July 7, 60th year of Konoha, 3:00 p.m.
The candidates who arrived at the Central Tower in advance and were arranged to wait for the end of the exam in the dormitory received the notice from the invigilator early and came to the lobby on the first floor.
Team 8 was one of them.
At this time, there were 24 candidates standing in the lobby, as well as their instructor, Jonin.
Just as Mitarashi Anko said, the second exam would reduce the number of candidates who passed the first exam by at least half.
There were 24 groups and 72 candidates, and only 8 groups and 24 people finally passed the second exam.
Among them, Konoha's ninjas accounted for the vast majority.
To be precise, except for Gaara's three siblings and the Toss trio from the Sound Village, the other candidates were all Konoha ninjas. They were: Team 6, Team 7, Team 8, Team 10, Might Guy's Team 3, and Kabuto Yakushi and his two teammates.
"You arrived at the Central Tower on the first day. You performed very well."
As soon as Yuhi Kurenai came over, she praised Izayoi and the other two.
The gentleness of women was reflected vividly.
In fact, as a perception class, Team 8 was slow because they failed to be the first to arrive at the central tower.
So Team 8 was not proud at all. Izayoi and Hinata just smiled.
At this time, Izayoi seemed to feel something and looked in the direction of Team 7, just meeting the eyes of Hatake Kakashi.
Izayoi smiled and nodded at Hatake Kakashi, knowing why the other party was looking at him.
Obviously, Hatake Kakashi was learning more about Orochimaru and had learned from Team 7 who was responsible for the fire tornado.
Before the candidates had talked with the guiding jonin for a while, Sarutobi Hiruzen and the examiner team of the second exam appeared on the second floor.
Then all the guiding jonin went to the second-floor stands and listened quietly to the speech of the Third Hokage.
After Sarutobi Hiruzen finished talking about the Chunin Exam, which was a microcosm of the war between the Allied Nations, and the third official exam, which would be watched by a large number of dignitaries and spectators, and the need to select a group of excellent Genin from the candidates who passed the second exam to ensure that the competition was full of viewing, Gekko Hayate appeared as the chief examiner.
"Ahem... I am the chief examiner of the third Chunin selection exam, Gekko Hayate." Gekko Hayate coughed, then looked at the 24 candidates in front of him, checked the list on the file board, and slowly said: "Now it's just the preliminaries, the rules are very simple, that is, the loser is eliminated, and the winner advances to the official competition."
"The screen on the wall will show the names of the 24 of you in a moment, and then all of them will be shuffled and randomly matched."
"Before the exam begins, does anyone want to give up? If not, I will upload the list."
"...I give up."
As soon as Gekko Hayate's voice fell, Yakushi Kabuto raised his hand to give up.
This scene, except for attracting the attention of Sarutobi Hiruzen in the stands and some examiners, the candidates did not pay too much attention.
After all, unlike the original novel, the little cockroaches don't know Kabuto Yakushi.
"Ahem... What's your name?"
"Kabuto Yakushi."
"Okay, you can leave now."
Moonlight Gale crossed out Kabuto Yakushi's name with a pen and asked again: "There are 23 candidates left, and there will be a bye. Does anyone want to give up?"
Seeing that no one spoke, Moonlight Gale took out a walkie-talkie and said: "Then I declare that the third round of the Chunin Selection Exam Preliminary Tournament has officially begun!"
Immediately, the screen flashed with snowflakes.
Then the names of the candidates emerged one by one, as if someone was typing on the keyboard behind them.
When the names of the 23 candidates were all displayed on the screen, the picture suddenly changed, and two big VS letters replaced the list and occupied the center of the screen. One by one, the names kept flashing on both sides of the VS.
After a few seconds, the picture freezes.
Toss Anvil vs. Choji Akimichi.
"The candidates whose names are displayed stay, and the others go to the second floor stands to watch the game." Gekko Hayate said.
"Choji, come on."
"Don't lose to the ninjas from the small ninja village. If you win, let Asuma-sensei treat you to barbecue."
"...Yeah!"
Hearing the word barbecue, Choji Akimichi opened his eyes instantly and nodded seriously.
Coming to the side of Kurenai Yuhi, Izayoi lay on the handrail, but did not look at Choji Akimichi and Toss Anvil who had already started fighting below, but looked at the Jonin of Otogakure Village next to random 1 and random 2.
Others could not see through the identity of this Otogakure, but Izayoi saw it at a glance, the opponent was Orochimaru.
Izayoi did not expect that Orochimaru failed to cast the curse, but he still sneaked into the Central Tower to watch the preliminaries.
If that's the case, why wasn't the first game Uchiha Sasuke vs Kabuto?
Could it be that he just came to watch the show, or did he have other plans?
As if he noticed that Izayoi was looking at him, Orochimaru's eyes were cast over and he showed Izayoi a wicked smile.
Izayoi smiled back and nodded politely, as if he didn't know the identity of Orochimaru.
At this time, the battle below had already been decided.
Although Toss Anvil did not reveal the information like in the original work, Akimichi Choji still used the Human Bomb Chariot from the beginning.
With his head retracted into his body and his ears blocked, Akimichi Choji accidentally avoided being killed instantly.
However, his combat experience was far inferior to that of Toss Anvil, who had fought in small places.
Just like in the original work, Toss Anvil dodged the impact of the Human Bomb Chariot continuously, and then deliberately exposed a flaw, allowing Akimichi Choji's body to get stuck in the wall.
Then, through the moisture in the human body, a sonic fist killed Akimichi Choji in seconds.
"Akimichi Choji has lost his ability to fight, and the winner of the first round is Toss Anvil." Moonlight Gale immediately announced the result.
Seeing this, Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino both covered their foreheads helplessly.
Asuma Sarutobi, who was holding a cigarette, smiled and said, "It's good that you are not injured. Choji is still very strong. It's just that he happened to meet a type that can restrain him."
After saying that, Asuma Sarutobi went down in an instant and brought Choji Akimichi back to the stands. He did not send him to the medical room.
The screen flashed the name again and soon froze.
Uchiha Sasuke VS Zack Stirrup.
"I am looking forward to your performance, Zack." Orochimaru smiled encouragingly at Zack Stirrup.
"Yes!"
Zack Stirrup was so excited that he almost stood at attention, and quickly assured: "My lord, I will never let you down."
On the other side of Team 7, Haruno Sakura reminded Uchiha Sasuke: "Sasuke-kun, the guys from that ninja village seem to use sonic ninjutsu, you have to be careful."
Uzumaki Naruto also held the back of his head with both hands, and encouraged him provocatively: "Arrogant Sasuke, don't lose before you meet me."
Uchiha Sasuke, who was about to go down, suddenly stopped and turned to Uzumaki Naruto and smiled: "Naruto, I also want to fight with you."
This time, Uchiha Sasuke did not call Uzumaki Naruto the tail.
Uzumaki Naruto was stunned, his eyes narrowed into a slit and slowly opened, staring at Uchiha Sasuke in a daze.
Then an inexplicable emotion surged in his heart, making him tremble with excitement and get goose bumps.