I fixed the previous chapters to be more... acceptable. 56 hours-minutes nothing major. Thank you for reading my work. I guess I'll update again today coz I got time.
~Author
...
Forest of Death
Inside the tower
"Man I'm bored... and hungry."
Kankuro's eyes darted to his siblings from the book he was holding.
"Yeah that makes two of us. If only a capable elder sibling decides to cook for us then I don't mind staying here for four more days."
Gaara added in as he glanced at the ceiling.
"You don't have to worry about the food and accommodation. Alright follow me you three."
A konoha ninja appeared and lead them somewhere in the tower where food is prepared. This is an unexpected special treatment for those who passed the test extremely quickly. Especially these three from suna who cleared the second phase in less than an hour.
"Noice! I hope there's lots of meat in the tree hugger diet. I'm in my growing phase you see."
"We will try to cater to your needs to the best of our ability."
The reply shocked Kankuro, he usually gets a reply laced with irritation when he talks like this and so he didn't know how to reply for a few seconds.
"Oh... okay. Thank you?"
"There's no need for thanks. It is our duty as the host."
The three nodded and soon followed the konaha nin. Temari had her smirk directed at Kankuro in the whole duration of their walk. Kankuro on the other hand ignored her and focused on his book while walking. Nobody can tell whether he's really reading or not but he sure looked embarrassed.
After they ate their fill, the three are taken to a simple room with four beds. The plus side is that the view from the window is quite spectacular. Compared to the scorching ocean of sand where they grew, konohagakure is a cool refreshing breeze.
'Its like were on vacation.'
Gaara thought back to his past life where he used to travel a lot and stayed in hostels similar to this room in size. His experiences in that life are ever growing faint and vague but he can still recall certain strong memories such as this.
Somewhere in Konoha
"Ma'am you have to see this."
A rushing konoha nin waved a VHS tape towards Anko and proceeded to playing it on the available monitor in the room.
"What is it this time?"
Anko is already conflicted. She just found traces of Orochimaru infiltrating the Forest of Death by replacing the three participants from the hidden grass but she didn't have the power to suspend the exam which is currently in progress. In addition to that, the size of the forest will make locating the participants very difficult, and most importantly... very few people in konoha can be a match to the legendary sannin.
"Its a surveillance footage from inside the tower in the forest of death."
In the footage, Gaara can be seen turning around and smiling towards the monitoring device (CCTV).
The other people in the room are still wondering what in the world they are watching but no one would explain.
"Look at the time." Anko hinted.
That is when the nin in the room realized that the three in the screen cleared the exam in less than an hour.
'That's a new record!'
'Already?'
'Is the gap that big this time?'
'Ugh shoot... I actually bet on Guy's team to finish first... my savings!'
Such thoughts are floating around in the room. Anko who can't really be bothered by the minor event simply asked for the data they have on the team and was shocked when she heard that these three have been clearing B rank missions already. Even more when it was mentioned that these three never returned injured in any of their missions.
'If this is true, then it's no wonder they can clear it that quickly. It looks like suna is blessed with decent talents in this batch.'
"Report this to the Hokage, and give him this scroll."
'Orochimaru, what could you possibly be your goal this time?'
Five Days Later...
The last of the participants arrived. Most of them looked battered and bruised. Many are injured, and even more looked like they never slept in the entire duration of the exam.
Three participants are twitching without stop. especially so when they saw InoShikaCho in multitude of colors, those from Otto stank so much that literal flies followed them as they walked, Neji, Lee, and Tenten have burned hair and skin. Everyone except for the sand trio are affected in some degree it seemed.
"..." ~supervisors
"..." ~teachers
"..." ~messengers
"..." ~Hokage
'What the hell happened to these kids?'
Hiruzen stepped forward with an intrigued expression in his face.
"You have one week to prepare, clean yourselves and rest. Those who think that they are too injured or feel themselves incapable need not return for the next round."
The third wanted to give his speech right away and start the exam but felt like speaking to these battered people
"Lord Hokage, may I speak to the participants?"
"You have my permission Hayate."
Hayate stood up from his half-kneeling position and faced the participants.
"My name is Hayate Gekko and I will be your proctor for the third phase of the exam. Because there's more of you than what is intended, it was decided that we are going to hold a preliminary before proceeding. The preliminary exam will be a random pick one on one battle. The winner proceeds to the third exam and the loser can go home to plant sweet potato. That is all, I will see you a week from now."
'Hmmm... The butterfly has been busy, it looks like the changes in this timeline is starting to occur. It doesn't matter, what fun would it be if there aren't any challenges along the way.'
Gaara simply smiled about the minor difference in the plot. Come to think of it, it's partially or mostly his doing because they decided to litter the surrounding one mile radius of the tower with humiliating traps. The third should have decided to give them time to rest and recuperate after looking at their appearances.