Inside the monitoring room, the lively atmosphere fell silent in an instant.
Beside Anko, the bespectacled examiner stood with his mouth open, staring at the scrolls scattered across the screen. He opened his mouth as if to speak, yet no sound came out at first.
The other tall, thin examiner instinctively braced himself against a nearby chair, his pupils widening slightly.
"How... how is this possible?" The bespectacled examiner finally voiced his thoughts, his voice warped by disbelief. "Those two teams... did they work together to do this? They eliminated nearly half the teams?"
Anko folded her arms, her gaze never leaving Naruto Uzumaki on the screen. She slowly shook her head, her tone certain. "No. Look carefully."
"Team 10's Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka took out their own Heaven Scrolls separately. That means they weren't acting together with Team 7."
"These..." Anko lifted her chin toward the pile of scrolls on the screen, "...were all taken by Team 7. More precisely, there's an extremely high chance Naruto Uzumaki took them alone after eliminating the other teams."
"Alone?" The tall examiner sucked in a sharp breath. "Th-this is something a genin can do? Even if he's exceptionally gifted, isn't this too outrageous?"
"The facts are right in front of us. I also counted the scrolls—there are no other teams left. The exam is over..." Anko cut off his doubts, her expression complicated.
At that moment, Iruka and another Chunin examiner arrived, intending to report what had happened earlier and ask whether Naruto's claims were true.
"Iruka, you came at the right time. Go notify Team 7 and Team 10 that the second exam has ended early. Tell them to rest briefly and await further instructions. I'll report to the Hokage immediately."
Iruka, who had only just appeared and