Naruto: Set a goal, conquer the universe.

Page 36

When Naruto and the others returned to the central tower of the Forest of Death, it was just as the exam was about to end.

Looking at Shikamaru and Choji, who were covered in dust and dirt.

Naruto raised his hand and tossed two bags of potato chips over.

"Oh!" Choji's eyes lit up as he caught the potato chip with agility far beyond his size.

"What happened? Did your team encounter a strong enemy?" Naruto walked over curiously and asked.

"Sigh, don't even mention it, I almost died." Shikamaru sighed, took the potato chips Choji handed him, and looked at Naruto, asking, "Where did you buy these potato chips?"

“I passed on the first day, of course I bought it outside,” Naruto said with a shrug.

“Okay, with your team’s strength, you can definitely do it,” Shikamaru said, munching on a potato chip.

"With you here, how could we possibly encounter such a life-or-death crisis?" Naruto said, raising an eyebrow.

“There’s nothing I can do when I encounter someone strong.” Shikamaru shrugged, just as he saw Gaara and the other two come out.

Shikamaru said in a low voice, "We ran into them, but luckily we hid. However, I think they have already discovered us, but they just haven't made a move yet."

They witnessed Gaara killing the Rain Ninja, a terrifying scene that made the three of them tremble.

In particular, Gaara's terrifying killing intent had already frightened the three of them.

“Oh, it’s them. That’s not surprising. If you run into that guy with the dark circles under his eyes again, leave immediately. He’s not someone you can handle,” Naruto whispered to Shikamaru.

Shikamaru glanced at Naruto and nodded solemnly.

He knew he was smart and could come up with many tactical methods, but as he himself said, when faced with a strong opponent, even the best tactics were useless.

Running away is the best course of action.

Naruto looked around and said, "However, quite a few people have passed."

After eating the potato chips, Shikamaru nodded and said, "I looked around, and all of us from the same cohort passed the test."

Chapter 54 The Essence of the Chunin Exams

What Shikamaru said is indeed true.

Despite being newly graduated genin, they all passed the second exam, which reflects that clan ninjas are much stronger than commoner ninjas.

Ordinary civilian ninjas can only access C-rank ninjutsu, which has weak attack power and little chakra, so they mainly rely on taijutsu attacks.

The ninjutsu of clan ninjas, whether offensive or supportive, has a huge advantage.

"Sasuke!" Ino and Sakura saw Sasuke and lunged forward to hug him.

Sasuke dodged their 'attack' by sidestepping.

The Jonin leading his squad was already observing his team from this spot.

"Thank goodness, Shikamaru and the others passed the test," Asuma said, patting his chest while smoking a cigarette.

He was genuinely afraid that Shikamaru would find it too troublesome and simply take Choji and give up. Ino absolutely supported Shikamaru's approach because she didn't want to participate either.

This almost terrified Asuma, who even managed to get them to participate in the Chunin Exams by offering them a barbecue.

"However, it seems the children have suffered a bit." Hong looked at Sakura, who had cut off her long hair, and showed a hint of surprise and relief.

In her opinion, this little girl was not suitable for fighting on the front lines; she was very intelligent and better suited for scientific research in the rear.

She takes great care of her hair every day, so what fighting power can you expect from her?

However, taking this exam has changed her quite a bit.

"Kakashi, Guy, your team looks the most relaxed." Kurenai looked at Naruto and Neji, both teams looked relaxed and clean, as if they had not been through a tough battle.

"Haha, after all, they worked very hard." Kakashi's gaze remained fixed on the young prince as he casually responded to Kurenai.

How could it not be easy?

Except for the first morning, I've been training at home and outside the rest of the time.

“I heard from Naruto that he encountered Orochimaru,” Guy said in a low voice.

He kept the volume within a few people's reach.

Asuma and the red-eyed boy suddenly turned their heads to look in the direction of Guy and Kakashi.

"Ah, but these kids did try their best, and they made that guy leave empty-handed," Kakashi nodded and said.

"Have their strength reached this level?" Hong asked in surprise.

That's Orochimaru, one of the legendary Sannin of Konoha. If she were to encounter him, she probably wouldn't even have a chance to make a move.

After all, she was just a newly promoted Jonin. In the eyes of that kind of person, there was not much difference between a Jonin and an ordinary person.

Asuma couldn't help but light a cigarette (to share one with others). He thought of the terrible training grounds of his own home, even though the Third Hokage had sealed off the area and not allowed members of the Sarutobi clan to watch.

Everyone is speculating about who the Third Hokage will fight.

However, one of his nephews watched the battle.

He bribed Konohamaru with a bowl of ramen.

I learned a terrifying truth.

The one who fought the Third Hokage was Naruto!

To have such strength at such a young age, his talent is even greater than Kakashi's.

The Third Hokage never revealed Naruto's strength, presumably because he considered Naruto Konoha's trump card.

He knew this, of course, so he didn't say anything.

“But if there are so many people, won’t there be enough time for the third match?” Hong said.

“Ah, so this competition uses a rule that hasn’t been used for five years: the preliminary rounds,” Asma nodded and said.

Kurenai suddenly realized, and she couldn't help but smile bitterly, saying, "That's really bad. If they run into Naruto and the others, Kiba and the others might have no hope."

Hongdou has recovered and has come to the scene. Looking at the people there, she quickly concluded that 21 people had passed the exam.

