Ren nodded sharply. "Good. You three all get some sleep. I'm going to stay up and keep an eye out. I don't think anyone will try anything, but it's better to side with caution in this case."
"They want my eyes, don't they?" Misa asked quietly, a trace of fury in her voice. She recognised why Ren sensei was being so careful and was on guard even more than the other shinobi that came from Konoha.
Ren was silent for a moment as he looked at her before he ultimately nodded. "Yes, they do. Do not leave the room except to attend the different stages of the Exam. While we reside within Iwa's hospitality, we have their protection, but that does not extend to the rest of the city. Stay with Kenji and Kagen at all times and do not let your guard down for a second."
Misa nodded. "I won't, sensei."
"Good. Now all of you go to sleep. You'll need to be rested when the first stage starts." Ren said.
Danzo must really have lot of influence in the village if he managed to send a main branch Hyuga that does not have the cursed seal to Iwa for the chunin exams where Kumo shinobi would also be participating.
It meant that I would have to be more careful around him and I can't rely on Shikaku and his political power to keep Danzo away from me. So my only choice was to make it so that the village would depend on me. And winning the chunin exams might be a good start towards that.
After a brief discussion, Misa and Kenji took the bed. It was large enough for two, and there was no reason for them to sleep on the hard floor when I had an alternative.
I melded the shadows in the corner into a makeshift futon and laid on it. Shaping my shadow like this was something Shikaku had walked me through during our preparation for the Exams.
I didn't need to expend any chakra to maintain its shape so long as I didn't move away from it, so it was good for a field bed. I'd slept on it during our travels as well.
And as for Shikaku knowing something like this, I was sure that not only him but every other Nara had tried to learn this jutsu despite the lack of physicality to their shadows.
Tomorrow, the Chunin Exams would begin, and I'd get my first taste of the violent world I'd been reborn into. I'd been sheltered for the first eleven years of my life, but that lease on safety was up. It was time to open my eyes to the world that lurked beyond the safety of my shadows.
---
Misa, Kenji and I had arrived at the venue of the first stage of the Chunin Exams early. We were the seventh group there after four Iwa teams, two Suna teams and a Kumo team.
The Kumo team had a hushed conversation the moment we arrived, their eyes darting to Misa when they thought we couldn't see them.
Kenji and I positioned ourselves between her and the Kumo team as we waited.
The venue was a wide open expanse of flattened gray rock. It appeared to be some form of massive training area.
It was kilometers long on all sides. The only reason you could see all around the area was because it was perfectly level.
As time went on, more and more teams joined us. We saw the other Konoha teams as well as a sea of shinobi from other villages.
The Konoha presence was heavily outweighed by the number of teams sent by the other villages. There were fifteen Konoha shinobi out of nearly three-hundred participants by my rough estimate. I liked this situation less and less as time wore on.
Each shinobi stood with their team, eyes analyzing as they inspected the other teams. There was a tense silence in the air only broken by the occasional whisper of hushed conversation. Finally, the scheduled time for the event came.
An Iwa jonin used the shunshin to appear in the middle of the group of applicants. "Listen up, genin!" he shouted, an irritated look on his face. "My name is Ryzo Ahm! I was told ten minutes ago that I'm the proctor for this test. I was told to cut the pool of teams down to no more than twenty, so that's what I'm going to do."
Ryzo glared out over the crowd, daring anyone to speak up against him. He smirked when everyone stayed quiet, hanging on his every word. "Alright! Here's your test."
He lifted his right hand high into the air. He was holding something. "In my hand I have twenty sticks I picked up on my way here. Each team has to retrieve one of these sticks and bring it to me on the other side of the training area. If you bring me a stick other than one of the ones in my hand, I will know and you will be disqualified. If your stick is broken, you will be disqualified. If you do not bring me a stick, you will be disqualified. Everyone understand? Good. Go!"
He threw the sticks into the air and used the shunshin to vanish, appearing far away at the other end of the square training area.
There was an explosion of activity the moment the sticks left Ryzo's hand as teams began knocking into each other trying to retrieve a stick.
---------Author Notes--------
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