The arena took several minutes to settle.
Naruto's victory had turned the stadium into a wall of noise, thousands of spectators still arguing over what they had just witnessed. Some were discussing Naruto's speed, others his strange equipment, and more than a few were wondering when exactly the dead-last of the Academy had learned enough beat a crowd favorite.
Naruto barely heard any of them.
He climbed the stairs toward the competitors' section with his hands behind his head, wearing the kind of grin that made it very clear he intended to be unbearable about this for at least several days.
Kiba saw him coming.
"No."
Naruto blinked.
"I didn't even say anything."
"You were going to."
"I was gonna ask how it felt watching greatness."
"See?!"
Naruto's grin widened.
"Sounds like a you problem."
Below them, Genma stepped back toward the center of the arena.
Ground crews had already repaired the worst damage from the previous fight, filling dome shaped divots from Neji's autistic spinning routine. Dust still hung lightly over parts of the field, but the battlefield had been restored well enough for the next two contestants.
Genma checked the bracket.
"Second match."
The crowd gradually quieted.
"Shikamaru Nara."
Shikamaru's shoulders dropped.
"...Troublesome."
Ino shoved him.
"Go."
"I was thinking about forfeiting."
"You are not forfeiting."
"Why not?"
"Because I will personally kill you."
Shikamaru considered that.
"More troublesome."
Choji gave him a thumbs-up.
"Good luck."
Shikamaru sighed and walked toward the stairs.
Dosu Kinuta was already waiting.
The Sound Genin stood with one arm hanging loosely by his side, the metal Melody Arm covering the other from wrist to elbow. Bandages obscured most of his face, leaving only one visible eye fixed upon Shikamaru as the Nara slowly entered the field.
Shikamaru stopped across from him.
Genma looked between them.
"You both know the rules."
Dosu raised his arm.
Shikamaru shoved his hands into his pockets.
"Unfortunately."
Genma lowered his hand.
"Begin."
Dosu attacked immediately.
Shikamaru jumped backward as the metal apparatus around Dosu's arm screamed.
VMMMMM!
The sound wasn't loud.
That made it worse.
Something seemed to enter Shikamaru's skull through his ears and vibrate behind his eyes. The arena lurched sideways even though he knew perfectly well the ground hadn't moved.
His stomach turned.
Shikamaru stumbled.
Dosu smiled beneath the bandages.
"Sound doesn't need to hit you."
Dosu advanced.
"It only needs to reach you."
Another vibration struck.
Shikamaru's vision doubled.
Then tripled.
The crowd blurred into indistinct streaks above the stone walls, and Genma briefly appeared to have three heads.
Shikamaru frowned.
"That's annoying."
Dosu appeared in front of him.
A fist drove toward his face.
Shikamaru barely ducked.
Dosu's arm passed over his head, but the Melody Arm discharged at point-blank range.
VMMMMM!
Pain stabbed through Shikamaru's inner ear.
He dropped to one knee.
Something warm ran from his ears.
Dosu stepped away.
"Your techniques require concentration."
Shikamaru wiped the blood away.
"Most things do."
"Then this is a poor match for you."
Shikamaru looked at the blood on his fingers.
"Yeah."
He stood.
"Probably."
From the stands, Ino leaned forward.
"He's getting destroyed."
Choji stopped eating.
Asuma watched more carefully.
"No."
Ino looked at him.
"No?"
"He's struggling."
Asuma's eyes followed Shikamaru.
"There's a difference."
Dosu attacked again.
Shikamaru retreated toward the side of the arena, his movements becoming increasingly uneven as each burst of sound disrupted his balance. He blocked one punch, missed the next, then barely turned enough to keep the metal Melody Arm from connecting directly with his jaw.
The sound still reached him.
His vision went black.
For half a second—
Nothing existed.
Then Shikamaru came back standing.
Barely.
"Shikamaru!"
Ino's voice reached him from somewhere very far away.
He blinked.
Dosu stood perhaps fifteen feet ahead.
Or thirty.
Hard to tell.
Shikamaru breathed slowly.
Think.
That was the problem.
Thinking was becoming difficult.
His head felt packed with cotton, and every sound from the crowd blended together into one distant roar.
Dosu's technique didn't have to knock him unconscious.
