As dusk settled, all the teams present departed as there were still scrolls to retrieve. Meanwhile, Kaito rested, lost in thought.
' In the third stage of the Chunin Exam, Hiruzen will be killed, while Orochimaru will have his arms sealed. I don't have the strength to interfere in a fight of that level, so I can only go with the flow, but I believe Hiruzen's death is necessary.' Kaito's thoughts revolved around what he believed. Hiruzen was lacking as a Hokage, so Kaito didn't consider intervening even if he had enough power.
'I don't want to mess with Orochimaru, afraid that he'll discover my power and try to capture me for his experiments. I'm too weak for now, but with more time, I'll get stronger, then I won't need to be afraid.' Kaito smiled, despite still being worried.
Kaito sighed, regretting that he came to this world too late. If he had come a few years earlier, he would surely have been much more powerful and might have been able to intervene in certain things.
After pondering these matters, Kaito got up, catching Ryuji and Hikari's attention.
"Let's head towards the tower now," Kaito said to his friends, who nodded in agreement, and the next moment, the three started advancing towards the tower in the center of the forest.
...
Team 11 moved towards the tower as quickly and cautiously as possible. Although Kaito knew there would be no one who could defeat him except for Gaara, he remained alert even though Gaara had probably already entered the tower.
There were still the sounds of weapons colliding and occasional shouts, and the forest with enormous trees gave a sense of vastness.
As Kaito was about to jump to another tree, he noticed several traps on the ground and on the tops of some trees. He signaled to his group to stop, and they halted by his side on the tree, observing their surroundings.
Hikari was the first to notice something different, pointing in a direction for her friends to look. Kaito followed her finger until they saw three hidden ninjas waiting for someone to fall into their traps.
'They don't seem strong, but I don't want a confrontation now, so I'll just bypass them,' Kaito thought, signaling for his friends to follow him. They took another route in silence, leaving those ninjas behind.
Time passed as they moved forward, and they soon realized they were very close to the tower, so they became even more cautious.
They soon spotted several teams attempting ambushes, so they simply evaded them, as there was no need to engage in combat at that moment.
After a few more minutes, they had dodged all the teams and entered the tower.
"Finally," Kaito said as they walked into the dark tower.
"Yeah, I thought we'd have to spend a few days searching for the scroll," Ryuji said with a smile.
"Lucky for us," Hikari commented as the three of them walked further into the tower.
Kaito agreed with Hikari; after all, the first enemy team they encountered had the scroll they needed. It was indeed lucky.
...
Moments later, Kaito was in a room waiting for the rest of the candidates to finish.
"I think we'll have to wait a few days," Kaito said to Ryuji and Hikari.
"True, but we can rest or train while we wait," Ryuji said.
Kaito agreed as he began to think about his technique. He would train while waiting for the next part of the exam. He started freezing the parts covered by his clothes, feeling the pain as his chakra rapidly decreased, but the achievements were also noticeable. Every time he used the ability, he felt he could merge an even larger part.
The days passed, and more and more competitors arrived at the tower, while Kaito and his team trained and rested. Soon, the last day of the exam arrived, and all those present were gathered in a main room where several jonin and the Hokage were present.
"Congratulations to all present here, you have completed the second part of the Chunin Exam. The objective of this test is the friendship between villages, as well as to demonstrate your ninja values, proving that you are fit to be Chunin. Now we will proceed to the next part of the Chunin Exam," the Hokage began his speech, and everyone listened attentively.
After that, Hayate Gekko explained how this part of the exam would work, involving some elimination matches to reduce the number of participants.
Right after the explanations, the elimination matches began.
The matches were almost the same as in the anime, with a few minor changes. Kaito was calm as he watched his name on the board, placed just after Sasuke's, meaning his fight would be the second.
The first match was Sasuke vs. Yoroi, similar to the anime, but this time Sasuke won with ease as his cursed seal was temporarily sealed, and he hadn't used it at all, keeping his body in perfect condition, which greatly facilitated the fight.
The second match was supposed to be Shino vs. Zaku, but the Sound team couldn't qualify due to the attacks they suffered from Kaito, so the match became Kaito vs. Shino.
Kaito entered the arena and observed Shino, who was also observing him closely.
