Tale of the Setting Sun.

Chūnin Exams VI

Chapter 13: "Goodbye Memory"

The next few rounds of the preliminary went by fairly quickly.

In the second round, Tenten and the other Suna genin were overwhelmed by a Suna genin named Temari, who'd simply blown away all the artillery with a giant metal fan. In the next bracket, Rai lucked out; it turned out that the two other genin, a Suna and an Ame genin, hated each other's guts and spent all of their energy trying to beat the other.

When the Ame genin narrowly emerged victorious, Rai pounced, and made short work of him.

"Nice work," Kakashi praised Rai, who clambered over the sandy barrier with a triumphant grin.

"Good job," said Kabuto, pushing up his glasses.

Tenten, who was standing nearby, regarded Rai with a sour look.

"Did you see that move I made at the end there?" said Rai, swiping the air with his kunai. "It was like – "

"Oh please," Tenten cut in with a snort, folding her arms across her chest. "All you did was stand around and try to look invisible for most of that round." Though she'd been promptly restored to working condition by the medic nin, it seemed her pride had not yet made a full recovery.

Rai turned to her with a irritated look on his face. "Don't you have somewhere else to be? Like the stands."

Tenten scowled. "You wouldn't have done any better than me if you were up against an actual opponent!"

"Oh yeah?" Rai growled. "I guess we'll see in the third exam about that, then. The third exam you won't be participating in."

Tenten reddened, and for a second, Naruto thought she would hit him. But then, without another word, she turned on her heel and stiffly walked away. As Rai fumed, from the corner of his eye, Naruto saw Mayu biting her lip, as though debating within herself whether or not to talk.

"Your abilities and fighting style are fairly similar to Tenten's," Naruto remarked. "You might not have won against that Suna genin either."

Rai's jaw dropped. "What?"

"She was just upset she lost," Mayu piped in, looking upset. "You shouldn't have taunted her like that."

Rai slowly looked back and forth between them, before shaking his head.

"You two are never on my side," he groaned.

"I'm just stating facts," said Naruto matter-of-factly.

Rai turned towards his last hope with a pleading look. "Kabuto...?"

"Sorry Rai, but I'll have to agree with the rest on this one," Kabuto said with an apologetic smile.

Rai let out a long-suffering sigh.

"Fine," he said, throwing his hands up. "Fine! I'll go apologize." Hunched over, he slunk into the throng of genin.

Kakashi, who had been wordlessly watching the situation unfold, finally let out a chuckle. "You all rather remind me of my own team back in the day."

Feeling a lick of curiosity welling up, Naruto turned toward the jōnin. "What was your team like, sensei?"

"We were always fighting," was all Kakashi said, before turning to look back at the arena.

Naruto's gaze lingered on his sensei; he seemed distracted. Ever since his own match had ended, Kakashi had been sneaking discreet glances at him every now and then, before shaking his head and looking away. Was it because of that thing Rai had said? 'Jinchūriki?' He'd been meaning to ask Rai about it, but with Rai's battle being so soon after his, he hadn't gotten a chance to. And now, he was off doing who knew what. But what could Rai have been talking about? 'Jinchūriki'... was it a codename for something else?