"Well, I don't think you'll have much trouble sleeping when we make camp tonight!" Hatake says, his eye curving up in a smile. "I hope you've got all your training in, because we're going all out all the way to the Land of Iron. Gai's orders." Sasuke scoffs. "Honest!"
"Fine with me," I say. "I'm as good as I'm gonna get."
...
After he'd realized I wasn't a terrible shinobi and that I could in fact do things with my chakra on a time crunch as long as he laid them out for me, Asuma ramped my training up hard. We dove into my new form of chakra, outlining the rough rules I'd have to follow to put it to use in the finals without accidentally slitting my own throat in the process, and railed against one another from noon to dark every day. He gave me two days off, spaced evenly apart, so I wouldn't burn myself out, both of which I spent in the library researching Bijuu and seals.
I didn't find anything useful, of course. I'm beginning to realize that the library isn't anywhere near as useful as Iruka-sensei always made it out to be. Not at my clearance level, at least.
My nights were mostly taken up by anything I could do which didn't involve sleeping. Cleaning, reading, practicing Hatake's chakra exercise, whatever. As long as it could take my mind off of the seal on my stomach and the most terrifying Bijuu to ever walk the Elemental Nations, it was done. And the possibility that…
Shikamaru didn't bring our conversation up again after I fled from training ground ten following my realization, and presumably didn't tell anyone else about my seal, either. He still stuck around for my training sessions, but he was always 'asleep' when Asuma called for a break. I didn't push him.
"Looks like they're finishing up," Hatake says, observing the other Konoha team.
"How long has he been going?" I ask.
"About half an hour."
"Wow."
"He has a good reason for it this time." Hatake says, turning back to us. "I've been meaning to tell you all about the finals before we go, too." He leans against the stone walls surrounding Konoha and crosses his arms over his chest. "You three have all done incredibly well in the exams so far, and I'm not the only one in this village that's proud of how far you've come."
The weird thing is that he's right. I've been accosted more than a dozen times over the past two weeks by well-wishers, both congratulating me on my team's performance in the Chunin Exams so far and wishing me luck in the finals tournament. There'd even been a few civilians mixed in with the shinobi. It had been pretty bizarre at first, but started really appreciating it as I continued to stack on the stress leading up to my departure.
"But," Hatake stresses, snatching back my attention. "This is going to be different. The first three tasks were just you and your competition, and your goal was to make it to the finals. Now that you're there, you're going to have to adapt to some things.
"This is no longer a winner take all competition. Whether or not you're promoted depends on you impressing three of the five Kage and securing a majority vote in your favor." He shifts his weight from one foot to the other, and I get the impression he's frowning beneath his mask. "You won't be getting a vote from the Tsuchikage, that much I can guarantee you. He's never voted in favor of a Konoha nin for as long as the Chunin Exams have existed, not even when Sasuke's older brother humiliated every opponent he came up against and won the tournament."
I catch a spark appear in Sasuke's eyes, and grin a little in spite of myself. There's a golden opportunity to show Itachi up if I've ever seen one.
"The Raikage won't be much easier to secure a vote from. Kumo and Konoha have never been on stellar terms with one another, especially not after the Hyuuga Incident." He waves a hand at the Hokage Tower, a dark silhouette far off in the distance. "Your best bets will be the Kazekage, the Mizukage, and of course, the Hokage. Don't expect a free vote from him, matches are what's important for Konoha, here- Hokage-sama gains nothing from promoting an unprepared genin after the fact.
"Which brings us to the other aspect of the finals: The Daimyo. The Lords of Fire, Wind, Earth, Lightning, and Water will all be there, and it'll be for them you'll perform. The exams really are all about reeling in business, so you'll be expected to put on a show." He chuckles. "I don't think that'll be a problem for you three, though."
"The old man'll be lucky if he has enough manpower to field all the new missions me and Sasuke's match will get him," I boast, shoving down my anxiety. Hatake smiles.
"I have no doubt," he says, ruffling my hair. "And it will have to, if the one of you that loses wants a chance at promotion."
And there goes the good mood.
"I know it isn't what you want to hear," Hatake continues. "But you're both going to have to acknowledge that one of you is going to lose the first round while the other goes on, and that's going to make it very difficult to get promoted."
"We know," Sasuke says quietly. I nod.
"I hope so." He tilts his head towards the gate, at Team 9. "It looks like they're done. Let's get started." Hatake turns and walks back to the gate, Sakura right behind him, and I move to follow. Before I can take a step, though, a firm hand latches onto my cloak, holding me back. I turn, raising an eyebrow at Sasuke.
