Tale of a setting sun

Chapter 8: "Sand Ripples in the Wind"

Naruto had never seen so much open space in one place before – or such a uniformity in color. As far as the eye could see, fields of golden sand stretched into the distance. The horizon was not straight, but humped with faraway dunes, and the intense, constant heat from the sun caused refractions in the air.

Sunagakure (Hidden Sand) was not, in the strictest sense of the word, hidden. Neither was Konohagakure (Hidden Leaf), for that matter – the huge overhanging mountain with the busts of the Hokage carved into the cliff's face was a dead giveaway. 

But just like how Konoha was isolated by dense forests and mountains, Sunagakure's location was secured by the sheer extremity of its geographical surroundings. 

They had had to endure endless sandstorms and scale treacherous rocky cliffs for several days to reach the village. If any ordinary person or 

ignorant ninja had attempted the journey, they would surely have fallen long before the village's clay buildings came into view.

When Naruto and his team finally arrived at the gates of the village, they were directed towards a desert space encircled by a barbed fence.

 Inside were dozens of huge pieces of rock that jutted out from the sandy ground. As soon as the gate to the lot screeched open, he felt at least several dozen pairs of eyes immediately turn to glare at them.

Naruto had never seen such a large gathering of foreign ninja together in one place. Just judging from the hitai-ate of the nearest genin, he could tell there were at least four other villages here, including Amegakure (Hidden Rain), Kusagakure (Hidden Grass), Takigakure (Hidden Waterfall), and of course Sunagakure (Hidden Sand). 

Naruto shifted; the tension in the air was tangible.

"Ick, this place is disgusting," he overheard a genin from Takigakure complaining. "I've got mud all over my sandals."

"Let's hurry up and pass this stupid exam so we can go back home," her teammate grumbled.

"Confident, aren't they?" muttered Rai, from besides him. He, like the other two, were wearing thick cloth cloaks to protect them from the sun. He looked musingly around. "I wonder who the others from Konoha will be?

 I heard from my brother that some rookies are actually taking the exam this year."

"They must be really talented then," said Mayu uneasily. Her eyes darted around. "I know I definitely wouldn't have been ready for it when we graduated. I don't know if I'm ready now, actually..."

With a shake of his head, Rai squeezed her arm comfortingly. "You'll be fine. You've got me and Naruto backing you up."

Mayu's face remained pale, but she nodded.While it was too early to say for sure, Naruto could already tell that the exam was not going to be a pushover; the other villages would have sent their best genin teams, and competition was going to be fierce. The question was,
what kind of trials would they face? Different villages hosted the exam every time, and the tests were always different.However, he had known this from the very beginning, and they had trained with this in mind. So long as Mayu didn't freeze up, Naruto felt reasonably confident that his team would be strong contenders. 

They would be able to weather whatever the test threw their way.

Probably.