Chapter 50: 12
Chapter 12: "Stalemate"
The faint moonlight made the water in the wash basin glow eerily. Looking down at his face reflected on the water's surface, Naruto grimaced as he recalled his recent revelations. He couldn't think of a word to describe how he felt. It was as though he had been blind, and his eyes had been newly opened to the real world. As though a bubble that had separated him from the truth had dissipated.
But unfortunately, this reality had never been something he wanted.
All of his musings from childhood seemed silly to him now. How could he have never connected the dots before? His entire life, the other villagers had isolated and despised him. Reasoning it out, he had concluded that their driving factor was hatred, and he now knew for sure that he hadn't been wrong there. But now he saw that there was an even bigger factor: Namely, fear.
He had been orphaned the night that the Nine Tails attacked, but unlike the other orphans, he had been kept separate from them. And that was because the villagers, unlike him, had known that something colossal like the Nine-tails could not have been defeated, not even by the Fourth Hokage, but only sealed away.
To think that for ten years, they had had to live within the same walls as the monster that had killed their loved ones...
Naruto gazed down at the whisker-like marks on the face that stared back at him from the water's surface. After a moment, he broke the surface of the water with his hand, contorting his reflection.
Why had he never questioned the seal that appeared on his belly when he nudged the red chakra in his body? He had just dismissed it and never thought about it again after his initial curiosity. Naruto felt sick at the vague memory; how many other markers had he missed because of his lack of attention?
Suddenly, feeling an overwhelming urge to vomit, he covered his mouth. His headache had been growing increasingly worse all day, and now his head was throbbing again. Panting, Naruto leaned back against the sandy wall for support as his surroundings spun dizzily around him. As soon as the nausea had passed, he splashed some of the cold water on his hot face and then went to lie down on his bed.
His heart pounding, he dazedly wondered whether he had contracted some kind of strange desert bug, before his heavy eyes closed shut.
The day the second exam ended, everyone who had finished was taken out to the field of dunes where all the tunnels opened up to the surface. With the exception of the Konoha rookies, it was the first time since they had come into Suna that they had seen any of other genins. Taking a cursory look around during their short walk, Naruto noted that besides his and Neji's team, only Kabuto's team had made it from Konoha. However, none of the teams from the other villages seemed to have fared any better; overall, they looked rather more disheveled and worn down.
At the field, as expected, a large number of Suna shinobi officials were waiting. However, standing beside them were a number of foreign jōnin – including one very familiar face.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Mayu called out in surprise, coming to a stop.
The jōnin raised a hand in casual greeting as he strolled over. "So you guys are still in one piece, I see."
"Did you expect any less?" Rai snorted, folding his arms across his chest. Ever since he'd been kicked out of the Suna kitchen, he had been in an irritable mood.
"Are you supposed to be here?" Mayu asked skeptically.
"Hey, now. It's custom for the sensei to be present during the third exam," Kakashi explained. "In fact, there are usually a substantial number of spectators from every village during the third exam. After all, the Chūnin exam is what decides which ninja will be showing up on the battlefield."
Mayu's eyes widened. "But all the nations here are allied, aren't they?"
"Alliances can, and have, changed in a heartbeat," said Kakashi in a solemn voice. "The man – or woman – you shared a drink with over the campfire could be the one to stab you in the back when the fire dies." Suddenly, he clapped his hands together, startling them. "But enough of that business. You three should just concentrate on the upcoming exam."
As if taking that as a cue, the Suna chūnin who had picked them up, Tsubusa, raised a hand in signal. Kakashi, as well as the other foreign jōnin returned back to their formation. When the genin had all amassed into a single group, he spoke. "As of now, the second test of the Sunagakure Chūnin Exam is – " The rest of his sentence was cut off, as with a sudden flurry of sand, a red and white figure burst out of one of the tunnel holes in the ground.
"Whew. I almost overslept – that was way too close."
As one, all heads turned to stare at the genin who casually brushed the sand off her head.
"Isn't that – Fū?" Rai hissed unnecessarily into Naruto's ear. Hearing her name, the green-haired kunoichi looked their way with an unexpectedly hard expression on her face, and Rai involuntarily took a step back.
