Chapter 26 - Preliminary Part 1

The second test finally came to an end and it is time for all the remains team to gather together in the main hall of the tower, this hall is particularly spacious with two metal balconies at the sides and on the front wall the statue of two giant hands that forms a ram hand seal.

In front of the statue there are all the jonin-sensei of the remaining teams, all the examiners and the 3rd Hokage, looking at them Ren thought 'And once again nobody can see Pedomaru is right among them....come on he got the same facial feature same hair and eyes color the only things is that he is not pale and doesn't have the purple eyes marking....maybe those have the same effect of Clark Kent glasses...who knows'

As Ren was thinking unimportant things the Anko started speaking "First off, for the second test congratulation on passing! Hokage-sama will now explain the third test listen carefully"

And Sarutobi Hiruzen started his speech "For the coming of the 3rd test.... but before I explain that, there is something I'd like you to know, it concern the true reason for this exam" he smoke from his pipe "Why do we, all the alliance countries take the exam together? "To promote friendship among the countries", "to raise the level of shinobi", I do not want you to be confused about the true meaning of the exam"

Taking out of his mouth the pipe he continues "This exam is....a replacement for war among the countries, if you go back in time the allied countries were enemies who fought over who would rule, in order to prevent wasteful fighting the chunin exam was chosen as a stage for that battle"

At this point Naruto yells "Why the hell we have to do with that crap, isn't this thing to decide who become a chunin?", and the 3rd Hokage answer "It is a fact that this exam is for deciding who has what it take to become a chunin, but on the other hand this exam has another side where each village's ninja risk their own life to protect his village's prestige, watching this third test will be leaders and influential individual from many countries, who make up the clients of ninja".

And he continues by saying "If the strength of a village is clear, that village will receive more clients, and on the other hand if it is seen as weak, they will lose clients, and this will signal to potential enemy countries that "our village has this much power", so it also sends a political message to outsiders".

Then a certain dog-lover ask "Yeah but why!? Why do we have to risk our lives in battle?" and soon the 3rd answer and ends the speech "The strength of the country is the strength of the village, the strength of the village is the strength of the ninjas, and a ninja true strength is born only in a life and death battle, before we begin I will tell you one more thing, this is not just a test it is a life and death battle, with your dream and your country's prestige on the line".

"Now I'd like to explain the third test..." but the Hokage was interrupted by a ninja who appeared in front of the Hokage while kneeling "Forgive me Hokage-sama but as the referee, will you allow me Shiranui Genma to explain", and after the 3rd Hokage gave his consent Genma stood in front of the prospective chunin.

Genma has brown, shoulder-length hair which hangs about his face and brown eyes. He wears his forehead protector like a bandanna, and the standard jonin outfit and always has a senbon in his mouth.

"Hello everyone, my Name is Shiranui Genma and as you have heard I'm the referee for the third test, but before we begin I'd like you to do another things, as the last 2 test were too easy and too many passed we will do a preliminary test to cut down the numbers and decide who takes part in the main event"

And after he answer the question they had about why they had to do a preliminary Genma says "And so, those not feeling very well or those who want to quit after hearing these explanation please come forward now since we will start the preliminary immediately, and as this test is an individual one you can quit without worrying about your team"

And the one to raise his hand and forfeit is Kabuto, and while Kabuto is explaining to Naruto that he is retiring because since the start of the exam he has taken too much damage 'Like you a low-cost version of Wolverine can take too much damage during this exam....he took a Rasengan right in the stomach and after 2 sec he came out almost as good as new if not with chakra exhaustion' thought Ren.

Meanwhile two other things happened one the Hokage and the others examiners were talking about Kabuto unusual record and are starting to get a little suspicious, the other is the classic Sakura-Sasuke-Naruto drama and as that was happening Kakashi, the Hokage, Ibuki and Anko noticed that Sasuke was feeling pain from the cursed mark and then decide to continue watch over the situation and only intervene if the mark activate.

Seeing the no other wants to quit Genma said "Now let's begin the preliminary, this preliminary like the third test consist of one on one fighting, you will basically fight as if in a real life confrontation, and since we have an odd number of 23 participants we will conduct 11 fight the winner and the lucky one that did not fight will move on the third test"

And continues explaining "There are basically no rule one, the fight continue till one dies, gets knocked out or admit defeat, if you do not want to die quickly acknowledge your defeat, but when I decide that one is clearly winning, since we do not want to pointless increase the number of corpses, I'll jump in and stops things".

Then pointing is thumb at the electric scoreboard that appeared in the wall behind, 'And so Genma uses Technology-Outta-Nowhere no Jutsu' thought Ren,

Meanwhile Genma continues "This electric scoreboard will show the match-up for each battle, now this is sudden but let's announce the 2 names of the first fight"

And so everyone's attention is on the scoreboard who soon show the first match.

Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akado Yoroi