Sasuke vs. Little Lee

Other than Sasuke and Little Lee, who were about to compete, everyone else headed to the stands, leaving the hall clear.

After Naruto and Sakura picked a spot to watch from, they noticed Kakashi was still lingering in the hall.

At that moment, Kakashi was speaking softly to Sasuke.

Sasuke's expression shifted unpredictably because of Kakashi's words.

"What is Kakashi-sensei... saying to Sasuke?"

From the upper stands, Sakura looked down at the two of them curiously.

Before Naruto could answer Sakura, Kakashi had already finished talking with Sasuke and used the Body Flicker Technique to appear beside them.

"Sakura, you were really lucky. You actually got the bye."

Kakashi first offered Sakura his congratulations.

Then, despite having just left Sasuke's side, Kakashi turned his gaze back toward Sasuke, who had taken his position in the preparation area at Gekko Hayate's signal.

"How is Sasuke doing?"

Kakashi suddenly asked.

Kakashi kept his voice low enough that only he and the two members of Team 7 could hear.

Sakura did not immediately understand what Kakashi meant.

Naruto, however, knew exactly what Kakashi was asking. As expected, Anko Mitarashi had already informed Konoha's higher-ups about Orochimaru placing a Cursed Seal on Sasuke.

"On the first night of the Forest of Death exam, we were scattered by a hurricane..."

Naruto recounted Team 7's experiences over the past two days to Kakashi.

He even briefly mentioned Karin. It was not something worth hiding.

Unless someone cracked open Naruto's head, who could possibly know that Team 7 meeting Karin had been inevitable rather than coincidental?

"Using Shadow Clones to scout ahead and avoid enemies..."

As expected, Kakashi did not pay much attention to Karin's presence. In the Forest of Death exam, it would not have been strange to run into any contestant at any moment.

Kakashi was relieved that Naruto had made the right decision amid such danger. "Naruto, your judgment was correct. You were injured, and Sasuke could not freely use chakra, so you truly needed to avoid fighting other ninja whenever possible."

From Naruto's account, Kakashi had already roughly confirmed the condition of the Cursed Seal in Sasuke's body. Sasuke had only displayed the Cursed Seal once so far, so his condition was not yet too serious.

But Kakashi had not completely relaxed.

In the preliminary matches for a place in the third exam, Sasuke's opponent just happened to be Rock Lee, the disciple Might Guy was always bragging about to him!

Naruto had no intention of letting Kakashi end the conversation so one-sidedly. "Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke said Orochimaru called himself the founder of Hidden Sound, and those Sound Ninja really did attack us first... They had clearly been trying to make a move against Sasuke, yet they did not pass the second exam. Is there some other conspiracy behind this?"

Kakashi looked at Naruto and merely shook his head. "I don't know either—after confirming that Orochimaru had infiltrated Konoha and come into contact with Sasuke, Lord Hokage immediately arranged for ANBU ninja to search the Forest of Death. The Sound Ninja were also specifically monitored by ANBU—but not long ago, both the Sound Ninja and the Konoha ANBU assigned to watch them vanished without a trace."

Naruto put on a worried, doubtful expression and did not press any further.

The first question could still reasonably be explained as concern for Sasuke, his companion.

But Kakashi had already explained the answer in detail. If Naruto said any more, it would be easy for Kakashi to notice something was off.

Naruto had originally thought he could draw out some useful intelligence from Kakashi.

Unfortunately, the intelligence Kakashi provided was as good as saying nothing.

The Sound Ninja's disappearance could naturally only be related to Orochimaru.

What Naruto wanted to know was why the Sound Ninja Trio had disappeared.

After Yakushi Kabuto's death, Orochimaru's actions truly could no longer be predicted using the original plot.

However, Naruto was not worried that Orochimaru would abandon his Konoha Destruction Plan and cause Naruto's escape plan, which depended on the Konoha Destruction Plan, to fail.

This was also why, after weighing the pros and cons, Naruto had still dealt with Yakushi Kabuto for long-term gain despite knowing that killing him would bring tremendous uncertainty.

Orochimaru had already exposed himself in the Forest of Death and had long since drawn Sunagakure into the scheme—at most, he would move the plan forward, but he would never abandon it. As long as the Konoha Destruction Plan succeeded, the current uncertainties would no longer matter.

But if Orochimaru retreated, he would face not only Konoha's pursuit, but Sunagakure's as well. By stopping the Konoha Destruction Plan, Orochimaru would gain absolutely nothing and only invite trouble upon himself.

While Naruto was lost in thought, the match between Sasuke Uchiha and Rock Lee officially began.

Unable to freely use chakra because of the Cursed Seal, Sasuke chose to first keep Little Lee occupied with ninja tools.

But Sasuke's tactic did not produce ideal results.

Little Lee specialized in taijutsu and could already open the Fifth Gate of the Eight Gates. How could he possibly be hit by ninja tools?

Naruto watched Sasuke, who was already panting heavily moments after the fight began.

Suppressing the Cursed Seal consumed an enormous amount of Sasuke's stamina, and fighting Little Lee would only accelerate that loss.

In such a vicious cycle, it would not be long before Sasuke was controlled by the Cursed Seal again.

To outsiders, the outcome of this match was already obvious.

Sasuke's desperate struggle was no more than a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

At present, Little Lee was unquestionably the strongest among the fifteen examinees in taijutsu alone.

Naruto certainly would not spar with Little Lee in taijutsu either.

But Little Lee's weakness was that he could not use ninjutsu or genjutsu.

As long as one knew that information, there were many ways to deal with him.

Yet resisting Little Lee's terrifying taijutsu attacks was itself extremely difficult.

Not to mention finding an opportunity to defeat Little Lee.

Sasuke made his choice...

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

Facing Little Lee's high-speed movements, Sasuke used the first ninjutsu of the match.

The target of the massive flames Sasuke expelled from his mouth was not Little Lee, whose movements were difficult to track, but the ground in front of himself!

The flames touched the ground and formed a circular ring of fire around Sasuke.

Rather than weakening after becoming a ring, the flames grew even fiercer!

Burning violently, the ring of fire became a cylindrical wall of flame surrounding Sasuke.

After the first Chunin Ninja Exams match, the tactical information revealed during Little Lee and Sasuke's fight was now being used by Sasuke.

Sasuke knew his eyes could not keep up with Little Lee's speed. Once Little Lee found an opening to get close, Sasuke would probably be kicked into the air again!

Then why not simply keep Little Lee from getting close in the first place!

Sure enough, faced with the wall of fire Sasuke had created, Little Lee could no longer continue attacking with taijutsu and stopped his high-speed movement—a backflip sent him onto the index finger of a statue of a ninja forming hand seals.

The view from atop the statue allowed Little Lee to see Sasuke behind the obstructing wall of fire.

With just one Great Fireball Technique, Sasuke had turned a battle whose odds had heavily favored Little Lee...

...into a stalemate.