CH_2.23 (054)

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Even in his wildest predictions, Yoshio wouldn't have guessed that three of the five genin representing him in the genin basic training final tournament would make it to Day-2. The final tournament happened every year during basic training. It had never happened before—three of the final four genin coming from his group, from any one group. By design, the final tournament wasn't supposed to have the strongest genin as participants, as the qualifying criteria was being part of the best team. The teams in a group were deliberately crafted to be balanced in every category, from combat to overall competence. No instructor was allowed to send cherry-picked combat proficient genin.

The fact that neither of the three genin were the strongest from his group (the strongest being Kameko) was a surprise. And he very well didn't think he would feel proud about it.

The rookie genin basic training happened every year, and he spent two months with a new set of genin for those two months. But it wasn't just that, he was an instructor for many other training programs for genin and even new chunin. He met new people throughout the year, and it was rare he formed close connections with his charges, especially when they hated him from the inside because of what he put them through during the training.

But facing the bombardment of praises from his peers for his training capabilities. The talk had even somehow reached his direct supervisor, a jonin, who usually weren't interested in rookie genin, and had led to a small talk regarding the tournament.

It brought him an amount of attention, something he could leverage for his career.

He looked at his three genin standing together, about to find who they would be fighting in the semi-finals. The chances of one of them winning the entire thing was very high. If one of them did win, he could use that to start a run for the discussion of his promotion to tokubetsu jonin, or who knew, if he was lucky, he could be a jonin by the end of the year.

If one of his three did win… he would give them an additional reward.

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The number in the crowd was larger than yesterday. The number of chunin present in the field had more than doubled, and the ruckus they made had turned from a picnic park to a packed festival. Along with the chunin crowd, the rest of the genin from basic training had joined the audience. He could definitely imagine cars tailgating food out of their open backs to feed the ruckus crowd enjoying the festivities.

"I'm feeling nervous," he said to the other two.

Nenro, who was similarly scanning the crowd, nodded. "This does feel a tinge… overwhelming," he said. He raised his hand to wave at Ai and Taro, who were among the crowd.

Masaaki, however, didn't look any different. He adorned his bright smile on his face, looking like he had enough energy to move mountains and still have something to spare in the tank. That confidence was something Takuma had grown envious of— if he were given an opportunity to steal traits, Masaaki's sun-like self-belief would be one of the first things he would swipe.

They stood beneath the familiar medical tent that all of them had seen plenty of during the basic training. The crowd had formed a ring to create a more than large fighting arena for the fights. While the tent was part of the ring, earthen walls were erected on either side to keep it away from the crowd. And with the medical tent came the Shady Guy, who sat on his outdoor recliner, watching the crowd without a worry in the world.

Takuma's eyes naturally went to the fourth competitor, the one from Chunin Chinatsu's group. He knew her— she was his academy classmate, after all. Her name was Arisu. The girl had large but sharp metallic amber eyes with a head of shoulder-length green hair held up by her forehead protector. Like every other genin in the basic training, she wore the standard Leaf shinobi gear, but she had one addition in the form of a sash with a black shuriken sigil marked upon wrapped around her waist.

Takuma stared at the black shuriken clan sigil, recalling what Taro had told him about which clan it belonged to.

'—Fuma Arisu, huh… It's not talked about a lot, but it's also not a secret— the Fuma clan are distant relatives to the Uchiha clan—.' Something that came as a considerable surprise to Takuma. '—They don't have the red-eye thingy, of course— but if you trace it back, you can find their origins with the Uchiha. Also the reason why the Fuma clan is heavily involved in the Leaf Military Police Force—'

It was also in the same conversation that he found that the Taketori clan, as in Taketori Kameko, was a shinobi clan with close ties to the white-eyed Hyuga. While the Taketori didn't share a blood connection with the Hyuga as the Fuma did with the Uchiha— they shared a close political tie with each other. From what Taro had told him, the Taketori clan had been allied to the Hyuga from even before the formation of the Five Great Hidden Shinobi Villages.

However, it was Arisu who was Takuma's opponent today. He observed the girl. From what little Takuma knew about her from being in the same class as her for a year, she was a taciturn girl who only opened to those close to her. He could recall the fleeting times he had caught her conversing with Izumi and that small group of friends— but other than that, she was a quiet girl.

