Time flew by.
In the blink of an eye, the day of the Chunin Exam had arrived.
In the spacious exam room, ninjas wearing headbands from various villages gathered together. The youngest looked about five or six, while the oldest were even middle-aged.
Those with the same headbands clustered together, either whispering to ease their nerves or glancing around to familiarize themselves with the faces.
"There sure are a lot of people..."
Yuto Souta murmured from his seat in the back row of the exam room.
This familiar feeling hadn't hit him in a while.
There were nearly a hundred people in the classroom, and with two more rooms like this, the turnout was much higher than in the Shippuden version.
More than half were from Konoha...
That made sense.
Though the three of them had graduated early, this was wartime, after all. Several batches of genin hadn't had a chance to take the exam.
Still, Yuto Souta noticed a few individuals.
Like that guy with the bowl cut and a Konoha headband—an older man.
He looked about the same age as the proctors but sat obediently among the examinees...
Konoha's eternal genin, Might Dai.
Or that girl with a Sand Village headband but the Uchiha clan's signature aloof expression.
Her layered green-and-yellow dyed hair made Yuto Souta take a few extra glances.
"If I remember right... her name's Pakura, isn't it?"
Yuto Souta muttered to himself.
A Scorch Release user who appeared in the original story, ultimately dying in a dirty political deal between the Sand and Mist Villages.
For once, this science nerd felt a rare spark of interest in her.
Of course, it was a pure and noble interest—purely academic.
He really wanted to know what kind of magic could come from combining Wind and Fire Release beyond a sauna effect.
But just then, Yuto Souta caught a hostile glance from the corner of his eye.
Turning his head, he saw a group of Konoha headband-wearing ninjas glaring at them indignantly.
No surprise there.
It was the Hyuga clan's genin participating in this exam.
Only the Hyuga would have the guts and the reason to stare at the three of them so openly...
Yuto Souta and Uchiha Obito didn't have much of a reputation—just two Uchiha prodigies, at best.
But... Kakashi Hatake did.
He had all the honors he was supposed to, and thanks to his two teammates, he'd graduated over a month earlier than in the original story...
The son of White Fang, Kakashi Hatake—a key figure to watch in this Chunin Exam.
That was the near-unanimous intel across the major ninja villages...
The name "White Fang of Konoha" still carried significant weight in the ninja world, at least for now.
Yuto Souta didn't bother with the Hyuga.
Just a few nobodies—not worth it.
He didn't like fighting.
He glanced at Uchiha Obito instead. The guy had been training hard lately and fell asleep the moment they got to the exam room...
A little while later,
The proctors entered and reassigned seats for everyone in the room.
Over a hundred examinees took their places. Interestingly, Team Minato's three members ended up in the same row.
"Counting on you, Kakashi."
The science nerd and the spiky-haired kid immediately gave up...
Their academic scores had always been at the bottom of the class.
Uchiha Obito was just being himself.
As for Yuto Souta... he couldn't be bothered with this nonsense.
His career was world peace!
Besides, this exam was basically the same as the one in Shippuden.
Aside from more people and different proctors, the test still focused on a ninja's intelligence-gathering skills.
You didn't even need a Sharingan to handle this easily...
After all, Kakashi Hatake was sitting right between them. At this distance, it'd be hard not to see!
"Looks like the Third is dead-set on making sure I pass this exam..."
Yuto Souta grew more certain.
Approving a team that had just graduated from the academy, with fewer than 10 D-rank missions and not even half a C-rank under their belt, to take the exam?
Hiruzen Sarutobi had definitely been keeping an eye on Team Minato.
Just how closely, though...
Was it to prop up Konoha's dignity?
Or simply to see if this Uchiha posed a threat?
No idea.
Yuto Souta could calculate the energy output of different chakra types releasing different ninjutsu in an instant.
But these dirty political dealings? He was clueless.
Even research points couldn't save him there...
Just then,
A figure in the hallway caught Yuto Souta's eye.
An elderly man, supported by a few proctors who seemed worried he might collapse.
He carried a large pot on his back, looking around fifty or sixty, weathered and worn.
"Take it easy, Grandpa Kosuke!"
"See you in seven days for the second round!"
The proctors waved goodbye to the old man.
A wave of gasps swept through the exam room!
"Konoha still has a genin that old?"
"How tough must this exam be...?"
"Quiet! Twenty minutes left in the exam!"
The head proctor's cold shout from the podium silenced the commotion.
By then, Kakashi Hatake had finally finished solving all the problems.
"Which one of you is going first?"
Kakashi Hatake whispered.
"Let Obito go first. I can see fine."
Yuto Souta waved a hand.
Their voices weren't loud.
But in the silent classroom, they were somewhat jarring...
The other examinees, including the proctors, turned to look at the three of them.
Kakashi Hatake remained unfazed, casually sliding his paper to the right.
Uchiha Obito started copying without a shred of shame...
Yuto Souta took it a step further. His three-tomoe Sharingan blatantly peeked over, copying away. When he couldn't make out a character, he even asked...
"What's that symbol?"
"Huh? Oh, that's where I messed up and corrected it. Hurry up, everyone's watching."
"Got it..."
By the time the two finished copying—er, answering—their papers,
The exam time was nearly up.
The trio handed in their papers early and walked out of the room.
Leaving behind a crowd of indignant examinees and helpless proctors...
"They don't even care about cheating this openly?!"
"Yeah... Konoha's way too biased toward their own!"
"Give us an explanation!"
As the uproar threatened to escalate, the proctor remained unfazed.
He glanced toward a certain direction outside the classroom, as if confirming something, then cleared his throat lightly.
"Those two cheating are Uchiha clan geniuses. Forget their desk mate—even the answers on my podium, they could see with those eyes!"
"What this exam tests, I'll explain shortly."
"If you've got issues with Konoha's rules, feel free to leave now!"
The examinees finally settled down.
But Yuto Souta, who'd just stepped out of the classroom, felt his expression darken...
Listening to the proctor's explanation,
A familiar feeling welled up.
Damn it... targeted again?!
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