The Third Exam Begins

Yichen ate a few more bites of noodles, then looked up at Kakashi and slowly said, "Hokage, let's skip the lottery. The Chunin Ninja Exams are mainly to let the kids see the ninjas from other villages."

"Your Konoha is the strongest, with the most people advancing to the third round. Let the ninjas from the other villages fight directly against your Konoha."

The ninjas from the Mist ninja, Sunagakure, and Snake Pit Village who advanced to the third round each consisted of only one small team.

The rest are all Konoha ninja. Konoha has a total of eight squads, with twenty-four people.

Even the Cloud ninja squad, like the squad brought by Yichen, was a new addition.

Because the Cloud ninja didn't take the Joint Chunin Exams of Konoha seriously, their team was mediocre and was eliminated in the second round by the Snake Pit Village team.

To save face for the Cloud ninja, Konoha, like the Iwa ninja, gave the Cloud ninja three more slots.

Orochimaru then spoke up, "The Hokage's idea is good. I'd also like to have our people fight against the geniuses of Konoha and see how it goes."

Kakashi thought for a moment, nodded, and said, "Okay."

He no longer cares about winning or losing the Joint Chunin Exams themselves; as long as he can advance the competition smoothly and get rid of Yichen, this plague, everything else is fine.

After saying that, he was about to have someone rearrange the draw when Yichen spoke up again, "There's no need for a draw. Let them choose their own opponents."

"Young people, if they don't like someone, they just go up and beat them up."

Kakashi still had no objections.

Immediately afterward, the crowd in the contestants' area became lively.

Neji and the others already knew their Tsuchikage's purpose, so after hearing the rules, Sakura took the lead and came out of the contestant area to one of the competition areas.

She announced loudly, "This area will be defended by the Iwa ninja. Konoha ninja, who wants to go first?"

In the Konoha arena, many Konoha Genin when they saw that the first Iwa ninja to enter the arena was just a little girl. They immediately erupted into a cacophony of angry curses.

They had already been informed by their captain of Neji Hyuga's identity; he was a former genius of the Hyuga Clan.

Neji Hyuga was later taken away by the Tsuchikage. With the Tsuchikage as his mentor, he must be very strong now.

Therefore, if it were Neji Hyuga who said these words, no one would have any objections; on the contrary, they would treat it with caution.

However, Sakura is such a Mu Qi -looking girl, and judging from her age, she should be a freshman who has just graduated not long ago.

Sakura immediately provoked the people of Konoha, and none of them could accept it.

Apart from...

"So... so... so cute." Naruto looked at Sakura, his mouth practically watering.

Fortunately, Naruto's voice was drowned out by the insults from others; otherwise, the Konoha player area might have been the first to erupt into an internal war of purging its members.

Sasuke gave Naruto a disdainful look and uttered two words: "Childish."

Normally, Naruto would have already retorted, but at this Naruto, because it was the first time he had met Sakura, he didn't hear what Sasuke was saying at all.

Their other teammate Hinata Hyuga, whispered, "Naruto."

Hinata Hyuga didn't even lift her head; since the family tragedy, she had become even more introverted.

Feeling unworthy of Naruto, she didn't even have the courage to look at Naruto more than once, despite being Naruto teammate.

Before the Konoha players could react to Sakura's actions, another figure appeared in one of the areas.

The visitors were Sakon Ukon from Snake Pit Village.

As soon as he entered the arena, he said, "Everyone from Konoha, who's going to be the first to die?"

Upon comparing the two, the Konoha members immediately forgot about Sakura and turned their attention to Sakon Ukon.

That arrogant guy clearly deserves to die more.

Just then, Kankuro of the Sunagakure also entered the arena, and he too looked towards Konoha.

However, he didn't say a word. The situation of the Sunagakure was special, and he didn't want to cause trouble for the village because of a moment's pleasure.

Representatives from Iwagakure, Snake Pit Village, and Sunagakure have all participated. Cloud ninja and Mist ninja exchanged a glance, and then Cloud ninja sent someone to the fourth region.

As soon as a contestant entered the arena, the audience cheered.

On the Konoha side, quite a few players couldn't contain their excitement, and several immediately jumped into the competition area.