It only had to keep making him worse.
Shikamaru looked toward the ground.
The sun sat high enough that both of their shadows were distinct against the arena floor.
Dosu noticed his gaze.
"You won't catch me."
Shikamaru sighed.
"Yeah."
Dosu frowned.
That answer had sounded wrong.
Shikamaru raised his hands.
"Shadow Possession Jutsu."
His shadow moved.
Dosu jumped sideways.
The black tendril shot past him.
He smiled.
"Too slow."
Shikamaru didn't answer.
Dosu's smile faded.
The shadow hadn't stopped.
It spread.
Blackness crawled across the ground.
Not one narrow line.
Several.
Shikamaru's shadow split outward like spilled ink, branching across the arena floor in crooked paths. One tendril passed Dosu's left side while another stretched right, a third crawling beneath the shadow of a damaged section of wall.
Dosu's eye widened.
"What?"
Shikamaru's hands trembled.
His headache intensified.
But he smiled.
A little.
In the stands, Shikaku Nara leaned forward.
His lazy expression vanished.
Beside him, Yoshino noticed immediately.
"What?"
Shikaku didn't answer.
His eyes remained fixed on the arena.
Shikamaru's shadow continued spreading.
Not far.
Not indefinitely.
But wide.
Much wider than Shadow Possession should have been at his age.
Shikaku's mouth slowly curved upward.
"Well."
Yoshino frowned.
"Well what?"
"Our son has been hiding things."
Dosu moved.
Left.
A shadow tendril cut him off.
Right.
Another.
Backward.
The arena wall's shadow stretched behind him, and Shikamaru's chakra-connected darkness merged into it.
Dosu stopped.
His eye moved rapidly.
Shikamaru had stopped trying to hit him with a line.
He was taking away places to stand.
Shikamaru swayed.
His knees nearly buckled.
Dosu saw it.
"You can't maintain this."
"Probably not."
Shikamaru breathed through the nausea.
The shadows continued crawling.
"So..."
His fingers shifted.
"...I should probably hurry."
The entire patch beneath Dosu darkened.
Dosu looked down.
Too late.
His body locked.
Shikamaru straightened.
Dosu did the same.
The stadium reacted several seconds late as spectators slowly realized what had happened.
Shikamaru had caught him.
Not with the traditional straight-line chase.
He had surrounded him.
PING!
Shikamaru ignored whatever only Naruto would've been able to see.
He was too busy trying not to pass out.
His ears rang violently.
Blood still ran slowly from his left ear.
Dosu tested the binding.
Nothing.
Shikamaru smiled tiredly.
"Got you."
Shikaku crossed his arms.
His expression was openly proud now.
"Area control."
Asuma glanced toward him.
Shikaku nodded toward the field.
"Shadow Possession normally forces the user to pursue one connection."
His eyes followed the branching darkness.
"Shikamaru realized he doesn't need to chase someone if he can make every escape route part of the technique."
Asuma smiled.
"He's been practicing."
Shikaku snorted.
"Without telling me."
There was something almost offended in his voice.
Then he grinned.
"Good."
Genma watched Dosu.
"You can surrender."
Dosu remained frozen.
Shikamaru sighed.
"Please do."
Dosu's visible eye narrowed.
"No."
Shikamaru frowned.
"Seriously?"
"I haven't lost."
"You literally can't move."
"Your chakra is failing."
Dosu wasn't wrong.
The edges of Shikamaru's shadow trembled.
His consciousness flickered again.
Dosu could feel the hold weakening.
"You will collapse first."
Shikamaru stared at him.
Then sighed.
"Man."
He sounded genuinely disappointed.
"I was really hoping I wouldn't have to show this."
His hands changed.
Shikaku's eyes widened.
The shadow shifted.
It climbed.
Black chakra crawled from Dosu's feet to his legs, then continued upward along his body. It moved like a second silhouette peeling itself off the ground.
Dosu's visible eye widened.
The darkness reached his chest.
Then his throat.
Shikamaru's brow knit with concentration, a rat seal denoting a change in technique.
A shadow hand rose with it.
The stadium fell silent.
The shadow hand reached Dosu's neck and began to squeeze.
His eye bulged.
