July 7th, Year 60 of the Hidden Leaf. 3:00 PM sharp.
Those who arrived early at the central tower and were assigned dorms to wait for the exam to end had already received notice from the proctors and gathered in the first-floor hall.
Team 8 was among them.
At the moment, the hall held twenty-four examinees, along with their jonin instructors.
Just as Anko Mitarashi had said, the second round of the exam had eliminated at least half of the candidates who passed the first round.
From twenty-four teams—seventy-two candidates—only eight teams, twenty-four people in total, passed the second exam.
Among them, most were Konoha ninjas.
To be precise, aside from the Sand siblings (Gaara's team) and the Sound Village trio led by Dosu Kinuta, all the others were Konoha teams.
They were: Team 6, Team 7, Team 8, Team 10, Might Guy's Team 3, and Kabuto Yakushi with his two teammates.
"You arrived at the central tower on the first day. That's impressive,"
Yūhi Kurenai praised the three of Team 8 as soon as she approached.
Her gentleness as a woman was on full display.
In fact, considering Team 8 was a sensory-type team, not being the first to arrive at the tower already made them relatively slow.
So, Team 8 didn't feel proud at all. Izayoi and Hinata simply smiled.
At that moment, Izayoi seemed to sense something and turned toward Team 7—his gaze happened to meet with Kakashi Hatake's.
Izayoi smiled and nodded at Kakashi, understanding why he was being watched.
It was clear that Kakashi had been gathering more information about Orochimaru, and had probably learned from Team 7 who cast the Fire Tornado.
Before the candidates could chat much with their jonin instructors, Hiruzen Sarutobi and the proctor team for the second exam appeared on the second floor.
All the jonin instructors moved to the second-floor gallery to listen to the Third Hokage's speech.
After Hiruzen finished explaining that the Chunin Exams served as a microcosm of war between allied nations—and that many nobles and dignitaries would be coming to watch the third round, requiring a selection of outstanding genin to ensure entertaining matches—Hayate Gekkō appeared as the main proctor.
"Cough, cough... I'm Hayate Gekkō, the main proctor for the third round of the Chunin Exams."
After coughing, Hayate looked over the twenty-four examinees while checking the clipboard in his hand and slowly said,
"This is just the preliminary round. The rules are simple: the loser is eliminated, and the winner advances to the main tournament."
"In a moment, the names of all twenty-four of you will appear on the wall screen, shuffled and matched randomly."
"Before we start, is there anyone who wants to forfeit? If not, I'll upload the names."
"…I forfeit."
Just as Hayate finished speaking, Kabuto Yakushi raised his hand to forfeit.
Aside from drawing the attention of Hiruzen Sarutobi and a few proctors on the gallery, the other candidates didn't pay much attention.
Unlike in the original story, the main characters didn't know Kabuto at all.
"Cough cough… What's your name?"
"Kabuto Yakushi."
"Alright, you may leave."
Hayate crossed Kabuto's name off the list and asked again,
"There are now twenty-three candidates remaining, so there will be one bye. Anyone else want to forfeit?"
Seeing no one respond, Hayate picked up a walkie-talkie and said,
"Then I officially declare the preliminaries for the third round of the Chunin Exams… begin!"
Immediately, the screen flickered with static.
Then the names of the examinees began appearing one by one, as if someone was typing them out from behind.
Once all twenty-three names had appeared, the screen suddenly changed. Two big "VS" letters replaced the list, taking center stage.
Names rapidly flashed on both sides of the VS, spinning like a slot machine.
Seconds later, the screen froze.
Dosu Kinuta VS Choji Akimichi.
"Those whose names are on the screen, stay here. The rest of you, go up to the second-floor gallery to watch," Hayate said.
"Choji, good luck."
"Don't lose to a ninja from a minor village. Win and make Asuma-sensei treat you to BBQ."
"…Mm!"
Upon hearing the word "BBQ," Choji Akimichi instantly opened his eyes wide and nodded seriously.
At Yūhi Kurenai's side, Izayoi leaned against the railing—not watching Choji and Dosu fight below, but instead observing Zaku Abumi and Kin Tsuchi's companion, the jonin from the Hidden Sound Village.
Others couldn't see through the ninja's disguise, but Izayoi instantly recognized him—it was Orochimaru.
Izayoi hadn't expected that even after the curse mark implantation had failed, Orochimaru still infiltrated the central tower to watch the preliminaries.
If that's the case, then why wasn't the first match Uchiha Sasuke vs. Yoroi Akadō?
Could it be that he was merely here to watch the show? Or did he have another plan?
As if sensing Izayoi's gaze, Orochimaru looked over and gave him a charmingly wicked smile.
Izayoi smiled back politely and nodded, pretending not to recognize him.
By then, the match below had concluded.
Though Dosu didn't expose much intel like in the original story, Choji still opened with his Human Bullet Tank technique.
With his head pulled into his body and ears blocked, Choji accidentally avoided being instantly KO'd.
However, his combat experience was far inferior to Dosu, who was hardened by real-life skirmishes.
Just like in the original, Dosu dodged the rolling attack several times before deliberately exposing a weak spot, causing Choji to get stuck in the wall.
Then, using the water in Choji's body as a medium, Dosu unleashed a sonic punch that knocked Choji out instantly.
"Choji Akimichi is unable to continue. The winner of the first match: Dosu Kinuta," Hayate immediately announced.
Seeing this, Shikamaru Nara and Ino Yamanaka both helplessly covered their foreheads.
Asuma Sarutobi, with a cigarette in his mouth, chuckled and said,
"At least he didn't get hurt. Choji's still strong—he just happened to face a bad matchup."
With that, Asuma teleported down to bring Choji back to the gallery, not even bothering to take him to the medical room.
The screen began flashing names again and soon froze.
Uchiha Sasuke VS Zaku Abumi.
"I'm really looking forward to your performance, Zaku," Orochimaru said with a smile.
"Yes, sir!"
Zaku nearly stood at attention out of excitement and quickly promised,
"Lord Orochimaru, I won't let you down!"
Back at Team 7, Sakura Haruno reminded Sasuke,
"Sasuke-kun, that guy from the Sound Village seems to use sound-based jutsu. Be careful."
Naruto Uzumaki also chimed in, arms behind his head with a grin,
"Hey, emo Sasuke! Don't you dare lose before you get the chance to fight me!"
Just as Sasuke was about to walk down, he paused and turned to Naruto with a smile.
"Naruto, I want to fight you too."
This time, Sasuke didn't call him "dead last."
Naruto froze, eyes narrowing before slowly opening wide, staring at Sasuke in surprise.
A strange emotion welled up inside him—so strong it made him tremble all over, goosebumps rising.