Shinra met Hyori and Inumaki outside the examination hall shortly after leaving his apartment. A medium sized scroll was strapped across his back, secured tightly enough that it wouldn't interfere with his movements, while his entire right hand and forearm were covered in fresh bandages that extended almost to his elbow.
Hyori noticed them almost immediately.
"What happened to your arm?"
Shinra glanced down at the bandages before looking back at her. "I was testing something, during training ."
"That doesn't explain why your arm is wrapped up."
"It was part of the testing."
Hyori stared at him for a few seconds, clearly waiting for a better explanation. When none came, she sighed and shook her head.
"You're impossible."
Inumaki looked at the bandages as well. "Was it serious?"
"No. Just some burns."
That answer seemed to satisfy Inumaki, although Hyori still looked skeptical. Shinra adjusted the strap of the scroll on his back and started walking toward the examination hall, giving them little opportunity to continue questioning him.
'Although the chances of me losing against either Hyori or Inumaki is low, I still don't want to reveal anything just in case we do meet early on.'
The streets were considerably busier than usual. With the second phase of the Chūnin Exams over, the surviving participants were no longer scattered throughout the Forest of Death, and most of the village's attention had shifted toward the final stage. Shinra could already see several groups of genin heading in the same direction, some accompanied by their teammates and others walking alongside the jōnin who had come with their villages.
Inumaki looked ahead for a while before speaking.
"Do you know what they're planning for the preliminaries?"
"Not exactly."
"Then what do you think they'll do?"
Shinra considered the question for a moment. "They will trim our numbers down a bit before moving us to a bigger stage."
"There are twenty-four participants left, that's an odd number for a tournament. The final tournament can't have all of us."
"Sixteen would make sense," Inumaki nodded his head.
"Exactly. They need to eliminate eight people."
Hyori thought about it. "So eight fights."
"Most likely."
"Do you think they'll have a person fight from each team? or will it be completely random?"
"Probably random. The last two exams were focused on teamwork and intelligence gathering, this one will be an individual examination."
Shinra didn't sound particularly concerned by the possibility. After everything that they had gone through, fighting one of his own teammates was hardly something worth worrying about. If the exam required it, they would fight. There was no reason to complicate the matter.
Hyori seemed to arrive at the same conclusion.
Inumaki gave a small laugh. "You're really calm about this."
"What's the point of worrying before we know the matches?"
Hyori rolled her eyes, but she didn't argue.
The examination hall soon came into view. Several guards and exam officials were positioned around the entrance, while the remaining genin continued filing inside. Shinra followed Hyori and Inumaki through the doors and immediately began surveying the room.
Team Five had already arrived.
Ren stood with Mira and Muta near one of the walls. They looked much better than they had when they first reached the tower, although Shinra could still remember how exhausted all three had been when they arrived.
The Suna squad had gathered on the opposite side of the room, speaking quietly among themselves. The Ino-Shika-Cho stood together nearby, while the three-man team from Takigakure remained slightly apart from the others. Three more teams were scattered around the hall, most of whom Shinra recognized only vaguely from the Forest.
He counted them.
Seven teams.
Twenty-one participants.
'It looks like we were the last team to arrive.'
Shinra's eyes continued moving across the room until they eventually settled on the jōnin accompanying the teams. Most of them were present, standing behind or beside their respective genin.
Yogi was the only one missing.
It was hardly surprising. The Yamanaka jōnin was still recovering in the hospital, and his transfer to the Interrogation Department would only happen after the exams ended.
Hyori noticed Shinra looking toward the instructors.
"Yogi would probably be complaining about missing this."
"Probably."
"Definitely."
Both Shinra and Inumaki replied at the same time.
Their conversation was interrupted when the doors at the far end of the hall opened.
The room had barely settled when the doors at the far end opened.
The conversations died almost immediately.
Shinra turned his head along with everyone else.
Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped into the examination hall.
The Third Hokage was wearing his usual Hokage hat and formal attire. He was followed by two Shinobi as he walked toward the center of the room.
Several of the younger genin straightened instinctively.
Even the jōnin instructors became more attentive.
Shinra watched him carefully.
'The Hokage himself? Was he waiting behind the door for all 24 participants to gather before entering?'
The idea of the most respected person in the village waiting behind the door to make a cool appearance almost made Shinra burst out laughing at the thought but he managed to hold himself.
Hiruzen stopped near the center of the hall and looked over the gathered genin.
He allowed the silence to remain for several seconds before speaking.
