirt. She threw him across the field and into the crater.

He landed in with a thud. Shouting, he held his head. It was bleeding.

As the kunoichi approached him, he got more scared. His katana was gone, sent across the arena somewhere.

The kunoichi pushed him back down with her heel. "Like I said, a waste of time. I'll give you a chance to forfeit."

If I were the Suna ninja, I would have screamed forfeit.

He did not.

The kunoichi was stepping on a clone. Three more Suna ninja charged from behind. They were skilled in the katana, but the kunoichi did not even summon a weapon. She blocked every attack with her arm or knee. Then she aimed for the Suna ninja on the left.

She landed an one-eighty kick. My eyes followed up to the swing of her legs until there was a blur of chakra. A ear-popping BOOM later, the Suna ninja was soaring in the air...

...all the way out of the arena.

"Hm, homerun," the kunoichi observed.

My jaw dangled. That was amazing.

Gin was just as bewildered, though he found the kick more scary than cool.

The kunoichi shifted her weight to one leg, waiting to be declared the winner. The proctor sweat-dropped and nodded.

Pleased, she made her way out, sending a flicker of her fingers to her fans. They screamed and rooted. The Iwa supporters were crazy happy, having two of their people in semi-finals.

Finally, the fourth match was between a Kumo ninja and a Kiri ninja.

From Kumo was a skinny kid chewing on a twig. He was geared in clothes from his country: layered jackets and baggy pants. At his sides were black cylinders and a scroll. He would have been the second youngest, at only twelve years old.

His opponent was the oldest. He was tall and had broad shoulders. A mask stopped me from seeing his face. The mask was painted a dark navy, with lines of the Kiri symbol. He wore a trench coat and gloves. The biggest sword I had ever seen was strapped on his back. The tons of steel had no shine to it.

"Ugh, is this over yet," the Kumo ninja groaned.

The Raikage was enthusiastic. He was bored throughout the past matches, disliking all the attention Iwa and Konoha were getting.

"GO AND MAKE KUMO PROUD, BOY!" the Raikage boomed over the crowd. "You've got a king's wealth in your hands if you win this!"

"But I don't need money," the Kumo ninja said.

"WHAT!"

The other Kages were amused by the Raikage, who strung out a mix of encouragement and death threats.

"Don't be too excited, Respected Raikage. Kiri is not out of this competition yet," said the Mizukage.

"You and your posse can kiss my ass!" the Raikage boomed. "The sky gods are on our side this time, and the winner shall be the mighty Kumo! Watch as your village fall to shame!"

The Mizukage laughed. "There shall be no shame, only death. And Kiri has never been shamed." His eyes sparkled in delight.

"Will you two stop bickering?" the Hokage said with a weary sigh. "It is tiring to have to listen to such childish brawls."

"Says the man with the Uchiha clan!" the other Kages attacked.

"Ah, but it is a shame the Tsuchikage's bad bones prevented him from attending this one. Who'd have thought two Iwa nin would make semi-finals."

"Don't start. Last thing I want is to have that old geezer slap his butt in front of our faces," the Raikage snarled, folding his arms.

The Hokage sighed again. He beckoning for a cup of tea, as the other two Kage went on to complain about the Tsuchikage.

In the arena, the two contestants shook hands.

After pocketing his twig, the Kumo ninja removed the black cylinders from their belt casing. They were nunchakus, two wooden handles connected by a chain.

He swirled them in the air. "Hey mister, aren't you a little too old to be in these things?"

The Kiri ninja unsheathed his sword. The sword was bigger than the Kumo ninja's body, yet he held it with a single hand. "Aren't you too young?"

"No. Teacher refused to let me compete any later, though I swore I could have stalled another year." The Kumo ninja sighed, looking up at the sky. The nunchakus in his hand stopped spinning. He hung his head. "This is so pointless…"

"Then let's end this, shall we?"

The Kiri ninja swung his sword. He almost chopped the Kumo ninja's head off, had the sword not been stopped by the snap of a chain.

The Kumo ninja caught the sword in his nunchakus. "I mean, don't you think I can wait another year?" he asked, deflecting the blade.

The sword spun a full circle. The Kumo ninja jumped, and the sword swooshed under his feet. He rubbed his chin. "In fact, even my sister agrees with me. She says I can pass off as an eleven year old." He ducked. The blade missed his head by a hair. "Maybe even ten, but I'll have to slouch more to look shorter." He stepped aside and let the sword land on the dirt next to him. "Or does slouching make me look older?"

"I don't know." The Kiri ninja shrugged. "I think your height is fine."

"Well, that's perspective," the Kumo ninja said, locking the blade with his nunchakus. "You are tall, after all."

