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[— Manga Scene —]
'This man's attack can be done by directly transmitting sound to the body. Only if the opponent's ears are exposed.'
'His ears are inside his body, plus he's wearing earplugs… his body is also accelerating at high speed… so how will he attack with sound…'
Shikamaru wondered as he closely followed the battle.
This was the battle following the fight between Lee and Gaara, and the last one.
And its events seemed to be fast.
'Like this, you can't move now… I'll strike you here!'
Dosu quickly executed his deceptive attack.
"That won't work because I'm wearing an earplug." Choji said proudly.
"No, it's over," Dosu replied mockingly.
"Wooaaaah!" Choji's scream was heard, as he seemed to be in agony.
'More than 70% of the human body is made of water, which transmits sound; in short, your entire body is like an ear.'
Dosu said internally after his victory.
"The winner!! Kinuta Dosu!"
The proctor Hayate quickly announced the final result.
'Orochimaru-sama… no, Orochimaru! I'll show you that I'm not just a test tool.'
Dosu clenched his fist; being regarded as a mere pawn in Orochimaru's hand made him feel uneasy.
"Are you alright!?"
The doctors rushed toward Choji, who replied:
"I want… to eat meat."
"Oh man, he didn't attack you with his full strength…" Shikamaru said helplessly.
"He lost the match, but I think I'll take him to eat meat," Asuma said with a smile.
'Finally, we're done…' The proctor Hayate let out a sigh of relief.
'Finally the final exams will begin.' thought Hiruzen Sarutobi with a smile.
"Now the third preliminary exam is over!"
The proctor announced loudly.
[— End Scene —]
In the Art Store in Konoha, the commentary this time didn't come from one direction.
As soon as the scene ended, the murmurs first moved among the members of the Akimichi clan, as if the result of the battle touched the clan's dignity before it touched Choji alone. Most of them weren't bothered by the loss itself as much as they were bothered by its speed, and by that provocative simplicity with which Dosu ended the duel after all that had happened in the arena before.
Akimichi Houzhou, the current leader of the clan, was sitting at the head of the place with his arms folded over his broad chest.
"I don't like this."
He said slowly.
"Not because he lost, but because the boy wasn't given a real chance to fight properly."
A fat man stood on his left, one of the clan's men named Akimichi Jinza, and struck one palm against the other in annoyance.
"It ended too quickly."
He said.
"Even an eating contest takes longer than this."
A quick snort of agreement came from the other side, then a full-featured woman named Akimichi Haruyo said:
"And that Sound guy was smiling too."
She spoke, knitting her brows.
"As if it was easy for him from the beginning."
Houzhou nodded once.
"And that's exactly why this scene was annoying."
He said.
"Choji didn't fall after a long clash; he lost because his opponent knew a point that most people don't think about."
There was no unleashed anger in his voice, but rather that practical irritation that afflicts a leader who saw a clear flaw in the method of one of his village's subordinates.
Near him, Akimichi Choza was still young, but a little older than most of the children present. He stared at the page, then said after a moment:
"But he stood with confidence."
He said it as if defending something simple and clear.
"He really thought the earplug was enough."
Houzhou looked at him, then his features softened a little.
"And that's true."
He said.
"The fault isn't in the boy's courage. The fault is that he faced an opponent who knows how to circumvent a superficial understanding of defense."
Another man from the clan intervened, bald-headed and broad-shouldered, named Akimichi Doba.
"Still, I don't like seeing one of us defeated like this."
He said in a direct tone.
"Quickly. Quietly. Then the other one leaves standing as if he completed a short exercise."
"Hmm."
The sound came from Hozu as he returned his gaze to the volume.
"This is not a loss any Akimichi would stomach."
And while the clan's murmurs continued, the tone nearby was not quite similar to it.
A short distance away, Nara Hikitsu sat in his usual seat, with his son Nara Shikaku beside him. The father was calmer, while a clear absorption appeared on Shikaku toward the segment that directly preceded Choji's fall.
"That boy from Oto didn't win by strength alone."
Hikitsu said, running his finger over his chin.
"He waited for the moment of misunderstanding, then struck directly into it."
Shikaku raised his eyes to his father.
"You mean he let Choji feel reassured about the earplug first?"
"Exactly."
Hikitsu answered him.
"If the opponent had insisted on the thing everyone expects, the battle wouldn't have ended this way. But he changed the very angle of the attack."
Shikaku remained silent for a moment, then looked back at the page and said:
"That's annoying."
He said simply.
"Because you think you've understood the trick, then you discover you never understood it at all."
Hikitsu gave his son a brief look, and in his eyes was something of satisfaction.
"And that's why you must remember the scene well."
He said.
"Battles aren't always decided by who has the most dangerous technique, but by who decides where to place the wrong idea in his opponent's head."
Shikaku didn't comment directly this time. He merely nodded slowly, while something settled in his mind that a teenager his age wouldn't usually rush to grasp, but he saw it here before him clearly and simply.