As the Fuma clan didn't have a kekkei genkai (bloodline limit), Arisu didn't have any genetically-gifted special ability he needed to be worried about. But she was strong, he knew that from their academy days.

Takuma looked between Arisu and Nenro and Masaaki. He would shortly know which two would be his opponent today.

Whoever it was, he was ready for them.

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"Come on, Kakashi, don't drag your feet! We're in the prime of our youth! Wipe that sleepy look off your face and show me some energy!" said the tall and muscular man with a strong jawline, a somewhat large nose, and black hair— but his most noticeable features were the shiny bowl-style haircut and thick eyebrows.

Kakashi sighed. Just like after years of training, his ears had honed to pick up even the faintest of sounds— years of listening to the boisterous and booming voice, which was louder than many people's shouting voice, had made Kakashi's ears resilient to Gai's voice which usually only had two modes— loud and extremely loud.

"Or is acting aloof like this is the secret to you being cool?! Damn you, Kakashi!"

It was not. It wasn't anything like that.

"Either speak quietly or don't speak at all," said Kakashi as he pulled up his face mask a little more. "Why are we here? I'm not interested in seeing rookie genin fight. Isn't this only for chunin, we can't be here anyway." He was sure many people here wouldn't be comfortable in the presence of jonin among them when they were clearly gathered to enjoy and have a good time.

"Don't be like that. This tournament happens every year. I wanted to come here when I was a chunin, but somehow I missed it every year because I didn't notice the time while training," said Gai as he peered at the crowd from the tree branch he spectated from.

As ridiculous as it sounded, Kakashi could see that happening.

Kakashi sighed. He didn't want to be here. He had returned from a particularly grueling mission as part of the masks, which had made him use the eye a little too much, and that, had its effects. He wanted to use the well-earned break to rest, and not get pulled around the village by Gai.

But he knew arguing with Gai rarely resolved matters in a peaceful manner. He also didn't want to fall into one of the competitions between rivals, as Gai liked to call every time he got the opportunity— so he turned to the other person who he could reason with.

"Kurenai, you see the problem…" he stopped when he noticed that the red-eyed woman with untamed hair reaching her upper back and very unique red eyes (different from his red eye) framed by purple eyeshadow, dressed in red mesh armour blouse under the broad material that resembled bandages with a pattern on it similar to those of rose thorns.

Kurenai, the genjutsu mistress, was also peering intently at the crowd. "Which one of them defeated Kame?" she muttered to herself.

It was then Kakashi realized why Kurenai had agreed to Gai's invitation. They originally didn't hang out much, much less after Asuma left the village to serve as part of the Twelve Guardian Shinobi. She had tagged along because she was interested in the tournament.

He sighed again. If he was stuck there, he might as well watch the tournament. He had never been part of a rookie genin tournament. It was a Genin Corp genin exclusive event, and he, as a genin who had been assigned under a jonin, never experienced anything similar. He didn't even have a 'normal' genin experience. Having graduated early, he was placed under a jonin sensei without accompanying teammates and had been trained alone. It was not until after he was promoted to chunin did he receive his teammates…

Kakashi closed his eyes for a moment and stopped the thoughts that he knew came with when he thought about when he thought about them…

He gazed at the crowd. He could see the genin in this part of the basic training, wondering how many were actually functional shinobi. It had been a while since he had worked with anyone who wasn't exceptional at what they did.

"My dear people," the announcer took the center of the field, "I couldn't feel any happier to have this big of an audience to host. I feel honored to be part of this with all of you." There were loud cheers from the crowd. "After yesterday, we have four genin remaining, who will be competing for the crown. By the end of the tournament today, we will know who will get the prize!"

Gai leaned in and whispered to Kakashi. "I heard they're competing for a C-rank jutsu," he said.

Now that was a tantalizing reward. For genin right out of the academy, there was nothing better than a C-rank jutsu. Anything less they could earn it through missions, anything more would be too difficult for them to learn for a while if they weren't proficient in chakra manipulation.

Then they were told that three out of four genin were from under the same instructor and how rare it was for that to happen. Kakashi was confused for a moment before Kurenai explained how the selection worked.

He looked towards the tent and saw how the three boys stood apart from the girl. He recognized the sash from the girl— the other three, he couldn't pinpoint any features shared across members of the clans.

"For the fight of the semi-finals— we have Yoshio versus Chinatsu, represented by Takuma and Arisu."

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