The arena was oddly quiet as Yukiko trudged back to the stairs. She supposed nobody had really expected her to win, not a genjutsu expert against an Uchiha, even if she did have nearly a decade of experience on Akaro.

Iruka and Naga met her at the ground door, beaming. Naga slipped her shoulder under Yukiko's arm, and Iruka frowned at the shuriken still stuck in her left thigh. "I'll go find one of the medic-nin on duty," he said. "Congratulations, Yukiko!"

Naga waved him off and helped Yukiko up the stairs. "Told you, you could kick his ass. And you did." She grinned. "I bet it felt good."

"Well, yes," Yukiko admitted. "I hope Akaro's all right, though."

"Who cares!"

Yukiko frowned. "He's a Leaf-nin -- we should all care, even if we don't personally like him. Besides, I don't think he's quite as bad as you remember. He did ask me to surrender before he tried to finish the fight."

"He always does that," Naga said, twitching her shoulder. "Likes to rub it in that he's better than everyone else."

Or maybe he didn't want to take meaningless fights to their logical conclusion, Yukiko thought, and taunted people to cover his insecurity. There was no shame in that. But Naga could be right -- he might just be a little jerk -- so she kept her thoughts to herself and concentrated on climbing the stairs.

Naruto was waiting at the top, bouncing on his toes and switching between smiles and wide-eyed worry. "Hey, hey, Yukiko-neechan! Are you okay? You were so cool! I knew you'd kick his butt! Do you need a band-aid? Hey, hey, you should sit down. Are you gonna be okay for your next fight? I bet you kick people's butts again!"

Yukiko sank onto a bench across the aisle from Taizen and patted the space beside her. "Kid, sit down -- you're making me dizzy."

Naruto promptly dropped onto the seat, but he couldn't stop his feet from fidgeting. "Are you sure you're okay, Yukiko-neechan?"

"Yes, I'll be fine. I just need some bandages and a bit of rest, that's all. Now shush -- they're going to announce the next fight."

Hisen finished loading Akaro's body onto a stretcher carried by two medic-nin, and vaulted back onto the balcony. He fiddled briefly with the keypad, programming the results of the first match, and then two new names flashed on the boards.

"Hino Suisen vs. Umino Iruka!"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

According to Kakashi's profiles, Hino Suisen was a Grass-nin, one year older than Naga, who fought using a family jutsu that focused light. She could blind a person unwary enough to stare directly at her mirrors.

She could probably leave the mirrors home and just blind most men with her outfit, Yukiko thought sourly as she watched the girl glide into the center of the arena. Her gold shirt barely skimmed the tops of her breasts, and stopped well above her navel -- only the full sleeves gave it any claim on being a shirt instead of a bra with ambitions. Her white pants were equally tight, and slung low on her hips. Mirrors flashed on her wrists and ankles and jewelry glittered in her ears, around her neck, and in her navel.

Suisen had taken the role of seductive kunoichi and run with it. Iruka was going to throw a fit... if he didn't pass out first.

"Here, Yukiko, I brought a medic. Who's up next?"

Well, speak his name and he appeared. "You, apparently," Yukiko said as she stuck her leg into the aisle for the medic-nin to inspect. "You're fighting Hino Suisen, the mirror girl -- she's already down in the arena. Brace yourself."

Iruka shot her a puzzled look. "Brace myself? Why should I..." He trailed off as he got his first clear look at Suisen's fighting outfit. "Kami, what is she wearing?"

Naga snickered from behind Yukiko. "Clothes, Iruka-chan. They're called clothes."

Yukiko leaned back and whapped Naga with her uninjured arm. "Shush. Go on, Iruka, before they disqualify you."

"...Right." Iruka swallowed, checked his kodachi, and vaulted over the railing.

"Show-off," Yukiko muttered, and then winced as the medic-nin pulled the shuriken out of her thigh. Naga snickered, undeterred by Yukiko's glare. "Oh, shut up."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Hisen dropped his arm and Suisen leaped backwards; light gathered in blinding glows at her wrists and ankles and on her forehead-protector. "You can't fight what you can't see!" she called.

