Chunin Exam Arc: Commence the Exams
There were two ways to become chunin: promotion through the chunin exam or special recommendation. Both came with their own challenges.
Special recommendations meant that one's skills and achievements needed to be grand enough to be noticed, or they required the proper connections so the recommendation could be passed along. However, it could be achieved at any point and could be done without announcing one's skills and specialties being to the world.
Chunin exams put one at the mercy of the hosting village, and unless the village was sharing intimate details of every round, which was a possibility, only the third round was observed by the kage. It also risked maiming or death under the guise of international collaboration. The 'unofficial' hidden villages could only join at the discretion of the hosting village, which was always one of The Big Five. The lack of consistent formal recognition reaffirmed their lack of power in world politics. Yuina had even heard gossip that sometimes invitations were sent to make a mockery of them. However, the chunin exam also allowed equal opportunity, more or less.
It became more complicated as there was incentive to show off genin of interest on an international stage, so even those that were internally promoted often survived at least one round of the chunin exams. That was to say, the average shinobi could be promoted faster through the chunin exams under normal circumstances.
Yuina prepared herself for the first round. The days had been long while simultaneously went by in a flash. She went over the pile of goods she had brought as part of phase two of her mission. She had feared Zabuza's moniker would draw the attention, but Yuina decided she didn't need to alter her plans. She couldn't let her guard down, but Zabuza wouldn't be a barricade to her plans.
Similarly, she had her eyes on a few others.
Yuina picked out some extra weaponry and some vials, and shoved them into her hidden pockets. She could only control herself, so that was exactly what she would do. She may have been one person, but people were interdependent on each other.
She could only control herself, so that's what she would do.
Orochimaru made the sign that signaled Yuina that there was someone listening in.
"I'm ready as I'll ever be."
"They mentioned starting at 10:00am, so there's still some time. Unfortunately, they still haven't given directions on the location." He kept his eyes on the door.
"Does that mean I have to stay here until they come tell us?" There were reasons all foreign participants were thrown into the same few buildings for accommodations.
"No need to be impatient."
"And here I thought I could chase down those temple people for a good luck talisman, or finish up my statue tours. Did you know they have 112 statues? They say there's a lucky spider statue?" Yuina grinned as she sat on the edge of a bed. "Around here, they say seeing a spider is good luck. I wonder, though. High mountains are one of the few environments spiders can't live, so is it lucky because it would be extremely rare or is it luck that someone made themselves?"
An envelope slipped from under the door.
Yuina stood up and approached walked over to the envelop to pick it up. Opening it revealed where they were meeting for the first round of the exam. "Look at that. Guess I don't need to rub a statue for luck. The gods are granting me good fortune. No waiting required."
Orochimaru made another hand signal and pointed in which direction the loitering ninja had gone.
Yuina looked more closely at the contents of the envelope. She looked over every part, front and back. "So do we think this is real or a set up?"
"Hmm. It's likely real though it wouldn't hurt to cross check with the others." Orochimaru grabbed the letter from her hands. "You're on your own from here on, though."
"Yes, yes. I'll do my best." Yuina made three hand signs, one after another. "Try not to stay cooped up in here. I recommend the northwest quadrant for you." He had his own part to play.
"Do you now?"
"I think there's something even you'll take an interest in. Where the river ends if not the bookstore above the garden."
"Perhaps I'll take a look." Orochimaru took out two scrolls and passed them to her. "Do you need more? They are simple enough to prepare."
He meant it earnestly, but the word simple irritated her a little. It was as if he thought even she should be able to do it. She breathed deeply through her nose, trying to settle her rising irritation. She was still high-strung from all the cram training before their departure. "I'll need more come the third round but this will be sufficient for now." She attached them to the top of her pants. One horizontal in front and one horizontal in the back. Slightly hidden, but easy to reach. "I'd say best of luck, but that feels like undermining everything." She brought a finger to the corner of her lips in thought. "But saying we got this seems presumptuous."
