With that, Chi shook her head and turned towards the stairs.
"What a strange girl," Kankuro remarked, sidling up to him. "Your teammate is so indecisive, starting a sentence and not finishing it..."
"How many Sand Ninja aren't weird in some way?" Daigan turned his head and bit into a piece of jerky offered by the Temari puppet on his shoulder. He chewed hard and swallowed with satisfaction. "You're the lucky one. You got a weak Konoha ninja and won easily, and you weren't even in the winner's bracket draw..."
"It's probably karma for all the bad things you do," Kankuro teased.
"Karma?" Daigan asked, puzzled. "You believe in that monk stuff about cause and effect?"
The ninja world had concepts similar to Buddhist thought but without a clear figure of "Buddha." Examples included the Six Paths, Senju Hashirama's wood style techniques, the monks of the Fire Temple, and the teachings passed down by Sunagakure's Bunpuku. It was no surprise that all sorts of religious beliefs would spring up in the war-torn ninja world, but proper ninja and monks were not on the same path. The temple monks who held sway over the common people's faith naturally leaned towards the representatives of secular power—the Daimyo.
"Not really. I've just heard about it," Kankuro replied casually. "We once hired some famous monks to preach and pray for Gaara to stabilize his emotions, but it didn't do any good."
In fact, it was worse than that. A few of the long-winded "masters" had somehow angered Gaara and been severely beaten. Luckily, no one was killed, but ever since, the relationship between the Kazekage's faction and the monks of the Land of Wind had soured considerably.
"Why are you asking about this? If you're looking to deal with those mystical types, I can't help you."
"Just curious."
What Daigan coveted most from the Land of Wind's monks was the Mana Sealing Jutsu: Sage Removal Absorption, which could restrain two Jinchuriki at once. If he could get his hands on it, it might prove useful. Of course, for now, it was just a daydream. He wasn't even sure if the "mana" monks used for their techniques was the same thing as the chakra ninja used for ninjutsu.
***
While Daigan and Kankuro were chatting, the match between Chi and Yakushi Kabuto had already begun.
Kabuto was over twenty this year. While not young, most of the candidates participating in the Chunin Exam were in this age group. Just because it was a year overflowing with geniuses, with twelve and thirteen-year-olds beating their older peers, one shouldn't assume this was the norm. Umino Iruka had only been promoted to Chunin at sixteen, and he was an example of someone with decent skill and good luck. Most Konoha ninja were promoted around the age of twenty. That was why it was so surprising that the rookie teams—Team 7, Team 8, and Team 10—were participating.
Of course, Kabuto's situation was anything but normal.
After watching Chi and Kabuto fight for a while, Kankuro frowned. "That Konoha ninja, Yakushi Kabuto, is a bit strange."
He seemed to be struggling, but he never took any serious damage. He looked like he was running out of stamina, yet he just wouldn't go down.
"There are strange ninja everywhere. He's not the only one," Daigan replied. He, however, thought Chi's tactics were flawed. She was clearly too hasty. Whether she could win or not was entirely up to whether Kabuto decided to throw the match, but her overly aggressive attitude had completely thrown her off her rhythm. A fighting style that mixed genjutsu and taijutsu required a calm mind. Once she lost her composure, she would be led around by the nose.
*She's trying too hard to show off,* he thought.
She had only been roped into taking the Chunin Exam in the first place. Daigan couldn't recall a time when Chi had ever been ambitious enough to want to become a Chunin.
Growing more and more anxious, a panting Chi looked at the equally exhausted-looking Kabuto. Without even wiping the sweat from her brow, she charged forward again, attacking with the white-plumed iron fans in her hands.
"Still not giving up? You can't beat me in a contest of stamina." Kabuto's performance continued, but his patience for this fight was wearing thin. "Why don't you just surrender and pick an easier opponent?"
"Promotion and all that..." Chi's slash missed, and she stumbled from the force of the blow, but she pressed on relentlessly. "Beating you is more valuable."
