That night, Naruto dreamed of fire.

The world was gripped in a raging inferno, ash raining from the sky in black sheets and choking all life from the earth. All around him there were familiar faces, friends and classmates who wandered the world like ghosts, but in their eyes shone the crimson light of the Sharingan. Though he called out to them, they did not answer.

Sakura was there too, but she could not see him, for she had no eyes at all. Shino’s mouth opened, and a swarm of insects poured out like a plague, emptying him from the inside out. Kiba and his hound had merged into a feral monster, lashing out at everything around him. Ino whispered to him from inside his own head, her voice a high-pitched wail like steam from a broken pipe. Gaara’s sand gathered in a cloud, forming into a single lidless eye that watched them all from above. He blinked and looked again, and then he saw that it was not Gaara’s eye but Haku’s ice portal, gazing down at him with a thousand frozen eyes.

He fled. It was cold and dark, and the fire burned his skin even as the ice turned his thoughts to mud.

Darkness followed him as he ran through the streets, pursued by an enemy that would not be seen and could not be fought. Whether he was getting away or moving closer he did not know. It was a nightmare and he knew it to be so, and yet still he ran, for what else was there to do?

He woke up to the final day of the Chūnin Exams, and immediately wished he could go back to sleep.

-o-

Somehow, despite seeing the massive building almost every day, Naruto had forgotten just how large Konoha’s arena was. Though it was used just a few times per year for training, exams and ceremonies, the circular structure was kept in perfect condition at all times, and could easily house the entire Village.

“You’re late,” the man guarding the entrance said. He was wearing a standard chūnin vest, but his milky white eyes revealed him to be a member of the Hyūga clan – no doubt to verify the identity of anyone attempting to enter under the transformation technique. “You’ve already missed the opening ceremony, the Third Hokage’s inaugural speech, the Sand’s parade, and the concluding lecture on safety procedures.”

“Sorry.” Naruto had not planned to miss the morning activities, but he had told himself he needed just five more minutes in bed. He had ended up staring at the ceiling with his eyes wide open, repeating the mantra of ‘five more minutes’ until at last there had been no more minutes left.

The Hyūga shoved a bundle of papers into Naruto’s hands. “Here’s your ticket, your schedule, a map of the arena and a copy of your waiver form,” he said. “Your seat is in quadrant A, column seventeen. Do not talk to anyone you do not recognize during the tournament. Attendants will come by with food and drinks that have been checked for poison at regular intervals – contact them if you need anything else.”

“Uh, right,” said Naruto. Somehow, his head was still foggy with exhaustion despite the stress. “Got it.”

He stumbled through the halls and up the stairs in a daze. Everywhere there were people, endless people, buzzing and pushing past him in their hundreds, all while clamouring in an incomprehensible monotone like a waterfall’s relentless cascade. It only got worse when he emerged at the top of the arena: The entire stadium was filled to the brim, endless rows of seats filled with thousands of people and with yet more coming in every second. He stared at the papers in his hands, but the letters and figures blurred and danced in front of his eyes as though they were squirming to escape his notice.

“Hey, dropout.”

Naruto turned around in sharp relief, never imaging himself to be so glad to hear that voice. “Sasuke! And – oh, Kakashi-sensei.”

“Heya.” His masked teacher greeted him with a jaunty wave of his hand, carefree as ever, while Sasuke just stood there and smirked. “How’s it going? Are you all set for your match? Glad to hear it.”

“No thanks to you,” Naruto bit back. If Kakashi wanted to know how he was doing he could have checked up on him at any point during the last month. “Some sensei you are.”

“Hey, what was I supposed to do, train you and Sakura to fight each other?” The jōnin sighed and shook his head. “You got one of the Sannin to teach you. Sasuke had to make do with me. Don’t complain.”

Not wanting to press it any further, Naruto turned to his Uchiha teammate.

“So, how did the training go? I mean, those Sand Ninjas are all crazy, and even if you defeat Temari you still have to face Hyūga Neji after that, and he seems to have it out for you too.” He frowned. “What’s up with that, anyway?”

