The preliminaries

Having successfully obtained the Pass Token, Kazuhiko Uchiha no longer needed to stay there. He immediately dispelled his Shadow Clone Technique, and two separate sets of memories flowed into his mind.

After sorting through them, Kazuhiko Uchiha acquired the ninjutsu recorded in the scrolls his shadow clones had seized.

"Wind Release: Great Wind Blow!"

"Water Release: Water Flowing Arrow!"

"Lightning Release: Lightning Ball!"

"Fire Release: Great Explosion Flame!"

"Earth Release: Earth Substitute!"

Kazuhiko Uchiha learned and tested each of his newly acquired ninjutsu in turn, familiarizing himself with their specific effects and gaining a more direct understanding of how to use them in combat.

Still, these were only ordinary ninjutsu. They merely added a little variety to his fighting style and did little to improve his strength.

In battles above Kage Level, ordinary ninjutsu could rarely play a decisive role. Only S-rank or higher forbidden techniques, or special abilities such as kekkei genkai, could serve as trump cards that determined victory or defeat.

The Sharingan could be considered one of the highest-tier kekkei genkai in the Shinobi World. By steadily advancing it step by step, one could even awaken its highest form, the Rinne Sharingan, upon obtaining the God Tree's power-the eye people in his previous life commonly called the Nine-Tomoe Rinnegan.

With his Mangekyō Sharingan, Uchiha Itachi could easily defeat the veteran Kage Level powerhouse Orochimaru. With his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, Madara Uchiha could fight on equal footing with Hashirama Senju, who was known as the God of the Shinobi World. Pain, who possessed the Rinnegan, could single-handedly destroy Konoha, the foremost of the Shinobi World's five great villages.

This made it clear that, with his Sharingan, Kazuhiko Uchiha was already ahead of more than ninety-nine percent of the Shinobi World's ninja when it came to kekkei genkai.

As for forbidden techniques, the system's help made obtaining them-and even skills far beyond them-hardly difficult. They simply cost a considerable number of gold coins, and the cash-strapped Kazuhiko Uchiha could not yet afford to buy them in bulk.

Thus, Kazuhiko Uchiha spent another day seizing enough ninjutsu from the competing squads for his everyday needs before heading to the Cloudstone Highlands. He handed his Pass Token to the staff waiting there, becoming the third team to pass the second examination.

After Kazuhiko Uchiha spent a day resting in the temporary accommodations at the Cloudstone Highlands, the second examination officially ended.

Perhaps this year's candidates were lucky, as eleven teams, including Kazuhiko Uchiha's, passed the examination.

All eleven teams were ninja squads from the major ninja villages. The Cloud Ninja had the most, with four squads, followed by the Stone Ninja with three, while Konoha and the Sand Ninja had two each.

Under Samui's guidance, the thirty-one candidates who had passed returned to the Cloud Ninja Grand Lecture Hall, where she handed them over to Tarui, the Cloud Ninja jonin responsible for the next examination.

"Samui, this many candidates actually passed the second round? What a headache." Tarui looked at the crowd of candidates and lightly pressed a hand to his forehead, his expression somewhat helpless.

"What's so troublesome about it? Just hold preliminaries and eliminate some of them." Samui rolled her eyes at her friend Tarui, then turned and left the lecture hall.

Tarui watched his friend leave and sighed. Turning to the candidates seated below, he said, "Because the daimyo have limited time, we can only arrange for sixteen people to fight in the third examination. That means we need to hold preliminaries first and eliminate fifteen of you."

The candidates stirred restlessly, but soon quieted down and waited for Tarui to continue.

"Let's do this. Aside from Kazuhiko Uchiha, who's a team of one, the remaining ten teams will draw lots to determine their matchups. You'll fight as teams at Training Ground Three tomorrow morning at eight. The winning teams will qualify for the third examination." Tarui flipped through the detailed information on each squad and announced what he considered a very suitable selection method.

"Examiner, why doesn't that guy from Konoha have to participate in the preliminaries? That's unfair."

"Yeah, examiner! Why does he get to skip them?"

Jealous that Kazuhiko Uchiha did not have to participate in the preliminaries, several candidates voiced their protests to the examiner.

"Quiet, all of you. Passing the second examination alone is enough to prove that he's better than most of you. Consider this a small reward and compensation for him. If you disagree, prove how good you are in the coming matches."

Tarui frowned. Unmoved by the candidates' protests, he stood by his decision and granted Kazuhiko Uchiha direct entry into the third examination.

Seeing Tarui's displeasure, the candidates muttered a few words under their breath but said no more.

The leaders of the ten squads stepped forward in turn and drew numbered slips under Tarui's supervision, determining each squad's opponent in the preliminaries.

"All right, that's it for today. Don't be late tomorrow morning. Let's finish the preliminaries as quickly as possible." After giving them another reminder, Tarui vanished from the lecture hall in an instant.

Under everyone's envious, jealous, and hostile gazes, Kazuhiko Uchiha walked away with an unchanged expression, paying them no mind.

With his strength, he could have passed even if he participated in the preliminaries, so he saw nothing worth celebrating. It merely saved him a little trouble.

After collecting some free tools and supplies from the staff, Kazuhiko Uchiha returned to the inn to rest.

After a night of meditation and training, Kazuhiko Uchiha felt that his mental power seemed to be on the verge of a breakthrough. He sent a shadow clone to the training ground to watch the other teams' matches while his real body remained at the inn to continue training.

There were five preliminary matches in total, all scheduled for that morning.

The first match: the Cloud Ninja's Samui Squad versus the Konoha Ninjutsu Squad.

All three members of the Samui Squad specialized in nintaijutsu swordsmanship. Their powerful offensive disrupted the Konoha squad's attack rhythm, overwhelming the merely average team.

The second match: the Cloud Ninja Nintaijutsu Squad versus the Sand Ninja Puppet Squad.

Lightning Release-based nintaijutsu naturally had an advantage over the Sand Ninja's Puppet Technique. On top of that, the arena limited the space available for the Sand Ninja puppeteers to evade attacks. After fighting for a while, their puppets were destroyed by the Cloud Ninja, leaving them no choice but to accept defeat.

The third match: the Sand Ninja's Ye Ming Squad versus the Stone Ninja Ninjutsu Squad.

Relying on Ye Ming's Swift Release, the Sand Ninja caught their opponents off guard at the start of the fight, and he killed the Stone Ninja captain with a single sword strike. Seeing this, the remaining two Stone Ninja immediately surrendered, making it the shortest match of the preliminaries.

The fourth match: the Cloud Ninja Ninjutsu Squad versus the Stone Ninja Ninjutsu Squad.

Unlike the outcome of the second match, although the Stone Ninja's Earth Release was likewise countered by Lightning Release, those participating in this examination were all elites among the Stone Ninja. Relying on their outstanding strength and extensive experience, they defeated the Cloud Ninja squad after a grueling battle and successfully advanced.

Next came the final match, which Kazuhiko Uchiha also considered the one most worth watching.

The Cloud Ninja Triplets Squad versus the Stone Ninja Kekkei Genkai Squad.