The sun cast a golden sheen over Konoha, painting the rooftops in warm, fading light. The Chunin Exams were about to begin, and the village teemed with visiting ninja. Teams from various lands moved through the streets, some chatting animatedly, others measuring up the competition with tense, calculating stares.
Arata walked alongside Dosu, Zaku, and Kin, feigning normality. They had decided to scout the area before the exam, to "familiarize themselves with the terrain," as Dosu put it. But in truth, they all knew Orochimaru had already charted their every step.
As they moved through the alleys, Arata observed everything with a mixture of nostalgia and reverence. The streets, the dango stalls, the children running with toy headbands… It was like walking inside a dream he had known his entire life.
Kin noticed his fixation.
"You've never been outside the Sound before, have you?"
Arata offered a weak smile.
"Something like that."
Dosu, meanwhile, remained on high alert.
"Don't lower your guard. There are too many shinobi here."
But then, something caught Arata's attention. A small commotion in the distance, near the northern wall. He could hear raised voices, an argument.
No… this feels familiar.
"This way," Dosu said, guiding the group to a nearby rooftop for a better vantage point.
And there they were.
Just as he remembered.
A blond boy in an orange jacket was arguing with a young man with brown hair and dark sunglasses. Beside them, a pink-haired kunoichi tried to calm the situation. And facing them… two figures. A boy with purple face paint and a large puppet on his back, and a blonde girl watching the scene with annoyance.
Kankurō and Temari.
The Sand Siblings.
Arata felt his heart hammer against his ribs.
"It can't be…" he whispered, barely audible. "This scene…"
Zaku arched an eyebrow.
"What did you say?"
But before he could answer, everything unfolded exactly as he recalled.
Kankurō lowered his puppet, threatening. The blond—Naruto—shouted back, not understanding the provocation. The tension mounted… until someone interrupted.
Sasuke appeared in that moment, dropping from a nearby tree, a pebble in his hand. He blocked Kankurō's arm with precise, fluid motion, his gaze fixed and challenging.
But that wasn't all. The worst was yet to come.
"Kankurō," a voice stated.
All eyes turned to the nearby tree.
A figure descended slowly, like a shadow.
Red hair, jade-green eyes, and a giant gourd on his back.
Gaara of the Desert.
The air changed.
It wasn't an illusion or a heightened instinct. The chakra in the atmosphere grew heavy, dense, as if the air itself was afraid to move. Even Kin, beside him, took an involuntary step back.
"Him…" Dosu murmured, his focus sharpening. "That boy… has an overwhelming presence."
Arata swallowed hard.
He remembered this feeling.
The pure dread everyone felt in that moment in the anime. Only now, he wasn't a spectator. He was feeling it directly.
Kankurō, trembling, tried to justify his actions, but Gaara looked at him with that terrifying calm.
"Stop," he said, his voice cold as steel. "You are disgracing our village.
Either you stop… or I'll kill you."
Silence fell like a guillotine.
Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.
Kankurō paled and raised his hands in surrender, backing away. Gaara didn't even blink.
Sasuke and Gaara observed each other.
The clash of their wills was palpable, and Gaara, from the shadows, analyzed him in silence.
"You are strong…" the boy from the Sand murmured, with an almost curious smile.
"What's your name?" Sasuke asked.
"Gaara of the Desert," he replied.
And with that, the encounter ended.
The Sand team withdrew, and a fragile silence lingered for a moment, until Naruto exploded into his typical argument with Sasuke. A comedic, almost light-hearted scene after the suffocating tension.
But on the rooftop where they were hidden, no one laughed.
Arata remained motionless, staring at the spot where Gaara had stood.
His entire body trembled, not from fear… but from the sheer impact.
I saw him. I saw him for real.
Gaara, Sasuke, Naruto… the protagonists of the world I loved. So real, so alive… and so dangerous.
Dosu let out a soft sigh.
"Interesting. We must monitor that Uchiha boy, and that sand rat. We must be cautious around them."
Every piece of the canon was unfolding before his eyes, one after another.
And each one brought him closer to that point of no return.
Kin glanced at him sideways.
"Are you alright? You look… frightened."
Arata took a deep breath.
"I'm just remembering something… I'd rather forget."
Dosu dropped down from the roof.
"We're leaving. There's nothing more to see here."
The group followed him, but Arata took one last look back to where Gaara had been.
The air still held that oppressive sensation, as if invisible sand awaited a command to move.
And he remembered with perfect clarity how it would all end.
Dosu dies by Gaara's hand.
He clenched his jaw.
For a moment, the impulse to warn him was almost overwhelming.
But he restrained himself.
The group melted into the streets, the murmur of the village blending with the rustle of leaves, while the echo of the future thrummed silently in Arata's veins.
The days blurred together, and suddenly, Arata was waking up, nerves and readiness coiled tight within him. The Chunin Exam was today.
The morning sun bathed the village, the air thick with anticipation. The tower where the first exam would be held loomed imposingly before the gathering crowds of young ninja, arriving one after another from all corners of the continent.
