Naruto ignored him, continuing his visual search. Rai sighed in long-suffering exasperation. But before he could say anything else, the sound of light footsteps alerted them to a Suna chūnin climbing up the hill towards them. His face was mostly covered with bandages and a face mask, and he wore the standard Suna flak jacket.
The man held his hand out. "Plates, please."
...
Immediately, Mayu began to reach inside the folds of her cloak – when Naruto flung out four shuriken from his holster. As the shuriken spiraled through the air towards the chūnin with a whistling sound, Rai let out a yelp of surprise – but instantly, the chūnin had his kunai out, and batted away the shuriken with ease. Mayu stared gapingly down at the shuriken embedded in the ground, and then back up at Naruto.
Slowly, the chūnin lowered his kunai, and leveled a sharp gaze at Naruto. "Attack an examiner again, and you'll be disqualified from the exam."
"What was that for?" Rai demanded.
Naruto didn't apologize. "For all we knew, you could have been another examinee trying to take our plates at the very last second."
It was difficult to tell the chūnin's facial expression from behind his mask, but Naruto could've sworn he saw something twitch. "My name is Tsubusa and I am one of the chūnin examiners for this year's Chūnin Selection Exam at Sunagakure. It has been exactly 29 hours and 44 minutes since the exam began. Congratulations on passing the second exam."
As Tsubusa led them back to the village, picking his way through a sandy path that only he seemed to be able to see, Naruto noticed several other entrances scattered around the ground. In the distance, he saw another worn out team emerging up to the ground as a Suna chūnin patiently waited for them.
"How do you guys know when to pick us up?" Rai piped up from behind him.
"Cameras," said Tsubusa. "Contrary to what some may have thought, the second exam was not meant to be an all-out battle royale, with the examiners being blind to its happenings."
"And you guys wanted to see what the future ninja of other villages have got up their sleeves, eh?"
"That too," Tsubusa admitted.
"So did you see that girl that attacked us?" Rai continued. "She creamed us." Naruto stopped short. At the same time, Rai let out a yelp of pain and stumbled forward; it appeared that Mayu had kicked him. "What was that f – oh..."
"We did not have a camera in every tunnel, so we may have missed that one," Tsubusa replied calmly.
Naruto's eyes narrowed. The pause before he'd spoken had been a millisecond too long; Naruto was certain that he was lying. And he would have bet his prized tantō that every single Suna examiner and official knew of Takigakure's jinchūriki. But for now, it seemed they would be feigning ignorance. The question was – had they found out from Mushimi's outburst, or had they known even before that? And if they had, why had they let her participate in their exam?
...
Naruto and his team were brought past the village gate and inside one of the circular clay buildings. Contrary to its heavy and dull appearance, it was cool and airy inside, and they gratefully removed their heavy cloaks. Mayu sniffed her sleeve and cringed, thrusting the cloak away from her.
To Rai's outrage, they were the second team once again to pass, this time having been beat out by Gai's team of rookies. The three rookies looked battered, but thrilled about their success; when Neji saw them enter, he gave them a cool smirk.
With three days left as the second exam continued, they were guided to separate quarters where they could clean up, eat, and rest. After taking a long refreshing bath, and saying good night to his teammates (Rai looked disappointed; he had been excited about going out to explore the village, but had been told by Tsubusa that they were not allowed to leave the building until the exam was over in order to prevent sabotage), Naruto turned in early and tossed and turned in his bed all night.
The next day, he rose early and was surprised to see that breakfast had been laid just outside his door. It was a tray of Suna cuisine, and nothing that he was used to: The meat was chewy and dry, and his soup, filled with something that looked like seaweed but tasted sweet. Nevertheless, as Naruto ate, he felt a touch of nostalgia, remembering back to the caretaker who had once prepared all of his meals.
Strangely enough, he had never seen her again after she left him, and for the first time in years, he wondered where she was.
Naruto couldn't even remember her face; all he could remember was that she had been stern, and quick with her hand. He suddenly wondered why he'd been left with a caretaker, and not in the orphanage like every other child in Konoha who'd lost their parents in the war. He'd never thought too deeply of it before, but now, he wondered how he could never have questioned it before. And yet, each question raised even further questions.
