"Greetings ladies and gentlemen of the audience observing the first and possibly only Interuniversal and Intre…"

"Intertemporal."

"Intertemporal, thanks for the save, Udon."

"Your welcome."

"Why are you greeting the audience for a test run?"

"Stop sabotaging this entire operation, Moegi, if we do well commenting the semi-finals of the Intre-whatever Chuunin Exams, Future Big Bro Naruto said he'd let us comment on the finals, we gotta sell it like it's real!"

"Welcome, everybody, to the premiere show meant to select the best of the best out of the surviving contestants that have gotten their way through the grueling pair of the first few rounds. The relentless life shaver that filtered thousands of competitors all the way down to one hundred and fifty."

"Wow, that was really good, Moegi!"

"Umm… You're ruining your own commentary, Konohamaru."

"Drat! That's right, ladies and gents in the audience, what you've got here is a slobber-knocker performed by the best of the best, that is meant to filter the hundred and fifty down to a more acceptable number for the finals. Nobody wants to give up before hitting the grand stage, failure here means a failed exam whereas failing in the finals can still leave one with a chance for graduation. Do you know what that means, you guys?"

"That only you would focus so much on being able to fail as your standard go-to strategy?"

"In your face, Moegi, it means that we'll see gut-wrenching competition between genin that have been skilled or lucky enough to get here biting to their places in the exams and not letting go of the chair until their nails peel off! And you, ladies and gents, will see every chilling moment of it with us, the Konohamaru Ninja Squad commenting over it!"

"Way to bring it way back, Konohamaru,"

"Well, Ebisu-sensei isn't here to get mad so we can't be Team Ebisu anymore. Anyway… We're seeing the competitors of this year, over fifty teams from different universes and timelines even gathering to the stage. We get an exclusive view into the Black Cube where the semi-finals will be taking place thanks to Uzumaki Karin, who in some timeline is a really nice lady and not a scary, prone to fits of rage criminal at all."

"That's right, auntie Karin has also decorated the inner walls of the Black Cube with triangular circuit sealing glyphs that are a sealing formula known to this universe as the Demonic Pentalimbo, sadly, auntie Karin couldn't get all five elements of the seal making this one more of a Demonic Trilimbo."

"Don't you wanna say something, Udon, we've kind of been doing all the hard work here, you freeloader?"

"Umm… Okay, I guess… So the original Pentalimbo seal was supposed to seal off all of the special abilities of the user but the Demonic Trilimbo only seals off one's ability to augment their body using chakra, making every injury very scary and every hit capable of ending the exam for the competitor."

"You're right, Udon, I've received an exclusive scoop before the semi-finals that the original intention for this stage of the exams was to have all of the competitors fight it out under the Demonic Pentalimbo, however, given how no seal-master under future Lord Seventh's employ could replicate the seal, we kind of had to deal with what we got."

"That's right, Moegi, and I am getting the angry stares from the pink-haired lady which means that we're ready to start the show, given how she has a chainsaw sword, I tend to listen to what she says, and so should you."

"Truer words were not yet spoken. In any case, the semi-finals to the Chuunin Exams have now begun, however, it doesn't look like the competitors are too eager to go at it. Why do you think that is?"

"I don't know, maybe they've all ate something real rotten, like maybe they're all suffering from the flu and couldn't smell their eggs and have all eaten bad eggs for breakfast and are now suffering through the brutal aftereffects?"

"I don't think that's it, Konohamaru, I think that the competitors are trying to stick in groups, while it is everyone for themselves in this stage of the exams, it doesn't change the fact that some competitors in that Black Cube have previously met each other, meaning that alliances and betrayals are inbound."

"An interesting theory, Udon, it might just be that given how the number of a hundred and fifty competitors needing to drop down to a twenty measly examinees suggests the illusion that everybody can still work together and come out on top. But if everybody thinks so, somebody's in for a disappointment!"

"Hahaha! That's what I actually thought, I just wanted to get Udon involved into the conversation, that's why I said all that bad eggs stuff…"

"Your stomach just roared, are YOU suffering from bad eggs you ate this morning?"

"…"

"But, Konohamaru, you don't have the flu. Your smell is just fine…"

"Shut up, Udon…"

"Umm… So while Konohamaru is rubbing his belly and grunting, do you have any favorites in this match, Udon? I am aware that you've spent the whole last week that the competitors had to train studying up everyone's Ninja Info Cards, did you acquire any meaningful intel from them?"

