'Lee... I really don't want to admit you lost. I wanted to help you achieve... achieve your Ninja Way. Lee, please forgive me... for not stopping you.' Looking at Lee, Guy felt an indescribable pain, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.
Naruto had also overheard the medic's words and was in great distress, feeling it was extremely unfair for Lee.
"Calm down, Naruto!" Noticing Naruto's agitation, Kakashi came over and covered his mouth.
"But Kakashi-sensei, that guy... he wanted to fight Sasuke and Neji so badly!" Naruto couldn't accept it.
"You could say that was the root of this tragedy. That child, in order to realize that dream, didn't hesitate to use a Forbidden Technique that would discard his own body to try and win. The result is as you saw. That child was still upholding the unspoken pact between you, Sasuke, and Neji. He risked his life, wanting to stand on the same stage to fight alongside you. Don't forget that."
Kakashi spoke with emotion, gently patting his head before finally leaving the spot.
'Lee, you never realized until the very end. For someone who pins their hopes on a mutual destruction to pursue victory, god will not allow them to keep winning forever.' Neji watched as Lee was carried away, thinking to himself.
In just a moment, the damage Lee had inflicted on Gaara was completely healed. Gaara calmly glanced at the spot where Lee had left and returned to the spectator stands.
Kakashi, looking at the dejected Guy, softly apologized for the irresponsible words he had said about Guy from the stands earlier.
Putting himself in Guy's shoes, Kakashi knew he wouldn't have been able to stop Lee either, nor would Naruto, whose stubborn personality was so similar to Lee's.
After everyone left the arena, the electronic bulletin board flashed again. Ino and Choji above watched the names nervously.
Soon, Dosu and Choji's names appeared on the screen, making Ino heave a huge sigh of relief, followed by a complex expression.
"Then, the final match, the eleventh round, please come down." Seeing the displayed names, Hayate announced.
"Finally, my turn to take the stage!" Dosu said, stepping onto the field with a sigh.
'Win, and then go eat BBQ!' Lured by Asuma's promise of BBQ, Choji stepped onto the field with the determination to eat meat.
"Then, the eleventh round, begin!" Seeing both combatants ready, Hayate quickly announced.
"Do your best!" Shikamaru above cheered excitedly for Choji as the match began.
"Fatso!" Ino, not wanting to let things be too calm, called out Choji's most hated nickname.
"Damn it, just watch! I'll finish this exam right away and then deal with you!" Hearing 'fatso', Choji's expression turned extremely fierce, veins bulging on his face.
"Then I won't play around with you. Let's finish this quickly, fatso." Seeing Choji so sensitive to the nickname, Dosu spoke to him with a sly tone.
"You... you mummy-looking cucumber roll...!" Hearing Dosu say it too, Choji transferred all his anger towards him, his eyes blazing as he looked at Dosu.
'Your weakness, I understood it clearly from our previous encounter. Since you emit shockwaves from the holes in your arm, I just need to prevent the sound waves from reaching my ears!'
Although angry, Choji didn't lose his composure. He analyzed the situation and decided on a plan of action.
"Multi-Size Technique! Next, Konoha Taijutsu, Human Bullet Tank!" As Choji grew larger, he finally retracted his arms, legs, and even his head into his body, transforming into a high-speed spinning sphere charging at Dosu.
"Alright, crush him, Choji!" Ino in the stands cheered excitedly for Choji.
However, Shikamaru wasn't as optimistic. He understood Choji's plan. Dosu's attack could hit the opponent with sound even without direct contact.
For Choji, who had retracted his head inside his body, Dosu's attack shouldn't work. But Shikamaru felt it wouldn't be that simple or easy.
Now, on the field, Choji, transformed into a fast-rolling sphere, continuously pursued Dosu. But Dosu, looking at the relatively slow sphere, easily dodged his attacks, even luring him into crashing into a wall.
"Now you'll have to stop for a while, right?" Seeing the stopped sphere, Dosu said calmly.
