Chunin Exams

Feng Ye naturally had no way of knowing what Kakashi was thinking.

He only knew that Kakashi had returned. After pausing at the door and hearing the sounds inside, he apparently did not want to deal with Kurenai Yuhi and the others, so he slipped away.

Even if Feng Ye had known Kakashi's thoughts, he would have judged them as far too ridiculous. He was only nine years old right now. Weren't they all thinking way too far ahead?!

After seeing Kurenai Yuhi and Rin Nohara off, Feng Ye threw himself back into training.

There were still three days until the Chunin Exams. It was impossible to raise Hatake Swordsmanship to the second stage in such a short time, and developing the A-Class ninjutsu Chidori was unlikely as well. The only thing he had any hope of improving was opening the third gate of the Eight Inner Gates, the Gate of Life.

"If I can open the third gate of the Eight Inner Gates, then even without using Time Acceleration, I should be able to crush the Chunin Exams with ease."

Feng Ye made his judgment inwardly.

Time flew by.

Beneath the fading glow of the setting sun, Feng Ye spent the final day before the Chunin Exams.

"Whew."

Watching the sun sink below the horizon, Feng Ye stretched his body and stopped training.

That was about enough.

Tomorrow was the Chunin Exams, as well as his first mission since becoming a ninja. What was that line again... right, ready perfectly—completely prepared!

Feng Ye clenched his fist and revealed a faint smile.

After packing up, he headed home. He did not activate Time Acceleration again. After dinner, he slept straight through until the next morning.

Kakashi was not home. He seemed to have gone out early, but Feng Ye did not care. After breakfast, he headed directly to the Chunin Exams venue.

At this moment.

Quite a few people had already gathered in the Chunin Exams classroom.

There were roughly sixty people in total. Most were Konoha ninja, while only a dozen or so came from other ninja villages.

Feng Ye merely swept his gaze over the Konoha ninja before losing interest. Instead, he carefully examined the ninja from Kumogakure and Kirigakure.

"...Huh."

When his gaze landed on the Hidden Mist Village ninja, Feng Ye was slightly surprised. Among the three members of the Hidden Mist Village team, one of them looked somewhat familiar.

If he was not mistaken, that person should be—

Kisame Hoshigaki!

One of the future Seven Ninja Swordsmen, a member of the Akatsuki Organization, and Itachi's partner.

However, Kisame Hoshigaki was probably only around ten years old at the moment.

As if sensing Feng Ye's gaze, Kisame Hoshigaki glanced sideways and met his eyes. His shark-like pupils gave off an icy feeling.

"So this is Kisame Hoshigaki when he was young. I wonder how strong he is."

Feng Ye stared at him for a second before withdrawing his gaze. Muttering to himself, he continued looking over the ninja from Kumogakure and the other villages.

He did not recognize any of Kumogakure's genin. He had no impression of those from Kusagakure or Amegakure either. The same went for the other two genin from Kirigakure—he had no memory of them whatsoever.

While Feng Ye was observing the other ninja, some gazes also fell on him.

"Who is that guy?"

"Silver hair... is that Hatake Kakashi?"

Some of the Konoha ninja watched Feng Ye and discussed him in low voices.

Kakashi, who had graduated at five and become a chunin at six, was practically known by everyone in Konoha. Feng Ye's hair and build, which closely resembled Kakashi's, immediately drew quite a bit of attention.

"No."

Someone who knew Feng Ye shook his head. "That isn't Kakashi. His name is Feng Ye, Kakashi's older brother. He's nowhere near as good as Kakashi."

Inuzuka Tsume rubbed her chin and said, "When did that guy become a genin? I have no impression of it at all... Wait, did he come to take the Chunin Exams alone?"

"Seems like it."

Someone snickered and said, "His talent isn't much, but he dared to take the Chunin Exams alone. He's got some guts, at least."

This was already his third time taking the Chunin Exams. He still remembered how he had nearly been killed during his first attempt.

The Chunin Exams and the genin graduation exam at the Ninja Academy were completely different things!

"Hatake Feng Ye? He isn't from the Hyuga or Uchiha clans."

"He should be cannon fodder."

Hearing the nearby discussion, the two genin from Kirigakure also glanced in Feng Ye's direction.

The Jonin leading their team had only told them to be particularly wary of the Uchiha and Hyuga clans. Both the Sharingan and Byakugan possessed powerful abilities worthy of caution. Other than the Hyuga and Uchiha, there was basically nothing else worth paying attention to.

"He might not be cannon fodder."

Kisame Hoshigaki exposed a mouthful of shark-like pointed teeth as he scrutinized Feng Ye's direction. "That guy noticed me the moment he came in. He should have some skill."

"Is that so?"

The Mist Shinobi beside him had a flicker in his eyes, then gave a cold smile. "Good if he has some skill. That way, this exam won't be too boring."

Just as everyone was discussing things among themselves, several ninja entered the room.

The man at the front was a Konoha Jonin.

"Quiet!"

Inoichi Yamanaka spoke in a deep voice to the classroom. An oppressive force belonging to a Jonin spread out in an instant, causing nearly every ninja in the room to fall silent at the same time.

"I am Inoichi Yamanaka, chief examiner of the first test. Submit the personal information forms previously given to you in order, then collect your number tags and take your corresponding seats. The papers for the first test will be handed out shortly."

Leaning against the wall by the doorway, Feng Ye glanced at Inoichi Yamanaka.

If he remembered correctly, this guy was Ino's father, one of the older generation's Ino-Shika-Cho trio. It seemed Konoha truly placed great importance on these Chunin Exams. Every chief examiner was a Jonin rather than a Special Jonin.

Very soon.

After receiving his number tag, Feng Ye went to his assigned seat and sat down.

Since his mission was to target the Mist Shinobi and Cloud Ninja during these exams and eliminate them as much as possible, he had learned the content of the exam yesterday.

It was almost exactly the same as the Chunin Exams taken by the Konoha 12. The first stage was a written test assessing intelligence-gathering ability, except there was no so-called tenth question. The second stage involved competing for Heaven and Earth Scrolls in the Forest of Death, while the final stage was one-on-one battles.

The test papers were quickly handed out.

Swish, swish, swish!

The moment Feng Ye received his paper, he began writing at rapid speed.

Since he knew the test content in advance, it was naturally almost no challenge for Feng Ye. Before entering the classroom, he had already had one Shadow Clone use the Transformation Technique to disguise itself as a chunin proctor, then swagger in alongside the other chunin proctors.

Besides, he could answer most of the questions himself. There was not even any need to cheat, and he finished everything in no time.

"Turning it in early?"

Watching Feng Ye approach with his test paper, Inoichi Yamanaka's gaze flickered slightly as he met Feng Ye's eyes. He accepted the paper and examined it. After confirming that nearly all the answers were correct, he nodded at Feng Ye. "All right. You pass."