Mothers Wrath

16

The Sandaime Hokage smiled at 'Kazekage' as the man took his seat beside him. They were the only Kages present for the finals of this Chunin exam. Well, the Professor wasn't making much complains about the absence. This way was just fine. The important people were not the Kages but rather the potential clients and the contestants.

"It would have been good for both of us if you'd come here earlier," Hiruzen said to the Kazekage. "There were certain things that I wanted to discuss with you."

Sunagakure was allied with Konohagakure and there were things that needed to be ironed out. He also had the intention of informing the man of Orochimaru's plans, but this wasn't a good place to do so. Still, for someone who went through many ways in order to form a strong relationship between the two villages, he would have thought that the man would be more than happy to discuss business.

"We will have all the time we need after the finals," the 'Kazekage' said calmly. "I must thank you though for taking care of my children. I thought cutting the distance they would have had to cover while travelling to and back from Suna would give them enough time to train."

The Sandaime smiled. "Although I was not able to see their training, I am sure that they had more than enough time. The Senju compound's training fields are protected by barriers, so they would have had the secrecy they needed."

"Ah, that would be the Uzumakis doing," 'Rasa' said with a smile. "Baki informs me that they were away from the village. They have yet to return..."

"It appears that way," Sarutobi said. "I'm not even sure myself where they went. You know Naruto; he doesn't like indulging everything and is quite capable."

The 'Kazekage' laughed for a second. "Yes, he is indeed quite capable for someone his age. I was honestly surprised when I learned of the things he could do. You have raised quite the shinobi with him... I am just glad that he is engaged to my daughter..."

"We can talk about that later," the Sandaime Hokage said as he stood up from his seat. He raised his right hand to silence the full packed stadium. "Thank you for coming everyone! I welcome you to the finals of the Chunin exam!"

The proctor stepped up before the Sandaime could say anything further. "My name is Gokke, and I will be the proctor of the finals. I will state some rules before we begin: There will be a count of five and if the contestant isn't in the stadium by the count of five, he/she will be disqualified; the match will be over when a contestant is unable to continue or when he/she waves the white flag. I reserve the right to call off a match and declare a winner if I believe the contestant can longer continue.

"I will not repeat the rules as I believe they are simple enough for everyone to understand them. There will be no special treatment for anyone late... First match: Hyuga Hinata vs Hyuga Neji!"

With Mikoto

"Miko-chan," Kushina said to the Uchiha as she made herself comfortable beside the woman. "Thanks for saving my seat," she said.

"I figured you'd want to watch with your friend by your side," Mikoto said responded with a smile.

It didn't feel as if it had been a month since she last saw the Uzumaki. Really time had moved so quickly. With her precious son away, she thought things would have been slow as the desire to see her loved ones return grew by the day, but it had just flown by. Perhaps it because she had been buried deep in her work as clan head and trying to tie some loose ends with other clans.

"Naturally," Kushina said taking her eyes into the centre of the stadium as she saw Neji take his turn. She glanced at her friend for a moment as she asked. "Things okay in my absence?"