Being a rogue ninja is worse than being Hokage.

Faced with the referee's questioning, Naruto could only reluctantly lift his jacket, exposing his abdomen.

The white bandage covering Naruto's abdominal wound had turned bright red, and blood was still seeping from the wound, with the red color spreading across the bandage.

"The wound I sustained in the Forest of Death has reopened. I thought I could hold on until the end of this competition... but now it seems there's no way..."

Naruto's tone was unwilling, but it was obvious to anyone with eyes that the wound on his abdomen was extremely serious, and he could no longer participate in the competition.

"I understand, but if you are unable to participate in the match due to personal reasons, you will still be judged as having lost. If you don't participate in this match, it will count as Gaara's victory."

Hayate Gekko asked Naruto if he was willing to accept this outcome.

Naruto remained silent for a long time before finally nodding resignedly, "I won't participate."

"Then, I declare the winner of the second match to be—Gaara!"

After announcing the results of the match, Hayate Gekko gestured to Gaara, "Back to the stands, the third match is about to begin."

Gaara ignored Hayate Gekko, gave Naruto a deep look, and then used Sand Body Flicker to return to the stands.

"Welcome back, Gaara!"

Temari, as the eldest sister, smiled and welcomed Gaara's return.

Temari breathed a slight sigh of relief.

She had a good impression of Naruto, the Konoha ninja who sat next to her in the first exam, and didn't really want him to be hurt by Gaara.

In Temari's eyes, neither the previously powerful Rock Lee nor Sasuke were a match for Gaara, let alone Naruto.

Gaara... doesn't think so.

"Temari, you've had contact with that guy named Naruto Uzumaki before, haven't you?"

Gaara was naturally referring to the first exam.

Upon hearing this, Temari looked at Gaara with a puzzled expression.

Gaara, who is only interested in strong people, suddenly became concerned about Naruto.

"There has been some contact..."

Temari's answer wasn't exactly a lie, but she didn't provide any details either.

"Don't go near him anymore."

Gaara commanded Temari.

"why?"

Temari pressed for an answer.

Gaara didn't respond; he just watched Naruto being taken away by the medical team, and Sakura also left with the medical team.

That guy... why does he hide the same look in his eyes as me...?

Chapter 50 The Roots' Re-surveillance

The emergency room is set up inside the central tower at the center of the Death Forest training ground.

The medical ninja in white medical gown withdrew his hand, which had been used to perform the Healing Palm Technique, from the wound on Naruto's abdomen.

Palm Healing Technique is a medical ninjutsu with a learning difficulty level of A, and it is quite effective in healing internal and external injuries.

However, faint scars can still be seen at the wounds where Naruto's Healing Palm Technique healed.

"Every time the Chunin Exams come around, I've seen so many genin like you who just mess around and try to hold on that they've almost lost count!"

The medical ninja also noticed the scar Naruto had left: "Do you know that your wound is so deep that it's only a hair's breadth away from your internal organs? If the injury is that bad, it can't be healed by Healing Palm Technique alone!"

Although the ninja treating Naruto had a bad temper, he was ultimately doing his duty to treat Naruto's injuries.

Naruto couldn't bring himself to argue with him, so he could only keep giving a knowing smile that implied "I won't do it again next time."

"Your name is Naruto Uzumaki, right? According to regulations, I will inform your supervising jonin about your injuries later—if there's nothing else, hurry up and leave. The other examinees who are still taking the exams will be here for treatment soon!"

The medical ninja waved to Naruto, signaling that Naruto, whose injuries had been brought under control, should not take up any more medical resources.

From entering the emergency room to leaving the emergency room.

The medical ninja's unfriendly attitude prevented Naruto from saying a single word from beginning to end.

As for the medical ninja's promise to report on his injuries, Naruto was quite happy that the medical ninja would do so.

The wound was so deep it was about to damage his internal organs—what a beautiful sentence, adding yet another piece of irrefutable evidence that Naruto was "forced" to withdraw from the Chunin Exams.

"Naruto... are you alright?"

Outside the emergency room, Sakura, who was sitting on a bench against the wall in the corridor, saw Naruto and immediately went up to ask about his injury and treatment.

"I only have a small scar on my stomach now... The Healing Palm Technique of the Medical Ninja is really amazing!"

As Naruto spoke, he patted his stomach to show that his injuries had indeed healed.

Sakura finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Naruto watched Sakura's expression shift from nervousness to relief.

"what happened?"

Sakura looked at Naruto curiously, wondering why he was suddenly staring at her so intently.

"Sakura, aren't you going back to watch the matches? The information you get from observing the other players' preliminary rounds might give you an advantage in the third exam!"

Naruto's words make a lot of sense. Sakura was too worried about Naruto's injury, and since she had a bye and directly qualified for the third exam without having to participate in the preliminaries, she followed Naruto to the emergency room.

However, she didn't offer any real help when she came along.

The medical ninjas in the emergency room told Sakura to wait outside, saying, "Don't come over and get in the way if you're not a patient."

