Re: Akimichi

"Congratulations on passing the second test!"

The third Hokage has announced the start of the preliminary phase before the third exam. Before that though, he was explaining the reason behind the joint exam being held as a replacement of war among the allied country.

"And now before we start the third test, the preliminary shall begin!"

The preliminary was headed by Gekko Hayate, a special Jounin ranked Shinobi from Konoha. He had short brown hairs, dark-colored eyes, and dark markings under his eyes. He was slightly pale and coughed a lot. He wore the standard Konoha shinobi outfit complete with a forehead protector that he wore as a bandanna, a flak jacket, and a regular shinobi sandals. He also carried a katana with a rectangular handguard strapped over his back.

"Because the exam apparently has been too easy this year, we have a bit too many peoples remaining..." Hayate sweeps all of the remaining participants with his Stern gaze. "...According to the pre-made rule of the Chunin exam, a preliminary must be held and trim the number of the participants."

Hayate then took out a name list of the remaining participants and a pen, "Since we will begin the preliminary immediately, those who are feeling unwell and feels like quitting after hearing these explanations please come forward now."

Many of the peoples present were surprised, some of them were just finished their second test on the last day and have not a single rest.

"Ah, I forgot to tell you. This is an individual battle, so you may forfeit based your own judgment..."

One man from the hidden grass village raised his hand and step forward, followed by another man from the same village.

"I'm sorry, I'm feeling unwell. My injured calf also hasn't been healed properly."

"Me too, I won't be able to start right away with my injuries."

Needless to be said, one of them was the disguised Orochimaru and the other was the disguised Kabuto. The killed another team from the hidden grass village and took their identities as their own for this occasion.

"You're Haneda Yuichi and Yamada Goto, from the hidden grass village, right? You may leave now." Hayate gestured for them to step aside and leave the arena, a few medical-nins came in and took them to be healed properly on the side before they're able to watch the preliminary from the audience seat.

Meanwhile, Sasuke started to feel uncomfortable. Unlike in the Canon, he didn't know yet the effect from the cursed seal since it hasn't activated yet. But, as paranoid as she is regarding her former sensei, Anko kept an eye on the Uchiha heir and noticed his weird behavior. 'It seems like my conjecture was right...'

Anko informed the Hokage of this, and Sasuke almost forced to quit the preliminary before Kakashi interrupted them and he promised that he will take great care of him. Fortunately, with Kakashi's promise, the Hokage relented and let Sasuke to continuing his participation in the preliminary.

"Now, this electric billboard screen will show the matchup for each battle." Hayate pointed at a relatively large screen beside the Arena.

"Well, let's cut the case. Although sudden, let's roll the first two names for the first fight."

[Yamanaka Ino v.s Temari]

On one corner of the arena, Ino gulped as she stared at the screen. She turned his head to see Chouji, their eyes met and Ino let out a nervous smile on her face. She gave Chouji a face that said 'Please cheer me up!'.

---

-Chouji POV-

It seems that I'm not first. No problem, I can analyze the other participants first. I turned my head and looked at Ino, I flashed a grin and waved at her.

"YOU CAN DO IT!"

A little shout won't hurt, right? Then again, even Hokage-sama's attention seemed piqued to me. He chuckled at my antics and waved it off.

"Now we will be starting the first match, everyone that not chosen as the fighter, please move to the audience section on the upper level. Yamanaka Ino of the Konoha and Temari of the Suna, please get into the position."

After Ino and her opponent were called by the referee, Gekko-san. I along with the other participants was moved to the audience seats. Ino's opponent was a girl from the hidden sand village, she has teal eyes and sandy blonde hair, which is gathered into four consecutive pigtails. Her outfit consists of a single light purple-colored, off-the-shoulders garment that extended to halfway down her t.h.i.g.hs, with a scarlet sash tied around her waist. And the thing that made her eye-catching was the thing that she brought on her back, a large iron fan with almost the same height as herself.

Ino was visibly nervous, that girl really needs a confidence boost. I glanced at Shikamaru, as I thought, he was leaning on the wall and closed his eyes. It seems that the responsibilities to cheer for her fell on me...

"Get ready..."

That Temari smirked as she brandished her iron fan, she twirled it around with one hand as if to intimidate her opponent.

"...FIGHT!"

The referee announced the start of the fight, just then, Temari waved her fan and caused a great gust on the arena. Ino braced herself, she took out a few Kunais from her pouch and attached an explosion tag on one of the Kunai.

Ho~ she started with a distraction...

