The day before the Chunin Ninja Exams, Konoha descended into the chaos of a marketplace.
The streets were packed shoulder to shoulder, feet bumping against feet. Forehead Protectors from Sunagakure, Kusagakure, Amegakure, and Takigakure bobbed through the noisy crowds, conversations, hawkers' cries, and arguments blending into a din that nearly burst everyone's eardrums.
The inns had long since filled up, restaurants had long lines outside, and even the queue for the public toilets stretched over twenty meters. It was ridiculous.
Shuo leaned against a pillar outside the Mission Hall with a lollipop in his mouth. Its orange-yellow wrapper bore a tiny chestnut design-it was a gift from the shopkeeper yesterday.
His eyes half closed, he watched the chaos before him, his cheeks moving slightly as he chewed the candy.
Lightspeed Thinking ran instinctively, taking in all the data on the passing crowd: 117 people per minute, forty-three ninjas, fifty-one civilians, and another twenty-three who were off.
He narrowed his eyes and swept his gaze over the crowd.
Those people suppressed their chakra to extremely low levels and deliberately staggered about to pass for civilians, but their eyes were like searchlights, constantly darting toward the Hokage building, the Ninja Academy, and the Sealing Jutsu archives.
There were at least six groups from four or more villages. On the surface, they were here for the exams; who knew what trouble they were secretly plotting.
"You've been standing here all morning. Aren't you hot in the sun?"
Sai came out of the Mission Hall carrying two bottles of tea and handed him one.
Shuo took it, twisted it open, and drank a mouthful. It was cool and didn't taste bad. "Watching the show," he mumbled, the candy still in his mouth.
Sai followed his gaze. Things were getting lively in the street-two Sunagakure