Bye

Before the giant arm statue with its hands pressed together in a hand seal.

The chief examiners of the two Chunin Ninja Exams, Ibiki Morino and Mitaraishi Anko, along with several other examiners;

The Jōnin leading each ninja team that had passed the second exam:

Might Guy of Konoha's Team 3, Hatake Kakashi of Team 7, Kurenai Yuhi of Team 8, and Asuma Sarutobi of Team 10.

As well as Baki of Sunagakure, with bandages wrapped around his head like a turban and white cloth covering one side of his face.

They all stood straight with their hands behind their backs.

The elderly man standing among them wore the Hokage's conical hat and robes. He was the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Sure enough... the three Sound Ninja who had failed the second exam, along with Orochimaru, who should have been posing as their Jōnin instructor in the original story, were not here.

Having confirmed that fact, Naruto lowered his head and frowned in thought.

Given the abilities of those three Sound Ninja, there was no reason for them to fail the second exam.

Had something unexpected happened?

Or had Orochimaru ordered them to withdraw from the Chunin Ninja Exams?

Or perhaps... Orochimaru had become suspicious of Yakushi Kabuto's death and begun adjusting certain parts of the Konoha Destruction Plan?

For the moment, Naruto could not determine why the Sound Ninja had failed the exam.

These damn little differences again!

Like Umino Iruka, who had died during the Nine-Tails' Rampage.

Like Shimura Danzō, who had begun preparing to control the Nine-Tails years ahead of schedule and had actually taken action.

And now—he could no longer rely on the original plot to judge what Orochimaru, currently hiding in Konoha, was doing!

"Quiet!"

At that moment, Anko, the chief examiner of the Forest of Death, suddenly spoke up and drew everyone's attention. "Lord Hokage is about to explain the third exam!"

All the candidates focused their attention on the elderly man before them.

Third looked at the young figures before him, his tone carrying the gratification of an elder watching his juniors grow into capable people. "Being able to stand here already proves that you are outstanding. However, those who can become Chunin will inevitably be the finest ninja among you—"

Third's demeanor abruptly changed as he displayed the imposing presence unique to one in authority.

"—The fifteen candidates here will immediately compete in preliminary matches in this hall for the right to advance to the third exam. Another seven will be eliminated in the preliminaries, and only the remaining eight will be permitted to take the third exam!"

"Please wait. With an odd number of fifteen candidates advancing to an even number of eight, that means the preliminaries will be one-on-one battles. Doesn't that mean one person will inevitably have no opponent and receive a bye, directly qualifying to advance?"

Shikamaru Nara raised his hand, questioning the arrangement for the preliminary matches.

"Things like that always happen on the battlefield—powerful ninja die in war, while weak ninja stubbornly survive until the war ends."

Third answered Shikamaru. Wise with age, he knew full well that ninja Shikamaru's age always treated words like "fairness" as a creed, but the Shinobi World had never been fair.

Throughout his life, Third had witnessed countless powerful ninja die because of "unfairness."

"Luck is also an important part of a ninja's strength—Hayate!"

Third gave Shikamaru no chance to continue arguing and called out the name of the referee for the upcoming preliminary matches.

A young man wearing a Konoha ninja forehead protector stepped out from among the examiners, looking sickly and frail.

"Cough, cough... nice to meet you all for the first time. I'm Gekko Hayate."

Gekko Hayate coughed heavily and held out one hand. "Before the preliminaries begin, we'll use a draw to select the person receiving a bye."

In the center of Gekko Hayate's open palm lay fifteen neatly folded square slips of white paper.

"After opening your slip, the character 'battle' means you will compete, while the character 'bye' means you will directly receive a bye and qualify for the third exam."

After briefly explaining the rules of the draw, Gekko Hayate walked over to Team 3, standing at the edge nearest to him.

"You'll start."

Gekko Hayate looked at Neji Hyuga.

"I'll draw last."

Neji's pale eyes never once looked at the slips in Gekko Hayate's hand.

Unlike the first exam, where cheating itself was part of the test, Neji would not use the Byakugan to cheat at something like this.

But as a member of the Hyuga branch family, he had long learned to cautiously avoid suspicion and prevent unnecessary trouble.

Neji turned aside and let Tenten and Little Lee, his teammates behind him, choose their slips first.

Watching Neji's actions, Hinata Hyuga, standing some distance away, silently lowered her head.

"Woof!"

Only after being reminded by Akamaru atop his head did Kiba Inuzuka notice Hinata's low spirits. "Hinata, if you're worried people will question you because of the Byakugan too, Akamaru can pick for you."

"Thank you, Akamaru."

"There's no need to thank each other between teammates."

Shino Aburame abruptly inserted himself into the conversation.

"Shino, do you feel like you're being left out?"

Kiba's intuition could sometimes become as sharp as his sense of smell.

"...No."

The conversation between the three members of Team 8 was not deliberately concealed, and Naruto, standing beside them, heard every word clearly.

While Team 8 was talking, Gekko Hayate had already arrived before Team 7, and Naruto casually took a slip.

"Now open your slips. The person receiving a bye, step out of the candidates' line."

After distributing all the slips, Gekko Hayate returned to stand before the candidates and gave the order.

Naruto opened his slip along with everyone else. As expected, the character on his slip was "battle."

But Naruto suddenly sensed movement from Sakura behind him.

"I..."

Sakura stared blankly at her slip. The character written on it was "bye."

Unexpectedly, Sakura had received the bye and directly earned the right to advance to the third exam.

Yet Sakura was not delighted by her good fortune. She looked blankly at Sasuke and Naruto, clearly still unable to believe that she was the one receiving the bye.

"Sakura, you got a bye."

Naruto made room for Sakura to leave the candidates' line.

Only then did Sakura belatedly walk through the space Naruto had made and approach Gekko Hayate.

"Konoha's Sakura Haruno, bye!"

After confirming Sakura's slip, Gekko Hayate announced, "The remaining fourteen will enter the preliminaries and compete for the right to advance to the third exam!"

"Next, an explanation of the preliminary rules. Cough, cough!"

Gekko Hayate coughed again. He looked so weak that he hardly seemed like a ninja at all.

"The preliminaries are one-on-one individual battles. No combat methods are restricted."

"Just as in the Forest of Death exam, killing your opponent is permitted. However, if your opponent concedes, the winner may not continue trying to kill the loser. As the referee, I have the authority to determine the outcome of a battle early. If teammates or Jōnin instructors interfere during a match, the interfering side will be immediately declared defeated."

"The preliminary matches will use random pairings. Your opponents will not be assigned according to your strength, so there may be vast differences in ability between two contestants. For the sake of your lives, surrendering outright is not disgraceful."

Gekko Hayate looked at the candidates before him and suddenly paused.

After giving the candidates ample time to think, he spoke again. "Everyone, go to the elevated viewing platform in the hall and wait for your match to begin... Now, the first preliminary match—Examiner Anko."

"Turn on the screen!"

At Gekko Hayate's signal, Anko gave an order into the headset clipped to her ear.

The massive display embedded in the hall wall lit up.

The names of the fourteen candidates flashed across the screen. After several seconds of flickering,

Two names froze on the display.

The first preliminary match—

—Sasuke Uchiha VS Rock Lee!