Naruto: The King Behind the Curtain

The next day, at a large plaza.

Everyone who had passed the second exam was already waiting here in advance.

Just like last time, people from each village naturally grouped together, excitedly discussing the upcoming exam.

There was only one exception—Iwagakure.

In the Iwagakure section, Shidotatsu stood completely alone, looking worse off than even the smaller ninja villages. In fact, if not for the rule allowing partial team passage, Iwagakure would have already been eliminated entirely!

Seeing this scene, many couldn't help but feel delighted.

"Heh, so this is Iwagakure, one of the Five Great Ninja Villages? This is seriously laughable!"

"Tsk tsk, I heard they ambushed Seiki Shimaseki from Mist Village along with Zabuza, and still ended up completely destroyed."

"Sigh, why didn't they just choose to live peacefully?"

"Still, Konoha's Seiki Shimaseki is too amazing! So many people lying in ambush, even including strong Genin like Zabuza and Shidotatsu, yet he defeated them all on his own!"

"Looks like this Chunin Exam will definitely be won by him!"

Under these gazes of attention, Seiki suddenly walked toward where Baki stood.

Seeing Seiki approach, the Suna group immediately fell into disarray.

"What do you want?!"

"Don't come over here!"

"Wait, the exam hasn't started yet!"

They'd already been terrified by his performance last night. Now that they'd heard Iwagakure had been wiped out, some were even developing PTSD just from seeing Seiki coming near.

Their exaggerated reactions left Seiki confused—he couldn't remember doing anything strange to them recently.

With a helpless sigh, Seiki said, "I don't get why you're so tense. I actually came to apologize."

"I lost our bet back then..."

Baki shook his head slightly—the moment he truly realized the gap between them, he also recognized how ridiculous his previous thoughts were. That kind of 'victory' served no purpose other than blinding him to reality.

"Don't worry about that bet..."

Before he could finish speaking, his voice was drowned out by others.

"Haha, please don't say such things! Friendly competition has no real winners or losers, right?"

"Exactly! Chuura lost to Yugito before, but have we ever seen her come to apologize?"

"A winner can lose more than the defeated, while a loser may gain more than they realize!"

Watching their pathetic act, Chuura nearly exploded in rage—hadn't it been obvious they were spies sent by rival villages to ruin Sunagakure's image?!

Seiki was also baffled, letting out an exasperated laugh as he remarked, "You Suna folks sure know how to kiss up!"

As Baki remained there with a stiff expression, thinking: fine, you're forced to flatter him, but why drag me into it?

"Then I'll go back first. Hope to see everyone during the official matches."

After Seiki left, the group from Sunagakure finally exhaled in relief.

"Pfew, glad we acted smartly!"

"Whew, crisis resolved. Brother Baki, you must properly thank us once you return!"

"That's right! Brother Baki, you reacted way too slowly!"

"Right, right. If we hadn't covered for you, bro, you might've ended up like Zabuza if you'd faced them during the exam!"

Baki: (╯‵□′)╯︵┴─┴

...

A few minutes later, The Third stepped forward.

"I'm very pleased to see such outstanding ninja from all great villages gathered here today. Although everyone comes from different countries..."

After an extremely long-winded opening speech, The Third finally got to the point: "Since feudal lords and village leaders will attend the official rounds to observe the selection process, time is limited and things can't drag on too long. This year's second exam passed more genin than ever before—217 in total."

Everyone present exchanged glances. Compared with previous exams, this Joint Chunin Exam including five great ninja villages and eleven smaller ones was indeed extraordinarily large in scale!

"Konoha with sixty, Kumogakure with fifty-one, Sunagakure with twenty-one, Kirigakure with seventeen, Iwagakure only one, and other small villages' passing numbers ranging between three to nine..." Seiki couldn't help but marvel while mentally calculating, "Cloud Village's overall strength level is truly formidable. If I hadn't threatened Manda somewhat, their passing numbers might have actually surpassed Leaf's."

At the front, The Third continued, "There are only thirty-two slots available for the official rounds, so today's preliminary round will adopt the arena mode! There'll be sixteen arena matches in total, thirteen to fourteen participants per match, and two qualifying spots available per match."

"If everyone understands clearly, then prepare yourselves for the exam. As for the group arrangements, I'll have someone post them on the bulletin board!"

No sooner had his words faded than the crowd immediately buzzed with excitement.

"Why sixteen matches? Why not just have thirty-two direct one-on-ones?"

"Probably because having thirty-two matches would take too long. Also, the difference between thirteen and fourteen participants is relatively smaller compared to the gap between six and seven."

"And as for why not eight matches, most likely they're worried numerical advantages might negate actual skill disparities!"

"This arena space is limited enough that people can't really spread out. Without enough time to form hand seals, even strong fighters could potentially be defeated by weaker opponents working together."

"Exactly. Actually, the current setup keeps things pretty spicy."

"In this case, Leaf (Konoha) and Cloud (Kumogakure) have too much advantage!"

"Don't exaggerate it like that. On average, each arena only has about three or four representatives from those villages, which doesn't guarantee absolute dominance. In fact, they might become targets for others."

As everyone enthusiastically discussed these points, Asuma approached and asked, "Seiki, how does your group look?"

Seiki's eyes swept across the bulletin board, "I'm in Group Five. Including myself, there's two from Konoha, five from Kumogakure, three from Sunagakure, one from Kirigakure, and the remaining three come from Hoshigakure, Tayuya Village, and Amegakure."

Asuma scanned through these names thoughtfully before nodding in understanding, "Except for yourself, Seiki, there aren't any particularly formidable figures in this group. Looks like the old man intentionally arranged it this way, deliberately keeping us strong candidates from facing each other prematurely."

"After all, Hokage-sama needs to ensure the official rounds will deliver spectacular battles."

"Seiki said, then warned grimly, 'However, having strong power doesn't guarantee passing. The more powerful your reputation, the more likely you are to be targeted!'

Asuma waved his hand casually. 'Don't worry, there are six of us from Konoha in my group, including me.'

Seiki's eye twitched. Was this really not favoritism?

Then Asuma grinned and pointed at a certain direction. 'The ones who should be worried are those from Iwagakure. They have fame but are all alone. If targeted by others, even their last remaining seed might get eliminated!'

Looking at Shidotatsu's group lineup, Seiki's expression became increasingly strange.

There wasn't anyone with overwhelming strength in their group, but none of them were weak either. If they worked together effectively, they might actually defeat Shidotatsu.

Most importantly, none of these villages seemed to maintain good relations with Iwagakure.

'Hokage-sama really intends to... erase them from history and shatter their soul!'

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