"Lord Orochimaru, do you really have that much faith in that Uchiha brat?"
Inside a certain room in Konoha, Orochimaru, disguised as the Fourth Hokage, was resting with Kimimaru and another person.
Orochimaru smiled, "Of course, this is my most satisfying vessel!"
"Logically, that kid has only recently accepted Lord Orochimaru's gift and obtained the Cursed Seal of Heaven!"
"At this point, he should still be struggling to even activate the seal!"
"Specifically arranging a Jinchuriki from Sunagakure as a brat to deal with him, isn't that a bit excessive?"
Kimimaru asked.
But Orochimaru seemed completely unconcerned.
"Don't look at that brat with normal eyes. I have a feeling he'll surprise me!"
"It seems Lord Orochimaru has a lot of confidence in that kid!"
Orochimaru sneered, "We'll know tomorrow just how strong that brat really is!" "690."
Under the night sky.
Still training, Sasuke set down the barbell with a clang!
Now, a 300-kilogram barbell was completely no pressure for Sasuke. He could easily lift it, even practicing swinging the barbell as a weapon without any problems.
Sasuke, drenched in sweat, went to the bathroom to wash up. Afterward, he came out and sat cross-legged on the bed, preparing for the final chakra refinement.
At this very moment, the higher-ranked ninjas gathered in the Hokage's office. They had also begun recommending their own genin to participate in this year's Chūnin Exam. And this year, unusually, all the freshly graduated genin were recommended.
Participating in this year's Chūnin Exam surprised the other higher-ranked ninjas. It seems this batch of genin has quite impressive talents! Otherwise, their supervising jonin wouldn't have recommended them for the Chūnin Exam so early, in their first year.
"Alright, the list of exam participants is confirmed!"
"This time, both the Kirigakure and Kumogakure have also sent their country's genin to participate!"
"Although they are just minor characters, we absolutely cannot afford to be careless!"
"Dismissed!"
With the Third Hokage's order, all the jonin vanished from the Hokage's office! Leaving the Third Hokage alone, he watched the One-Tail Jinchuriki from Sunagakure in the crystal ball behind him. He had sent the Jinchuriki to participate in Konoha's Chūnin Exam. This shows that the Fourth Hokage still, as always, supports Konoha without any change. With this, Nagashi could be somewhat relieved.
The next day!
Sasuke put on new clothes. Although they were new clothes, the style hadn't changed at all. Only the color of the clothes had changed from the original blue to black. At the same time, a kunai was added to his back. Its size was slightly longer than the kunai Kakashi carried back in the day.
He headed to the venue of the first test of the Chūnin Exam. Sasuke, Naruto, and the others had gathered at a certain location. After gathering, they began to move toward the Chūnin Exam venue.
At this time, Naruto was also telling Sasuke about yesterday's encounter with Gaara. Moreover, since the other party had instructed Naruto to bring it, today Naruto also conveyed it to Sasuke in another way!
"Sasuke, have you somehow provoked this group of Sunagakure people?"
Upon hearing this, Sasuke shook his head. He had barely left Konoha, so how could he be a ninja from Sunagakure? But this was indeed strange; Sasuke hadn't gone out yesterday. According to the original story, he wouldn't have attracted Gaara's attention. But now Gaara seemed to be very interested in him, even to the point of wanting to eliminate him immediately. What on earth is going on!
This left Sasuke somewhat confused. But it didn't matter; even Gaara posed no real threat to Sasuke. Gaara's sand couldn't stop his Lightning Release.
"Meet again! Sasuke Uchiha!"
Suddenly, Sasuke heard a familiar voice. It was Lee's voice. Sasuke turned his head to look at the three people slowly approaching: Rock Lee, Neji Hyūga, and Tenten!
Naruto glanced at Neji and thought, "Aren't these the Hyūga clan guys who fought Sasuke last time?" They were ultimately easily defeated by Sasuke. Do these guys still feel dissatisfied and have come to provoke Sasuke?
Rock Lee glanced at Sakura. Immediately, his whole face turned bright red. However, Sasuke was here, so he quickly regained his serious and stern expression.
"In order to defeat you, I have undergone special training!"
"This time, I will definitely surprise you, Sasuke Uchiha!"
Rock Lee said...
Next to him, Neji also stared intently at Sasuke, "The honor the Hyūga clan has lost, I will personally reclaim it!"
Now, Sasuke felt that this was getting troublesome. The Chūnin Exam hadn't even properly begun, and he had already attracted the attention of so many people. This was indeed strange. As for Rock Lee and Neji, it was fine; he had provoked these two. It's not their fault for having noticed him. But what's the deal with Gaara and the others!
Sasuke couldn't understand. The entrance to the first stage of the Chūnin Exam was a boring genjutsu test, but for someone like Sasuke with the Sharingan, it was completely ineffective. He directly took Naruto and Sakura, who hadn't reacted yet, and proceeded to the second floor.
As soon as they entered the door, Sasuke immediately felt countless eyes focusing on his position.
"So this is Sasuke Uchiha!"
"As expected, he does look extraordinary. Truly the most outstanding kid of Konoha's generation!"
"I watched his fight with the Hyūga, it was simply spectacular. My teacher even said his strength is no weaker than a jonin's!"
Not weaker than a jonin.
Kankurō smirked; when it comes to combat ability, they didn't think their own strength was inferior to that of a jonin. Especially Gaara; it's a complete overwhelming attack.
At this moment, Gaara was intently watching Sasuke. The more Sasuke looked, the more Gaara's killing intent became obvious, almost as if he couldn't help but want to take action right here and now.
At this moment, a person suddenly appeared, disrupting the tense atmosphere. Kabuto Yakushi made his entrance.
"Welcome, new examinees. You are the ninjas under Kakashi of Team 7, aren't you?"
Naruto was taken aback for a moment, "How do you know?"
Kabuto: "I found out through a bit of inquiry. Gathering intelligence is also a fundamental course for ninjas!"
Saying that, Kabuto took out a stack of cards. "I've collected the information on all the genin participating in this year's exam and made them into data cards for easy reference!"
"Data cards!"
Naruto, very curious, looked at the stack in Kabuto's hand. Then he raised his hand and pointed at Gaara, "Do you have any information on this guy?"
Kabuto smiled helplessly, "Of course!"
"Let me see. I want to find out what this arrogant guy is all about…"