Chūnin Exams (XV).

Itachi wasn't surprised when he saw Yugito win against his teammates. After all, just like them, he had more or less known that it would happen and he didn't expect different results for his own fight with her either.

What did surprise him, however, was how well Anko had done.

Yukio's fight went just as he had expected, with him trying to trap her in an explosive trap while keeping his distance and relying on Ninjutsu. That did of course not work out, but it was still a decent show. Anko, on the other hand, exceeded all of his expectations. That she somewhat managed to put pressure on her opponent in a Taijutsu battle was still within what he had thought might happen, her fighting style being rather annoying even for superior enemies when they encountered it for the first time, but everything that came afterwards was a surprise.

He definitively didn't expect her to use Orochimaru's Formation of Ten Thousand Snakes technique, even if it was on a smaller scale than the Sannin's. Especially not in combination with so many explosions and poison. Had she used it against him, it wouldn't be a lie to say that he very well might have lost. If he couldn't escape from it in time, his only chance would have been to use his Susano'o which at this point would still exhaust him in a matter of seconds rather than minutes.

Then there was also the thing she did at the end to consider.

Anko might be stubborn at times, but she wasn't stupid. Continuing the fight when she had obviously lost was a useless endeavour that made no sense at that point. It would have been explainable if she had been angry as she tended to let her emotions cloud her judgment from time to time, but she had appeared to be calm. So, knowing her, she must have done -or at least tried to do- something. He had a few ideas of what that could be as well, but unfortunately, he had been unable to see anything happen from his position.

Well, nothing he could do about that now. He had other things to worry about.

Before he reached the finale where he would face Yugito Nii, he had three other fights to win. Fortunately, none of his opponents were one of the other two above-average talented participants aside from the aforementioned blonde, so it was easy to show off his abilities without exhausting himself.

In the end, the one who decided whether or not a Genin would be promoted to become a Chūnin was the representative of their respective village, whether that was the Kage or just a shinobi sent in their stead didn't matter. With that in mind, it wouldn't be surprising if someone assumed that it was settled from the beginning that every village would promote all of their shinobi that reached the third stage of the exams and that the actual performance didn't matter.

They would be wrong. The low number of promotions per exam showed this just too clearly.

The Chūnin Exams were a substitution for war, intended to show the strength of your village's new generation for everyone to see, whether they be friend or foe. Promoting a Genin that had shown no real promise during the exam would be seen as a cheap and poor decision. Not only that, but it might also give the impression that a village either tried to make themselves appear stronger than they actually are by increasing their official number of Chūnin, meaning they're trying to hide a weakness that could be exploited, or that they have very low standards, which in turn also indicates that the village was weak. At worst, these impressions might be enough to convince another country that it would be worth a try to invade while at worst, they might lead to fewer job offers from feudal lords who will go to other villages with them instead.

This meant there were exactly three reasons for a Genin to give it their all:

The first one was obviously the simple desire to win the tournament. The second one was to fulfill the purpose of the exam in demonstrating the new generation's strength to discourage other countries from invading their home. The last one was to impress all the present feudal lords and Kage to make sure that they can be promoted in the first place.

However, this could turn out surprisingly hard if you were much stronger than your competition; after all, if you just stomped your opponents, the viewer could just as easily assume that it was because they were so weak, not because you were especially strong. In that case, a Genin who fulfilled all the requirements for a promotion might find themselves still failing the exams because they didn't give good enough of a show.

Itachi didn't plan on making the same mistake.

Against his first opponent, he used a flashy Genjutsu. It was a relatively weak one, but it was enough to keep his opponent in it when strengthened by his Sharingan even when he made a clumsy attempt of breaking it. For most of the crowd, it looked as if he was running away from imaginary enemies and fighting the air, while inside the illusion the world was shaking and twisting in ways that wouldn't be possible in the real world. The feudal lords, on the other hand, could see the same thing he did as Itachi had made sure to include them in his technique.

It was fortunate that they all sat together. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to do so as it would waste too much chakra to put the entire stadium under his illusion.

Against his second opponent, he used only Taijutsu. During the entire fight, he made sure to appear completely in control, making it look as if the only reason the fight wasn't over yet was that he was cautious in case his foe was hiding his abilities. Finding the middle-ground between being cautious and being a coward wasn't easy, but he thought he managed it just fine. He ended this fight with a fancy shuriken technique -the kind Sasuke always liked to watch him do- that bound his opponent in wire strings that had been attached to his weapon.

Finding a new way to win his third fight was much harder; he didn't want to waste any more chakra -he had been hesitant about even the small amount for his previous Genjutsu- and also didn't really like the idea of repeating himself.

In the end, he simply decided to take his opponent as fast as he could out with Taijutsu. It might be boring to watch, but it was more important to be fit for his fight against the Jinchūriki than it was to impress the crowd. He already gave them two good shows and his last fight would be one as well; that should be enough.

So, here he was; standing in the middle of the arena and waiting for the proctor of this exam to announce the start of his last fight.

Thanks to Yugito's superior physics, he was inferior to her in Taijutsu, just like her enormous chakra reserves gave her a lead against him in Ninjutsu. That left only Genjutsu as a possible field he was better than her in, but there was another problem with that:

He didn't know if it would even work.

Jinchūrikis could control their Biju's chakra either by force or by allying themselves with them, and Itachi had no idea which was the case with his opponent. He knew she learned to control it through strict training since her youth which made the former appear more likely, but there was still the situation with the Jinchūriki of the eight-tailed to consider; he famously befriended his Biju, so who was to say he didn't teach Yugito to do the same? They were from the same village, after all.

Now, if she had indeed befriended it, it would be no problem for the Two-Tails to free her from any illusion he could cast on her, meaning it would be just a waste of chakra. Unfortunately, the only way he could somewhat reliable find out if that was the case was by using a powerful Genjutsu and see what happened. A weaker one just wouldn't do, seeing as her training doubtlessly involved how to free herself from them.

So I guess I will need to try and trap her rather than beat her in open battle.

He would certainly try. Fortunately, he had a plan.

.....

"This fight will be between Itachi Uchiha from Konohagakure and Yugito Nii from Kumogakure! Are the participants ready?"

She had confidence in her son's abilities -how could she not after watching him beat his last three opponents with such ease?- but there was still a lump in her throat that didn't want to vanish.

He might be strong, prodigious even, but was it enough to beat his last opponent? A Jinchūriki who had some measure of control over her Biju, no matter how little? After observing her last three fights, two of which were against her son's teammates, she didn't think so.

She subtly looked to her side when she felt something touch her only to find that the Sandaime had laid a hand on her arm out of sight of the other Kage.

It was a good thing that she currently wore an ANBU mask, hiding her blush. She was an adult and yet here she was, being reassured by the person she was supposed to guard. With a deep breath, Mikoto regained her cool; she had a job to do. She couldn't let herself be distracted, not even by her son.

Good luck, Itachi, she thought before returning her full attention back to the protection of her Kage just when the fight began.