"Now's the chance!" Dosu punched Choji's round, soft belly, his arm sinking in somewhat from the pliable feel.
"I've blocked my ears. It's useless!" Seeing he wasn't greatly affected, Choji said triumphantly.
"No, it's over." However, Dosu spoke with full confidence. Then, he flicked the metal device on his right arm with his left hand. A piercing sound wave quickly transmitted through Choji's body, causing massive damage.
"Ah!!"
With a scream, Choji deflated. When the dust settled, everyone saw Choji already unconscious on the ground, his eyes swirled into spirals.
"Over 70% of the human body is composed of water, which transmits sound. In other words, your entire body is like an ear," Dosu said flatly, looking at the unconscious Choji.
"Winner, Dosu Kinuta." Seeing that Choji wouldn't be waking up anytime soon, Hayate Gekko announced.
"And, the remaining contestant, Ino Yamanaka, advances automatically!" Hayate Gekko added.
"I... I won just like that?" Hearing Hayate's words, Ino felt somewhat helpless. Thinking about everyone's performances in the preliminaries, she grew hesitant.
Dosu on the field, hearing Hayate's announcement, left calmly...
'Orochimaru-sama... no, Orochimaru. I want to tell you, I'm not just a decoy.' Dosu, having analyzed Orochimaru's purpose, thought to himself. He clearly understood that in Orochimaru's eyes, he was just an ordinary pawn, a tool to stimulate and train Sasuke. This made Dosu very unconvinced...
"Are you okay?" Soon, medical team members arrived, giving Choji preliminary treatment and asking.
"Meat... I want meat..." The first words from the waking Choji were still about wanting meat.
"Yeah, yeah. The opponent didn't go for the kill either," Hearing this, Shikamaru said, resting his chin on his hand.
"Oh well, even though he lost, let's still take him out for some BBQ," Asuma above said with an amused smile.
'It's finally over.' Hayate, seeing the preliminaries finally conclude, breathed a sigh of relief.
'The official matches are finally about to begin.' Hiruzen, who had watched the entire preliminaries, thought to himself.
"Then, up to now, the preliminary selections for the third stage of the Chunin Exams are completely over. These are the contestants confirmed for the third exam of the Chunin Exams. Although one contestant is absent, congratulations to all of you." After gathering the qualifiers, Hayate addressed them.
'Including Sasuke, who isn't here, there are 9 from Konoha, 2 from Sunagakure, and 1 from Otogakure.'
Scanning Takeru and the others, Hiruzen began to speak: "Then I will now explain the details of the matches..."
Meanwhile, in a certain location in Konoha, Orochimaru and Kabuto were meeting. Although Kabuto hadn't understood Orochimaru's goals initially, after a series of events, he had seen through Orochimaru's purpose.
Orochimaru, for his part, was preparing to leave Sasuke's affairs to Kabuto for oversight.
Orochimaru seemed particularly impatient, mainly due to the unstable factor of Naruto, and besides Naruto, there was also Takeru.
Takeru was too mysterious, his goals completely unclear. Most importantly, his strength posed a huge threat even to Orochimaru.
Although Takeru only asked him to collect Ninjutsu scrolls, Orochimaru naturally didn't fully believe him, especially after receiving intelligence from Kabuto that Takeru couldn't use Ninjutsu at all and apparently couldn't learn Chakra from a young age.
Therefore, Takeru's purpose in collecting Ninjutsu became even more bizarre.
If Takeru was helping others, according to intelligence, he interacted with very few people, mostly inconspicuous individuals. Yet he possessed such powerful and strange strength and knew many of his plans...
So after some analysis, Orochimaru simply couldn't imagine what Takeru's true goal was. However, to avoid trouble, Orochimaru prepared to gather some Ninjutsu scrolls for Takeru, whether to placate him temporarily or not. At the very least, it wasn't suitable to start a conflict with Takeru at this time...