Light streamed down through the Tower hall's skylight.
A bright patch spread across the middle of the hall, the seams between the bricks shining white.
The light slanted more than when they had entered the Tower, and the bright patch had shifted toward the platform.
Dust floated in the light.
It swirled there, slowly.
The candidates stood in a ring around the edge of the bright patch, smearing mud and grass from the forest onto the bricks, leaving a mark with every step.
The bricks still bore the marks left by people dragged across them earlier, some deep, some shallow, all leading toward the platform.
A row of adults stood opposite them.
The one in the middle was the Hokage.
The team leaders stood on either side, none with their hands behind their backs.
Someone opened their mouth toward that row of adults, then closed it again without a sound.
No one dared ask what came next. Even if they had, no one would have answered.
The crowd had yet to catch its breath. On the left, someone poured the last mouthful from a waterskin into their mouth. On the right, someone crouched to retie their Forehead Protector, needing two tries to secure it, their hands moving faster than their mouth. After the forest exam came another in the village. That realization only sank in as they looked at the row of adults opposite them.
A few candidates from other villages stood the most loosely, even letting their elbows hang over the edge of the light.
The stiffest stood with both hands against their trouser seams, shoulders held perfectly level.
During those days in the forest, no one had gotten enough sleep.
Kiyoshi glanced over the faces beside the Hokage.
He recognized two of the team leaders, one he had