The Competition Begins

After the Heaven and Earth scrolls were collected and opened, the person who appeared was not the Iruka from memory, but an unfamiliar, ordinary Konoha Chunin.

He simply introduced the Third Hokage's annotation of the words "Heaven and Earth" to the Konoha Chunin to the three members of Team 7, and then disappeared using the Body Flicker Technique.

Although Naruto wasn't as close and intimate with Iruka-sensei as he was in his memories, he didn't dwell on it. After all, that Naruto was that Naruto, and he was just himself. Why force it?

"Let's go." Sasuke turned back first, heading towards another passage in the room.

Since his original opponents couldn't pass the second exam... then there was that guy with the gourd, that Rock Lee who used Taijutsu, that Neji Hyuga with the Byakugan that Rock Lee mentioned, and that... Shikamaru with astonishing intelligence. Sasuke wanted to fight all of them.

As for Naruto, he was no longer a consideration. All the Genin in this tall tower couldn't possibly be his opponents... even the Chunin and Jonin from the other villages would have a hard time defeating Naruto in his current state.

Sasuke was deeply convinced of this.

"Ah... Hinata, here we go." Naruto said casually, without any pressure.

"Mhm." Hinata jogged to keep up.

After a brief rest of about ten minutes, the notification to gather arrived.

The three members of Team 7 arrived at the entrance to the next exam venue and happened to run into Rock Lee, Tenten, and Neji, who were grouped together.

"Yo, Sasuke!" Rock Lee greeted him proactively, having been on a small team with Sasuke for a mission.

Sasuke nodded in response.

"Lady Hinata..." As soon as Neji saw Hinata, he seemed to encounter his natural enemy, narrowing his eyes slightly with a hint of coldness. "I didn't expect you to be able to stand here. I guess it's thanks to Naruto and Sasuke... Because of your weak personality, you're completely unsuitable to be a ninja! All of this, with these eyes of mine..."

"That's enough!" Naruto interrupted Neji, his eyes filled with anger. "You keep saying your Byakugan has seen through everything, but in reality, these eyes of yours... are just focused on your own situation! You haven't seen Hinata's efforts at all! Hinata she..."

A hand tugged at Naruto's sleeve. He turned and saw Hinata's pleading gaze, and his heart softened.

"Don't be like this, Naruto-kun. Neji-niisan also has his own hardships..."

Her tone was as gentle as ever, and as always, she was considering others.

Hinata... she's too kind. Rock Lee, Tenten, and Sasuke, who were present, all thought this to some extent.

Neji looked at the two of them seemingly exchanging meaningful glances, his brow furrowed even deeper. He couldn't help but mock them, "You two..."

He couldn't help but recall his childhood, before the cage was on his forehead, when he had a trace of admiration for this Branch Family young lady. The words that followed ultimately couldn't be spoken.

He stopped speaking, merely shaking his head and sighing, "Hmph, how ridiculous." With that, he walked into the entrance without looking back.

"Hey, Neji, wait up." Tenten hurriedly followed.

"Let's go together. I'm really looking forward to fighting you, Sasuke." Rock Lee's eyes burned with fire, and his gaze towards Naruto was also filled with eagerness. "And you, Naruto, the 'super genius' praised so highly by the genius Sasuke, I really want to defeat you!"

No, that's impossible...

Sasuke and Hinata thought silently.

"Let's go. >" Naruto just smiled and led the way into the entrance.

Passing through the corridor, the scene suddenly opened up. The first thing that caught their eye was a stone carving of two giant hands forming a hand seal, followed by a hall full of assembled examinees, and the responsible Jonin from various ninja villages participating in this Chunin Exams... Of course, this did not include the Sound Ninja village.

The Third Hokage and Tsunade were also present.

"It seems we are the last ones to arrive." Rock Lee, Sasuke, and Hinata walked up from behind Naruto.

"Rock Lee! Hurry up!" Tenten waved at them from the assembled crowd.

"Then I'll be going ahead." Rock Lee walked over to his own team.

