Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

"Yakumo? Are you alright?"

Fujika came to Yakumo's side and asked with concern.

"The energy expenditure was a bit high, but there are no other problems. Fujika, Hotaru, you two don't look too well, though?"

"I'm just too tired, but it's nothing serious."

Ying's answer was concise and clear.

Seeing that the distance between them and the Sand Ninja was widening, the girl really didn't want to say another word. She just wanted to get to the central tower as soon as possible and find a chance to rest for a while. Yakumo didn't say anything more. After confirming that Gaara was far enough away, she immediately led her companions and ran towards the central tower, which was not far away.

There were still about two hours until noon when the sun would reach its zenith.

If nothing unexpected happens along the way,

Getting to the central tower shouldn't be a problem.

On the other side, seeing Yakumo and the others leave, Temari and Kankuro breathed a heavy sigh of relief, finally ending this agonizing tug-of-war. However, when they saw the sand sphere disintegrate, revealing Gaara's figure, they gasped again.

"Gaara? Are you... feeling alright?" Temari mustered her courage and asked cautiously.

"No problem."

Gaara turned to look at Temari and Kankuro, paused for a few seconds, and then continued, "Thanks to that Konoha ninja, I was able to get a good night's sleep, which is rare for me. I'm in good condition now... There's no need to worry about me losing control for the time being."

"...That's good, that's good."

Temari breathed a slight sigh of relief.

But then he realized something and his eyes widened. "Gaara, you said you were asleep? Then... then... doesn't that mean that Konoha ninja was with...?"

"That's right. We've been able to suppress the One-Tailed Beast for the past two days thanks to that Konoha ninja. Otherwise, it would have gone berserk and out of control long ago!"

"...How is this possible? It can actually suppress the One-Tailed Beast?"

Temari felt a splitting headache. "So, it's already been revealed that Gaara is the Jinchuriki of the One-Tailed Beast? Can the exams continue?" While surprised by Yakumo's strength, she also considered another issue.

If Konoha knew that Gaara was the Jinchuriki of the One-Tailed Beast, would they still allow them to participate in the later exams?

"It shouldn't be related, right?"

Kankuro seemed unconcerned. "It's true that Gaara is a Jinchuriki, but he's also a Genin. Konoha didn't say that Jinchuriki can't participate in this Chunin Exam. Besides, instead of worrying about this, shouldn't we hurry up and get to the Central Tower? If we miss the deadline and get eliminated, we won't have to worry about this anymore."

"That's true."

Temari took a deep breath of the cold air and looked at her youngest brother, "Gaara?"

"Let's go!"

Gaara didn't follow in Yakumo and the others' footsteps, but instead took a longer route towards the tower. He did this to avoid another conflict with Yakumo and the others.

[Chapter 443 Preliminary Rounds]

Around 11 o'clock, Yakumo and her group finally arrived at the central tower. Waiting for them was a Chunin proctor who didn't play any tricks but directly verified the authenticity of the Heaven and Earth Scroll before announcing that they had passed the second round of testing. He then led the girls to the training ground located on the lower level of the tower.

This is a fairly spacious area, about four or five times the size of a standard training ground, and the height is equivalent to four stories above ground. There is a corridor on the wall along the side of the field. Overall, it looks a bit like an indoor stadium, but compared to the stadium in someone's mind, this training ground has a strong ninja style.

The huge statue with hand seals set up at the north end of the training ground, the shuriken symbol engraved on the surrounding walls, and a large number of Konoha ninjas standing in twos and threes on the high corridor, most of whom are Jonin, with only a small group of Chunin examiners.

Yakumo and the others also saw many familiar faces standing in the corridor.

This included their team leader, Jonin Uchiha Chihaya.

"Yakumo, Fujika, Hotaru, you've finally arrived!" Naruto, standing in the center of the training ground, waved and shouted, drawing the girls' attention away from the group of Jonin who were looking down at them and towards the Genin gathered in the center of the training ground.

