45 Ch 44 : The beginning of the Chunin Exam third stage

Read up to ten chapters ahead in my p.a.t.r.e.o.n

www.pâtreon.com/rysangel

. . . . .

Two weeks passed swiftly since the last spar between Sanada and Sasuke. And the day of the third stage of the Chunin Exams had finally arrived.

During the past week, Orochimaru made no fewer than five attempts to implant the cursed seal on Sasuke's body. But with the joint effort of Sanada and Kakashi, Orochimaru was successfully repelled and Sasuke was free of the cursed mark.

Another change from the original timeline was the fact that Hayate Gekkō was able to survive the night and told the Hokage about the Konoha Crush plan.

It was Sanada that blocked the wind blade of Baki which in turn allowed Hayate Gekkō to escape.

However, despite Konoha already knowing about the plan they could only take some extra precautions since there wasn't any way they could entirely cancel the Chunin Exam.

There was just too much interest behind the Chunin Exam and canceling it was simply not an option.

Sanada had brought Sakura, Ami, Karin, and Hibachi to the venue while Sasuke followed Kakashi with the other team 7 members.

----

As all the participants gathered at the center of the open stage, countless cheers could be heard.

The civilians here clearly had no idea that this stage would only be an appetizer for what was awaiting them behind the scenes.

In a line from left to right stood: Temari, Gaara, Sakura, Ami, Sasuke, Naruto, Neji, Shino, Shikamaru and Dosu.

It was unknown why, but it seemed like Dosu wasn't killed by Gaara in this timeline and therefore he would still be participating in the Chunin Exam.

Sanada looked at the scene in front of him with some complex expressions. His arrival here had begun to change the timeline.

At first, his impact on the timeline was very small, like helping team seven against Haku and Zabuza. But now, Sanada could be said to have been messing with almost half of the plot of the Shippuden.

With his help, Orochimaru couldn't implant the cursed seal on Sasuke, which would most likely lead to Sasuke not choosing to defect and going to Orochimaru.

With all the changes in the plot, Sanada could only sigh and continue working towards the best outcome.

Sanada then shifted his attention towards the highest balcony where the Hokage and Kazekage were sitting.

Sanada was feeling very conflicted about this. On one side, he wanted to help the Hokage to survive the predicament, but on the other hand, Sanada had read too many theories about Sarutobi's backhand on all the problems in Konoha.

It could be said that every significant problem that occurred in Konoha involved Sarutobi and Danzo. Letting him die and letting Tsunade take over would definitely be the better choice, but why did he have heartache when he thought about the third Hokage dying.

In the end, Sanada could only chuck his thoughts in the back of his head. Overthinking would not help right now. He was not someone with a 200 IQ like Shikamaru. Even though he was a transmigrator, the real Naruto world was more vast than what could be seen in the anime. It would be a lie if he said he was able to control the world just because he knew the anime plot.

Soon, the third Hokage announced the start of the Chunin Exam finals.

The first battle was one of the most famous battles in the OG Naruto anime, Neji Vs. Naruto. It was also the first debut of the popular talk-no-jutsu that could even make Obito into an ally.

As expected the audience was very excited when they saw the two Genin battling.

Be it Naruto with his shadow clones or Neji's Hyuga style Taijutsu, they both clearly had an excellent visual impact that could capture the audience. Let's say if one of them were to be replaced by a true Jonin like Sanada, he could only say that the battle would be boring.

Other than some jutsu like revolving heaven and Naruto's Kyuubi power at the late stage of the battle, it was all pretty much standard.

(E.N: Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven aka Hakkesho Kaiten)

Don't get him wrong, Naruto and Neji were good, but they were still Genin. They were also to emotional and easily influenced in battle, something that was undoubtedly taboo in a high-level ninja battle.

And just like in the anime, Naruto eventually won the battle proving to Neji that fate could be defied with hard work.

Sanada's internal mind: 'Yeah, as if you are not the child of destiny that was foreseen to bring the peace of the ninja world, son of the fourth Hokage with the Uzumaki bloodline, Jinchuriki of Kyuubi....'

When the battle was over, Neji was brought back with a stretcher while Naruto returned to the waiting room with a huge grin covering his face.

Pity him, even though he won this battle he didn't know that he would stay as a Genin until he became a Hokage much later.

The battle just now was pretty entertaining, but what the audiences have been truly waiting for was the next battle.

"Uchiha Sasuke Vs. Gaara."

The battle between the last child of Uchiha and a super-strong Genin from Sunagakure. More than probably half the audience came here just to watch this battle while the rest of the matches were just extras.

Sasuke and Gaara heard their names being called and they immediately headed down to the battle arena.

But one small detail that Sanada noticed was that the little edgy brat gave him a slight nod and a small smile before going down to the battle arena.

'Hehe, that edgy brat. I don't know why, but it seems like his personality has become a bit lovelier.'