"Ahem," Tsubusa caught their attention with a cough. "As I was saying, as of now, the second test of the Sunagakure Chūnin Exam is now over. Taking into account the most recent...arrival, twenty-four individuals coming from a total of eleven teams have passed. Congratulations!" At this point, a particularly bedraggled looking Ame team was unable to contain their joy, triumphantly thrusting the tips of their umbrellas up into the air. "The Kazekage will now address you all." Tsubusa nodded towards the group of Suna shinobi, which parted in the middle to reveal a robed figure of middling size. Stern dark eyes bored into them from beneath the green pointed hat that denoted him as the strongest shinobi of Sunagakure.
"Congratulations on making it this far," said the Kazekage in a deep and raspy voice. "However...it is too early to celebrate." He pointedly looked towards the celebrating members of the Ame team, who shrunk under his gaze. "The Chūnin exam is a valuable tool for evaluating the performances of the future generations of shinobi. You can think of everything until now...as a preliminary test to weed out the worthless from those with potential. It is only from this point onwards that your mettle will truly be tested. The third exam, which will take place two weeks from now, will be a series of fights in which you must be the victor, in order to proceed to the next round." Rai nudged Mayu, who had paled. "I cannot stress enough the importance of your display during this third exam. You may be merely genin now, but you will, in the future, be the soldiers of your village. In a sense, you are showing the strength of your village to the other villages. A weak showing will reflect poorly on your village, and invite stronger villages to take advantage. In essence, from here on out, you are determining the futures of your villages." The Kazekage looked balefully around at them; it was completely quiet. "Now, according to your individual performances from the first and second exams, every person, with no regard for nation or team, has been divided into eight separate brackets. The victors of each bracket will face each other, until there is only one remaining, who will be guaranteed a pass in the exams."
Breaking the silence, the group of genins began to murmur amongst each other. The Kazekage raised a hand to quell them. "This does not mean however, that only one person will be passing. From this moment on, every single one of you is being considered for a promotion to the chūnin rank. So I expect you all, as representatives of your respective villages, to prove yourselves in these rounds." At these words, a tall and bald Suna jōnin stepped forward.
"Thank you Kazekage-sama. I will take it from here," said the jōnin, bowing deeply. He straightened up and turned to look at them. "My name is Satetsu, and I will be the head referee for the third exam. To start things off, due to the larger than expected number of remaining contenders, there will be a preliminary round. You will be divided into divisions where three, instead of two, genins will fight each other. There will be no rules besides that you must remain in this field. The fight will continue until two of you are dead, knocked out, or admit defeat. There may also be a situation in which the winner has been clearly decided; rather than unnecessarily adding blood to the field, I will step in and declare the victor." He cleared his throat. "Now then, you were each individually evaluated during the first and second exams, and using these results, the divisions have been drawn to be as fair as possible."
Several Suna chūnin rolled out a large white cloth with a tournament bracket chart etched on it in dull black ink.
Naruto found his name immediately. It was the first name written in the very first bracket. The two names next to his were 'Kabuto' and 'Karin.' Scanning the rest of the brackets, he saw that almost all the other Konoha genin had been split up into separate brackets. It seemed that by 'fair,' they had meant that they intended the strongest genins to face each other in the later rounds of the tournament rather than in the preliminary. Likely to provide the most entertainment for the various high-ranking country officials that would be coming to view the actual third exam.
His gaze lingered momentarily on Mayu's bracket, which was fourth. One of the names was unfamiliar to him, but the other name was 'Fū.' Either they had scribbled Fū's name into one of the brackets as soon as she emerged, or more likely, they had known she had passed, and had proactively written her in. Naruto glanced at Mayu, but for once, her face was unreadable.
"We will commence with the preliminary round of the third exam immediately! First up is bracket 1: Uzumaki Naruto from Konoha, Yakushi Kabuto from Konoha, and Karin of Kusagakure."
"They're sure not wasting any time," Rai grumbled, scratching his scar. "Good luck, Naruto. Not that you need it."
Mayu nodded. "Good...good luck Naruto!"
Wordlessly, Naruto stepped out onto the field. Kabuto walked past him, his sandaled feet crunching in the sand, and turned around to face him several meters away. A bespectacled girl with flaming bright red hair and eyes wearing a Kusagakure hitai-ate did the same, finishing the triangle. At the same time, several Suna jōnin stepped out, and with a jutsu, raised a circular sand barrier that separated the bystanders from the three genin, creating a makeshift arena.
"Are you ready?" said Satetsu.
"Yes," said Naruto and Karin simultaneously. Kabuto silently adjusted his glasses.
