July 7, Konoha Year 60, 3:00 PM.
The examinees who had arrived at the Central Tower early and been assigned dormitories to wait for the exam to end had received notice from the proctor early on and gathered in the first-floor hall.
The Eighth Squad was among them.
At this moment, twenty-four examinees stood in the hall, along with their Guidance Jonin.
Just as Anko Mitarashi had said, the Second Exam had eliminated at least half of the examinees who passed the First Exam.
Out of twenty-four teams and seventy-two examinees, only eight teams—twenty-four people—had ultimately passed the Second Exam.
Among them, Leaf Ninja made up the overwhelming majority.
More precisely, aside from Gaara and his two siblings, as well as Dosu's Team from Otogakure, all the other examinees were Leaf Ninja.
They were the Sixth Squad, Seventh Squad, Eighth Squad, Tenth Squad, Might Guy's Third Squad, and Yakushi Kabuto with his two teammates.
"You reached the Central Tower on the first day. You did very well."
The moment Red Yuhi arrived, she began praising Izayoi and the other two.
A woman's gentleness was on full display.
In fact, as a Sensor Team, the Eighth Squad had already been slow by not being the first to reach the Central Tower.
So the Eighth Squad did not feel the slightest bit proud. Izayoi and Hinata merely smiled.
At that moment, Izayoi seemed to sense something and turned toward the Seventh Squad, meeting Kakashi Hatake's gaze.
Izayoi smiled and nodded at Kakashi Hatake, knowing why he was looking at him.
Clearly, Kakashi Hatake had learned from the Seventh Squad who was responsible for that Fire Tornado while trying to find out more about Orochimaru.
Before the examinees could chat with their Guidance Jonin for long, Hiruzen Sarutobi and the team of examiners