"What?"
"I wanted to talk to you," he says, hesitating for a moment before releasing my cloak. "About our match."
My brow furrows. "About what?"
He clenches his jaw, gaze flickering over to Sakura and Hatake and back. "Itachi has been teaching me a lot of things," he says. "I didn't want him to, but he looked into your record, and… he's been teaching me how to pick apart your fighting style."
"Great," I deadpan. Thanks a lot, Itachi.
"Look," Sasuke says, frowning. "I don't want to pick you apart. You didn't have an instructor who knew my fighting style like Itachi knows yours- it wouldn't be fair. I don't want to win like that."
"So, what?" I ask. "It's a little late to turn back now, don't you think?" Where is all this coming from, anyway? Shouldn't he be pumped that Itachi gave him a leg up on me? I know I'd have been if Asuma busted out a full playbook on our first day of training instead of his vague bumrush plan.
"Yeah, I know. That's why I had to talk to you." He looks me dead in the eye, expression setting. "Do you want to fight without Ninjutsu?"
… What.
"What are you talking about?" I ask incredulously. Sasuke sighs, waving his right hand in frustration.
"You heard what Kakashi said. We need to put on a good show if we both want to get promoted, and we can do that if we stick to Taijutsu. Our hand to hand is flashy enough, and we both know how the other fights so we can make each other look good, no matter who wins." He hitches his backpack higher on his shoulder. "It'll be just like a spar."
Breathe, Uzumaki. "You want to hold back?"
"Both of us. It'll be better like that," he insists. "That way the loser gets a chance to show some skill before they're eliminated."
"You're saying I couldn't show skill if we went all out?" I grit between clenched teeth.
Sasuke shakes his head. "You're just as strong as me when it comes to Taijutsu, but we both know I've always had the advantage when it comes to Ninjutsu. And with the things Itachi has been teaching me-" He scowls, kicking at the ground. "I don't want to hurt you, Naruto."
For an eternal moment I stare at him while he bores holes into his feet with his eyes. Then I take a step forward, grab a fistful of his winter cloak, and slam him back against Konoha's walls.
Sasuke's gaze jerks up to me, and my lips pull back in a snarl. "Listen to me, and listen good, Uchiha," I growl. His eyes narrow, but I continue before he can snap at me. "You're not going to hold back in our match. You're going to pull out every trick in your book, hit me with every fucking jusu your brother taught you, and then you will lose."
Sasuke glares murder at me. "Don't be such an idiot. You can't win-"
"And if you don't," I cut him off, voice shaking with anger. "I will never forgive you."
I shove him to the side and stalk away, over to the gate, where my third teammate is watching me with naked concern. I brush past her when she opens her mouth, shaking my head, and move beside Hatake, who's slouched on the other side of the gate while Gai deals with the guards.
He glances down at me over the rim of his orange book. "You overreacted," he says flatly. "He was only trying to help you."
I shake my head, watching Gai cajole the half dead gate guard into letting us through. "No, I didn't."
I've been through a lot of things in the last few months. Getting beaten halfway to hell by a nukenin from Kumo, and then getting kidnapped and mindfucked by an Uchiha who shouldn't exist. Dealing with Sakura's descent into insanity, the insanity that brought her back, and Tenten's attempted suicide. Slaughtering a band of nonviolent priests, almost dying, and then almost losing my friends in a fight against an elite shinobi from Iwa. Making friends with a girl from Kumo one day and then losing my sword to her the next.
On top of all that, my crimson dreams have been changing, shifting from mindless bloodbaths to something resembling coherent memories, which is almost more frightening. My training with Hinata led to me discovering that my chakra isn't the only unnatural thing about me. And finally, I figured out why I'm so unnatural. That, maybe, I could be… connected, somehow, to a dead Bijuu.
I'm not one to complain about the hardships in my life. I'll whine about the little things, because I'd go nuts if I didn't, but I do my best to keep the important things to myself, where they can't harm anyone else. Lately, though, it's been building.
For the last week or so, I've actually begun to look forward team training in the morning. It's gruelling training, yes, but it's also time with my teammates. My friends, and if I'm honest with myself, my family. Sakura and Hatake are new, and I'm still getting to know both of them, but at this point I can't even imagine being on a different genin team. And Sasuke-
Sasuke is my best friend. He always has been, ever since the day we met back in the Academy. I know him better than anyone else, even- especially- his family, and vice versa. Neither of us would ever admit it out loud, can barely stomach the rare moments of caring we allow ourselves as it is, but we do.
And I'll be damned if I lose his respect on top of everything else.
...
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