"I believe that the local competitor Wakizashi Meiko has more than fair chances of moving on. Her physical strength even when un-augmented pales everyone else in comparison. She's known to lift over four tons without any chakra augmentation right over her head, now I'm no lifting scientist but that's gotta be the goalpost, right?"

"Wow, that's beyond impressive, glad to see kunoichi representing their gender and showing everybody what's what!"

"Whoa, whoa! Nobody's shown anything just yet, everybody's just measuring each other up just yet… We all know that Big Bro Naruto's gonna win this whole thing!"

"B-But… Konohamaru, nobody's even seen the Naruto from your timeline ever since future Lord Seventh took him away on an excursion. He's not officially in this competition, meaning he's out of the exams for sure."

"Plus, I'm not even sure how he would go on to winning the whole thing, I mean… How do you even win an event like this? Would Naruto-san eliminate everybody all at once and be the last man standing? Why would he do that when we need twenty competitors?"

"Shut up, Udon, all I'm saying is that Big Bro Naruto's the favorite here!"

"Oh, Konohamaru, boy are we glad to see you back from reeling in pain."

"And it's off! What amazing speed, it appears that Team Matsuri from Sunagakure is planning to take no prisoners in this competition as both of their female members charged off to challenge their targets, but what's this, Mikoshi, their nerdy-looking member seems to be staying back! Is he scared, could he be having indigestion?!"

"I think you should stop projecting yourself onto everything, Konoharamu."

"Yeah, I don't think that anyone but you has indigestion, honestly, even Naruto-san has never had indigestion in battle and he is known to drink bad milk from time to time."

"Oh, his hands are going through hand seals, he seems to be using the quick blitz of his female comrades as a makeshift barrier for his own offensive!"

"Unexpected! He attacked someone from his own village!"

"That's Zahafbit from Team Pahlavi, he is indeed from Sunagakure but from a Sunagakure of a different universe so perhaps the tight bonds don't necessarily apply to them."

"Whoa, we sure are glad to have you around the table, no way would I've been capable of memorizing all those names!"

"Thank you, Konohamaru, that's the first nice thi…"

"He's stumbling, Zahafbit from Team Pahlavi isn't doing too good and he doesn't seem to be hit by anything yet! It's a genjutsu attack, Mikoshi has hit Zahafbit with a genjutsu of some sort and Zahafbit is having wobbly feet and seems to be throwing fists about in thin air!"

"Did you have to hit me in the face, Moegi, I've dropped my glasses…"

"Oh! The nerdy guy is no wimp either, he just pulled out a kunai and he's going after his prey, the nerdy guy is smelling blood in the water!"

"Udon, what could Zahafbit do to save himself in this predicament? He seems to be under the effects of an enemy genjutsu and he can't effectively defend himself."

"…"

"Fine, fine, I'm sorry I pushed your face and threw you off your chair, now please let's do our job, maybe?"

"Contestant Zahafbit actually is a great genjutsu specialist himself, however, he requires his summon to execute his Speyeder technique which will be a problem when he's being pressured. Right now, it's hard to say what his options are…"

"Whaa! Zahafbit did something! Mikoshi is on his back foot now!"

"Zahafbit let his opponent cut his arm and used the blood to splatter all over Mikoshi's glasses, as Udon demonstrated before – if you've got blood, or anything else for that matter, covering up your glasses, you can't see."

"And there it is – Zahafbit's spider summon."

"Whoa! Mikoshi's all tied up in the silk of the massive spider, look at him go round and round! And he's off! He hit the walls of the cube at such crazy speed and he's not moving! Yep, one of the staff members has pulled Mikoshi out, he's out of the exam."

"May I point out that you're all too focused on one engagement when the entire battlefield is in utter chaos!? For example, just look at what that freakazoid is doing."

"That, Moegi, is Araya from Team Shinki, also from Sunagakure but from another point in time. His swordsmanship is indeed impressive for his age and it isn't a common talent for a Sunagakure ninja, resulting in this youth catching many ninja unaware by this talent, no doubt."

"Uh oh, he should not have tested his steel against that guy, it's Neji from our own home village, representing the Konohagakure ninja! What a brilliant defensive maneuver that sent at least a dozen ninja flying!"

"Watch out, Neji!"

"Indeed, it seems like Araya was not done with the Hyuuga of Konohagakure but neither was Neji, it seemed as if Neji just pinched Araya in the nips a bit but Araya looks out cold. Did you see that beam of chakra leave his body?"