However, once the audience realized what was happening, they immediately booed.

There were three Konoha ninja who jumped into the arena at the same time, but all three chose Sakura's area.

Sakura is obviously fat. The Konoha ninja aren't stupid. Although they were cursing Sakon Ukon, when it came to actually choosing an opponent, they still chose Sakura, who looked the weakest.

The three looked at each other, somewhat awkwardly, and were about to discuss who should stay and who should leave when...

Sakura suddenly launched an attack.

As a disciple of the Fox of Stone, ambushing in battle is basic skill. If you only know how to fight honorably, then you don't deserve to be Yichen's disciple!

The three of them were clearly stunned for a moment. The one closest to Sakura, the one who was targeted, didn't even have time to react before Sakura rushed in front of him.

The man still hadn't realized the seriousness of the situation. Seeing that Sakura was unarmed, he instinctively didn't draw his weapon.

He chose to fight back with his fists, after all, his opponent was just a girl, and he was confident that he wouldn't be at a disadvantage in a contest of strength, since he was Taijutsu -type ninja.

And that was it. Fighting Chakra Scalpel with one's fists—the result was predictable.

The next moment, a scream rang out.

When Sakura abandoned this person and rushed to her next target, the person was already lying on the ground, covered in blood, only able to groan.

The two clashed five times during their encounters, and Sakura left five wounds on him.

It's clear that Sakura held back; otherwise, that person wouldn't even be able to utter a sound.

The remaining two Konoha Genin finally realized they had met their match. One immediately threw a hidden weapon at Sakura, while the other began Hand Seals.

Both of them were quite strong among Genin, especially the Ninjutsu- type ninja, whose Hand Seals speed was quite impressive.

However, Sakura was faster than them.

Having learned Medical Ninjutsu, Ninjutsu that demands a very high level of Chakra Control, from a young age, Sakura's Chakra control is astonishing.

The side effect of this is that it allows for the rapid execution of Ninjutsu.

Sakura dodged the Kunai attacks from the other side while rapidly Hand Seals.

The next moment, the Konoha ninja who was performing Ninjutsu suddenly turned slightly to the side, aiming the Ninjutsu he had just prepared at his comrade.

The attack came from behind, and there were ninjas from the same village behind him, so the Taijutsu Ninja was completely unprepared.

Bang! The man was struck in the back by a Water Release, and the sound of bones breaking rang out, indicating that he was seriously injured.

But Sakura still didn't let him go. When she rushed toward the third person, she deliberately passed by him, stepping on his left hand with one foot and his right hand with the other.

With two cracking sounds, the Konoha ninja's hands were crippled.

Seeing this scene from the high platform, Yichen nodded slightly. Although he hadn't taught Sakura Yichen much since taking her as his disciple, he was still pleased.

However, it's clear from Sakura's series of actions that she has grasped the essence of it.

Sakura didn't stop; after passing the second person, she rushed straight towards the third.

Just then, the third person broke free from Sakura's Genjutsu and woke up to find that he had injured his companion.

Just as she was blaming herself and panicking, Sakura rushed over.

Although he was Ninjutsu- type ninja, he also knew some Taijutsu. In his panic, he immediately pulled out Kunai and pounced on Sakura.

He tried to overwhelm Sakura with his imposing presence, but unfortunately, Sakura simply turned slightly to the side, dodging his lunge, and then struck him on the back of the neck.

Unsurprisingly, the man fainted on the spot.

The entire room fell silent!

Just a moment ago, everyone was laughing at the three from Konoha, mocking them for only bullying little girls.

The next moment, the little girl transformed into a ruthless demon, unleashing vicious attacks that quickly subdued the three of them.

Sakura's actions were so smooth and fast that the audience was stunned.

Meanwhile, the players in the Konoha arena are waiting for the three below them to be reassigned as opponents.

Unexpectedly, all three were defeated in the blink of an eye.

Therefore, this place is also deathly silent.

After a moment of silence, a huge uproar erupted, then the sound changed to cheers.

Everyone was excited, saying that the tickets were worth it; just for the first show, they felt it was worth the price.

All the players on Konoha's side looked at Sakura with serious expressions.