"True," the Kiri ninja agreed, pulling his blade out and sending both the sword and nunchakus flying behind him.

"My mum keeps on tell me that I need to grow," the Kumo ninja said, pulling out his scroll. He summoned a new pair of nunchakus.

The Kiri ninja went to pick up his sword. As soon as he pulled it out of the ground, he raised it to block the incoming attack.

The Kumo ninja tapped his scroll again and summoned another pair of nunchakus. "Sorry. I thought it would hit you, but you blocked it time. Hey, you're pretty good, you know that?"

"I know."

"So, where was I? Oh yeah, my mum. I don't think I need to grow because I only seem to go up. Not sideways though. I think I'm losing bone density, or something like that. People at my town call me chopsticks, because they think I resemble chopsticks."

"You gain bone density with age," the Kiri ninja said, slashing the air with his sword. His chakra cut the air, so powerful that the ground split all the way to the opposite wall.

The Kumo ninja was fine, spinning his nunchakus to block the chakra. "But better than toothpick. I was called that before too. Still, I feel like my bones are getting thinner."

"They grow."

"Oh."

The two opponents dodged each other's attacks.

The Kiri ninja caught an opening.

"Wait," the Kumo ninja said, raising a finger. The Kiri ninja stopped and waited while the Kumo ninja summoned two more pairs of nunchakus, one of wood, the other of steel. "Hey, which one do you think would be better?"

"Steel. Wood snaps."

"I know what you mean. Wood keeps on cracking. My mum isn't going to be happy when she finds out I've already gotten through so many already. But I don't like steel. They don't make that clack sound."

"Clack?"

"Oh, you can go. I'll show you what I mean."

The sword went down. The Kumo ninja dodged by twisting his body into an L shape. Then, his nunchakus slammed against the blade. The Kiri ninja lost control of his weapon. There was a clack sound, just as Kumo ninja said.

The fight continued, from offense to defense and back again. Neither contestant broke a sweat.

Finally, the sword landed.

The sword sliced the Kumo ninja evenly in half, from the head all the way down to the legs.

My hands went to my eyes.

But ninjas love to put on a show. I heard cracking and meshing. When I peeked through my fingers, I saw no blood. No brains. No guts. No halves of a body. Instead, two annoyed copies of the Kumo ninja stood in place, nice and symmetrical. Somehow, they looked skinnier than before.

"Um, yeah, that was humiliating. You got to see my insides and everything. Talk about indigestion, ugh," the copies said.

One copy had his right arm clamped around the blade. The other copy had his left arm wrapped around it. Together, they locked the sword in place.

Their fingers glowed with electricity, which went up the metal of the sword. The electricity crackled, going to the handle. The Kiri ninja was saved because of his gloves. The shock still made him drop the sword.

The copies heaved the sword in the air and tossed it away. Nunchakus once again swirled in the air. Both copies charged at the Kiri ninja. Since the Kiri ninja did not have his sword to block the attacks, the copies got a hold of him.

They locked both arms of the Kiri ninja. "Oh, and maybe people call me chopsticks for this. I have no idea really. Well, it was nice meeting you."

There was cracking and popping in the air. Then, there was silence.

A pause.

Nothing happened.

Another pause.

The copies sweat-dropped.

"Jeez, are you wearing all electric-proof stuff?" they asked, dropping an eyebrow in exasperation.

"Pretty much," said the Kiri ninja. Without effort, he broke free and grabbed both copies, slamming them into the ground. The copies muttered an unenthusiastic "Ouch."

They sprung back on their feet and scratched their heads, dumbfounded, when the Kiri ninja was nowhere in sight. When they whipped around, they saw the Kiri ninja had picked up his sword.

The copies hung their heads. "Are you serious? It took forever to get that thing away..."

Finally they sighed, muttering something along the lines of, "This is stupid" and "Indigestion isn't worth it," before trudging toward the arena exit.

"HEY BOY, YOUR OPPONENT IS THAT WAY!" the Raikage raged.

"I forfeit," the copies said, shooing away the Raikage. "Outta my numchuks." Then both copies reached into their pockets and took out twigs to chew on.

The Kage balcony exploded. The Mizukage laughed. The Raikage yelled colorful threats.

Alone in the arena, the Kiri ninja stood, confused. Then he chuckled. "How lucky," he said.

In response to the cheers, the Kiri ninja nodded and heaved the gigantic sword over his shoulder. He walked out.

The first round was over. The semi-finalists? A shirtless statue-maker. A ten year old strategist. A kick-ass blonde. A mysterious swordsman.

I did not think the audience could wait that long. And I was shocked we were all still alive.