"If he doesn't use that special power hidden within him, then in a pure contest of personal strength, any of you could win."
Naruto casually gave a fairly objective assessment.
The reason was simple: the current Sasuke was far stronger than he had been in the first cycle, when he broke through Gaara's absolute defense.
Not only had he mastered Chidori ahead of time, he had already begun studying shape transformation—enough to break through Gaara's current absolute defense.
Of course, the outcome of an actual battle could change in an instant. No one could predict it with complete certainty.
"Special power?"
Sasuke wondered whether it was something like his Sharingan.
But then again, how did Naruto know?
Before long, the classroom door was pushed open again, and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio—Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka—walked in.
Choji crunched on potato chips as he headed toward Naruto, saying through a mouthful of food, "Naruto, I didn't expect you guys to get here so early."
"Sigh, I didn't expect you guys to be taking such a troublesome exam too..."
Shikamaru followed behind, wearing his usual lazy, bothered expression as he yawned at Naruto.
Naruto nodded, his tone as even as ever. "It's fine. At least this exam won't be too difficult..."
"Won't be too difficult?" Shikamaru raised a brow and swept his gaze across the classroom, watching more and more examinees with varying expressions file in. "If they've gathered us in a classroom... it looks like a written test no matter how you look at it. What a pain..."
Ino immediately spotted Sasuke. Her eyes lit up, and she hurried over with a grin. "Sasuke! You're here too!"
Not long afterward, Team 8's members—Hinata Hyuga, Inuzuka Kiba, and Shino Aburame—also arrived in the classroom.
"You're all here!" Kiba was as energetic