Sasuke shrugged with clearly forced lightness. “Oh, you know: It’s one of those ridiculous age-old family feuds.” He waved his hands dismissively. “Two noble clans, each vying to prove they’re the greater and more noble – I think it’s moronic, but I suppose if your entire sense of self-worth is tied up in your status as nobility because you have no actual talent of your own, it would seem pretty important.”

Naruto followed his eyes to the other end of the arena, where he could just barely make out a figure dressed in white robes – Hyūga Neji seemed to be staring in their direction, though he could not possibly have heard what Sasuke said from such a distance. Naruto frowned in thought at the sight.

“Right,” said Kakashi, coughing as he looked for an escape. “Well, I suppose I’d better go check up on Sakura.” His hand was already reaching for the perverted book in his pocket as he body-flickered away.

“…useless bastard,” Naruto muttered under his breath, which got an amused snort out of Sasuke. He shook his head. “So anyway, if your clan is so far above it all, how come the Hyūga mostly have a grudge against you and not the other noble clans? Something doesn’t quite add up there, Lord Uchiha.”

Sasuke’s lips twisted into a smirk. “I suppose there might have been some old dispute regarding the power of our eyes and the origin thereof. You see, the Hyūga claim that the Sharingan is but a minor mutation of the Byakugan: A rather interesting claim, chronologically speaking, as the Sharingan can be traced back to the first son of the first ninja.” A small twinkle of amusement entered his eyes as he glanced at Neji. “To be fair, our version of the Byakugan’s history might not be wholly correct either – I suppose it does seem a little self-serving, to say that a lone Uchiha spawned the Hyūga clan in a single night of drunken debauchery – so perhaps the truth lies somewhere in the middle, and it was just the one affair with a scullery maid and not a whole den of women of professionally ill repute.”

“Uh-huh,” said Naruto, who was starting to feel rather sympathetic to the Uchiha clan’s ancient rivals. “So if the Hyūga are all supposedly descended from this one Uchiha, and bloodline abilities are recessive, how would… I mean, how would that even work, exactly?”

“That is an excellent question,” Sasuke said brightly, “the answer to which I think would help a great deal in explaining why the members of the Hyūga clan all look so very, very much alike.”

At this point Neji descended into a sputtering fit of indignant fury, and it finally dawned on Naruto that of course the Hyūga clan would be able to read lips. Together with their wall-piercing telescopic vision, that gave them the ability to observe and overhear any person in the Village at any time.

He recalled Kakashi’s lecture on always holding your hand over your mouth when discussing sensitive matters, and he remembered how quickly the Anbu had managed to find him and Mizuki in the forest, but the pieces only now all clicked together: Naruto was the son of the Fourth Hokage and host to Kurama, of course the Hokage would have ordered the Hyūga clan to always keep an eye on him.

And now he wondered: Had he ever even had a single moment of privacy in his life?

He forced his attention back to the furious Hyūga down in the stands, averting his thoughts before anyone could catch on to the fact that he knew. “What uh, what is he yelling about, do you think?”

“Hold on.” Sasuke activated his Sharingan and squinted at the screaming Hyūga. “He seems to be saying something about my face, and… wearing a hat? All that spittle is really obscuring my vision, here.”

“Maybe he’s saying he tips his hat to you because you have such a nice looking face,” Naruto proffered.

“That seems likely.” Sasuke smirked again. Then he shook his head and looked away. “Well, I’d better go look for Kakashi before he manages to escape us entirely. I’ll see you in the final round, dropout.”

“Wait,” said Naruto, pausing briefly as Sasuke’s meaning sank in. “Uh, about my seating, do you know…”

“Seeing how all examinees have been given front row seats, down would be a good start.” Sasuke gave a lazy wave as he sauntered away, before vanishing with the body-flicker technique.

That guy is spending way too much time with Kakashi-sensei, Naruto decided.

He found the other rookies and their teachers in the front row as Sasuke had said, and Naruto breathed a sigh of relief when he saw who was seated next to him. “Hey, Shikamaru!” He realized in surprise that he knew the large bearded man besides him as well. “Oh, and Asuma-sensei! I didn’t know you guys would be here too.” The jōnin sensei of team ten had been instructing Naruto’s shadow clones on wind-style ninjutsu, though Naruto still lacked the fine chakra control needed to master his famous wind-blade technique.

