In an instant, Tenten noticed it too, but her body seemed unable to keep up with her reaction.
The sand moved with incredible speed and agility. Even with the naked eye, it was barely visible. Tenten was about to be hit.
With a swish, the sand scattered at once!
"Shasha!"
The sand had seemed almost alive, but after a hand pierced through it, it became lifeless and fell all at once, going completely still.
Neji stood in front of Tenten, his expression calm.
Gaara stared wide-eyed, looking a little surprised.
He couldn't understand why anyone would do such a thing. Saving someone? It made no sense to him.
He could only understand one thing: judging from the speed and technique just now, he hadn't been wrong. The person before him was strong!
"Neji..."
Tenten was also surprised by Neji's speed. She got to her feet.
"Thanks. Since when were you so fast?"
Neji turned around and smiled. "I wasn't. I just happened to be heading this way, so I reacted in time."
"Hey, what exactly are you trying to do?" Tenten immediately turned her attention to Gaara, who had just attacked her, and demanded loudly.
"I'm not interested in you, but I am interested in your teammate."
Gaara chuckled. The sand slowly returned to his gourd, and he folded his arms again, his expression cold once more.
"What's your name?"
Gaara asked.
"Hyuga Neji." Neji thought that sooner or later, he would fight this guy, so there was no need to hold back.
"Gaara."
With that, Gaara turned and walked away without looking back.
"I can't wait to fight you in the Chunin Ninja Exams."
His footsteps faded into the distance, and his voice echoed through the training ground.
Tenten just let out a breath. "The Sand Ninja are really hard to deal with this year. Not only do they seem strong, but their attitude is downright infuriating!"
Tenten complained, but Neji said nothing.
He calmly asked himself a question: Could I beat Gaara as I am now?
Not necessarily.
That answer left Neji unsettled for a long time. As he thought it over, he started training again.
"The exam is over!"
After they received the announcement, all the examinees were led out of the Forest of Death and gathered in an open area.
Iruka counted them and murmured, "There are only seven teams left... twenty-one people..."
At that moment, a young man suddenly stepped forward.
It was Kabuto Yakushi.
"Sorry, but I'm going to withdraw from the exam."
Naruto: "Huh?!"
Neji was standing in a corner when someone suddenly tapped his shoulder.
He turned around. It was the proctor from the previous round, Mitaraishi Anko.
"I didn't think you'd make it through too, kid. That's great!"
Neji gave an awkward smile and brushed it off.
"Well, ahem, everyone, follow me. We're starting the third exam now."
"What?! There's more?!"
When Gekko Hayate appeared, everyone was astonished.
After three days and three nights of traveling, they hadn't expected the third exam to start so soon!
Neji looked at Gekko Hayate. He seemed like a gloomy man, with dark circles under his eyes that were almost as noticeable as Gaara's.
He seemed to have trouble with his lungs and kept coughing.
With Kabuto's sudden withdrawal, only twenty of the twenty-one candidates from the seven teams remained. They were arranged into one-on-one matches, and the winners would advance to the official Chunin Selection Tournament.
Everyone was led into a venue, a training ground beneath Konoha specially built for exams.
It was spacious, with a small number of spectator seats above.
On the edge of the training ground was an enormous hand sign for the Seal of Fire, which looked spectacular.
"Rock Lee, congratulations on passing the exam!"
Guy's voice rang through the venue.
"Guy-sensei?!" Rock Lee immediately perked up.
One after another, the jōnin entered.
Kakashi, Guy, and Kurenai Yuhi came out, along with several Special Jōnin who had come to watch.
"Everyone's been worried about the results of this Chunin exam! Do your best!"
Kakashi waved at everyone and said with a cheerful smile.
Shikamaru glanced at the people above and narrowed his eyes. "At least Asuma didn't come... Not that our team has much of a chance anyway..."
Seeing them, Neji let out a sigh.
"All jōnin? I'd better be careful. They'll see through me if I slip up..."
As everyone murmured among themselves, Gekko Hayate coughed twice and said, "All right. When your name appears on the screen, come down to the arena. The rest of you, go up and wait."
"Uchiha Sasuke!"
The first name appeared, and the whole venue was surprised.
"Wow! I didn't think we'd get to see a fight from a Uchiha Clan genius in the very first match!"
"Who'll be his opponent? Can anyone beat him?"
"Choji Akimichi!"
Neji was startled. He hadn't expected those two to be the first pair.
Everyone began heading upstairs. Only Uchiha Sasuke and Choji Akimichi remained in the arena.
"Choji! Be careful!"
Although Ino liked Sasuke too, she was more worried about her teammate.
Meanwhile, Kakashi was saying something to Sasuke, who was clutching a spot on the back of his neck.
Neji watched and gave a quiet snort.
Orochimaru really had placed the Cursed Seal on him.
When Neji reached the spectator seats, he noticed people slowly gathering around him. They stood in a row to watch, not far apart.
"Yo!"
Kiba Inuzuka came over to Neji and immediately greeted him enthusiastically.
"If I had to fight you, I'd be really lucky!"
Neji knew what he meant, but simply smiled in response.
Tenten and Rock Lee were beside them.
Tenten sighed. "Neji, Rock Lee and I can't cover for you this time, so you'll have to rely on yourself!"
"Yeah."
"Well then..."
Gekko Hayate took a step back and extended a hand, ready to give the signal.
"Begin!"
The two opponents were Uchiha Sasuke and Choji Akimichi of the Akimichi Clan.
"Sasuke-kun! Beat that fat pig!"
In the spectator seats, Sakura immediately began cheering.
At the sound of that, Shikamaru and Ino both froze.
"Oh no! She said the forbidden words?" Shikamaru's eyes widened.
Sure enough, Choji heard the words "fat pig," furrowed his brows, and burned with anger.
"Fat pig? Did you just call me a fat pig?"
Choji gritted his teeth and stared at Uchiha Sasuke, who stood not far ahead. The lethargy he'd shown before was gone, and he was full of fighting spirit!
Sasuke seemed to be suffering from the Cursed Seal as well, his brows tightly furrowed.
"Hurry up. I don't have time to fool around with you."
"AAAHHH!"
"Human Bullet Tank!"
"Lion Combo!"
..."The winner is... Uchiha Sasuke!"
"Aw, Choji. Beating Sasuke is just too hard!" Ino rested her chin on her hand, looking disappointed.
"Sasuke-kun! Wow, he's so cool!"
Sasuke had won the first match, just as Neji had expected.
Still, the random pairings made things pretty exciting. Neji was now eager to find out who his first opponent would be.
Hopefully, it would be someone easy to handle. There were jōnin watching from all around.
"Ahem, next pair..."
As Gekko Hayate spoke, he raised a clenched fist to cover his mouth. His gaze was dark and deep.
"Sound Ninja's Zaku, against..."
Once the first name appeared, everyone's eyes turned to the next name as it kept changing on the screen.
A few seconds later, it appeared.
"...Hinata Hyuga!"
Before you continue