"Try not to think too hard about it." He approached the door.
Yuina followed suit. "Then I guess it's 'see you later.'"
Orochimaru locked the door behind them. It was folly to leave anything important in there, but a lock was still a deterrent to the typical person. Granted, it was more effective against civilians.
She looked down the hall and waved to Hizashi's team. Everyone from Konoha had been placed on the same floor. Yuina gave a slight wave.
Yori yawned.
"Ready?" asked Mushiro. He was the most eager of the trio.
"Yes," answered Yuina.
Mushiro pumped his arm. "We totally got this."
"I wish they gave us more of a heads up," added Takasue.
"There's plenty of time." Yori stretched. "We're only leaving now to make sure we're on time. It would suck to have come all this way only to be disqualified because we were late getting lost."
"It's the big pointy tower. Even I know that." Takasue rolled his eyes.
"Dude, half the buildings are pointy towers." Mushiro tapped the side of Takasue's head with his knuckles to make sure he was awake.
Takasue crossed his arms. "I mean the actual building. Not the mountains."
That cemented that they were given the same location. It seemed like a poor place for sabotage, considering it was an Iwa admin building, but there was always a sliver of doubt.
Orochimaru went on ahead while Yuina joined the three. They walked down the stairs to the ground floor. She put her hands around her mouth to call, "Koromi! Good luck!"
The Kumo girl jumped, acknowledged Yuina, before rushing out the front door faster.
Yori looked out of the corner of her eyes. "Is there a reason you know a Kumo-nin?" She had heard the gossip from some of their fellow Konoha-nin, but labelling it as childish curiosity didn't sit right with her.
"It's been a few days. Have you talked to no one since we got here? This building was designated to Konoha and Kumo visitors along with a bit of extra space for travelers as usual. There's thirty-eight of them joining us, not counting their guardians."
Yori narrowed her eyes, catching on that Yuina was scouting the competition before the trials even began. Yori thought there was something off about the rumors. Her teammates might not think much of Yuina's energy once they arrived at Iwagakure, but it was still the same girl who displayed a vast amount of knowledge on their trip over. Yori thought there may have been value to Takasue's wariness of the girl.
They arrived at the administrative building, and there was a line. Team Hizashi walked forward to line up while Yuina stayed back and watched as an Iwa-nin distributed room numbers.
They were being separated. She watched. They were breaking up people who came in together. No, they were informed of who knew each other. Yuina noticed that a few others caught on too, but when they tried to split up, they still ended up with different numbers. It made sense. It wasn't as if they were giving numbers in some sort of pattern.
It was weird, though. Yuina thought they were just late, but even until those final moments she hadn't seen a single shinobi from Uzushiogakure. Yuina questioned herself. Had something happened politically? Uzushio was a bit of an anomaly. Konoha had strong ties to the village, but Uzushio was strongly recognized unlike newer villages. The Land of Whirlpools was small but isolated. They tried to remain neutral to focus inward, but by doing so, other nations have felt slighted in the past.
It could have been that they didn't send anyone. Yuina didn't know if Uzushio even regularly joined the exams. From her point of view, it was simply an odd choice to have the informally recognized Kusagakure join, and not Uzushiogakure. Though they weren't the only ones. Other hidden villages were evidently excluded.
"You're not in line yet?" Nobu asked as Kushina's team entered.
"I'm about to. Just taking everyone in. It looks like a lot more people when everyone is together."
"Don't tell me you're scared," said Ryuu.
"Nope." She popped the p.
"Then get moving."
"Thanks, but you should worry more about yourself." Yuina followed the three to stand in the rapidly moving line. The initial bunch that came in had almost been dealt with and people were coming in much more sporadically now. "It's your first time."
"It's your first time too," grumbled Masumi.
Yuina reached the front of the line and was given a room number.
408.
She looked at the stairs at the end of the hallway.
Let the exams begin.