“Hey kid,” Asuma greeted him amiably. “Just because my students all failed doesn’t mean they don’t get to watch the finals. Besides, I’ve got a bet going on with Shikamaru about the final winner of the tournament,” he added with a grin. “Loser has to pay for our next team dinner at the Yakiniku Q.”

“Yeah,” said Shikamaru, not bothering to look up. “Just watching and figuring out the strategy involved is not so bad actually – in fact it’s kind of like playing a game of shogi. If this was all I had to do all day I wouldn’t mind too much, though I guess that’s what my dad does already, what with him being jōnin commander and all.” He closed his eyes and cupped his hands together in an ‘O’ shape, seemingly deep in thought. “Now simmer down, I still have to figure out who I want to bet on.”

“What is he doing?” The question came from a curious looking woman further down the line, with untamed black hair and a daring dress made of elaborate wrappings covered in a pattern of rose thorns. The jōnin sensei of team eight, Naruto guessed. “Is he using some kind of hand seal?”

Asuma laughed. “No Kurenai, it’s not a technique. It’s just something he does whenever he thinks deeply about something: I once tricked him into taking an intelligence test in the form of a game, and it turned out the speed at which he thought was beyond the level of genius. Unlike anything I’ve ever seen or heard of, aside from the rest of his family of course – I’m told his dad is just as brilliant.”

“Wait,” Naruto said slowly, “So he and his entire clan of secret-technique-using ninjas are able to think at a speed that nobody else has ever managed, but only after moving their hands in a specific way that looks exactly like a hand sign… and he’s managed to convince you that it’s not a ninja technique?”

What were even the odds of something like that being a coincidence? Sakura would know the answer, he thought glumly. But it had to be close to zero.

“Uhm,” said Asuma. He looked to Kurenai for help, but she only gave him an artful smile in reply.

“You people are too noisy,” Shikamaru said as he exited his stance. “Anyway, no matter how I look at it, I got to pick Gaara as the final winner. A guy like that just… cannot be defeated.”

Naruto was about to question this when the examiner called out from below. “Everyone, please prepare yourselves for the first match of today’s Chūnin Exam! Aburame Shino versus Hyūga Neji!”

As the audience burst out in deafening applause, Naruto realized he did not even know the name of this new examiner, after seeing the last three come and go – though in truth he found it difficult to care.

He watched as the two contestants faced each other down in the centre of the arena. Rumour had it that Hyūga Neji was not only the strongest genin of his year, but also the most promising member of his clan, as nobody had inherited the Byakugan as strongly as him. On the other hand, nobody ever so much as whispered of Aburame Shino, to the point where you had to actively remember that he was there at all, and Naruto could not help but wonder if that did not make him a better ninja still.

That, and Naruto had seen Shino single-handedly hold off Gaara of the Desert in the Forest of Death.

The silence was broken by Hyūga Neji, who scoffed loudly. “Lady Hinata’s noble protector… I suppose you imagine yourself quite fortunate, to have been granted by fate the opportunity to avenge lady Hinata’s honour in this fight.” Naruto remembered again how eager this boy had seemed to tear Hinata apart during the primaries, and how alien it had seemed to him that anyone would want to do so.

“That seems unnecessary,” Shino replied calmly, “seeing how you failed to wound her in the slightest.”

Shino’s flowing robes and hood left almost none of his skin visible, and when his insects poured forth his form was obscured further still. The parasitic beetles swarmed around him as though they were an extension of his body, which Naruto reflected might well be the case from what he had seen so far.

“Is that so? I suppose there is no merit in seeking to injure someone who can be made to falter by as much as a stern glare. Tell me: How does your family stomach the fact that the noble Aburame clan’s heir is subordinate to someone so hopelessly inadequate to her role? I imagine their wounded pride is a bitter pill to swallow – or are you as much a disappointment in their eyes as she?”

“We are all subordinate to the power you call fate,” Shino replied. “Why? Because whether it concerns ninjas or insects, each one of us has a role to perform in life, and a queen is no more valuable than the drones in her collective. The only exception is a drone which has lost its function: I find that those are best culled early, and harvested as a rich source of protein.”

