Seven days passed in the blink of an eye.
Konoha, the Chunin Ninja Exams arena.
Every seat in the circular arena was filled. The stands were packed with nobles, merchants, ordinary villagers, and the jōnin leading teams from the various ninja villages, all gathered from different countries.
The atmosphere was electric, the crowd roaring.
After the written test and the Forest of Death had whittled down the candidates over two rounds, forty-eight genin from eight different ninja villages had reached the third round of one-on-one combat.
All six candidates from Dragon Release Village had passed!
At that moment, the electronic screen in the center of the arena was randomly matching opponents.
The Dragon Release Village group sat in their designated viewing area on the eastern side.
Sasuke sat in the front row, arms folded, his black eyes quietly fixed on the screen. The scene of his encounter with Naruto on the street seven days earlier still played through his mind.
"Sasuke, focus on what's in front of you."
Itachi's voice came from behind him.
Sasuke took a deep breath and nodded.
The Chunin Ninja Exams would be his first official appearance on the stage of the shinobi world. He had to show Dragon Release Village's strength, and he also had to... let certain people see that the Uchiha legacy had never been broken.
Ding-
The electronic screen stopped scrolling.
The third match appeared:
[Sasuke Uchiha (Dragon Release Village) vs. Neji Hyuga (Konoha)]
A buzz of discussion immediately rose through the arena.
"Uchiha against Hyuga!"
"A showdown between Konoha's two great ocular jutsu clans!"
"A shame the Uchiha have already..."
"Neji Hyuga is this year's prodigy. They say he's even learned secret techniques that originally belonged to the Main Family."
"Sasuke Uchiha can't be ordinary either, can he? There must be