The two team then went on their ways after the meal since shikamaru's team still hasn't gotten their other scrolls.
Naruto and Sasuke wanted to head to the tower and finish the exam already but Karin wanted to hunt the Kusagakure ninja that were in the exam.
Karin previously wanted to do it but she sensed that one of them had a very high chakra so she didn't dare to do it but Tetsuya told her that Orochimaru already left the forest of death so she took this opportunity to finally do it.
Naruto and Sasuke both reluctantly accepted since they knew about Karin's past. They then proceeded to hunt Kusagakure ninja in the span of 2 days.
On the 4th day, Kabuto approached saying that he was separated with his team and wanted to tag with them for a while. They didn't refuse since after Karin sensed him, he didn't have any malicious intentions towards them and they could beat him if he tried something.
They then got ambushed by a rain team but they were easily dispatched since they were much stronger now.
On the night of the 4th day, they arrived at the tower and separated with Kabuto and used the scroll to summon Iruka congratulating them for passing the second exam.
Tetsuya was also waiting for them in the tower and congratulated them.
After chatting for a while, Tetsuya decided to take Sasuke aside to check on the curse mark.
Tetsuya then checked the curse mark and discovered that it was Orochimaru's soul fragment who corroded the mind of the bearer so he decided to draw it out by using the evil releasing technique and make the curse mark safe to use.
After Orochimaru's soul fragment was drawn out, Tetsuya immediately killed with a Raigo rasengan without giving it time to do anything.
Orochimaru's main body who was far away obviously sensed that his soul fragment was destroyed so he was now making an ugly face.
After that Tetsuya proceeded to have a talk with Sasuke.
"You now can use that seal without having heavy mood swings since I already eliminated the reason why it happened in the first place but now, you don't have enough chakra to counteract the Nature chakra fully so don't overuse it since I don't know what the side effects would be."
Sasuke then thanked Tetsuya seeing that he got a new power and it had no risk of corroding his mind.
"Well then, with that out of the way, let's talk about Orochimaru since he probably gave this power to entice you to follow him."
Sasuke just nodded and Tetsuya continued to talk.
"I know that you may think that going with orochimaru is a good idea to gain power quick but you're wrong. While Orochimaru's soul fragment was still in the curse mark, you probably heard his voice multiple time enticing you with power.
Orochimaru was instantly beaten by Itachi with a single look of the sharingan so I don't think going to him will allow you to beat Itachi"
Sasuke was stunned after hearing that Itachi instantly beat a person like Orochimaru but still continued to listen
"Don't rush for power right now, you're still just entering your growth phase now. And I can guarantee you that in 2 or 3 years, you'll be able to beat Orochimaru and Itachi if you continue your current training with me so no need to be anxious."
Sasuke just nodded and smiled lightly.
After that, they came back to Naruto and Karin and just continued to rest until the exam ended.
…
The five days of the exam were finally over. The candidates who passed were then assembled in the middle of the tower's arena and the third hokage soon congratulated them for passing the 2nd exam.
Gekko Hayate then interjected and said that since there were too much candidates who passed, they were going to do a preliminary.
Kabuto didn't give up this time since they arrived early and couldn't make the excuse to have ran out of chakra and not having enough time to recover.
I'll quietly get rid of you later since you were the biggest shit stirrer during the fourth great ninja war.
The first match was actually Kabuto vs Akado yoroi (the one that fought Sasuke). Yoroi won since Kabuto was pretending to be a mediocre genin and winning would just blow his cover.
The second match was Shino vs Zaku which went exactly as in the original with Shino winning
The third match was Kankuro vs Misumi Tsurugi (Kabuto's other teammate) which Kankuro won.
The fourth match was Karin vs. Ino which Karin easily won.
No surprise there. Karin could probably give a jonin a run for their money so a genin who tied with Sakura isn't even a minor inconvenience.
The fifth match was Temari vs. Tenten which went mostly as the original except for the fact that Tetsuya saved Tenten before she hit her back on Temari's fan. Gai thanked Tetsuya for this.
Shikamaru vs Kintsuchi was the next match which went exactly as the original.
Naruto and Kiba were now the next ones fighting. Naruto won easily by just overwhelming Kiba with tons of shadow clones.
Neji vs Hinata which went as the original except Naruto was even more pissed off since he and Hinata became friends.
The next match was Rock lee vs. Gaara. While Lee has become stronger than in the original, He still couldn't win against gaara but as gaara was trying to destroy Lee limbs, Tetsuya interrupted him.
While Lee was angry that Tetsuya interrupted his match, Gai gave Lee the punch of youth explaining that losing isn't the end and that he could just try again next time. The two of them soon started hugging and crying at the dismay and disgust of everyone present.
Gaara then asked Tetsuya why he had saved Lee to which Tetsuya just responded
"No particular reason, I just wanted to save him since he's one of my friend's disciple"
Gaara was stunned by the reason given by Tetsuya and gave up questioning.
It was now the last match which was Choji vs Dosu. Dosu won like in the original without any surprises.
Sasuke didn't get to fight since he was considered the seed player of this tournament which caused him displeasure, especially after seeing gaara's strength
Soon enough, the brackets for the finals which will take place a month later were announced.
Gaara vs Dosu
Neji vs Naruto
Kankuro vs Karin
Temari vs Shikamaru
Yoroi vs Shino
Sasuke was still considered the seed player and would fight either Dosu or Gaara in the second round since he was one of the two last Uchiha and was considered a main event for the tournament.