Neji glowered at him but said nothing, his eyes whitening as he assumed an unfamiliar taijutsu stance.

“If you are both ready…” The examiner slashed his hand downwards. “Begin!”

The swarm of insects flew at Neji like a black cloud, but the Hyūga rolled underneath it and threw himself at his opponent. Twin blades flashed out from Shino’s flowing robes in response, curved and serrated like an insect’s pincers. The hooded boy slashed at his opponent, each stroke following the other in a flawless web of steel that forced Neji back while having to evade the insects at the same time. Though the Hyūga ducked and weaved, he could find no opening to attack.

Naruto stared at the sight in confusion. “I don’t get it. Why doesn’t the Hyūga pull out a weapon of his own? He’s at a huge reach disadvantage like this.”

Shikamaru shook his head. “The Hyūga don’t really use weapons. They have their own Gentle Fist style, which uses the Byakugan to detect their opponent’s chakra points and closes them off by forcing their own chakra into their body with their fingertips.”

“What? That’s stu-” Not stupid, Naruto quickly corrected himself. A technique like that might not be well-suited to single combat, but it would be invaluable in capturing enemy ninjas alive, since you never knew what secret techniques they might otherwise use to escape even without being able to move their arms and legs. Couple that with their eyes’ information gathering ability and the Hyūga were the perfect clan to assist the Anbu and the Hokage in making unwanted people disappear into the night. He glanced towards Lord Hyūga Hiashi, who was sitting in a seat of honour in the front row, watching the fight with an impassionate gaze. No wonder they’re considered a noble clan, with a power like that…

But then, the Aburame were considered a noble clan too – and perhaps for exactly the same reason.

More and more insects found their way to Neji’s body, try as he might to avoid them all, and it was starting to look like the Hyūga would be drained dry of chakra before he could so much as touch his opponent. At last the older boy charged his enemy with apparent desperation. Shino readied his blades for a counter, but at the last second Neji drove his foot into the dirt and used his momentum to spin on the spot: Chakra erupted from every one of his chakra points until he was at the centre of a vortex that blew away everything around it, killing all nearby insects and hurling Shino backwards. Shino tried to regain his footing but his swords were out of position and Neji was already in front of him, one hand lunging for Shino’s heart with a triumphant sneer on his lips.

Neji’s hand speared through his chest, and Shino exploded in a cloud of insects.

Neji instantly dodged to the side as shuriken came hurtling out of the swarm of beetles behind him. The swarm coalesced into a humanoid figure before scattering once more, revealing an unharmed Shino standing in the centre with both his blades outstretched in challenge.

“Is he… is he made of bugs?” Naruto remembered seeing Shino’s body disintegrate into insects back in the Forest of Death, and shuddered. He could all too easily imagine the boy having lived there all along, not as a ninja but as a monstrous swarm that one day elected to take on human form…

“Nah,” said Shikamaru, “it’s a trick: He hid his real body in the swarm when he first attacked Neji, leaving a shadow clone behind – only he used his insects as a base instead of an element like water or earth, so when the clone was destroyed his bugs reappeared. He’s pretending to be stronger than he really is.”

Right, Naruto thought as he watched the battle below. He’s just a really good impression of a monster…

Neji charged forward again, and this time Shino’s defence was much more frantic. His blades struggled to hold his enemy far enough at bay, and only a handful of insects settled on Neji at a time so as to prevent him from killing them all the way he had before. Time seemed to slow as Shino’s step faltered, and Neji drove himself into his guard and spun, erupting into a nexus of destructive chakra that hurled Shino backwards and sent him crashing into the ground, his swords flying far out of reach.

“You surprise me, Aburame,” the Hyūga drawled as he advanced on his fallen opponent. “With all your talk of accepting your lot in life, I would have expected you to give up sooner on a fight you clearly cannot win.” He plucked one of the flying beetles out of the air, dangling it between his fingertips before crushing it and flicking it away in distaste. “You refer to these insects as your allies, do you not? Why not forfeit the match and spare as many of them as you can?”

“You misunderstand.” Shino struggled to his feet, leaving his blades discarded on the ground. “It is true that we refer to the lives of these insects as equal in value to our own… however, our meaning is far different from how you seem to interpret it.”