"Oh? You don't seem like a battle maniac obsessed with victory. Are you trying to show your courage to someone?"
"That's none of your business!"
"How admirable. A shame you picked the wrong opponent."
Dodging her flurry of fan strikes by a hair's breadth, Kabuto, still with energy to spare, adjusted his glasses. As they passed each other, he seized Chi's arm, twisted it behind her back, and pressed a kunai to her throat.
"I win."
No matter how reluctant she was, Chi had been defeated cleanly.
"The winner is Yakushi Kabuto!" Gekko Hayate announced. "Now then, Sand Ninja Chi, do you wish to continue and challenge another? Once you've chosen an opponent, you will have a ten-minute rest period."
At most, there would be one more match before this long and tedious preliminary round finally came to an end.
"I wish to challenge Konoha ninja Nara Shikamaru!" Chi declared, pointing her fan towards the Konoha ninja.
"Sure enough, I couldn't escape it," Nara Shikamaru muttered, spitting lightly as he tightened the bandage on his arm. The Nara clan, famous for its medicinal herbs, certainly didn't lack for secret remedies, but there wasn't enough time for them to take effect.
"Ten minutes, Shikamaru. Need any help?" Sarutobi Asuma asked with a wry smile, exhaling a puff of smoke. "Good luck. If you lose, Team 10 will be completely wiped out. I won't be able to show my face around my colleagues."
"You mean you won't be able to show your face around Kurenai-sensei," Shikamaru quipped nonchalantly.
"Ahem... you little brat, what are you talking about? Just get ready."
"What's there to prepare? I've already shown all my cards. That female Sand Ninja uses secret medicines for genjutsu, and her taijutsu isn't bad—probably even a little better than mine. And my shadow ninjutsu has been exposed."
If either of them had another ace up their sleeve, they wouldn't have found themselves in this must-win predicament.
"As long as you know. Just do your best. And don't take what I said to heart. I was just joking. My reputation isn't something that can be ruined just because you guys lose in the Chunin Exam."
"I know." With his intelligence, Shikamaru understood perfectly. It was just that everyone around him had high expectations, and he was too lazy, so they were finding all sorts of ways to motivate him. "As a weak rookie with injuries, I guess it's understandable to be targeted. But being underestimated again and again... honestly, I'm starting to get a little pissed off."
Being caught off guard in the first exam could be excused as them not knowing each other. In the second exam in the Forest of Death, they were targeted by a team that had already collected both a Scroll of Heaven and a Scroll of Earth, forcing them into a completely unnecessary skirmish. They had been thoroughly humiliated, tricked with a fake scroll, and had no way to get their pride back. Now, after barely winning his first preliminary match, he was being challenged again in front of everyone. Even someone with his laid-back personality was getting angry.
"Fighting spirit is good, but don't let anger cloud your judgment," Asuma advised. "Even if you lose, you still have one more chance to challenge someone."
"There are no more chances, Asuma-sensei. My stamina and chakra can barely support one more fight."
Even if he were uninjured, with full stamina and chakra, which opponent could Shikamaru realistically beat? The female Sand Ninja, Chi, was probably one of the easier ones.
Ten minutes passed quickly.
Standing opposite each other, the contrast between Chi and Nara Shikamaru was stark. Shikamaru was just over 1.5 meters tall, and next to Chi, who was nearly 1.7 meters, the age difference was obvious.
"I never really noticed before. Being around Yome all the time, I just thought Yome was short. Now I see that Chi is actually really tall." Daigan took a satisfying gulp of cool tea and smacked his lips. "That Konoha kid looks like he'll top out at 1.7 meters, even as an adult. Is that pineapple hairstyle meant to make him look taller?"
Shikamaru was clearly shorter than even Temari was now. What would the future Temari see in a guy nearly four years her junior? It certainly couldn't be his looks. Temari liked pretty boys, the Uchiha Sasuke type. It couldn't be his lazy, half-lidded eyes, could it?
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