Dosu's team advanced with determined steps. Arata walked beside them in silence, feeling the adrenaline build with every pace. In his mind, a thousand images from the anime superimposed themselves over the reality unfolding before his eyes.
It's starting… the Chunin Exam.
The hallway leading to the examination room was packed with ninjas talking, some confident, others visibly nervous. And among them, three familiar figures appeared.
Naruto Uzumaki, in his bright orange jacket and with a brash smile, burst in shouting.
"We finally made it! We're gonna pass this exam, believe it!"
Beside him, Sakura sighed with resignation.
"Don't yell, Naruto, can't you see everyone's staring…"
And Sasuke, with his serious, distant expression, barely glanced at them.
The moment they crossed the threshold, a shriek cut through the crowd.
"Sasuke-kun!" Ino Yamanaka came running, throwing her arms around him with glee. "I knew you'd come!"
Sakura spun around instantly, her face shifting from surprise to fury.
"Ino-pig! Let him go right now!"
The two immediately launched into a heated argument, while the rest of the room watched with laughter and murmurs. Naruto tried unsuccessfully to separate them, while Sasuke simply looked away, annoyed.
From the back of the room, Arata watched the scene, a faint, nostalgic smile touching his lips.
Seeing it in person… it's so surreal.
The anime he'd watched countless times was now playing out before his eyes. Every detail, every gesture, every voice.
In one corner, he recognized Shikamaru with his typical bored expression; Chōji, eating potato chips; and Hinata, standing with Kiba and Shino from Team 8.
When his gaze met Hinata's, she averted her eyes immediately, a blush coloring her cheeks. Her shyness was just as he remembered. That mix of sweetness and fragility that made her stand out even among so many familiar faces.
Arata felt a pang of tenderness.
You were always like this, weren't you?
But the calm shattered abruptly.
A serene, almost friendly voice rose from the center of the room:
"Hey, guys, it might be better not to make so much noise. You wouldn't want to draw attention too early."
Arata turned toward the source of the voice… and saw him.
A ninja with silver-grey hair, round glasses, and a calm smile.
Yakushi Kabuto.
The infiltrator.
Orochimaru's spy.
The man pretending to be an ally… but hiding a far darker purpose.
A chill ran down Arata's spine.
There he is… just like in the episode.
Kabuto approached genially, holding up some data cards.
"I'm Kabuto, from the Hidden Leaf Village. I've taken these exams seven times, so I know how they work. I can help you if you'd like."
Naruto was immediately interested, while Sasuke watched him with suspicion. The atmosphere relaxed slightly, but only for a moment.
Because when Kabuto displayed his information cards, something shifted.
His eyes flickered for a second toward the groups of Sound ninja.
First toward Dosu, Zaku, and Kin.
And then… toward Arata and his two companions.
That polite smile froze for a fraction of a second.
His gaze sharpened, as if he were calculating something.
Arata felt the air grow taut.
Kabuto had noticed.
Dosu crossed his arms, his voice low and laced with venom.
"So that's what they say about us, huh? A small, insignificant village."
Zaku clicked his tongue.
"Small, yes… but enough to make you shut up."
Kin smiled, enjoying the challenge.
"Maybe we should teach this guy what our village is made of."
Kabuto raised his hands, trying to maintain calm.
"Hey, there's no need to get aggressive, I was just—"
But Dosu had already given the order.
"Move."
It happened in seconds.
Zaku launched a soundwave from his modified palms.
Kin slipped through the students, preparing her needle bells.
Arata, forced to follow the plan, advanced with his team.
The entire room erupted into chaos.
The ninjas scattered immediately, startled by the sudden attack.
Naruto shouted in confusion, Sasuke watched intently, and the other teams prepared to intervene.
Kabuto tried to dodge, but the sound resonated in his ears, making him stagger.
Arata moved quickly, using a sound technique he'd practiced with Dosu to create a disorienting echo.
The combination was precise.
Kabuto fell to the floor, his glasses cracked, a trickle of blood tracing a path from the corner of his lip.
The room fell silent.
The six Sound ninja—Dosu, Zaku, Kin, Arata, and his two companions—stood aligned before him.
The air vibrated with a tension so dense it was almost tangible.
Naruto took a step back.
"What the hell… is with them?"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes, analyzing Arata.
Gaara, from the back of the room, watched in silence with his cold, empty gaze.
And Kabuto, still on the floor, smiled faintly, with that chilling calm.
"My…" he murmured, adjusting his broken glasses.
"I didn't expect there to be two teams from the Sound."
Arata remained motionless.
He knew what came next.
He knew that this single action had just fractured the line of the canon.
The first change.
The first deviation.
And with it… everyone's future had just begun to mutate.
It was all going according to Orochimaru's plan—for Kabuto to win the Genin's trust—and as the chaos settled, no one noticed but Arata, who allowed a single, chilling thought to form a ghost of a smile on his lips.