At long last, we can begin the final rounds." The Hokage thought with a smile
"And with that match, the first round of the 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 Toji 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?" Toji
"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 like 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.
"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.
"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."
"In a calm, orderly fashion, all of you are going to take one slip of paper from the box that Anko is holding."
"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 Toji took his, he unfolded it to see the number 3 written on it.
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."
