Konoha Year 60, July 7th, 3:00 PM.
The examinees who had arrived at the Central Tower ahead of time and were assigned to dormitories to await the end of the exam had long since received a notice from the proctors to come to the first-floor lobby.
Eighth Squad was one of them.
At this time, twenty-four examinees were standing in the lobby, along with their guiding Jonin.
Just as Anko Mitarashi had said, the second exam would reduce the number of examinees who passed the first exam by at least half.
Of the twenty-four teams, seventy-two examinees, only eight teams, twenty-four people, passed the second exam.
Among them, the ninja from Konoha accounted for the vast majority.
To be precise, apart from Gaara's three siblings and the Sound Ninja Village's Tosu trio, the other examinees were all Konoha ninja.
They were: Sixth Squad, Seventh Squad, Eighth Squad, Tenth Squad, Might Guy's Third Squad, and Yakushi Kabuto and his two teammates.
"Arriving at the Central Tower on the first day, your performance is very good."
Kurenai Yuhi praised Izayoi and his team as soon as she arrived.
The gentleness of a woman was fully displayed.
In fact, as a Sensor Team, Eighth Squad was already slow for not being the first to arrive at the Central Tower.
Therefore, Eighth Squad had no pride at all, and Izayoi and Hinata just smiled.
At this moment, Izayoi seemed to sense something and couldn't help but look in the direction of Seventh Squad, just in time to meet Kakashi Hatake's gaze.
Izayoi smiled and nodded at Kakashi Hatake, knowing why the other party was looking at him.
Obviously, Kakashi Hatake was learning more about Orochimaru and had already learned from Seventh Squad who was responsible for that fire tornado.
Before the examinees could chat with their guiding Jonin for a while, Hiruzen Sarutobi and the examination team for the second exam appeared on the second floor.
Then all the guiding Jonin went to the second-floor stands to listen to the Third Hokage's speech.
After Hiruzen Sarutobi explained that the Chunin Exams were a microcosm of the allied countries' war, and that the official matches of the third exam would have a large number of dignitaries and spectators coming to watch, it was necessary to re-screen a group of excellent Genin from the examinees who passed the second exam to ensure that the competition was full of spectacle, Hayate Gekko appeared as the chief examiner.
"Cough cough... I am Hayate Gekko, the chief examiner of the third Chunin selection exam."
Hayate Gekko coughed, then looked at the twenty-four examinees in front of him while checking the list on the clipboard, and slowly said, "Now is just the preliminary stage, the rules are very simple, that is, the loser is eliminated, and the winner advances to the official match."
"In a moment, the screens on the wall will display the names of your twenty-four people, and then shuffle them all up for random matching."
"Before the exam starts, does anyone want to abstain? If not, I will upload the list."
"...I abstain."
As soon as Hayate Gekko's voice fell, Yakushi Kabuto raised his hand to abstain.
This scene, in addition to attracting the attention of Hiruzen Sarutobi on the stands, as well as some examiners, the examinees did not pay too much attention.
After all, unlike the original, the little strong ones did not know Yakushi Kabuto.
"Cough cough... what's your name?"
"Yakushi Kabuto."
"Alright, you can leave."
Hayate Gekko crossed out Yakushi Kabuto's name with a pen and asked again, "Now there are twenty-three examinees left. There will be one bye. Does anyone else want to withdraw?"
Seeing that no one spoke, Hayate Gekko took out a walkie-talkie and said, "Then I announce that the preliminary round of the Chunin Selection Exam, Third Exam, officially begins!"
Immediately, snowflakes flickered on the screen.
Then the names of the examinees appeared one by one, as if someone was typing on a keyboard behind the scenes.
When the names of all twenty-three examinees were displayed on the screen, the picture suddenly changed, and two large VS letters replaced the list, occupying the center of the screen.
The names flashed non-stop on both sides of the VS.
After a few seconds, the picture froze.
Tosu vs. Choji Akimichi.
"The examinees whose names are displayed, stay. The others go to the stands on the second floor to watch the battle," Hayate Gekko said.
"Choji, good luck."
"Don't lose to a ninja from a small ninja village. If you win, let Asuma Sensei treat you to barbecue."
"...Okay!"
Hearing the word barbecue, Choji Akimichi instantly opened his eyes and nodded seriously.
Coming to Kurenai Yuhi's side, Izayoi leaned on the railing, but instead of watching Choji Akimichi and Tosu who had already started fighting below, he sized up the Hidden Sound Village Jonin next to Zaku Abumi and Kin Tsuchi.
Others couldn't see through the identity of this Sound Ninja, but Izayoi saw at a glance that the other party was Orochimaru.
Izayoi didn't expect that Orochimaru had failed to plant the curse mark, but still sneaked into the Central Tower to watch the preliminary round.
If that's the case, then why wasn't the first match Sasuke Uchiha vs. Akado Yoroi?
Could it be that he just came to watch the show, or is there another arrangement?
As if sensing that Izayoi was sizing him up, Orochimaru's gaze was cast over, and he showed Izayoi a charming smile.
Izayoi smiled back and nodded politely, as if he didn't know Orochimaru's identity.
At this time, the battle below had already been decided.
Although Tosu didn't expose the information like in the original work, Choji Akimichi still used the Human Bullet Tank from the beginning.
Choji Akimichi, who shrank his head into his body and blocked his ears, avoided the ending of being instantly killed by mistake.
However, his combat experience was still far inferior to Tosu, who had fought his way out of a small place.
Just like in the original work, Tosu continuously dodged the impact of the Human Bullet Tank, and deliberately sold a flaw, allowing Choji Akimichi's body to get stuck in the wall.
Then, through the moisture in the human body, he used a Sound Wave Fist to instantly kill Choji Akimichi.
"Choji Akimichi is unable to fight. The winner of the first round is Tosu," Hayate Gekko immediately announced the result.
Seeing this, Shikamaru Nara and Ino Yamanaka helplessly covered their foreheads.
Asuma Sarutobi, who was holding a cigarette, smiled and said, "It's good that he wasn't injured. Choji is still very strong, but he just happened to encounter a type that restrains him."
After speaking, Asuma Sarutobi used Body Flicker Technique to go down and bring Choji Akimichi back to the viewing platform, without even sending him to the medical room.
The screen flickered again, and quickly the names were locked in.
Sasuke Uchiha VS Zaku Abumi.
"I'm looking forward to your performance, Zaku," Orochimaru said with an encouraging smile to Zaku Abumi.
"Yes!"
Zaku Abumi was so excited he almost stood at attention, quickly guaranteeing, "Lord Orochimaru, I will definitely not let you down."
On the Seventh Squad side, Sakura Haruno reminded Sasuke Uchiha, "Sasuke, those guys from the Hidden Sound Village seem to all use Sound Wave Ninjutsu, so you have to be careful."
Naruto Uzumaki also put his hands behind his head, giving a provocative cheer, "Smelly Sasuke, don't lose before you meet me, the great Naruto."
Sasuke Uchiha, who was just about to go down, suddenly stopped and turned his head to smile at Naruto Uzumaki, "Naruto, I also really want to fight you."
This time, Sasuke Uchiha didn't call Naruto Uzumaki a dead last.
Naruto Uzumaki's expression froze, his eyes, narrowed into slits, slowly opened, and he stared blankly at Sasuke Uchiha.
Then a strange emotion welled up in his heart, making him tremble with excitement, and giving him goosebumps all over.
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