The Phoenix arena, a twenty thousand seat architectural marvel that likely contains more fuinjutsu script than mortar, is built into and across the wide crater of the dormant Mount Phoenix, and is where the matches for The Chūnin Exam are held.
It was built some fifty or so years ago, with significant help from Hidden Whirlpool, and, as one would expect from a structure that seats twenty thousand, it is massive.
Caleb's memories likens the amphitheatre to the Colosseum of Rome.
I don't really see it; The Phoenix arena far surpasses that ancient wreck in every way.
The exam officially begins at eight in the morning, with the matches starting right after, but by seven when my teammates and I get to the arena, the place is packed.
Luckily for us, it's hardly a reason to worry; we're expected here, required even, so there are preserved seats for us, which we gladly head to.
Unluckily however, is that these preserved seats happen to be in the contestants' loge, meaning that I will now be spending the next several hours in a room with Naruto and several people he is likely to fight and certainly very excited to from the big, dumb smile on his face.
Wonderful.
When we enter the loge, many of the contestants, and their sensei, are already present.
We seat ourselves, Kakashi leading us to the far right by the wall, as physically far away as we can be from where Karui, the Cloud-nin Naruto had almost fought back in Haven, sits with her teammates.
The redhead and the blonde exchange nasty looks at each other, but thankfully, neither of them are stupid enough to start anything.
Settled into our seats, I spend the next several minutes watching as the remaining contestants show up, giving me the opportunity to confirm something I've already mostly known; besides my team, none of the 'Konoha 12' signed up for the exam.
It makes sense that neither Team 10 nor Team 8 are here. My team wouldn't be here either if it wasn't for Kakashi, and I doubt either Asuma or Kurenai are as reckless as he is about these things.
Actually, I doubt if they even could get away with doing something like this, seeing as, unlike us, their charges are clan heirs, and I doubt any of those clans would take lightly to having their freshly graduated heirs being signed up for The Chūnin Exam.
However, while I'm largely unsurprised by Team 8 and 10's absences, that of Team… what was it again, fifteen?
Whatever, Might Guy's team; their absence throws me off.
The Chūnin Exam practically exists for people like them, after all; skilled, memorable, and new (but not too new) to the scene.
Also, if Lee and Neji are anything like their counterparts from the story, and I'm sure they are, then they wouldn't want to miss out on an opportunity like The Chūnin Exam at which to test themselves.
The only reasons I can think of for why they wouldn't be here are that they're otherwise engaged and couldn't be here, or sometime within the last year, one or more of them got promoted to chūnin.
Which I suppose is very possible, considering who they are.
Anyway, while there are faces from the story that are missing, there are others that are present, The Sand Siblings for one.
Gaara, his brother Kankuro, and his sister Temari, sit together with a male jōnin with a hard, scarred face.
The three siblings have huge items resting beside them where they sit; a fan, a gourd, and a wrapped bundle that, if the story is right, contains Kankuro's puppet copy.
No, wait, the Kankuro sitting there now should be the puppet, right…?
If it is, I can't tell. And, unfortunately, there's a very real chance that using my sharingan to confirm might start a fight.
Regardless, of whether the Kankuro seated there is the real boy or not though, The Sand Siblings look different than Caleb remembers. They look younger.
In the story, Kankuro and Temari had been well into their teens, but here they look no older than thirteen, and Gaara looks like he might not even be twelve yet.
Strange.
I mean, it makes sense, since I don't think ninja past fourteen are even allowed in the exam, but it's strange all the sa—
Gaara, quiet this entire time while his siblings spoke, says something (voice too low for me to hear).
Kankuro and Temari chuckle softly, then the girl reaches out and fondly ruffles the redhead's hair.
Gaara smiles.
I stop and stare for several seconds.
Well, I decide finally, I guess I can put that on the list of things that differ from the story.
Still thrown off by the little display of affection I just saw between Gaara and… another human being, I focus on the other group of people I expected to be here from the story; that one Sound team, Dosu and co. I think.
Naturally, they have a jōnin-sensei with them, a slender woman with a rather melancholy face, and lustrous, dark hair held up in a tight bun.
I stare at the woman.
