"Before you leave on a short break, so that everyone who needs it can get medical help and evaluate what they've just seen, let's see who the participants of the next match shall be", the overseer said and turned to the large monitor with flashing letters.
For the third time that day, letters rolled around, forming random names on the list of genin that have still not been examined in this stage before the names scattered and were replaced by others. Eventually, the board settled on the teams that were supposed to clash inside the sealed off arena next: "Stea Tesprea (Team Phobos/Getsugakure) & Erumo Budoki (Team Fir/Konohagakure) VS Kei-J (Team Stratus/Kumogakure) & Juhi Aburame (Team Pine/Konohagakure)"
"Another person from Team Phobos, huh"? Kiyomi wondered rhetorically before slowly advancing towards the exit. Ninja may have been tremendously fast in combat, but as far as leaving a hall in a calm and orderly manner was concerned – they may as well have been turtle-paced.
Mana sunk deep in thought about what she could remember about the silver haired competitor from Getsugakure. Her eyes were really bright and kind and Mana couldn't recall any semblances of malice or attempt to seriously injure or hurt anyone in her. She also was always the voice of reason for her more patriotic and rash teammates, as evidenced by Team Hokage's first meeting of the three right before signing up for the Chuunin Exams.
Either way, even if Stea was a kinder and more reserved member of Team Phobos she still was considerably powerful. Mana still got the shivers whenever she recalled the dominating and chilling manner in which Team Phobos dispatched of an Iwagakure trio back in the Forest of Death and, while Stea did not look overly excited about that battle, she still completely overwhelmed her opponents back then with an ability Mana still could not completely understand.
"Wow, you're really moody today, don't worry, I'm sure Meiko will be fine", Kiyomi placed a hand on Mana's shoulder as the two rushed to the infirmary to see if their friend was OK. Her wounds were quite gruesome but this was not a field of battle and medical attention was just a couple of floors away. Despite her most genuine intentions to calm Mana's racing pulse, the blonde was significantly worried herself as the tone of her voice betrayed.
"I'm thinking about the next battle. I'm kind of glad that Kouta's teammate found herself teamed up with someone from Team Phobos, those guys are strong, means she'll have as high chances of proceeding as possible", Mana tried coming clean about her inner turmoil, Meiko's injuries were only a part of that hurricane of emotions.
"You need to really stop worrying over your quarrels with those guys. You've been all like on a carpet of needles whole day. You made a choice, you've tried your best to make it right with them. If they want to hold it against you – that's on them", Kiyomi grinded her teeth in irritation as the two burst into the infirmary.
Luckily, for them there were no complex surgeries being performed, Meiko was out cold and a medical ninja was carefully treating her legs using Mystical Palm. Whereas previously Meiko's legs were shreds of bone and flesh, now they were just swollen and beaten lumps quite resembling human legs. The medical ninja still was to get to Meiko's other injuries.
"Meiko"! Kiyomi shouted out as she ran up to her teammate. "What are you doing to her? What are you doing now? What is this jutsu? What are those tools"? The Yamanaka continued to pester the medical ninja like a nagging wife much to the male nurse's irritation.
"I'm sorry about her, are we interrupting something important"? Mana asked a fellow female nurse who was just standing about and observing the procedure, ready to step in if the male nurse ran out of chakra or tired out. While the medical ninja working here were qualified professionals, they were not exactly the cream of the crop enough to heal people in the field of battle or in the Konohagakure Hospital.
"No, that's quite alright, she's your teammate, I assume"? The female nurse smiled before gently trying to drag Kiyomi a bit further from where she pestered the male nurse invested into Meiko's treatment, her lack of success in that venture forced her to be a bit more forceful with the Yamanaka, until the blonde finally budged. "It may be for the better if you give Chinso-senpai some space though" she politely smiled at the Yamanaka heiress.
The female nurse lead the two girls outside to have a calm conversation about what they have come to understand about the blacksmith's condition.
"She's going to be just fine. She's within our capacity to help, she doesn't require the transfer to Konohagakure Hospital. She's got plenty of reserve chakra in her body, it's naturally accelerating her metabolism and fueling her own regenerative properties, with our own Mystical Palm sessions we are confident we can get her up to fighting condition soon enough, provided she stays out of combat and lets us and her own metabolism do the job", the pleasant nurse lady reported.
"I'm not sure she even needs the fighting condition, she lost. Maybe one of us needs to be here in case she wakes up and tries something stupid"? Mana wondered with a gloomy tone.
"Oh, come on, Meiko is smarter than… Yeah, on second thought, I think this might not be such a bad idea", Kiyomi scratched her chin.
"Don't worry, she won't be back soon. We've considered forcefully waking her up but our machinery can monitor her condition quite fine while she's out. This place has the second most advanced medical facilities after Konohagakure Hospital, after all", the lady nurse replied, "Even if your friend does come about, she'll do it in a couple of days if not for the duration of a week. Her injuries aren't life threatening, but she's still had the better half of her bones broken and her internal organs are pretty banged up. There's no need staying here for any of you, I'd recommend just carrying about with your exam business and checking on your friend after it is over".
