By the ti they arrived at the lodge it was well past sundown. Most teams arrived at the sa ti but several diverged throughout the village with their own agenda’s. Despite the brawl the other night Suna didn’t shirk on hospitality. Food was ready and served at the dining hall for any to partake of.
It was there they found many of the teams that flunked out. There were far fewer than their actual number, which made sense as several wouldn’t want to linger around eating and sleeping while their counterparts went on with the exam— it was just shaful, a matter of pride really.
Akane and Haruka went to hit the showers imdiately they arrived while Yaga followed Team 3 to their shared room, hoping to find Maita in a calr state than they’d heard him last.
“Don’t provoke him.” Utakata said, his warning targeted not just at Zabuza but at Mangetsu as well. “It’s bad enough he’s flunked out due to no fault of his own—”
“No fault of his own?” Zabuza laughed. “He chose to enter the exams with a weak teammate, that’s like trying to go to war with a blunt blade. It’s better than nothing but at least nothing isn’t incompetent.”
“Zabuza, you really don’t need to be so harsh on team 8. What about Tamura? Is this his fault?”
Zabuza shrugged as they approached the room. “I don’t know, let’s hear what he thinks.”
He pushed the room door open and sure enough, there was Tamura. He was sat in pitch darkness, humming a tune to himself as he stared out the window. “Tamura?” Yaga called, caution clear in his voice. “We heard what happened, Shizuka failed your team.”
The Poison Mist shinobi looked over his shoulder at them before turning back to the window without a word. His humming continued.
Zabuza shared a look with Mangetsu. Utakata turned on the lights and walked up to Tamura, “Where is Maita? Is Shizuka okay?”
It took a mont for the cloaked shinobi to open his mouth and say sothing but he nodded as he did. “Shizuka is…heartbroken.”
Zabuza rolled his eyes at that and pressed the important question. “Maita didn’t do anything stupid did he? Where is he?”
Tamura turned to face them, his voice and mood as low as it could be. “I don’t know. He did not return with us. Refused to. I lost sight of him in the village and then…Shizuka wouldn’t stop crying and I didn’t know what to do either. So I ca here.”
“This…doesn’t bode well.” Yaga said. “What if he left the village?”
“Left? Where to?” Mangetsu asked. “The only place he’d know to go to outside the village is Fukasa and why would he even go there?”
Yaga shrugged but suggested, “To start a life as a Rogue-nin? That place was crawling with those types.”
Zabuza shook his head. “No, he wouldn’t leave the village, not without saying goodbye to Mangetsu.”
“That’s true.” Utakata agreed. “Let’s wait and see, if he doesn’t return before dawn then we’ll talk to Ao-taicho about it just before we leave for the second exam.”
Everyone seed satisfied enough with that plan. Mangetsu chose to wash the sand off himself first, he’d been especially uncomfortable with it sticking to his skin. Zabuza briefly imagined what it was like for him during the test— he was shorter than everyone and so the sand would climb up to his neck sooner than it would the others.
Zabuza himself dealt fine with the rising sand, its heat was an issue as were the venomous bugs that crawled within it. It was simple enough for him to sift through the sand without much concern as he snuffed out each threat. Mangetsu might’ve not had such an easy ti. His clan [Hiden] mixed poorly with any substance that absorbed fluid, and sand was exactly that.
He was curious how the young prodigy fared but he wouldn’t be getting any answers on that. He changed out of his sand dusted clothes and followed Utakata up to the dining hall. It was yet another feast of foods, even so fish found their place among the platters. He fetched so with a combination of beans and a healthy serving of sake.
That was one thing that wasn’t available yesterday night, it seed Suna expected many to have a dire need to unwind after such a threatening exam.
Zabuza sat with Utakata, the young Jinchuriki was all talked out after the exam and even he bore signs of exhaustion, mostly ntal as he ate his food in silence for what had to be the first ti since they started working together. Zabuza took advantage of the silence to continue studying the competition— it was easy to pick them out from the crowd of failures having spent the better part of the day locked in a room with them.
The Suna and Iwa team he caught conspiring hadn’t returned yet but there was the second Suna team, those from Takigakure and so wise thinking players from minor villages. As Zabuza ate he considered acknowledging those from the minor villages, albeit briefly. Few still had on the sa equipnt from the first exam but even then, knowing the second exam would be a battle royale he didn’t feel the least bit threatened by any of them.