Iruka drew one kodachi with his left hand and a handful of shuriken with his right. "I'll think of something." He squinted and threw the shuriken toward her. Suisen laughed and vaulted over them; her long blonde pigtails whipped through the air behind her.

"Go Iruka-san! Kick her butt!" Naruto cheered. Then he turned to Yukiko, looking slightly confused. "Hey, hey, Yukiko-neechan, what's wrong with what that girl's wearing? It's just clothes, right?"

Yukiko winced. Great. Just great. It wasn't enough that she was wounded. It wasn't enough that she was in the middle of the chuunin exam. It wasn't enough that Suisen had just sent a storm of glittering shuriken towards Iruka, who was furiously parrying with his kodachi.

No, she had to explain sex and body taboos to the kid.

"Help me," she muttered to Naga.

Naga just smiled that infuriating cockeyed smile. "He's your little brother, not mine. Besides, you know Iruka doesn't like me talking about this stuff."

Yukiko vowed to get revenge after the fights were over and turned back to Naruto, catching a flash of light that left brilliant spots floating in her vision. "Um, nothing's wrong with her clothes. But... you don't usually run around naked, right?"

"Ick!" Naruto stuck out his tongue and crossed his eyes. "No way!"

"So naked people are kind of unusual. Well, for women and girls, there are certain parts of the body we usually keep covered. So if they're uncovered, or look like they might be uncovered, it can be a little distracting, especially for men."

A look of intense concentration spread across Naruto's face. "So, so... naked girls make boys get all funny, like Iruka-san?"

"...More or less. Now shush, kid; I want to watch Iruka's fight."

Suisen was dancing circles around Iruka, who couldn't risk looking toward her for more than a second at a time -- any longer and she could aim her light into his eyes and blind him. It looked hopeless, but there was something suspicious about the pattern of his retreats and the way he still hadn't drawn his second kodachi. His right hand hovered over his shuriken holster.

"What's he waiting for?" Naga asked. "He's fast enough to hit her if he closes. That light-show won't block a sword."

A beam of light seared out from Suisen's wrist and burned across Iruka's shoulder; fabric sparked and smoldered in its wake.

"I guess that's why he isn't closing," Yukiko said. That looked painful -- at least fire jutsu were somewhat diffuse, but this light was nearly solid, and, judging by the way Suisen had shifted her wrist to track Iruka through his dodge, she could hold the beam on one target for several seconds. Yukiko didn't blame Iruka for not wanting to get closer to that sort of attack.

But if he wasn't closing, what was he doing?

Yukiko studied the arena and watched Suisen's pattern of strikes. The Grass-nin depended on mobility; she used her leaps and acrobatics to cover a wide territory so Iruka could never be sure what direction was safe to look in. Despite that, Iruka was covering himself well -- so far none of Suisen's shuriken had done more than graze him, and he only had three burns that Yukiko could see.

...And he was luring Suisen toward the shadows under the arena wall. Huh. Yukiko leaned back toward Naga. "He's trying to get her into the shadows."

Naga twitched her shoulder. "Think she'll fall for it?"

"Probably not."

"Think he'll win?"

Yukiko shrugged. "Not with that plan."

"Hey, hey, don't say that!" Naruto yelled, jumping onto the bench and frowning at Yukiko and Naga. "Iruka-san's gonna kick her butt! He's gonna be my sensei next year!"

Yukiko sighed, but, remembering what happened the last time she tried to make Naruto realize that not all dreams could come true, she didn't argue. "Okay, kid, I'll be good. I want Iruka to win too."

"Good," Naruto said. "Now you have to cheer for Iruka-san, Yukiko-neechan, 'cause you said bad things about him. It's like an apple-jee."

"That's 'apology,' kid." Yukiko sighed. "Do I really have to cheer?"

"Yeah." Naruto folded his arms and attempted a stern look.

This was embarrassing. Yukiko glanced around to see if any of the other genin and spectators were looking in her direction. Almost everyone seemed focused on the arena, but a boy about Naruto's age, with the Uchiha fan on his shirt, caught her eyes and stared curiously at her. Yukiko scowled at him, hoping he would turn away, but he set his chin and scowled back at her.

Naruto poked her. "Come on, Yukiko-neechan."