Several members of the Hyuga Clan even activated their Byakugan.

Even Sasuke's eyes were bloodshot at this moment, and he subconsciously activated his One-Tomoe Sharingan.

Naruto also dropped his lecherous expression, swallowing hard and looking terrified.

He was trying to fight Sakura to distract her.

Just like in the original story, the person in charge of the third exam was Genma Shiranui, one of the Fourth Hokage's bodyguards.

He narrowed his eyes, sized up Sakura, and realized he'd misjudged her.

Sakura's mastery of Yin Release and her decisiveness in battle surprised Genma Shiranui.

For some reason, Genma Shiranui felt that Sakura had no psychological burden whatsoever about injuring or crippling people.

She acted like an elite ninja who had killed countless people, yet Sakura showed absolutely no murderous intent.

He didn't know that, in order to practice Medical Ninjutsu, Sakura and Karin routinely injured people and animals.

They also knew very well which parts of the body to attack to quickly incapacitate a ninja.

Genma Shiranui snapped out of his thoughts and announced loudly, "Sakura Haruno wins the first round!"

Upon hearing Genma Shiranui's words, the cheers from the audience grew even louder, with everyone chanting in unison, "Sakura Haruno, Sakura Haruno..."

In the Konoha players' area, everyone was momentarily stunned by Sakura, but they quickly recovered.

Immediately, some people jumped out from the crowd to greet Sakura.

The newcomer was Kiba Inuzuka and Sai 'Shino Aburame teammate in this life.

Because Sakura didn't wait for Genma Shiranui to call "start," Sai immediately took action.

He took out his paintbrush and scroll and immediately began to paint.

Normally, when faced with Sai's unusual behavior, an opponent would usually observe what he is going to do.

Or Kunai to test the waters.

This delay was enough for Sai to draw the first animal. He believed that with the first animal as cover, Sakura wouldn't be able to stop him from continuing to draw.

The characteristic of Super Beast Imitation Drawing is that the more thorough the preparation, the stronger the power.

Unfortunately, he encountered Sakura, Sakura familiarity with the Super Beast Imitation Drawing was probably the best among all the contestants today, except for Sai.

Because one of her best friends, Yakumo Kurama, uses this thing to get around Tenten.

So Sai recognized Sakura the moment he took out the scroll and pen.

She couldn't help but laugh.

During her regular sparring sessions with Yakumo Kurama, she had already figured out how to deal with the Super Beast Imitation Drawing.

The best time to deal with a ninja who uses Super Beast Imitation Drawing is before the opponent's first drawing is completed.

Interrupting the opponent's drawing is simple; the process of Super Beast Imitation Drawing is equivalent to performing Ninjutsu, as long as you disrupt the opponent's Chakra.

Sakura then made a square shape with her thumbs and forefingers in front of her chest: Mind Disturbance Jutsu.

While the Mind Disturbance Jutsu is not as powerful as the Mind Disturbance Jutsu in controlling enemies, it requires less precision and has fewer side effects.

Most importantly, Sakura can execute this move faster and over a greater distance.

The next moment, Sai's brush went awry as he was drawing, and the nearly completed Super Beast Imitation Drawing was completely ruined.

Sakura then put her dual personality advantage to good use.

While she uses the Mind Disturbance Jutsu to distract her opponent, her physical body can still move freely.

Two Kunai hurtled toward Sai at incredible speed, and Sakura charged forward at the same time.

Fortunately, Sakura's mastery of the Mind Disturbance Jutsu Mind Body Switch Technique was not as proficient as hers, Sai quickly broke free from Sakura's control.

However, it was clearly too late to use Super Beast Imitation Drawing again, so he quickly turned to the side to avoid the attack of the two Kunai.

With a hiss, Sai's arm was slashed by Kunai.

Sai didn't care. Having grown up under the brutal training of Root since childhood, he didn't care about this injury at all; it was enough that he had avoided a vital spot.

Seeing Sakura getting closer and closer, Sai knew that a ranged attack wouldn't be enough, so he drew his longsword and charged at Sakura as well.

Sai just witnessed Sakura's ability to fight three opponents single-handedly. Sakura knows Chakra Scalpel and Genjutsu.

