Noa POV
The last few days were the hardest I had lived through in this life, equal only to the days after Daiken-sensei's death.
Master Shuzo had not been kind when I first met him. He was strict, blunt, and endlessly irritated by anything that drifted away from fuinjutsu. My jokes annoyed him. My tangents earned grumbles. Anything that was not directly related to seals felt like an offense to his time.
But that changed.
Slowly, I noticed the shift. He saw how quickly I absorbed fuinjutsu, how easily complex concepts settled into place once they were explained. At first, it was surprise. Then interest. Then something quieter and heavier. The more time we spent together, the more he treated me not like a student being tested, but like one being trusted. He stopped holding back. He stopped keeping things vague or protected. He taught me everything, even techniques most masters would guard as clan legacy or reserve for their own children.
He still pretended to be annoyed. He still scolded me. He still frowned when I joked. But he smiled more often than he realized. He liked the way I changed the atmosphere of that dusty, lifeless place where he taught me fuinjutsu. He liked that someone was there who listened, questioned, and cared. In his own quiet way, he was proud of me.
And I was proud to have been taught by someone who cared as deeply as he did.
He gave me his life's work. Something no fuinjutsu grandmaster gives lightly, not even to blood. He was an old man nearing the end of his life, yet he chose to spend what little time he had left with me of all people. I wanted to show him what I became. I wanted to brag about being a chunin at ten. I wanted to see his reaction, to hear him scoff and then smile when he thought I was not looking. I will never get to do that now, and that realization broke something inside me.
I was angry. I was saddened. I was tired.
Making friends and loving people meant I would get hurt when I couldn't protect them or keep them safe. I chased strength to stop that from happening. I decided long ago that this life would be different, that I would surround myself with people I cared about and protect them. And yet, in such a short time, I had already lost two of them. In both cases, I could do nothing, even if I wanted to. It felt as though fate itself was mocking my new life's resolve.
Those thoughts boiled inside me, trapped beneath a lid of fear that kept everything under pressure with no release. I was afraid of losing more people. Afraid that no matter what solution I found, it would fail when it mattered most. It was a closed circle of doubt, feeding on itself until I could barely breathe or do anything beneath it.
Then Shisui reminded me of something I had almost forgotten. Loss was not the only outcome of caring. Even when someone was gone, bonds still formed. I had lost a teacher, but I had gained another. I felt Shisui's genuine concern, not for my usefulness, but for my happiness. Sena steadied me without asking for anything in return. And Kaen, in his own rough and infuriating way, finally forced me to push back against the lid of fear instead of letting it sit on my chest.
Hiding from the world would not protect anyone, it would only make the next loss inevitable.
I needed to keep the people I cared about close. I needed more than just strength. I needed resolve. I needed the will to stand back up even when fear told me it was pointless. I was not ready. I was not healed. But I could breathe again, and that meant I could move forward, and I had a solution in mind. First, I needed to get my chunin promotion to make it possible.
"Noa. Noa."
Sena's voice pulled me out of my thoughts, making me flinch as I looked at her, momentarily confused. She sighed softly. "Time to go."
I looked around. Kaen stood nearby, pretending not to watch me while clearly doing exactly that. Shisui looked concerned but hopeful as he nodded once, and I returned it with a faint smile. Yura was practically glued to Shisui's shoulder, looking like she wanted to fuse with him entirely.
It was time to head to the Chunin Exam arena.
We moved through the streets of the Hidden Sand together. Sena walked beside me, keeping an eye on me without making it obvious. I knew her too well not to notice, and the realization drew a small smile from me. Shisui and Yura walked in the middle, while Kaen stayed on the other side, clearly annoyed that Sena was not walking with him. I was surprised he seemed to understand that I only saw her as a friend. Maybe I had underestimated his emotional awareness after all.
We reached the arena after a long walk through the inner districts of the village. Suna's Chunin Exam arena was built within the village walls, close enough that civilian life pressed right up against it. Shops lined the surrounding streets, vendors leaned out to catch a glimpse of the arriving teams. The smell of spice, dust, and heated stone hung in the air, carried by a steady breeze deliberately funneled toward the arena.
The structure itself was massive, a circular stadium of layered sandstone and reinforced stone rising from the village like a fortress grown directly from the earth. Suna's building style embraced rough edges and practicality over ornament. The outer walls were thick and angular, reinforced with wind-sculpted buttresses and seal plates set directly into the stone. Narrow openings ringed the upper levels, drawing air through the arena to keep the heat from becoming unbearable once the matches began.
Inside, the stands descended in wide terraces toward the central battlefield, carved directly into the stone. Brightly colored shade cloths stretched overhead in sharp geometric patterns, secured by thick stone supports and heavy chains, breaking the sunlight into slanted bands that crawled slowly across the pit below. The crowd filled in quietly. Suna civilians watched with measured interest and barely controlled excitement. Apparently, desert life did not provide much excitement. Hidden Sand shinobi sat with arms crossed and sharp eyes, evaluating carefully while praying for their only team to come out on top.
The battlefield itself was intentionally uneven. Compact sand blended into exposed rock, broken by raised ridges, shallow trenches, and stone outcroppings left intact during construction. Nothing here was decorative. Every feature was a tool or an obstacle. Wind Release users would thrive. Earth users would never lack cover. Anyone relying on a single approach would be forced to adapt or fail.
Observation towers rose at fixed intervals around the arena's edge, each fitted with barrier seals and sensory arrays. Examiners stood within them, partially obscured, watching from every angle. It was a controlled environment designed to reveal who could think under pressure and who would break when conditions turned against them.
We stood in the middle of the arena, all four teams gathered and ready, with their jōnin sensei standing behind them. Tension filled the space, but everyone understood the need for self-control. A powerful voice rose, reinforced by chakra, rolling through the stands as it spoke.
"And so it begins. The proving ground for those powerful shinobi who passed the grueling and extremely taxing first two stages of the Chunin Exam. Now it is time for them to show their mettle. We have four teams and twelve genin, and today we will hold six matches in one rotation."
The stands roared with energy and excitement, anticipation sharp and hungry.
"We will now announce the matches," the announcer continued. "After that, you will be given a chance to bet on who you think will win. Our great Kazekage himself guarantees your security and that you will not be cheated out of your earnings. So go all out and bet on your future."
People immediately reached for paper and pen, writing down matchups and arguing over odds. I ignored all of it, paying attention only when my name, Kaen's, or Sena's was mentioned.
Kaen got teamed up with one of the Hidden Sand's powerful Wind users. Sena was paired with one of the Hidden Cloud genin, and I was paired with one of the Yugakure genin. Luckily, it was not the kekkei genkai user. I was not ready for that just yet.
The announcer's voice surged with excitement. "For our first fight, it will be Noa of the Hidden Leaf Village versus Setsuna of Yugakure."
I sighed quietly. Of course I was first. What was I thinking, hoping for more time to prepare, mentally or physically. Still, I could stand. I could think. That would have to be enough.
The arena buzzed with anticipation as the field began to clear.
And then the announcer roared, "Place your bets now!"