As ti went by, so more candidates arrived at the central sentry tower having successfully acquired both the Scrolls. The ones to arrive first after Agakure’s Raijin squad were Sunagakure’s squad consisting of Temari, Itsuki, and Shira.
Unsurprisingly, the trio of Temari, Itsuki, and Shira had defeated the trio of Shikamaru, Ino, and Chōji and acquired the scroll that they needed to pass the second phase of the Joint Chūnin Promotion Exam.
Once the three of them had gathered both the scrolls, they did not dilly-dally or take unnecessary risks by continuing to attack other teams in the Forest of Death but directly ca to the Central to complete the second phase and qualify for the third phase of the exam.
Arriving at the waiting room, the three Sunagakure noted the identity of other two teams that had qualified, naturally, they were quite interested in Agakure and Konohagakure’s Genin squad, but they did not co forward to strike up a conversation, rather they only observed from a distance.
The squad to arrive after the Sunagakure squad was unexpectedly Konoha’s Team-8 comprising Abura Shino, Haruno Sakura, and Sai, their arrival was followed by Kirigakure’s Team i. Then Kumogakure’s squad comprised Darui, Shee, and Atsui.
Entering the waiting area, Shee and Atsui were vigilant against Raijin, Samsara, and Tengu. They did not dare let down their guard for a single mont. The previous fight against the Agakure squad had left a deep scar in their mind, and it took a lot of effort on Shee’s part to heal Darui’s injuries. Moreover, when the mory of Raijin not having sustained any injury from his fight against Darui ca to their mind, they were horrified.
Noticing their horror, Raijin only shrugged, not caring what the ninjas of Kumogakure thought.
After that, Otogakure’s Genin squad comprised of Iburi Yukimi, Jūgo, and Hebihi arrived, and then, Naruto, Sasuke, Mika, as well as Neji, Lee, and Kiyomi also rushed to the Central Tower. Team-7 had already collected two scrolls from their fight against the two Otogakure squads they faced before fighting Kimimaro, Haku, and Guren. In order to thank Team-5 for their help against the Kusagakure Kunoichi and the Agakure squad, Team-7 gave one of those scrolls to Team-5, and together, both squads passed the second phase of the Joint Chūnin Promotion Exam.
…
As Team-7 and Team-5 together arrived at the waiting area, they too noticed Agakure’s squad, but unlike others who dared not approach them, under the gaze of everyone in the waiting room, Naruto strode over and pointing at Raijin, he spoke, “Raijin, I lost before, but next ti, I will definitely win!”
Raijin smirked, “You think?”
“Damn right, I’ll win, believe it!” declared Naruto, not at all afraid of Raijin.
“In that case, I look forward to crushing you once again,” chuckled Raijin.
Naruto seed to want to speak more but was quickly pulled back by Mika who observed the other squads in the waiting room. Imdiately, she noticed Team-8 and Team-6 waving toward them. Noticing Team-8 and Team-6, several mbers of Team-5 and Team-7 went to talk with them, anwhile, Sasuke sat alone with a cold expression on his face that signaled others not to approach him. It’s just that the redness and swelling on his face hadn’t completely disappeared, and his eyes were a little dazed so that combined with his gloomy and cold temperant, he appeared rather funny to a few individuals, especially, Shion, Karatachi Tamako, Hebihi, and Temari, but Sasuke was too preoccupied with sothing to pay them any mind. He was also scanning the surroundings with an unfocused expression as if looking for a few individuals.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Suddenly, the central tower shook as the sound of explosions ca from a distance. Even if nine squads had already qualified, the second phase of the exam was still going on, and it was obvious that this shaking and rumbling was the result of an ongoing battle.
Feeling all the shaking, Shion–who was dozing off–woke up pursing her lips, and questioned Hinata, “Who’s responsible for this?”
Before Hinata could check out who was responsible, Hebihi of Otogakure answered her, “Must be Deidara from Iwagakure.”
The others pondered for a mont and nodded, “Yes, it must be him.”
“Damn it, that idiot, I can’t even sleep because of him!” muttered Shion in a dissatisfied tone, and asked, “What’s he doing there anyway, with his capability, he should have collected both the scrolls long ago.”
“Maybe he is admiring art,” said Raijin with a chuckle.
Hearing Raijin’s words, everyone in the waiting room looked at him weirdly wondering why Deidara of Iwagakure would waste his ti ‘admiring art,’ but Raijin had no intention of explaining.