"Then – begin!"
The girl seemed to have judged Kabuto as the easier of the two; she immediately flung several kunai in his direction. Barely dodging them, Kabuto tripped over his own feet, and fell on the ground. Karin began running towards him, but skidded to a stop when he raised his hand.
There was a momentary silence, before Satetsu cleared his throat. "Uh, yes?"
"I forfeit," Kabuto said, looking embarrassed. He stood up, dusting the sand off his pants, and began to limp back to the wall of the barrier. "My foot's been bothering me since the second exam, and I doubt I can carry on much longer."
Personally, Naruto thought that the limp looked fake; it was much more likely that Kabuto had ascertained that he had no chance against the competition of that year, and had just chickened out.
"That was so not cool man!" said Rai, shaking his head. Hearing him, Kabuto gave a sheepish smile before going to the back to sit beside his teammates.
"Okay then...Kabuto Yakushi from Konoha has been eliminated from bracket 1," Satetsu rolled his eyes. He raised his hand once more. "Continue!"
Naruto hadn't moved since stepping out onto the field. This seemed to unsettle the Kusa genin; hesitating for a second, she flung another pair of kunai at Naruto. Deflecting the kunai with his own, Naruto stayed otherwise still. Running around him in circular motions, Karin continued to throw kunai at him, all of which he blocked. Finally, apparently having run out of artillery, she launched herself at him with surprising speed, leaving a small cloud of sand in her wake.
Feinting to the right, she ducked and swiped at his feet to try and knock him off balance. Naruto twisted, and kicked at her open back. She grunted at the direct hit, but to his surprise, reached behind her to wrap her arms around his leg. Again, with a surprising amount of strength, Karin pushed up, propelling him into the air. Jumping up, she punched at him. However, Naruto ducked, and quicker than she could react, he grabbed a hold of her collar. Her eyes widened just as he slammed her down to the ground.
Her body hit the ground with enough impact to cause deep cracks to appear in the ground around her. A cloud of dust and sand erupted around Karin's groaning figure; Naruto nimbly landed several meters away. When the dust had cleared however, he noted with some surprise that Karin had already gotten up. Furthermore, aside from a slightly dazed expression, she seemed unhurt.
An impressed murmur spread throughout the watching crowd. Naruto gazed impassively at her figure. Contrary to her rather flimsy appearance, she was quite sturdy. If he continued to fight her the way he had planned to, it would likely only drag out for a long time as he slowly whittled away at her defenses.
Making up his mind, he brought his hands together. "Fūton: Kyōfu (Wind Release: Gale)!" A gust of wind spiraled into existence, picking up sand and forming a large dust cloud that engulfed the entire arena. There were yelps of indignant pain from the group of genins, as some of the sand blew into their eyes. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow clone technique)!" Under the cloud of the dust, Naruto created four shadow clones.
Karin meanwhile had stood rooted in her position, bracing herself; she seemed fairly intelligent, and had likely predicted Naruto's intentions under the cover of dust. However, there was little she could do against five assailants; as his clones distracted her, Naruto crept in from her blind spot. Raising his kunai, he aimed at the back of her neck, prepared to deal the finishing blow – when suddenly, as if she had known he'd been the real one the whole time, Karin twisted her head to look directly at him. With flashing red eyes, she flung a kunai at him, and for the first time, he was forced to jump back in retreat.
Appraising the redheaded genin from afar, Naruto cocked his head in bemusement. Interesting...either it had been a lucky guess – which he doubted – or she had some sort of sensory ability that allowed her to differentiate between clones. If that was the case, his current plan wouldn't work either – and the ball was back in Karin's court. She seemed to have reached the same conclusion; apparently not having yet exhausted her supply of kunai, she resumed throwing them at him, warily maintaining her distance. Just the same as before, Naruto continued blocking them, creating a momentary standstill. For several moments, it was silent except for the sound of metal clashing on metal as the two stared at each other, waiting for the other to make the first move.
Finally, Karin seemed to have grown impatient. Her final pair missed him entirely, flying over his head. At the same time, she propelled herself headfirst in his direction once more.
Prepared, Naruto reached behind him for his tantō. Just before Karin reached him, he took a small leap backwards, focusing his wind chakra along the blade of his tantō. He pulled out the tantō in a single, fluid motion. Upon seeing the blade, Karin immediately stopped and began to reverse direction – out of fear, he thought for a split moment, when he suddenly heard something hissing behind him.
