3rd STAGE (KUNOICHI)

Intro
The first, second and ninth KUNOICHI competitions had no traditional Third Stage (stylized STAGE3), as there were only three stages, which denoted as the Final Stage.

The third tournament introduced a regular Third Stage, which unlike in the SASUKE counterpart, had a time limit, which no SASUKE competition ever had, despite the fact a timer was used on SASUKE 29. KUNOICHI 5 abandoned the full-stage time limit, reserving it for the final obstacle, and the next tournament removed the time limit altogether. The eighth tournament replaced the traditional format of the Third Stage, instead introducing a competitive, single obstacle challenge known as the Flying Roll, similar in concept to the Monster Box in Sportsman.

The ninth tournament once again only used three stages in similar fashion to the first two competitions, only for the traditional Third Stage format to return in the tenth tournament, renamed as the BLACK Stage to keep in pattern with the ninth tournament's color-based naming for its stages, with the exception of the Final Stage. The tournament would have five obstacles featured in the stage, the most in a single Third Stage in KUNOICHI history. This redesign brought most similarities to the Third Stage in SASUKE, as while previous competitions mainly relied on extreme balance-based obstacles, the new Third Stage featured obstacles mainly meant to test the upper body-strength of the competitors.