Sarutobi answered without missing a beat.
"The strength of a country is decided by the strength of it's village. The strength of the village is decided by the strength of the shinobi. If the strength of a shinobi, and therefore it's village and country is clear, the influential and powerful people in the stands will favor that village, and they will receive more clients. However, if the inverse is true, and a shinobi is seen as weak, his or her country will receive less clients. If a village's 'power' deteriorates to a certain level, it is giving the message to the other villages that 'we are weak.' This will signal any country that is even a slight enemy that they are prime for invasion. Therefore we are expected to perform our best and bring power and prestige to our village in order to avoid any potential threats of invasion."
Sarutobi took a puff of his pipe before continuing.
"They only time a shinobi's true strength comes to the surface is during life or death situations. I will now begin explaining the third test's rules-"
" *Cough* Actually, Hokage-Sama, as the referee, will you allow me to explain the rules?"
"Very well."
The Chunin coughed again and turned around to face the group of Genins.
"Greetings... I am Hayate. There's something that must be done before the third test begins, namely, a preliminary."
"What? Why?"
"It may have been that the first and second tests were too easy this year, or it may be that you are all exceptional Genins. Whatever the reason is, there are far too many people left to simply put you all into the next test."
"But why is that?"
"As Hokage-Sama said, there will be powerful people watching the third test. Their time is valuable, and we cannot afford to waste it... Therefore, according to the Chunin selection exam rules, we are required to hold a preliminary."
People, muttered amongst themselves, thinking, worrying, but in the end they would accept it regardless.
"One final thing, would anyone like to give up now?"
A gennin with silver hair, one that Naruto immediately recognized as Yakushi Kabuto raised his hand. The blond ignored it for now.
When no one else spoke up Hayate spoke. He coughed to get everyone's attention. "Very well since no one else is going to quit then I will announce the first match. If you would all please divert your attention to the board."
Everyone turned and found a board that was flashing through several names very quickly.
The names landed on Sasuke and one of Kabuto's teammates. The others all walked up to the stands, leaving the two fighters.
Sasuke's fight with Kabuto's teammate was quick. He merely used a few fire jutsus and some standard Taijutsu and the gennin was defeated handily.
Hayate didn't waste time and called the next match. It was an Oto nin, Zaku versus Aburame Shino. The fight was short with Zaku's arms being blown off as Shino destroyed them.
The next fight was the Suna shinobi Kankuro versus another of Kabuto's teammates.
After Kankuro used a trick with his puppet Karasu he won the fight and Naruto turned back to the billboard. The names kept flashing through until it stopped again, it was Gaara, against Rock Lee.
The two gennins fought impressively, but in the end, Gaara won, wrapping lee up entirely in his sand coffin threatening to crush him if he didn't surrender. Lee did so, with great reluctance.
It then settled on two Kunoichi, one with pink hair and one with blond hair the pink haired girl won, no doubt due to the genjutsu training she had received from her sensei, Kurenai.
The board then settled on, himself and the Inuzuka, the fight was over, quickly…very quickly.
Then it went to a Suna kunoichi and a weapon mistress. The fight went to the Suna kunoichi.
Then, finally, the board settled a very interesting set of names.
Hyuuga Hinata and Hyuuga Neji.
He heard and saw Hinata clench her fists. "Damnit." She cursed under her breath.
He also saw, from the corner of his eye, the faint twitch of the Hyuuga boy's lips, indicating he was smirking, or resisting the urge to do so.
The blood feud between the main and branch house, would be seen today.
As the two stood in the arena, the tension between them was palpable, Neji was practically oozing killing intent.
"Hinata-sama, give up now, you cannot change your fate. You are destined to lose to me." The Hyuuga prodigy stated blandly.
Hinata's eyes suddenly flared to life, the Byakuugan fully active. "I wont lose to you Neji. Simply because…there is no such thing as fate.
Neji narrowed his eyes at the girl, glaring at her for all he was worth. Hinata met his gaze unflinchingly. They settled themselves into their fighting stances.
Hayate shifted his view from one to the other. He raised his hand and let it fall. "BEGIN!"
They charged at each other and began pumping chakra through their hands to damage each others opponent's chakra coils.
They traded turns attacking and evading, before they eventually both switched to a more offensive style of the Juuken.
Hinata swerved to avoid a strike aimed at her left shoulder and aimed a hit at Neji's ribs with her right arm, Neji grabbed her arm and yanked her forward, all the way around in a 180 turn and delivered a solid palm strike to the girl's stomach Hinata stiffened for a moment before coughing up blood. She, growled and then did something that few people in the arena expected she grabbed Neji's wrist, leaned back, making him bend forward as she pulled his wrist along with her and then delivered a solid, hard kick to Neji's ribs, no fancy Juukken no Hyuuga taijutsu, just a solid straight up kick that hurt, A lot. Neji could testify to that as he felt the air leave his lungs.
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