In his last breath, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka whispered: "...If reincarnation is real, if I get to have my current memories, I'll try by all means to truly live freely - to do all things I couldn't."
Naruto, his clone to be precise, stared at the cursed seal Orochimaru left near Sasuke's neck.
The more he stared at the seal, the more amazed he was. Orochimaru was truly a genius. His cursed seal was a piece of art. Naruto couldn't remove the seal. It was a special cursed seal that contained a piece of Orochimaru's soul and life force.
Naruto could only suppress and isolate it, ensuring the seal didn't affect Sasuke's chakra network. If Naruto could use the Second Eye, he could just absorb Orochimaru's life force---which would kill the soul---and then remove the seal.
Unfortunately, a clone couldn't change the eyes. A clone could only use one of the six eyes. Therefore, there was nothing else he could do.
Beside, he thought the seal would be useful to Sasuke. As long as he could remove Orochimaru's soul, the seal didn't need to be removed. It worked by absorbing natural chakra and made it Sasuke's. The seal could be Sasuke's thrump card.
Taking the last glance at the seal, Naruto put Sasuke on the ground. Then, forming a single handseal, he casted a simple water jutsu on his body. After that he disappeared via [Shunshin]. He wasn't interested to entertain Sasuke's question, and thus, he left.
...And contrary to what Orochimaru feared, Naruto didn't report his presence to Hokage. But it was only a matter of time before they noticed Orochimaru's infiltration.
0⸨ ----|o||[] ⸸ []||o|---- ⸩0
...After a while, the allocated time for the first round of selection was finally over.
All the twelve participants that managed to pass the first round had gathered in the building located in the very center of the forest. Some of those who failed were also there, but they were watching from the second floor. As for the winners, they were standing on the floor -- it was a huge indoor arena.
"Congratulation for the twelve of you who manage to make it to the second round," congratulated Hiruzen -- he alonged with Mitarashi Anko stood two meters in front of the genins.
The twelve genins that managed to pass the first round were Inuzuka Ike, Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuuga Hinata, Hyuuga Neji, Haruno Sakura, Yakumo Kushida, Inuzuka Kiba, Sarutobi Hirata, Aburame Shino, Nara Shikamaru, Rock Lee, and Uzumaki Naruto.
"From the twelve of you, three will be chosen to participate in the Chuunin Exam Tournament. In order to ensure that those three will be our best genins, you will be pinned to fight each other. So, fight with everything you have and become the victors."
Hiruzen didn't waste a lot of time by talking nonsense. This was not a ceremony for new academy students. No need for unnecessary speech. Hiruzen just made sure that the genins understood the rules and to encourage them to do their best.
"I'm the one and only Sexy Mitarashi Anko!" said Anko, taking the reins after Hiruzen made his way out of the arena floor -- she spread her arms showing off her sexy body. Ike was basically drooling at the sight. "Let's begin the second round right away. Your opponent will be the victor if you surrender or lose consciousness. But before that, any question?"
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