Chapter 322 The Third Exam Begins

On August 5th, the Chunin Exams officially began.

The third stage of the Chunin Exams was held in a massive circular arena.

In the center of the arena was a vast open space, quite large, with small patches of trees and ponds containing limited water. All examinees would fight here.

Beyond the examinees’ combat area were tiered spectator stands, occupied by many noble officials, wealthy merchant clients, local Konoha residents, and Ninja.

The Third Hokage did not sit in the regular spectator stands; he had his own special box, one level higher than the stands.

“So many spectators!” Rin Nohara exclaimed, gazing at the sea of people in the stands.

Before this, the liveliest event Rin Nohara had attended was a festival, but even that didn’t have so many people.

“Rin, don’t be nervous. If you just perform your best, you’ll definitely win,” Obito reassured, thinking Rin Nohara was worried about losing in front of a crowd.

Rin Nohara covered her mouth and chuckled softly, “Obito, you’re underestimating me. I won’t get nervous just because people are watching.”

Rin Nohara wasn’t the type of shy or timid girl. She might worry about the outcome based on her opponent’s strength, but she wouldn’t get nervous from being watched.

“Hehe, that’s good then,” Obito said, scratching his head with a chuckle.

Obito cared even less about the audience; the more people there were, the more excited he got. This was a great opportunity to make a name for himself in Konoha.

“Let’s go quickly, it’s almost time,” Kakashi reminded them.

Obito and Rin Nohara both nodded. The three quickened their pace, passing through a special corridor for examinees and entering the center of the arena, which was the combat area for the examinees.

The three arrived neither too early nor too late. Three minutes after their arrival, all sixteen examinees were present.

Seeing all the examinees gathered, some spectators cheered, seemingly anticipating the upcoming battles.

“Did you hear that? The cheers from the audience are all for you. You are the protagonists today,” Hiruko said with a smile.

Listening to Hiruko’s words, Obito felt a surge of excitement. If he could take first place under everyone’s gaze, this would be his first step towards becoming Hokage.

Might Guy’s face was full of confident smiles as he gave a thumbs-up to a green figure excitedly jumping in a certain part of the stands.

Mei Terumī clenched her fists. If she won this first place, she would gain the attention of the Elder and the Mizukage, and her path to becoming Mizukage would become clear.

Zabuza looked at Kakashi, who was only a few paces away from him, with a complex expression. If he won, his second-round opponent would be Kakashi.

Zabuza didn’t know how he could fight to win. The opponent had even cut down his Jonin instructor.

“The rules for the third stage of the exam are simple. Just like in the preliminaries, defeating your opponent until they can no longer fight or they surrender counts as a win,” Hiruko continued.

“If there are no questions, examinees number one and two, please stay to prepare for battle. All other examinees, please return to the waiting room and await notification.”

The waiting room also offered a view of the battles inside the arena, so it didn’t hinder the examinees from gathering information.

The rules were so simple that no examinees asked further questions. They walked in pairs into the examinee corridor towards the waiting room, leaving only Kisame Hoshigaki, examinee number one, and Aoba Yamashiro, examinee number two.

Kisame Hoshigaki stood expressionless. In this exam, he only cared about two people: Might Guy and Kakashi Hatake. He felt confident about all other matches.

Compared to the calm Kisame Hoshigaki, Aoba Yamashiro was not as composed. He watched Kisame Hoshigaki with an expression as if facing a formidable enemy.

He had seen Kisame Hoshigaki’s performance in the preliminaries, and he was considered one of the strongest examinees.

Hiruko had the two stand at their designated positions, then, after waiting for about a minute, he shouted loudly:

“First match, Kisame Hoshigaki versus Aoba Yamashiro, begin!”

The amplification equipment carried Hiruko’s voice throughout the entire arena. Spectators who were chatting all turned their attention to the combat area.

“This Kisame Hoshigaki is a Mist Ninja. Although they are both among the Five Great Ninja Villages, we rarely hear about Hidden Mist,” a spectator dressed in official attire said.

“After all, Hidden Mist Village is in the Land of Water, so coming to the mainland would be more troublesome,” another official said.

“However, there are still differences among the Five Great Ninja Villages. Our Ninja from the Land of Fire should be stronger.”

The surrounding officials nodded in agreement. This was not only because Konoha was the Ninja Village of the Land of Fire but also related to Konoha’s consistently victorious and powerful battle record.

Although the spectators had confidence in Aoba Yamashiro, this could not erase the gap between Aoba Yamashiro and Kisame Hoshigaki.

The moment Hiruko shouted “Begin!”, Aoba Yamashiro immediately retreated and used Ninjutsu to summon a large number of crows.

Caw—caw—

The rough, hoarse cries of the crows instantly spread throughout the entire venue.

A large number of crows circled around Aoba Yamashiro, obstructing Kisame Hoshigaki’s sight and hearing.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Aoba Yamashiro immediately threw several Shuriken towards Kisame Hoshigaki.

Kisame casually swung his long sword, deflecting the Shuriken. Then, he directly plunged his sword into the ground and quickly formed hand signs.

“Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!”

Kisame gathered a large amount of Chakra, then performed Water Release Chakra Nature Transformation, spewing out a massive torrent of water towards Aoba Yamashiro.

Aoba Yamashiro frowned, rapidly retreating, and ordered his crows to fly higher.

