On the fifth day of the exam, in the morning of the fifth day, the last ninja squad finally broke through the encirclement.
When the ninjas from Konoha, Hidden Cloud Village, and the Northern Lands were seen entering the tower, none of them were surprised, because the leader of the group was none other than Kurotsuchi, the Kurotsuchi of Iwagakure!
As Kurotsuchi's second disciple, Kurotsuchi also possesses Kekkei Genkai, Ōnoki her strength is naturally not lacking.
The other two members of her team were male, and they weren't familiar faces. It seemed they had been chosen to work with her as well.
Although she is still quite green and has the air of a young lady, she possesses both strength and luck, and her innate and acquired advantages are incomparable to those of small countries and ninja villages.
"I hereby declare the second exam over!"
With Aoba Yamashiro's announcement, the list of those who passed the assessment has been finalized.
At that moment, a series of deep bell tolls rang out from the tower. Upon hearing the bells, the ninjas who were still fighting nearby immediately stopped what they were doing and rushed towards the tower.
When they arrived and found it was the end of the bell, they were all disheartened and lamented.
All Konoha 12 passed the test. In addition, there are three teams from the Northern Lands, Gaara's team from Sunagakure, Kurotsuchi's team, Kabuto's team, two teams from Hidden Cloud Village, and the remaining teams are from the smaller ninja villages.
Among them are the Land of Rivers, the Land of Birds, the Land of the Moon, and even the Amegakure.
Not all characters who didn't appear in the Original Work are useless. On the contrary, no matter how bad a ninja village is, there will always be one or two outstanding individuals. These people are the hope of the whole village.
On the day the assessment ended, the ninja team returned to Konoha one after another at noon.
The mess in the Forest of Death is none of their business.
That afternoon, many injured ninjas arrived at Konoha Hospital needing treatment, including Sasuke.
The three also reported their encounter in the forest to Kakashi, Kakashi then immediately reported it to the Third Hokage.
As Jonin of Konoha and the former captain of the Anbu, Kakashi was qualified to meet Hiruzen Sarutobi directly.
"Konoha, a Rogue Ninja from Konoha..."
When these three elements are combined, the image of a figure immediately appears in Hiruzen Sarutobi's mind.
Kakashi stood quietly behind him, and the moment he heard the news, he also thought of that man.
Furthermore, they learned from Naruto and Sasuke that the person's appearance matched their impression perfectly, since Orochimaru's appearance had not changed at all over the years.
After gazing out the window for a long time, Hiruzen Sarutobi was filled with mixed emotions.
Hearing news of Orochimaru again, it turns out he's after Konoha, and things probably aren't that simple.
"It seems we can't be 100% certain about Itachi's side of the news either. What if... sigh!"
The original message from Itachi was that Orochimaru was suspected to be dead. It would be great if someone could further verify this.
But he knew that it was already difficult enough to arrange for Itachi to infiltrate the Akatsuki, and he couldn't do anything more than that.
"I think they're after Sasuke!"
Kakashi shared his guess: the other party's actions were too obvious; they not only helped him awaken his Sharingan but also injected Sasuke with an unknown drug.
Let's see what Sasuke could possibly have that would make the other side want him? It's nothing more than his Sharingan.
The Third Hokage knew even more; Orochimaru probably coveted not only Sasuke's Sharingan but also his body.
Because when Orochimaru was conducting human experiments, some of the data pointed to the Living Corpse Reincarnation, and after leaving the village, some of the data was still in Danzo's possession, it was inevitable that some loose ends would be left behind.
Orochimaru was conducting this experiment with future plans in mind, such as dealing with Kimimaro's reincarnation after his treatment failed.
"How's Sasuke doing?"
After a while, Hiruzen Sarutobi asked Kakashi, since it was Itachi who had entrusted him with taking care of the other party, and it would be difficult to explain if something went wrong.
"Currently, her physical condition is perfectly normal, and no abnormalities have been detected!"
Kakashi came from Konoha Hospital; he rushed over to report on his work as soon as the test results came out.
In just two or three days, even if Sasuke's body was perfectly suited to the medicine, it couldn't have changed that quickly, so naturally no changes were noticeable.
"Continue to observe! Report to me immediately if anything changes!"
"Yes!"
After reporting, Kakashi withdrew. However, Hiruzen Sarutobi remained, his brow furrowed as he smoked, his eyes gazing blankly out the window at Konoha.
"Could it be that they're only after Sasuke? Or maybe Naruto too, or...?"
In his memory, alerting the enemy in this way was obviously not in Orochimaru's style, but he had to take it seriously.
"Looks like I'll have to personally oversee the upcoming exams!"
While the ninjas rested, the ninjas in charge of supervising the exam were also holding a meeting to discuss the list of members for the next preliminary round.
The preliminary round is a battle mode. 24 pairs are selected from the 48 people who pass the assessment, and the winners advance to the next stage.
After discussion, the examiners decided to use random matchmaking, so that ninjas from other villages wouldn't be able to say anything.
This pattern is the same as in the Original Work; otherwise, Hinata Hyuga and Neji Hyuga are from the same clan, wouldn't have fought each other.
Once the plan was finalized, the staff immediately sprang into action, having the top ten ninja teams come over to draw lots.
There are 48 names in the lottery box. Unless you draw your own name with a low probability, you will most likely draw your opponent's name.
If the opponent drawn by the person in front is one of the top eight teams, the opponent cannot continue to draw lots, and the person will be replaced by the ninth or tenth team.
This will prevent the chaotic situation where you draw my name and I draw someone else's.
By evening of that day, the complete list of players for the match was finalized.
The bulletin board in Konoha was crowded with ninjas, including those who had passed the test and many others who were just there for the excitement.
"Hinata Hyuga?"
Kidomaru saw his opponent's name and recalled the two ninjas with Byakugan in his mind. Combining this with the name, he immediately locked onto the taciturn little girl.
Slightly different from her previous life, she didn't face Neji but instead faced Hinata, indirectly avoiding a situation of fratricide.
Sakon and Ukon's opponents are ninjas from Kumogakure), so they say they feel no pressure.
Dosu, on the other hand, faced off against the Akado Yoroi, who was also a spy developed by the Net, but for now, he had no choice but to give way.
After learning who their opponents were, the ninjas went back to prepare, hoping to be in top form the next day.
At this moment, Sasuke, who had just come out of the hospital, also learned about his opponent.
Sakura rushed over to tell him about it.