At this moment, Ino, who had already taken over Zaku Abumi's body, stood firm, her eyes still filled with confusion.
Ino had grown accustomed to using her full mental energy to execute her clan's secret technique to control an enemy; during their previous spars, Ryun was the only one she could effectively control even when she went all out.
But now, she had only used a portion of her mental energy, yet she had successfully controlled Zaku?
This was because, after Ryun had elevated her talent ceiling, Ino, who already possessed her family's method for training mental energy, had seen her mental power increase rapidly, far surpassing ninjas of her age.
In fact, purely in terms of mental strength, it was likely only genjutsu-specializing jōnin who could surpass Ino now; her instantaneous control of Zaku was, therefore, not surprising at all.
Ino quickly snapped out of it, revealing a triumphant smile as she used the controlled Zaku's body to perform a handstand in front of everyone—a move she, as a girl, wouldn't normally do.
Everyone realized Ino had succeeded and showed appreciative smiles.
They had all initially thought there was no suspense in this match, that Ino was destined to be the loser.
But Ino had proven that the Yamanaka clan could possess its own combat power.
After this brief demonstration, Ino maneuvered Zaku to the edge of the arena. After doing a few warm-up exercises, she suddenly charged him headfirst toward the wall.
The instant before impact, Ino withdrew her mental energy.
With a loud bang, Zaku, who had just regained control of his body, smashed his head against the wall. After a sharp cry of pain, he lost consciousness.
On the other side, Ino was prepared in case he remained conscious after the impact and came at her again. But after watching Gekkō Hayate approach to confirm that Zaku was unconscious and had lost combat ability, she turned triumphantly toward Sakura, flashing her a peace sign.
Finally, of course, she didn't forget to blow a kiss toward Ryun's direction.
This scene caused quite a few people to do a double-take, and Asuma could only helplessly cover his face.
Kurenai, however, looked at Ryun with a knowing half-smile, the corners of her mouth gradually turning playful, as if she anticipated something interesting was about to happen.
"Yamanaka Ino wins."
Gekkō Hayate calmly announced the match result.
Yamanaka Ino's execution of her clan's secret technique just now was skilled in its details, but unfortunately, compared to the intense, all-out exchanges between Sasuke and Yoroi earlier, this match seemed rather dull.
Then, everyone looked toward the big screen, anticipating the next bout.
Ryun also watched the match screen, and his expression turned strange.
Nara Shikamaru vs. Yakushi Kabuto. One was a slacker king who hated trouble; the other was a spy who had to lose and couldn't advance. Perfect. Now the two faced each other, competing to see who could hold back more?
The reality unfolded exactly as Ryun had predicted. When both stepped onto the arena, they began a serious-faced standoff, but neither showed any intention of making a move.
Initially, their standoff captured everyone's attention. But after it exceeded three minutes, people finally grew impatient.
"What are they doing?"
Naruto curiously asked Chōji. Ino had already gone to rest in the audience, so Chōji was the one there most familiar with Shikamaru.
"If I had to guess... Shikamaru's waiting for a chance to give up, right?"
"And what about Kabuto-senpai?"
"Don't know... maybe he's also waiting for a chance to give up?"
Chōji's casual remark had inadvertently hit upon the truth.
Seeming to realize that things couldn't continue like this, Yakushi Kabuto made his move.
While trying his best to make his movements look fast and sharp, he still managed to disguise himself, appearing only at a genin's level.
At this time, Kabuto's actual strength was no less than Kakashi's—at least according to Orochimaru.
From this, one could imagine how hard Kabuto was trying to disguise himself now.
But unfortunately, he was up against Nara Shikamaru.
Originally, Shikamaru's plan had been to simply forfeit upon reaching the finals and just go through the motions in these preliminary rounds.
However, Kabuto's actions made him change his mind.
Thinking about how this considerate senior had failed to make it to the finals for several years, Shikamaru thought this seemed like a good opportunity to befriend him.
So, Shikamaru made an effort to exchange a few blows with Kabuto before leaping back and performing the Shadow Imitation Technique at a snail's pace, but because the arena lighting was bright, his shadow wasn't long enough.
Kabuto, who had been ready to get caught, twitched his mouth slightly, could only pretend to be startled and quickly retreat, then casually threw a shuriken.