Genma readied himself. Casualties in a chuunin exam final didn't speak well for PR with other nations.
"That's enough."
Dosu tried to speak.
Nothing came out.
Shikamaru's expression had lost all humor.
"Quit."
Dosu resisted.
His fingers tightened further.
Air stopped entering his lungs.
Shikamaru's shadow trembled.
So did his knees.
Shikaku stared.
He knew that technique.
Very well.
"Shadow Strangulation."
Yoshino looked at him.
"You taught him that?"
"No."
Shikaku's smile disappeared.
"No, I didn't."
That made the pride return twice as strongly.
Somewhere, somehow, his son had moved beyond what Shikaku thought he'd been teaching himself.
Dosu's face began changing color.
Genma moved.
"Dosu."
No response.
"Yield."
Dosu's eye remained stubborn.
Shikamaru's vision blurred.
He stumbled down to a crouch on one knee, not releasing the technique. Dosu mimicked the kneel, the shadow hand still gripping tightly.
One of them was about to lose consciousness.
Possibly both.
Shikamaru continued to hold the handseal upholding the technique.
Dosu's body shook.
Finally—
His fingers twitched.
Once.
Twice.
A surrender.
Genma appeared between them.
"Release."
Shikamaru did.
The shadows vanished.
Dosu collapsed onto both knees, unconscious.
Shikamaru remained standing for approximately two seconds.
Then tipped sideways.
Asuma was already moving before he hit the ground.
"Winner."
Genma looked toward the medical team rushing onto the field.
"Shikamaru Nara."
The crowd erupted.
Shikamaru barely heard it.
Asuma caught him before his head hit the dirt.
Shikamaru opened one eye.
"Did I win?"
Asuma stared at him.
"Yes."
Shikamaru closed his eye again.
"Good."
A pause.
"Wake me up next week."
The third match lasted less time.
Much less.
Genma returned to the center after both fighters had been removed and checked his list.
"Kiba Inuzuka versus Kankurō of the Sand."
Kiba cracked his knuckles.
"Finally."
Akamaru barked from the competitors' area.
Naruto leaned toward him.
"Don't lose."
Kiba glared.
"You won one fight and now you're unbearable."
"One awesome fight."
"Shut up."
Kiba started toward the stairs.
Kankurō didn't move.
Genma waited.
"Kankurō."
The puppet user looked toward the Kage's platform.
Then toward Gaara.
Then back at the arena.
His jaw tightened.
Something passed silently between the Sand siblings.
Temari's eyes narrowed.
Kankurō raised his hand.
"I forfeit."
The stadium reacted immediately.
Confusion rolled through the stands.
Kiba stopped halfway down the stairs.
"What?"
Genma looked toward Kankurō.
"You haven't entered the fighting area."
"I know."
"You're forfeiting without fighting?"
"Yeah."
Kiba spun.
"HEY!"
Kankurō ignored him.
"I withdraw."
Genma studied him for a moment.
Then looked toward the officials.
No objection came.
He sighed.
"Winner by forfeit."
His hand lifted.
"Kiba Inuzuka."
Kiba stared.
The crowd gave him scattered applause.
He slowly looked at Naruto.
Naruto clapped enthusiastically.
"INCREDIBLE!"
Kiba's face turned red.
"SHUT UP!"
"UNDEFEATED!"
"I SWEAR TO GOD—"
Choji joined Naruto.
"Great fight."
"THERE WAS NO FIGHT!"
Hinata covered her mouth.
Even Shino seemed dangerously close to amusement.
But Naruto's grin weakened.
He looked toward Kankurō.
The Sand Genin had already stepped away.
Too quick.
Too deliberate.
Naruto remembered the vision again.
Fire.
Sound.
Sand.
His eyes narrowed as Genma looked toward the bracket.
The stadium knew what came next.
Excitement returned almost instantly.
Whispers became conversation.
Conversation became chanting.
One name moved through the crowd.
"Uchiha."
Then louder.
"Uchiha!"
Again.
"UCHIHA!"
Gaara stepped into the arena.
The chanting weakened.
Something about him killed enthusiasm.
He moved slowly toward the center, gourd strapped across his back, arms hanging loose at his sides. His eyes were rimmed dark from sleeplessness, and something hungry lived behind them.
