39 Preliminaries

Soon we reached the tower. I took the scrolls from naruto, towards the stall that was set-up for collecting them. "leaf village's genin squad 7 - Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Haruno Sakura have passed the second stage of the chuunin exams. Time of clearance - Twenty-six hours, please report to your assigned room on the second floor. You are requested to come and collect your scrolls once again at the one-twentieth hour, following which you are to open your scrolls at the same time. You are now dismissed," the man in the stall said.

Days passed during which me, sakura, and naruto trained for a bit as we hunted for beasts together. "let's open the scroll," I said. Both naruto and sakura opened it at the same time and threw it to the floor.

In the highest room of the tower, a man on the tv screen communicated. "anko-sama, twenty-one second exam finishers have been confirmed. As for the third exam, according to the regulations of the chuunin exams. Preliminaries are planned for the first time in five years. The second exam is over." the man reported as the message came to an end. The third hokage has also watched the message play along with anko. Hiruzen took a breath before he started to speak.

"For the time being continue the exam as is. But while keeping an eye on his movements," hiruzen said as he left the room. "yes" anko affirmed.

After opening the scroll, we went to a huge hall with two humongous hands depicting the tiger hand seal. The hokage had the seven jounin leaders stand behind him while four examiners on both his left and his right sides accompanied him. Anko started speaking in a loud and clear voice as she looked towards the twenty-one genins gathered in front of her. "First off, congratulations on finishing the second exam."

Meanwhile, Chouji started to rub his growling stomach as he said. "I'm feeling hungry." Shikamaru looked towards where naruto and I stood."Sasuke and the others have passed, too," ino chirped.

"of course. Didn't you see what Sasuce did in the forest?" shikamaru asked as he turned back to Anko.

Back where the jounins stood "Your team didn't do too bad. i guess they were lucky. But as long as my team is around, they can't go any higher." Gai said and looked towards Kakashi. "Huh? Did you say something?" kakashi asked. 'Oh! my godddddd!!!!' Gai screamed in his head. Meanwhile, hiruzen stared at me and then towards orochimaru who was dressed up as a jounin that led his sound ninja team.

"Now then, we will now have the explanation of the third exam from the third hokage. Listen carefully, everybody" anko said as she took her place by the side of hiruzen. Hiruzen then stepped forth. "ahem. Before the explanation of the third exam that we will start from now, i have just one thing i want to tell everyone flat out. About the true purpose of these exams. Why do allied nations conduct exams on a conjoint basis? Raising the levels of the ninja and friendship among allied nations. It won't do to have the wrong idea of the true meaning of that statement. These exams are so to speak..."

"A microcosm of the battle between allied nations. If we look back on history, The allied nations of today were once neighboring nations, that continued to vie with each other and battle for power. In order to avoid a futile crushing of each other's military strength, Those nations mutually selected a place to battle. And that was how the chuunin exams originally began. These exams provide as a venue for ninjas who carry their nation's pride on their backs to fight for their lives. Many feudal lords and those of prominence from many nations who request ninjas for work are invited to this third exam as guests."

"And, the feudal lords and head ninja of each village of the nations will watch your battles. If the gap in national power becomes unbridgeable, the strong nations are inundated with job requests. The requests of nations deemed weak, on the other hand, decline. And therewithal, we can exert pressure upon each neighboring nation. That is to say, just how much military strength our village is developing and has."

"The village's strength is the ninja's strength. And the true strength of the ninja is created only in a fight for one's life. This exam is a place to see the strength of home country ninjas and a place to display this as well. It is because it's an exam where you truly fight for your life, that this has meaning. It's for this very reason that you forerunners fought in this exam, a dream worth striving for. It is a custom, where balance is preserved by fighting and removing life. This is a fight for life with the pride of the village and one's dream on the line. That is what the chuunin exam is all about." Hiruzen concluded upon which a ninja landed beside him.

"Hokage-sama, please allow me gekko hayate who was given the right to judge this stage to explain the rules of the third stage." "I leave it to you." Hiruzen said as he left the stage.