Hayate Gekko began, coughing violently, "I am your examiner for the Preliminary Rounds of the third test. We will now proceed with one-on-one battles. Those who win will qualify to participate in the official third exam in a month. If anyone feels unwell or has other reasons to withdraw, cough, please speak now."
Hayate spoke while coughing constantly, making people wonder if he might accidentally cough up a lung.
"You're the one who seems unwell!" Hinata murmured under her breath. However, shinobi hearing is incredibly sharp—everyone, including Hayate himself, heard it clearly. Immediately, Hayate began coughing even more violently.
"Cough-cough-cough! Although I often cough," Hayate said, his face flushed from the exertion, "my health is still fine." Many people stared intently at his mouth, fearing he might cough up blood any second.
"Exam officer, could you explain why we are having these preliminaries instead of proceeding directly to the official third exam?" Temari wasn't concerned about how violently Hayate was coughing. She directly asked the biggest question on her mind.
"There are too many participants, so we must narrow down the field first. Only the elite will earn the right to compete in the official match a month later. At that time, The Fourth Kazekage from Sand Village, the Fifth Mizukage from Kiri, the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, and several well-known wealthy merchants from across the shinobi world will all come to watch."
Hayate took several deep breaths, suppressing the urge to keep coughing. Then he fluently explained the situation, before asking again, "Is there anyone who wishes to withdraw now?"
"A Konoha Genin, Kabuto Yakushi, will withdraw!" Kabuto Yakushi pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, raised his hand, and stepped forward. "I'm sorry, Officer, but I'm already severely injured. My next battle is definitely unwinnable, so I have no choice but to withdraw."
"Anybody else?" Hayate only glanced briefly before ceasing attention. Withdrawals were common during every Chunin Exam, nothing unusual about someone like Kabuto withdrawing.
"We also wish to withdraw!" Fugaku Uchiha stepped forward. "We barely passed the second exam. As ninja from a smaller hidden village, we certainly cannot defeat those from the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Since that's the case, we might as well withdraw here and now. Passing the second stage allows us to return home with something to report back to our village!"
Chapter One Hundred and Eighty-Nine: Kankuro's Melancholy [Part One]
"Does anyone else wish to withdraw?" Hayate swept his gaze across the group once more. Seeing nobody respond, he continued, "Candidates may now return to the spectator stands. When your name appears on the electronic screen, you'll come down for your match."
"Have someone investigate this Kabuto Yakushi!" Homura watched the limping Kabuto, whispering his order. "There's something off about this person!"
"Yes!" An Anbu agent behind The Third nodded sharply, instantly vanishing into thin air.
"So those are the shinobi from the Hidden Cloud Village?!"
Standing in the spectator stands, Sakura cast her gaze toward several muscular young men. Their dark skin and bulging muscles were a typical style of the Cloud Village from the Land of Lightning.
"The disciple of the Fourth Raikage, the disciple of Eight-Tails Jinchuriki Killer Bee, and another possessing the Kekkei Genkai of Storm Release... Hmph, the Cloud Village must really be furious with The Third this time!"
Since there were non-humans like Eight-Tails Gyuki and Two-Tails Matatabi as spies, Sakura naturally learned the contents of the letter the Third had sent to the Fourth Raikage. Even if the Fourth Raikage was already known for his bad temper, even someone as kind-hearted as Minato Namikaze would probably feel somewhat upset reading that letter. Who knows what the Third was thinking when he came up with so many provocative phrases?
"There are quite a few extraordinary individuals among the genin participating this time!" Hinata and Neji said while deactivating their Byakugan. "Several of them have rather unique chakra. If I'm not mistaken, they should be people who possess Kekkei Genkai!"
"It seems this year's Chunin Exams will turn out quite interesting!" Sakura mused with a mischievous grin on her face. With so many Kekkei Genkai holders around, she wondered whether Orochimaru would still carry out the Leaf Destruction Plan? If by accident those Kekkei Genkai holders ended up dying, other shinobi villages would likely unite to go after Orochimaru in retaliation.
"First round: Kankuro from Sunagakure versus Ino Yamanaka from Konoha!"
"Will both contestants please enter the arena?"
While Sakura and the others chatted, two names flashed onto the electronic screen. However, upon seeing those names, many spectators simply shook their heads and exchanged knowing glances.
The Yamanaka clan was well known throughout the shinobi world. Especially famous was their Ino–Shika–Cho team formation, which combined the clan's psychic techniques with other clans' physical attacks—an approach widely recognized across the ninja world. Although the Yamanaka's psychic techniques were powerful, individually their combat abilities were relatively weak, often functioning more as support units during battles. Thus, under direct confrontation circumstances like these, it seemed difficult for the Yamanaka psychic techniques to play any effective role.
Inoichi Yamanaka sat in the audience feeling vaguely anxious. The Yamanaka weren't built for direct combat; he never expected his own daughter would end up fighting in the very first match. Looking at her opponent, that Sand ninja boy was carrying something on his back—most likely one of Sunagakure's puppets. This battle looked unlikely for his daughter to win, and Inoichi had already begun calculating how best to comfort her afterward about winning or losing not really mattering anyway.
"Ino, give it your all! Don't hold back—just knock him down!" exclaimed Sakura enthusiastically. "After training for so long, I think today's your day! Show them what you've got! Today's audience includes representatives from every major family in Konoha—including Uncle Inoichi watching you right there—so just give it everything you've got out there!"
"I understand!" Ino adjusted her headband, then strode confidently toward the battlefield with a determined smile.
"Hey, Kankuro, looks like you've got pretty good luck today!" Temari remarked disdainfully upon seeing Ino approaching. "As long as you're careful enough to avoid being controlled by the Yamanaka clan's psychic techniques, victory will come easily!"
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