Desert Flower

Leaving

  "First off, congratulations on finishing the second exam." The woman from the beginning of the exam called out. Standing in rows were the teams that had survived the Forest of Death with two scrolls, and I was behind Hiroki and Torino who were standing rather tensely. Neither of them looked over their shoulder at me, but I could understand why as I dropped my head and held my arm.

  In front of us all were the teachers, the Hokage, and a statue of hands together in the formation of the ram. We were in a large room with a balcony high up on the wall, and the stairs that led up to it were on either side behind us.

  "Now then, we will now have the explanation of the third exam from Master Hokage. Listen carefully, everybody."

  "All right." The old man nodded, his hands behind his back as a pipe hung from his mouth. He stepped forward before clearing his throat. "Before the explanation of the third exam that we will start from now, I have just one thing I want to tell everyone flat out. About the true purpose of these exams. Why do allied nations conduct the exams on a conjoint basis?" He began as I raised my eyes to look.

  "Raising the levels of the shinobi and friendship among allied nations. It won't do to have the wrong idea of the true meaning of that statement. These exams are, so to speak...." The Hokage took the pipe from his lips and blew out some smoke. "A microcosm of battles between allied nations."

  "What does that mean?" A girl asked.

  "If we look back on history, the allied nations of today were once neighboring nations that continued to vie with each other and battle for power. In order to avoid a futile crushing of each others' military strength, those nations mutually selected a place to battle. And that was how the Chunin Exams originally began."

  "W-Why do we have to do such a thing?" Naruto questioned. "We're not doing this to select Chunins?!"

  "There is no question that these exams are to select shinobi worthy of becoming Chunin. But on the other hand, these exams also provide a venue for shinobi who carry their nation's pride on their backs to fight for their lives!" The Hokage answered. "Many feudal lords and those of prominence from many nations who request shinobi for work are invited to this third exam as guests. And, the feudal lords and Head Ninja of each village of the nations will watch your battles. If the gap in national power becomes unbridgeable, the strong nations are inundated with job requests. The requests of the nations deemed weak, on the other hand, decline. And therewithal, we can exert pressure upon each neighboring nation.... That is to say, just how much military strength our Village is developing and has."

  "Even so, why is it necessary for us to fight for our lives?!" The boy with the dog shouted.

  "The nation's strength is the Village's strength. The Village's strength is the shinobi's strength. The true strength of the Shinobi is created only in a fight for one's life!" Images of the Mist ninja choking me flashed in my head. Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I crossed my arms over my chest while sort of hugging myself. "This exam is a place to see the strength of home country shinobi and a place to see this as well. It is because it's an exam where you truly fight for your life that this has meaning. It's for this very reason that your forerunners fought in this exam, a dream worth striving for."

  "Then why....why use the expression 'friendship'?!"

  "I said it at the start, didn't I? That it won't do for you to have the wrong idea of the meaning! It's a custom where balance is preserved by fighting and removing life. This is the friendship of the shinobi world. This is a fight for life with the pride of the village and one's own dream on the line."