Kisame’s water volume was simply too great. Soon, the entire combat area was transformed into a large pond by Kisame’s Water Release. Aoba Yamashiro dodged the water’s impact but could only be forced to stand on the water’s surface and fight against the approaching Kisame.

Bang, bang!

The two exchanged blows, and even with the crows’ interference, Aoba Yamashiro was beaten back repeatedly.

This restricted-area combat was too disadvantageous for Aoba Yamashiro. Kisame could dive into the water at any time to avoid the crows’ attacks, while Aoba Yamashiro had no good way to inflict effective damage on Kisame.

“What a terrible draw,” Aoba Yamashiro thought with some helplessness. Coincidentally, he also specialized in Fire Release, which was countered by Kisame’s Water Release.

“He’s got some skill, not weak at all,” Kisame observed after a few exchanges, realizing Aoba Yamashiro was stronger than expected.

Although he had no outstanding qualities, Aoba Yamashiro was considered good in all aspects.

“Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!”

Since there was plenty of water in the arena at this moment, Kisame didn’t expend much Chakra to condense a giant Water Dragon and hurl it towards Aoba Yamashiro. The crows interfering with his vision around him were instantly swept away by the giant Water Dragon.

“Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!” Aoba Yamashiro made a final struggle. He first spat out a Great Fireball to block the incoming Water Dragon Bullet, then controlled the remaining crows to shield his body. After that, Aoba Yamashiro himself held his breath and dove into the water, rapidly swimming towards Kisame.

But Aoba Yamashiro underestimated Kisame’s professionalism as a Mist Ninja. Even though Aoba Yamashiro was very careful not to cause a stir, and had the sound of the Great Fireball colliding with the Water Dragon Bullet as cover, Kisame still discovered Aoba Yamashiro in the water.

Kisame feigned ignorance, and the moment Aoba Yamashiro got close, he suddenly dove into the water and engaged Aoba Yamashiro in battle.

Splash!

A large amount of water exploded upwards as Aoba Yamashiro was directly blasted out of the water by Kisame’s full power, flying backward.

This wasn’t over yet. Under Kisame’s control, a stream of water shot directly towards Aoba Yamashiro, who hadn’t landed yet.

Bang!

Under the impact of the water stream, Aoba Yamashiro was directly slammed against the wall at the edge of the combat area.

For ordinary people watching the battle, not much time had passed. They only felt that Kisame used a Water Release, and the arena suddenly turned into a large pond. Then, the two exchanged a few punches and kicks, Water Release and Fire Release collided, and then Aoba Yamashiro was slammed into the wall. The whole process lasted only a few minutes.

“It seems this person is an excellent Ninja from Hidden Mist Village; he cannot be measured by ordinary Ninja standards,” the official who had previously said that Land of Fire Ninja were stronger said, stroking his beard, without a hint of embarrassment on his face.

“That’s right. After all, Hidden Mist came from afar, so they must have sent their strongest genius from their Ninja Village,” a nearby official agreed.

“I didn’t expect the Mist Ninja to be so strong. I wonder what their mission efficiency is like over there.” Kisame’s strong performance made some wealthy merchants in the arena acknowledge Hidden Mist’s strength.

The Mist Ninja smiled upon hearing this, while the Konoha Ninja in the spectator stands had rather grim expressions. They had lost the first match.

Danzo, sitting to Hiruzen Sarutobi’s right, frowned upon seeing this scene, a displeased look appearing on his face.

Although with his eyesight he could tell that it wasn’t Aoba Yamashiro who was weak but Kisame who was too strong, in Danzo’s eyes, losing in such an important occasion was an embarrassment to Konoha and should not have happened.

The Elder, sitting to Hiruzen Sarutobi’s left, merely showed a faint smile, saying nothing and not smiling too broadly.

Hiruzen Sarutobi neither frowned nor smiled. He watched the arena with his usual expression, making his inner thoughts unreadable.

“Kisame Hoshigaki wins!” Upon discovering that Aoba Yamashiro had lost his ability to fight, Hiruko swiftly and cleanly declared Kisame the victor.

After Hiruko announced the result, medical Ninja quickly took Aoba Yamashiro for treatment, while Kisame walked towards the waiting room.

“Rin, you can do it!” Seeing the first match conclude, Obito cheered on Rin Nohara.

“You can use a lot of Water Release at the start; you’ll have a terrain advantage early on,” Kakashi walked over to Rin Nohara and softly reminded her.

Although the combat area had a drainage system, it was clearly not very effective. While the water level was continuously decreasing and not as high as before, it was still a favorable environment for Rin Nohara.

Of course, if the battle dragged on for too long, the water would definitely be gone.

“Mhm.” Rin Nohara smiled and nodded at the two.

“Second match, Rin Nohara versus Nara Shiosui. Examinees, please enter the arena quickly,” Hiruko’s voice echoed into the waiting room.

Rin Nohara waved goodbye to the two and walked towards the combat area.

“Midori will be cheering you on!” Inuzuka Midori also cheered for Nara Shiosui, who was about to go into battle.

Nara Shiosui nodded and also turned to walk towards the arena.

Although he hadn’t been able to gather information on Rin Nohara during his special training with Muzuki, his taijutsu had improved a little there.

PS: Only one update today. I said I’d take a compensatory day off the day before yesterday, but it only worked for one day. Last night, I didn’t fall asleep until 2 AM again. I’ll try harder today, but if it doesn’t work, then so be it. I’ll just do what I can. I need to write the book well first. I’m really not in the right state for writing lately.