There were quite a few people gathered on the practice field at this moment. Looking around, there were probably more than twenty or even thirty people. If you include the three of them, the number definitely exceeded thirty.

This number,

There really aren't many.

It's important to know that there were a total of 32 teams participating in the second round of exams, which is 96 people. However, the genin gathered here at this moment only numbered a little over 30, leaving only one-third of the personnel. Although not all of the remaining two-thirds of the genin died, very few survived.

"I was unlucky and ran into a tough opponent."

Yakumo walked towards where Naruto and the others were. Almost all the Konoha genin had gathered in one place. Not only Naruto's team, but also Nara Shikaku's team, Inuzuka Kiba's team, Hyuga Neji's team, and so on were there. Including Yakumo and her group, there were a total of fifteen people.

That's already half.

The remaining half were all from Kumogakure, Kirigakure, and Iwagakure; there wasn't a single team from a small ninja village in sight. This result wasn't particularly surprising; it was expected. These rounds of tests couldn't be passed by luck alone.

Even on Konoha's side, apart from Naruto's team and Hyuga Neji's team, teams like Nara Shikaku's team and Inuzuka Kiba's team didn't arrive much earlier than Yakumo's team. In terms of condition, they were about the same as Yakumo's team. It's not that everyone was injured, but if you look closely, you really can't find anyone in either team who wasn't injured.

Clearly, they had faced many dangers to reach the tower.

In other words, Naruto's team was strong and lucky. They arrived at the tower three days ago and rested and recuperated there for three days. Everyone was full of energy and radiant.

"Did you encounter that Sand Ninja squad with the gourds on their backs?" Naruto asked in a low voice as Yakumo approached.

"Naruto, have you noticed that team?"

"Yeah, I ran into him before the Chunin Exams. That Sand Ninja with the gourd on his back was really strong."

"really."

Yakumo nodded. "That is indeed a formidable opponent."

Did we win?

"No."

"······That?"

"They're behind, they'll be here soon."

Regardless of whether Gaara borrowed the power of the One-Tailed Beast to hold off Yakumo for several days, the Tailed Beast is their asset. It's the same as bloodline limits and family secret techniques. If the Tailed Beast can be extracted, then wouldn't the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan also be taken away?

Although Gaara conceded defeat

However, Yakumo didn't think she had really won. In her view, it was just a draw, and she wasn't even 100% confident of winning the next time they met. This was because Gaara had already seen through her methods and knew how to defend against her illusions. He even had a way to defend against her five senses-controlled illusions.

That sturdy sand ball is not easy to break.

Next time we'll face each other again.

It seems we'll have to resort to a forceful attack using methods that mimic reality.

"Naruto, you guys arrived early. Did you hear about the upcoming exam format?" Yakumo asked.

"I don't know."

Naruto shook his head. "Those of us who arrived early were notified to gather here at this time. These past few days, we've been resting behind closed doors in the tower. Our meals are delivered to the door by the examiners, so we haven't had any contact with anyone other than the examiners."

"That's it!"

Yakumo narrowed his eyes.

Looking around again at this training ground she was seeing for the first time, and seeing the Jonin standing on the high corridor, she had a vague guess in her mind. Judging from the looks of it, another round of exams was probably waiting for them, and they probably wouldn't be given time to rest.

after all,

They couldn't get here sooner.

According to Naruto's words, she realized that collecting all the Heaven and Earth Scrolls was only the passing score for the second round of the test. "Sooner or later" was another important factor in the second round of the test. There was a difference between arriving at the tower earlier and arriving later. Arriving earlier would allow her to conserve her energy at the tower, while arriving later would mean facing the predicament of fighting while exhausted.

"Fujika, Hotaru, hang in there, now is not the time to rest."

Yakumo turned to his two drowsy companions and spoke.