"Before the preliminary matches begin, there is something I want all of you to understand."
His voice wasn't particularly loud, yet it carried easily throughout the hall.
"The Chūnin Exams are not merely an examination to determine which genin are worthy of becoming chūnin."
Hiruzen continued.
"The exam exists for another reason. A reason that has little to do with the rank you will receive at the end of it."
He turned toward the gathered teams.
"The Five Great Shinobi Villages maintain a delicate balance. Each village possesses military forces, and each village relies on missions from clients to sustain itself."
The genin listened quietly.
"Those missions are not distributed randomly. Countries, nobles, merchants, and other organizations choose which village they wish to employ based on many factors."
Hiruzen paused.
"Reputation is one of them."
That word caught the attention of many of the genin, afterall who didn't wish to become a hero to their village.
"Every time one of you steps into this arena, you are representing more than yourself. You are representing your village. The Chūnin Exams bring shinobi from different villages together in one place. It gives the villages an opportunity to demonstrate the quality of their younger generation before potential clients and political figures."
'It's essentially a military exhibition disguised as an examination.' Shinra thought.
Hiruzen looked at them one final time.
"Remember this."
His expression became serious.
"You are shinobi of your respective villages before you are competitors in this examination."
He paused.
"Fight with everything you have."
The old Hokage smiled faintly.
"But do not forget what you are fighting for."
With that, Hiruzen stepped away from the center of the room.
The proctor waited until he had moved to the side before turning toward the candidates.
"Eight matches will take place. The winners will advance to the final stage, while the losers will be eliminated from the examination."
Shinra looked toward the board.
The proctor continued explaining the rules, but there wasn't much else to say. The matches would be one-on-one, and the pairings would be determined randomly. That meant there was no guarantee that members of the same team would be kept apart.
Shinra wasn't particularly concerned.
His attention shifted toward the upper level of the hall instead. Several jōnin were watching the participants from there, along with village officials who had come to observe the exams. Unlike the Forest, there would be no opportunity to conceal what happened here. Every technique, every mistake, would be seen. This allows for the next opponent to make preparations for the fight.
That made the preliminary stage more interesting than the Forest in one particular way.
Information mattered.
Shinra had already revealed a great deal of his abilities during the second phase, but there were still several techniques he had never used in front of the other participants.
He had no intention of changing that.
The board suddenly lit up with the first matchup.
Kamikaze Shinra vs Uchiha Mira.
'First match? and against an Uchiha?'
Shinra sighed as his eyes settled on the name for a moment before moving toward Mira.
'Based on her height and appearance at least 15 or 16 years old. It's a shame she only has a little more than year left.' Shinra analyzed her as he recalled the info his shadow clone had gathered on her in the forest of death.
She had already noticed the result and also noticed the boy looking at her from top to bottom.
Their eyes met across the room.
Mira's expression remained calm, but inwardly she wanted to crush this brat. Something about his gaze made her feel annoyed, it was as if he was pitying her.
"Be careful, he is a tricky opponent." Ren advised as he observed the blue haired boy.
Although it had been more than two years since they last fought in the academy, Shinra's abilities and endurance were something that he had experienced firsthand.
"Humph. I will finish this quickly."
Hyori looked toward Shinra.
"First match."
"Looks like it."
Inumaki glanced at the scroll on Shinra's back. "Are you using that?"
Shinra reached back and adjusted the strap slightly.
"No."
He didn't need the scroll for this fight.
The scroll would remain on his back.
His right arm, however, was still wrapped in bandages.
Hyori noticed his expression.
"Be careful."
"I always am."
"Kamikaze Shinra. Uchiha Mira. Prepare for your match."
Shinra stepped away from his teammates and made his way down the stairs toward the examination area.
As he descended toward the arena, he could feel the attention of the room shifting toward him. The result of the Forest had already made him one of the more noticeable participants, and breaking Itachi's record had only added to that attention.
He wasn't bothered by it.
If anything, it made what he intended to do even more useful.
Shinra stopped several meters away from Mira.
The proctor stood between them and briefly looked at both participants.
"Are you ready?"
Neither answered.
The proctor stepped backward.
"Begin."
Mira moved first, she activated her Sharingan and began forming hand seals.
Shinra lowered his stance, avoided eye contact and moved quickly in an instant he closed the distance and was standing before Mira.
He had no intention of using ninjutsu nor allowing her to do so. For this fight, he wanted to see how far he could push his taijutsu alone.
More importantly, there was no reason to show the other participants everything he could do.
Especially not when there were still more matches to come.