The Tower in the Forest of Death.
The final match had ended, and the qualifiers had been selected. The results were almost identical to those in the original story.
Everyone came down from the upper level to the ground floor. Gekko Hayate, the referee, looked at the list in his hand and spoke.
"The nine who passed are Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame, and Shikamaru Nara."
"Ah..."
Hearing the names announced, Naruto Uzumaki let out a helpless sigh.
"What's wrong?"
Sakura Haruno raised an eyebrow and asked. She was utterly bored by now, too.
Naruto Uzumaki sighed again. "If Brother Mang had been here, all four of us could have made it to the finals together..."
"Yeah, that's true."
Sakura Haruno nodded in agreement. He really had missed the matches because of what had happened with Hinata Hyuga. His luck had been awful; the matches had started just after he left, catching them completely off guard.
But Sasuke Uchiha, who had been silent beside them, suddenly spoke.
"Heh. One exam doesn't prove how strong you are. There'll be plenty of opportunities later. It's not like he needs this exam to prove anything."
After all, Luo Mang was different from them. Naruto Uzumaki wanted to use these Chunin Ninja Exams to prove that he was no longer the dead last, while Sakura Haruno hoped to prove what she had learned and that she was capable of standing alongside them.
Sasuke Uchiha also wanted to test the results of his training.
"That's true."
Naruto Uzumaki nodded in agreement. There really was no need to prove anything through a single match. Luo Mang was unquestionably the strongest member of their team, wasn't he?
Sakura Haruno pouted. "I wonder how things are going now."
Their conversation