Seeing the referee announce the winner, Kakashi retracted the White Fang Short Blade and headed towards the contestants' resting room.
When Kakashi returned to the resting room, many of the ninjas inside were still replaying Kakashi's lightning-fast slash in their minds.
"What's going on, it feels like the gap is widening even after all this hard cultivation." Terumi Mei was somewhat baffled.
During the Chunin Examination, she felt that Kakashi was just like that, although stronger than her, there was still hope for victory.
But now, Terumi Mei felt that Kakashi was truly terrifying.
Terumi Mei thought to herself, if she were to face him, there would be no way to dodge Kakashi's divine-speed slash.
The only countermeasure Terumi Mei could think of was to preemptively use the Hidden Mist Jutsu.
Her proficiency in the Hidden Mist Jutsu was very high, rendering most detection methods in the Ninja World ineffective against her technique.
"How could this be?" Terumi Mei felt deeply frustrated.
At that moment, she felt as if in the last examination Kakashi had scored seventy-five, and she only seventy.
After a long period of hard work, she scored eighty, but Kakashi scored ninety-five.
Judging by the results, Terumi Mei had improved significantly, but the actual gap between the two had grown even larger.
"As expected of Kakashi. Although his strength has increased, he remains steady as ever." Nohara Rin said with a smile, clasping her hands together.
If Kakashi wanted to solve the opponent at the fastest speed, he could have gone all out from the beginning to defeat Hozuki Mangetsu, possibly taking less time than Might Guy.
But Kakashi didn't do that; instead, he chose to first probe for intelligence before decisively resolving the enemy.
Nohara Rin thought Obito needed to learn this aspect from Kakashi.
Based on Nohara Rin's understanding of Obito, if the opponent's strength was slightly weaker, Obito generally opted for the most showy style of fighting.
Obito curled his mouth, "Just good at showing off, if you have the skills, slash two more times."
Given Kakashi's chakra amount, if he were to slash two more times, someone would have to carry him back to the resting room.
"Hatake Kakashi... what is his relationship with the White Fang of Konoha, Hatake Sakumo?" Sasori's eyes flickered as he couldn't help but glance at the approaching Kakashi.
Before the elimination round, he was indifferent to all the participants and naturally wouldn't pay special attention to an unfamiliar Konoha Ninja.
Now, analyzing Hatake Kakashi's appearance, Sasori suddenly realized that this young ninja named Hatake Kakashi resembled the White Fang of Konoha very much.
The person Sasori hated most in his life was the ninja known as the White Fang of Konoha.
Because it was the White Fang who killed his parents, leaving him without the warmth of parental embrace forever.
One major motivation for Sasori to learn puppetry was to kill the White Fang to avenge his parents.
However, fate toyed with him. Just as Sasori mastered puppetry, the news of White Fang's suicide quickly reached the Hidden Sand Village, leaving Sasori without his life's great purpose.
Sasori had no revenge to take, because his enemy was already dead, and for this reason, Sasori was despondent for a long time, feeling life's meaning was lost.
"The child of the White Fang of Konoha, huh? Very well then. Your father killed my parents, so I shall kill you." The long-dormant vengeance in Sasori's heart reignited.
At that moment, he no longer cared about the Chakra Blade valued at millions; if he could avenge his parents, a few puppet-making materials were hardly worth mentioning.
Although he had shut off the Transparent World, Kakashi was very sensitive to the scent of danger. He suddenly sensed a faint killing intent and instinctively scanned the room.
Because of Kakashi's impressive recent performance, many ninjas in the room were looking at him. Kakashi remembered everyone's expressions but couldn't immediately deduce who harbored killing intent towards him.
"No, I can't make a move here." Sasori composed himself, suppressing his internal killing intent.
The place was teeming with young prodigies, and there were also ninjas from the Ninja Sect present. Sasori was uncertain if he could kill Kakashi under these circumstances.
Kakashi's recent display of speed was too fast. As long as he wasn't killed in a single strike, Kakashi could escape using his extreme speed.