Genma watched him carefully.
Gaara looked toward the opposite entrance.
No Sasuke.
A vein twitched near his temple.
Inside Gaara's mind, something scratched.
Kill.
His fingers flexed.
Kill.
Sand stirred inside the gourd.
Kill.
His breathing changed.
Temari noticed.
"Kankurō."
"I see it."
Gaara's lips moved.
"Where..."
Sand hissed across the ground around his feet.
"...is he?"
Genma looked toward the clock.
Again.
He was developing a hatred for late Genin.
"Sasuke Uchiha."
Nothing.
The crowd murmured.
Naruto leaned over the railing.
"No way."
Sakura looked toward the tunnel.
"Kakashi-sensei..."
Gaara's killing intent began leaking into the arena.
Several civilians visibly recoiled.
Even experienced shinobi shifted.
Then leaves exploded across the center of the battlefield.
FWOOSH!
Green chakra-laced motion blurred into existence.
Two figures appeared.
One stood casually with a hand in his pocket, silver hair pointing toward the sky and one visible eye curved in apparent amusement.
The other stood beside him.
Dark hair.
Black one piece bodysuit.
A few females from the crowd wondered how he even got into his outfit in the first place. The rest were awed with his sheer presence.
Sasuke looked around.
Thousands of people stared.
Both continued to hold their poses, milking the crowds attention.
Naruto leaned over the railing.
"YOU'RE LATE, DUCKBUTT!"
Sasuke looked up.
His eyes landed on Naruto.
Then narrowed.
"...Why are you wearing black?"
Naruto's grin became unbearable.
"Jealous?"
"No."
"You're jealous, and you missed my fight!"
"I was busy."
"I STOMPED NEJI!"
Neji, now sitting nearby with medical wraps around his ribs, slowly closed his eyes.
Gaara trembled.
Sasuke finally noticed.
The Sand Genin stood across the arena from him.
His killing intent struck like heat.
Sasuke's expression changed.
Gaara smiled.
It wasn't pleasant.
"You came."
Sand began leaking from the gourd.
"You finally came."
His hand covered half his face.
One eye widened.
Wild.
Hungry.
"Fight me."
Kakashi's visible eye sharpened.
He stepped backward toward the edge of the arena.
Genma watched Gaara.
Then Sasuke.
Then the Sand.
Something was already deeply wrong with this match.
Still—
He lifted his hand.
The stadium held its breath.
Above them, Hiruzen Sarutobi watched the arena with quiet satisfaction.
"Your Genin have performed well."
The Kazekage's voice came from beside him.
Hiruzen glanced over.
The veiled leader of Sunagakure sat perfectly composed.
"Thank you."
Hiruzen returned his gaze to the field.
"I am proud of them."
The Kazekage looked toward Naruto.
"Uzumaki was particularly surprising."
Hiruzen smiled.
"He often is."
"The Nara as well."
"Shikamaru possesses a remarkable mind."
"And the Uchiha..."
The Kazekage's gaze settled upon Sasuke.
"...appears to take after the rest of his clan."
Hiruzen's expression became faintly disturbed.
"If by that you mean a loyal shinobi to the village of Konohagakure then you'd be correct. "
The Kazekage chuckled.
"Konohagakure continues to produce exceptional shinobi."
Hiruzen inclined his head.
"As does Sunagakure."
Gaara stood below them.
Sand twisted around his feet.
The Kazekage watched.
"Of course."
A pause.
"There is still plenty left in store for Konoha's ninja today."
Hiruzen glanced toward him.
The words were friendly.
The tone was not.
Far beneath the stadium seating, a man wearing a Konoha flak jacket checked the empty corridor.
Nobody.
He raised one hand.
A second figure emerged from the shadows.
Then a third.
Their Konoha forehead protectors came off.
Musical-note symbols were revealed beneath.
Sound.
"Positions?"
"West corridor ready."
"Barrier team moving."
"Medical access secured."
The first shinobi nodded.
"Wait for the signal."
They separated.
Their footsteps disappeared into the stadium.
Elsewhere, two Sand shinobi stood among civilian spectators.
Neither watched the fight.
One looked toward the Hokage's platform.
The other toward the exits.
