Forced Wedding

The exams

That morning she felt tired, not like after a workout or exercise, no, that wasn't the feeling. Strangely her body felt a little heavier than usual. It almost felt like that time she had had too much alcohol, but all night she had had two glasses of champagne and the rest she had opted for water. Since the night she got drunk Toshio had sternly warned her that such kind of incidents couldn't be repeated as they were 'inappropriate', and besides she really didn't like to drink, so she always kept a careful eye on the amount of alcohol she drank.

She wanted to continue lying down in the hope that the discomfort would disappear but it was impossible, it would be a hectic morning because that day the exams began. She could finally see a real result to her efforts and she prayed inside that they would be optimal, that way it was possible that they would let her continue with that work.

She got out of bed slowly, she felt an inexplicable metallic taste in her mouth, suddenly she would have bitten herself asleep. She took a shower calmly and when she got out of the shower, she checked the endless number of clothes that had been packed for the trip, nothing really comfortable, she chose a slightly tight yellow dress, because she had seen on the bed the suit that her husband was going to wear, and it was pertinent to combine it with it.

After breakfast they headed to the arena where the fights would take place, on the way they had a light conversation about the climate of the village and how the competitive atmosphere could be perceived in the air.

"It's important," Toshio began to speak before they arrived at the place, "that no one knows that you supported the training of our participants," she nodded, it made her a little sad not to be able to give them a motivational talk, "in this village they know your specialty and fighting style, we don't want them to think that is an advantage."

The arena was starting to fill up, as representatives of another village their seats were reserved, in the front row, it was a privileged view of the fights, only comparable to the view Tsunade must have had from her stage. The welcome and presentation of the participants was quick, as well as the explanation of the rules of the fights, taking into account the number of participants who had passed the initial phase, there would be 4 fights per day, if any fight was extended beyond the time that had been allocated the last fight that was scheduled for that day would be rescheduled for the first turn the next day.

Other rules were that it was forbidden to mortally wound or kill the opponent, and the ideal was to demonstrate all the skills that they believed could make them pass the exam because even if they lost the fight they would be given a score for the technique shown, the latter didn't exist when she took the exam.

There were 36 competitors in total, of which 9 were from the Lightning village. 3 of their students hadn't passed the first stage of these so they had dropped out of the competition. All the days that were scheduled had bouts of their students so their attendance was guaranteed. The opening fight was between the Leaf village for being the hosts and the Lightning village in distinction to them.

She remembered almost tenderly years ago when she had performed in both, the one where she lost to Temari, and the one where she was finally given the rank of chunin. On one side of her was Toshio who occasionally asked her about some of the jutsu used, and on the other was Haruo, with whom they discussed the effects of the booster they had given their participants. Her chest swelled with pride at Yuudai's ability to target the exact location had helped him win the first match.

The second fight was between the Leaf village and the Sand, it was a close fight that allowed them to see roughly the level of the Sand village. Although it was already late, they couldn't talk to their students to reformulate the strategy of the fights. The fight ended with the host village victorious and it was time for the lunch break.