Very regrettably, this exquisite taijutsu match, whose standard far exceeded the level of genin, ended without a proper conclusion. The process had been exciting enough, but the result ended with one side forfeiting.
Moreover, this was the decision of Might Guy as his teacher. Lee himself had no way to refuse.
By the standards of this hot-blooded master-disciple pair, this choice was undoubtedly very, extremely un-"youthful." But there was no helping it. Reality was simply like this. Even with effort, victory might not necessarily follow.
The result was naturally heartbreaking for Lee. Fortunately, he still had a bit of warmth from his teacher. After the two of them hugged each other and cried bitterly for a while, then shared certain philosophical truths together, Lee finally managed to recover his spirits…
Emotionally, that is.
Physically, he could no longer stand up.
After the battle ended, the side effects of the Eight Gates had already begun to show. Collapsing after using this move was practically a law of nature.
In contrast, on the surface, Kimimaro's condition looked much better. His loss in this battle was his full set of outer clothing… There was no helping it. It was not as if he could take off his clothes before using the Shikotsumyaku, right? Even if he could remove his shirt, he could not remove his pants, could he?
But although he looked like nothing had happened, in truth, he was in an even worse position. After the exam ended, he had to go to Tsunade's place to be sliced up and studied, so she could see whether his body had undergone any deeper changes.
The fight looked a little anticlimactic, but everyone could understand. After all, both sides were Konoha shinobi. There was no need for them to fight to the death in front of people from other villages.
Bleed for your entertainment?
On what grounds?
This fight had invisibly raised the high-end standard of the Chūnin Exams. The earlier matches between the two had still been fine, since they were already over. But the matches afterward were miserable. Everyone found them somewhat dull.
It was still the same saying: without comparison, there was no harm.
Judging by victory or defeat, Lee had lost. But no one would think he was weak. Anyone with a brain could understand that this genin's taijutsu level could basically crush the vast majority of the examinees present. Even though he had lost, in reality, he had merely been "made to concede." If the fight had truly continued to the end, who would win and who would lose was still uncertain.
In short, judging by the results, the genin who successfully advanced to the final exam were Uzumaki Naruto, Hyūga Neji, Gaara, Uchiha Sasuke, Aburame Shino, Yamanaka Ino, Temari, Nara Shikamaru, Uzumaki Mirai, and Kimimaro.
The later match arrangements would still be conducted as one-on-one battles until the final winner was decided.
Looking at the list of those who advanced, the initial match arrangements were absolutely suspicious of behind-the-scenes manipulation. Konoha could probably create a gimmick like "the Uchiha survivor versus the son of the Fourth Kazekage" to attract important figures to come watch the final round. Maybe someone would even use this to set up an illegal betting pool.
Fine. This matter actually had little to do with Hagoromo, and he did not care.
Mainly because no one in Konoha was stupid enough to arrange something like "the Fourth Hokage's daughter versus the Fourth Kazekage's son"…
There was essentially nothing wrong with such a match itself. The only troublesome part was that you could not make Mirai go onstage to compete, then have a crowd below watching like it was a monkey show and making comments about her. That would be far too suicidal.
If something like that really happened, Hagoromo could wipe out every person involved in arranging the Chūnin Exam matches in minutes. The reason would be ready-made and perfectly righteous: what exactly were your intentions in placing the Fourth Hokage's daughter in front of the One-Tail's jinchūriki? Hurry up and explain clearly which country's spy you are.
There was about a month between the final selection of the Chūnin Exams and the preliminaries held on this day. In other words, after the first two exams ended, the shinobi from the other villages who had passed still had to remain in Konoha for quite a long time…
Of course, at this point, the so-called "shinobi from the other villages" could basically refer specifically to the Suna-nin, because aside from Konoha and Sunagakure, all the shinobi from the other villages had already faceplanted.
In the end, this exam had become something the two great hidden villages played behind closed doors by themselves.
However, during the interval between the two stages of the exam, although the Sunagakure shinobi remained in Konoha, even with Advisor Granny Chiyo leading them, their group behaved very honestly.