A tiny hand signal passed between them.
Ready.
Another Sand shinobi stood near an exterior wall.
A Konoha guard walked past.
The Sand operative smiled politely.
The guard continued.
The smile vanished.
His fingers touched the scroll beneath his sleeve.
Jiraiya stopped walking.
The corridor around him was crowded with spectators moving toward food stands between matches. Children ran past him, merchants shouted, and somewhere nearby a very drunk man was explaining why he could personally defeat Gaara.
Jiraiya ignored all of it.
His eyes had moved toward a doorway.
Empty.
It shouldn't have been.
Two guards were assigned there.
He knew because he'd noticed them earlier.
Jiraiya's expression hardened.
He walked toward the door.
No bodies.
No struggle.
Just absence.
That was worse.
"Jiraiya-sama."
A voice came from behind him.
An ANBU wearing a cat mask landed silently.
Jiraiya didn't turn.
"How many?"
The ANBU paused.
"How many what?"
Jiraiya looked back.
"Things that don't belong."
The ANBU became still.
Across the stadium, Asuma helped Shikamaru toward the medical area.
Shikamaru's arm hung over his shoulder.
His eyes were mostly closed.
Then one opened.
"Sensei."
"Yeah?"
"Why are there more shinobi near the exits now?"
Asuma looked.
Three Konoha uniforms.
Normal.
Except—
One was wearing his kunai pouch backward.
A tiny, stupid detail.
The sort of detail Shikamaru noticed.
Asuma's cigarette stopped halfway toward his mouth.
"You sure?"
Shikamaru's eye closed.
"No."
A pause.
"Head hurts."
Asuma stared toward the shinobi.
The cigarette lowered.
"But?"
Shikamaru breathed slowly.
"They weren't there before."
Kurenai felt it too.
Not chakra.
Behavior.
Several people in the upper spectator levels were moving against the flow of the crowd.
Too coordinated.
Too calm.
Her eyes narrowed.
Shino noticed her posture.
"Kurenai-sensei?"
"Stay with Hinata."
Shino looked toward her.
"Why?"
Kurenai stood.
"Just do it."
Hiashi Hyūga had activated his Byakugan again.
Not for Neji this time.
His vision pierced stone.
Walls vanished.
People became chakra networks.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
He searched.
Then stopped.
Several unfamiliar chakra signatures stood inside restricted areas.
Hiashi's face became cold.
An ANBU landed beside the Hokage's platform.
Not close enough to alarm the dignitaries.
Close enough for Hiruzen to notice.
The ANBU didn't speak.
Two fingers touched the side of his mask.
Then one hand made a small signal.
Hiruzen's eyes shifted.
Possible infiltration.
His smile remained.
The Kazekage noticed nothing.
Or pretended not to.
Jiraiya reached the upper concourse.
Another ANBU joined him.
Then another.
"Sound signatures identified near the western support structure."
Jiraiya's face hardened.
"Sand?"
"Possible."
"Possible isn't good enough."
"We're checking."
Jiraiya looked toward the arena.
Sasuke stood across from Gaara.
The crowd was focused completely on them.
Perfect.
Too perfect.
Jiraiya's eyes moved higher.
Toward the Kage box.
Toward the Kazekage.
His instincts began screaming.
For once, he listened immediately.
"Get word to the old man."
The ANBU nodded.
"Quietly."
Another nod.
"Lock down every route beneath the stadium. Be discreet."
The ANBU vanished.
Jiraiya remained.
His hand settled near a kunai.
He could feel it now.
That subtle wrongness.
A stadium full of civilians.
Foreign dignitaries.
Thousands of people packed together.
Almost every important Konoha clan represented in one place.
And enemy shinobi quietly positioning themselves around them.
Jiraiya's mouth became a thin line.
"Shit."
Down in the arena, Gaara smiled wider.
Sasuke settled into his stance.
Genma raised one hand.
Above them, Hiruzen continued smiling for the crowd.
Around them, Sound and Sand moved into place.
Naruto stood at the railing.
And deep in his memory—
A vision burned.
Fire.
Screaming.
Konoha under attack.
Naruto's smile disappeared.
What he had witnessed a month prior was beginning its course.
It was time to see if things would change or remain the same.