The day before the Chunin Exams is extremely lively, many people have arrived in Konoha from elsewhere, including nobles, turning the whole atmosphere into a festival.
Jugo didn't leave, nor did Kin or Dosu, even though Orochimaru was nowhere to be seen.
He simply stood at the hotel window and watched the lively scene, the festive shouts mingling in a cheerful cacophony.
Shaking his head, he looked at the night sky, not worried about the Chunin Exams, but about the next attack, he only hoped that Orochimaru would lose part of his soul and that he wouldn't find Jiraiya.
--x--
The sound crew arrived early, the arena was still filling up while they waited in the waiting area.
When they arrived, only Shikamaru and Neji had arrived.
Shikamaru yawned lazily, his face clearly unhappy.
Neji was leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. He glanced at them, mainly at Jugo, with narrowed eyes, then closed them again.
Jugo simply looked for a place to sit, Kin and Dosu sat beside him, the dogs stayed at the hotel, ready in case they were called.
Jugo was wearing his standard Sound outfit today, Kin was still wearing his tights and jacket and Dosu was the only one who never changed his look.
Jugo watched the arena fill with indifference, but glanced at Kin beside him, who looked slightly nervous.
She would fight her first match and it would still be against Shikamaru.
Shikamaru should know about the poison in the Senbon needles and about genjutsu, so he would be ready for this.
But Kin had his own strategy.
Soon after, Dosu would face Naruto, then Jugo against Kankuro, who would probably give up, and finally Sasuke against Neji.
To be honest, Kin has a better chance of beating Shikamaru than Dosu has of beating Naruto.
But only if Kin manages to knock out Shikamaru before he discovers his new tricks and makes backup plans, and Jugo helped Kin with a Blitzkrieg strategy, should the fight end as soon as possible.
Dosu, on the other hand, won't be able to knock out Naruto easily if he uses Kurama's chakra, it remains to be seen how much of the boy can use now.
Jugo? Kankuro will probably give up.
So he just stood there, looking bored.
In the following minutes, the rest of the candidates arrived, Gaara and Kankuro, to be more precise.
Naruto and Sasuke were nowhere to be seen.
The late of Team 7 was truly something passed down from generation to generation.
But time passed quickly and soon everyone was in the arena, Naruto and Sasuke still out of sight.
Jugo didn't care, Kin looked at Shikamaru with narrowed eyes and he seemed increasingly unhappy about it, Dosu just looked at the examiner with his one eye, which was now Shiranui Genma, Gekko Hayate should have died at Baki's hand.
Jugo didn't care enough to stop it, the world kept turning without him. He wasn't interested in saving every likeable character that appeared in the original.
Everything was going according to plan, until Naruto was thrown inside. Jugo raised an eyebrow, apparently, the idiot was still being chased by bulls.
Jugo understands that he became a war hero and one of the two strongest people in Konoha, but letting the idiot run the village... if it weren't for Shikamaru, Naruto probably wouldn't have been able to.
Shaking his head, he looked away, losing interest.
Naruto started yelling, as usual, about a herd of furious bulls, but nobody paid any attention until he realized he was under the gaze of thousands of people.
Finally silencing him in the process.
The examiner was about to begin explaining the matches, but Naruto asked what would happen to Sasuke if he didn't show up. Genma calmly replied that he would forfeit the match.
Naruto seemed distressed by this.
-The location has changed, but the rules are the same, fight until you give up or die. I can also stop the fight if I feel that one of us can no longer fight.- Genma said slowly, the senbon in his mouth trembling slightly as he spoke. -I won't accept any complaints if that happens, understood?
The group fell silent, but they heard. Genma didn't care and continued. - The opponents for the first fight are Tsuchi Kin and Nara Shikamaru. These two will stay, the rest of you can go to the waiting area.
Jugo narrowed his eyes and looked at Kin.
The girl seemed nervous, but still smiled confidently, a month of hard training every day, everything had been prepared for this moment.
Shikamaru let out a soft sigh before looking at Kin, speechless.
Jugo gently patted Kin's head and left with Dosu by his side.
-Hey, Shikamaru, don't lose to a girl, hahaha!- Naruto, as always, didn't know how to gauge the situation. Shikamaru gave him an annoyed look, while Kin seemed like she wanted to poison Naruto right then and there.
Gaara and Kankurou walked away calmly, Neji also remained indifferent.
Naruto waved to Shikamaru as he ran off, still as excited as ever.
