The Third Exam, Drawing Lots!

The next day.

Early in the morning, Mu Feng received a notice instructing him to head to the location of the third exam.

The third exam was divided into two stages: the preliminary rounds and the finals.

Both the preliminaries and the finals adopted a 1-on-1 duel format, which could also be said to be an examination of a ninja's absolute strength.

If the first stage of the Chunin Ninja Exams tested a ninja's perceptual awareness and the second stage tested survival skills, then the third stage tested combat ability. To summarize simply, the content of these three exams was "Wisdom," "Physique," and "Power."

Only by satisfying these three points could a ninja truly become a qualified chunin.

The venue for the third exam was set in the match arena of Konoha.

By the time Mu Feng arrived, quite a few personnel from Konoha had already gathered in the arena, including the instructors of the two teams, Hokado Hyuga and Shiosui Nara, who had also arrived at the scene.

The third exam was still overseen by Namiashi Raidō, and he quickly gathered the participating examinees together and called out their names one by one.

"Hokado Hyuga!"

"Here!"

"Shiosui Nara... Mu Feng Uchiha... Kirigakure... Kisame Hoshigaki..."

Name after name was called, and Mu Feng stood amidst the crowd and answered in turn.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Namiashi Raidō nodded with satisfaction.

"Good, everyone is here, and you all look energetic. It seems no one deliberately violated the rules yesterday! Excellent, next I will announce the rules for the third exam of this year's Chunin Ninja Exams!"

"The format of the third exam is combat, divided into two stages: the preliminaries and the finals."

"Both the preliminaries and the finals will use a lot-drawing duel method. Ultimately, the personnel who pass the chunin exam will be decided based on everyone's performance in combat, so... simply standing until the very end does not mean you will become a chunin. Use your own strength and display your own intelligence; this is what a ninja should do!"

Namiashi Raidō spoke with great emotion, and the genin standing below him listened intently.

"Listen well, I will now introduce the specific rules for this exam. Both the preliminaries and the finals will adopt a 1-on-1 format. During the preliminaries, your opponents will be chosen by yourselves. Inside the box beside me are thirteen white balls, numbered 0 through 12. Next, you will draw them at random."

"After the drawing is complete, number 1 will battle number 12, number 2 will battle number 11, and so on. Of course, if someone draws number 0, then congratulations, you can advance directly to the finals."

"However, one thing I must remind you is that advancing directly to the finals is not necessarily a good thing. As the saying goes, whether you pass the chunin exam depends on your performance during the battles. If you have no performance, the probability of passing will be greatly reduced."

"Alright, the explanation of the rules is over. Now, please come up and draw your numbers! We will start with Hokado Hyuga!"

As his voice fell, the expressions of the thirteen genin in the arena gradually began to change, their gazes casting toward the box beside Namiashi Raidō.

Hokado Hyuga straightened his posture and walked forward. As the first person to draw a number, Hokado Hyuga did not feel much pressure, and he quickly groped around and pulled one out.

"Number 7!"

Hokado Hyuga obtained his number, and without knowing who his opponent was, he simply walked back down. The others gazed intently at Hokado Hyuga.

In this chunin exam, aside from Mu Feng and Kisame Hoshigaki, Hokado Hyuga drew the most attention. Her background in the Hyuga Clan attracted a lot of focus, and the Kekkei Genkai of the Byakugan alongside the close-combat style of gentle fist also made other ninjas wary.

After Hokado Hyuga walked back down, Hana Inuzuka followed closely behind, though she did not go to draw the lot herself, instead having her ninja dog do it on her behalf.

"Be a good boy, Graymaru, and help me draw a lucky number!"

As she spoke, Graymaru, beside Hana Inuzuka, extended its paw into the box, and after a short moment, it actually managed to fish out a small white ball.

Hana Inuzuka glanced at it and felt somewhat disappointed upon seeing that it was not the most special number 0, though she felt number 3 was not bad either.

Soon, following Hokado Hyuga and the other girl, the rest of the people began drawing their numbers.

Before long, more than half of the people in the arena had obtained their numbers and simultaneously knew who their opponent for the first match was.

Hokado Hyuga and Shiosui Nara's opponents were the two from Kirigakure, Hana Inuzuka's opponent was the "Cho" from the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, and the others also found their respective opponents.

Soon, only Mu Feng and Kisame Hoshigaki were left in the arena without numbers, and at that moment, only number 2 and number 0 remained inside the box, with whoever got number 2 having to battle Torune Aburame.

"Next, Kisame Hoshigaki!"

Namiashi Raidō continued to call out, and Kisame Hoshigaki quickly stepped forward, drawing number 2.

Upon seeing that he had drawn number 2, a smile surfaced on Kisame Hoshigaki's face, and with that, Mu Feng no longer needed to draw a number, as only number 0 was left inside the box.

"It seems the bye for this round has appeared. Mu Feng Uchiha, you don't need to come up to draw a number! You are directly judged to have passed the preliminaries, but when the finals arrive, you must fight!"

Mu Feng nodded to indicate his agreement.

Up to this point, the match list for the preliminaries was completely clear. Yet looking at this list, Mu Feng had other thoughts. He had a premonition that this drawing was definitely not as simple as random.

First, on Konoha's side, aside from himself, the strongest combat power belonged to Hokado Hyuga, and secondly, Shiosui Nara possessed a very high battle IQ, with the Shadow Imitation Technique being enhanced in an indoor environment, making his combat power formidable as well.

Yet these two relatively strong individuals just happened to be paired against the troublesome Kirigakure ninjas, while several other ninjas either battled fellow villagers from the same village or fought the team from that minor ninja village.

If it were only this, Mu Feng could dismiss it as coincidence. But with Kisame Hoshigaki battling Torune Aburame, it made Mu Feng even more suspicious.

With Kisame Hoshigaki, who excelled in chakra, pitted against Torune Aburame, who devoured chakra, no matter how one looked at it, this was a relationship of suppression.

Therefore, Mu Feng felt that there was definitely something shady going on behind this lot-drawing.

What baffled Mu Feng somewhat, however, was why he received a bye this round. Given his performance, shouldn't he have been sent straight into the fray to eliminate unstable members and factors?

Still, sitting out a round saved Mu Feng the effort. During the Chunin Ninja Exams, Mu Feng had already tested it: defeating and killing ninjas of a lower tier than himself would not earn him rewards from the system.

Now that Mu Feng was already recognized by the system as having jonin strength, perhaps only defeating strong plot characters like Kisame Hoshigaki might yield certain benefits.

I hope I run into this guy in the second round!

Lost in thought, Mu Feng looked toward Kisame Hoshigaki.