By that time, if Ninja Master Sosuke and Demigod Hanzo acted together, not only could Sasori fail to kill Kakashi, but escaping with his life would also be arduous.
He needed to find the right opportunity, just like when he killed the Third Kazekage.
"Who could it be, Hidden Mist, Hidden Rock, or perhaps Hidden Cloud?" Kakashi pondered which ninja might hold killing intent towards him.
Logically speaking, it was more likely to be from one of the Ninja Villages currently warring with Konoha.
Among the Three Great Ninja Villages, Kakashi suspected Hidden Mist the most. This was because Kakashi had slain many Hidden Mist on the East Coast Battlefield, possibly including relatives or friends of the participants.
Furthermore, Kakashi and his team were more renowned in the Hidden Mist compared to other ninja villages. It wouldn't be surprising if Hidden Mist sought to assassinate them during the competition.
Even though he knew someone wanted to kill him, Kakashi remained calm because his four teammates were close by, and Mokgetsu wasn't far either.
To kill him, even if Minazuki Kan and the Seven-Swords Ninja were resurrected, they wouldn't qualify.
"Be careful from now on; someone might be planning to target us Konoha Ninja." Kakashi sat next to his teammates and wrote this message on paper.
Obito's eyes widened upon seeing it and was about to say something when Kakashi placed a finger to his lips and shook his head slightly.
Right now, they were in the open, while the enemy was hidden, making it even more crucial not to expose their awareness of the enemy's intentions.
Shisui discreetly surveyed all the contestants, looking for any ninja acting suspiciously.
Nohara Rin tensed up, ready to gather chakra for battle at any moment.
"We have plenty of strength on our side, so there's no need to worry too much." Kakashi wrote another line.
Nohara Rin thought about it and agreed. With Might Guy and Shisui present, they were a highly elite squad of five Jonin.
The competition continued in an orderly fashion.
After Kakashi's match concluded, a Hidden Rock Ninja faced off against a Hidden Cloud Ninja, with the Hidden Cloud Ninja narrowly winning in the end.
Next was Shisui's match, against another Hidden Rock ninja.
This fight saw Shisui winning easily, defeating the Hidden Rock Ninja effortlessly with Genjutsu from the Sharingan.
This caused Kitsuchi in the audience to feel great distress, as although several Hidden Rock advanced to the elimination round, the majority lost in the first round.
Then, Kakashi saw someone familiar, Asuma, who had come to the competition with them.
Kakashi felt that Asuma's position was somewhat awkward.
Asuma wasn't weak per se, having casually dispatched his first-round opponent in the elimination, but he wasn't exactly strong either, trailing Kakashi and his friends significantly.
Despite the disparity in strength, Kakashi believed Asuma would most likely reach the top eight.
Because Asuma had drawn a great lot, he wouldn't encounter any overly strong ninja before the top eight.
Everything has to be judged by comparison. While Asuma didn't measure up against them, his strength was quite substantial compared to most other contestants.
Meanwhile, Terumi Mei, who Kakashi had considered suspicious, also advanced to the second round.
The penultimate battle saw Obito starting with the Breath of Flame Chakra Mode, using a large-scale Fire Release to defeat his Hidden Rock opponent.
In the final match, neither contestant was from a Great Ninja Village; one was from the Grass Village and the other from the Frost Village, with the Grass Village ninja ultimately winning.
This made Kakashi sigh at the disparity in the world. Some people face Nagato and Might Guy in one round, while others face Grass Ninja in the second. Obito's draw was truly fortunate.
Thus, round one of the elimination ended.
Since the previous contestants rested while the latter ones fought, the previous contestants could also rest after the latter ones finished fighting.
Therefore, the intermission wasn't long, and thirty minutes later, the second round of battles officially began.
Starting again with the number one, Nagato, battles proceeded in order.
PS: I'm too sleepy today. I almost dozed off while typing; it's really absurd. While tapping on the keyboard, I nearly face-planted onto it.
It's probably backlash from staying up late last night. Today there will be only one update, and tomorrow I'll try to write more to make up for it.