Time flew by in a blink of an eye.
After two days of playing diablo ii at the internet cafe and fully enjoying the game, Team 7's trio was about to return to the Forest of Death.
During these two days, Naruto even made a special trip to Karin's training spot to see her, telling Karin to train well with Big Sister Haku and recover her Physique as soon as possible.
Karin naturally patted her small chest and agreed to Naruto's advice.
Seeing the energetic Karin, Naruto left with peace of mind... After five days, the second stage of the Chunin Exams was finally coming to an end.
Because Team 7 was 'blocking the entrance', fewer examinees entered the tower this time than in the original work.
From Konoha's side, the Twelve Konoha Genin were naturally all present.
From the other villages, only the Sunagakure squad entered the tower.
In addition, the Otogakure squad from the original work had already been killed by Sasuke using Myriad Sword Art.
Yakushi Kabuto's team didn't gather enough scrolls, so they also didn't enter the tower.
Therefore, only these fifteen people entered the tower.
At this moment, the Third Hokage was standing in the center of the Central Tower, giving a speech about the meaning of this exam and the so-called Will of Fire.
Most of the examiners didn't listen carefully to his speech; instead, they looked at the examinees on the field with conflicted expressions.
Especially when they looked at Team 7's trio, their expressions were particularly complex.
In all previous Chunin Exams, whether hosted by Konoha or other villages, there had never been a situation of 'blocking the entrance'.
Firstly, everyone was an examinee; even if there were differences in strength, they wouldn't be too great.
Secondly, such a thing was quite offensive. Even if someone failed this time, it didn't mean they couldn't pass in the future. If they encountered each other on a mission later, with this past grievance, a win-win mission could turn into an antagonistic one, which wouldn't be worth it.
However, the situation this time wasn't too bad.
Among the Ninja who didn't enter the tower, Sasuke killed some, and the rest were also killed while fighting for other scrolls.
There were only a handful of examinees left alive, and they were all from small Ninja villages.
Hmm... not worth worrying about.
The Third Hokage's speech was both tedious and lengthy. Just as he finished a small section and was about to continue, a Jonin leaped out from the crowd.
"Lord Third! Please allow me to host the matches."
The Third Hokage reluctantly nodded and walked up to the second-floor viewing platform.
This Jonin was naturally Gekkō Hayate, who had a protagonist's name but not a protagonist's fate.
After Hiruzen Sarutobi returned to the second floor, he said weakly, "First, congratulations on passing the Forest of Death... *cough cough cough*... Now, we will begin the one-on-one preliminary matches. *cough cough cough*... You will randomly select opponents through that screen for a showdown. If one side *cough cough cough*... one side surrenders... faints... or dies... *cough cough cough*... then the match ends in failure. The winner can participate in the Chunin selection finals one month later. *cough cough cough*... "Are there *cough cough cough*... any *cough cough cough*... who wish to withdraw?"
Are you kidding? They 'finally' made it into the tower; do you expect them to withdraw willingly? No way.
"Since there are no problems..."
"Wait a minute, I have a question."
Just as Gekkō Hayate was about to announce the start of the preliminaries, Shikamaru raised his hand, indicating he had a question.
"What is your question?"
"There are fifteen of us here. If it's one-on-one, does that mean someone will get a bye? And the person with the bye will directly enter the third exam?"
"*Cough cough cough*... Yes."
"Alright, I have no more questions."
Fifteen people with one bye means fourteen people will have 1v1 matches, determining seven winners. Adding the one person with a bye makes exactly eight people.
"Then, I declare the preliminaries... *cough cough cough*, officially open."
"First match."
As Gekkō Hayate gave the command, the large screen next to him began to scroll.
Soon after, the large screen stopped.
"First Match: Shikamaru VS Ino."
"What?"
As soon as the first match was announced, everyone gasped in surprise.
To be honest, out of fifteen people, twelve were from Konoha, so a high proportion of same-village confrontations was inevitable.
However, these two were not only Genin from the same village but also teammates from the same squad.
"This is troublesome."
Seeing that his opponent was Ino, Shikamaru couldn't help but sigh.
"Hehe, Shikamaru, just wait to surrender."
"Sigh~"
Looking at the happy Ino, Shikamaru felt very sad.
He believed that with his intelligence and strength, among these dozen or so people, as long as he didn't encounter those specific few, his winning rate would be very high.
But Ino happened to be one of those specific few.
No way, Ino's Mind Transfer Jutsu was simply too overpowered.
Among these people, besides Sakura, who had the 'Inner Sakura' alternate personality that could break Ino's secret technique, only Naruto and Gaara, the two Jinchuriki, were immune to Mind Transfer Jutsu.
As long as she didn't encounter these three, Ino's winning rate against even Sasuke was very high.
Didn't you see how Ino 'controlled' Sasuke tightly outside the tower?
"Examiner, can we start?"
Shikamaru walked to the center with a conflicted expression, took off his jacket, and asked the examiner helplessly.
"You can sta..."
Hearing Shikamaru's question, Gekkō Hayate naturally wanted to answer, but before he could finish, Shikamaru directly made his move.
"Strike first."
"Shadow Imitation Jutsu."
Shikamaru understood that if he wanted to win this match, he had to seize the initiative and prevent Ino from using Mind Transfer Jutsu.
As long as Ino couldn't use her Family secret technique, he would have won half the battle.
"Shikamaru, you're despicable!"
Seeing Shikamaru use Shadow Imitation Jutsu without even a greeting, Ino quickly jumped away, afraid of being entangled by the shadow.
Ino, who was familiar with Shikamaru, glanced at his discarded jacket as she jumped away.
According to her understanding, that jacket must be a trap set by Shikamaru.
Her intelligence wasn't as high as Shikamaru's, so she didn't know how Shikamaru would use the jacket, but she thought that as long as she stayed away from it, she would be fine.
Ino's jump successfully dodged the Shadow Jutsu, but it also made her lose the initiative.
"Six Meridian Divine Sword: Shang Yang Sword"
The martial art Shikamaru chose was the Six Meridian Divine Sword.
This martial art was not only powerful but also capable of long-range attacks.
Unfortunately, the consumption was a bit high.
Shikamaru's Chakra wasn't enough to use the Six Meridian Divine Sword like a machine gun. His use of Shang Yang Sword at this moment was only to force Ino to move.
As a teammate, Ino also knew Shikamaru's situation and understood that his Chakra was definitely not enough to use the Six Meridian Divine Sword for a long time. Now, she only needed to dodge attacks and wait for the right moment.
The facts were as Ino expected; Shikamaru only used three shots of Six Meridian Divine Sword before stopping and started attacking with thrown Kunai.
If the Six Meridian Divine Sword couldn't harm Ino, let alone these Kunai.
Facing the flying Kunai, Ino easily dodged them.