True Potential By DryBonesKing

Part 24// Iron Collision

A few minutes passed before the Uzumaki simply put the letter away in his pants' back-pocket with a shrug. He then started to rush down the way towards the third exam.

'Well, whoever he is, he'll be watching the exams today and he believes that I can win! So I guess I'll do my part to make sure his belief was warranted!' Naruto mentally told himself.

The true third exam was taking place in a large stadium. The stadium was packed with many different visitors as well as shinobi of Konoha. Everyone who entered found their seats and waited for the third exam to start.

At the top of the stadium, there was a raised sitting-area where the kage would sit to observe the exams. The Hokage and the Tsuchikage were there, sitting down. They had bodyguards standing to the side of them.

Soon, a third kage walked into the sitting area. The man was wearing white and green robes and was also wearing a white mask that covered his face. He also had on a green hat on his head that had the kanji for 'wind' printed on it. This man was also flanked by two bodyguards.

'Orochimaru...' Hiruzen realized immediately who the man was. After hearing of Suna's involvement in the upcoming invasion, he had wondered how Orochimaru had managed to influence the village into deciding to invade. Now, seeing the man in front of him and studying him intently, he could sense Orochimaru's dark, sinister chakra and bloodlust from him. '...so this is how you did it. You killed the Kazekage and you're acting as the Kazekage in his place.'

The Hokage knew he couldn't act against the man just yet. Therefore, he put on a smile and greeted the man politely. "Kazekage-sama, it is nice to see you. I hope your travel went well!"

"It was fine, thank you. It is nice to see you Hokage-sama." The 'Kazekage' replied. The man then turned to Ōnoki. "It is a pleasure to see you as well Tsuchikage-sama. I had not expected you would send a team to a Konoha exam."

"Hmph. I can do whatever I want. Hope I'm not an inconvenience to you." Ōnoki rolled his eyes in response.

"Forgive me. I wasn't trying to be hostile with my response. I was just trying to express my surprise." The 'Kazekage' replied apologetically.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." The Sandaime Tsuchikage shrugged in response. He then turned his attention to the Sandaime Hokage. "Hey, Hiruzen, are we starting this thing already? Now that we have all the kage here, we can start this now."

"Indeed. I guess it is time!" Hiruzen noted with a chuckle. He got out of his seat and walked forward to the edge of the seating area. He was standing in a place where everyone in the arena could see him.

"Ladies and gentlemen, visitors and residents of Konohagakure no Sato, thank you all for coming today." The Hokage spoke loudly, getting the attention of everyone in the arena. "It is now time for the final part of this year's chūnin exams! The matches will begin in a few minutes. I hope you enjoy the matches and have a good day. Now, without further ado, I present to you our exam proctor as well as the eleven genin who qualified for the final part of the exam!"

After the Hokage spoke, the eleven genin that qualified for the third exam walked forward into the arena. They stood in the battlefield for the third exam. Each genin received a loud applause from the audience in the arena stands.

Shortly after everyone arrived, a man entered the arena. He had brown shoulder-length hair and wore a Konoha forehead protector as a bandana over his hair. He wore the standard jōnin uniform and had a senbon in his mouth.

"My name is Shiranui Genma and I will be the proctor of the third exam." The man, Genma, introduced himself to everyone.

"...huh?" Kurotsuchi blinked in confusion. "Not to be rude or anything, sir, but we had a different proctor for the preliminaries. What happened to him?"