Four Days Later – in Exams, Preliminaries, Arena

  “Link! Link!”

  Naruto Uzumaki yelled as he ran over, his clothes torn and muddy, a clear indication of the trials he had endured in the Forest of Death. Yet, despite his appearance, his energy was as boundless as ever.

  Link’s gaze swept over the remaining partits who had passed the sed stage. Kabuto Yakushi’s team was missing, along with Yoroi Akadō and Misumi Tsurugi.

  “They must have fled or been silenced after Kabuto was exposed,” he thought.

  inally, the preliminaries were meant for 21 partits across seven teams. With Kabuto’s team gohat left only 18 tenders.

  Wait, where are Iris and Ami?

  Link’s face darkened. Sasuke Uchiha, holding his neck as he approached, provided the answer in a low voice. “They were eliminated during the first written exam.”

  “…”

  If he recalled correctly, the first round required teamwork. If eveeam member was caught cheating too often or chose to forfeit, the eeam was disqualified.

  “So they didn’t even make it past the writte…” He exhaled, accepting the reality. “What happeo your neck?”

  Sasuke removed his hand, revealing the familiar curse mark. “In the Forest of Death, we entered someone named Orochimaru. He left this on me.”

  After a brief pause, he added, “He mentioned you.”

  “He’s approached me before,” Link said calmly. “He’s an S-ranked rogue ninja listed in the vilge’s bingo book.”

  Activating the Mystical Palm Teique, he pressed his glowing hand against Sasuke’s neck, suppressing the curse mark’s violent chakra. “This is a curse mark, a forbidden jutsu,” Link expined.

  “It reacts to my chakra,” Sasuke said, feeling the pain and turmoil subside. His voice was low as he tinued, “Whenever I gather chakra, it tries to take trol of me.”

  Naruto stood nearby, nodding along with a clueless expression, clearly not uanding but eager to appear supportive.

  “Sasuke, Naruto! The examiners are here!” Sakura Haruno waved from the distance, calling them over.

  Not only were the examiners present, but also the jōnin who had apaheir teams, the Third Hokage, and several fn jōnin from allied nations.

  “I only suppress the pain temporarily,” Link said, withdrawing his hand. “If you don’t want to lose trol, avoid gathering too much chakra until I deal with it pletely.”

  “Does that mean I only use taijutsu?”

  Sasuke nodded slightly, showing uanding. Though he didn’t express gratitude, his demeanor was less guarded—almost friendly.

  Kakashi Hatake, who had been eavesdropping, walked over. “Sasuke’s situation is in your hands.”

  Link g him, noting the odd uone in Kakashi’s voice. Was that… jealousy? No, it had to be a misuanding.

  “First, let me gratute you all…”

  The Third Hokage began his speech, addressing the remaining partits. Despite the solemn tone, Mitarashi Anko was making exaggerated faces at Link, winking pyfully from across the room.

  Link sighed and averted his gaze, only to see Asuma Sarutobi grinning at him, Kurenai Yuhi smiling politely, and even Might Guy giving him a thumbs-up.

  Unwittingly, it seemed he had cultivated es with many of Konoha’s jōnin.

  Only Kakashi’s gaze remained ambiguous, carrying that same unreadable iy.

  Soon after, a pale-looking Hayate Gekko stepped forward to annouhe preliminaries: a series of one-oches to decide who would advao the finals.

  The first match: Sasuke Uchiha vs. Kin Tsuchi of the Otogakure.

  “Now, will the partits whose names appear step forward…” Hayate announced weakly.

  With a fident smirk, Sasuke walked to the ter. Even with his curse mark limiting him to taijutsu, he didn’t believe he could lose to an oppo he had entered in the Forest of Death.

  Kin tried to maintain a calm demeanor as she approached, but her rapid breathing and evasive gaze betrayed her nervousness.

  The oute redictable. Sasuke won effortlessly. Thanks to Link’s training, his taijutsu had improved signifitly, and his enhanced physical prowess made him a force to be reed with, even without ninjutsu or the Sharingan.

  While Iris and Ami had taken three months to reach a simir level, Sasuke had achieved it in just two weeks. Truly, a prodigy.

  The match: Sakura Haruno vs. Ino Yamanaka…

  The preliminaries progressed steadily.

  Sakura and Ino’s matded in a double knockout, disqualifying both.

  From there, the battles deviated from the inal manga:

  Naruto Uzumaki won against a blushing Hinata Hyūga after a feard exges.

  Shikamaru Nara defeated Tenten with his wits.

  Kiba Inuzuka lost to Temari.

  Rock Lee defeated Zaku Abumi from the Otogakure.

  Shino Aburame bested a holding-back Kankurō.

  Chōji Akimichi lost to Dosu Kinuta, as expected.

  Finally, the st matchup was announced: Gaara vs. Neji Hyūga.

  “Sand!”

  Gaara appeared in an instant, his sand-based teleportation leaving trails on the arena floor. His hand rose to form a seal, his expression icy. “e down.”

  “Looks like it’s just us left.” Neji jumped down with a fident smirk.

  “Good lueji!” Rock Lee shouted enthusiastically from the baly.

  In the inal timeline, Lee should have been lying in the infirmary by now, disqualified and severely injured.

  “So noisy…”

  Gaara’s gaze shifted to the baly, his killing i seeping into the air as sand began to swirl menagly around him.

  “Alright, begin!” Hayate decred before vanishing.

  “Byakugan… Activate!”

  Neji’s veins bulged around his temples as his Byakugan activated, his pale eyes sing Gaara’s chakra.

  “His chakra is immense… and the sand is infused with it. A sand-manipution jutsu, perhaps? His entire body is covered in chakra—a defeeique?”

  Unlike most shinobi, whose chakra flowed primarily through their hands a, the Hyūga ’s mastery allowed them to emit chakra from their entire body. Neji quickly deduced that defeating Gaara would require breaking through this defense.

  “Your eyes…” Gaara muttered, raising his hand. “I hate them.”

  “Sand!”