Still looking directly at Karin, Naruto saw the tips of her lips curl up into a small smile, and in the same split second, saw belatedly that her hands were in the 'Snake' hand seal. Then, before he even had enough time to widen his eyes, there was a loud explosion as the exploding tags behind him detonated.
A collective gasp swept through the crowd as a large violent ball of fire engulfed Naruto's figure. The billowing smoke rapidly filled the entire arena.
"Naruto!" Mayu choked out in a shocked voice. She moved forward as if to run in, but was stopped by a raised hand from Kakashi, who had suddenly appeared beside them during the ruckus. Kakashi silently shook his head at her. Meanwhile, leaping over the barrier, the referee ninja had disappeared into the thick smoke.
"W...what happened?" Rai gasped, wide-eyed.
"It seems that your genius was outsmarted," said Neji, folding his arms across his chest. Fū let out an admiring whistle.
"Naruto – outsmarted?" Rai repeated dumbly. "Kakashi-sensei, what...?" The jōnin didn't respond.
"You better start getting ready for your match, Tenten," said Neji, turning to his teammate.
Looking dazed, she seemed startled at his suggestion. "Uh...right," she said weakly.
"The winner of preliminary round 1..." Satetsu's bodiless voice emerged from the smoke, recapturing their attention. Neji closed his eyes, nodding his head in affirmation. "...is Uzumaki Naruto!" Neji's eyes snapped open in shock.
There was a momentary pause of collective confusion.
"What?" called out a genin. "You sure you haven't gotten the names wrong?"
"Yeah! We saw Karin win!" said the girl next to him.
"I can't see anything," another genin complained.
In response, one of the jōnin raised a large metal fan and waved it once towards the arena. Immediately, a strong wind swept through once more, this time taking away the smoke – to reveal a completely different scene from the one they had been left with.
Karin was sitting motionlessly on her knees, with a look of fear frozen on her face. Naruto stood just as still behind her, one hand gripping the top of her red hair while the other held the blade of his tantō to the front of her neck.
"As mentioned earlier, I can decide during a match if a victor is made clear," growled Satetsu. "Now, lower your tantō."
For a tangibly tense second, Naruto didn't move, looking down at the girl with a blank expression on his face. A thin trickle of bright blood slid down his blade and dripped down onto the sand.
He'd been in this position before, and seen this scene before, he thought distantly.
Karin let out a pained whimper.
Upon hearing her, as though breaking out of a reverie, Naruto released his grip on her head and slid the tantō back into its strap on his back. Karin slumped onto the ground; several medic nin hurried over to the genin's prone figure. Ignoring the murmuring and questioning gazes of the crowd, Naruto jumped over the barrier and walked over to Kakashi's side.
"What happened?" Rai said eagerly in a tone of great relief that indicated that the world was as it should be once more. "I thought that even you wouldn't have enough time to dodge that!"
"I did," said Naruto shortly.
"Good ol' Naruto," said Rai, slinging his arm around his head. "You scared me there for a sec. Mayu too, right?" He nudged the pale-faced girl besides him, who nodded mutely. "I thought that maybe that flu you caught had made you slower or something."
"The flu?" Kakashi questioned, reaching out with a hand to Naruto. "Naruto, were you sick?"
Taken aback, Naruto shook his head. "No, I'm fine."
"Of course you are," Rai beamed. He turned to Mayu. "I'm more worried about you. My fight's gonna be a piece of cake but...you're up against that jinchūriki girl."
In an unusual slip of his composure, Kakashi's hand jerked. At that, Naruto turned to regard his teammate in bewilderment. What was Rai talking about?
"Jinchūriki...?" he repeated slowly. He couldn't recall ever having heard that word before.
And yet for some reason, the word did not feel unfamiliar on his tongue... Something throbbed in his head, and Naruto winced.
"Yeah," said Rai obliviously, waving his hand. "You know. That girl Fū."
But before he could ask him what a jinchūriki was, the second round of the preliminaries began.
2/13/18: If I get one more person complaining about how Naruto found out he's a jinchūriki in the last chapter... lol. I don't have short-term memory loss. It's part of the story.
2/4/17: Very lightly edited. I saw an episode recently that showed Karin's past and I know now that she wasn't trained as a ninja at the point in time where she was taking the chūnin exam but... oh well.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
-- Power
stone