Yukiko reluctantly waved her arms. "Go Iruka. You can do it. Yeah." The Uchiha boy laughed merrily and scooted closer to his family. Naruto poked her again, harder this time, and Yukiko turned back to him.

"That was a really stinky cheer, Yukiko-neechan," Naruto said with a pout.

"The brat has a point," Naga added.

Yukiko could hear the smirk in her voice, and was trying to think of a good response when a strangely melodic crash drew her attention back to the arena. Iruka was standing deep in the shadows on the far right of the arena, one kodachi in his left hand and his right finally going back to draw his second sword. Suisen stood in the sunlight, shards of glass scattered at her feet, and screamed. "You jerk! You broke my mirrors! Do you know how much those cost? I'm going to kill you!"

Iruka only shrugged. "I told you I'd think of something." He ran forward, and now it was Suisen's turn to retreat, leaping and flipping like a demented grasshopper, always just a second too slow to pull herself together and attempt any sort of attack.

"Did you see what he did?" Yukiko asked Naga.

She nodded. "In the sun everything's bright -- can't track her attacks -- but in the shadow, the light makes paths. She was in the sun, but Iruka could see where she was every time she tried to hit him. He nailed her mirrors with shuriken."

Huh. "I guess he did have a plan."

"See? See? I told you Iruka-san was gonna kick her butt!" Naruto said as he bounced in his seat. "Go Iruka-san!"

Down in the arena, Iruka pinned Suisen to the ground with a sword at her throat, and Hisen declared the match over.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Naruto lunged at Iruka as he reached the top of the stairs, babbling about how cool the fight was, how he knew Iruka was gonna win, and how he made Yukiko-neechan cheer even though she didn't do it right. Iruka smiled and trudged over to his teammates, favoring his burned right leg.

"I'd call the medic-nin back, but I'm too tired to stand up," Yukiko said from where she'd sprawled sideways in her seat and laid her injured leg flat on the bench. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks." Iruka sat down beside Naga, who slid inward from the aisle to make room for him.

"I'll find a doctor, Iruka-san!" Naruto said, and dashed off toward the stairs. Even if he didn't bring back a medic-nin, that ought to keep him busy for a while. If they were really lucky, Yukiko thought, he'd wear himself out a bit as he ran around.

"Good fight, Iruka," Naga said. "And really good thinking."

Iruka flushed and scratched the base of his ponytail. "Well, I was so busy trying not to pay attention to her clothes that I didn't have time to get nervous. In all my other exams, I started worrying that things would go wrong, and they did. This time everything went right."

"...Are you saying we should have worn bikinis during training, to help you concentrate?" Yukiko asked with a grin.

Iruka turned even more red and waved his hands wildly. "No! No! Oh, look, they're announcing the next fight!"

"You're lucky I'm feeling nice or I'd yell at you for ducking the issue," Yukiko said. "So, who's up?"

Naga whapped her on the shoulder. "Sit up and look."

"I'm too tired."

"Lazy."

"Please don't argue. It's Hyuuga Shiro vs. Shinkan -- the kunoichi from Hidden Mist," Iruka said.

Yukiko hauled herself upright and peered down into the arena. "She's the one with the swords, right?"

Iruka nodded. "Yes, she uses daisho -- it's an odd choice for a ninja. This should be an interesting fight. Both Shiro and Shinkan are close-range fighters, so this is all about speed, reach, and feints; it's a race to see if he can shut down her inner coils before she can slice him to ribbons."

"Better her than me," Naga said. "Can't fight a Hyuuga bare-handed, not unless you're crazy. At least she has a katana."

Hisen dropped his hand and started the fight, but neither ninja moved to attack. Shiro folded his hands into the sleeves of his white jacket and bowed, letting his loose hair swing down in front of his face. Shinkan pressed her palms together and returned the bow; her mottled, loose-sleeved shirt billowed as she straightened.

"I've always wanted to fight a Hyuuga," she said, loudly enough to carry through the arena. "I've heard a lot about the strength of the Gentle Fist, and I'm glad to test my swords against you."

Shiro frowned slightly, but sank into a defensive stance and beckoned her to attack. Shinkan drew her katana and wakizashi, set her feet, and darted forward.

