He's got some skills! Hao Shuai silently gave Kabuto Yakushi's intelligence-gathering abilities a thumbs-up.
To keep word from spreading that Hao Shuai had taken on an S-rank mission as a Genin, the Third Hokage had issued a gag order and concealed the fact that Hao Shuai had completed the mission.
Yet Kabuto Yakushi knew the details of Hao Shuai's mission record so well. That showed just how formidable his intelligence network was.
Hao Shuai was growing more and more impressed with Kabuto Yakushi, but this wasn't the time to recruit subordinates. So he said to Naruto and the others, "Come over and sit down. The exam's about to start."
The Konoha 9 were already used to following Hao Shuai's instructions, and they all found seats.
Once everyone was settled, Naruto, seated beside Hao Shuai, suddenly asked, "Big Brother Hao Shuai, is the Chunin Exam really as hard as Senior Kabuto said?"
Naruto's question caught the attention of the other members of the Konoha 9 around Hao Shuai. They all turned to look at him.
Hao Shuai didn't answer Naruto right away. Instead, he pointed to the Genin around them and said, "Take a look at the ninja in this classroom who are taking the exam. What do you notice?"
The Konoha 9 did as he asked, looking around the room, but after a while, they still couldn't figure out what he meant.
"They're all pretty strong?" Sakura ventured.
"No!" Hao Shuai shot Sakura a look and explained, "Didn't you notice that most of them are quite a bit older?"
"Oh~~"
Only after Hao Shuai pointed it out did the Konoha 9 notice.
It was true~~
Of the 153 people taking this Chunin Exam, only Naruto and a few others were twelve or thirteen. Most of the rest were eighteen, nineteen,