After this brief rundown of Meiko's condition, the nurse lady entered the room again to observe and assist the blacksmith's treatment. As the magician turned around, Mana was surprised to see a familiar silver flash in the rather murky waiting room beside the infirmary – Stea of Team Phobos was standing right beside her.
"What do you want"!? Kiyomi growled as a warning of her rising desire to vent out her aggression.
"I just felt a bit worried about your friend's condition. It was quite a bloody and gut churning battle that she just had", the silver haired lady nodded her head to the side, undoing the facial shroud that she wore right beneath her eyes, instead of donning the hood that dangled uselessly under her long and rich silver locks. Looking at Stea's hair was like looking at pale moonlight itself, it would have been easy to miss her shining green eyes over it.
From the looks of it, Kiyomi was stepping up to say something pretty antagonistic but Mana pulled on her friend's sleeve gently and stepped in front of her and in between the tall Getsugakure woman.
"Meiko will be quite fine, she is wounded pretty severely, but it isn't something immediate medical attention can't help with. You'd be wise to focus on your battle up ahead", Mana calmly reported, swallowing her own sadness, swallowing any hints of fear of the woman or the trio that she belonged to or the fights still left up ahead. Just now she wanted to look professional, she wanted to look strong and tell this kunoichi what she wanted to hear.
"Oh, I see, that is good to hear. I was ready to offer my services if they were needed but I am glad to see she will be OK, thank you for calming me, Mana", the silver haired kunoichi bowed her head with a pleasant smile before turning and slowly walking away.
"Wait", Mana stopped Stea halfway, "You know my name? I could assume you obtained it after seeing me in the Forest, thinking you'd have to clash with me again at some point. Why bother memorizing it after the Forest stage though"?
"Because I'm a polite and decent human being"? Stea grinned as she turned halfway around to face Mana from a bit further away, "Also, I was not the one to memorize your name, it was Gasco. He was quite impressed by your growth and what you had to sacrifice for it, your smell, was it"?
Mana bit her lip almost to the point where she could taste blood in her mouth. Not only were Team Phobos members absolutely fearsome to face in battle, but they also had the control of every conversation, apparently.
"Oh, please don't fret over it. You are simply walking pathways that Gasco was exploring nearly ten years ago, of course he guessed correctly that the only way to grow your sensory abilities so fast was to sacrifice another sense. He saw you responding to him and talking verbally, that eliminated the option of hearing, you're clearly not blind – it wasn't sight either. Touch is too important for a ninja to sacrifice and taste is not important enough to warrant your level of increase", Stea calmly explained her friend's thought process before turning around to keep walking away, she turned back before she could walk off, however.
"You know, it is rare for a ninja from another village to deserve Gasco or Doma's respect. Even though I've beaten them both in battle before, Gasco has never admired me the way he admires your devotion to serving your village", Stea excitedly exclaimed before putting her face shroud back on and walking back to the arena hall.
"We should head back too, the fight will be starting soon", Kiyomi quietly muttered.
If only Stea knew that it was not for serving her village that Mana sacrificed a part of her senses to increase her chakra sensory by leaps and bounds. It was because she had no other option but to do so, it was the only way not to fall behind and drown, her way to just keeping swimming ahead and not letting her head go underwater. Even if Meiko did the same, her controlled growth just was not enough. Deep down Mana worried that even her sacrifice may have been in vain.
She wasn't as fast as Sugemi, she wasn't as strong as Meiko, probably not as smart and experienced as Kiyomi. She knew too little about all of those competitors to imagine a matchup where she could actually help her team come out on top. What burned even hotter was the realization that this exam had to count, there could be no other options, she had no team to return to. Mana was this close to doing something really stupid like asking Gasco to tutor her during the breaks in between the battles. She was both sad and apathetic towards her own life due to a painful break-up and screaming in pain over her own imagined incompetence. The two switched with each other over time, again and again, making Mana ask for the other to finally return to torment her because the one that was simply was too good at its job.
The teams gathered back inside the gym hall, ready to sit through yet another battle, hopefully just as blazing with the fire of youth and desire to show off one's own determination, but, also, not nearly as gruesome and bloody as the last one. As Mana and Kiyomi settled into their old spots, right in front of Chestnut Hanasaku who didn't appear to have even left the gym in the first place, the magician noticed another familiar face approaching her. Dark purple flowing locks and an overabundance of denim on a well-toned and incredibly handsome young man's body.
"I saw you talking with Team Phobos before. I hope you didn't sell any more secrets or anything"? Yushijin, Kouta's teammate, grunted out. "What are we supposed to be on the lookout for? Will Team Phobos know our abilities? Names, weaknesses? Told them anything else"?