As the wind blows, Temari rushed toward Ino, closed her fan, and swung it as a makeshift club. Ino jumped to the side to evade the blow and threw the Kunais on her hand. Temari swung her fan to deflect the incoming Kunais, but just as she parries them, Ino made a tiger hand seal and triggered the explosion tag on the Kunai.

*Boom!*

I whistled at her nice execution, now I wonder what she will do next?

"COME ON, INO!!!" Somehow I felt giddy, so I cheered out loud for her.

The smokes recede, and there was a log in the place of Temari. The girl herself was several feet away with her using her fan as a cover to shield her from the explosion. In the meantime, Ino used a clone technique to summons two of her clones. Ino's clones flickered to Temari's side and restricted her movement with strings covered with chakra, while Ino herself kneeled on the ground and made a hand seal that cannot be more familiar to me.

"[Shintenshin] No Jutsu!"

As she executed her technique, her eyes closed and her body limped yet still in a kneeling position. On the other side of the arena, the caught off guard Temari struggled for a while before she smirked and declared that she gave up.

"I, Temari of the sand, would like to give up and forfeit the match."

This made many of the other participants slack-jawed, not many peoples were familiar with this kind of technique. What made me worried was that Temari's team-mate, Gaara, he squinted his eyes and blaring his blood-l.u.s.t toward her. The Jounin from the hidden sand was alerted and immediately went into the arena and took Temari after the referee announced her loss.

Ino walked into the audience section with a wide smile on her face.

"Congratulations! I know you can do it!" I patted her shoulder, she smiled even wider. Was this an illusion or she looked more beautiful even though she looked like a mess? Kai! Hm? Not a genjutsu...

"Congratulations, take a rest and fix yourself..." Shikamaru looked at Ino with one eye closed and pointed at her attire that full of dust.

"I'll be back!" Ino rushed to the restroom, hehe, she's rowdy as always.

Now, onto the next fight. I looked onto the screen and another whistle escaped my mouth.

[Uchiha Sasuke v.s Yoroi]

That pretty boy's fight might be an interesting thing to watch~

---

-Third POV-

The fight between Sasuke and his opponent went almost the same as it was in the Canon. But, perhaps because of his lack of knowledge about the cursed seal effect, he wantonly used his chakra and his clan's signature Kekkai Genkai, Sharingan.

The cursed seal was partially activated mid-battle, which almost made the fight stopped. But, Sasuke quickly adjusts and stopped using his Sharingan and Ninjutsu. Instead, he acted like in the Canon and used Lee's front lotus which he modified to end the fight.

Sasuke was declared as a winner, albeit that, his condition kept worsening by each second passed. Amidst his misery, he remembered when Chouji touched the cursed seal and made him unconscious back then. He took a gamble and hastily rushed toward Chouji.

"Please, can you check the mark on my neck again?" Sasuke said, half-begging. He has his pride, but pride was not a reason to risk his life which he committed to avenge his fallen clan that massacred by his brother.

Ino who has already cleaned herself and changed her clothes looked at Sasuke, she was used to be his fangirl. But, she didn't know why she doesn't have that kind of admiration toward him again. Then she averted her gaze onto Chouji, and questions popped up on her mind.

Just then, Kakashi flickered behind Sasuke to took him and fix his cursed seal. But, before he was able to do that, Chouji decided to fulfill Sasuke's wish and stretched his hand out to check the mark on Sasuke's neck. Just like before, Chouji felt something flowed from the mark on Sasuke's neck toward him, that something was immediately absorbed by his body like water that got absorbed by a sponge before he was able to identify it.

Chouji frowned, he hates it when something went out of his control. He complied with Sasuke's wish because he was curious, but that curiosity has yet to be fulfilled. And now his curiosity intensified! That curiosity acted like an itch that he can't scratch, and it made him frustrated to no end!

One thing he was certain of, whatever it is, he was sure that it was connected with the reason he was not able to gain more fat. That conclusion added more oil to the fire, and Chouji was even more eager to check the mark on Sasuke's neck to 'scratch' his itches!

On the side, Kakashi was in disbelief. He didn't know what happened, but from his point of view, the cursed mark was able to be deactivated forcefully by Chouji. He has to report this to the Hokage later. But for now, he has to take Sasuke -much of the reluctance of Chouji- and fix the cursed seal.

Kakashi was not the only one that can't believe his own eyes, Orochimaru was also gobsmacked. He was both astonished and pleasantly surprised. He added a new name on his target list, moreover, that very name was placed on the very top of the list.

Meanwhile, on the arena, the referee was announcing the next fight.

[Rock Lee v.s Gaara]