Only ten minutes remained before the exam was due to start.
A jonin wearing a bandana and a trench coat pushed open the main doors, striding purposefully to the instructor's platform. Behind him, several chunin in proctor uniforms silently walked to the sides of the examination hall and took their seats.
"I am your head proctor for the first exam, Morino Ibiki." From the platform, the bandana-wearing man scanned the room. Anyone his gaze fell upon felt as if targeted by a starving wolf, their breath catching in their throats.
"Now, I will begin reading the examination rules…"
Naruto, meanwhile, was gathering information about the exam hall. The three of them had been completely separated—no, not just the three of them; it seemed all the teams had been split up. To prevent cheating, perhaps…
The rules for the written test were largely as expected, although this exam's rules were a bit more extreme. Nevertheless, Naruto had ample confidence in himself and his teammates. Their theoretical knowledge wasn't as monstrously good as Sakura's, but it wasn't bad either. They should have no problem achieving a middling score in a normal test. The Chunin Exams consisted of three parts; he highly doubted they would all be written tests. Losing a few points in the first exam didn't matter. He could make up for any lost points in the subsequent exams. He was quite confident about that.
Soon, a clean test paper was distributed to him by a proctor.
"Let's see now… First question: Code decryption."
"'Adhere to the advantages of the art of war, forge a path of myriad skills and talents, and in all endeavors, none shall surpass me…'"
"Very good. Next question!"
"A ninja throws a kunai from a treetop. How can it be thrown the farthest? Describe the characteristics of the ninja on the ground as accurately as possible."
"This one's okay. I can mostly manage it."
A few minutes later.
"Next question…"
"Very good. Pass!"
"…"
Ten minutes later, Naruto, his expression impassive, put down the pencil in his hand, folded his arms across his chest, and quietly stared at the blackboard. Of the nine questions revealed so far, he could only answer two, and the result of one of those was still debatable.
It really proved the saying: when people are pushed to their limits, they can do anything—except math problems! And this test paper not only had math content but physics content too. Marvelous! Simply marvelous!
He looked around the exam hall at the other candidates still furiously scribbling away. Yet, he felt not the slightest bit of nervousness. He had ample reason to believe that at least nearly half of the examinees in there couldn't write a single thing.
And he! He had at least answered one question!
What was this one question? A gift from the heavens? Wrong! Utterly wrong! This was clearly the hope for advancement!
He had figured out this exam. Given the knowledge level of most genin, it was deliberately designed to force people to cheat…
Cheat?!!
Naruto seemed to have found the crux of the problem. The hand with which he picked up his pencil again was trembling slightly. But a moment later, he helplessly put it down again.
In his peripheral vision, the veins around Hinata's eyes, who was seated nearby, were slightly bulging. He knew that was her Byakugan in action. He was envious. But there was nothing he could do. If this weren't an examination hall, he was confident he could snatch a correctly answered paper from nearly a hundred test sheets. But there were no 'ifs'; this was an examination hall. Others had all sorts of cheating methods on display, while he, it seemed, was a bit too honest—he had no methods at all.
Since there was nothing to do, Naruto decided to close his eyes and rest.
I'll just come again next year. After all, Sensei had said that participation was what counted…
"Hmph, hmph!" Izuno Akigiku, her body now slightly cat-like, proudly looked at the fully answered paper in her hands. The appropriate spacing between desks in the exam hall successfully prevented copying via peripheral vision. If you wanted to see the answers on an adjacent desk, you'd have to make a large movement, but if your movements were too large, the proctors nearby weren't blind; you'd be caught on the spot.
However, this distance was determined based on the limits of human vision. For a cat, it didn't apply. A cat's field of vision was far wider than a human's, and their viewing angle was more than double. For humans, cheating on this test was rather difficult, but for a cat, it was much easier.
[I wonder how those two are doing?]
A quick glance revealed one was already resting with eyes closed, while the other was still scratching his head, unable to put pen to paper for ages.
[That's Naruto for you…] Akigiku pressed a hand to her forehead. If her estimation wasn't wrong, Naruto was definitely already thinking about next year's exam…
"Meow!"
A cat's cry sounded simultaneously in Naruto's and Etsureki's ears. Immediately after, their previously blank test papers were filled with answers.
[Genjutsu? Well done, Akigiku!] Naruto's mood instantly lifted. He quickly memorized the answers, and Etsureki on the other side did the same.
A few minutes later, Izuno Akigiku slumped weakly onto her desk, a wave of fatigue washing over her from excessive chakra consumption. The cost had been great, but the rewards were also plentiful.
Half an hour later.
"We will now announce the tenth question," Morino Ibiki said, looking up after checking the time.
Click!
The abrupt sound of a door opening drew everyone's attention. Kankuro, facing the numerous stares, gave an apologetic smile and silently walked back to his seat.
Thump… With a soft sound, Temari quickly covered the note Kankuro had dropped.
"The tenth question. First, you need to make a choice—to take the test or not?" Morino Ibiki said, retracting his gaze and continuing.
Evidently, the other candidates were also encountering such a bizarre exam question for the first time, and they one after another raised their queries.
"What does that mean?"
"What are the consequences of not taking it?"
"…"
"For those who choose not to take it, their current scores will be automatically nullified."
"???"
"Hey, hey, hey! Isn't this just messing with us? What was the point of all the questions we answered earlier?"
"…"
"And if we choose to take it?" Temari from the Sand, her pretty face taut with concentration.
"If you choose to take the tenth question and fail to answer it, you will be forever barred from participating in the Chunin Exams." The moment Ibiki's words fell, the examination hall fell into dead silence.
"On what grounds? There are clearly candidates in this very room who have taken the Chunin Exams multiple times!" Kiba couldn't hold back any longer, slamming his hands on the desk as he stood up and demanded angrily.
"Evidently, your luck is bad. You ran into me," Morino Ibiki said with a cold smile. "Now, make your choice!"
"Will you abandon this year's exam scores and wait for next year, or will you go all in, dragging your teammates down with you? The choice is in your hands."
At this moment, his words were like sharp daggers, ruthlessly piercing the hearts of many examinees. To continue, or to wait for next year? If they continued, they might lose their eligibility to take the exams forever; if they didn't, they would directly drag down their teammates. Most of the less confident candidates were thrown into a state of agonizing indecision.
"The pressure seems a bit intense…" Naruto glanced at Etsureki, who wasn't far off. Among the three of them, Etsureki had the least experience; it was very possible he wouldn't be able to withstand this. Naruto himself was actually indifferent to the rank of Chunin. As long as one's own strength was sufficient, the world was vast, and one could go anywhere. Why would he need recognition from others?
[Etsureki, hang in there!] Akigiku silently cheered for her boyfriend from behind. If it weren't for the rule that it would affect teammates, she believed Etsureki would definitely choose to take the tenth question. But the problem now was, if he took it and failed, it would drag down his teammates…
In the exam hall, Etsureki wasn't the only one whose heart was in turmoil. This was especially true for those candidates who had taken the Chunin Exams multiple times; the thought of giving up was gaining the upper hand. They had already taken it so many years; another year wouldn't make much difference…
"You have three minutes to consider. After three minutes, any candidate who has not left the examination hall will be deemed to have chosen to participate in the test." Seeing that everyone was still hesitating, Morino Ibiki added more fuel to the fire.
Time ticked by, second by second.
Ten seconds. No one raised their hand.
Twenty seconds. Still no one.
Thirty seconds. One person raised their hand. "I'm sorry!" he apologized to his teammates.
Thirty-one seconds. Ten people raised their hands…