Team 7 also silently walked into the crowd, awaiting the Third Hokage's speech.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, the Third Hokage, wearing his Kage hat, smoking his pipe, and with his hands behind his back, surveyed the faces of the examinees – some nervous, some calm, some expressionless. He said hoarsely:

"First, congratulations to all of you for passing the second exam."

"But before we begin the next stage of the exam, there is one thing that must be clearly communicated to everyone, and that is the true purpose of this Chunin Exam..."

Under the astonished gazes of all the examinees, the Third Hokage explained the reason why the allied nations would hold the Chunin Exams... The gist of it was that the Chunin Exams were a microcosm of the wars between the allied nations.

Following this was a speech about ninjas, about countries, about villages, and about beliefs... blah blah blah.

The old man is as long-winded as ever... Tsunade thought to herself, standing to the side.

After the Chunin Exams concluded, she would begin preparing to take over as the Fifth Hokage.

When the Third Hokage's speech was almost finished, the chief examiner of this stage, Gekko Hayate, appeared, interrupting the Third Hokage's further remarks. He said, "Forgive my rudeness, but the matters that follow should be handled by me, as the referee for this exam..."

Seeing the Hokage nod in agreement, Gekko Hayate, with his dark eye circles and looking as if he were terminally ill, turned to the examinees and said, "Before you proceed to the third exam, there is one more thing I must inform you of... that is the 'Third Exam Preliminary Selection' that will be conducted to determine who will participate in the third exam, a selection where lives will be gambled..."

As soon as his voice fell, the examinees erupted in chaos.

"Who is this guy?" "He looks really unwell, is he really an examiner?" "What's going on with this preliminary selection?" "Isn't this the third exam?"...

However, as it has always been, examiners never pay attention to the words, reactions, or psychological states of the examinees. Gekko Hayate, following the established procedure, announced that the preliminary selection would begin shortly and asked if any examinees wished to forfeit.

No one raised their hand.

Gekko Hayate stared with his dead, fish-like eyes, framed by dark circles, and said indifferently, "No one is withdrawing... Then, we will now proceed with the one-on-one combat preliminary selection... and it will all be actual combat!" The implication was that survival in the upcoming exams would depend on each individual's abilities.

Among the examinees.

"Hey, hey, hey... Do we really have to go through all this trouble... I just wanted to participate in the exam casually..." Shikamaru muttered slightly, feeling a bit speechless.

Choji quickly stuffed chips into his mouth.

Ino quietly went to look at Sasuke from Team 7.

Shino wore round sunglasses, his lower face hidden by his high collar…

Kiba rubbed his hands together, Akamaru barking a couple of times on his head.

Sakura took deep breaths, her mind rapidly reviewing what she had learned, secretly vowing to seize this opportunity and make Sasuke see her in a new light.

Rock Lee stood tall and impeccably straight.

Tenten touched a scroll in her ninja tool bag behind her.

Neji stood with his arms crossed, his inner thoughts unreadable.

Gaara stood expressionless in his spot, but his heart churned with killing intent, desperately wanting to face that fox-like guy… Kill him, kill him, he really wanted to see that guy become like him…

Kankuro and Temari felt Gaara's emotions were a bit unstable and were very wary.

The Sound Ninja trio harbored immense resentment towards Sasuke, whom they hadn't found during the second exam, and strongly desired to face and kill him…

"In that case… I will now announce the names of the two examinees participating in the first battle." Gekko Hayate said, and a rectangular screen slowly appeared on a corner of the wall behind him, the names of the fifteen examinees flashing rapidly across it.

Beep, the screen froze.

『Hyuga Neji vs. Kankuro』

Upon seeing this result, Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke exchanged surprised glances.

Tch, I've run into the eyes I least wanted to face…

Kankuro was displeased internally, but there was nothing he could do. Back during the Ninja Wars, the puppeteers of Sunagakure least wanted to encounter Konoha's Hyuga Byakugan… because within those eyes, their puppet mechanisms and the chakra threads used to control puppets held no secrets.

Even though he wasn't without confidence in defeating that annoying Hyuga brat, to preserve the secret of his Crow puppet, Kankuro slowly raised his hand:

"Excuse me… I choose to forfeit."