Chapter 62

Though, maybe the presence of a couple dozen sandy Anbu-ish counterparts in and around the building, watching every move of the guests, was a deterrent. But satisfying my own curiosity, I noticed some interesting facts - while all Iwagakure no Sato's fighters looked generally decent even taking into account the journey through such unfriendly terrain as the desert, among Kiri's representatives there were only jonin looking rather shabby - even though it was noticeable that their clothes were relatively new and without traces of travel, but some wear and tear on their faces and quite visible signs of fatigue could not be disguised so easily.

And the sensor senses suggested exhaustion in almost every other one of them, and the few chunin candidates present were not quite healthy at all, and their number (eight) indicated that the Mist shinobi had taken a beating in the recent sandstorm, and more so than Cloud. Given the near-universal specialization of their fighters in suiton and kenjutsu, few could defend themselves in such weather conditions, and there were no Hyeton users to be found among them.

So the main competitors for our genin will be Suna and Willow, which is not good - after the war is over, I doubt that even comparative beginners will hold back their blows to avoid killing. Rather, those who lost family and friends during the fighting will decide to settle scores and satisfy their desire for revenge.

However, they will not be alone in this - those of our genin, who under the leadership of mentors still decided to get out of the rooms, threw a very close look at the future rivals in sight. Our losses were heavy, despite the victory, so it was to be expected. Ishi Nara's father is still alive, and his mother died at the front, as did his grandfather and uncle.

When the languid wait was finally over and all of Suna's guests were gathered together and led deep into the village, I breathed a sigh of relief, and so did my colleagues - after all, being in a fairly confined space, under round-the-clock surveillance and with a neighborhood of far from friendly competitors, is quite nerve-racking and makes the professional disease blossom.

Therefore, the opportunity to evaluate Sunagakure no Sato somewhat distracted and gave a little relaxation, but even here the difference from Konoha was literally striking. If we had been at home, we would have been surrounded by curious people who had come to see the guests, but here we were greeted by deserted streets, shuttered windows of rounded houses, and an almost oppressive silence, although just a couple of streets away we could hear the usual dull bustle of a busy city and masked soldiers galloping across the rooftops in addition to the jonin who were accompanying us on the ground.

Not a very welcoming encounter. Except another one so soon after the war is hard to expect. I don't know what the Kage were counting on, but trying to hold something like this with all five of the larger villages, as well as a few of the smaller ones (as far as I could tell, the teams from Amegakure no Sato, Takigakure no Sato, Kusagakure no Sato, and others had arrived much earlier than the main players and so had managed to ride out the sandstorm without repercussions) so soon after the fighting had ended and without allowing the fresh wounds of casualties to close.

As I looked longingly around the empty streets and the obviously recently closed stores and stores, I just sighed sadly - I wouldn't be able to see the life of the enemy village in this way. Bummer.

Of course, I could understand Kazekage's precautions toward delegations to the chunin exam, and I would have done the same, but walking under escort from the hotel to the target and being watched even while I slept wasn't the most enviable of pastimes, let alone buying souvenirs for those waiting for me at home.

The final route of our procession came to a large round building with a domed roof of light color. At the entrance, the escorts divided the teams of participants and everyone else, and then the resulting bunch of jonin and rare chunin were led in one direction and the participants in the other. The head shinobi of Suna led us into a large room on the second floor and invited us to sit down.

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