28 Chap.27 The chunin exam finals begin

(Thanks for pointing out a big mistake in the previous chapter, I've already fixed it!)

At last it was time for the last part of the chunin exam. Tony spent most of his time helping Karin adjust, restock the store, train, and a few other things.

He just took the day off a day before to get enough rest and relax. Remember to find a balance point between effort and relaxation.

If he remembered correctly, the original finalists were:

Neji

Naruto

Shikamaru

Temari

Gaara

Sasuke

He had to eliminate Neji after his trauma covered in mayonnaise. He was so outraged that he sought out Tony for days for a rematch, but luckily his clan noticed his behavior and locked him up until he calmed down.

—It seems that in the end Hayate was eliminated by Baki just like in the original —Tony thought after seeing the referee change.

He didn't remember much of it, so he just forgot about it until it was too late.

By now he had set up a barbecue in the waiting area and was nibbling on some ribs. He gave the store employees the day off to attend the finals and went out of business.

His biggest concern was who would take Neji's place in the confrontation with Naruto.

"Welcome to the last part of this year's chunin exams!" —Said a presenter as he began to make a presentation of each participant.

Was there a presenter in the original?

Never mind, they didn't even draw numbers for the matchup as expected after the Forest of Death fights.

"Now we'll call an innocent hand to draw the numbers that will decide the matchups!" —Tony could see how a girl of about five years old took balls out of a box and gave them to her mother so that she could show them to the presenter.

-In agreement! The matches will be as follows:

-First match: Temari vs Naruto

-Second match: Shikamaru vs. Sasuke

-Third match: Tony vs. Gaara

The crowd began to cheer as the matchups broke out and the betting shops opened. Tony nearly spit the delicious marinated meat at the point of it into his mouth when he saw that he had to fight Gaara.

He expected to face Temari or Shikamaru!

Innocent hand? Lies!

Tony smelled the scent of conspiracy miles away!

The others couldn't tell because they were too distracted by the aroma of juicy meat on the spice-covered grill next to him.

Surely that was why.

A shiver ran down his spine when he saw Gaara's smile when he found out that he would be his rival. Or as the tanuki boy probably thought, the sacrifice of him.

"Should I just make him see his blood from the start and save me the fight?" Tony considered seriously.

If he remembered correctly, Gaara's original opponent was Sasuke and what made him go mad was not the battle or the stress, but the sight of blood, his own blood.

He had some good knives, he could make her bleed easily even with his automatic sand defense. He had a plan for it.

But if he does that, he won't be able to put on enough performance for them to consider that he can become a chunin. In other words, he had to act for a while before forcing Gaara into a rage.

As the members of the Nara clan would say, that he annoys.

While Tony went over his plan in his head, Naruto and Temari went down to the arena and took their positions.

By the time he snapped out of his thoughts and turned his gaze to the confrontation, he could see Naruto come up from the ground and punch Temari in the jaw, defeating the kunoichi. Applause from the audience followed.

Tony blinked like an owl at the ridiculous similarity of his victory against Neji in the original.

Was this the power of the plot armor?

really worrying.

If he had chosen to act like a villain, he would have spit out a liter of blood when defeated by the power of friendship. That, or by the sudden POWER UP taken out of nowhere in a completely illogical way.

"That was a heartwarming showdown!" —said the presenter— What incredible power those wind techniques had! What a cunning way to reverse the situation! I am moved beyond tears!

Geez, I don't know where the presenter came from, but it's clear that he knows how to do his job.

You call that powerful wind techniques? Naruto was smart?

Since he's making stuff up, why doesn't he say it's the beginning of a forbidden love between two villages stemming from rivalry?

"Shikamaru and Sasuke, please come to the arena, it's your turn!"

The Nara clansman calmly went downstairs and after waiting a few minutes, Sasuke was nowhere to be found.

"I think he barely made it in time to face Gaara back then and it was the third match," Tony mused. "Does that mean Shikamaru will win because of his opponent's absence?"

That was Shikamaru's dream, to win without doing anything troublesome.

"Looks like Sasuke won't be able to attend due to some unknown reason," the announcer pointed out when the time limit was up. "Shikamaru wins by default!"

Shikamaru's smile was really hateful at the moment.

"Gaara and Tony, it's your turn!" said the presenter. "By the way, our young local ninja runs a ninja grocery store in the village with tremendous success due to the top quality ingredients, delicious dishes and convenient scrolls." Remember to visit the Kuku store located in XXXX sometime starting tomorrow, you will have an unforgettable memory on your palates!

Tony smiled when he saw the interest the audience showed at the unexpected announcement. It was especially evident in the tourists and foreigners, who seemed to take note of the address