Chapter 68 - Team Fights (1/2)

The Preliminary exams continued, as team after team engaged one another in combat to prove their worth, and to advance in the next round of exams.

However, these team fights were far from even, as it was incredibly noticible that there was a large gap between those of the genin corps, and those who were ȧssigned jonin senseis.

Whilst the former group mainly consisted of fairly average genin, who knew little outside of the basic three jutsu taught in the academy, the latter was a whole new beast.

Several of them were members of powerful clans, giving them access to unique jutsu and training which they recieved from birth.

Those who weren't also were forces to be reckoned with, as they mosly had shinobi parents who guided them.

Even if they did not, the presense of a Jonin Sensei boosted their capabilities to knew heights as the genin learned under them.

This gap was on full display in the exam, as whilst those in the genin corps were able to contend relatively well against one another, they could not even hold a candle to their counterparts.

Where the Corps Genin threw Shuriken, the Trained Genin flung fireballs.

Where the Corps Genin threw fists, the Trained Genin used unique disciples of Taijutsu.

There was hardly a competition between the two groups, as it was becoming abundantly clear at how large the difference between them truly was.

Eventualy, the sixteen canidates of the third exam were decided upon by the proctors after deliberating.

Team Kakashi, consisting of Kakashi, Rin, and Obito.

Team Mizuki, consisting of Mizuki, Anko, and Idate.

Team Asuma, consisting of Asuma, Kurenai, and Raido.

Team Guy, consisting of Guy, Ebisu, and Genma

And Finally, Team Hayate, which consisted of Hayate, Tokara, and Ibiki.

The Wildcard was decided to be Aoba, A boy with a pair of tinted goggles and black hair, who would later go on to be a jonin and briefly travel with Naruto in the buildup to the war.

He then went on in a speach about the Will of Fire, and how those who lost are sure to be splendid shinobi in the future.

Mizuki soundly ignored the speach, as he tried to descretly rest his eyes.

To Mizuki, the whole philosophy sounded a lot like horse shit. Whilst compassion towards one's enemies and diplomacy are valid tactics, sometimes one needs to be ruthless as well.

And whilst the Will of Fire on paper is an amazing philosphy, characters in the series all manipulate the ”Will of Fire” in order to justify themselves *cough*Danzo*cough*.

Even when it was abundantly clear that it was not the case.

And that doesn't even bring up how hypoctrytical those carrying it are sometimes, *cough*Danzo*cough*.

However, luckily for Mizuki, the speach soon concluded and those who failed the test were escorted out of the area to return home.

Doto: ”Now then, as for those of you remaining. . .”

The Akimichi faced them, his lips pursed in a slight smirk.

Doto: ”The Final Exam will be a simple tournament.”

Doto then went on to explain the style of the exam, and how despite being a tournement, there was as much of a chance for all of them to pass as there is for none of them, or any other slew of possibilities.

The exam would take place in one month.

Long enough for them to begin to develop some new techniques, or at least improve off of their existing ones.

However, there were some differences in this exam compared to the one undertaken by Naruto and his generation.

As the village wanted to mininimize the amount of information that is passed on about their shinobi to the enemy villages, the exams are not a large festival for this year.

Much to the general public's sadness, the exam would take place behind closed doors in order to ensure security of information.

The exam itself would take place in the arena which would house the preliminaries of Naruto's generation, much to Mizuki's satisfaction.

It was just such an iconic place to him after all, with it being the place of the legendary ”Gaara vs Lee” fight, among many other.

Which was why Mizuki was ecstatic when he realized that he would be able to fight there as well.

Doto: ”Alright Kids.”