The hall emptied slowly after the preliminaries. The air still tasted of sweat, blood, and dust. Names had been cut down to half their number. Haku stood at the railing as the finalists were announced, his expression calm, but inside he measured every survivor. Sasuke Uchiha with his pride, Naruto Uzumaki with his reckless grin, Neji Hyūga's cold precision, and Gaara's quiet, suffocating menace.
And his own name. Haku of Kirigakure.
Kaede and Renga waited for him near the exit. Renga's fists were clenched, shoulders tight. Kaede's face was unreadable, but the faint tremor in his wire-bound fingers betrayed his frustration.
"You both fought well," Haku said softly.
Renga growled. "Doesn't matter. Bugs drained me dry. I couldn't even lift my blade at the end."
Kaede adjusted the knot of his headband. "Tenten read my patterns faster than I expected. I should have shifted earlier."
Haku shook his head. "The mission was never for all of us to advance. Only one needed to reach the stage. Now we have it."
That silenced them. For a moment, all three stood together in the corridor, listening to the muffled cheers from outside. Then Kaede inclined his head slightly, his way of bowing to Haku's authority. Renga exhaled sharply and muttered, "Fine. But you'd better win."
Back at their inn, Haku lit a single candle and unrolled parchment. His brush strokes were neat, deliberate, encoding each observation in subtle substitutions. Proctors' behaviors. Security rotations. Competitors' strengths and flaws. When the ink dried, he folded the paper into a narrow strip, touched it to the flame, and let it crumble to ash in a saucer.
Ren would receive the report by other means. Eclipse Order messages always found their way.
Kaede swept the ash into a pouch for disposal. Renga leaned on the window, watching the lanterns of Konoha flicker against the night.
The next weeks were quiet only on the surface. The village buzzed with preparations, banners strung, dignitaries expected. Beneath it, every finalist carved themselves sharper.
Haku trained at dawn, chakra misting in the air as he shaped water from the stream into needles, mirrors, and barriers. At times, frost shimmered on the edges of his work. He always smoothed it away quickly, disguising Ice Release as advanced Suiton. The fewer who asked questions, the better.
"Control," he whispered to himself, guiding a droplet into a razor line. "Discipline. Purpose."
Kaede rebuilt his confidence by refining his wire traps. He practiced setting them blindfolded, hands moving like clockwork. Renga smashed boulders in the quarry until his arms shook, then did it again, chasing strength as if it were a promise he could break open with enough effort.
"You both still serve the mission," Haku told them one evening. "Loss in the ring doesn't erase that."
Kaede bowed his head slightly. Renga grumbled, "Then I'll make myself ready for next time."
Haku kept his eyes on the competition as well.
From a shaded rooftop, he saw Sasuke drill taijutsu with Kakashi, Sharingan flaring. His movements were precise, but Haku saw the instability in his chakra, like fire guttering in wind.
Naruto trained with a tall white-haired man—Jiraiya, one of the Sannin. Haku watched him fail summonings again and again, bloodied but grinning. There was something strange in him, something that made bystanders cheer even when he fell flat.
Neji's training was different. Cold, methodical, every strike of his Gentle Fist landing exactly where it meant to. No wasted motion. Haku respected it, even as he disliked the arrogance in Neji's words when he dismissed teammates.
Gaara did not train. His sand moved without command, swirling protectively even as he sat still. That disturbed Haku most. A weapon that guarded itself, needing no discipline.
That one, Haku thought, is dangerous beyond measure.
One morning, Kaede found a folded paper under their doorframe. Haku held it to the candlelight, the ink surfacing faintly.
—Wave secure. Eclipse growing. Sun forges soldiers by day, tavern by night. Fangs sharpen. Chains tighten. —S
Haku read it twice before burning it. "Sun" meant Escanor. He was training recruits at noon, molding Wave's young men into disciplined fighters. At night, he kept a tavern, giving them hope as much as drink. Eclipse Order grew roots while their faces stayed hidden.
Gojo's presence in Konoha was noted too. Haku glimpsed him sometimes, blindfold tilted, buying sweets or tea like a man with no cares. Yet in every glance, Haku felt the same steady protection. Ren had not left him unguarded.
At night, Haku sometimes dreamed of snow. Of a small house in the Mist, his father's hands, his mother's frightened eyes. The moment steel was raised against him. The day he discovered what his bloodline meant: not a gift, but a curse to those around him.
He woke with breath caught in his throat, but steadied himself quickly.
I will not be wasted again. My Ice is not a curse. It is strength. The Order gave me purpose, and I will see it through.
At the end of the month, the proctors summoned the finalists to the arena. Names and pairings were posted.
Naruto Uzumaki vs Neji HyūgaSasuke Uchiha vs Gaara of the SandHaku of the Mist vs Shino Aburame
The hall murmured. Shino's eyes narrowed behind dark glasses. Haku bowed politely in acknowledgment. Inside, he measured the difficulty: Shino fought like he did—quiet, calculating, patient. A mirror match of silence.
Kaede and Renga stood behind him. "You'll win," Renga said roughly.
"You'll survive," Kaede corrected.
"Both," Haku said simply.
The night before the Finals, Konoha hummed too loud early and fell too quiet late. On the inn's rooftop, Haku stood with his teammates, watching the Hokage Monument under the starlight.
"The world will be watching tomorrow," Kaede murmured.
"Then let them see what they need to," Haku replied.
Renga cracked his knuckles. "And if it all falls apart?"
"Then we move like shadows," Haku said. "We save who we can. That is our purpose."
The bells of the village tolled once in the distance. Haku's gaze stayed steady.
At noon, the world will not just see genin fight. It will see which future carries more weight.