The rest of the time was peaceful. After tearing open the scroll on their way to the Tower of Trials, completing the assessment, and advancing to the next round, the three of them returned to their usual routine.
Aside from the addition of a red-haired woman who calls herself the mistress of the Uchiha clan's territory and who frequently bickers with a pink-haired woman, nothing else has changed.
Recently, Uchiha Sasuke has been frequently coming to Lin Nian's house to freeload, and just by looking at his three-tomoe jade pendant spinning slower and slower, you can tell that he's weakened. It's just unclear whether it's physical weakness or mental weakness, but of course, it's more likely to be both.
A few days later, after most people had emerged from the Death Forest within a certain time limit, the third arena battle finally began.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, sitting in one of the two most prominent positions on the field, nodded and gave a look to his beloved disciple, who was disguised as the Fourth Kazekage. Having achieved the desired effect from the newcomer, Hiruzen stood up and began his speech to everyone in the audience.
"Next up is the third round of the Konoha and Sunagakure joint exams, but before that, we'll hold a preliminary round. Let me briefly mention something about that..."
After nearly 20 minutes of rambling, Hiruzen Sarutobi finally finished rambling on about 20 minutes, rambling on about the village without getting to the point.
This was explained after it was stated that due to the large number of participants, some needed to be eliminated in the preliminary rounds to reduce the time of the official matches. The purpose of the official matches was to convey to the ninja world that the village had sufficient reserve forces to obtain more mission requests.
After discovering that some of the ninjas in his village were still in poor spirits, Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep drag on his cigarette and drank some tea before continuing.
"I'd like to add two more points..."
More than ten minutes later.
"I'll say a few last words..."
Finally, the Third Hokage gave a precious half-hour of unscripted speech, allowing all the village ninjas to get plenty of rest. Just as he was about to continue, the true protagonist, who had been completely drained by his girlfriend, stood up and interrupted his speech.
"Lord Hokage, please forgive my rudeness. I, Hayate Gekko, will now handle this as the referee!"
Moonlight Gale, kneeling on one knee, was extremely respectful, his eyes filled with reverence.
Even though Hiruzen Sarutobi understood the possibility that someone had let him become a Special Jonin, he still looked at his loyal subordinate with a hint of reproach in his eyes.
"I was just getting into the story when you interrupted me. Didn't you see that the Fourth Kazekage didn't say anything?"
However, after observing the emotions of the crowd below, and realizing that continuing to speak might only erode the will of his own side, Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded slightly and sat back down with his teacup.
In response, Lin Nian expressed her condolences to the soon-to-be widowed Uzuki Yugao, saying, "Your taste in men is terrible; not only is your body not up to par, but your mind isn't either."
As for whether or not to lend a hand?
Damn it, this guy was the one keeping the closest eye on him a few years ago! To keep this bastard from bothering him, I went to the flower field every day, and he still didn't cough himself to death from pollen allergy!
"I am the referee for this match... cough cough cough... match... cough cough... Moonlight Swift... cough cough... Wind..."
"Are you sure this is your village's Jonin? Is this what your village's Jonin are like?"
Orochimaru, using the face of the Fourth Kazekage, posed a profound question to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
In response, Hiruzen Sarutobi could only stammer for a while before turning away, closing his eyes, as if no one was there.
Putting aside the eye contact between the two leaders at the top and the many spectators who just wanted to see if this thing would cough itself to death on the spot.
After Moonlight Gale entered the arena, Lin Nian completely isolated the group of people who had gathered together using his innate Qi.
"Damn, coughing like that, could she have tuberculosis? Uzuki Yugao, you're really unlucky!"
Lost in thought, Moonlight Gale, after coughing until he was half-dead, finally finished his opening remarks.
After watching several ninjas withdraw from the individual competition, Hayate Gekko took a deep breath and coughed a few times.
After a loud shout, the first group of competitors entered the arena and then used a beautiful teleportation technique to reach the edge of the arena.
Meanwhile, the machines in the examination room started spinning, and after a dazzling series of operations, the first two candidates to take the stage were finally determined.
The first match: Naruto Uzumaki vs. Guy Akadon.
"Perhaps you could try to stuff him to death?"
Looking at the terrifying man in the original work who made the cool guy weak in the knees and dazed in the eyes, Lin Nian gave his advice to Naruto Uzumaki, who had the power of the Nine-Tails' charging bank and could still be considered a real man at least for now, even if he had to be timid when necessary.
At the same time, I glanced at Uchiha Sasuke, wondering if he was starting to feel nervous. After all, I don't know about Sakura, but together with Karin, the other authors have made quite a few suggestive moves.
Faced with this inexplicable offense, the cool guy could only remain angry but dare not speak out. After all, Lin Nian was the only place where he could hide now. If he went to Naruto, that troublemaker would intentionally or unintentionally kick him out.
Naruto Uzumaki flipped off the high platform and landed on the arena. Not thinking much of this guy, who wasn't a key figure, he ignored his rambling and, as soon as the opposing seals were completed and the battle began, he unleashed the Two-Tails' chakra, quickly closed in, and threw a punch that caused Akabane Guy, who was trying to absorb Naruto's energy, to feel excruciating pain all over his body and was knocked unconscious by the heavy blow.
Orochimaru, who was clearly giving Naruto a small warning, showed no emotion other than his eyes becoming even more excited.
"I want...I want him so badly!"
Watching him effortlessly control the tailed beast's chakra, whose physical abilities, mental fortitude, and chakra reserves far surpassed those of a normal ninja, Orochimaru seemed to see a glimpse of the legendary sage within him.
It was precisely because he kept his mouth tightly shut, preventing his tongue—which was large enough to wash his face—from excitedly running out to wash his face, that he didn't expose himself in front of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
After the first match ended, the second match began as scheduled.
Uchiha Sasuke vs. Dosu.
It was the same arena, the same referee, but the opponents were different. The seal of opposition was formed, and the battle began.
As he sensed the genjutsu activated by sound waves, Sasuke Uchiha, whose mental strength was so high that he didn't feel anything at all, silently drew his sword, closed in, and slashed with the back of his blade before calmly saying something to Tosu, who was probably the strongest in his team.
"You're really brave, though I don't know if you're too brave or too stupid! Trying to play genjutsu in front of the Uchiha, do you think you're Kurama?"
After saying that, he ignored the unconscious Tos and calmly left the stage.
At this moment, the participants in the third round also appeared quickly.
Nara Shikamaru vs. Temari.
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