Chapter 57: The Preliminary Matches
In truth, it wasn't surprising that Gaara's team had arrived later than Naruto's.
After all, although Gaara's team was strong, Gaara was basically the only one who made any moves along the way.
In order to satisfy Gaara's long-suppressed desire to kill, he had gone on a rampage during the journey, cutting down many genin teams.
Even though Gaara was strong, once the other genin saw his terrifying strength and methods, they fled in fear. The chases and kills had taken up a bit of time.
In addition, the winding, confusing paths in the Forest of Death had also wasted a lot of their time. So it was only natural that they arrived later than Naruto's team.
Naruto's team didn't have that problem.
With Naruto and Sasuke—these two super genin—the genin from other villages were like lambs waiting to be slaughtered. They had no power to fight back.
In almost every encounter, Naruto and Sasuke would instantly take them down, quickly ending the battle.
On top of that, after Naruto's training and guidance, Sasuke and little Sakura followed Naruto's commands very well. Their travel speed was much faster. So they reached the central tower quickly.
Temari stared deeply at Naruto for a moment longer, but she didn't say anything.
After the genin who made it through the Forest of Death had all arrived, and it was confirmed that no one else would pass, the Chunin examiners led the genin who had cleared the second exam to a large hall deep inside the tower.
The hall was already packed with people.
The instructor Jōnin from the major ninja villages had already gathered there, waiting for their village's genin to appear.
After seeing the genin they had been waiting for, several Jōnin all looked at them with amazement and admiration.
In addition to these instructor Jōnin, the leadership of Konoha and Suna was also present—including the Third Hokage, as well as Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma.
It seemed that the next phase of the exam was also highly anticipated.
After the genin had all arrived one after another, the proctor—Moonlight Hayate—also appeared.
Moonlight Hayate, with his sickly pale face, looked at the gathered genin in surprise. It seemed he hadn't expected so many of them to make it through the Forest of Death.
Soon, after receiving the necessary information, Moonlight Hayate coughed a few times.
He announced that because too many genin had passed, an additional preliminary round would be held.
The rules of the preliminary round were very simple.
The genin would draw lots to determine matchups. Two people would fight one-on-one. The winner would advance and qualify to participate in the final round of the Chunin Exam.
After hearing this, many people were dissatisfied. But there were also those who loved battle and were looking forward to it—eager to show off their skills in the upcoming matches.
After Moonlight Hayate finished speaking, he had someone bring out a box and had everyone draw lots.
After drawing their lots, everyone returned to the spectator area, waiting for Moonlight Hayate to announce the matchups.
After the Konoha genin returned to the stands, Kakashi and the other instructor Jōnin came over as well. Kakashi looked at Naruto and the others with a smile. Glancing at the Konoha genin who had passed, he said with surprise and admiration:
"I didn't expect all of you to make it through the Forest of Death. That really surprised me."
Naruto nodded with a smile.
Ino began sharing her adventures and what she had seen in the Forest of Death with little Sakura. And Kiba was bragging to Kurenai about his heroic performance—how he had instantly killed genin from other villages, and how they fled in fear at the mere sight of him.
While everyone was chatting, Moonlight Hayate began announcing the matchups.
"The first matchup—Uzumaki Naruto versus Inuzuka Kiba."
When the announcement hit the genin's ears, everyone paused for a moment. Their eyes focused on Naruto.
Many people were looking forward to seeing Naruto perform—especially Gaara, Temari, Neji, and Tenten. They were even more focused on Naruto, wanting to see what kind of strength he would display.
Naruto was also taken aback for a moment. He hadn't expected his group to come up so quickly. But Naruto had already thought about his opponent.
Inuzuka Kiba, on the other hand, was different.
Just moments ago, he had been boasting about how brave, how powerful, how amazing he was. But when he heard that his opponent was Naruto, Kiba's laughter stopped short.
An awkward expression appeared on Kiba's face. He even started sweating nervously.
He had never imagined his opponent would be Naruto.
Thinking back to the "lesson" Naruto had given him during training, Kiba suddenly shivered. The bragging he had been doing moments ago, trying to show off, immediately shrank back. He froze in place.
Seeing Kiba standing there stunned and unable to move, Shino gave him a gentle nudge and said:
"Kiba, what's wrong with you? It's your turn."
Kiba's mouth twitched. He shot Shino a fierce glare, as if blaming Shino for causing trouble.
Then Kiba took a deep breath and made an important decision—one that would surprise everyone.
Kiba raised his hand, waving to signal the referee, and then shouted:
"I surrender."
After the words fell, everyone was stunned. They looked at Kiba and Naruto in disbelief.
No one had expected the first match of the preliminary round to end with Kiba surrendering.
It was simply beyond everyone's expectations.
And soon, after glancing at Kiba, everyone's eyes focused back on Naruto. It was clear to them that the reason Kiba was surrendering was because of Uzumaki Naruto.
The Third Hokage also glanced at Kiba in surprise, then looked at Naruto.
After hearing Kiba's words, Kurenai shot him a look of disgust and said angrily:
"Pathetic."
Kiba scratched his head in embarrassment, gave an awkward smile, and said innocently:
"Kurenai-sensei, you can't blame me. When I trained with Naruto before, you saw how badly he beat me. Now that I'm facing Naruto again, I don't want to embarrass myself in front of so many people."
"Hmph." Kurenai snorted in irritation. Not wanting to bother with Kiba anymore, she turned to look at Naruto.
Naruto also smiled awkwardly. He couldn't help but feel a bit amused.
Even though he had already guessed this might be the result, he hadn't expected Kiba to be so straightforward—to admit defeat so openly.
Kiba, sensing the awkward atmosphere around him, looked at Moonlight Hayate, who was still standing stunned in the center of the arena. He quickly reminded him:
"Referee, referee. I surrender. Hurry up and announce the next matchup."
After snapping out of it, Moonlight Hayate gritted his teeth in embarrassment. Then he began announcing the next matchup.
"The next matchup—Uchiha Sasuke versus Yoroi Akadō."