The remaining matches were not much to watch. They seemed to have been manipulated, too, as none of the stronger contestants faced one another again. Ye Feng, Uchiha Shinichi, Kakashi Hatake, and Yugito Nii each defeated their opponents in a single move. Leimu also displayed his exceptional swordsmanship, frightening his opponent with one slash and advancing to the finals.
That slash made Kakashi Hatake's eyes burn with eagerness. Neither Ye Feng nor Uchiha Shinichi used swordsmanship, and Kakashi had not found any ninja at his level who was particularly good with a blade. Encountering one today made him itch to test his skills.
Nara Shikahira also caught his opponent off guard with the Shadow Imitation Technique, winning his match and advancing to the finals.
That helped Fujiwara Inomura look a little less displeased. Otherwise, all three members of his team would have made it into the preliminaries without a single one reaching the finals, which would have been quite embarrassing.
Still, Fujiwara Inomura silently marveled at the unusually large number of freakishly talented contestants in this year's Chunin Ninja Exams and felt sorry that Yamanaka Keiko and Akimichi Dingyuan had lost.
With that, the top eight were decided:
Uchiha Yefeng
Uchiha Shinichi
Kakashi Hatake
Yugito Nii
Leimu
Kuru
Hyuga Junin
Nara Shikahira
The finals would take place three days later at Konoha's open-air arena. Many people would come to watch the matches, and the Kage of Konoha and Kumogakure, along with some of their senior officials, would all be in attendance.
However, because Kumogakure had joined the Chunin Ninja Exams on short notice, there had not been time to coordinate with the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning, so neither country's senior officials would attend.
That was just as well. Ye Feng did not want the finals to