After Neji and Naruto's battle ended, the Ninja Academy staff briefly leveled the field before starting the following matches.
The next several matches were also extremely exciting. The students all performed beyond the level of ordinary Genin, but because Neji and Naruto's previous battle had been too intense, the spectators at the sidelines seemed to still be immersed in it. As a result, their reactions to the subsequent matches were fairly muted.
It was not until Shikamaru's match against Sai began that everyone's emotions were stirred up again.
Shikamaru was the brains of the new generation of Ino-Shika-Cho. Not only did the Nara Clan place great expectations on him, but so did the Yamanaka Clan and the Akimichi Clan. Recognized as a genius by all three Ino-Shika-Cho clans, he was a key figure who would uphold their status in the village in the future and a priority target for their cultivation.
Moreover, because of Hyuga Kagami's reforms at the Ninja Academy and the tense situation in the ninja world, the three Ino-Shika-Cho clans had trained Shikamaru more harshly than in the original timeline. This allowed Shikamaru's potential to be unearthed earlier than it had been in the original timeline.
Sai came from Root. After Danzo took office as acting Hokage, Danzo sent him to the Ninja Academy to monitor Naruto and Fū, the two Jinchuriki, as well as Second Pillar.
After Danzo defected and Root was disbanded, the Third Hokage felt that Sai's aptitudes in every regard were quite good. Thus, he removed Sai's Root Curse Mark and changed his status to that of an ordinary ninja.
One was a genius of the three Ino-Shika-Cho clans, while the other had once been one of Root's finest.
Before the match had even begun, the spectators were already deeply interested. Once it