"Honestly, you should be glad if I did. Stea is on Erumo's team, remember"? Mana mumbled, clearly clutching at the deep verbal stab at her heart that this meeting made her suffer. "If you absolutely must know, I told her about Meiko's condition because she was interested in it".
"Right, because you're such great buddies and all…" Yushijin nearly restrained an instinct to curse in front of a handful of higher ranked ninja.
"No, because Stea's a decent human being and gives a shit, unlike some people who can't see past their own, really well buffed, if I may say so, chest" Kiyomi interrupted.
"Whatever… It'd take an absolute idiot to promote you after that stunt, it'd take an even bigger one to work with you after what you pulled", Yushijin growled out as he walked off to cool his head off.
"I'm never going to be allowed to get over this, am I"? Mana tried to smile but actually could not, had she wanted to burst into tears, however, she would have been very easily been able to do so. "Well, I guess I knew what I was getting into", she decided.
"Look, I'm not going to lie that I wouldn't normally take their side or consider what you did a stab in the back. I will not justify what you did, because I criticized you back then and still think what you did was irresponsible and wrong. Just… Don't let them get to you and mess up your future too. It's your choice, may as well own up to it, plus, their way of confronting you is really assholey"
Mana sighed, as she observed Stea entering the arena. She walked in a slow yet dominant manner, demanding attention and taking it by force, whether one wanted it or not. It was an impressive feat given that most of her body was concealed with only her eyes being completely visible from under the impressive black cloak with the white crescent moon motif decorating it. Once the Getsugakure kunoichi stepped onto the arena, slowly and carefully taking the small steps on the side that no one yet seemed to even notice, she calmly removed the hood and stroke her hand carefully over her silver locks. Also, removing the facial shroud that covered her face as well.
Erumo Budoki, the female teammate of Kouta's, rushed onto the stage right after her teammate so calmly strut onto it. The gray haired braided kunoichi appeared to possess great energy and cheerfulness in her movements as she even took her time to give some poses to her friends from the Academy and Yushijin who encouraged her to do her best from down where he was standing. She also shared an enthusiastic nod with her one-time tag teammate, seemingly surprising herself that Stea even played along with her routine.
"Wow, people are really eating her up, huh. Guess she was really popular in her class", Kiyomi scratched her temple trying to remember if she ever met Erumo in the Academy but visibly struggling to do so. "I mean, her team came out on top even after being betrayed, that's a pretty fame building story all by itself".
"Do you think what Yushijin said was true? That no one will agree to work with me in the future?" Mana wondered.
"I mean… I don't really know. I think he's really making too big of a deal out of it. I used to get angry at you and your weird decisions all the time too. Then I saw the conviction in your eyes when you made them. You felt absolutely adamant about them being the right thing to do and… I just feel that I can't be angry at someone who feels that way about the things they do, maybe it's just because we've been friends for so long", Kiyomi shrugged. "I mean, you wouldn't have told anyone about them if that meant their deaths. It was just a strategy for a survival game, a drill. People will come to understand it eventually. Don't just assume that because everyone is so cheerful towards someone you kicked in the butt, they automatically despise you".
A familiar looking dark skinned and punky haired young man with a modified Kumogakure headband stepped out from the crowd of ninja before acrobatically leaping in the air and dive-kicking at the arena floor, landing gracefully on his feet and standing up off of his knees before eyeing his two kunoichi opponents. The young man was getting to the place where he wanted to be mentally in order to fight at his best. Team Hokage was quite familiar with this young man – Kei-J was one of the two Kumogakure ninja that completed the Forest of Death stage at record time, about at the same time that Meiko recovered from her first bout with Galateia. The two teams met and had a pleasant chat as they weren't obligated to fight, it was from his Team that Team Hokage even found out about the information exchanges that were transpiring amongst all the teams.
A red haired young lady wearing a sleeveless long winter jacket decorated with furs at the collars and sleeves and wearing red tinted diver's goggles on her eyes and a strange bow tie tying her red messy hair rushed clumsily onto the arena, tripping up a couple of times as well. Mana knew Juhi from the Academy days, the two exchanged a couple of talks once in a while but they were rather neutral towards each other. While Juhi was a pleasant person to know, she was rather clumsy and not overly fond of social situations, something that did not make her nearly as popular as Erumo seemingly was with her peers.
Both duos spoke for a while about who should've been the main combatant from the start. Mana couldn't quite make out what the teams were whispering to each other but it appeared that Erumo had managed to convince Stea that she should be first. While initially it seemed odd, given the aura of tremendous confidence that Team Phobos possessed, Mana could recall Stea being rather hesitant to fight, similarly to the way she herself was. Maybe that was why Erumo was given the freedom to fight it out to her heart's extent.
Kei-J tried energetically to convince Juhi of something but it appeared that the young Aburame girl was just as difficult socially as Mana could remember her being. In the end, she herself nearly ripped the tag scroll apart trying to figure out how exactly it worked and which side she needed to pull on. Blushing and embarrassed the overseer helped the Aburame to get sealed inside properly and so the third match of the day could begin.
