Chapter 8.5- One Thousand Hands

He wanted to say he had a tough night of sleeping. That his mother’s words kept him up thinking about what she said and what she wanted. But that would have been a lie. He slept like a baby. The second he’d arrived at Grandmother Mito’s place and gone up to his room, he’d lost consciousness from the moment his head hit the table. In fact, he had to be woken up to have dinner because no one could sleep in Grandmother’s place and dare skip a meal. It was anathema to her, the very suggestion. And so, half asleep, he’d been forced to sit through dinner with his Cousin and their shared Grandmother.

He’d even been so tired that he’d been unable to tease Tsunade on the reason why she’d been spending more and more time at their Grandmother’s place. Those were regrets of yesterday, however. This was a new day. A new day for him to etch his name on the history books.

It made him wonder sometimes, why was the way he was. His mother’s words had not affected him all through the night but they were the first thing he thought off on waking up. He’d enrolled at the Shinobi academy and trained his head off to ensure his survival in the wars to come, but was that really necessary? Did he really need to bother about things like that? His mother was right, in a way. He could retire right now and become a civilian. The Senju clan had resources aplenty that would see him live in luxury for the rest of his days. As for being sent out in war, he was sure that Tobirama would not be so cruel as to send his civilian nephew off to war. Hiruzen definitely wasn’t going to do that with the head of the Senju clan.

Literally all his problems would be solved if he quit now. And then he closed his eyes and the thought of a red moon brought him back to reality. In canon, Naruto and Sasuke had done a good job of dealing with that but so many things had come down to luck in the end. What was the guarantee that Kakashi would exist in this universe? Or what was the guarantee that he’d be the same kind of person? There was none. There were so many things that could go wrong. So many ways that Naruto and Sasuke could fail to exist. Did my presence mean that Mito would live for a bit longer and then Kushina won’t be called from Uzushiogakure in time to be teammates with Minato? Did my presence mean that Sakumo would not meet his wife? Maybe even being a sensei to my team had butterflied the man into being a better father for his son so Kakashi would be less of an asshole and so Obito would never die- meaning no Kakashi of the Sharingan and no Sensei for Team 7.

I realised it then as I stood up. It was too late. Much too late. Too late for second thoughts, and too late for me to reconsider my path. Onwards, and upwards, it had to be. And today was step 1. I made the decision then to ignore whatever words Hinori Hyuga had for me. My mother had died on the same day as my father.

I walked out of the room to go down for breakfast, and shockingly found the table already set and full.

“You woke up quite late didn’t you, Cousin?” Tsunade asked as I sat down.

“And you’re still here, Cousin. I wonder why. Is your mum still throwing up all through the night?” I asked with a snicker.

“Enough, Children. Shori, eat up. You have a day ahead of you” Mito cut in and I nodded before digging into the healthy breakfast spread arrayed before me. There was so much variety that the meal was more reminiscent of a feast than just a simple breakfast for three. We all had healthy appetites, however. Grandmother said it was the Uzumaki blood that flowed through our veins but part of me was certain she just used it as an excuse to be a glutton.

Finished polishing off breakfast, I wasted no time in heading back to my room to put on my armour. Grandmother had commissioned it for me the second she’d found out about the exams and it was a masterpiece. Only a true master of fuiunjutsu would be able to decipher all the seals on the armour. Even I had issues with them. i couldn’t quite figure out the matrix that made wearing the armour feel as comfortable and light as wearing silk.

There were also seals that made the armour much sturdier than it would have otherwise been. That didn’t even include the multiple complex storage seals along the armour’s frame that held surprises for anyone who wasn’t vigilant enough.

---- -

“Five teams qualified, but only 14 genin will be moving on to the final round. We regret to inform you that Inasa of Kumogakure perished from his wounds at the hospital last night. Please remember him in your prayers tonight. Moving on, with 14 genin, the first round of the tournament will have seven one-on-one fights. That will create a quarterfinal round where one genin chosen at random will have to fight twice to secure their slot in the semi final round.” Jiraiya announced as the Final Round was about to begin. I blinked at his words. The only Kumo genin who was missing from the lineup was the one that I’d taken down during the Second Round. I didn’t kill him. I couldn’t have. I wasn’t aiming to kill, only to disable. Surely the Hospital should have been more than well equipped enough to deal with the injuries dealt.

“The rules for this round are simple: both parties will fight until one either forfeits, or is unable to continue. Death, immobilisation with no visible escape prospects, or unconsciousness all qualify as situations where the referee can declare a candidate unfit to continue” Yoroi spoke next in his simple tone, before leaning backward.

“Now if you would turn your attention to the screen, our first fight is about to be drawn” Jiraiya said.

The screen flipped through names at high speed, very reminiscent of those casino machines. It finally began to slow down after close to a minute. The names became more visible until it stopped at two names- Takehada Toshiro vs. Cee” The female teammate of the genin I’d apparently killed in the last round looked towards where me and my team stood with a sharp smile on her face. Oops.

“Would everyone except the chosen candidates take a step back and return to the waiting area?” The referee asked, appearing behind us suddenly. It was only in that moment that I actually realised who’d been chosen to referee this thing. My Cousin’s second roommate. In all his pale faced and yellow eyed snaky glory.

“Be careful, Toshiro. She’s out for blood” I whispered to him before I joined everyone else in moving towards the waiting area.

A/N; That’s the last bit for the chapter, ey? How’s it vibing?