Although I said I would eliminate half of them, I was thinking of keeping only a single digit. I didn't expect there to be so many outstanding people in this year's cohort!

but......

A playful smile crept onto her lips.

More and more people arrived at the scene, and after the Third Hokage himself arrived, the genin who were still chatting quieted down.

At the examiner's call, they lined up in formation.

"Next, the Third Hokage will introduce the third exam. Please listen carefully," Anko announced loudly.

"Please, Third Hokage," Anko whispered to the Third Hokage.

"Hmm." The Third Hokage adjusted his Hokage hat and took a few steps forward.

"First, I must tell you the truth about the Chunin Exams!"

The genin below couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. Wasn't the purpose of the Chunin Exams to advance to the genin level?

"If you think this is just a harmless friendly contest between allies, then you're completely mistaken." The Third Hokage took the pipe from his lips, and a wisp of smoke slowly drifted out.

"This matter is not only a testing ground for selecting Chunin, but also an arena for allied nations to compete for resources."

"In order to prevent both sides from wasting their strength and ending up in a lose-lose situation, the Chunin Exams were chosen as a platform for countries to compete for resources."

"During the third exam, dignitaries and powerful figures from various countries will be invited to watch. The disparity in the candidates' abilities directly reflects the strength of their respective nations."

"Once a significant gap emerges in national strength, powerful nations will receive a constant stream of mission requests, while weaker nations will see a substantial reduction in their workload. Therefore, the Chunin Exams are essentially another form of war between allied nations!"

The Third Hokage bluntly stated the true nature of the Chunin Exams.

This is the source of Konoha's confidence. Of the seven teams currently under him, five are Konoha squads, which already demonstrates Konoha's strength.

This blunt statement made the genin present nervous.

This is not just about my own promotion, but also about the reputation of the village and the nation.

Only Gaara didn't care about this issue at all; he had killed quite a few of his own Sand Village ninjas!

"Enough, tell me how the next match is going to be played."

Just as the Third Hokage was about to continue speaking, a figure appeared in front of him.

"I'm very sorry, Third Hokage. I, Hayate Gekko, will now be the referee and explain the rules of the competition," Hayate Gekko said, kneeling on one knee.

"Then I'll leave it to you," the Third Hokage nodded and said.

"Thank you very much." Moonlight Gale stood up, coughed twice, and then turned to the examinees, saying, "Before the third exam begins, cough cough, there is something else I need you all to do, cough cough cough."

Looking at Moonlight Gale, who had a haggard face, dark circles under his eyes, and coughed incessantly even when speaking, I felt a pang of sadness.

Naruto gritted his teeth, wanting him to go to the hospital for treatment; it was too much to ask of this injured person to take on the role of examiner.

Is Konoha so weak now that it can't even spare a single normal Jonin?

What about the so-called "face of a great power"?

If those so-called daimyo and celebrities from various countries saw that Konoha's Jonin looked like this, they would probably hesitate to issue missions.

Chapter 55 Preliminary Rounds

"That's the preliminary round that determines whether you can participate in the third exam!" Moonlight Gale said slowly, looking at the many candidates with his dead fish eyes.

The ninjas below were stunned. If they passed the second test, shouldn't they go directly to the third test?

Are we going to hold a qualifying round?

Even the genin who had participated in the Chunin Exams multiple times were unaware of this method.

Shikamaru excitedly shouted, "What's this about the preliminary rounds?"

He was planning to go straight to the third exam, then just casually go up there, admit defeat, and give up.

Telling him now that there's another match is like killing him.

Asuma's barbecue was indeed not very good!

Sakura asked with a pained expression, "Teacher, I don't understand what the preliminary selection means. Why can't the candidates here directly participate in the third exam? Why do we have to do a preliminary selection?"

With a blank expression, Gekko Hayate said, "Well, it's probably because the first and second rounds of this exam were too easy, and there are too many people left. Therefore, we need to conduct a preliminary selection according to the Chunin Exam rules to reduce the number of participants in the third round."

"After all, famous people and celebrities from various countries don't have that much time to watch so many games."

"Huh?" Sakura looked troubled. She had already used all her strength to keep going, and now they were complaining that there were too many of them and that they wanted to filter out a group of people.

She doesn't think she can beat many of the people who have made it this far.

“（╯‵□′）╯︵┴─┴.”

"Anyone feeling unwell right now can withdraw from the match without affecting their teammates, cough cough cough."

"Does anyone want to give up?" he asked, looking around at the crowd.

"At this point, who would give up?" he muttered to himself, spitting out his teeth.

He will definitely not give up.

"Sorry, I give up," a white-haired man said slowly, raising his hand.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound.

"Senior Kabuto?" Sakura couldn't help but call out.

It was the senior who had quieted them down in the classroom during the first exam.

Sasuke glanced at him and then looked away. Someone who failed the test seven times was not worth his attention.

Naruto yawned, feeling a bit bored. He figured it was a waste of time and he might as well train a little longer.

"Yakushi Kabuto, right? You can leave now." Gekko Hayate glanced at the roster and nodded.

Dou nodded and silently left.

The Third Hokage looked at Kabuto and suddenly said, "I've seen him several times now, and each time he withdraws before the final exam. What's he thinking?"

Upon hearing this, Ibihi's heart skipped a beat. As the head of the interrogation team, he was particularly sensitive to such matters.

“Hongdou?” He looked at Hongdou, who had information on all the participants in this event.