The four days have passed since then; many things have happened.
Minato orders the ANBU to increase the level of the security for the Chunin Exams while at the same time ordering the trusted member of the ANBU to investigate Orochimaru's trace.
Minato also manages to see the Cursed Seal on Sasuke's neck and scolds Sasuke for keeping such a secret from him. Minato also informed Fugaku and Mikoto about this incident, and both of them had somewhat similar reactions.
They are angry and worried about Sasuke. Mikoto tightly hugged Sasuke after learning what he experienced and muttered to herself that she will never lose her children again.
Hearing Mikoto really makes Sasuke realize the consequences of his powerlessness. If he were stronger, then maybe Orochimaru wouldn't have had the chance to place the Cursed Seal on him, and this wouldn't worry his mother, but right now he can't change the past—no one else can.
Fugaku is angry that his normal black eyes turn to Sharingan. Fugaku didn't say anything in front of Sasuke, but after he and Minato were in the other room, Fugaku suggested to Minato that he would hunt down Orochimaru.
Minato hesitates for a moment. He knows that Jiraiya wanted to be the one who caught Orochimaru, as he felt that it was his responsibility as a fellow student of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen.
But Minato agrees with Fugaku and approves of his suggestion since, while Orochimaru didn't attack his children, the fact that the latter dared to make a move against the Leaf is something incredibly unforgivable.
Minato also gives Sasuke a choice: either he could fully seal the Cursed Seal Sasuke had on his neck, like what Minato did on Anko, who also received the early version of the Cursed Seal from Orochimaru, or modify it so Sasuke could fully control it without fearing Orochimaru's secret scheme.
Sasuke, after thinking deeply, chose the latter, which didn't really surprise his parents and Minato since they knew Sasuke and Satsuki hungered for power to take revenge against Itachi.
Still, knowing such a thing doesn't mean one can accept it; at least to Mikoto, she couldn't accept such a thing as her children fighting each other. Her heart aches just by thinking about it.
But she was powerless to change anything and could only watch from the sidelines with tears in her eyes.
While Sasuke had a terrible time after arriving at the Central Tower, Hinata and Satsuki are in for a surprise since they find someone familiar while they are waiting for the second test of the Chunin Exams to finish.
After entering the Central Tower on the second day of the exam, both Hinata and Satsuki choose to recover their strength and maintain top condition for the upcoming next test.
In fact, it wasn't just them but others as well since no one knows what kind of test they are about to take after the second test finishes.
While exploring the Central Tower, the two girls unexpectedly encountered someone they were incredibly familiar with: it was none other than Haku, who was wearing a headband with the symbol of the Village Hidden in the Mist.
What another discovery the two found was the fact that Haku was the person whom they fought at the bridge. As for how they discovered it was the mask in Haku's waist.
They are happy to see Haku, as the two girls believe that it will take a long time before their paths once again cross each other.
Fate truly is an unpredictable force.
Satsuki is visibly angry after discovering this, and while she easily guesses the reason behind it, it doesn't mean she accepts it. Hinata is also angry but not with the same intensity as Satsuki since Hinata somewhat guesses Haku's reasoning.
Haku sincerely apologizes to Hinata and Satsuki about lying. She honestly wants to tell the truth, but she knows her role, and she can't really act without thinking of the possible repercussions of her action, especially the fact that her and Zabuza's situation isn't really ideal in the first place.
After talking for some time, Satsuki and Hinata somewhat accept Haku's apology and slowly build their friendship, which is something Haku really wanted.
While she is friends with her teammates, Satsuki and Hinata have a special place in her heart, especially the fact that both of them try in their own way to befriend her when they are at the Land of Waves.
Before the second test finishes, Hinata and Satsuki decide to spend their time with Haku to know each other and deepen their bonds.
Throughout the entire time Naruto remains in his personal quarters, which really frustrates Tsunade and Shizune, who wanted to get close to him and gather as much intel as they could.
In fact, Tsunade and Shizune weren't the only ones; Kushina also tried to visit Naruto and always knocked at his personal quarters, but Naruto didn't respond.
At first this really worries Kushina that something terrible happened, and after the ninja forces Naruto to open his personal quarters—something Naruto didn't know happened. If Naruto knows, he will without a doubt take action against the said ninja just like he did against Kakashi. Unknown to Kushina and the ninja who opened the door, they managed to stay alive due to the fact that Naruto was asleep—and seeing him sleeping, Kushina only managed to sigh in relief.
Kushina wanted to wake up Naruto and talk to each other, but she didn't take such action after thinking about it deeply. Despite being his mother, Kushina knows that their relationship isn't close and that Naruto will forgive her after he wakes up.
There might be chances that such action will result in worsening their already terrible relationship, so Kushina could only wait patiently for Naruto to awaken and constantly visit before the second test finished, but the result was always the same: Naruto was still asleep.
After the second test finished, every team that managed to pass slowly made their way to the underground area of the Central Tower and awaited the next section of the exams.
The Genins are excited as well as nervous, especially those who barely passed the test and didn't have time to recover their strength.
They still didn't know how many tests they had to pass in order to become Chunin ninjas, so they could only preserve as much strength as possible for the upcoming exam.
Currently the Genins are standing in the middle of the battle arena with their Jonin senseis on the sides and the Hokage and his trusted aid behind him.
The Genin's attention wasn't on their Jonin sensei but on the Hokage himself. How can they focus on their sensei when a legendary ninja is in front of them?
No matter what kind of relationship they have with the Leaf Village or what kind of emotions they currently bear towards the Hokage, one thing is for certain: they cannot deny the fact that the person in front of them is one of the best ninjas in the modern era.
Minato secretly glanced at the Genins in front of him, but he didn't show any outward reaction despite the fact that he was slightly surprised by their number, especially the fact that most that passed the test belonged to the new batch of Genins.
Minato then began telling everyone about the true purpose of the Chunin Exams, which caused various reactions from shock and indignation to forced acceptance.
Before Minato could announce something, a ninja suddenly appeared in front of Minato, kneeling on one knee.
"Lord Hokage, if you don't mind handing the rest of the proceedings over to me, Hayate Gekko, Proctor of the Third Exam."
Minato stared at him for a few moments before speaking with a slight nod on his head. "Go ahead."
Hayate stands up and turns his body to face the Genins who are staring at him with serious expressions on their faces, especially after learning the fact that he was the Proctor for the Third Exam.
While his sickly appearance really didn't bring any assurance for his capabilities, the fact that he was at least a Chunin ninja just showed them that he was more than met the eye.
"Good to meet you, everyone. I'm Hayate..." Hayate weakly said as his eyes scanned everyone.
"Before we start the exam, I must ask you all to do something for me," he added.
Everyone immediately tensed up, especially after sensing something, but they couldn't point out what the problem was.
"You see, there are some preliminaries to the exam, and whether you can proceed to the main exam mainly depends on how well you manage in the preliminaries," Hayate finished, while his voice was weak, but to the Genins, it was as loud as a big bell that rings.
"Preliminaries...? Like what?!"
"What the hell is going on?!"
"Why do we have to take preliminaries? Surely with our capabilities, since we passed the second exam, it should be more than enough to show we are ready to take the third exam!"