"An impressive display, no doubt, no wonder Neji was the only one of his generation to reach the rank of Jounin in the last couple of years."

"Nice spot, Udon, sounded real professional!"

"Look at that situation, is that…"

"Whatever you were saying, look at that giant robot! It supersedes anything you were about to say!"

"Ugh, what's with boys and their obsession with giant robots?"

"I must say that I agree with Konohamaru, this super-massive construction can only be the fantastic puppet armor of contestant Masen-Z from Kumogakure. Seeing stuff like this makes me want that we would hurry up and invent giant robots in our own universe already, luckily, I've got an insider scoop that it's just a matter of time."

"Holy hell, how tall do you think that thing is?"

"It has to be at least 56 meters tall, Konohamaru, based on the dimensions of the Black Cube, at least…"

"Agh! That blinding beam!"

"Isn't it awesome!?"

"No, Konohamaru, it's absolutely not, I can't see a damn thing and, in case you forgot, we need to see in order to comment because somebody was too late to buy the tickets for the finals and now the only way to see the finals for us is as commenters!"

"So I was playing some video games, future Shikamaru brought them from his own universe and they're pretty fun, maybe if you tried them you wouldn't be so uptight, Moegi."

"Using the distraction of his Gleamgear Beam, the Super Gear-Man has blinded the opposition and prepared them for elimination via his Gear Missile Barrage! This is absolute chaos, ladies and gents, from what we can see on the battlefield, the examinee Aya-K is eliminated due to the relentless bombardment of Gear Missiles!"

"Wow, look at Udon, I've never seen him this lively."

"Can you blame him, look at that massive robot-guy!"

"Stop laughing, Moegi, stop laughing, this isn't funny!"

"It kind of is, because that girl on a horse has just shoved this Super Gear-Man some of his own medicine down his throat and suddenly he doesn't seem so super anymore, in fact, correct me if I'm wrong, but he seems to be out!"

"Y-You're right… Epsiriya Corot, riding on her summoned horse has used her illustrious shield Folkrumnir to catch and analyze Super Gear-Man's technique, repeating it back at the Super Gear-Man and inflicting far too much damage on his shiny, black body…"

"Now why do you think that happened, Udon? Why did our hopes have to be crushed by some kunoichi riding a horse?"

"Well… If I had to guess, the damn thing was just too large and attracted too much attention, there was no way to support such a massive size and reflect the influx of attacks coming its way, Konohamaru."

"Cheer up, boys, there's plenty of explosions that way."

"Indeed, it seems that Daseaut from Sunagakure of this universe has used his Power Strike technique on somebody and that it had gone out of control. When the dust settles we should see whom he has eliminated."

"Screw that, that ain't no Power Strike, it's just some inferior rip-off of the Rasengan is what it is, I should step down that stage and show him the real deal!"

"I do recall you being under the effect of some nasty food poisoning…"

"That's right, Moegi, thank you for paying attention, that is why I couldn't take part in these Chuunin Exams myself, you see…"

"Oh, who's that? That examinee is wearing way too many clothes to tell who that is! All that I can see is that they're down and likely out!"

"That's Aburame Maurlon from Iwagakure. She must have struggled being unable to make her signature sink-holes on the surface of the Black Cube, she usually sinks her opponent in one of those and has her massive for a chakra-eating insect summon eat the opponent's chakra up while they've got no chance for escape. A pity…"

"Huh, what's happened!? It seems like that mean fellow from Sunagakure from way back has collapsed with swords sticking out from his body. He's out for sure!"

"That's no accident, my food-poisoned teammate, direct your gaze toward that fabulous blonde right there, none other than our own Ino Yamanaka, she must have found her moment to take over the mind of that mean puppet guy and dispose of him using his own puppetry, canceling her mind transfer at the very last moment."

"A fun fact, that version of Yamanaka Ino is actually one from an earlier point in the timeline we know and live in, meaning that she has fewer techniques to cycle through, we'll just have to see what role that limited arsenal will play in her performance today, so far it hasn't affected her too much."

"Screw that, a Konohagakure kunoichi will bloom under even the greatest of pressures!"

"Uh-oh, hey, Moegi, why don't you look at that horrified expression on that kunoichi's face as she's been frozen in solid crystal?"

