"Brother Zoro, do your best!"
"Brother Zoro, beat him!"
The mont Zoro stepped onto the arena platform, cheers imdiately erupted from the Uchiha section of the stands. Several young children from the clan leaned over the railings excitedly, waving their arms with bright, eager expressions.
To them, Zoro had already beco sothing of a legend within the clan.
Beside Fugaku stood a beautiful woman in the pri of her youth. In her arms was a baby boy only a few months old. She gently rocked him while gazing toward the figure below, her eyes carrying both expectation and admiration.
"Itachi," she whispered softly to the child in her embrace, "when you grow up, you must beco the hope of the clan just like Zoro."
On Kumogakure's side, the Third Raikage himself had not attended. The representatives sent in his place were his son, A, and Killer B.
"Yo, big bro, why hasn't that guy made a move yet?"
Killer B asked in his usual rhythmic tone, leaning slightly forward as he watched the arena below.
"No idea. Darui's probably trying to figure out his opponent's weakness."
A rested his cheek against one hand as he sat in his chair, his expression full of boredom. If not for his father's direct orders, he would never have wasted ti attending sothing like this.
To him, these exams were little more than childish gas.
But unlike the indifferent spectators around him, Darui's forehead was already covered in a thin layer of cold sweat.
The people in the stands had no idea what kind of monster they were looking at.
This was soone who had survived an ambush led by a jōnin captain.
Forget Darui himself—even most ordinary special jōnin probably weren't qualified to fight Zoro anymore.
Under countless gazes, Darui slowly raised his hands.
Imdiately, many spectators focused their attention, thinking he was finally about to begin forming hand seals.
Yet the rapid sequence of signs they expected never ca.
Instead, Darui casually lifted both hands in surrender and looked toward the referee with an expression that almost seed relieved.
"Eh, big bro, is this so new kind of attack?"
Killer B blinked in confusion.
A's expression darkened slightly, but he did not answer. His brows slowly furrowed as he stared at Darui, already realizing what the man intended to do.
"Sorry, referee," Darui said lazily. "I forfeit."
Silence fell for a split second.
Then the entire arena exploded into uproar.
Darui had surrendered?
Voluntarily?
"What's going on? Why would Darui give up?"
"Isn't he supposed to be pretty strong?"
"Did sothing happen?"
Even the surrounding ninja began discussing it in confusion.
i Terumī glanced sideways toward Kisa beside her, unable to hide her surprise.
"Why would he surrender? Darui's strength should be decent, shouldn't it?"
Kisa maintained his cold, unreadable expression and gave no reply whatsoever.
The silence made i feel slightly awkward.
Still, Kisa was not intentionally ignoring her. He was simply too blunt by nature and had no idea how to answer the question.
anwhile, the Uchiha children in the stands beca even more excited.
"Brother Zoro scared him into surrendering!"
"Brother Zoro's amazing!"
"Aweso!"
After hearing endless praise about Zoro from the clan elders at ho, the younger generation of the Uchiha now viewed him almost like a war god.
Uchiha Muneyoshi looked around at the shocked and noisy reactions from the surrounding ninja, unable to suppress the pride surfacing on his face.
The young man standing below—the one whose re presence forced an opponent to surrender without fighting—was his grandson.
Even the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, revealed a satisfied expression after seeing the reactions from the representatives of the other villages.
Zoro truly had not disappointed him.
Most likely, he had already revealed enough of his strength during the Forest of Death phase to completely crush Darui's fighting spirit.
At that mont, Darui ignored the countless discussions around him. He rely shrugged helplessly and spread his hands.
Rather than risk his life gathering combat intelligence on Zoro for the other villages, it was far smarter to surrender imdiately.
"What? Are you certain?"
The referee looked toward Kumogakure's representative area. After seeing that A showed no intention of objecting, he asked Darui once more for confirmation.
"How embarrassing. Really embarrassing."
Darui shoved both hands into his pockets and casually walked toward the exit tunnel without the slightest concern for the crowd's reaction.
The referee's face darkened helplessly at Darui's indifferent attitude, but he still announced the result.
"The winner of this match is Uchiha Zoro, who successfully advances to the final stage of the Chūnin Exams."
The instant the announcent ended, a cold glint flashed through Zoro's eyes.
Expressionless, he turned and left the platform.
If Darui had chosen to fight, Zoro would have personally taught him what fear felt like.
Unfortunately, the man was smarter than expected.
Zoro had originally planned to cripple him here—or perhaps simply cut him down altogether.
"You worked hard, Zoro-kun."
Back inside the waiting area reserved for participants, Nohara Rin walked over with a gentle smile.
"Hmph! What the hell is this? That guy actually surrendered? Why can't I have luck like that?!"
Obito angrily scratched at his hair in frustration.
He had already been eliminated earlier by a Kirigakure ninja.
Then again, if Obito had passed the Chūnin Exams on his first attempt, that would have been the truly shocking outco.
"Obito, don't get discouraged," Zoro said before Rin could comfort him. "There's still another exam later this year, right?"
Hearing that, Obito finally cald down a little, though his expression still looked bitter.
Soon, the third round officially ended. The remaining participants were instructed to head toward the final venue and draw lots for their next opponents.
Only eight ninja remained.
It had to be said that this year's Chūnin Exams had gathered an unusually terrifying group of talents. Several ninja who normally would have advanced to chūnin rank had instead been eliminated early.
Sunagakure had produced Sasori—the future missing-nin feared across the ninja world.
Kirigakure had three survivors: the future Mizukage i Terumī, Kisa Hoshigaki, and Zabuza Momochi.
Konoha also had three representatives remaining: Uchiha Zoro, Might Guy, and Sarutobi Asuma.
Kumogakure had only one survivor left—Omoi.
Although Omoi had suffered heavy injuries during the exams, his luck had been fairly good. He had avoided running into truly monstrous opponents, and his own abilities were still respectable enough to advance.
As for Iwagakure, their luck had been terrible.
Every one of their participants had encountered powerful opponents and been eliminated.
The Iwagakure representative's expression had already darkened to an ugly degree.
"Big bro… you okay?"
For once, Killer B dropped his usual rap-like rhythm.
He could clearly sense the violent pressure radiating from A, like a volcano on the verge of erupting.
Following A's fierce gaze, Killer B looked toward the figure below carrying three swords at his waist.
"Big bro, all Five Great Ninja Villages are watching. Don't do anything reckless."
Killer B quietly warned him.
He genuinely felt that A might leap down at any mont and slam Zoro into the ground with a Liger Bomb.
"I'm fine."
A forcefully suppressed the killing intent surging within him and answered in a low, muffled voice.
He had already obtained certain intelligence reports.
The current Zoro had likely developed hostility toward Kumogakure.
And if soone like him were allowed to continue growing freely, he would undoubtedly beco a massive threat to Kumogakure in the future.
At this mont, Zoro had no idea that A had already begun viewing him with murderous intent.
Thanks to Danzō's sches, he now had conflict with Kumogakure as well.
It had to be said—Danzō truly was a troublemaking bastard.
Soon, the lot drawing ended.
Looking at the na written on the slip in his hand, Zoro originally thought he might face soone like Kisa or Zabuza.
Unexpectedly, his opponent turned out to be i Terumī instead.
"We et again."
Standing atop the battle platform, i smiled warmly at Zoro.
Elegant, Mature, Graceful, Gentle and Friendly.
Those were the first emotional fluctuations Zoro sensed from her.
But if that was all she had, then this match would end very quickly.
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