Naga whistled as the two fighters dodged and feinted, slashed and struck. "They're fast," she said. "Shiro's a lot better than the last time I watched him fight -- I wouldn't want to face either of them."

"Can you see who's winning?" Yukiko asked. "I can't even tell who's been hit."

"Shinkan, I think." Naga frowned and squinted down at the arena, her eyes flickering back and forth to follow the battle. "Hard to see, but yeah, she's winning. She got Shiro's arm -- see how he's favoring it? Katana gives her the reach advantage. And she's faster, just enough to keep blocking him with her dagger."

"I thought the Hyuuga had some unblockable taijutsu attack. Why isn't he using it?"

"Not all Hyuuga can use the advanced forms of the Gentle Fist, and the Sixty-Four Hands strike is definitely advanced," Iruka said. "I'm impressed that Shiro's blocked most of Shinkan's attacks without being cut -- it takes a lot of skill to judge the right angle to block a sword."

"Or very good eyes," Yukiko said, "which he has, of course."

Iruka nodded, but added, "I think the Sharingan is generally more useful for that sort of thing than the Byakugan -- I've heard that it allows a ninja to predict movements from the smallest muscle twitches, whereas it's a bit harder to predict sword trajectories from chakra pulses. Sooner or later he's bound to miss."

Just then, Shiro finally landed a strike to Shinkan's side.

"Maybe I spoke too soon-- oh!" Shinkan knocked Shiro's left arm aside with her katana, taking advantage of his extended right, and slammed her foot into his knee; he fell to the ground and she brought her sword back around to rest at his throat.

"A sacrifice ploy," Iruka said with satisfaction. "One strike rarely disrupts anything irreparable, and she ended the fight without serious injury on either side. Kakashi's reports were right -- she's the dangerous one on her team."

Yukiko agreed. Special techniques could usually be countered or avoided, but an opponent who could think... well, that was the kind of person to watch for.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Naruto reappeared just then with a medic-nin in tow. He pointed out Iruka, and then hopped up onto a seat beside Yukiko. "Hey, hey, did they finish fighting? Who won? Was it cool? Were there any 'splosions, or lots of blood and stuff?"

Yukiko smiled. "Shinkan, a Mist-nin, beat Hyuuga Shiro of the Leaf. I thought it was pretty cool, but there weren't any explosions, just some very high-level taijutsu and swordwork."

Naruto crossed his eyes and frowned. "That's boring -- 'splosions are a lot cooler." Then he looked over at Iruka and a flash of guilt crossed his face. "...Well, swords are kinda cool. But I'm gonna learn ninjutsu! It's more fun."

"What about genjutsu?" Yukiko asked. "Illusions are pretty fun too."

"Maaaaaybe," Naruto said, and then bounced onto his feet and pointed at the display boards. "Hey, hey, what're they doing now? What's that say, Yukiko-neechan?"

Yukiko looked over at the boards. "That says 'intermission,' kid -- that means there's going to be a little break, like when you get free time between lessons at school. We can go get some food and not miss any fights. Do you want anything?"

"Ramen!" Naruto gave her a look that rather eloquently conveyed the sheer idiocy of assuming he would ever not want ramen. "Pork ramen! Or shrimp ramen! Yeah, shrimp ramen!"

Yukiko levered herself upright and grabbed one of Naruto's flailing hands. "Kid, they don't usually sell ramen at concession stands. But we can probably buy some dango..." She motioned toward the gap in the balcony wall that led toward the main audience sections of the great arena, and hoped he wouldn't protest too much.

"They should have ramen, but dango's okay. Just no icky vegetables. Come on, Yukiko-neechan!"

"Save my seat!" Yukiko said to Iruka and Naga as Naruto dragged her off into the crowds that filled the main tiers of the arena.

It seemed that at least three quarters of Konoha's population, both ninja and civilian, had turned out to watch the tournament -- that wasn't actually surprising, since the chuunin exam rotated through the hidden villages in their network of allies, so each village only hosted the tournament once every few years. This was one of the few chances for people to see special techniques displayed in the open instead of practiced in secret. This was also a chance to cheer for Leaf-nin and air out old wartime grievances that still lingered despite a decade of peace.

