Ino's little thoughts were practically written all over her face. Tenten saw right through her and deliberately teased,
"What? Shinju isn't your boyfriend. Why is it such a big deal if I hold his hand? Besides, it's not like Shinju refused…"
Ino: (●･̆⍛･̆●)
"It's just not okay! You… you're being… very… very…"
Ino's face flushed bright red, but in the end, she couldn't get the words out.
Tenten grinned mischievously.
"What's wrong? Don't tell me you're jealous? ❛‿˂̵✧"
Ino instantly turned into a blushing mess: (/ω＼)
"I-I'm not!"
Everyone around them: "…"
It's written all over your face!!
Even the usually dense Naruto picked up on Ino's feelings toward Shinju. He elbowed Shinju beside him.
"Hey, looks like you're pretty popular, huh?"
Shinju blinked in confusion. "(⊙o⊙) Huh?"
Naruto: "…"
"Come on! Do you have to be this dense?!"
Shinju frowned.
"Dense about what? Ino didn't say anything. (￢‸￢) ?"
"Forget it, never mind…" Naruto groaned, covering his face.
At that moment, Sasuke pointed toward the open space ahead of the crowd.
"Look. The old man's here."
As the Third Hokage appeared, every examinee's attention immediately shifted to him.
"Ahem!"
The old man cleared his throat twice, signaling for silence, before he began speaking.
"First, congratulations on successfully passing the second stage of the Chūnin Exams."
"As you all know, the Chūnin Exams, jointly hosted by allied nations, aren't merely a test of your abilities. They represent competition between nations."
"That's why, in the upcoming third stage, you must give it your all."
"Because standing behind each of you is your village, and the skills you display will directly affect the missions assigned to your village in the future…"
"Furthermore… the third stage will be held one month from now. At that time, the daimyō of each country, as well as the Kage of each village, will be in attendance."
"A month later? Then why gather us all here today?" Naruto shouted from the crowd.
Just then, the proctor of the third stage stepped forward. He first bowed to the Hokage, then introduced himself.
"Greetings, everyone. I am the proctor for the third stage of the Chūnin Exams—Gekkō Hayate… cough, cough…"
"Today, you've been gathered here for the preliminaries of the third stage."
"As you've heard from Lord Hokage, the official matches a month from now will be attended by many important figures, so strict control of time is necessary."
"Because the first and second stages were too easy this year, the number of participants who passed is… a little too high. That's why we'll be holding preliminaries to cut the number in half. Only those who pass will advance to the third stage."
"The preliminaries are simple. Soon, you'll draw lots and be paired off. One-on-one matches. Winners move on."
"Victory will be decided by either death or surrender. Because of this, there's a high chance of casualties. If anyone wishes to withdraw, raise your hand."
The examinees looked around at each other.
Finally, a single shinobi raised his hand.
"I forfeit this exam."
Shinju turned his head to look. It was a Konoha ninja.
If he remembered correctly, the guy's name was Yakushi Kabuto. Before the first exam, Naruto and Sasuke had even gotten information from him about the composition of the participants.
Amid the confused looks of the others, Kabuto adjusted his glasses and explained his withdrawal.
"After the grueling second stage, if I were to fight in the preliminaries now, I wouldn't have enough chakra."
Everyone nodded at his reasoning.
After all, most of them had just barely survived the Forest of Death. Their stamina and chakra reserves were almost empty.
Under such conditions, throwing themselves into life-or-death combat was unwise. Forfeiting was understandable.
But Shinju, who was particularly sensitive to chakra, noticed something off.
This guy's chakra reserves were completely full!
So why use that as an excuse to quit?
Although suspicious, Shinju kept his thoughts to himself.
Maybe the guy just got scared and chickened out.
After Kabuto's withdrawal, Gekkō Hayate asked twice more if anyone else wanted to back out.
When no one else raised their hand, Hayate produced a lottery box.
"The preliminaries are not fought in teams. Which means when you draw lots, you may end up matched against your own teammates."
He added this reminder before starting the draw.
Hearing that, Naruto's excitement was written all over his face.
"Then that means I might get to fight Shinju or Sasuke! ୧⍢⃝୨"
"You idiot," Sasuke muttered irritably.
"Don't tell me you actually think you can beat either of us?"
"No, I just want a good fight with you guys." Naruto clenched his fist.
The drawing began.
Shinju pulled out a stick, glanced at it, and saw written on it: "Heaven One."
Next to him, Sasuke and Naruto drew "Earth Five" and "Heaven Nine" respectively.
Shinju quickly realized there were two types of lots: Heaven and Earth. Heaven and Earth numbers faced each other, with the numbers determining the match order.
As expected, Hayate announced the rules: same numbers fight, Heaven versus Earth.
That meant Shinju, as "Heaven One," would be the very first to fight. His opponent—whoever drew "Earth One."
Shinju scanned the crowd, wondering which unlucky soul would face him.
"Everyone, follow me to Training Ground 22."
With a wave, Hayate led them all toward the arena.
...
Konoha Training Ground 22.
The place resembled the playground of Shinju's old elementary school—spectator stands on both sides, and the center reserved for ninja battles.
Standing in the middle, Hayate called out loudly,
"Would the participants holding 'Heaven One' and 'Earth One' please step forward! The match begins!"
Hearing his number, Shinju eagerly walked to the center.
"Wonder who the poor bastard is that has to fight Shinju…" Naruto muttered gleefully to Sasuke from the stands.
Sasuke's sharp eyes scanned the area. He was curious too—which unlucky one had drawn the first match and ended up against Shinju?
Just then, a black-clad figure with a puppet strapped to his back slowly stepped into the arena.
It was Sunagakure's puppet master—Kankurō!
He fixed Shinju with a cold glare, his presence radiating menace.
"This time, I won't be holding back!"