Sharingan No Naruto

Chapter 10: Caged Bird

"The ANBU are already on the move as we speak." Seeing as their little conflict was settled Hiruzen decided to update the Sannin on their current activities. "Civilians from strategic places are being evacuated as we speak and many of them are being replaced by our forces in disguise, there was however no way to start an evacuation on the Hospital and the academy."

It was funny to think that right now some of the foreign visitors were buying food from Shinobi in disguise, it was however a necessary step. Nothing would've pleased Hiruzen more than keeping their visitors safe but as a Kage, it was his duty to ensure the safety of his people first and foremost. They hadn't managed to evacuate half of their citizens yet and probably wouldn't be able to.

Many of the people in the arena were after all Konoha's citizens eager to watch the new batch of shinobi giving their all.

Hiruzen went for second best and put as many of his available shinobi in the protection of the places he knew they wouldn't be able to evacuate without alerting their enemies.

He sighed as he looked outside the window in his office and stood from his chair. "It's time."

—

The arena where the tournament would be taking place was full of people from all over the nations, even nations whose shinobi weren't competing. Loud cheers of excitement and chants of "Start already!" echoed around the stadium.

The Sandaime Hokage made his way into the Kage balcony where he found the 'Kazekage' waiting for him. He smiled at him and exchanged pleasantries to then move forward and use his powerful voice to address the public.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!..." The crowd erupted into even louder cheers and yells of 'Sandaime-sama!' at the sight of their beloved Hokage. "We are here today to celebrate the end of the Chunin Exams, I hope you all find the matches you're about to see to your liking. Let us all rejoice in our Shinobi's powerful show of their Will of Fire!"

The people went crazy in excitement and anticipation after the Hokage's speech and even more when a massive door in the arena where the fights would be taking place opened and in walked the contestants.

Naruto and Sakura both walked together smiling brightly and looking for familiar faces in the crowd. He might've known that something big was going to happen but that didn't stop him from feeling excited at the prospect of showing everyone how much he had grown since their graduation.

"Attention contestants!" A man with brown hair wearing a bandana not too different from the late Gekkō Hayate stood in front of them chewing on a senbon needle. "You already know your opponents and the order in which you will be fighting, my name is Shiranui Genma and I will be your proctor. You already know the rules and stipulations so there's no point in going over them again."

Behind him in a far wall was a giant screen that turned on right after his explanation was over revealing the names of the first match's contestants.

Nara Shikamaru VS Uzumaki Naruto.

"Everyone but Shikamaru and Naruto, make your way over to the contestant balcony." The Chunin hopefuls did as they were told, leaving behind only Shikamaru, Naruto, and his teammates.

Not much needed to be said between Naruto and Sakura, she stood in front of him with a warm and caring smile as she wished him the best of luck and left, not without stopping to say. "Kick his lazy ass Naruto!"

Ino and Chōji were sharing similar thoughts from their place on the spectator's podium. "You better do something Shikamaru!" Was her yell of encouragement as she frantically shook her fist in a promise of pain if he didn't.