The Third Hokage Stirred Things Up, Forcing Them to Take the Exam

While other squads were run ragged with work, they were doing just fine. In a month, they rarely went out on missions more than a few times.

Especially after the war broke out, they spent most of their time training in the village and improving their strength.

If an ordinary genin squad acted like this, the Third Hokage would have had nothing to say.

Whether in Konoha or other villages, a large portion of genin were genuinely weak.

They barely knew a few ordinary C-rank ninjutsu.

You could not demand too much from genin like that.

But what about Chiyue Squad?

They were clearly not weak, yet they were too lazy to take on more missions.

They seemed content as long as they had enough money to spend, and they had not even applied for the Chunin Exam.

Ninjas from their class had already applied for the exam, while they showed no sign of doing so.

Was it because they were not strong enough?

Obviously not.

After giving it some thought, the Third Hokage added the names of Chiyue Squad's three members to the Chunin Exam roster and handed it over to the Anbu.

The Anbu would notify them to report for the exam on time.

The village needed people now. Was it really appropriate for three geniuses like you to hide away in a genin squad?

It was one thing not to carry out missions, but not even taking ninja exams? What was that supposed to be?

Since you would not apply yourselves, then I would fill it out for you.

"Yagami Chiyue, report to the examination venue at eight o'clock tomorrow morning for the Chunin Exam."

An Anbu operative came to Chiyue's home, delivered the news, and left at once, leaving Chiyue standing there in a complete daze.

The Chunin Exam?

What was going on?

Chiyue naturally knew that a Chunin Exam was coming up soon, but he had never planned to take it.

He had not even intended to let Uchiha Mikoto take it.

As for Minato, they could put it off and have him take the next Chunin Exam.

That way, once the squad had a chunin, they could accept some B-rank missions that were not overly difficult.

That had been Chiyue's plan.

Minato and Uchiha Mikoto had agreed as well.

Although they did not understand why Chiyue opposed taking the Chunin Exam early.

Since Chiyue had brought it up, the two simply went along with it. You're the captain, so you make the arrangements.

Who would have thought that an Anbu operative would suddenly come to their homes and notify them to take the exam?

What the hell was this?

Who had submitted an application for him?

Minato?

Chiyue could not help recalling how Minato had once joked that he would secretly submit an application for him and catch him off guard.

"No. It wasn't Minato. He only talks big; he wouldn't dare joke about something like this."

"If it wasn't Minato, then who was behind this?"

Chiyue subconsciously looked up toward the Hokage's Office Building. His heart skipped a beat, and he understood.

"Damn it!!"

What Minato? This was clearly the Third Hokage's handiwork.

If Chiyue's guess was correct, not only would he have to take this Chunin Exam, but Minato and Uchiha Mikoto would as well. None of the three squad members could escape it.

To confirm his guess, Chiyue went to find Minato and Uchiha Mikoto.

Their situations were much the same as Chiyue's. When he found them, both still looked utterly confused. Minato had even thought Chiyue was the one who had submitted an application for him.

"So we're taking the Chunin Exam tomorrow because Lord Hokage ordered it?"

"Who else could it have been?"

Chiyue was speechless.

The Third Hokage really was meddlesome. He had even submitted applications for something like this. The war was so intense—didn't he have enough to worry about every day? Did he really need to concern himself with the affairs of a genin squad like theirs?

Looks like he was still too idle.

"So, are we taking the exam?"

Uchiha Mikoto rested her chin on one hand, her large dark eyes wandering over Chiyue.

"Of course we are."

The Hokage had already submitted the applications for them. Could they refuse?

Chiyue was certain that if the three of them went to the Hokage's Office Building to cancel their applications, the Third Hokage would not agree.

The three of them could not run from this.

"Go make your preparations. The exam is tomorrow, so don't screw it up."

Since they could not avoid it, then they would face it!

Chiyue decisively chose to go with the flow.

"I'm going back to look over some materials."

Minato was somewhat troubled. Since Chiyue had planned to start preparing for the Chunin Exam after the New Year, he had not done any studying at all.

Now this had happened.

The Third Hokage had caught them completely off guard. Minato felt it was time to go home and cram at the last minute.

"I'll go back and prepare too."

Uchiha Mikoto stood and left.

After confirming that the news was real, the three went home to prepare.

The next day, Chiyue arrived at the examination venue early.

The venue was already packed. As Chiyue walked into the training ground, it felt like a child entering an adult college examination hall.

"He's taking the Chunin Exam at such a young age?"

"Is this kid just here to go through the motions?"

"What do you know? That kid is Yagami Chiyue. He was a genius at the Ninja Academy, though there hasn't been much news about him since then. Don't underestimate him."

Ignoring the surprise and discussions around the venue, Chiyue walked to an open area and waited for Minato and Uchiha Mikoto.

Before long, the two arrived and joined Chiyue.

The three children, all close in age, stood out somewhat. Although some students from Chiyue's class were also taking the exam.

Compared with the other ninjas taking the exam, however, they were far too young.

Soon, it was eight o'clock. An examiner posted a sheet of paper on the wall, and the examinees found their examination rooms according to their ninja IDs.

The three squad members were not assigned to the same examination room, but the Chunin Exam would not be difficult for any of them.

Compared to those older ninjas taking the exam with nervousness written all over their faces, Chiyue and the other two would score exceptionally well. As long as they performed normally, they would definitely pass.

Compared to the Chunin Exam taken by the Twelve Rookie Nine in the anime, this exam was many levels less strict.

Two examiners casually handed out the test papers. After warning the examinees not to cheat, they stood at opposite ends of the room and became practically invisible.

Chiyue picked up his pen and looked over the questions.

First question: When faced with the following unexpected situation, how would you protect yourself while gathering sufficient intelligence?

Wasn't this a free point?

Who had set these questions?

They should be dragged out and whipped a hundred times. There was no difficulty at all.

The examination room was quiet. Chiyue answered quickly, filling an entire test paper in thirty minutes.

"What is it?"

Seeing Chiyue raise his hand, an examiner walked over.

"I'm handing in my paper."

After handing the paper to the examiner, Chiyue stood and walked out of the room.

"..."

This kid really wasn't here just to go through the motions?