31 Conclusion of the Second Stage

Kabuto explained how Sasuke had battled Dosu and his team.

Orochimaru frowned "That boy, looks like our underlings did not provoke him intentionally then."

"Yes! Although I could not witness the potential in him like you had asked me to..."

"I'm sure that there will be plenty of opportunities soon...."

"Kabuto! You don't understand....." Orochimaru interrupted.

"What do you mean?, Orochimaru-sama."

"That boy currently lacks a power boost, something to fuel his hatred..."

"But, Isn't Uchiha Itachi, his driving force?" Kabuto asked...

"He is... However, currently that Naruto who is on his team is doing very well to keep Sasuke safe from any danger thus not exposing any of his power or hatred..."

"Even though the boy has fought battles, he has not survived it with his life on the brink of death..."

"Yesterday's plan was to have him receive the curse seal after having a close to death battle..."

Kabuto gulped thinking back to how Orochimaru had failed as well.

"Kabuto, Dosu has handed the Earth scroll to Naruto, thus their only course of action now is to go to the tower."

"At this point, I can only try attacking when Sasuke is on his own and drops his guard during the holidays or maybe during the destruction plan. Either way, he is going to be mine."

...

...

...

"Okay, everyone... The plan is to reach the tower as soon as possible since we already have the scrolls that we need" Naruto announced to which the remaining three nodded.

Naruto turned to Karin at this moment since he knew that he could not afford to get her involved if Orochimaru showed up suddenly.

"Karin, would you like to go back to your teammates?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke and Sakura also looked towards Karin.

Karin thought for a minute, after which she decided to follow the group.

..

..

..

The group of four ran through the forest in the direction of the tower.

"Stop!" Sakura cautioned the entire group as they landed on the spot.

Sakura then formed a tiger seal using her fingers.

"RELEASE!"

she shouted, causing the scene around to change a bit.

"Genjutsu field huh?" Naruto commented after which he closed his eyes

< SAGE MODE >

A layer of orange patch appeared over both his eyelids as he tried to sense the people who had cast the Genjutsu.

..

In an instant, about a 100 or so zombie-like clones started to crawl all over the floor.

"eeeehhhh!!" Sakura and Karin screamed seemingly terrified of the scene.

("I have found the originals, but if these clones will not be undone even if I take them down...") Naruto thought.

I think it is time to test that jutsu then.

Naruto murmured as he prepared a set of kunais.

<Rasen Flash Super Circle Dance Howl - Stage 1>

Naruto disappeared into the crowd, cleanly slashing all the zombies apart as he arrived at the location of the originals.

"crap!" ... "Not you again." one of the men spoke while the trio jumped off together.

"Sasuke!" Naruto called out.

"En" Sasuke nodded as he jumped towards the escaping three

<Hidden Taijutsu - Lion's Barrage >

Sasuke launched a torrent of kicks as he spun in the air, knocking the three of them out.

Sakura and Karin looked towards the duo, especially Naruto with wide-open eyes.

"Let's go," Naruto said as the group left once again following their intended path.

...

...

....

Soon they reached the tower.

Sasuke 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 - Sixty-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 after which Karin approached him by herself.

Karin reported what had happened to the man.

"By the rules of disqualification in the Second Stage of the Chuunin Exam, squad four from the Hidden Grass Village consisting of Uzumaki Karin and her Two teammates are disqualified."

"Please report to the room on the Highest floor, where further instructions will be intimated." The man said causing Karin to frown as she left towards the highest floor.

...

...

...

Two days passed during which Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto trained for a bit as they hunted for beasts together.

....

"Let's open the scroll," Naruto said.

Both Naruto and Sakura opened it at the same time and threw it to the floor.

....

....

....

Int 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.

...

...

...

...

The scene shifts 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....."

while Shikamaru looked towards where Naruto and Sasuke stood.

"Sasuke and the others have passed, too," Ino chirped.

"Of course...." Shikamaru nodded 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 looked towards Kakashi.

"Huh?"

"Did you say something?" Kakashi asked.

"Oh! my godddddd!!!!" Gai screamed in his head.

...

...

...

Meanwhile, Hiruzen stared at Naruto and then towards Orochimaru who was dressed up as a jounin that led his sound ninja team.

("Just how powerful is Naruto to take on Orochimaru?")

("Did he know that Orochimaru will come after Sasuke?")

Hiruzen thought.

....

"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 a 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."