The match between Megumi Kato and Haruno Yukinoshita left the audience scratching their heads.
Fortunately, the second bout pulled the atmosphere right back: Naruto Uzumaki versus Neji Hyuga. Fist against fist, bone-rattling and blood-pumping. This was the Chunin Exams people had come to see.
But when Neji stood in the arena and laid bare what the Hidden Cloud Village had done all those years ago, the expressions among the players in the stands began to shift.
"That's beyond shameless!" Yumiko Miura couldn't hold back.
Signing a ceasefire agreement, breaking it without warning, botching an attempt to kidnap the main family's heiress, and then having the audacity to flip the blame and force the branch family's leader to his death.
Disgusting.
Beside her, Yui Yuigahama had gone pale.
So this is... politics?
Haruno Yukinoshita, fresh off her win and back in the stands, wore a grim expression. So did Yukino Yukinoshita, seated next to their parents.
As children of a corporate dynasty, they'd seen plenty of political ugliness. Their mother swam in those waters. But the Cloud's maneuver still turned their stomachs.
Utterly brazen.
The adults who'd spent a decade or two grinding through the real world, Eri Kisaki and Sayuri Sawamura among them, took it far more calmly. Where the younger generation seethed with righteous anger, they focused on Konoha itself.
Eri currently worked in Konoha's legal department. She couldn't stop herself from looking up at the highest viewing platform, toward Hiruzen Sarutobi.
She wanted nothing more than to ask the old man one question:
What were you thinking? How could you agree to those terms?
Is Konoha really that weak?
Her colleagues had spent the past weeks talking her ear off about how the Third was supposedly the strongest Hokage in history. But that decision-making... it didn't exactly scream "strongest," did it?
Unless being the most patient is what counts as being the strongest?
Makoto took in everyone's reactions with a faint smile, saying nothing.
The Konoha elder council had a long ledger of atrocities, but the Hyuga Hizashi affair ranked among the heaviest entries.
Sometimes he wondered whether Hiruzen and his advisors were sleeper agents planted by the Cloud. How else could they be so generous to outsiders and so ruthless to their own?
"That blond boy..."
From the Kage platform, the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, spoke up.
"The power he just released. It felt... familiar."
Hiruzen's expression tightened.
It hit him at once. Yagura was the Three-Tails' jinchuriki, and not just any host. He was a perfect jinchuriki, like Killer Bee and Yugito, capable of total control over his tailed beast.
He'd sensed something in the burst of Nine-Tails Chakra Naruto had let slip.
"Ha, how could that be?" Hiruzen forced a laugh. "Naruto's just an orphan. You must be mistaken, Lord Mizukage."
Naruto's status as a jinchuriki was the village's highest-classified secret. Under no circumstances could an outsider learn of it.
Never mind that, for some reason, every single villager called the boy "demon fox" to his face.
"Is that so? My mistake, then." Yagura smiled and let it go.
Hiruzen quietly exhaled.
The third match pitted Airi Akizuki against Marina Akizuki. A sister-on-sister war.
The two of them delivered a high-caliber duel. Makoto had given both of them frequent private training sessions, and their skills had reached the level of elite genin.
Airi favored water and fire natures; Marina leaned toward water and lightning. The clash was spectacular.
Their only limitation was civilian bloodlines. Limited Chakra reserves meant a prolonged fight was off the table.
In the end, the more aggressive younger sister Airi edged out her elder by a narrow margin.
The crowd gave them generous applause. The sisters had put on a genuinely beautiful show, and people in every world had a natural soft spot for attractive fighters.
"Makoto! I beat my sister!"
Airi skipped the contestants' area entirely, bounding up into the stands and throwing herself into his arms.
"Not bad." He ruffled her hair, then looked up at Marina trailing behind her and and gestured: Perfect timing.
A faint blush colored Marina's cheeks, but she obediently sidled over and claimed the other half of his chest.
The audience: "..."
Unbelievable.
Down in the contestants' seating, Utaha Kasumigaoka's face had gone dark. She'd known about Makoto's relationship with the sisters for a while, but seeing it in person still grated.
Beside her, Megumi Kato's expression hadn't changed. Only her eyes had gone slightly unfocused, radiating an aura that sent a chill down the spine.
The next match should have been Nara Shikamaru versus Temari.
Genma was about to call them down when a sudden whirlwind tore through the arena, scattering fallen leaves.
Kakashi and Sasuke. Making one hell of an entrance.
The players gaped.
You've got to be kidding. That level of showmanship?
Not far away, behind his mask, Obito's gaze trembled.
Originally, Hiruzen had scheduled Sasuke and Gaara's match for the end of the first round. But now that Sasuke was here and the crowd was hungry to see the last Uchiha perform, there was no reason to drag it out. The announcement came immediately:
"Sasuke Uchiha versus Gaara. Begin."
Makoto watched with keen interest.
Shikamaru and Temari never fought. Does that mean those two still end up together down the line?
True to the original story, Sasuke displayed speed rivaling Rock Lee's from the previous round, leaving Gaara's sand scrambling to keep up.
When Gaara was forced to deploy his ultimate spherical defense, Sasuke had already launched himself up the arena wall. Lightning crackled around his left hand.
Chidori.
The piercing shriek of a thousand chirping birds flooded the arena. Violet lightning, amplified by his two-tomoe Sharingan, condensed into a blazing lance that punched straight through Gaara's wall of sand.
Blood sprayed.
For the first time in his life, Gaara was wounded.
For the first time, he saw his own blood.
His mind shattered.
Shukaku seized the opening.
Baki, the Sand's supervising jonin, went white. "This is bad! The plan's gone off the rails! Shukaku can't come out yet!"
He shot a look at Temari and Kankuro. Get Gaara out. Now.
They read him instantly, leaping into the arena, flanking the injured Gaara, and bolting.
Sasuke froze.
What are they doing?
A figure dropped into the arena.
Makoto.
He walked up beside Sasuke and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Sasuke."
"What?" Sasuke turned to look at him on instinct.
Then he saw Makoto's other hand reaching toward his eyes.
From the outside, it looked as though Makoto was about to pluck the two-tomoe Sharingan right out of Sasuke's skull.
BOOM.
A staggering wave of Chakra erupted.
Obito.
The blast of energy sent nearby spectators stumbling backward.
Makoto stared at the source, genuinely surprised.
Huh. Why is Tobi losing his mind over this?
Sasuke's face contorted.
That Chakra. He would remember it if he died a thousand deaths.
Behind the mask, three-tomoe Sharingan spun wildly, the pattern warping, reshaping into three interlocking pinwheels.
"Amaterasu!"
No...
Makoto's pupils contracted.
That isn't Obito.