Narration system starting from Konoha

Countless grains of sand surged forward, attempting to engulf Lee Rock.

"Boom."

Matt Kai appeared in the middle of the match and shoved the sand away.

[Might Guy's appearance made Gaara feel lonely once again. Everyone has someone who cares about him, but Gaara is a solitary demon.]

The sand flowed slowly, reforming into a sand armor on Gaara's body, concealing all his injuries as if he had never participated in a battle.

"never mind."

Gaara stood up and left the stage. No one cheered for him from the stands, and no one cared whether he was injured. Only the gently flowing sand brushed against his cheek, like a mother's soft murmur, always protecting him.

Kankuro remained silent, thinking to himself that Gaara was indeed formidable, and victory was only natural.

Temari wanted to show concern for her younger brother, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything.

The medical ninjas prepared in the tower quickly took Rock Lee away, but judging from Might Guy's serious expression, Lee's condition was not optimistic.

The match was paused for half an hour as the arena was quickly cleaned up.

The large screen started scrolling again.

The scene quickly freezes, showing Nara Shikamaru fighting against the Sound Ninja Gold.

Sakura glanced around, her expression a little unnatural, and said, "I'm not here, Naruto. We're not going to run into each other, are we?"

Sakura was uncertain; there were only a few people left, and apart from Ino, none of them seemed easy to deal with.

Naruto scratched the back of his head and said, "If we really meet, I'll let you have your way, Sakura."

"Boom."

Sakura punched Naruto on the head and said, "Hmph, I don't need you to give way to me."

P.S.: I checked each chapter after it was released, but I didn't expect there to be so many typos. I will take the next couple of days to go through all the chapters and correct the errors and punctuation.

Thank you for your corrections, fellow readers.

(

Chapter Sixty-Seven: Two Arrogant People

[This is troublesome, it's a female ninja] Shikamaru jumped onto the arena half-dead.

"Shikamaru, how dare you look down on female ninjas! I'll deal with you when we get back!" Ino shouted.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Ino was so naive and simple-minded; she didn't even know how to give him any face.

"Kid, stop talking nonsense. It's not too late to admit defeat now, otherwise you'll only lose even more miserably," Jin said.

[Shikamaru already had a way to deal with the Sound Ninja. Having witnessed the previous two battles in which the Sound Ninja suffered crushing defeats, Shikamaru, with his intelligence, had already analyzed the Sound Ninja's fighting methods.]

"What a nuisance, the narration gave us away."

"Don't look down on people."

"Shh."

Two flying needles were launched silently, and Shikamaru quickly retreated while rolling over repeatedly.

Two more flying needles followed in quick succession, but Shikamaru easily dodged them both.

Jin was disdainful, thinking Shikamaru was so strong, but he had still fallen into his trap.

"Ding-a-ling." A melodious bell sound rang out.

Shikamaru's expression turned panicked.

"you"

"Hmph, so this is what you call finding a weakness against the Sound Ninja? How arrogant! Die, brat."

Jin beamed with pride, as if victory was already within his grasp, but he failed to notice that he had been tricked by Shikamaru; Shikamaru's panic was merely a deliberate ploy.

Jin immediately felt a powerful sense of restraint, as a dark shadow connected to his body.

Shikamaru gently raised his hand and took out two earplugs from his ears.

"Your technique is very subtle, but it was weakened a lot by the earplugs. The illusion disappeared the moment it appeared."

Shikamaru didn't give Kin much time to react, quickly retreating and bending over abruptly.

Jin, who was close to the wall, crashed into it and passed out.

"The winner is Nara Shikamaru."

Asuma nodded. Ino was the only one in their class who hadn't participated in the battle yet. Hopefully, their opponent wasn't too strong, considering Ino's limited abilities.

Ino glared at Asuma. She'd never seen a teacher say their students were no good. Honestly, she used to think Asuma-sensei was quite responsible, but now he just looked like a slovenly man. His clothes were worn out from not washing them for ten days or two weeks, practically covered in grime.

"Pfft." Several genin who were taking the exam couldn't help but spit it out.

"Sorry, I just couldn't help it," Kong hurriedly apologized.

Asuma's gaze toward Ino was full of resentment.

The screen scrolled again, then quickly froze, showing Yamanaka Ino versus Haruno Sakura.

Everyone present was stunned. Ino's expression was not good, while Sakura looked serious.

"I never expected my opponent to be you, Sakura."

