Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

"Where did you get your puppet from?"

Kankuro, disregarding his own defeat, stared intently at Sakura and asked.

"It's spoils of war."

Sakura answered frankly.

She had asked the same question when she obtained the puppet, and Zongxian gave her the same answer, which the girl now copied verbatim: "Also, my puppetry skills are spoils of war. Alright, stop talking nonsense, take your puppet, the preliminaries are over."

Kankuro frowned, wanting to say something, but he noticed that the examiner, Gekko Hayate, had already returned to the dilapidated training ground. He had to swallow the many questions he wanted to ask. The other party was clearly unwilling to say more, and even if he pressed on, it would be difficult to get any results.

and,

This is Konoha.

The Sixth Hokage was watching from above; this wasn't a place for him to act recklessly. This matter... was beyond his control. He could only wait and tell Master Maki later. Puppet Technique was a secret of Sunagakure, and now that it had fallen into Konoha's hands, how to deal with it was probably a matter for his father to consider.

"I hereby declare the preliminary rounds over."

After announcing Sakura Haruno's victory in the sixteenth round, Hayate Gekko loudly proclaimed the end of the preliminary rounds and summoned all the winners to the venue, where the sixteen boys and girls who had secured tickets to the finals gathered together.

among them--

The ten Konoha ninja are Yakumo Kurama, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Neji Hyuga, Hinata Hyuga, Rock Lee, Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shikamaru Nara.

The two ninjas from Sunagakure were Temari and Gaara.

The two ninjas from Kumogakure are Karoi and Omoi.

Two ninjas from Kirigakure: Hozuki Suigetsu and Karatachi Rokuro.

Iwagakure...bad luck. They were completely wiped out, and not a single one of them made it to the finals. The faces of the departing Iwagakure genin were increasingly gloomy. Of the five great ninja villages, Iwagakure was the only one to be completely wiped out. There wasn't a single Iwagakure ninja in the finals. You can imagine what kind of treatment these losers will receive when they return.

Of course, the affairs of the losers are not worth paying much attention to. At least the ninjas from other ninja villages don't care much. The Cloud Ninja even showed schadenfreude. The Cloud Ninja still vividly remember the hatred they felt when their base was raided by the Iwa Ninja!

Such humiliation,

Unforgettable.

As for those small ninja villages not making the list... no one cares. This is to be expected. Not every small ninja village can produce a Hanzo of the Salamander. All the ninjas from the small ninja villages were eliminated in the second round. The preliminary round was simply a battle between the five major ninja villages.

"Everyone here has passed the preliminary rounds. Sixteen people... To be honest, that's a bit too many, but it's still within an acceptable range. So, congratulations on successfully advancing and getting your tickets to the third official match. Next, I will explain the rules of the third official match to you."

The moonlight and wind stopped, and the moonlight turned to look at Zongxian. "Lord Hokage?"

"Gale, thank you for your hard work. I'll handle the rest."

Zongxian waved his hand slowly and deliberately.

Hayate Gekko cleverly took two steps back, making the Hokage stand out.

Ignoring Moonlight Gale's subtle actions, Zongxian simply scrutinized the young men and women before him, a warm smile on his face.

"First of all, as the Sixth Hokage, I congratulate you on standing before me as victors. You can stand tall with pride. Victors deserve congratulations and glory. Of course, the only drawback is the lack of cheers and applause from the audience."

"But don't be disappointed, your journey is not over yet. In a month, you will step onto the final stage under the spotlight, and at that time, thunderous cheers will naturally ring out for your victory."

These words ignited the passion of the genin, who were itching to find an opponent and fight for another hundred or eighty rounds right there and then.

"Alright, enough with the nice words, let's get down to business. I know many of you are tired and want to rest, but I'm sorry, I can't announce the disbandment right now. There are still things I need you to do for the upcoming official competition."

After Zongxian finished speaking,

He turned his head and glanced at Hashirama Senju behind him.

"Come on, take a piece of paper from this box." Hashirama Senju came to the boys and girls with a box that had a hole in it, and said with a smile, "No need to rush, I'll come over, just take one by one."

Hozuki Suigetsu, standing on the far left, was the first to reach out and pull out a slip of paper.

Upon opening it,

The number 2 is clearly visible above.

The slip of paper next to him, Gojiro, had the number 6 on it.

This continued until Omoi, standing on the far right, drew out the last slip of paper.

"Have you all drawn them? Now, let's count them off one by one from left to right," Zongxian said softly.

"I am number 2."

"number 6."

···

"number 10."

Omoi spoke last.

As they announced their numbers, Tobirama Senju, standing to Sōgen's right, was rapidly jotting down notes on a writing board. Two seconds after Omoi finished speaking, Tobirama stopped writing, and Sōgen then asked, "Are you done?"

"They're all up there."

Tobirama Senju turned the writing tablet in his hand, allowing Sogen to see the whole picture.

Zongxian glanced at it, confirmed that there were no problems, and then turned his gaze back to the boys and girls, saying loudly, "The match-up list for your official competition in a month has been confirmed. You can check it yourselves."

As Sogen spoke, Tobirama Senju also flipped the writing board in his hand at the right time, showing everyone the tree diagram of the matchups. Some people had already expected this result, and even without looking at it, they knew who their opponent would be. Others suddenly realized and hurriedly stepped forward to find their own name and their opponent's name.

