The Red Maelstrom

[36] Arena of Tempests

The feverish excitement surrounding the much anticipated third stage of the exams finally ascended to its climax the morning Kohana woke. This was the only time she'd woken up late ever since her stay at the hospital; knowing his student would have wanted to give her competing teammates a visit, Osamu allowed her a day off. Unfortunately, both Naruto and Sasuke were nowhere to be found, leaving Kohana with an entire day dedicated to training out of sheer boredom with no one around to chastise her for it. The day-long break Osamu had issued served his benefit as well; he was assigned to be one of the jōnin to oversee all safeguards (both within and without the village) for the day of the event, and they needed all hands present to ensure the safety of the village.

Right after showering and haphazardly drying her hair, Kohana stepped out of her empty home with a pouch full of ramen funds, a bentō, and a container of water tucked into the only rucksack she owned.

And the moment she opened her front door and set her sights upon the neighboring houses, it felt as though the village mirrored her own excitement. The noon sun was high in the sky, but it was by no means a peaceful morning. Everyone was rushing to finish up chores: one villager was hastily draping a family's worth of laundry over clotheslines while yelling at unseen household members to make necessary preparations for the day. Further down, an infamous group of drunken civilians stumbled out of a bar because the barkeep, a heavily muscled and frighteningly fierce woman, was chasing them out with a broom in one hand and a slipper in the other. "Enough!" she roared. "You useless bastards better not show your damn ugly mugs around here because this bar's gonna be packed full of shinobi tonight and I don't want a full house of broke clowns ruining their night!" Kohana pursed her lips and opted to take the opposite direction instead, lest she be caught up in their defensive blubbering and rancid breaths a second time.

There were similar occurrences across the village. Some restaurants and stalls were closed for the day, but only because most were prepared for a restless day of celebration ahead of them. Now that Kohana was old enough, she finally understood why today was such a big deal. As a child, she'd more often enjoyed days like these because people were far too preoccupied to pay any attention to her or Naruto. Not to mention it always put Iruka in a good mood, which benefited Naruto much more than it did anyone else.

"Whose fight are you betting on?", it seemed, was the question of the day. Kohana herself couldn't help but want to join in on the conversations and give her own expectations for what was to come. Her entire body was practically thrumming with energy that needed to be released as soon as possible, but because this was a day for spectating, not training, Kohana was unsure of what to do with these consistent bursts of overflowing vigor. She was eager to see how far Naruto and Sasuke had come after weeks of arduous training under the guidance of such renowned ninja. Kohana had yet to see Naruto's master, the man they referred to as a member of the Legendary Sannin, but she hoped that if Naruto was being pushed to his very limits, then at least some good should come out of it. It was the least she could expect from someone who seemed to have garnered such a grand reputation.

"Kohana!" came a familiar voice from behind. Kohana spun around with a grin to pat Sakura on the shoulder. "Yo! Haven't seen 'ya in a while. You headed to the arena?" she asked. Indeed, the last time she'd seen Sakura was almost an entire week ago, with Kohana constantly sequestering herself in training grounds (and in her own house to squeeze some extra training in without getting caught—Osamu found out, of course, but there wasn't much he could do about it) every single day.

Even Sakura's elation was almost palpable. Her eyes were bright and she looked especially energized, if not a little tense. Was it Kohana's imagination?