Passing the First Round and the Second Exam!

Tap, tap!

A large number of ninja entered the classroom serving as a temporary examination hall.

There were chunin, special jonin, and jonin among them.

People wearing forehead protectors from all Three Great Ninja Villages were present, though Konoha had the most.

At the front stood three jonin, one each from Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Konoha. They were presumably the chief examiners.

Keeping things fair!

If one ninja village alone controlled the exam, the others would never feel at ease. At the very least, they would send their own people to keep watch.

The future exams wholly controlled by Konoha were completely unreasonable—unless there had been some special reason.

"I am Morino Tanikawa, chief examiner for the first round!"

"Cheating is forbidden. If you are caught, you receive zero points!"

"I now declare the exam begun!"

The Konoha jonin wearing a black head wrap had a fierce bearing and gave off an intense sense of pressure.

Morino!

Though it was not a major ninja clan, it still counted as a minor one.

There were countless small ninja clans like that in Konoha.

For instance, Zumu, Morino, Kamizuki... all belonged to that category.

The entirety of Konoha was made up of ninja clans large and small. So even though the Second and Third Hokage had done everything they could to support civilian ninja, the village's strongest and most elite ninja still came from the clans.

The other examiners began handing out the test papers.

Rustle!

Looking at the paper before him, Tang Ping felt a flash of fear from having once been dominated by such things.

Question One: You are standing atop a tree ten meters high. The target is thirty-two meters away. Wind speed is Level Three. How much force must be applied to the kunai in order to...

The questions were utterly insane!

Just looking at it gave Tang Ping a terrible headache.

They had indeed taught this at the Academy.

But for ninja, their bodies were usually more useful than their brains.

So doing it in person would not be a problem at all, but calculating it through theory was difficult.

Theory and practical application!

Ninja were best at the latter, while very few excelled at the former.

Before transmigrating, Tang Ping had at least been a programmer. Problems like these were naturally no issue for him; they merely gave him a headache.

But the other examinees had to resort to all sorts of methods.

Kekkei Genkai, secret techniques, ninjutsu, Puppet Technique... they showed everyone what a true "cheating extravaganza" looked like.

After all, the chief examiner had not merely hinted at it—he had stated it outright.

As long as they were not caught cheating, there was no problem.

Because the first round was not actually testing theoretical knowledge, but intelligence-gathering ability.

Ninja!

They were professionals whose work centered on gathering intelligence and assassination, so naturally their intelligence-gathering abilities had to be tested.

Of course.

Examinees like Tang Ping, who could solve the problems directly, were also receiving preferential treatment.

After all, either intelligence-gathering ability or theory had to be passed, right?

"You, out!"

"Do you think we're blind?"

"Your exam qualifications are revoked. Leave immediately!"

The examiners stationed along both sides of the classroom kept speaking up, removing those with clumsy methods from the room.

Cheating was allowed, but such crude cheating was not.

Very soon, fewer than a hundred examinees remained.

Even counting the examinees in the other classrooms, the total would not be very large.

Under normal circumstances, the examination would naturally not have been this strict.

But the Joint Chunin Exams were a stage open to the entire ninja world, so the standards were naturally countless times harsher.

The benefit was that becoming a chunin on such a stage meant limitless prospects in the future.

The benefits were simply too great, which was why so many ninja from other villages came to participate every time.

All sorts of methods left people dazzled and greatly broadened their horizons.

Perhaps that was one reason the Five Great Ninja Villages allowed ninja from other villages to take part in the Chunin Exams.

It allowed the New Generation to witness all kinds of methods.

Yamaa Koji and Kakashi both had decent methods. Forget not being noticed— even if the proctors had truly spotted them, they would have pretended not to.

Before these experienced chunin and Special Jonin, there were very few methods that could avoid detection.

So they only eliminated those who lacked skill.

A long while later!

"Alright, the exam is over!"

Morino Tanikawa announced that the answering period had ended.

The surrounding proctors immediately stepped forward to collect the papers, then graded them on the spot.

There were only a dozen or so questions for an hour-long exam; it was clearly meant to give them time to cheat.

If they actually knew the answers, they would not have needed so much time.

Even if their cheating had gone undetected, they still could not advance to the second round if they failed the test.

The dozen or so teachers were also proctoring together so that the scores could be handed out quickly.

"Horiuchi Takashi, failed!"

"Kiya Haru, passed!"

"Yamaa Koji, passed!"

One name after another was called out.

Aside from a small number like Tang Ping, who had decent theoretical knowledge, everyone who remained had their own strengths. The pass rate was extremely high.

The first written exam was not particularly important anyway. It merely eliminated those who were padding the numbers.

If such people were allowed into the later examinations, not only would the Chunin Exams become less entertaining, but it would also increase the proctors' workload.

The effort and resources required from the proctors were entirely different when dealing with over a thousand candidates versus fewer than a few hundred.

There were no scores, only pass or fail.

After reading the list, Morino Tanikawa looked at them and reminded them, "Congratulations on qualifying for the second exam. However, the next test is extremely dangerous. I hope you will think it over carefully before deciding whether to participate!"

There had been no danger in the first test, but the second would be incomparably dangerous.

Unfortunately, no one was willing to withdraw.

As ninja, they had understood the cruelty of this world from a young age. Naturally, none of them would quit simply because it was dangerous.

Just then, a male Konoha jonin with pineapple-shaped hair walked into the classroom from outside.

"Tanikawa, these candidates have given everything for these Chunin Exams. How could they possibly withdraw just because of a few words from you?"

Before the candidates could guess his identity, he spoke first.

"Brats, my name is Mitarashi Shiso. I'm also the chief examiner for the second test. I hope you survive what comes next. Now, follow me."

After saying that, he turned and left.

The candidates in the classroom rose one after another and followed him.

Yamaa Koji and Kakashi also walked over.

Their three-man team had been lucky enough to be assigned to the same classroom, so naturally they had to gather first at a time like this.

"Let's go!"

Tang Ping took the lead and headed out of the classroom.

The moment they left, they encountered the candidates who had passed from several other classrooms.

Groups of genin wearing ninja forehead protectors gathered together, making it feel as though they had entered a forest filled with dangerous beasts.

And that was the truth!

In the coming test, everyone would be enemies fighting to the death. Among them were also killing machines sent by the major ninja villages specifically to hunt the geniuses of other villages.

So although there were quite a few candidates now, perhaps not even a fraction of them would truly make it into the third test.

The Death Forest lay at the edge of the village, so it took some time to reach.

It was exactly noon when they arrived.

And only then did Tang Ping see the famed Death Forest for the first time.