At this ti, Karatachi Tamako spoke to the others in the waiting room, “The proctor said that a maximum of twenty-two squads will qualify for the next round, but looking at it, only nine have managed to qualify so far, I wonder how long it will take all of them to qualify…”
Temari snorted, “Twenty-two? That’s only the ideal case! So many of them are already dead, there is no way any more than twelve or thirteen are going to qualify. Nine are already here, at most three or four more will manage.”
Several others in the waiting room seed to agree with Temari.
Shee of Kumogakure glanced at Raijin and Shion as he said, “Deidara of Iwagakure hasn’t arrived yet, with his strength, it shouldn’t be difficult to collect both scrolls, so Iwagakure’s squad is definitely going to qualify.”
Hebihi also added with a proud smirk, “Obviously, our Haku-sama, Guren-chan, and Kimimaro-sama will also qualify, I doubt anyone can stop them.”
The Genins of Konoha, especially Team-7 agreed with Hebihi’s claim as Naruto said, “Yeah, Kimimaro, Haku-chan, and Guren are really strong, their squad will definitely qualify.”
Sasuke on the other had a gloomy expression as he clenched his fist.
Sakura raised her fingers and began to count, “So that ans one squad is Iwagakure’s, while the other is from Otogakure, what about the other two teams that may possibly qualify?”
Temari and Sasuke blurted out at the sa ti, “Obviously it will be Kankurō’s squad!” “It can only be the Kusagakure’s squad!”
The others in the waiting room looked at Temari & Sasuke and tried recalling the details of these two squads.
Ti passed slowly and before they knew it, the second phase of the Joint Chūnin Promotion Exam had ended.
“Huh? What do you an the second phase is over? Where are the rest of the squads?” asked Naruto.
The others in the waiting room had the sa doubts as Naruto and looked at Itachi for answers.
Itachi did not explain much, “You’ll get your answers, for now, follow …”
The others agreed as they followed Itachi and soon arrived at an Arena.
…
Arriving at the Arena, the candidates discovered that the representatives of the major five shinobi villages as well as Elders from other small villages were also present. Additionally, there were also Iwagakure’s squad comprising of Deidara, Kurotsuchi, and Suzubachi waiting at the arena.
Once everyone discovered Iwagakure’s squad, they also learned that Iwagakure’s squad had eliminated all the other squads participating in the second phase of the Joint Chūnin Promotion Exam and beca the last squad to qualify. As a result, only ten squads managed to qualify for the second phase of the Exam.
Learning this piece of information, Sasuke was in disbelief which was followed by a feeling of unwillingness in his heart, ‘Kimimaro and that Damn Kusagakure Kunoichi, how could they get eliminated? Damn it, both of them should have been defeated by !’
His hands were clenched and for a mont he couldn’t even breathe at the thought of not being able to take revenge for humiliating him!
Whoosh!
Suddenly, Kakashi appeared beside Team-7 and put his hand on Sasuke’s shoulder, calming the young Uchiha, “Calm down Sasuke.”
Sasuke slowly raised his head, “Kakashi-sensei.”
Kakashi seed to see through Sasuke’s thoughts, and said, “There is no need to be concerned over things that you can’t control, you should focus on the things ahead of you.”
Sasuke asked with an unwilling expression, “Kimimaro and that Kusagakure Kunoichi, how could they get eliminated?”
Kakashi sighed as he explained, “Neither of them was eliminated. Shiore of Kusagakure did not seem to care about the Chunin Exam at all and left Konohagakure, also, we have received so intelligence that seems to tell that the ‘Shiore’ participating in the Exam was not a Kusagakure Kunoichi, rather, it was soone else using her identity, the original Shiore was found dead by the people of Kusagakure.
This information is still a secret that not even people of other Shinobi Villages know, make sure to keep that in mind, we are still investigating the person who took over her identity. It seems to have sothing to do with a traitorous ninja of Konoha.”
“Wh-what? Sothing like that…” Sasuke was stunned.
Kakashi continued, “As for Kimimaro, his squad voluntarily abstained.”
“Voluntarily abstained?” mumbled Sasuke in disbelief, and asked, “But why would he?”
Kakashi shook his head, “I am not completely certain, but it seems to have sothing to do with his body.”
Sasuke beca quiet nobody knew what he was thinking.
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