In the middle of the arena, Kin, dressed as Spider-Gwen with a black coat, ninja sandals and a pouch of kunai on her right leg, faced Shikamaru, who was dressed as always.
Kin turned serious at that moment. Jugo had a great deal of respect for this brat, so she couldn't lose him after all the effort that had been invested in him.
-Don't worry, Jugo-sama, I'll show you how much I've grown!- the woman thought, clenching her fists.
Shikamaru looked at her with tired eyes and sighed again. - What a drag...
He looked up at the sky, watching the clouds float endlessly, felt a tremendous envy, how he wished he were a cloud right now...
-Very well! Let the first fight begin!- Genma's voice rang out at that moment.
Kin moved as soon as she heard the sound, her hand pulled out a group of Senbon needles, she threw them at him with all her might.
Shikamaru jumped away, ready to escape.
Kin took advantage of the distraction and pulled out a smoke bomb, throwing it on the ground. The smoke bomb obscured Shikamaru's vision, causing him to squint.
But soon after, Kin emerged from the smoke, speeding toward her, with Senbon needles already between her fingers.
Shikamaru's eyes narrowed.
He saw the launching motion and used chakra to accelerate away, but the senbon needles weren't simple, they were connected to chakra threads. As soon as he changed direction, Kin pulled his hands away, changing the direction of the senbon needles, causing Shikamaru's eyes to widen.
But when the senbon needles struck, a cloud of smoke rose and a tree trunk appeared in Shikamaru's place.
Kin clicked her tongue, looking around in annoyance, but soon spotted Shikamaru's figure hiding in a tree. She smiled and stepped forward.
Shikamaru frowned, he sent his shadow through the tree trunk towards Kin, hidden by the shadow, as soon as Kin approached, he trapped her in the shadow.
A slight smile appeared on his face. Kin's face was covered by her hair, so he couldn't see her expression, but when she lifted her head with a smile, Shikamaru's eyes widened.
-This is not good!- He thought, but it was too late.
From the shadows behind him, a figure leaped out, biting Shikamaru's leg with all its might!
It was Yoru, even though he was still a pup and not yet in his werewolf form, his chakra-enhanced bite could not have been underestimated.
Kin was freed from the shadow's possession and threw the Senbon needles at the same time, several of them hit Shikamaru. Kin knew it was over, just as she expected, Shikamaru stiffened and fell from the tree the next moment.
-Damn it, how did you...? Wait! The smoke bomb!- Shikamaru could still move his mouth, he remembered the scene where Kin used a smoke bomb, only to lunge at him immediately afterward.
He thought there was something to it at the time, but Kin went all out, leaving no room for thought.
He was only able to defend himself.
Now he understood, at that moment, she summoned that dog!
-Yes, you noticed, the smoke bomb was to hide my summoning. You already knew about my Genjutsu and were expecting it, so unfortunately I never planned to use it. Instead, I let you search for something that didn't exist.- Kin smiled, very happy.
Shikamaru let out a long sigh, he hadn't expected Kin to have a summoning technique, and besides, her dog had hidden perfectly. He shook his head, it was a shame.
Genma appeared beside them at some point, looking at the paralyzed Shikamaru, he shook his head. - Winner, Tsuchi Kin!
Kin jumped excitedly, Yoru barked happily, then disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
-Damn it! How could you lose, Shikamaru!- Naruto yelled from afar and Shikamaru, paralyzed, just wanted to punch her idiot face.
Kin, on the other hand, arrived in front of Jugo with bright eyes.
Jugo rolled his eyes, but put his arm around the woman's waist and pulled her closer, giving her ear a light bite, he spoke calmly. - Good job.
Kin blushed fiercely, but didn't pull away, snuggling even closer to him.
Naruto looked envious, Neji didn't even open his eyes, Gaara was still staring at the arena and Kankuro narrowed his eyes, he had seen that movement with Kin's chakra threads, it was very rare to find ninjas from other villages using chakra threads.
Shikamaru was taken away to be detoxified.
Dosu tightened his grip slightly on his gauntlet, he knew it was his turn now. His eyes turned to the blond idiot with apprehension, a Jinchuuriki...
Naruto also looked at Dosu.
-Hey, sound mummy! I'm not going to lose! I'm going to win this fight and become Hokage! Datebayou!- Naruto shouted excitedly.
Dosu simply narrowed his one visible eye.