The Chakra Scalpel is powerful, but it's useless as long as she doesn't get close.

As for Genjutsu, Sai was confident that he wouldn't be worried as long as he paid attention to Sakura's Hand Seals.

Moreover, in close combat, Sai believed that Sakura would have no chance to Hand Seals.

Sai was confident that even if he abandoned the Super Beast Imitation Drawing and used close combat, he could still win.

What followed unfolded much as Sai had predicted; the battle between the two quickly became one-sided.

Sakura was surprised that Sai, like Yakumo Kurama, used Super Beast Imitation Drawing right from the start, was also so strong in close combat.

Faced with Sai's relentless attacks, Sakura could only barely dodge and had no chance to retaliate.

In the Konoha arena, everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Sakura being suppressed.

At this moment, three more people jumped into the arena to face off against the three from other areas.

However, Sakon Ukon, and Kankuro are all very unhappy right now. They also wanted to make a name for themselves in this First Shinobi War, but they didn't expect Sakura to steal all the limelight.

So the two of them vented their anger directly on their respective opponents.

The two were also ruthless, unleashing deadly moves right from the start, and in just a few moves, they Teuchi coughed up blood and was seriously injured.

Sakon Ukon went straight for the kill; if Genma Shiranui intervened with his Senbon, his opponent would have been dead.

As for the Cloud ninja contestants, the two had just finished forming their Seal of Opposition and were still introducing themselves and exchanging harsh words.

After Sakon Ukon and Kankuro won, cheers immediately erupted from the stands.

They both smiled at the same time, but their smiles quickly froze.

Because the audience was clearly chanting for Sakura Haruno.

The two looked at Sakura and Sai in astonishment, only to see that Sai had just been dominating, was now beaten down.

You could tell from his curled-up body that he was in great pain.

Sakura stood next to Sai and said, "Has anyone ever told you that your smile is fake, and makes people want to punch you?"

Sai curled up, unable to utter a single word.

Two Konoha Medical Ninja quickly leaped into the arena, one of them giving Sai an Antidote Pills.

Another person used Mystical Palm Technique to treat Sai's wound caused by the Chakra Scalpel.

That's right, Sai was poisoned. He was poisoned when Sakura first cut his arm.

Sakura fully utilized her expertise in using poison, coating all her weapons with it.

This is also a combat philosophy inherited from Yichen: in the early stages, when a ninja is still weak, it is necessary to increase combat power as much as possible.

Sakura has absolutely no psychological burden regarding using poison.

As soon as the poison took effect, Sakura launched her counterattack at the perfect moment.

Caught off Sai was immediately knocked to the ground and unable to get up.

"Sakura Haruno, Sakon Ukon, and Kankuro win," Genma Shiranui announced immediately.

Hearing Genma Shiranui's words, Sakon Ukon, and Kankuro were all very displeased.

However, there was no other way. Both of them had participated in the first two rounds of the exam and knew that Sai was a tough opponent. Defeating Sai and defeating a minor character were not the same thing.

The two could only look towards the Konoha tournament area, hoping that they would send down two more top fighters.

Sakon Ukon, and Kankuro soon faced their new opponents, but for Sakura's side, no one stepped forward for the time being.

The Konoha players knew Sai's strength better than anyone else, and for a moment they were all intimidated and dared not step onto the field.

Those who felt confident were still considering tactics. Those at the top, like Sasuke, who were arrogant and self-assured, felt it wasn't their turn to step in yet.

Then, an embarrassing scene unfolded for Kakashi: Sakura stood in the middle of the field for quite a while, but not a single Konoha ninja stepped forward.

Immediately, a chorus of boos erupted from the audience.

Yichen watched as the Konoha players remained silent for a while, and just as someone was about to step forward, he immediately called out loudly, "Sakura, come back!"

"Let's save face for Konoha! Let's send Shion up instead!"

"Shion, go easy on me! Don't be like Sakura; the people of Konoha are too weak to handle!"

"This is just a Chunin Ninja Exams. We Iwa ninja value peace, friendship first, and competition second."

Yichen's voice was loud enough for the audience to hear, and the boos grew even louder as everyone shouted that Konoha couldn't accept defeat and that there was something fishy going on.

