First, all of Rock Lee's attacks were blocked by Gaara's sand. Then came the removal of weights, and then the Eight Gates.
Finally, Gaara won narrowly.
However, because of Aoba's reminder, he held back his strength at the final moment.
Rock Lee only lost consciousness and fainted.
Except for a few simple bone fractures, the rest of the injuries were basically caused by Rock Lee himself from opening the Eight Gates.
In short, the result was that both sides were safe and sound.
However, the battle between Rock Lee and Gaara still triggered quite a bit of discussion.
After all, the strength shown by the two during the fight had already far exceeded the level of genin.
Even battles between ordinary jonin wouldn't have such momentum.
To the extent that the audience felt the following few matches appeared far too plain and unremarkable.
Ino, Tenten, and a few others also smoothly passed the preliminaries.
Very quickly, the preliminaries came to an end. Next was the drawing lots phase for the one-on-one matches in the third round of the exam.
After all the genin who lost in the preliminaries had left, the winners stood again in the now rather dilapidated central plaza.
Tsunade stood on the high platform, sweeping her eyes over the many remaining ninja in the field, feeling fairly satisfied in her heart.
Because the number of people from Konoha who passed the preliminaries was the highest among all the villages.
"The third round of the Chunin Exam will be held three days from now. These three days are for you to recover physically and gather information on your opponents."
"Next, each of you will draw a slip of paper from the box Anko is holding to determine your opponent."
Compared to the original work, where there was a rest period of more than a month, Tsunade only gave three days of adjustment time.
It was impossible for her to knowingly allow the Sand to harbor ill intentions and still give them so much preparation time.
"I'll bring it over. You all draw in order," Anko, squinting her eyes, brought the lottery box in front of everyone.
"There are just enough number tags inside for the number of people present."
Anko explained, "From lowest to highest, the two people who draw consecutive numbers will be opponents. The last person will get a bye."
After speaking, she walked straight to Aoba and winked at him.
"Only one at a time."
"..."
Aoba didn't ask further and directly reached out and took one.
Then Anko walked toward the next person.
"Drawing complete. Now stand according to the number I call."
Ibiki swept his eyes over the group and said loudly.
"Number one and number two!"
Aoba was the first to walk over, standing in the front.
He had drawn number one.
Right after, Gaara walked up beside him.
The two looked at each other, Aoba smiled and greeted, Gaara turned his gaze away.
"You two are the first match."
Ibiki nodded, then wrote on the tactics board in his hand.
"Number three and number four!"
Sasuke and Naruto came over at the same time. After a brief glance at each other, both were slightly stunned.
"Sasuke, I didn't expect my opponent would be you!"
Naruto revealed his gleaming teeth, "But the one who will ultimately win will definitely be me!"
Sasuke tugged at the corner of his mouth.
He also hadn't expected his first opponent to be Naruto.
If he didn't show some real skills, he might actually lose.
But he still said calmly, "The one who will win will only be me."
"This time, I'll beat you and become a Chunin."
Their bickering didn't affect Ibiki, who continued announcing numbers.
"..."
"Number nine and number ten!"
As the voice fell, Temari confidently stepped forward.
She had been praying all along not to encounter Gaara or Aoba.
Her prayers had indeed worked.
Aoba and Gaara were matched up, so not needing to face those two overwhelming opponents, she still had confidence.
The next moment, a girl with a bun hairstyle walked up beside her.
Temari was stunned for a moment.
Tenten's expression was grave.
She had seen Temari's battle just now. The opponent was good at Wind Release, especially those fan-released attacks, which greatly countered her.
Temari came back to her senses and couldn't help glancing at Aoba's direction.
'If I injure this little girl, will he hate me?'
Aoba was also a bit surprised. He hadn't expected that the two didn't meet in the preliminaries but did in the third exam.
"Number seven and number eight."
"Sakura?"
"Ino?"
Ino and Sakura walked over with their slips of paper, both eyes wide.
This best friends battle, they still didn't manage to avoid it.
"Sakura."
Yamanaka Ino took a deep breath, "Sorry, I have a reason why I must win."
"I understand."
Sakura nodded, her expression resolute as she said, "Me too."
The two had been best friends since childhood, never even fought once. They hadn't expected to become opponents now.
But winning or losing wouldn't affect their friendship.
The remaining few pairs didn't have any more internal conflicts.
———
At the same time.
[Konoha Hospital]
Inside a hospital room, the Kin Tsuchi captured by Aoba was resting here.
Since she was cooperative in providing information about Orochimaru and confessed everything, her treatment had been slightly improved.
But she actually wasn't badly injured, more seemed to be mental issues.
She was now under observation in the hospital.
At her bedside stood two people.
Orochimaru's golden pupils were full of desire, "Kabuto, about my previous proposal, how have you considered it?"
"Lord Orochimaru, if I choose to refuse, what will you do?", Kabuto lowered his head, his eyes behind the round-framed glasses dark and unreadable.
These words were basically already a rejection.
Orochimaru wasn't angry at Kabuto's refusal, only slightly regretful as he said, "Kabuto, your weakness is too obvious. You care too much about those orphans."
Kabuto adjusted his glasses, "Director Nono and the children are my bottom line."
Orochimaru's mouth curled up, "Then if I threatened those children, would you agree to come with me?"
Kabuto was silent.
But Orochimaru shook his head and said frankly, "Relax, I made a big deal with someone, I won't touch people from Konoha."
Although he didn't really believe in this verbal agreement, if he lost his source of immortality material, he wouldn't even have the chance to regret it.
Besides, he still needed one thing from Aoba.
"You mean…"
"I won't threaten you, but I also hope you don't waste your own talent."
After speaking, Orochimaru looked at Kin on the hospital bed and raised his hand to dispel the genjutsu on her.
"Kin, I have a mission for you…"
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