Sakura is actually grateful to Ino, because Ino always stood up for her when she was bullied as a child. She doesn't know when it started, maybe it was because of Sasuke, or maybe it was because of her girlish pride.

Sakura always remembered Ino's words: she was like a flower bud yet to bloom, and now was the time for her to fully blossom and prove herself. Only by giving it her all could she repay Ino.

"Come on, Ino, I won't hold back."

"Hmph, me too."

[Ino is just being stubborn. She remembers everything from her childhood perfectly. She just pretends not to care about anything. In reality, Ino, who has practiced the Mind Transfer Technique, is more sensitive and values ​​emotions more than anyone else.]

Sakura paused for a moment, without stopping at all.

The two charged at each other simultaneously, engaging in close-quarters combat. Although not intense, it was clear that they were both giving their all.

"As expected, women are a complex mix of contradictions, what a hassle," Shikamaru remarked.

Sora shook his head and said, "The two of them just want to prove themselves. Sakura wants to prove to Ino that she is no longer the little girl who cried and was bullied when she was a child."

Ino just wanted to test Sakura's strength with her full power. After all, being defeated by her was better than losing her life. In this respect, Ino was much better than you.

Shikamaru curled his lip and said, "Someone isn't much better than me; he's just as useless."

[Ku didn't want to continue arguing with Shikamaru and lower his own standards. As a highly intelligent ninja, he could tolerate one or two little bees buzzing in his ear as a form of amusement.]

Shikamaru scoffed, having already seen through Sora's plan: to provoke him into making more mistakes so that Sora could seize the opportunity to retaliate.

“You two are like nesting dolls, layer upon layer. Now there are only four people who haven’t had a match yet. I wonder who my opponent will be,” Ya said.

“Naruto,” Sora said softly, “There are still two men and two women left. The men will definitely be in one group and the women in another. They say it’s random, but can’t you see the trick?”

"Then I'm relieved, haha. I'm really sorry to have reserved a spot for the third round in advance."

An eerie silence fell over the area around the tooth, as countless gazes turned to see who was so shameless as to know they would win before the fight even began.

Sora patted Kiba on the shoulder and said, "Prejudice can kill you sometimes. How long has it been since you fought Naruto? Do you even remember when the last time was?"

He was speechless.

The battle below continues.

"Bang!" Sakura and Ino simultaneously struck each other in the face and were knocked backward.

He then stood up and began close-quarters combat again.

Kakashi nodded secretly. Sakura had improved a lot. Compared to when she first graduated and only thought about dating, she was now a qualified genin.

In the battle, Asuma favored Ino, even though Ino scolded him for being sloppy, saying his clothes were worn and he didn't care about his appearance. After all, Ino was his apprentice.

Asuma suddenly felt an urge to die; the narration had revealed his thoughts.

Kakashi patted Asuma on the shoulder and said, "You'll get used to it. There's nothing shameful about supporting your disciple, even if he always scolds you."

Asuma was speechless, feeling that Kakashi was starting to sound more and more like Uchiha Sora, just as hateful. How he missed the old Kakashi!

[Moonlight Gale is getting a little impatient; they've been fighting for ten minutes and still haven't decided a winner, it's already past the time limit.]

"Bang!" The two evenly matched opponents collided again, each flying out of the air.

Their exhausted bodies were covered in sweat; this was the most exhilarating battle they had ever had.

"Ino, I will definitely defeat you this time."

"Sakura, I could suppress you before, and I can still do it now."

"Shh."

The two charged forward again, striking each other violently in the abdomen; this time, neither of them got up.

Sakura smiled. She had finally stepped out of Ino's protection. From now on, she would go much further and would no longer be a little bud under the protection of the cosmos.

"I didn't expect to end up in a draw with you."

Ino remains aloof, but secretly she's happy for Sakura.

"There are no winners in this competition; Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka have both been eliminated."

Class 7 and Class 10 jumped down at the same time, carrying the two exhausted students to the high platform behind the railing.

The injuries on the two were not serious; the main problem was that the battle had lasted too long and their physical strength had been greatly depleted.

Chapter Sixty-Eight: The Smell

The match continued, and Tenten's appearance was truly stunning. Her technique of connecting hidden weapons with chakra threads was like flying on a sword.

However, the force was too light, and the match ended with Temari almost crushing her.

The final round began quickly, with only Naruto and Kiba remaining.