Kakashi glanced at Yichen upon hearing this, but he couldn't explain it either.

At that moment, Shino Aburame landed right in the middle of the field.

Sakura, like the audience, heard Yichen's words. Sakura was a smart person, and without saying a word, she returned to the Iwa ninja area.

Shion seamlessly replaced her and moved into the competition area.

When the audience saw that the Iwa ninja had indeed been replaced, the boos grew even louder.

Kakashi was somewhat embarrassed, Yichen's decision to have Sakura leave only made Konoha even more awkward.

But now that Shion has appeared, Kakashi can't say anything more.

The most embarrassed person among them was Shino Aburame. He had just figured out a strategy to deal with Sakura when his opponent changed.

It would have been clearly inappropriate for him to retreat back to the players' area at this point.

Shino Aburame glanced at Genma Shiranui, and seeing that the other didn't speak, she ignored Sakura and looked intently at Shion.

With her outstanding temperament and pure appearance, Shion gained the support of many viewers as soon as she appeared on screen.

Upon entering, Shion immediately formed hand Hand Seals and began casting Genjutsu.

Shino Aburame was quick to act; with a flick of his sleeve, a large number of Kikaichū flew out of his body and rushed towards Shion from the air.

Shion remained calm and composed, casting her Genjutsu at her own pace.

If Sakura's two battles just now were quick and decisive, with a bit of skill and cunning involved...

The match between Shion and Shino Aburame was completely opposite.

Even a layman could see that Shino Aburame performed well in all aspects.

Shion has only one advantage over Shino Aburame: their rank.

The second stage of Yin Release is equivalent to the Jonin level in ninja rank.

Shion stood motionless, unleashing one Genjutsu after another.

Although her methods seem simple, they always leave Shino Aburame struggling to keep up.

Because Shion's Genjutsu are effective against both Shino Aburame herself and the Kikaichū.

If it weren't for the large number of Kikaichū in Shino Aburame's body that could help him quickly dispel Genjutsu, and his ability to help the Kikaichū dispel Genjutsu, he would have lost long ago.

Even with the miraculous Kikaichū present, Shino Aburame still had a very difficult time.

This match has been going on for a long time. Kankuro and Sakon Ukon had already defeated the second wave of opponents and had been waiting for quite some time, but it still wasn't over.

On the Cloud ninja side, the two sides traded blows slowly, and the match was never over. It was more like a friendly sparring session than a real competition.

Aside from occasionally making a few disdainful remarks, the audience stopped paying attention to them.

Meanwhile, changes finally occurred in the other two regions, with Konoha making its move.

Seeing that Kankuro had defeated two opponents in a row, Naruto couldn't hold back any longer and stepped in to take down Kankuro.

Dozens of Naruto took to the field, and many even ran off to other areas.

Kankuro originally used puppets to fight two opponents at a time. But suddenly it turned into two against dozens.

Moreover, these dozens can be continuously replenished.

Kankuro's defeat was inevitable, given his lack of wide-range attack Ninjutsu.

On the other side, the cool Sasuke, seeing Naruto enter the arena, was not to be outdone and directly faced off against Sakon Ukon.

After a fierce battle, Sasuke a Sharingan Genjutsu to force the separated Sakon and Ukon to fight each other.

Sasuke easily won without Sakon Ukon even using their ultimate techniques.

Naruto wanted to continue fighting Temari had just entered the arena.

However, after defeating Sakon Ukon, Sasuke calmly returned to the contestants' area amidst the cheers of "Uchiha! Uchiha!" from the audience.

So Naruto, not wanting to fall behind, went back too.

Even at this point, Shion was still dominating Shino Aburame.

It's clear that Shion has plenty of chakra and her attack rhythm is steady, while Shino Aburame Chakra already panting heavily. Having been caught in Genjutsu multiple times, he's starting to lose sight of what's real and what's illusion.

Finally, Shino Aburame, exhausted from the power of the illusion, collapsed after being under its Genjutsu again.

After cheering for the princess-like Shion, the audience said, "No need to hold back, just Teuchi quickly like Sakura Haruno."

Shion simply gave everyone a sweet smile, which almost melted the hearts of the audience.