[Progress with Hinata, Kyubi's approval 16.1%]
Naruto walked into the venue and had to search for a while before finding his group.
Ino and Sakura, who didn't need to participate, were sitting together and were talking about something. Choji, who was munching on chips, was watching the lively scene with great interest. When he saw Naruto coming, he quickly raised his chubby hand and waved enthusiastically.
"Here! Over here!"
Seeing this, Naruto squeezed through the dense crowd and found a seat. The four of them sat in a row, with Naruto next to Choji. Before sitting down, Naruto asked, "Choji, are you feeling better?"
In the preliminary after the second round of the Chunin Exams, Choji was narrowly defeated by Kiba. After taking one of his special pill, Choji's body was severely exhausted that he had to be carried to Konoha Hospital by the medical team.
"I'm completely fine now!" Choji replied with a big smile, "But sending four or five boxes of fruit was a bit much, Naruto. My dad was surprised by that. I don't even like fruit that much."
"Being picky isn't a good habit. You should eat fruit regularly during your recovery, Choji."
The moment Naruto sat down, he habitually reached out and grabbed a handful of chips. At the same time, Naruto picked up a paper bag and distributed the canned drinks he had prepared to the three of them. However, when he looked up, he saw Sakura on the far left seemed a little absent-minded.
"What's wrong, Sakura?"
"Huh? What?"
Sakura, who was called, suddenly came to her senses and met Naruto's puzzled gaze.
"You seem worried about something."
"Sakura's probably worried about Sasuke. She hasn't seen him for a month." Ino said.
Sakura didn't deny it. She just lowered her head and said with a depressed look, "Kakashi-sensei came to me half a month ago. He said that the Cursed Seal on Sasuke has serious side effects and there might be accidents during training. He asked me to find a way to reserve a bed for Sasuke."
"And then?" Ino asked.
Sakura shook her head and said, "Nothing happened."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Naruto cracked open the can and took a sip, "Sasuke has always wanted to become stronger. He has also talked about revenge before. If the Cursed Seal can give him strength..."
"But that's too dangerous." Sakura said with a worried look on her face.
"Well, Sasuke has a match today, right?" Seeing that the atmosphere was not right, Ino spoke up to smooth things over.
Naruto didn't say anything further. He knew Sasuke lived for revenge and it was impossible for him to settle down peacefully as Sakura wished.
A boy's hatred grows like wild grass in a wasteland. Just a spark can ignite a wildfire.
Sakura couldn't understand the depth of Sasuke's desire for revenge, and no one could truly empathize with it. If one day, Sasuke let go of his hatred, he would be dead inside at that moment, becoming merely a shell of his former self.
As a companion, it is was better to let him pursue his revenge than to try to stop him. But even so, Naruto wouldn't try to change Sakura's mind either.
The matches on the arena had begun. Naruto knew that Kankuro would definitely give up right away, and Neji would advance without fighting.
The moment the two stepped onto the arena, the crowd roared in excitement. They didn't understand what being a Shinobi truly meant, nor did they know what Ninjutsu was. They just followed their own way of life, celebrating mindlessly. Even if they are trash, they believed the village's Shinobi would protect them.
Naruto tilted his head back and took a sip of the drink, holding the can with his well-defined fingers. Hearing the cheers erupting from the venue with tens of thousands of people, and looking at their excited expressions, he couldn't help but felt that they're the same as spectators in a gladiator arena.
The very idea of changing a person's mind is ridiculous.
As the match began, Kankuro indeed forfeited immediately, allowing Neji to advance. advance. With the first round ending in a forfeit, the second round between Kiba and Shino started directly. The two fought evenly.
The Inuzuka Clan and the Aburame Clan both rely on animals for their sensory abilities in reconnaissance, making the battle quite intriguing. However, when Shino's swarm of insects enveloped the battlefield, the audience couldn't see anything, and Kiba had already fallen when the insects dispersed.
The third match was between Gaara and Sasuke, which was also the main attraction of this Chunin Exams. However, Sasuke didn't show up on time, and after a long discussion, the referee team was about to declare Sasuke's disqualification.
The crowd was furious, and started shouting insults and complaints!
"I bet everything on that Uchiha brat to win, and now you're telling me there's no match?"
"Can't you delay it? Why is he disqualified? We've waited so long, and this is all you show us?"
"F*ck! Refund!" Naruto shouted as he stood up.
"Refund! Refund!"
Suddenly, the call for refunds spread like wildfire from the upper cheap seats to the lower stands. Choji, who is sitting beside Naruto, was dumbfounded, dropping his chips and staring at Naruto in shock.
Naruto turned to see the confused faces of Choji, Ino, and Sakura. He frowned and said, "Come on, let's shout together! Do you want Sasuke to be disqualified?"
Without waiting for their response, Naruto jumped onto the railing to continue shouting in protest. Relying on the fact that he is a Shinobi, he threw the can in his hand into the arena and shouted an extremely inflammatory roar.
"Stop rigging the match! Delay it!"
The spectators grew even more agitated, directing their protests at the referee team led by Genma!
"Delay it! We want to watch Uchiha Sasuke's match!!"
"Delay it! I have invested all my wealth in the Uchiha brat! If you don't delay it, I'll jump from here!"
Just as Naruto was about to incite a full-blown riot, two hands landed on his shoulders. He looked up and saw two Anbu.
Naruto's face immediately turned awkward. He coughed and shouted at the front, "Everyone, calm down! Where's your decorum? This is too much!"
The Anbu's members stared coldly at Naruto, their hands gripping his shoulders like iron clamps.
"Uzumaki Naruto, you're under arrest for inciting a riot."
"You've got the wrong person, hey!" Naruto protested, but was still dragged away, "Damn it, I want to see Hokage-sama!"
"Hokage-sama doesn't have time to see you!"
"I'm a law-abiding villager, you can't arrest me! Hey! I've made invaluable contributions to the peace of the village!"
As the Anbu dragged Naruto away, Naruto's voice gradually faded away. Sakura, Ino, and Choji in the stands were all dumbfounded. They looked at each other, feeling as if reality had become surreal!
"Naruto, he..." Choji opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say.
"I'm worried." Sakura stood up and started walking in the direction the Anbu had taken Naruto.
"Sakura, I'll go with you!" Ino quickly got up and followed.
"What can you do even if you go?"
Choji sat there, but before he could put a mouthful of chips into his mouth, he suddenly froze as if he realized something.
His pupils dilated and he stood up suddenly. He didn't even care about the chips that fell on the ground. He turned around and jogged to catch up, "Wait! Those two weren't Anbu!"
At that moment, large snowflakes began to fall from the sky, as if someone were singing a lullaby, lulling everyone into a dream.