Naruto: Konoha's Kanpu

"It's finally starting."

Sasuke stood among the thirty-six candidates, hands in his pockets, and cooly observed his surroundings. His gaze swept over Gaara, Lee, Neji, Suigetsu, and Haku, before finally settling on Naruto.

He frowned slightly, and felt a little distressed, 'There are so many strong opponents, yet the rules of this exam only allow me to face one at a time… Sigh, if possible, I'd fight all five!'

Sasuke's posturing caught Gaara's attention, who turned his head blankly and looked towards Sasuke with an undisguised killing-intent in his raccoon-like eyes!

Meanwhile, Suigetsu was glaring at Naruto, and then mouthed the words, 'Little brat, just hope that you won't be matched with me, or you will die!!'

The resentment three years ago, today, he finally has a chance to avenge it!

Lee also keeps also sizing up his targets: Naruto, Sasuke and Neji, and his fighting intent is getting stronger and stronger.

Naruto, with hands behind his head, chuckled as he looked around at his 'opponents'. To him, it didn't matter who he faced, as he'd just knock them down one by one.

'Of course, would be best if I could face that pretending bastard Sasuke!'

'If I can defeat him in front of everyone…' Naruto's heart burned with anticipation. He scanned the crowd, hoping to spot his Goddess, Sakura.

Unfortunately, the stands were too crowded to make out individual faces, leaving Naruto a bit disappointed.

"Alright, let's start drawing lots!"

Standing at the front, Genma slowly took out a small wooden tube with thirty-six bamboo sticks inside, biting on his senbon, "One at a time."

The candidates lined up to draw their lots, then cautiously returned to their spots to look at their own lot, and then at other people's lot, their eyes filled with various emotions: anticipation, excitement, caution, and worry.

"Hey, Namikaze Naruto, what number did you get?" Suigetsu couldn't contain his curiosity.

"Why should I tell you?" Naruto rolled his eyes at Suigetsu, then looked at Sasuke, and asked with his eyes which number he had drawn.

Sasuke ignored him. With one hand holding his lot, the other in his pocket, he stared at the sky at a cool forty-five-degree angle!

Naruto couldn't stand Sasuke's pretense, and was about to lash out, when he heard Genma's voice coming from the front, "Those who drew lot number one and lot number thirty-six, stay here for the match. Everyone else, step down."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, Suigetsu looked at Naruto, Gaara crossed his arms near his chest, Naruto stared at Sasuke, Lee clenched his fists in excitement, Neji rolled his eyes, Tenten looked around nervously, Shikamaru frowned in thought, and Kankuro subtly watched Naruto… The atmosphere in the arena gradually grew tense, and even those who were supposed to leave found their feet frozen, unable to step out for a while.

Time passed bit by bit, but none of the 36 people in the arena moved!

The spectators in the stands seemed to be affected by the atmosphere of the arena, and one by one, they held their breath.

Seeing this, Genma's brow furrowed, 'Are they treating the head examiner's words as farting?!'

Genma spit out the senbon in his mouth, and coldly said, "Those with lot number one and thirty-six, prepare for the match. Everyone else, move to the main stand! Didn't you hear me?!"

Everyone still doesn't move.

Genma's face began to twitch, 'Are you all trying to mess with me?!'

Be aware that today's matches is a highly anticipated event. The Daimyo, Minister, celebrities from various countries, and even the Hokage and Kazekage, are all on the scene. Even the competition process has been passed to the Land of Lightning and the Land of Earth. It can be said that the whole Shinobi World is paying attention to this.

If he, as the head examiner, messed up… he should not be a Hokage Guard Platoon's Captain anymore, he might as well resign and go home to farm sweet potatoes.

"Move now, or you're all disqualified!" Genma's cold voice carried a clear threat!

Finally, unable to withstand the pressure, the lesser-known candidates stiffly moved towards the main stand.

Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, Hinata and the others also left one after another, with Sasuke, Gaara, Neji and the other unruly candidates being the last to leave.

As for Naruto, when Sasuke started leaving arrogantly, he keeps up with him… When it comes to showing off, Naruto has never been weaker than others in his life!

In the end, only two candidates remained on the field, which are Kiba, one of the Konoha Twelve, and a Genin from Kusagakure.

"Woof." Akamaru lay on Kiba's head, sticking out his tongue, as if saying: 'I was really scared to death just now!'

Kiba also wiped the sweat from his forehead, 'I thought everyone had drawn lot number thirty-six.'

Then, he looked towards his opponent, and a sly smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, 'The troublesome ones have all stepped down. It seems that I can be promoted smoothly, my luck is pretty good.'

"Alright, first match, Konoha's Genin Inuzuka Kiba vs. Kusagakure's Genin, Matsuo Kitou, begin!"

Genma announced loudly before flickering down to the main stand. When his gaze inadvertently scanned the side exam candidate, he couldn't help showing a look of disgust, 'You guys are really worst-behaved group of candidates I've ever overseen!'

"Go Konoha!"

"Good luck!"

"Kusagakure is the best!"

Amid the raucous cheers from the stands, Kiba and Kitou clashed.

The two each drew kunai and engaged in short, sharp exchanges before retreating. Kitou then used a Wind Release Technique, while Kiba used his clan's secret techniques, cooperating with the little Akamaru to launch attacks that seemed mediocre at best.

At least… they looked like amateurs to Kanpū.

'So boring.'

Kanpū watched the match below boredly.

'In the original work, there were only a few groups of people in the final matches, even then, the finals only end after half a day. But this time…'

'Thirty-six candidates, eighteen matches!'

'Plus, with the likes of Lee, Naruto, Gaara, Neji, and Suigetsu, who are all durable fighters, if they accidentally get matched up, they'll probably fight until the sky turns dark.'

'Will it affect Orochimaru's Konoha Crush Plan?'

Kanpū squinted as he looked at 'Rasa', 'And, is this guy actually Orochimaru?'

A few minutes later, amidst the thunderous applause, Kiba successfully defeated Kitou and be the first one to win in the finals, then swaggered off the field.

Kanpū curls his lips at this, 'With such a lackluster performance, there's no way he'll be promoted to Chunin.'

Then, Genma stepped on the arena and announced loudly, "Lot number two and lot number thirty-five, step up for your match!"

Below the main stand, Shikamaru glanced at his lot number two and shrugged, then walked to the arena.

"Shikamaru, Ganbatte!" Ino and Choji shouted.

Shikamaru didn't look back, but just waved his hand in resignation.

On the other side, Kankuro, holding lot number thirty-five, felt a headache coming on.