"If it weren't for his physical condition, Sasuke probably wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to watch the game either."

Sakura's relief turned into hesitation. Seeing the wavering in Sakura's heart, Naruto continued, "So I think Sakura, you should go back and watch the competition. The information you got from the preliminaries can not only help yourself, but also help Sasuke, who is also going to participate in the third exam."

"I understand, I'll go back right away."

Sakura nodded emphatically.

She turned to return to the tower hall where the competition was still going on, but then suddenly noticed Naruto, who hadn't left with her: "Naruto, aren't you coming back with me?"

Naruto shook his head and reached out to touch his ears, which were red with embarrassment.

Somewhat awkwardly, he explained, "I just conceded without even having a match. I'm a little... unsure how to face the strange looks from other people... I've always said I wanted to become Hokage and stuff..."

Hearing Naruto's words, Sakura stared at him blankly for a moment, then quickly defended him, "I... I wouldn't look at Naruto strangely! Besides, the reason you got hurt was because you were protecting me..."

"Because we're comrades! Protecting Sakura is our duty, and Sakura wanted to protect me first back then."

Naruto smiled and spoke to Sakura, continuing to persuade her, "Besides, I'm a little worried about Sasuke's situation. I'm thinking of finding out where Kakashi-sensei took him—Alright, Sakura. You go watch the match first, and let me know the results after the preliminaries."

"……Um."

Sakura answered softly.

Having successfully distracted Sakura, Naruto left the Forest of Death, guided by one of the Chunin Examiners.

The reason given to the examiner for leaving was, of course, the same one he used when dealing with Sakura.

As for whether Naruto will actually go looking for Sasuke, who was taken away by Kakashi, the answer is of course no.

However, Naruto still headed towards Konoha Hospital.

If your injured comrade is not in the emergency room of the tower where the exam is held, then the next destination for finding your comrade is obviously the hospital.

Whether Sasuke was at Konoha Hospital or not was completely unimportant to Naruto.

All he needed was a direction to follow that matched his previous words and actions—or rather, a route that led to Konoha Hospital but would pass by the Hokage's office.

Let me briefly review my plan to defect from Konoha...

Naruto, walking down the street, was already lost in thought.

Because the original Naruto in this world died under the control of Danzo using Uchiha Shisui's Kotoamatsukami.

The transmigrator's self, more than two years ago, was resurrected in Naruto's body and came to this Naruto world, which has slight deviations from the original Naruto but is roughly the same.

Danzo has already begun to take action against Naruto, who is the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. Given his personality, even though his actions are currently being suppressed by the Third Hokage, he will definitely not truly stop now.

Naruto knew very well that Danzo was simply lying low, waiting for the right moment to strike again.

As long as Danzo remains a high-ranking official in Konoha, Naruto will never be able to live a peaceful life in Konoha.

In addition, the villagers' fear and disgust towards Naruto's "Nine-Tails" identity over the years have meant that there is no real space for Naruto to live in either the upper echelons or among the common people of Konoha.

Defecting from Konoha is the only option.

Although the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, saved Naruto, who had already transmigrated, his indecisiveness was already evident in front of Naruto, and he could not be completely trusted.

However, thanks to the Third Hokage's indecisiveness, he did not follow Danzo's suggestion to simply continue controlling the Nine-Tails.

This gave Naruto a precious respite.

In order to accumulate the strength for his defection, Naruto spent two years at the Ninja Academy not only strengthening his own abilities but also trying to determine whether the general direction of the story in this world could still match his memories of his past life.

Even without Iruka Umino, Mizuki, unwilling to be just a Chunin, still chose to use Naruto to steal the Scroll of Seals.

It was Mizuki's actions that finally led Naruto to officially implement his defection plan, which was based on the original storyline.

That was to maximize the benefits of his defection, and to officially defect shortly after the Chunin Exams when Sasuke was taken away by the Sound Four!

During the Chunin Exams, due to Orochimaru and Sunagakure's invasion of Konoha—the death of the Third Hokage, casualties among Konoha ninjas, and in order to dispel the notion that "Konoha is no longer strong" held by those with ulterior motives in the Konoha destruction plan, a large number of Jonin were dispatched on missions outside the village.

A series of factors combined to make Konoha's defenses weak, providing the perfect opportunity for Naruto to defect.

Orochimaru, who infiltrated Konoha, will eventually attract Jiraiya, who was traveling outside the village and had always wanted to bring his best friend back.

Naruto will approach Jiraiya to prevent Danzo from pulling the strings after the Third Hokage's death.

And through Jiraiya, he contacted Tsunade, who would succeed him as the Fifth Hokage.

He left an impression on Tsunade as the successor to the "Will of Fire".

Given Tsunade's personality, she would have shielded Sasuke from the pressure from the Konoha advisors when he defected.

Naruto, a fellow member of Team 7, was sent out of the village to retrieve Sasuke when the village's ninja forces were insufficient!

This is the safest and simplest of the several backup plans for Naruto's defection.