Neji came to an abrupt halt, and as Naruto focused chakra to his eyes he could see why: Coils of almost invisibly thin wire had descended on the Hyūga, held up by the swarm of flying beetles. Neji cut through the wires with a contemptuous slash of his hand, yet more still were being dropped in loose coils around him, his bounds drawn tighter by the second even as he struggled to sever them all.

“Allow me to show you what I mean.” Shino raised his hand and allowed one of the beetles to land on his index finger. “By itself, this drone is adrift, without a hive to give it meaning or purpose – and without purpose, what reason has it to exist? It might as well not have been born at all.”

As the wires coiled around Neji he spun in place once more, but the vortex of chakra that swirled around him dragged the coils of wire with it, drawing it tighter around him even as he struggled to break free.

“Yet what if I were to grant this insect a mission, a chance to serve the greater whole?” Shino reached into his robes and produced an explosive tag, which he placed in the beetle’s waiting pincers. “Observe how its wings flutter in eagerness; it has been granted joy.”

“Oh Kami,” breathed Naruto, half rising from his seat. “He’s going to kill him. We gotta stop the match.”

“Why?” Shikamaru asked confusedly. “Do you know the guy or something?”

The beetle flew at Neji, dipping and straining under the weight of its burden, yet drawing ever closer nonetheless. Neji tore at his bonds with increasing desperation, shouting, screaming as his death approached ever faster until at last he tore one bleeding arm free and thrust his palm towards the insect. There was an eruption of air as an invisible force struck the beetle right as the explosion went off, scattering dead insects and broken wire in every direction. Neji was left standing in the debris, his breathing ragged and his eyes frantic as he searched for his enemy.

“We each must have our purpose,” Shino concluded, as he gathered up his weapons and sheathed them within his robes. “If we lose the one given to us, we must discover ourselves anew. However, you are correct on one count: The way you are now, your life is indeed worth less to me than even a single one of my insects.” He turned to face the examiner. “I forfeit the match.”

As the examiner called out the result, Naruto slowly fell back into his seat and breathed out. “Kami…”

“Yeah,” said Shikamaru. “It’s a good thing our team already lost to you guys back in the second round. Watching Ino or Chōji face off against someone like that would be way too troublesome.”

Naruto chose to ignore that remark – Shikamaru of course knew perfectly well which match was up next. He turned a nervous eye to the stands where the Sand siblings were seated: The Kazekage’s daughter had defeated Kabuto with ease, leaving her the oldest of the genin by far – and thus with much more chakra than Sasuke’s still undeveloped reserves. What was worse was that Sasuke would have to save his energy for the match against Neji, while Naruto doubted she would bother to do the same. Plus there’s that fan of hers… Not only could the weapon be used to attack and defend at the same time, but Naruto suspected it of being covered in enough seals to make it nearly indestructible.

All in all it should be a fairly straightforward match to predict, Naruto reflected.

Except that her opponent was Uchiha Sasuke.

-o-

Sasuke emerged from the gateway under an avalanche of cheers as the crowd roared their savage exultations. A large part of the audience had come here purely to see ‘the Uchiha’ fight, staking their meagre savings on his life or death. If the Uchiha line ended today, they would be cheering or despairing at the transfer of money, but Sasuke himself would not be remembered. Through his eyes the crowd was reduced to the colours of the Sharingan – a crawling crimson mass crying out for yet more red.

He searched around the arena for his opponent, but soon found out that his opponent was not one to use mere stairs: A shadow crossed the arena grounds as an object drifted down from the air. Standing on top of her war fan, her black kimono and crimson obi flapped and twisted in the wind as she touched upon the ground.

“Uchiha,” she announced, “you have something that belongs to the Sand.”

It took a second for Sasuke to realize what she was talking about. “You mean the Uchiwa Gunbai?” The ancient war fan which had given the Uchiha their name and sigil had been passed down from generation to generation for as long as could be remembered, yet there were still those in the Sand who claimed it had originally belonged to them. “Sorry. It seems to have gotten misplaced during my clan’s downfall.” Along with the greater part of our wealth and land, Sasuke thought bitterly. The scavengers in the Konoha Council had barely even waited for his parents’ bodies to cool before they began their prowl.