Could that be Orochimaru? I wonder. Could she be working for him? Would Orochimaru even be insane enough to show his face in a place with several kage level threats who would love few things more than to blast him full of holes?
In the story, Orochimaru had killed and impersonated the Kazekage, but I find that unlikely to happen in real life, especially since if it was that easy for him to impersonate someone that important then he would simply have killed The Third Hokage and taken his place instead.
There's also the matter of The Hidden Sound itself. Caleb's memories make it seem like the village had been founded and run by Orochimaru, but Sound is actually over thirty years old, for it to have been founded by Orochimaru, he would have needed to do it while still a teenager.
I suppose that doesn't necessarily mean that they aren't working for, or with, Orochimaru, but it does make it less likely.
Besides, would Orochimaru want to work with them? If he does, why? For power? I guess that's possible. But it still doesn't mean he's going to gatecrash the exam either.
If he does he will not be leaving here alive. I'm sure of that much.
Having been staring at the Sound jōnin all this time while lost in thought, she finally notices. Or maybe she finally decides to confront me about it.
The jōnin turns to me, one eyebrow quirked questioningly.
I realise my mistake, and, doing the only thing I can think of, I nod to her in greeting, then look away.
After a few seconds, she looks away too.
There's fifteen minutes left till eight o'clock, and my teammates spend the time debating on who among our current company they think will be a tough opponent based on appearance alone.
Eventually, Sakura asks our sensei for his opinion, and Kakashi shrugs.
"I don't really know," he says. "But it does look like we're not the only ones with our plan."
"Our plan?" Naruto asks.
"Shock and awe from rookies," Kakashi elaborates. "See the red-haired Sand boy next to the giant gourd? And the black-haired Stone girl with the face like someone stole her spot in a long queue? That's Gaara, and that's Kurotsuchi."
Kurotsuchi, I think. I know that name.
"Gaara is the Kazekage's lastborn," Kakashi continues, "and Kurotsuchi is the only grandchild of the Tsuchikage."
Naruto and Sakura's eyes expand. Mine do too, though in recollection more than surprise.
"Whoa," Naruto says, "so they're strong?"
"That's a safe bet, yes," Kakashi says. "More importantly though is that they're like you; they just graduated their villages' Ninja Academies. So if you want to stand out like we plan, you're going to need to be better than them. Much better."
My teammates and I take in this news with the gravity it demands, but of the three of us, none feel it more than me.
I barely know anything about this Kurotsuchi girl, Caleb's memories hardly even recalled her existence until Kakashi helped. Gaara though, he Caleb recalls very well, and while the sand-user doesn't seem to be as bloodthirsty as he was in the story, that might actually just make him a better ninja overall.
At eight on the dot, The Hokage, sitting in the Kage loge directly above us, makes a speech welcoming everyone to the exam.
He speaks about his hope that the exams will continue to foster unity and friendly competitive spirits between the villages.
I look around at the genin eyeing their fellows like hungry wolves judging if an animal is prey.
Friendly competitive spirits indeed.
After the speech, the fight roster for the first round is announced and… I don't recognize any of the names I or my teammates are matched against.
Of my teammates, I'll be fighting first, in the third match. Naruto, in the fifth match, will be next, and Sakura comes last all the way back in the sixteenth match.
The first two contestants head down for their fight; two random ninja I neither know nor care about.
The announcer announces their names, their villages (Rain and Grass), and gives a short history on both fighters, then the gong rings.
The Chūnin Exam has begun.
——
Far away from the Phoenix arena, in The Village Hidden in the Leaves, Hinata Hyūga sat with her teammates in one of the many public viewing spots for The Chūnin Exam.
It was a spot popular among ninja that their sensei had taken them to, and coincidentally, but maybe not so surprisingly, they'd met the members of Team 10 there.
Ino and Kiba had shown some interest (and, Hinata suspected, disappointment) that Sakura and Naruto weren't here, but they all figured that their team was watching the tournament somewhere else in the village.
At least, they thought so until the roster for the first round came up and they all saw Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke's names up on the giant screen.
Hinata blinked, Ino muttered a perplexed "what the hell?", Shikamaru sighed out a "troublesome", and Kiba… well, Kiba reacted as anyone who knew him would expect him to; he screamed. A lot.
They almost got kicked out.