After breakfast as planned, Naruto and his teammates assembled in the corridor that connected their rooms. Because their own clothes were dirty and being washed, they all wore the dark long tunics that was Suna's traditional clothing. While the clothes were surprisingly lightweight and cool, Naruto privately thought it made them all look lumpy and shapeless.
He hadn't noticed the night before because it had been too dark, but now that sunlight had crept into the hallway, Naruto saw that there was a small window that looked outside. Stepping forward and peering out, he realized that it overlooked the center of the village market. The sun was still rising, and hung low in the sky, but he could see the market was already beginning to bustle with activity.
"I wonder how many teams passed the second exam," said Rai, with a great yawn. "Since we ended with three plates instead of two, that means we took out two teams, right? What do you think the third exam will be?"
"Some kind of sparring match, probably," said Mayu, leaning against the wall. "My brother told me that's what most villages do for the third exam when they host the Chūnin exams." From what Naruto had been able to gather, Mayu's older brother was a chūnin who manned Konoha's village gates.
"Sparring, huh?" said Rai, scratching his nose. "I hope I'm paired with someone easy then. Someone like Tenten or one of those other rookies. And not...hm, let's see. Oh, I know.
I really wouldn't like to go up against that – what'd they call her? That jinchūriki then. If she beat Naruto that easily, the rest of us wouldn't stand a chance." Glancing around the corridor to make sure it was empty, his voice nevertheless dropped an octave. "Is it even fair though, having her in the exam? We're just genins – even Naruto here wouldn't stand a chance against a tailed beast."
Mayu didn't respond.
"Assuming the third exam involves one-on-one sparring, it's not to say that you have to absolutely win your match to pass," said Naruto. "The first two exams were to weed out the weak; now that only the strong genins are left, they'll be wanting us to showcase our abilities. So even if you lose to your opponent, if you make a strong showing, you could still pass."
"That makes sense," said Rai seriously. And then, a sly smile spread itself across his face, his scar twisting as it did so. "Guess Tenten doesn't stand a chance then."
"Oh, this again. Just leave her alone! What do you have against her?" admonished Mayu.
"Everything," Rai shot back.
"Grow up!"
Tuning out the bickering voices of his teammates, Naruto continued looking out the window: This was the second village outside of his own that he'd ever seen in his life, and the similarities and differences he found were startling to him. The people of Konoha were more boisterous and familiar, greeting each other with wide grins and a slap on the back or a kiss to the cheek.
The people of Suna on the other hand seemed much calmer and more reserved. As he watched, though people politely greeted each other good morning, there was always a certain distance between each other. Naruto wondered whether it was merely custom, or whether the extreme climates of the desert bred a certain kind of personality.
Yet at the same time, he thought, people here also woke up early to go to the market to buy food to put on the table for their families.
Suddenly, there was a loud banging noise just below his window. At the sound, Naruto reared back, his hand reaching for his tantō once more. There was a lull in the cacophony behind him, and striding over, Rai stuck his head out the window and glanced down.
"Someone just knocked something over, Naruto," he said, turning around. "What're you being so jittery for? You've been really weird lately."
"It's nothing," Naruto said. "I'm just tired."
Rai shook his head, but let it go. Stretching once more and saying something about looking for the kitchen to get more food, the genin shot off down the corridor. As soon as he disappeared around the corner, Mayu mumbled something about looking for something, and fled into her own room.
After a moment's hesitation, Naruto walked back to the window and looked down.
Pieces of a red clay pot were scattered on the ground. Though the contents seemed harmless, for some reason, everyone in the market was giving it a wide berth.
Standing in the middle, paying no attention to the beans strewn around his feet, was a boy who looked Naruto's age, with spiky auburn hair. But that was where the physical similarities ended: He was much paler, and wore Suna genin attire. Naruto was fairly certain he hadn't seen him in the Chūnin exams; he knew he would've remembered someone like that in the exam.
The boy was standing stiffly with his arms crossed, seemingly observing the flow of traffic that circled fearfully around him. Then without warning, the boy tilted his head back, and with wrathful black ringed eyes, glared hatefully back up at Naruto.
Naruto stepped back away from the window. Retreating to the opposite end of the corridor, where it was still dark, he leaned against the wall and slid down to the ground, massaging his temples. The blunt axe was back again, accompanied once more by that aching headache that prickled and lurked at the edges of his consciousness.
"I am..." he said quietly to the familiar darkness. "I am likely a jinchūriki."
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