“That’s a shame,” said Temari. “It would have made for a nice battle trophy.”

Sasuke shifted into his Uchiha style combat stance. “I guess we just can’t have everything we want.”

“If you are both ready…” The examiner raised his hand, and Sasuke’s chakra flared into life. “Begin!”

The world blurred around Sasuke as his body-flicker technique almost hurled him towards his opponent, only for Temari’s howling tempest to meet him head-on. He body-flickered away and tried again from a different angle, but she swung her fan in swift arcs all around her, casting gales of wind until she was in the eye of a storm; a raging hurricane that made her impossible to approach.

In that case…

He flashed through the seals for the Phoenix Flower technique and spat half a dozen fireballs at her. She evaded the first three and leaped between the fourth and the fifth with all the grace of a cat, but the sixth found her in mid-air with no way to dodge. At the last second her fan swung around and intercepted the fireball, knocking it out of her path, and as she landed she flashed Sasuke a vicious grin.

“My turn.”

She swung her fan with all her might, and this time the storm was like nothing he had seen before: Only his Sharingan let him make out the scythes of wind that flew at him, criss-crossed like a net of invisible knives. He body-flickered away as the blades of wind cut deep into the earth where he had stood, blowing up vast clouds of dust behind him as he ran. He retreated all the way to the small outcrop of trees, and did not stop until he had a thick tree trunk between him and his opponent.

“Coward,” she called, “get back here! I thought the Uchiha were supposed to be a great warrior clan. What would your dear parents say if they saw you now? Just another little leaf, shaking with fear…”

Her wind cut into the trees, tearing the bark into pieces and scattering leaves in every direction, but his cover remained standing. Looks like that fan gives her incredible power, but as she can’t weave signs she lacks the fine control for pinpoint attacks. Sasuke slowly slid down and rested his back against the tree, trying to calm his breathing even as her attacks rammed into the trees until they shuddered from the onslaught. Above him, bloodthirsty onlookers were joining in her cries to urge him back into the fight.

“You know,” he called to her without looking around, “I can’t take taunts like that seriously coming from someone who won’t even dare look me in the eye.” Sakura’s area-effect genjutsu would actually be more effective here, he reflected morosely. As great as the Sharingan is, it’s not really a combat technique.

The savage winds relented, and the whistling in his ears was replaced by the sound of sardonic laughter. “Oh, but that’s just not how it works in the Sand! You see, where I’m from people like you are taught to respect their betters: If someone of low status dared to look the Kazekage’s daughter in the eye, we’d carve theirs out.” There was a brief pause. “Although, you are from a noble family, and you’re not too bad looking… How about this? If you come out so I can beat you properly, I’ll let you be my consort.”

Sasuke smiled wryly, though of course she could not see it. “Sorry, I’m already accounted for.”

Inwardly he cursed: His plan had been to take her out quickly, but now she had him pinned, and if he came at her he would be at a disadvantage. One wrong step and it would be his last. He looked at his hands, but they were not shaking – they had not done so since that crucial moment in the Land of Waves, right before he fought Haku amidst the snow and ice. That moment when everything changed…

“Don’t be so arrogant,” she scoffed. “I’m offering you a great honour here. There are ninjas in the Sand who would kill for a chance like that – to rise above their station and find some meaning in their lives.” She slammed the fan into the earth with what Sasuke guessed was vexation. “You know, that’s the problem with you Leaf types. You dress up as ninjas and prance around all prettily, but you have no idea what the real world is like. Someone like you wouldn’t survive for two minutes out in the desert sands.”

Sasuke gritted his teeth: He knew she was just trying to provoke him, but her ignorance still vexed him. “I’m sorry, what was that, princess?” He glanced around his tree and followed Temari’s gaze towards the balcony where the Kazekage and the Hokage were seated. “Oh, I get it now. It must have been hard, being raised as the Kazekage’s heir, trained from birth and taught to be the ruler of the Sand despite being a girl. Good thing your father had two sons to rectify that mistake, don’t you think?” He paused, not yet seeing the reaction he was aiming for. “Although… seeing how one of them appears to be an idiot and the other is stark raving mad, perhaps your inheritance is safe after all, princess.”

