After the referee declared Ino the winner, the medical team immediately rushed in to treat Neji. The medical ninja assessed his injuries and quickly carried him away on a stretcher. Tenten, who had been beaten up by an anonymous strongman, was also sent to the hospital. She had been holding on just to watch Neji's match.
After the match, it was only natural to follow up with medical treatment.
First Hinata, then Neji—the two heroes of the Hyuga Clan were admitted to the hospital one after the other.
There were still two matches left.
The air was thick with the scent of blood. Ino's ninja technique had stirred up Gaara's killing intent, and he had brutally crushed Dosu from the Sound Village with his "Sand Binding Coffin." It took constant reassurance from Temari, Kankuro, and their Jonin instructor Baki to finally suppress the murderous rage within him.
The final match was between Rock Lee and Kiba Inuzuka. Both were incredibly fast ninjas, but in the end, Rock Lee emerged victorious, securing the last spot. He was the only Genin from Might Guy's Team 3 to advance to the main tournament.
One from Team 3, two from Team 7, two from Team 8, and two from Team 10—the competition was fair. Sasuke, Shino Aburame, Kankuro, Hinata, Temari, Shikamaru, Naruto, Ino, Gaara, and Rock Lee—these ten advanced to the main tournament. Seven were from Konoha, and three were from Sunagakure. All the ninjas from smaller villages were eliminated, which was also fair.
Next was the drawing of lots.
Ino drew the first slot.
The final match order was Ino vs. Temari, Gaara vs. Shino Aburame, Naruto vs. Rock Lee, Shikamaru vs. Hinata, and Kankuro vs. Sasuke.
Due to the tournament format, the ten participants couldn't determine the final four. After a brief discussion between the Third Hokage and Sunagakure's Jonin instructor Baki, it was decided that the winners of the matches between Shikamaru and Hinata, and Kankuro and Sasuke, would fight an additional match on the day of the tournament to determine the final four.
Baki nodded in agreement. "Fine, we'll go along with whatever you decide." The main tournament was set to take place a month later.
The Third Hokage began his lengthy speech with the opening line, "Make good use of this month to prepare yourselves and showcase your strongest abilities during the tournament."
A month later, these ten would compete in front of daimyo, wealthy merchants, and political figures from various nations to determine the ultimate winner.
"How boring," Ino thought.
She didn't mind fighting her fellow villagers, or even life-and-death battles with enemy ninjas. But she detested this kind of spectacle, where they were put on display like monkeys. As someone who wielded immense power, she believed that ninjas should at least command basic respect, if not stand above ordinary people.
Why should those weak politicians be allowed to watch them fight? Ninja techniques weren't some form of public entertainment—they were tools for killing. Was it really necessary to have those pig-headed politicians in the audience, using them as pawns in their betting games? If the goal was to demonstrate power, wouldn't it be more effective for Jonin to unleash a couple of large-scale ninja techniques?
The idea of ninjas fighting bloody battles while a crowd of onlookers sat above, critiquing and commenting, made her uncomfortable. It felt as though she were some kind of exhibit.
Shikamaru glanced at her and whispered a reminder, "Hey, hey, these are the kind of things a lazy guy like me with a bad reputation can say, but you, a genius, shouldn't."
"I'm just venting a bit."
The Third Hokage's speech dragged on for an hour and a half before he finally announced the dismissal, telling everyone to go home and prepare.
Naruto ran out shouting excitedly. He had just witnessed Ino using Wind Release Ninjutsu and, inspired, finally completed the development of his Wind Attribute Chakra. He rushed off to find Kakashi, hoping to learn a couple of Wind Release techniques. It didn't matter if he couldn't master them right away; he could practice with five hundred Shadow Clones!
Team 10 walked out of the central tower together and ran into Asuma.
Both Ino and Shikamaru had advanced to the official matches, while Choji had been eliminated by Naruto, which showed that Asuma's teaching was effective. He said cheerfully, "You all did well. My treat, let's go eat ramen."
Choji, feeling a bit down after losing to Naruto, perked up at the mention of food. "What? Ramen? I thought we were having barbecue!"
He shifted his shoulders and pushed Shikamaru and Ino aside with his hips, his tone tinged with disappointment, "Asuma-sensei, haven't we always had barbecue?"
Asuma chuckled awkwardly. Those Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags were really a curse! Barbecue? The money for ramen was borrowed from his friend Chiriku! He had sunk to borrowing money from a monk, how pitiful!
"Eating barbecue all the time isn't good for your blood vessels. Let's try something different. Ramen is actually quite delicious!" he forced out a reason.
In the end, Team 10 had a meal at Ichiraku Ramen, and it was indeed quite tasty.
After finishing the ramen, Ino bid farewell to Asuma and her teammates and strolled home.
Due to Orochimaru's appearance at the Chunin Exams, the village's Jonin were very busy, and the intelligence system was even busier. Ino's father, Inoichi, hadn't even watched her match, only asking about it after dinner.
She didn't elaborate much. Neji was, after all, from the Hyuga branch family, and defeating him didn't bring as much prestige as defeating Chojuro.
Inoichi simply asked about the arrangements for the next month. The village wouldn't assign missions to the participating Genin for this month, so Ino naturally planned to leave the village to continue learning under Tsunade.
Tsunade's whereabouts were too unpredictable, and without the support of the entire intelligence system, finding her would be quite difficult.
The next day, Ino picked two flowers by the roadside and went to the hospital to visit the two heroes of the Hyuga Clan.
Hinata was mainly suffering from exhaustion and would be fine after a night's rest.
Neji's injuries were all superficial. As a master of Body techniques, such wounds were nothing serious.
Tenten was in the ward keeping Neji company, while Rock Lee and Might Guy were skipping rope in the hospital courtyard.
"Hey, feeling better?" Judging by Ino's expression, one would never guess that Neji's injuries were inflicted by her. She looked like a kind passerby.
Both of them looked at her calmly, without any hint of animosity. No matter what others thought, Ino had held back. If it had been a life-and-death battle, Neji would have been done for long ago.
The distance of the battle was a limitation for her, and not being able to strike a fatal blow against a fellow villager was another. Of course, facing a Kunoichi, certain vital areas were off-limits, which also posed a minor yet significant restriction for Neji. Overall, the match was fairly balanced, and both fought with restraint.
"You must defeat the strongman from the Sand Hidden Village and avenge me!" Tenten said with a pout.
By now, the reputation of that so-called strongman had spread widely among the Genin of Konoha.