Round 1: Gaara vs. Hozuki Suigetsu;

Round 2: Kurama Yakumo vs. Temari;

Round 3: Naruto Uzumaki vs. Rokuro Karatachi;

Round 4: Kiba Inuzuka vs. Shikamaru Nara;

Round 5: Shino Aburame vs. Omoi;

Round 6: Uchiha Sasuke vs. Hyuga Neji;

Round 7, Sakura Haruno vs. Hinata Hyuga;

Round 8, Carlos vs. Lee Rock.

"One more thing to add: this is the final match schedule. The official competition will not be a round-robin elimination system. One month from now, on the day of the official competition, I will be serving as a judge along with the Mizukage, Kazekage, Tsuchikage, Raikage, the leaders of the other ninja villages, and the daimyo of various countries..."

Zongxian paused, took a breath, and continued, "We will make a final judgment based on your performance in the official competition. As long as someone is deemed outstanding enough, even if they are defeated by a stronger opponent, it will not prevent them from becoming a Chunin. You should understand what I mean?"

"Does that mean any of us could potentially become a Chunin?"

Hozuki Suigetsu raises his hand to ask a question.

"Yes."

Zongxian nodded in affirmation.

"Now I'll ask again, is there any other question?"

The group looked at each other, and no one raised any new questions.

"Well then, see you in a month." Zongxian flicked his sleeves. "You can disband now. Everyone go do what they need to do!"

[Chapter 451 That brat has guts]

"Useless, a bunch of useless trash!!!"

"They didn't even have a single person make it to the finals, what are they doing?"

Onoki was furious and flew into a rage.

That anger was as terrifying as a thunderbolt hovering overhead, and everyone in the Tsuchikage Building dared not breathe, lest they be perceived by the extremely angry Tsuchikage as expressing dissatisfaction and bear the brunt of his fury that could burn down mountains.

However, upon careful consideration of the intelligence that just came back from Konoha this morning,

It's no wonder the Tsuchikage was so angry. Even the most ordinary clerk in the building couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed after hearing that information... The Chunin Exams, an unprecedented event that brought together all the ninja villages in the ninja world, held in Konoha, have finalized their list of finalists after several rounds of selection.

Not surprisingly,

As the organizer and host, and the undisputed leader of the ninja world, Konoha occupied the majority of the field, with more than half of the contestants being Konoha ninjas. There were so many people that multiple internal battles had to be held. If it were just that, it would only attract the Tsuchikage's sarcastic remarks, but it wouldn't warrant such thunderous wrath.

What truly angered the Tsuchikage and infuriated all the Iwa ninja who knew about this information was that there wasn't a single Iwa ninja's name on the finalists' list.

Even worse,

Of the five great ninja villages, only Iwagakure didn't have a single representative who made it to the finals. The other three villages, Kirigakure, Sunagakure, and Kumogakure, each had two representatives who made it. This effectively left Iwagakure out of the running. When the daimyo and nobles from various countries arrived for the finals, they were left wondering what would happen.

Good grief, is the Iwa ninja really that bad?

The situation has deteriorated to the point where there is no one to carry on the legacy.

It seems I'll need to carefully consider whether the Iwa ninja are still useful when issuing commissions in the future... This kind of thought inevitably comes to mind.

Onoki had already envisioned the kind of setbacks the village's reputation would suffer in the future. Even if it didn't shake the foundation of Iwagakure, it would definitely affect the village's future development... In the next few years, he would probably have to continue to hold onto the Tsuchikage's throne and use his prestige to stabilize the village's peace.

"Lord Tsuchikage, so... are we still going to Konoha?"

"Huang Tu asked softly."

"Go, of course we're going, you idiot! Think before you speak! If we don't go, won't we be making enemies of Konoha? That Uchiha brat isn't like Hiruzen Sarutobi, who lost his courage while he was alive. That brat has guts... He definitely has the guts to come to the Land of Earth and cause trouble."

Onoki didn't care at all that Huangtu was his son, and he berated him mercilessly.

For this,

Huang Tu was quite helpless, but thanks to his heroic sacrifice, Onoki was able to vent some of the anger that had been building up in his chest. Huang Tu did not suffer the scolding for nothing, and he also received grateful looks from Wen Ya and the others.

"Then...why not send a letter to Konoha to protest and ask Konoha to readjust the final roster?"

With Huang Tu making an example, someone finally dared to speak up.

only--

This suggestion is incredibly absurd. Is the guy who said it out of his mind or just scared out of his wits?

"Idiot! Idiot!"

Onoki was so angry he almost fainted. How come he never realized how stupid the person who said that was? "Did a dog chew your brain? I've already made myself perfectly clear. The current Konoha is not the Konoha under Hiruzen Sarutobi's leadership anymore. That brat from the Uchiha clan is not that spineless coward Hiruzen Sarutobi. Going to protest against that monster... Are you telling the truth?"

If it were before,

Protesting is fine; even if it doesn't change the outcome, it's still a way to show your attitude.

But things are different now.

After the incident in Amegakure, it was confirmed from that unworthy disciple that the Rinnegan truly existed. Konoha... was now considered by Onoki to be someone not to be trifled with, just like Konoha before Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha broke off their feud. They were people that could never be defeated by force.