"Sakura-chan!"
Inside the central tower, Ino spotted the pink-haired girl and lunged right at her.
"Ino... you stink."
Sakura wrinkled her nose and blurted it out, freezing Ino in place.
After a full day of running around, plus getting ambushed by several groups of ninjas from other villages...
Forget the sour smell of dried sweat—there were also the leftovers from hiding in poisonous swamps and rotten mud to shake off pursuers.
All those weird odors mixed together made her smell like a big golden retriever that'd just rolled in from playing outside the village. Total mess.
"Wait a sec—how'd you even bathe in that Death Forest environment?!"
As Ino got closer to Sakura, she caught a whiff of the fresh scent in her hair.
Her blue eyes went wide as saucers.
"Well, ninjutsu. Pretty magical, right~"
Sakura glanced sideways at Leviathan perched on her shoulder and shrugged at Ino.
"Damn you, Sakura! Calling me stinky? I'll mess you up!"
Ino's clear eyes sparkled with mischievous glee as she spread her arms and pounced.
Sakura used her Observation Haki to predict every move, dodging Ino's tiger-like tackle with graceful Paper Arts flair.
While the two girls goofed around, all the candidates who'd passed the Death Forest were now gathered. The jonin leaders from each village had arrived on the tower's second floor too.
Amid the buzz, the host—Sarutobi Hiruzen—led the way onto the platform, flanked by Ohnoki, Rasa, and Darui as reps from the other big villages.
Sakura quickly stopped messing around and headed inside the hall with Ino to line up.
The candidates formed a pretty big group. Even after accounting for the ones who'd gotten wiped out trying to gang up on Sakura early on, sixty-five were left for the third exam.
Hiruzen cleared his throat and launched into a long-winded speech from the platform. Old guys love reminiscing about the past.
The kicker? As the host talking about Konoha's history, the other two Kage actually listened. No wonder Ohnoki and Rasa climbed the ranks—they've got the social game on lock.
"Ahem... Lord Hokage, why don't you let me take over from here!"
Seeing his boss with no intention of stopping, the third exam's proctor stepped up.
Jonin time is worth millions of ryo a minute. Proctoring like this is already a bad deal—wasting it on pointless rambling? No thanks.
Sakura's eyes lit up when someone finally cut Hiruzen off.
Hayate Gekko, nice one! For that move alone, I'll make sure you survive to the next arc.
"Ahem, alright. I'll leave the rest to you, Hayate!"
Hiruzen cleared his throat again, stepping down with a hint of regret on his face.
"Before the third round kicks off, you've got one last chance to quit. Dropping out now won't screw over your teammates. Anyone opting out?"
Hayate coughed as he explained the pre-exam rules, his eyes flicking between his notes and the candidates below.
"I forfeit!"
In the crowd, Yakushi Kabuto raised his hand, just like always.
Up on the platform, Hiruzen—who was extra focused on the exams because of Orochimaru—spotted the guy's info right away.
He quietly took a drag on his pipe and passed a file to Danzo.
Danzo got the hint and vanished without a ripple.
"Hm, that leaves sixty-four candidates. The preliminaries will be one-on-one matches."
With no more dropouts, Hayate announced the rules for this initial test and fired up the big electronic screen at the back of the arena.
Right now, the arena still had five Konoha genin teams, three from Iwagakure, three from Kumogakure, two from Sunagakure, and a handful of lower nin from smaller villages.
Sakura casually glanced at the screen, not caring who she'd draw.
Out of everyone here, only Gaara letting loose with Shukaku might make her raise an eyebrow.
The rest? Even heavy hitters like Kurotsuchi and Samui—who were basically ringers from Iwa and Kumo—weren't enough to challenge her now.
As for Naruto, he's got a long way to go before mastering the Nine-Tails. Too soon to count that as his firepower.
"First match: Rock Lee vs. Akatsuchi!"
Hayate read the matchup and called the fighters in.
Sakura, with Naruto, Sasuke, and Ino in tow, headed to the suspended walkways on the sides.
"That thick-eyebrowed guy again. Who do you think wins this one?"
Sasuke leaned on the railing like Sakura, glancing at the girl beside him.
"Probably Lee. That master-apprentice duo's hiding a real nasty trick."
Sakura tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, already picturing the outcome.
"No way that guy wins!"
Sasuke couldn't believe it. This dude with barely any chakra—who'd lost to him before—beating someone with such a massive chakra signature in her Observation Haki?
"Don't rely too much on Observation Haki. Fights are dynamic—underdogs pull off wins all the time. Plus..."
Sakura smirked, dangling the tease and leaving Sasuke gritting his teeth.
Get outta Konoha with your riddles!
Down in the arena, Rock Lee took a deep breath, turning slowly for a passionate stare-down with Kai first.
Then the green-suited watermelon-head spun toward Sakura, blushing hard as he winked and blew a kiss.
"Ugh."
Sakura shuddered and yanked Naruto in front as a shield before the hearts could fly.
"Blech~"
Naruto and Sakura both hunched over the railing, dry-heaving in sync.
Sasuke sighed helplessly at the pair, while Ino crouched next to Sakura, rubbing her back to help her catch her breath.
"Akatsuchi, you better fight hard and show these Konoha punks a—mmph mmph!"
The energetic little Iwa princess was perched on the railing, about to drop some earth-shattering trash talk.
Her jonin leader, Kitsuchi, felt his scalp tingle at her words and quickly clamped a hand over her mouth, dragging her down.
"Kurotsuchi, shut it!"
She pouted, glaring milkily fierce across at Sakura on the opposite walkway.
In the center, Hayate gave the signal.
Lee dropped into stance and charged at Akatsuchi.
The tall, burly guy formed seals and spat out a massive earth flow, shaping it into a rock giant.
Earth Style: Golem Jutsu!
The all-purpose defense-offense rock beast rampaged across the floor, kicking up clouds of dust.
No matter what angle Lee tried to close in from, the golem's thick arms swatted him away.
"It's no use—you can't break my defense. Just forfeit!"
Honest-to-a-fault Akatsuchi tried talking him down.
He'd barely attacked since the start, aiming for pure lockdown to make the Konoha ninja back off.
But he hadn't counted on facing someone just as stubborn.
If this dragged on, he'd have to go offensive. To avoid real injuries, he warned him.
"No way! My youth won't give up that easily!"
Lee leaped high, flipping a few times before landing on a second-floor statue.
"Kai-sensei, I wanna beat him!"
The boy's hot-blooded yell burned with fighting spirit.
Might Kai stood nearby, arms crossed, tears already streaming.
"That's the spirit of youth! Lee—drop 'em!"
Perched on the statue's finger, Rock Lee grinned, crossing his legs to unwrap his leg weights.
"Just a couple weights? What's the big deal?"
Kurotsuchi looked puzzled from the stands—then her jaw dropped.
Lee chucked the weights off the statue, smashing straight through the floor and blasting up dust clouds.
Alright, round two starts now.