After the twentieth stranger stopped Yukiko and Naruto to offer congratulations on her victory, berate her for defeating Akaro and thus lowering the reputation of the Uchiha, pass on congratulations to Iruka, or commiserate over Shiro's loss, Yukiko cast a small genjutsu over herself so she looked like a blue-eyed girl with spiky blonde hair, who was clearly Naruto's older sister and who bore no resemblance whatsoever to the Ayakawa Yukiko who'd just fought down in the arena.

"You look funny," Naruto told her. "Your hair's like a porcupine."

"Well, what does that say about you?" Yukiko asked. She ruffled his spiky hair and grinned as he squirmed out from under her hand. "Hey... do you want to be sneaky and cut ahead in line? I can make everyone think we were always in front of them."

"Hehehe! Yeah!"

Yukiko quickly cast a small distraction genjutsu -- the one Hoshi, her old jounin-sensei, had called Somebody Else's Problem -- and dragged Naruto through the crowd around the concession stands. This wasn't really an honorable use of ninpou, but she told herself she deserved a little bit of fun after the way people kept badgering her. They slipped into line behind a small group of Uchiha -- a couple and their two sons -- since she wasn't going to risk passing them, even if they didn't have their Sharingan activated at the moment.

"--reminded that our bloodline doesn't make us invincible," the man was saying. "We're born with an advantage, but we can't let our training slack or assume that others are weak. Akaro lost because he discounted that woman and let her control the pace of their fight."

The older boy, who wore a chuunin vest despite looking young enough to still be in the academy, nodded. "He gave her too much time to plan -- he should have struck with a fire jutsu much earlier. He overestimated his capacity."

"Now Itachi-kun, there's nothing wrong with showing a bit of compassion to people who aren't up to your standards," the woman said. She turned to the vendor. "Two dango and a cup of ice cream for Sasuke-chan, please."

"Mama!"

The woman smiled down at her younger son. "I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun. I'll have to remember you're a big boy now. Why, you'll be in the academy this autumn! That's something to be proud of."

The boy ducked his head, letting his ragged black hair fall around his face. "But I'm not early. Aniki got in early."

His brother squatted and tapped the boy's shoulder, a small smile on his tired face. "Hey. Don't worry about that. You'll learn to be strong." The boy beamed up at his brother.

Yukiko blinked, suddenly recognizing him; this was the boy who'd scowled at her like a little thundercloud, and then laughed at her pathetic attempt to cheer for Iruka. He certainly switched moods fast.

The vendor handed the dango and ice cream to the woman, who passed them to her sons while her husband paid for the food. The boys ran off, the younger trailing after the older, and the parents followed them into the crowd.

Yukiko shook off her thoughts and stepped up to the counter. "Five dango, please." That would be one each for her, Naga, and Iruka, and two for Naruto, who was a bottomless pit even when he wasn't eating his beloved ramen.

Naruto tugged on her jacket and she glanced down. "Hey, hey, Yukiko-neechan? Do you think I'm gonna learn to be strong?" He seemed oddly pensive.

Yukiko let her hand rest on his shoulder. "Kid, I know you're going to be strong. You're going to be Hokage, right? Of course you'll be strong."

"...You would've kicked that guy's butt even if he didn't over-stimate his cap'city, right?"

Huh. Yukiko gathered her thoughts while she paid for the dango and handed two to Naruto. How should she answer that?

"Well, maybe I would have won, and maybe I wouldn't have," she started. "It's hard to say. You see, the Uchiha have an advantage against people who use genjutsu and genjutsu is what I'm good at. But they're not so good against people who use taijutsu or weapons, or who have other bloodline limits that they can't copy or see through. Everybody has a weak point somewhere. So even if that boy ends up in your academy class this fall, I'm sure you'll be better than he is at something."

Judging by the way Naruto smiled and starting bouncing again, she'd found the right answer.

This family thing was a little harder than it sounded at first, but, Yukiko thought as she nibbled on her dango, it was definitely worth the trouble.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Omake: Hisen dropped his arm and Suisen leaped backwards; light gathered in blinding glows at her wrists and ankles and on her forehead-protector. "You can't fight what you can't see!" she called.

Iruka slipped a pair of sunglasses out of his pocket. "Whatever."

Suisen pouted. "That's not fair!"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

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