"Why are you cheering for Iwagakure now? Plus, this girl isn't from our version of Konohagakure anyway…"

"You're right, Moegi, this is Erumo Budoki, a promising and very interesting young lady from this universe, it seems that her fighting style of setting traps for the opponent has not performed too well in the chaos of this battle royal of the genin, she tried catching Tolkre Guren in one of her spike traps but the contestant has encased the unfortunate kunoichi herself in crystal and it seems she's out."

"Look at that handsome guy, he sure is my type!"

"That's Kochi Senju from Team Fir, he's from the same team as Erumo Budoki after her teammate has been promoted during the last Chuunin Exams. He seems to be out for revenge and he isn't afraid to use those wooden plates over his arms to bash some faces in, down goes Suiren from Amegakure!"

"Wow, you could tell who that was with all the concealment she wore? Through the bandana and all?"

"Obviously, you just can't mistake the sacramento-colored hair falling out from beneath her forehead protector."

"Whoa! It looks like that posh Senju guy has met his match!"

"Huh… That's… Me?"

"I guess that you're not the only version of you to go after Kochi Senju, Moegi."

"Look at that shower of ninjutsu! You're actually pushing Kochi back!"

"Well… I mean… Of course, umm… Do you guys think you could pick this up without me?"

"Don't even think about sneaking out and trying to act like you were the one who eliminated Kochi all along!"

"Wha… I wouldn't do such a thing, Konohamaru, though, theoretically, if that was to happen, do you think he'd notice my abilities and buy me a seafood dinner?"

"They're not your abilities, Moegi, plus, look at that cage of wood that he's encased in, it's taking all of the Water Release ninjutsu that you… I mean the other you… Is throwing at him."

"Holy sh… That was so cool! He just burst out from inside that wooden cocoon all buff and stuff! Okay, now I think he's cool!"

"Yeah! He's out! Even with all those muscles, he couldn't keep up with my nimble gracefulness and girl-power!"

"I'm not even mad, that was legit impressive from the other Moegi to eliminate such a cool dude like that…"

"I'm not sure if I should just thank you, Udon, or continue sulking… I could've done so well in this if Ebisu-sensei didn't forbid us to compete…"

"Wh… Where did all those animals come from! I see a dog, a centipede, a rhinoceros even and they're all packing some serious meat on their bones!"

"This could only be… Yes, look there, it's Ajisa from Amegakure. Little known fact, her body was used by the leader of Akatsuki – Pain when he invaded Konohagakure."

"Whoa, you mean she's that good!?"

"You mean she'll die at some point in the future? That's kinda grim…"

"You're not supposed to make the audience aware of those things, Moegi, say something fun and upbeat while they're still listening!"

"Nobody's listening for us, just future Lord Seventh…"

"Oh! What a rough blow! But it seems to have only angered this glasses-donning badass with a Konoha headband, look at that Moegi, a Konohagakure kunoichi is kicking some serious ass, manhandling all those giant animals, what amazing strength!"

"Eeek! Her arm just went through that Amegakure's girl chest, I hope that's not how she died back in her timeline…"

"No, she'll be okay but she's definitely out of the exams, that'll just show you that if you stand out too much, you'll attract too much attention and you don't want the Sharingan of somebody like Uchiha Sarada on you when you can avoid it."

"So far, ten examinees have been eliminated but with how ruthless the competition has been, things are bound to get more wild! I have a feeling that if any competitor has been keeping anything back, they'll let it all out so that they could avoid meeting the fate of the first, unlucky ten."

"Nice observation, Konohamaru!"

"Thanks, I think I'm picking up a thing or two from you, Udon, just keep up with the names and the techniques 'cause I didn't memorize one of those notes you've made for us."

"I've spent the whole night making those…"

"That'll teach you to rely on Konohamaru remembering something important."

"Jeez, Moegi can be so brutal sometimes."

Author's Note: Sorry about no chapter on Saturday, the planning stage for the semi-finals took me way more effort and time than I thought and I just burnt out. I wanted to try something new with how I'm portraying the semi-finals. Instead of just writing bricks of chapters detailing 150 characters duking it out with one another, I thought of skimming through the important bits by having some bratty commentators comment over the whole thing. I and my friend had this game when we were kids where we silenced the TV and commented over the action with goofy commenter voices, cracking jokes and being all-around incompetent at our imaginary jobs. It was kind of what tipped me to the idea. Anyway, all the planning's done now, there shouldn't be any more delays in-between chapters so as long as you want to read 'em - you'll get 'em ;)