"Hey! Kabuto!! What's up with you quitting?!" - Naruto

"Naruto...I'm sorry...but those guys we fought beat the crap out of me. And ever since the scuffle with those sound ninja prior to the first exam, I've been totally deaf in my left ear. Now they're saying this could be a fight to the death...and I just don't think I'm up to that!"

"Well there's a familiar face, eh?..." - Anko started to look at Kabuto's profile and talked about how he already tried the chunin exams 6 times and always failed.

When Hiruzen asked about his record, she stated how unremarkable he was in the academy and mission profile.

But she also stated that his origins were special.

She asked Hiruzen if he heard about the tale of a boy being brought back from the battle at Kikyo Pass.

Hiruzen said that he remembers how Jonin Elite Ninja of the medical corps brought back an enemy youth, who survived on the battlefield.

Then Kabuto left while Naruto had a sad expression.

'Man...if Naruto only knew right now, I wonder what expression he would make...' - Eiji

But then Sasuke's curse mark started to send another wave of pain to his body.

Things played out as they were supposed to: Sakura wanted him to drop out, while Sasuke told her more or less to fuck off.

Naruto was siding with Sakura until Sasuke said that he wants to fight Naruto as well.

Naruto felt acknowledged and didn't say anything else.

Meanwhile, Hiruzen and co discussed if they should allow Sasuke to participate.

They concluded that if the curse mark activates, they would pull him out.

The brain-scattered Jonin, started to talk: "Uhmm, so now...uhmm what did I want to say?"

"..."

"Ahh right we will begin now the preliminaries...it will be one on one duels and the winners will advance to the third exam. So we have 23 combatants which means 11 rounds....wait I don't think it adds up..."

She then looked like she was trying to come up with an idea.

"Alright! I'm not good at this stuff, so the remaining one will advance through his luck skills!"

"WHAT?! HOW IS THIS FAIR?!" - Naruto

"Yeah, isn't it just a half-assed excuse to call it luck skills?!" - Kiba

In truth, only a few loud ones complained, the others either wanted to get done with it fast or thought that it would be dumb to complain now if they could end up being the lucky one.

The Jonin looked a bit confused, not understanding why those two complained: "Uhm, you see...wait I forgot to tell something important. Each pair will fight until one is dead, unconscious, or surrenders. Uhmm...but I will step in when I determine an undisputed winner because unnecessary killing is not cool. But don't count on that...I guess...probably..."

"..."

Hearing her, the Genin definitely didn't intend to count on her!

...

"What? Did I forget something?" - Female Jonin

"Open it!" - Anko

An electric scoreboard appeared.

"Oh right, this thingy will display every round the names of the two combatants...so...I think this time I didn't forget anything? Anyway, let's just start!"

Gulp.

The hearts of the Genin raced.

The names were rotating at a high speed until it came to a sudden stop.

Uchiha Sasuke vs Abumi Zaku!

Orochimaru smiled: 'Zaku will probably force him to activate the curse mark. Hehehe Sasuke activate it and rely on it so that you get hungry for my power!'

'Ha! I didn't think I would get my revenge this early...you will pay, Sasuke!'

'Hmm, looks like when it comes to randomness, the influence of a team more shakes the chances a bit. But it looks like the odds didn't change too drastically, since Sasuke is still doomed to fight the first match...' - Eiji

"Hey Eiji, why are you standing there? Let's go upwards to the spectator area!" - Kotaru

While he went up with his teammates, Hayate joined them and said:" Koff, you really made a show back then...I tried to calm Anko down, but she said that she promised you a reward for saving her - but she smiled dangerously so I hope you are prepared!"

"No problem, sensei. When it comes to the opposite gender, I'm really -"

"Eiji! I'm really glad that you passed! I really wanted to talk to you!" - Tenten

'Oh no! Let's pretend I have to shit and run to the bathroom!'