Tale of the Setting Sun.

Chūnin Exams V

Chapter 12: "Stalemate"

The faint moonlight made the water in the wash basin glow eerily. Looking down at his face reflected on the water's surface, Naruto grimaced as he recalled his recent revelations. He couldn't think of a word to describe how he felt. It was as though he had been blind, and his eyes had been newly opened to the real world. As though a bubble that had separated him from the truth had dissipated.

But unfortunately, this reality had never been something he wanted.

All of his musings from childhood seemed silly to him now. How could he have never connected the dots before? His entire life, the other villagers had isolated and despised him. Reasoning it out, he had concluded that their driving factor was hatred, and he now knew for sure that he hadn't been wrong there. But now he saw that there was an even bigger factor: Namely, fear.

He had been orphaned the night that the Nine Tails attacked, but unlike the other orphans, he had been kept separate from them. And that was because the villagers, unlike him, had known that something colossal like the Nine-tails could not have been defeated, not even by the Fourth Hokage, but only sealed away.

To think that for ten years, they had had to live within the same walls as the monster that had killed their loved ones...

Naruto gazed down at the whisker-like marks on the face that stared back at him from the water's surface. After a moment, he broke the surface of the water with his hand, contorting his reflection.

Why had he never questioned the seal that appeared on his belly when he nudged the red chakra in his body? He had just dismissed it and never thought about it again after his initial curiosity. Naruto felt sick at the vague memory; how many other markers had he missed because of his lack of attention?

Suddenly, feeling an overwhelming urge to vomit, he covered his mouth. His headache had been growing increasingly worse all day, and now his head was throbbing again. Panting, Naruto leaned back against the sandy wall for support as his surroundings spun dizzily around him. As soon as the nausea had passed, he splashed some of the cold water on his hot face and then went to lie down on his bed.

His heart pounding, he dazedly wondered whether he had contracted some kind of strange desert bug, before his heavy eyes closed shut.

The day the second exam ended, everyone who had finished was taken out to the field of dunes where all the tunnels opened up to the surface. With the exception of the Konoha rookies, it was the first time since they had come into Suna that they had seen any of other genins. Taking a cursory look around during their short walk, Naruto noted that besides his and Neji's team, only Kabuto's team had made it from Konoha. However, none of the teams from the other villages seemed to have fared any better; overall, they looked rather more disheveled and worn down.

At the field, as expected, a large number of Suna shinobi officials were waiting. However, standing beside them were a number of foreign jōnin – including one very familiar face.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Mayu called out in surprise, coming to a stop.

The jōnin raised a hand in casual greeting as he strolled over. "So you guys are still in one piece, I see."

"Did you expect any less?" Rai snorted, folding his arms across his chest. Ever since he'd been kicked out of the Suna kitchen, he had been in an irritable mood.

"Are you supposed to be here?" Mayu asked skeptically.

"Hey, now. It's custom for the sensei to be present during the third exam," Kakashi explained. "In fact, there are usually a substantial number of spectators from every village during the third exam. After all, the Chūnin exam is what decides which ninja will be showing up on the battlefield."