Everyone returned to the upper level. Naruto distanced himself from Neji.
Now then, the last two competitors, will you step forward?" Hayate asked, once the others had left the ground floor.
Skipping using the board to pick who would fight next since there were only two people left, they still used it to show the others the names of who was fighting.
As the mummy Sound ninja stepped forward, he was chuckling. 'So it's finally my turn.' He thought, giving his opponent a glance before dismissing him.
Choji was pumped, Asuma's promise of food encouraging him. 'Just keep your eyes on the prize, all you can eat barbecue.'
'My job is to survive the main tournament and battle Sasuke, isn't that right, Lord Orochimaru? I wouldn't want to disappoint you. I have began to see through your design. The reason you ordered us to kill him. The curse you put on him. We were your pawns, weren't we, my Lord. Put here merely to test the limits of his abilities. It's not Sasuke's life you want. It's Sasuke himself.' Dosu thought, before glancing at the Sound Jounin.
Choji Akimichi VS Dosu Kinuta
Naruto warned Choji about Dosu's ability.
Choji and Dosu went down.
All right. The 13th and final match will begin." Hayate announced.
"You can do it!" Shikamaru cheered, looking far more enthused than Ren had ever seen him.
"Fatso!" Ino shouted.
Causing Choji to grow irritated, grumbling to himself as he bared his teeth. "OK! I'm going to finish this match. It's only going to take about two seconds, and then I'm coming after you, Ino!" He promised.
"That's one way to motivate someone." Naruto chuckled
"Fine, fatso." Dosu taunted. "If you want this match to end quickly, I'll just win it quickly."
Grumbling, Choji whipped around to face him now that he had used his trigger word, the promise of food, desire to crush him and Ino was enough motivation that it lit a fire in his eyes.
"You're going to go down hard, you mummified weirdo." Choji promised. 'Naruto told me he uses those holes in his arm to emit a pulsing sound. But if I can't hear it, then he can't hurt me.' Choji figured, thinking he had the battle all wrapped up.
"Ha! Ninja Art: Expansion Jutsu!" Choji called out as his body expanded.
"Whoa, I heard they grow up fast, but isn't this a bit much?" Naruto joked.
"Now the Hidden Leaf Style Taijutsu." Choji shouted as he pulled his arms, legs, and head into his clothing, creating a prefect ball as chakra slipped out. 'This will protect my ears from his attacks and crush him like a bug.' Choji thought as he went up into the air and spinning fast, charged at Dosu.
"Human Boulder! Chubbies rule!" Choji shouted, while Dosu didn't even attempt to move out of the way.
"Yeah, all right! Choji, you can do it! Squash him." Ino cheered.
That guy doesn't even need to touch Choji to hit him with a powerful sonic attack. But they only work when Choji's ears are showing. With his head covered, it's like Choji's wearing ear plugs.' Naruto figured as he watched Dosu effortlessly jumped out of the way while Choji was slow to turn. 'Those sonic attacks are useless against that big meatball, especially when it's rolling.'
Standing in front of one of the wall, Dosu easily escaped the line for fire as Choji rammed straight into it, creating a crater as he tried to pull himself out.
Jumping into the air, Dosu couldn't help but chuckle. "He barely has any control over where he's going. Now to end this-" Dosu said as he punched Choji with a grunt. Only to slide down to the ground, the attack ineffective.
Feeing it, Choji shouted at his opponent. "It's no use. My ears are covered."
"You are so wrong." Dosu told him, taking his weapon and merely flicking it, the metal ringing like a bell as the sound waves moved through Choji, causing him to yell and then scream as he seemed to deflate. The poor boy groaning, but didn't seem majorly injured.
"See, the human body is 70% water, and water can transmit sound waves. In other words, when it comes to my attacks, your whole body is basically one big ear." Dosu explained, hiding his weapon under his sleeves again.
"The winner is Dosu Kinuta." Hayate announced, while Dosu left.
Hey, are you all right?" A medic asked.
"Meat- I want to eat some meat." Choji told them.
"Pfft. He'll be fine" Naruto
"That's our Choji, always thinking with his stomach." Shikamaru said.
"Uh-huh." Ino agreed, feeling sorry for the poor boy getting defeated so quickly.
"Even though he lost, the least we can do is take him out for some barbecue beef." Asuma told them.
Meanwhile, Hayate coughed a bit before sighing in relief. "It's finally over."
'At long last, we can begin the final rounds." The Hokage thought with a smile
"And with that match, the third exam preliminaries are now finished." Hayate announced.
Hayate called all the winners to the arena.
Standing on the former battlefield, the Genin were all lined up. Dosu was on the far left end with Naruto standing beside him. After them was Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara. Followed by the final leaf genin Shikamaru, Neji and Shino on the right end.