"Hello, my comrade, we don't need to be so serious, let's have fun in this fight," Kaito smiled, hoping for a smooth match with Shino, considering they were from the same village, and he always thought Shino was a character who should have been better utilized in the anime.
"Alright, but I won't lose to you," Shino responded, still watching all of Kaito's movements without moving.
Kaito didn't waste time and soon began making several hand signs, ready to launch a ninjutsu, knowing that Shino's insects could be on his body at any moment.
'Water Style Jutsu: Great Flood,' he thought, and a large amount of water appeared in front of Kaito, flooding the arena. Shino quickly noticed this and jumped to avoid being caught. However, this jutsu posed no danger, simply flooding the area with water.
"You'll need much more than that to catch me," Shino retorted from beneath his mask.
"Perhaps you, but your insects have already been caught, so my jutsu achieved its goal," Kaito pointed to several black dots floating in the water.
Shino didn't bother to look as he had already noticed. He decided to advance, attempting close combat, but as he raised his leg to kick Kaito, he felt his foot being grabbed. Looking down, he saw a hand made of water holding him.
Seizing the moment, Kaito delivered a kick to Shino, who was forced to defend with his arm, though the kick still caused him to lose balance. In that moment, he saw several fists emerging from the water towards him, with no way to defend.
The water fists struck him forcefully, and as more and more fists hit him, Kaito observed not too far away, feeling his chakra being slowly consumed, but he didn't mind much. He had a large chakra reserve now, especially after the body fusion training; his reserves had grown significantly.
After several rounds of punches, the battle supervisor declared Kaito the winner as there was clearly no chance for Shino to win.
Ino and Naruto had been rooting for Kaito from the beginning of the fight, and when his victory was announced, they jumped in celebration. His team members were happy for his win but didn't celebrate much as they had full confidence in Kaito.
The following matches continued, and Kaito watched calmly. The one that caught his attention the most was the fight between Ino and Sakura.
He was rooting for Ino, but he knew that if it went like the anime, it would be a draw, and as expected, it ended in a tie. Kaito smiled as he watched both of them fall unconscious.
Next was the match between Temari and Tenten, and the fight was as one-sided as before. Kaito had nothing to say about this match, so he was waiting for the next one to begin.
"Shikamaru vs Hikari."
Kaito looked at his friend Hikari; this would be a difficult fight. Facing Shikamaru was a headache because of his strategy, so Hikari might very well lose this fight.
The fight started, and Hikari attacked by throwing several kunai while keeping some distance. Shikamaru easily defended against the kunai while watching Hikari.
The two silently faced each other without any intention of doing something, but obviously, they already were. Shikamaru's shadow was close to capturing Hikari when he missed by a small margin.
Surprised by this, Shikamaru tried again, and like last time, his shadow missed at the last second.
'How is this happening?' Shikamaru thought as he tried again, unable to hit her just like before. However, this time, he felt something in his mind, like an uncontrollable desire.
'Now I understand,' Shikamaru thought, quickly figuring out Hikari's trick, but he continued to pretend he hadn't discovered it, with his shadow missing every time.
The fight between the two seemed strange as they stood in almost similar positions, while everyone else was silent, waiting for the outcome.
Hikari tried her best to use her possession ability on Shikamaru, but the distance wasn't helping, and she had to defend against the shadow frequently, disrupting her focus. So she decided to advance, dodging the shadows as she moved; it seemed as though there was a barrier around her, deflecting the shadows.
'Now I'm at an appropriate distance,' she thought and tried to use her ability, seeing a clear chance of victory. However, at that moment, she felt her body stiffen.
'When did this happen?' she thought, looking down and seeing a shadow creeping from a tree not far from her. She had always managed to dodge Shikamaru's shadows because they were directed at her.
"After figuring out what your jutsu does, it was quite easy to think of a way to defeat you since you didn't know I had found out," Shikamaru explained the reason for Hikari's loss, and after that, he made her raise her arm in surrender.
Hikari sighed as Hayate announced her defeat, looking at Kaito, expecting to see disapproval or disappointment, but all she saw was a smile on his face as he clapped, looking at her, which lifted her spirits slightly.
The other match appeared on the board, Naruto vs Kiba.