"What?! We were the third team to arrive?"
"Damn it! I thought we were going to be first!"
Inside the tower, Naruto was shouting in disbelief after Anko informed him that two other teams had already passed the exam before them.
"Hmph, don't be greedy, kid. Just passing the exam with such a fast time is impressive enough."
"You should know that the previous record was four hours, and you guys did it in just over two."
Anko stood with her arms crossed, looking exasperated.
"Then who was first? How long did it take them?"
Naruto stared intently at Anko, desperate to know who had snatched first place from him.
"It was us, Naruto! We made it here in an hour and a half."
Before Anko could answer, a voice rang out from above. Naruto looked up and saw a familiar figure.
"Thick-eyebrows! It was you guys!"
On the walkway of the second floor of the tower, Rock Lee stood with his teammates, Neji and Tenten.
Thud!
Lee flipped over the railing and landed in front of Naruto, giving him a thumbs-up. "Naruto, I was right, wasn't I? First place isn't necessarily yours. See? We took first place in the second exam!"
"Tch! Thick-eyebrows, don't get cocky! This time was just an accident!" Naruto retorted, unwilling to accept defeat.
If they hadn't run into Orochimaru, first place would definitely have been theirs!
Since there were still many teams struggling to collect scrolls in the Forest of Death, and the second exam lasted a total of five days, the exam wouldn't end until the time was up. So, Naruto and his team settled into the tower to wait for the exam to conclude.
Five days later.
"Due to the excessive number of candidates who passed the second exam, an additional preliminary round will be held before the third exam begins."
Inside the tower, the sickly-looking Hayate Gekko, proctor for the third exam, announced this to the 21 candidates who had passed.
There had been 28 teams in the second exam, and now only 7 remained: Kabuto's team, Gaara's team, the unnamed Rain team, and the four teams comprising the Konoha 12 from the original story.
It is worth noting that while there were also seven teams in the original story, the Rain team wasn't among them; Dosu's Sound team had passed instead.
But this time, for some reason, Dosu's team had failed, and the Rain team, whom Gaara should have killed, had lucked out and passed.
"When does the preliminary round start?" the Rain ninja asked loudly.
They had only just passed the second exam and were exhausted, hoping the preliminaries would start later.
However, things often happen exactly as one fears.
Hayate glanced at them and replied, "Many VIPs have come to watch the main tournament, and most of them have already arrived in the village.
Time is tight, and we cannot keep them waiting too long."
"Therefore, I declare that the preliminary round begins now!"
"What?!" The three Rain ninjas looked as if they had been struck by lightning.
Besides them, Shikamaru, Kiba, and others who had just passed the exam also twitched their eyes in dismay.
"Hey, hey, you've got to be kidding me," Shikamaru said with dead fish eyes, feeling so mentally exhausted he wanted to quit right there.
But thinking about the consequences of quitting, he was forced to abandon the idea.
"Hehe, preliminaries or not, I'm going to win every match!"
Unlike the others who were sighing and complaining, Naruto was full of fighting spirit. He had rested enough over the past few days and was itching for the matches to start!
Shortly after, just like in the original story, Kabuto voluntarily withdrew, bringing the number of candidates down to 20.
This preliminary round would consist of 20 people fighting in pairs, with the 10 winners advancing to the finals.
As the names on the large screen shuffled randomly, the matchup for the first fight was born:
[Naruto Uzumaki vs. Kankuro]
"First up is Naruto. Who's this Kankuro guy he's fighting?"
Looking at the names on the screen, Sakura looked around from the spectator gallery, trying to spot Naruto's opponent.
"Hmph, that's me!"
A cold snort sounded as Kankuro stepped forward, looking at the big screen with a dark expression. What rotten luck! To run into this troublesome guy so soon!
"Pfft! So it's you." Sakura covered her mouth and laughed. No wonder the name sounded familiar; it was the guy they had an unpleasant encounter with earlier.
Although someone had called out his name then, she had long since forgotten about him, so she didn't react when she first saw the name on the screen.
"Hey, Painted Face! You're not scared, are you? Come down here and fight me!"
Naruto, who was already on the arena floor, looked up at the gallery and shouted at Kankuro, pointing a finger at him.
He was thrilled to be fighting first, eager to show off his strength to everyone, which is why he was impatient.
"Hmph! Don't look down on me! In this fight, I'll show you my true power!"
Provoked by Naruto, Kankuro's face darkened, and he leapt into the arena. He had decided he was going to teach this arrogant brat a lesson and show him that he wasn't someone to be trifled with!
Just as the two took their positions in the arena, waiting for Hayate to give the signal to start...
SWOOSH!!
Two figures suddenly appeared behind Sakura and Sasuke in the spectator gallery.
"Phew, looks like we made it." Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that the match hadn't started yet.
Since the decision to hold the prelims was made only after the second exam concluded, there was no way to know in advance.
So, upon learning about it, he immediately rushed back to the village to tell Goku. After all, Goku was their teacher too; he couldn't miss this.
"Whoa, you two haven't fought yet?" Goku ruffled Sakura's hair and patted Sasuke on the shoulder, grinning simple-mindedly as he looked at Naruto in the arena.
"It's not our turn yet, Goku-sensei!" Sakura replied, then swatted Goku's large hand away, puffing out her cheeks. "And Goku-sensei, can you stop messing up my hair? You're going to make my forehead protector slip!"
Her hair was held in place by her forehead protector, and Goku's ruffling had shifted it quite a bit.
"Haha, sorry, sorry!" Goku rubbed his head apologetically.
The reason he ruffled Sakura's hair was that she reminded him a lot of his granddaughter, Pan.
Not only were they about the same age, but their personalities were also quite similar.
Every time he saw Sakura, he felt like he was seeing a shadow of his granddaughter, and he couldn't resist messing up her hair.
"Ahem, Mr Goku, you're here as well. How have you been?"
Just then, Hiruzen Sarutobi, noticing Goku's arrival, walked over with a kindly smile.
Apart from those close to Goku like Kakashi and Naruto, he was the person in Konoha who knew the most about him.
And the more he knew, the more importance he attached to Goku.
Especially after learning about the incident a month ago, his regard for Goku had reached its peak, and any lingering petty thoughts he might have had vanished completely.