(3rd PoV)
Hiruzen sighed as he looked at the participants, and the destroyed Forest of Death in the background.
Only Team 7 passed.
Naruto has reported that 'Izumi' appeared and attacked them, who might as well be actually Naruto, given that her description was too much like Orochimaru.
Naruto has done his best to kill him/her. But, he isn't confident that the enemy was actually killed.
"Now, I will explain how the final exam will go.
The second exam was cleared by Team 7, so Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Hyuga Hinata directly qualify for the final exam, which will be a tournament a month from now on.
As for the rest of the teams, they can only send one team member for the final exam. Each of the four remaining team may decide among themselves, or have a fight to decide who will be participating."
Hiruzen performed bullshit-no-jutsu and came up with an alternative way to make sure the tournament does happen. And the Suna team remains.
Suna team easily selected Gaara.
Team 10 selected Ino. Shikamaru found it too troublesome, and Chouji would rather eat his chips.
In Team 8, Sakura, Shino, and Kiba all wanted to participate.
"Let's fight and decide!"
Kiba said.
Sakura saw Shikamaru giving up, so she decided that she will also try next time, along with Karin and Shiori.
"I recommend Shino. Kiba, you can probably only beat Ino- no. Even she might outsmart you."
In the end, with 2 votes in Shino's favour, he became the participant.
In Team Guy, both Lee and Neji wanted to compete.
But, watching Neji fixated on Hinata, he gave up.
"Neji, I am going to recommend you. Show the Hyuga clan the power of Youth!"
"Thanks, Lee."
And Tenten also recommend Neji. So, Neji became the participant from their team.
So, there are total 7 participants.
Naruto
Sasuke
Hinata
Gaara
Ino
Shino
Neji
"Now, all participants come here and take a token one by one."
After they did as instructed, the tournament battles were set.
1. Hinata vs Neji
2. Gaara vs Ino
3. Shino vs Naruto
4. Sasuke vs (winner of 1st match)
5. (Winner of 2nd match) vs (Winner of 3rd match)
6. (Winner of 4th Match) vs (Winner of 5th Match)
A total of 6 matches will happen one month later.
After giving a speech on the true purpose of the Chunin Exams, Hiruzen left the scene as everyone began to depart.
But, Kakashi led his three Genins to the Hokage Office for a report on what exactly happened in the Forest of Death. All cameras were destroyed along with the forest, so only Naruto can tell what happened.
Sasuke is still unconscious, and Hinata is... Hinata.