𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 | 𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐨 [HEAVY EDITING]

𝟑𝟕 | 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡: 𝐆𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐮 𝐯𝐬. 𝐈𝐨𝐫𝐢

I'm so frustrated that I end up joining the spectators and Sen in heckling and booing at Shikamaru on his way back to the competitors' area. My brother, with his face somehow pink from his held in breath, looks about ready to explode.

"Forget everything I ever said!" I seethe. "There's nothing amazing about him! He's lazy, and he talks really big for someone who throws a won match!!" I lean over the railing once more to point an accusing finger at his back. "Becoming a Chūnin's just one great big drag, isn't it, Shikamaru?!"

"I... take it he's not going to hear the end of this?" Sen assumes, settling back stiffly into his seat.

"Oh, you can bet your white underpants he's not," I grumble. Sen snorts. "What's so funny?"

"The way you get angry," he easily admits. "It's more entertaining than the matches."

"Oh, shut your prince hole," I snap, and with a ghost of a smile still on his face, he does.

Naruto jumps over the railing where he'd been standing with Shino and starts shouting at Shikamaru. He's interrupted by some words I can't hear and a gesture over Naruto's shoulder toward the entrance to the waiting area, where both Garasu and Iori appear.

"Move it, kids," Garasu says, her voice loud. I squirm in my seat, made even worse when Naruto decides to yell back at her, about me.

"Oh, just let them fight already so she can go back to the Hidden Snow," I groan, head in my hands.

"I'm sorry about Garasu, Kari," Sen says, having placed a light hand on my shoulder. "When I agreed to pose as her Jōnin Sensei, I had no idea there were any ulterior motives behind her request."

"I... I'm not mad at her for that," I admit, after giving it a moment of thought. That's all it took to set aside my own personal feelings for what reality is. "During our fight, she told me she had something to prove to someone, and that I was just a "stepping stone" for her to start proving it. Whoever it is she did this for had nothing to do with me. Not really."

"Are you saying you're not mad at her with how your match turned out?" he inquires further.

"I'm more so mad that she couldn't have at least held back just a little," I answer. "I could have died from what she did."

I watch him watch the two below take their spots along the scarred grounds of the arena. "... you really have grown up quite well, sister."

"She mentioned something about me during that fight, though," I add quietly. "Called me "the Yamada Princess"; said I had some kind of legend."

"While that does have a nice ring to it, I-I can assure you, sister, that even my title of "prince" is false." I purse my lips at him, skeptical. "Simply, it's how we introduce ourselves to specific groups or countries that it would make them more willing to open their doors to us. "Yamada" is a very common name, but its attachment with the Land of Fire is an entirely different issue altogether. In the Land of Snow, where its harsh weather leaves much of the nation uninhabitable, it wasn't difficult to establish ourselves over the past five years. And because we had been such a private clan from the Land of Fire that produced few talented Shinobi that we are able to publicly release, we aren't entirely recognized as a clan anywhere else."