For several seconds, there was deathly silence.

“See,” she said at last, “this is what I mean. That thing you said just now? A smarter person would have said nothing.” As Sasuke turned to face her, Temari smeared a streak of blood from her thumb across her open fan, connecting each of its three purple moons with a crimson line. She swung her fan at him, and along with the onrushing storm a spirit animal soared at Sasuke – a weasel armed with a sickle.

“Cut him to pieces, Kamatari!”

Sasuke dodged at the last second, leaping away even as an invisible line cut through the tree he hid behind, causing it to groan and tumble as it crashed into the ground. He flashed a hand seal and lightning darted from his fingertips, but the flying weasel only chittered mockingly as the current bent around its aura of wind to strike the trees behind it. It swung its weapon again and Sasuke was forced to flee, darting from tree to tree as shattered logs and branches fell all around him, cut apart by unstoppable blades of wind. Sasuke dashed out of the crop of trees only to be hurled back in as Temari sent a hurricane crashing into him. Above him, the weasel hefted its deadly sickle-blade once more.

No – I refuse to die to a fucking flying rodent!

Sasuke sprang to his feet, weaving new signs as invisible blades of wind shattered tree bark in every direction. He turned and spewed forth a continuous roiling flame, a torrent of fire that pursued the flying weasel as it flitted between the tree branches, chittering all the while. Sasuke drew his sword and chased after the creature, running up the side of a tree and leaping from branch to branch as he breathed the last of his fire onto the length of his blade. He swung at the spirit animal as he ran, but it flew backwards and stayed out of his reach while its own blades of wind raced past Sasuke so close he could feel their edge upon his skin. At last Sasuke reached the tip of the last remaining tree while the weasel kept flying higher. He leaped after it with all his strength and thrust his burning blade upwards in one last desperate strike, but the creature hovered just barely out of range as it readied its own wind-sickle to eviscerate him in mid-air. Then Sasuke released his technique and the fire burst from the tip of his blade like a burning lance, engulfing the rodent in flame as it shrieked in pain.

Temari’s shriek echoed throughout the arena. “Kamatari!”

Sasuke dropped to the ground, landing in a crouch as all around him the burning remains of the forest rained down in a cascade of fire. “I’m sorry,” he said coldly, “but when you send your pets out to fight for you, they tend to die. If you had ever set foot in the real world you’d know that, princess.”

Temari screamed at the top of her lungs and swung her fan once more, but Sasuke was already on the move: He sheathed his sword and body-flickered to the side and past her hurricane winds, his movements plotted perfectly through the power of the Sharingan. He formed the Tiger seal and breathed out a grand fireball at his opponent, which she raised her fan to block just as he had known she would. Then he formed the seals for Kakashi’s Chidori, and with a sound like a thousand chirping birds lightning coiled around his hand. As he drew his sword it ran along the length of his blade like a bolt of thunder, and as he charged at Temari she could do nothing but hide behind her fan and –

Something wet splattered across his face as he halted in shock, the world starting to move again as the chakra slowly faded from his systems. Instead of shattering her fan as planned, his blade ran down the side of Temari’s waist: She had drawn back her fan at the last second and shielded it with her own body. Her left hand was on his wrist, preventing the sword from moving any further.

Her body shuddered as the last of the weapon’s electricity coursed through her, drawing yet more blood from the wound.

“Why?” he asked, uncomprehending. Why would you do something like that, just for a weapon?

“I inherited that fan, from… from my mother,” she whispered back at him. Her face was contorted with pain, but her teal eyes carried a different ache entirely. “She always… wanted me to become, Kazekage. Surely, you can understand… wanting to protect something that precious, at least a little bit?”

He nodded slowly, regarding the girl before him as though for the first time. Yeah… yeah, I guess I do.

She turned away, pulling his sword from her waist with but a small grunt of pain, and handed the bloody weapon back to him. “I don’t feel like fighting anymore,” she mumbled. “I forfeit the match.”

She managed to stumble all the way to the medics that had leaped into the arena, collapsing onto the stretcher of her own accord.

When the examiner finally called the match in his favour, Sasuke hardly even noticed.