They seem more wary of us than anything. Zabuza noted to himself as he gulped down the sweet sake.
“Zabuza! Utakata!” Looking up he found the Karatachi twins walking up to their table with trays of food in hand. Akane sniffed the air as she sat, her eyes narrowed at Zabuza’s cup. “Is that sake?”
“Why? Need so?”
“Should you really be drinking? Should anyone? Dawn isn’t so far away, waking up hungover doesn’t sound very mission ready.” She said in a critical tone.
“Maybe for you.” Zabuza said as he gulped and refilled his cup.
“Is Shizuka alright?” Utakata asked. “She was in the room, right?”
Haruka waved away his concerns. “She’s fine. More concerned about Maita not ever liking her again than her failure.” She stabbed her potato with a fork and brought it up to her mouth, “I’m not even sure she realizes how bad she’s ssed things up. Civilians.”
Utakata sighed deeply. “She’s still a kunoichi but yes, this doesn’t bode well for our chances at the exams.”
“What? You’re not worried about us failing, are you?” Akane almost yelled, causing Utakata to quickly put his hands up waving.
“No, no, but…our chances of success have been reduced.” He glanced at Zabuza and said, “You noticed Suna and Iwa right?”
Zabuza’s eyes widened slightly before he nodded. “Yeah, I did. Closer than I thought they’d be.”
“Dogan from the Iwa team has made it clear he doesn’t like us. We’ll be a target right from the start and with one less team…”
The rest went unsaid. Haruka stared at her food like it turned to mush. “We’ll make it to the final exam, I know that’s where it really starts to matter.” She shared a fierce look with her sister and the two gazed back at them. “We won’t hold you back.”
You better not.
They finished the rest of their dinner in silence, fortunately avoiding any drama that could ensue in the process. With a pint or two of sake swirling in his head and stomach, Zabuza couldn’t wait to fall into his futon.
Yaga and Mangetsu were walking out to the dining hall when they ca in, Tamura was fast asleep or at least pretending to sleep— Zabuza couldn’t bla the Poison Mist shinobi, excelling in the Chuunin exams was an opportunity many longed for. To have it ripped away by soone else’s incompetence had to have been infuriating in one way or another.
In the calm silence of the room and with the comfort of his futon, sleep ca quick. Zabuza dozed off with thoughts of victory at any cost, the second exam, his several opponents and his few dependable allies. His dreams blended a sake, the Mizukage, Maita and sothing else he could no longer rember as he stirred to the sound of Mangetsu and Yaga creeping back into the room.
He groaned a reprimand at them as they crossed over to slide into their futons. A few minutes later the room was full of deep snores and calm breathing. Until it wasn’t.
Sothing large fell, landing with a thud right over Mangetsu. Zabuza stirred briefly, murmured a demand for silence as he hurried back to sleep but before he did, he opened his eyes ever so slightly.
He woke up with a jolt, kicking away the duvet and leaping up onto his feet. “Who are—!” The figure hunched above Mangetsu had their hands securely wrapped around his throat and their full weight pressed over his feet. Mangetsu was red, struggling to breathe.
The mont the figure looked up at Zabuza he abandoned all thoughts of discussion and tackled them right into Yaga who promptly startled awake. By now the whole room was up, confused. Soone flicked the light switch on and there, struggling against Zabuza’s grasp was Maita.
“He tried to kill in my sleep!” Mangetsu scread as he caught his breath.
Zabuza struggled to keep Maita down but Yaga quickly ca to help restrain the idiot. “Get off ! I said get off !”
“Tamura, go call Ao-taicho, he’ll be in the instructors quarters.” Utakata said, his eyes just as wide as everyone else’s. He walked up to Maita where Zabuza and Yaga held him still. “Were you here all this ti? Waiting until…until we were vulnerable?”
Maita spat in his face. “You should be grateful I didn’t blow you all up with that bastard killer!”
Zabuza groaned in disgust and an overwhelming annoyance. With one swoop he took Maita off of his feet and before he could get up, drove his elbow below his sternum. Maita gasped out in pain but held out a few seconds even as his consciousness waned.
“I…hate you.”
Reviews
All reviews (0)