Yinsen's Sudden Intervention

Third Round of the Chunin Ninja Exams!

Or rather, the first two rounds of the Chunin Ninja Exams had merely been qualifiers and the Preliminary Round. Only now had the Main Tournament begun, and only genin who reached this stage were qualified to be promoted to chunin.

Qualification was one thing; whether one could actually obtain the promotion was another matter entirely.

Yinsen did not care about becoming a chunin. After arriving at the venue, he simply stood there quietly, waiting for the plot to unfold.

Then he suddenly realized something.

According to the original plot, Sasuke and Gaara's match should have been the second one. But because Sasuke had caught Kakashi's habit of being late, he had failed to arrive at the arena on time.

After some adjustments, Sasuke's match had been postponed, and the later matches were held first.

Kankuro would forfeit next, giving Shikamaru his chance to take the stage.

But because of him, Uchiha Sasuke had not received Kakashi's special training alone. Instead, he had sparred with Yinsen, Naruto, and Sakura Haruno.

It was not much that everyone knew what he had been practicing. More importantly, he had not been late this time, which meant Sasuke and Gaara's match would proceed as normal.

Orochimaru's Konoha Crush had been set in motion during Gaara's match—he presumably wanted Gaara to release Shukaku's power and cause massive destruction.

That meant... it was one thing that he did not need to compete, but Shikamaru's shining moment might disappear as well.

"Shikamaru always acts like everything is such a hassle. Maybe he'll be happier deep down if he doesn't get to show off this time and doesn't have to become a chunin?"

Glancing at Shikamaru Nara in the distance, Yinsen let his imagination run wild as the first match of the