The Conditions for Passing the First Round

On the second day, Madara Uchiha and his teammates picked up their pace in the desert. Although they had eaten insects and lizards and drunk groundwater, they had replenished their physical energy and were back in peak condition. Once they accelerated, Team One's strength as an upper-tier Genin team became apparent. They overtook, one by one, the teams that had left them behind on the first day. From Madara's observations, most of those teams were probably already doomed to elimination. A full day without food or water had worn down their resolve, and they had not even reached the halfway point yet.

After another day of trekking through the desert, Madara Uchiha and his teammates finally reached the midpoint of the desert march at noon on the third day. It was here that Madara Uchiha understood why Sunagakure only offered assistance to the candidates during the first half.

Before Madara Uchiha and his teammates lay a slope several hundred meters high, descending at a sixty-degree angle. They stood above it, and as far as they could see, the slope stretched on without end. At the top, dozens of Sunagakure ninja had been waiting for some time. They held objects resembling skateboards, transportation prepared for the candidates.

Once the Genin rode these boards down the slope, they would have to complete the remaining half of the journey on their own before they could receive help from Sunagakure again. Otherwise, death was their only fate. If they tried to return the way they had come, that slope alone, several hundred meters high, would be beyond their ability to climb.

Many of the starving, desperately thirsty Genin lost their nerve when they saw the slope. They were already half-dead just getting to the midpoint, never mind traveling the same distance again. As a result, this was where the most Genin gave up. Among them was Naoto Hyuga's three-man team, which had previously used Madara Uchiha to attack Hayato Hyuga.

"Give up, Hayato. Sunagakure is making us risk our lives here. There's no need! You and your teammates are so young. You'll have plenty of chances, especially since the next Chunin Ninja Exams will be hosted by our own Konoha. Why take risks here?"

Naoto Hyuga himself certainly no longer had the courage to try to pass. As soon as he saw Hayato arrive, he stepped forward to talk him out of continuing. Madara Uchiha paid no attention whatsoever to his attempts at persuasion. He strode over, asked for a board, and sat down on it.

"Naoto, with that attitude, you won't pass even if you take the Chunin Ninja Exams in Konoha! Itachi, wait for me!"

After Madara sat on the board, Sosuke followed him. Hayato laughed and snapped back at Naoto, who could not bear to see him do well, then climbed onto Madara's board too. As a Sunagakure ninja pushed the board down the slope, Hayato's exuberant laughter echoed across the desert. Naoto, who remained behind after forfeiting his chance to continue, gritted his teeth, only to find he could no longer say a word.

Madara Uchiha and his teammates picked up more and more speed as they descended the several-hundred-meter slope. The wind rushing past their ears felt wonderfully refreshing. After several minutes of sliding, the slope began to level out, and their speed dropped. By the time the board came to a complete stop, Arakawa Kiba and the people he had brought were already waiting ahead of them.

"Congratulations. You've passed."

Seeing even an eight-year-old child pass, Arakawa Kiba was inwardly astonished by Madara Uchiha's excellence. Still, he maintained his outward composure and formally announced the results of their first-round test.

"Huh? We passed? What's going on? Don't we still have half the journey left?"

Hayato Hyuga climbed off the board, bewildered by the declaration that they had already passed. He looked to Sosuke for help, but Sosuke looked just as confused. In the end, he could only turn to Madara Uchiha.

"There are two kinds of people who can pass. The first are people like us, who proceed carefully and understand what the exam is testing. After learning how to survive in the desert, we're confident we can safely finish the journey even if there's still half of it left. That's why we don't hesitate to ride a board down the slope. Making people like us complete another half of the journey would just waste time, so we pass immediately. The others are people determined to complete their mission even if it kills them. Their powers of observation may be lacking, but that determination alone is enough for them to become Chunin. So even if they aren't in good physical condition, as long as they dare to come down, they should be allowed to pass too. Am I right, Senior Kiba?"

"You're a kid from the Uchiha Clan, are you? You really are impressive. What you said matches the facts exactly."

There would be candidates in an exam who, like Madara Uchiha and his teammates, understood its true purpose and spotted Sunagakure's demonstration team, but they were a minority. If that were the sole criterion, this round would eliminate far too many people, leaving Sunagakure hard-pressed to explain itself to the other ninja villages. So, besides that standard, Sunagakure had provided another way to pass. Completing the first half of the journey at full speed took roughly two days. Two days without food or water would not leave a ninja unable to move, and even four days would not necessarily kill them. If they still had the determination to continue the challenge after two days without food or water, that counted as a pass too. With passing conditions like these, even those eliminated could hardly blame Sunagakure.

Arakawa Kiba carefully examined Madara Uchiha's three-man team. Their bright, energetic appearance made it clear that they belonged to the group who had found food and water in the desert. Madara Uchiha, an eight-year-old child, had actually seen straight through the underlying logic of Sunagakure's exam. Arakawa Kiba hardly dared imagine how powerful an enemy this child would become once he grew up.

"Please bear with us and wait another day. By then, the remaining candidates should have finished their exam."

Once Madara Uchiha and his teammates had climbed off the board, Arakawa Kiba assigned several Sunagakure ninja to take them to the rear to rest. Other Genin who had passed had already been waiting there for some time.

Madara Uchiha swept his gaze over them. Two teams from Kumogakure had passed, along with one from Iwagakure. So far, their team was actually the only one from Konoha to pass. Sunagakure had the most, with three teams, which seemed reasonable given their home-field advantage. All the other ninja villages combined had only one team, apparently from Kusagakure.

Madara Uchiha and his teammates waited another day. Every Konoha team except theirs was eliminated, and only one more team from Iwagakure arrived afterward. In the end, the first round whittled the original hundred-plus candidates down to just twenty-seven. The elimination rate for Sunagakure's first round was certainly high.

"Candidates who have passed, please rest for another day. Tomorrow, we'll move on to the preliminaries. There will be one-on-one matches, with one person receiving a bye. Fourteen candidates will advance to the main tournament. Only those who reach the main tournament will have a chance to become Chunin."