Caught off guard, Shikamaru was hit in the arm by the shuriken. With a cry of "Ouch!", he fell to the ground, appearing to be on his last legs.
This scene left everyone present in complete silence.
Aside from Ryun, everyone in the audience was a ninja, and any of them could see Shikamaru was acting.
Kabuto also looked speechlessly at Shikamaru, then secretly glanced toward Orochimaru, afraid Orochimaru would be angry at him for advancing.
Fortunately, Orochimaru wouldn't scold a capable subordinate like Kabuto over such a trivial matter. He gave a slight nod, and Kabuto, relieved, decided to just go with the flow.
"Nara Shikamaru is injured. Yakushi Kabuto wins."
Gekkō Hayate announced the result helplessly, helped Shikamaru up, and whispered in his ear, "That's enough. Don't overdo it."
Shikamaru smiled awkwardly, clutching his arm as he left the arena to receive treatment.
Shikamaru didn't yet know Kabuto was a spy. If he later found out he had disrupted Kabuto's plans because of this, his expression would surely be something to behold.
Ryun calmly recorded the match result while predicting the subsequent matches.
In his eyes, the current matches had completely deviated from the norm; even several of his simulations hadn't produced results like this.
This almost certainly meant the finals of the Chūnin Exams would see considerable deviations... he just hoped the situation wouldn't turn too ugly by then.
Next, the third match began, and Ryun focused his attention.
Haruno Sakura vs. Tsuchi Kin.
Ryun watched Tsuchi Kin with interest. She was a ninja from the Sound Village, one of Orochimaru's subordinates, and reasonably skilled.
More importantly, Ryun remembered that in the original storyline, it was she who grabbed Sakura's hair, forcing Sakura to cut her own long hair short to begin her counterattack.
But now, because Ryun had enhanced Sakura's abilities, Sakura had managed to keep her hair during the Chūnin Exams and still maintained her cute, long-haired image.
Also, having slept embraced with Sakura, Ryun knew her hair texture was excellent—perhaps the best among several girls.
This had clearly aroused Tsuchi Kin's jealousy.
"Hey, Konoha-nin, if I were you, I'd surrender while you can."
"Otherwise, I'll grab your hair and cut it off—it's something I wanted to do in the Forest of Death but didn't get the chance."
Now, having experienced the battle in the Land of Waves and twice firmly controlling Zabuza, Sakura's mentality was naturally beyond that of an ordinary genin.
Facing Tsuchi Kin's provocation, she ran her fingers smoothly through her hair, then flicked it back and said, "You'd better not mention the Forest of Death. We almost defeated you back then; it was all Naruto's carelessness..."
"Who are you calling careless?! There were three of them; it's normal I couldn't beat them!"
Naruto complained discontentedly from below, but received a glare from Sakura, which immediately silenced him.
Sakura had proven her strength more than once, and even Naruto hadn't realized he was becoming slightly afraid of her.
"Hmph, overconfident. Before, you only succeeded because you caught me off guard with your genjutsu. I won't give you another chance to use it now."
Tsuchi Kin moved, and the bells on her body jingled as she immediately released her own genjutsu: Bell Sound Senbon.
Amidst the bell sounds, Sakura saw many afterimages of Tsuchi Kin before her, each one's hands filled with senbon.
Then, Tsuchi Kin and her afterimages began throwing senbon at Sakura, suppressing her to prevent her from forming hand seals, while she herself charged at Sakura, intending to overwhelm her with taijutsu.
This was the strategy she had devised upon realizing she would fight Sakura again. What could a genjutsu user do once suppressed?
Unfortunately, she had completely misjudged Sakura.
The moment she closed in on Sakura, a single, powerful punch from Sakura nearly made Tsuchi Kin vomit her stomach out.
Although Sakura hadn't focused heavily on taijutsu at this stage, her Strength talent ceiling of 9 was enough to make this punch's force comparable to a chūnin's.
Most importantly, Sakura didn't even use the technique for monstrous strength—not because Ryun didn't want to teach it, but because trying to learn too much at once would be counterproductive. They ultimately couldn't master everything as quickly as Ryun could through simulation.
Then, seizing the opportunity created by that punch exposing Tsuchi Kin's opening, Sakura unceremoniously displayed her unique skill of forming hand seals with both hands independently.
Water Release: Water Gun!
Demonic Illusion: Tree Bind Death!