Phoenix Palace City is a city of 1.5 million people, and is so named for the palace of The Fire Daimyō located at its heart, The Phoenix Palace, which is itself named for the small mountain it sits on, Mount Phoenix, a long dormant volcano, and one of the 84 volcanic mountains dotting The Land of Fire, eleven of which are active.

Fire has the most volcanic mountains in The Continent by far, and it is these mountains that has given the territory its name of Fire, even though much of its area is actually covered in lush vegetation.

History lessons aside, Phoenix Palace City is a sprawling, lively place; a hub of culture, commerce, and technology, with what feels like a thousand times more people than I've ever seen all crammed together within it.

It is the smell of the city that hits me first, the smell of a million and a half humans and an untold number of animals existing together; their odours mixing, then baked by the heat of the sun and trapped by the many looming buildings holding back the wind.

It isn't necessarily repulsive, but it is poignant, enough to leave a taste that clings to the back of my throat, and before I can acclimatize to it, the sound hits.

It is a deluge of noise, of contained chaos, of too many people doing too many things in disharmony with one another, yet somehow, all of it comes together to create this… rhythm, like a heartbeat, that seems to reverberate within my very bones.

Before I know it, I feel my own heart almost beating to match.

Curious.

Is this unique to Phoenix Palace City? I wonder. Or is this an ability that all cities possess?

I don't know. As I've said, this is my first time being to a place this populated, and Caleb's memories are little help here, seeing as he himself spent his entire life in a mid-sized town no bigger than The Leaf.

We enter the city as a procession, the thirty-two of us who had 'won' the race and earned ourselves a place in The Chūnin Exam walking in front with our sensei, blue armbands with the word "Contestant" on them displayed proudly where they're wrapped around our left biceps.

Sakura and Naruto walk on my left side, putting Sakura between us boys, while Kakashi follows quietly behind us.

Framing the streets on either side, are civilians, cheering us on (though mostly just the Leaf-nin, I notice) like we're heroes returning from the battlefront.

If this was Caleb's world, the civilians might throw flowers and other such things at us in celebration, but the people here know better than to throw stuff at ninja.

Especially foreign ones.

Naruto looks excited (read: starry-eyed), as does Sakura, and I don't know if it's because of that excitement, or if it is a deliberate ploy on her part, or if maybe it's due to the fact that she's been even more taken with me since the race, but she's made three attempts so far to walk hand in hand with me.

She tries once again, and this time I don't just avoid her grip, I flick her ear.

Sakura's hand flies to her ear, more out of shock than actual hurt, and she looks at me, her expression a mix of surprise and embarrassment.

I give her an unamused look.

She blushes, but then she smiles and flicks me back on my ear, surprise and a lack of ill-intent on her part dulling my reflexes and letting her land the strike.

I blink, staring at her in complete amazement, and Sakura holds back a laugh, bumps my shoulder with hers gently, and goes back to taking in the crowd with a new bounce to her step.

I keep staring at her for quite some time, wondering what the hell just transpired.

The further into the city we get, the more festive things become.

I've never attended The Chūnin Exam in person before.

There's never been any need to; it's only held in Fire once every five years, since the hosting nation is rotated annually among The Elemental Nations, and whenever it is held in Fire, the matches are unfailingly broadcast in The Leaf on large screens reminiscent of the jumbotrons from Caleb's world.

Of course, their video quality is nowhere near as good, and they operate on fuinjutsu bullshit as opposed to science bullshit, but they do broadcast the matches in real-time.

The thing is though, the screens only show the matches, as well as the awarding ceremony, where the top 8 contestants get promoted to chūnin, so I've never before seen what Phoenix Palace City looks like during the exam.

I've never seen the street performers, or the street vendors, or the sheer life that the whole place bubbles over with… it's a memorable sight.

The procession finally breaks up when we reach our accomodations, and Kakashi leads us to a room much like the one we were assigned back in Haven, when we took the pre-exam test, only bigger and with nicer beds.

We enter to find our luggage has preceded us here, and after choosing beds and handling some basic stuff, Naruto decides that he absolutely must explore the city.

Sakura concurs, and with a put upon sigh Kakashi laments how he now has to go too since he can't trust Naruto in public by himself anymore.

I opt-out.

Tomorrow morning, my teammates and I will likely be having one of the toughest fights of our lives; touring a new city and distracting themselves may be what they need to prepare for it, but it isn't what I need.

I need to train.

"Is there anywhere I can train?" I ask Kakashi, interrupting as Sakura starts to speak, likely in an attempt to talk me into joining them on their little tour.

"Not privately, no" Kakashi says. "The only place available is more for showing off than anything else."

Naruto's eyes light up with interest. "Ooh, can we go there?" he asks.

"No," Kakashi replies.

Naruto pouts. "You're no fun," he grumbles.

"And whose fault is that?" Kakashi asks, giving the boy a noogie.

Naruto screams, struggling against the jōnin, but it's obvious that it's all in fun.

"Where's the place?" I ask Kakashi. "The place to train."

Pausing his playful struggle with Kakashi, Naruto gives me a suspicious look. "Why?" he asks. "You wanna go and show off?"

"I want to watch those who want to show off," I correct. "If they're stupid enough to show off what they can do then I'll use it to my advantage."

The blonde frowns. "What's the point?" he asks. "We'll know what everyone can do tomorrow when they fight."

"And what if who you fight tomorrow has some sort of sneak ability that takes you out of the exam?" I rebut.

"Why would someone with a sneak ability go around displaying it before the exam?" Naruto asks, looking at me like I'm an idiot.

Me.

Before I can say anything though, Kakashi cuts in.

"People can be quite careless, Naruto," the jōnin says. "You should know all about that."

"Hey!"

"Besides, all this talk is pointless," Kakashi continues, ignoring Naruto's indignation. "The training yard for contestants is only open from ten to four in the afternoon."

I don't have to look at the time; it's 05:12 p.m.

"So, Sasuke, since you won't be going, you'll come with us, right?" Sakura asks.

I genuinely consider it, but, for all that I'm generally fine with hanging out with my teammates when there's nothing important to do, the thought of whiling away time with them while an important match looms on the morrow just doesn't sit right with me.

It's hard enough waking up every morning knowing that, despite how hard I train, I'm still years away from having the power that I need.

I couldn't stand the feeling that I'm wasting time on top of that.

So, to Sakura's question, I shake my head, no.

"I need to train," I say. "This room's big enough; I'll just move the beds."

Kakashi shrugs, and with a "Come on, you two," he ushers out my teammates before Sakura can say anything.

The door closes, and I stand alone in the room.

I take a deep breath. In, then out. In again, then out.

I train. Nothing heavy, just going through the many kata I know until I work up a decent sweat, so unfortunately, the training isn't enough to stop me from thinking about a truth I try to ignore; I wish I'd gone out with my team instead.

Thanks for reading.

Patre-on link in my bio, for all those would like to read ahead.