"No way? We've already passed two rounds of exams without stopping, and we're going to keep going?" Fujika couldn't help but complain and started blatantly slandering the Sixth Hokage, calling him a "torture maniac," saying things like, "His brain must be broken," and "He's so petty."

Yakumo was speechless for a moment.

Ying also shut her mouth and pretended to be a wooden doll.

Others, such as Naruto and Sasuke, also chose to remain silent.

At that moment, Gaara and his group entered the training ground just before the deadline. Then, the number on the electronic display screen hanging high up changed, and it was twelve o'clock. The second round of the Chunin Selection Exams had ended. The door on the stairs behind Gaara and the others closed with a "snap".

at the same time,

On a small platform in front of the hand seal sculpture, more than ten figures appeared in the blink of an eye.

Among these dozen or so people, the most eye-catching was none other than the Sixth Hokage, Uchiha Sogen, standing in the very center. Today, the Sixth Hokage was fully armed, wearing a Hokage hat, a white Hokage robe, and a red ninja outfit underneath, just like the photos of past Hokage hanging on the wall of the Hokage's office.

On either side of Sogen were more than ten Jonin. Two of them caught the attention of Yakumo, Naruto, Gaara, Hyuga Neji, and others. They couldn't help but turn their gaze to the two Jonin standing beside Sogen. One had black hair and the other had white hair. Their appearances were ordinary, but... their chakra gave off an aura that was anything but ordinary.

"That's impressive! They've already set their sights on us so quickly?"

The black-haired ninja couldn't help but break into a happy smile.

"Big brother, shut up. It's not our turn to speak now."

Another white-haired Jonin rebuked him.

just,

After Zongxian and the others arrived at the training ground, the whispers that had been floating above the ground instantly disappeared. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. How could they not hear the friendly exchange between the two Jonin? Most of the Genin didn't react much, just staring intently at the Hokage.

The Jonin, on the other hand, chose to turn a deaf ear, simply coming down from the corridors on both sides and lining up in a V-shape to support the Hokage.

It has to be said that the scene was quite imposing.

The sight of so many Jonin standing in perfect unison immediately created an invisible aura. The Genin, who were originally scattered on the training ground, hesitated for two seconds before some astute individuals, such as Hyuga Neji, took the lead in lining up in small teams, forming a straight line. In just five or six seconds, the Genin had formed a formation of three rows and eleven columns.

"They all reacted quite quickly."

Zongxian spoke the first words, his gaze fixed on the genin from the five great ninja villages.

"The fact that you've made it this far shows that you are all among the best genin. In a normal Chunin Exam, most of you would already be guaranteed to become Chunin. However... unfortunately, this is a Chunin Exam jointly held by all the ninja villages in the entire ninja world."

Zongxian didn't use any fancy tricks or spout any intimidating platitudes. Instead, he bluntly revealed a rather cruel fact to these genin: "Although I, as the Hokage, can only govern the ninjas of Konoha, I can tell you unequivocally that unless you perform exceptionally well in the final round, no matter which village you come from, you will not be able to become a chunin in this Chunin Exam."

A small commotion immediately broke out among the genin.

However, as the Jonin lined up on both sides looked over, the commotion immediately subsided. No one dared to utter a word, not even the Sixth Hokage's disciple and sister, who remained frozen in shock.

Zongxian ignored the changes in the genin and continued, "Eleven teams and thirty-three genin, that's too many, really too many. I originally thought that the second round of exams would eliminate only four or five teams, which would be about ten people each, so that we could directly prepare for the finals."

"Unfortunately, something went wrong. Two teams that were scheduled to participate in the finals met up early, which resulted in... so many people making it to the tower by chance. However, it's impossible for all of you to participate in the finals. There will be many VIPs attending the finals, and time is limited, so we can't drag it out too much. Therefore, we will now hold the third round of preliminary rounds here, cutting the number of participants in half again."

There was still complete silence.

The genin listened quietly.

however,