"Both contestants, please step onto the arena," Hayate said, standing in the center of the arena with a white roster booklet in hand.
"Go on. Don't embarrass your big brother." Naruto gently patted Sasuke's left shoulder, speaking in a slow, drawn-out tone as though he were Sasuke's elder.
"I know. Don't use that tone. It's weird." Sasuke nodded, rose from his seat, brushed some nonexistent dust off his clothes, and gave Moonlight at his waist a shake.
Then he vanished from the spot. A streak of moonlight seemed to flash through the air, and Sasuke was already standing tall on one side of the arena. He gazed up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, his hands resting casually at his sides. A breeze swept past, and Moonlight at his waist gave a soft ring.
Hayate's pupils contracted slightly. Sasuke was fast, but that was how it looked to ordinary people.
As the saying went, amateurs watched the spectacle while experts watched the technique. The speed Sasuke had just displayed was already above Chunin level.
As expected of the Uchiha Clan's prodigy? He could give the Root Leader a run for his money. Those two seemed to be brothers.
A few stray thoughts crossed Hayate's mind, and his eyes instinctively swept over his surroundings. He spotted a crow perched on a railing in an empty section of the spectator stands.
An unsurprised look appeared on his face. Without staring at the crow for long, he withdrew his gaze. By then, the other contestant, who was also from Konoha, had stepped onto the arena.
Akado Yoroi, wearing a face covering and black, round-framed glasses, made an entrance far less impressive than Sasuke's.
He simply walked up from below the arena, one step at a time. His T-shirt also looked considerably less