As for the opposite side, Yamanaka Inoue had just finished reading the last line, and closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again.
"At least the boy is still able to speak."
He said that first.
"This reassures me more than the result of the match itself. Unfortunately for Lee, he doesn't have such a luxury…"
Beside him was his son Inoichi, who focused on what remained most in his mind from the scene.
"He asked for meat right away."
He said, blinking twice.
"So he's not in very bad shape, right?"
Inoue turned to him, then let out a light sigh.
"This doesn't mean things are simple."
He said.
"But it means his mood wasn't completely broken, and that's better than the scene coming out heavier."
Then he lifted his gaze toward the page again and added:
"As for his opponent… he's one of those people one doesn't feel comfortable with."
He said calmly.
"He doesn't overdo the talking, doesn't waste movement, and seems as if he had arranged the ending in his head before it actually began."
Inoichi tilted his head a little.
"Is that bad?"
"When he's in another village? Yes."
His father answered him simply.
And so, within the same Art Store, the reading went in more than one direction. The Akimichi clan saw an uncomfortable insult in the speed of the fall. The Nara clan saw a mental trap executed at the right moment. And the Yamanaka clan saw an opponent colder than he should be for a mere Genin.
But among all those readings, the clearest balance remained tilted toward the Akimichi's frank irritation.
"I'll say it as it is."
Houzhou went back to speaking after the voices calmed a little.
"I don't want to see one of the clan's sons taken down like this in the future."
The faces turned to him immediately.
"Exams are exams, yes. And loss is possible. But if the opponent is going to decide the duel with a single trick then leave, leaving your boy thinking about food instead of responding…"
Houzhou paused for a moment, then said:
"Then this means we need fighters who are more solid and aware, not just full bellies."
A short silence prevailed after the sentence.
Then Jinza let out a muffled laugh despite his annoyance.
"This will reach the kitchens tonight."
Houzhou smiled a faint smile that barely showed.
"Let it reach."
He said.
"Sometimes frank talk needs everyone to hear it."
"This is what this manga taught us."
…
And elsewhere in the store, Orochimaru sat quietly with his eyes half-closed as he read the last segment a second time.
He didn't dwell long on the announcement of Dosu's victory, nor on Choji's fall, but on that short sentence that came from inside his subordinate's head.
'Orochimaru-sama… no, Orochimaru! I'll show you that I'm not just a test tool.'
The corner of his mouth stopped at a faint smile.
"Oh?"
He said in a low voice.
"So he's finally beginning to hear his inner voice."
The page remained between his fingers, while that cold gleam stretched across his eyes, the one that only comes when he finds new material for contemplation.
"This is good."
He added.
"Obedient tools are useful, but tools that think they can surpass the hand that made them… are a little more exciting."
Then he tilted his head to the side.
"Dosu."
The name came out of his mouth calmly.
"You're annoyed because you saw yourself inside the cage earlier than necessary."
There was no real appreciation in his words, nor anger.
It was closer to the curiosity of a scientist looking at a specimen that had begun to display new behavior.
"But it's fine."
He said after a moment.
"Try to convince yourself that you're not a tool."
His smile widened a little.
"That very illusion might push you to put on a better performance in the next stage."
And that's why Orochimaru didn't see in Dosu's monologue a rebellion worth stopping, but rather an early sign that the game hadn't lost its freshness yet.
…
Returning to the Hokage's group, calm had returned to the place with the end of the third preliminary.
Sarutobi Hiruzen sat in front of the open volume, and reread the last line once before slowly raising his hand and turning the page toward the next chapter. On his face was not that complete relaxation that accompanies the end of a simple mission, but the relief of a man who had finally finished a stage he had to watch until its very end.
"The preliminary is over."
He said calmly.
"And what comes after it has become the most important."
His eyes remained on the new page, then he continued:
"Some of the matches were short, some chaotic, and some revealed more than they should."
He said.
"But this is the nature of exams when they approach their end. They hide a little, and reveal the rest all at once."
Then he leaned back on his seat a little.
In his mind, Choji's loss was just one of the marks with which the stage closed its doors. For the youngsters who entered the preliminary as names on lists came out of it now as much clearer features; some of them rose, some broke, and some became eye-catching in a way that wasn't reassuring.
"Only now will the village begin to read correctly what it has seen."
He said that to himself this time.
Then, with a faint smile that knew its place well on his face, which had begun to show wrinkles in his forties, he ran his fingers over the edge of the new page.
"Let's see then…"
He said.
"What will the next chapter bring?"
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Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 198: First, I'll Enjoy Killing That Old Man!
Chapter 199: Kakashi vs. Kabuto!
Chapter 200: The Great Ninja Appears, Jiraiya! (End of Volume Ten)
Chapter 201: Echoes of Volume Ten and the Emotional Anime Episode!
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