The last Chūnin Exams had been cut short by Orochimaru's interference. Otherwise, with the performances Sasuke and Shikamaru had turned in, they would have been promoted on the spot.
Sasuke in particular had practically been given the nod already. Back then, Genma Shiranui had all but said it outright: the kid was already being judged by chūnin standards. All that mattered was whether he was willing to keep serving Konoha.
Truthfully, in the Third Hokage's eyes, Sasuke had long since qualified.
Of course, there had also been that even more outrageous case: Akira Hane.
At the time, the Third Hokage had even considered making headlines out of it. Once the exams ended, he had planned to promote Akira straight to jōnin.
No "special jōnin" transition period. No halfway step. Just a direct leap.
It would not even have been without precedent. Kakashi had shot up the ranks the same way on the battlefield years earlier.
The next morning, the sun over Sunagakure was so harsh it felt capable of baking the skin right off your bones.
Akira stood on the main viewing platform with the other team leaders, staring out across a landscape that felt grim and unforgiving.
The rules for the second exam were nearly identical to the version held in Konoha before. The classic Heaven and Earth Scrolls challenge.
Only this time, the environment was a completely different beast.
Compared to Konoha's forest preserve, this place was hell mode.
As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but barren wasteland and desert. No food. Barely any water. Survival difficulty maxed out from the start.
Akira sat side by side with Gaara in the waiting hall.
Suspended in the center of the room floated a giant sphere of sand, one of Sunagakure's monitoring devices. It projected real-time images from inside the exam grounds.
Every so often, Gaara would glance at Akira out of the corner of his eye, only to find him lounging with one leg crossed over the other, both arms draped lazily over the back of his chair like he was here on vacation.
There was not the slightest trace of concern on his face.
Akira caught the glance immediately and smiled faintly.
"You keep staring at the screen like that. What, you got someone in there? Or is there a girl you're worried about?"
Gaara froze. He clearly was not used to that kind of teasing, and slowly turned his head away.
"My only student is inside."
"Your student?" Akira raised an eyebrow in theatrical surprise. "Now that is rare."
Gaara looked mildly irritated. "What, I'm not allowed to take on a student?"
Akira chuckled and waved a hand. "That's not what I meant. It's just surprising. For someone as cold as you, the fact that a kid would willingly call you teacher means they've got some nerve."
Gaara could not really argue with that. His reputation in the past had been bad enough to scare children quiet.
Then, in the middle of their casual conversation, everything changed.
The Suna examiner overseeing the projection suddenly sprang to his feet, face pale.
"Kankurō-sama! This is bad! A massive sandstorm has erupted in the central zone of the exam grounds. At that scale, it could endanger every candidate inside!"
Everyone turned toward the sand sphere.
The clear image had already been swallowed by a wall of yellow sand. A colossal storm eye was expanding at terrifying speed.
Gaara's heart sank.
His student, Matsuri, was still somewhere in that region.
He shot to his feet instantly.
"Where are they? I'm going in!"
Kankurō and Temari moved at once, blocking his path with anxious but firm expressions.
"You can't! You're the chief examiner. By the rules, you absolutely cannot interfere during the test!"
Gaara's brow furrowed, killing intent flickering faintly in his eyes.
"This storm is wrong. There's no way something natural formed that fast. Someone is behind this."
Temari and Kankurō saw it too.
But they also understood Gaara's position better than anyone.
If he rushed in now and lost control, or walked into a trap, the entire village could spiral into chaos.
"We'll go investigate," Kankurō said as he strapped Karasu onto his back and turned toward the exit. "But you stay here. You're not leaving this room."
"Why?!" Gaara barked, barely holding himself back.
Without even turning around, Kankurō shouted over his shoulder, "Because you're the future Kazekage. You can't afford to fall here!"
He snapped his fingers.
"Guard unit! Watch Gaara-sama. Don't let him set foot outside this room!"
Two Suna ANBU appeared at once, both wearing miserable expressions as they blocked Gaara's path.
"Please, Gaara-sama. Don't make this harder than it already is."
Gaara clenched his fists so tightly the joints cracked. He was frantic, furious, but in the end he did not lash out and force his way through like he would have in the past.
He was no longer the old version of himself. No longer a killing machine that solved everything with blood.
On the other side of the room, Akira rose at a much slower pace.
Asuma, Kurenai, and Guy had already moved, unable to sit still any longer.
"Should we go join the fun?" Asuma asked.
Akira nodded, a sharp glint entering his eyes.
"Agreed. There's chakra woven through that storm. You can smell it. It's definitely man-made, and it's highly focused."
"Anyone capable of producing something on that scale isn't some nobody."
The second he said it, the urgency in the room doubled.
Whatever exam protocol remained no longer mattered. Asuma, Guy, and Kurenai turned and sprinted for the test grounds without another word.
By this point, the situation had clearly escalated far beyond the bounds of a normal exam. Saving lives came first.
Deep within the devil's desert, the winds howled and the sky vanished behind walls of sand.
The storm itself was being controlled by a monk-nin named Hōichi, robed and prayer-beaded, standing at its center like the eye of a curse.
Of course, a single man could not maintain a catastrophe of this scale by himself. Something else was feeding it. Some larger source of chakra was clearly behind him.
Akira and the three Konoha jōnin reached the outer edge of the desert storm.
Looking at the towering wall of swirling sand in the distance, Akira frowned.
"A wind-style barrier on this level isn't something an average shinobi could produce. Even Gaara, with all his precision over sand, couldn't shape something like this."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"Now it's getting interesting. What exactly are they after? Was the goal really just to sabotage the Chūnin Exams?"
His memory of this part of events was blurry, but that did not stop him from reading the situation.
Just as the group was preparing to force their way in, a sharp cry sounded from above.
Everyone looked up.
A hawk wearing Konoha's forehead protector descended through the sandstorm, circling once before dropping low.
"Asuma's face changed at once. "That's a messenger hawk from the village. Tsunade-hime's personal bird."
Akira caught it on his forearm, removed the message tube, and skimmed the contents.
His expression turned strange.
Asuma leaned in, read the note, and his own face darkened.
"So that's it. Someone's using the chaos to assassinate Gaara. Our mission just changed. Protecting him comes first now."
Given the alliance, Tsunade's reaction had been immediate. The strongest Konoha shinobi on site had to move to support their ally.
Guy stared at the wall of sand ahead and shouted, "Then what do we do? Lee and the others are still inside! Visibility's gone, and we can't even pinpoint their positions!"
Akira tucked the message away, the corner of his mouth lifting in confidence.
"Follow me. I can get us through."
None of them had any idea what he was planning, but by now all three trusted him absolutely. They followed without hesitation.
The Demon Desert had earned its name honestly.
Once you entered a storm like this, the sand could strip your lungs raw with every breath.
The moment the storm began to swallow them, blue lightning erupted around Akira's body.
Crackling arcs spread outward, forming a semi-transparent barrier that enclosed Asuma, Guy, and Kurenai inside a shell of living electricity.
The sandstorm slammed into it from all sides, but every grain was instantly vaporized by the high-voltage current, bursting into tiny pops and hisses without ever breaking through.
Guy's eyes nearly bulged out of his head.
"That defense is absurd! It's actually withstanding erosion from a wind barrier of this scale?!"