For Chiyo personally, she had not expected that her old enemy Tsunade had truly returned to Konoha at this time. She had seen this with her own eyes, so her threat level had dropped by more than one grade.
As for Sunagakure as a whole, Konoha currently had the Third Hokage, Tsunade and Jiraiya of the Sannin, and the White Yaksha, who would cause trouble on his own even if you did not provoke him. So, after considering the difference in combat power between the two sides, as long as the Kazekage's brain had not short-circuited, he would not actively stir up any messy business.
Therefore, Sunagakure's "Konoha Crush Plan" and the like simply did not exist. Otherwise, the unlucky ones would only be themselves. Everyone could still see that much.
In truth, Sunagakure did not have any extra plans either. Their goal was simply to come and participate in the Chūnin Exams. Once the exams were over, they would leave without looking back.
The one with ulterior motives was someone else.
...
If Lee using the Eight Gates on a stage like the Chūnin Exams was for the sake of proving himself, then Kimimaro using the Shikotsumyaku carried more of an "experimental" nature.
The idea that "kekkei genkai are harmful to their users" was, in a broader sense, only a hypothesis. There was no concrete evidence. Whether it actually had such negative effects, and if so to what extent, was still unknown. Further verification was needed, and Tsunade at least required some experimental data before she could better prescribe treatment.
And this data required Kimimaro to use the Shikotsumyaku a few times before it could be obtained. So, when it was time to release it, he could release it a little.
On the evening just after the Chūnin Exams ended, Hagoromo and Kimimaro appeared inside Konoha Hospital. Tsunade was also there.
"How is it? Have you found any trace of Orochimaru these past few days?" Tsunade asked Hagoromo while performing a detailed blood analysis for Kimimaro.
Because Orochimaru had messed around with her grandfather and brought him out, he had thoroughly offended Tsunade. Moreover, her status as the candidate for the next Hokage also made her pay special attention to the activities of an S-rank dangerous figure like Orochimaru.
"Nothing for the time being," Hagoromo said. This was the truth. If Orochimaru deliberately hid himself, it was indeed very difficult to find his traces.
As Hagoromo said this, one of his eyes kept staring in a certain direction outside the window.
What left him speechless was that the Thousand-Armed Buddha statue left behind by the First Hokage had actually been transported into Konoha. Could this hidden shinobi village really be planning to create a scenic attraction and develop tourism? Hmm, they should be able to earn quite a bit of money.
"I have a feeling he's still somewhere around Konoha. Can you find him before the Chūnin Exams end?" Tsunade said again.
"I can only say I'll try my best…"
Hagoromo was stunned for a long while before he reacted and realized that this was not something he should casually agree to. Since when had finding Orochimaru become his job? He had never accepted such a mission.
"In any case, the faster, the better. Letting him move around freely is far too dangerous… Even if we can't capture Orochimaru, we have to drive him away from the village's surroundings." As Orochimaru's former teammate, Tsunade naturally understood what kind of person he was. And after losing the restraints of certain rules, he would only become even more unscrupulous.
"How is Kimimaro's condition?" After finishing the topic of Orochimaru, Hagoromo finally turned the conversation back to Kimimaro.
Although this concerned Kimimaro himself, in front of these two big shots, he only had the right to listen, not speak.
"His condition is much better than I expected," Tsunade said. After thinking for a moment, she gave a hypothesis. "Based on your description, I suspect it may be related to his use of Lightning Release. When the two are used together, Lightning Release seems to have a certain reverse-inhibiting effect. It can prevent the side effects caused by excessive Shikotsumyaku proliferation… You handled this very well, Hagoromo."
Hagoromo: "…"
What did that have to do with him? He had not taught Kimimaro Lightning Release because of that…
Had he stumbled into the right answer by pure dumb luck?
"No, no, you flatter me…"
But since Big Sister Tsunade had praised him like that, Hagoromo still very humbly accepted it.
Mm. After all, Kimimaro's bones were going in and out, so when mixed with Lightning Release, the latter could at least have a sterilizing and itch-relieving effect, right?
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