"I commend all those who have advanced to the finals for the third level of the Chunin Exams. Well, there's one person missing, but still, congratulations." Hayate told them.
'Here, including the absent Sasuke, we have five ninja from the Leaf Village, three from the Sand Village, and one from the Sound Village.' The Hokage thought.
Pulling his hat down slightly, the Hokage spoke up. "And now I will begin the explanation of the final rounds.'
In the final rounds, each of you will put your battle skills on display. You'll demonstrate the power and control that you've achieved in your respective disciplines. Accordingly, the final battles will commence one month from now." The Hokage informed them.
"Wait, we're not going to do it right here and now?" Naruto asked as he was eager to give a certain someone a ass kicking.
"Are you insane?!" Shikamaru yelled at him. "How do you expect us to fight .Some of us are pretty beaten up here! We need time to rest. Everyone isn't as strong as you."
"There is always a month long wait before the final third exam." Hayate added
"That is correct." The Hokage nodded in agreement, "This is to provide a suitable period of preparation."
"What do you mean by that?" Neji asked.
"Simply this- in addition to announcing the conclusion of the preliminary matches to each country's leaders, we must also have some time to prepare and distribute the summons for the final selection. Not to mention that you examinees are going to need time to prepare for something that is this important." The Hokage explained.
'This old man sure likes to beat around the bush.' Kankuro thought. "Look, I don't really get what you're trying to say. What's the point of this?"
"I mean that to know your adversaries and prepare yourselves, you need time. Even though up to this point, all the battles have been real battles- as I'm sure you can all attest- they were conducted on the premise that you were fighting an unknown enemy. But that's no longer the case now that you've battled each other." The Hokage explained.
'Yeah, seriously. I would never have dreamed this guy would become so strong.' Shikamaru thought as he glanced at Naruto
"So in order to make the finals fair and just, we're giving you this month. Each of you must embrace the opportunity to practice hard and learn some new tricks. Because by now, everyone here knows your techniques. So using your old, tired tricks is a sure way to lose in the finals. And remember to get some rest as well." The Hokage instructed.
Looking over at all the others. 'This is going to be easy " Naruto thought
"Now, with all that behind us, I'd like to begin winding things up. But before we can bring this to an end, first, there is one more important matter to take care of for the final rounds." The Hokage told them.
"In a calm, orderly fashion, all of you are going to take one slip of paper from the box that Anko is holding." The Hokage instructed.
"Everyone just stay where you are. I'll come to you. Just take one." Anko told them.
Starting with Dosu, the mummy had to pull back his sleeves to reach in and grab a paper. When Naruto took his, he unfolded it to see a number one printed on the paper.
"Number 1?" Naruto smiled
Going down the line, when everyone had taken a paper, Ibiki spoke up. "Good. Now everyone has one. Going from left to right, tell me the number that's written on your slip of paper."
"I've got eight." Dosu said.
"Number one, of course." Naruto spoke.
"Seven." Called Temari.
"Five." Followed Kankuro.
"Three." Spoke Gaara.
"Nine." Shikamaru spoke.
"Two."Neji called out.
"Six." Shino finished.
"And that means Sasuke will be number four." Ibiki noted as he wrote it down on his note board.
"Right. Very good. Now I'm going to tell you about how the final selection tournament is going to work." The Hokage told them.
Most of the genin were surprised.
"Is that what the numbers are for? Drawing lots?" Shikamaru asked, getting irritated
Ibiki, you may reveal which ninja have been paired up." The Hokage ordered.
"Yes, sir." Ibiki answered as flipped over the board showing everyone the match ups.
Naruto smirked as he read it.
The first match was Naruto vs. Neji, the second Gaara vs. Sasuke, the third was Kankuro vs. Shino, fourth was Temari vs. Dosu. Shikamaru would fight the winner of round four.
Shino said nothing when he saw who he was facing.
'I'll be waiting forever.' Dosu thought irritated.
'Is that all the final rounds are? A tournament?' Temari thought.
'Just great. This is such a drag.' Shikamaru thought.
'Man, I'm glad I'm not in the same hat to draw as Gaara.' Kankuro thought happy
'Sasuke Uchiha?' Gaara contemplated, growing curious about his opponent.
'Perfect.' Neji thought, already imaging how easy it would be for him to beat Naruto. Still thinking Naruto was fated to be a loser
'I've got Neji Hyuga? Right off the bat? This couldn't be any better.' Naruto thought, more than pleased.
'Sasuke has to go up against him. Thanks to Kiba forfeiting we don't know his abilities?' Sakura fretted
Tbc