Naruto's Wisdom

Naruto had spent the night practicing with his sword and reminiscing.

During his eight years in Heaven, his adoptive father had never forced him to do anything. Instead, he had let Naruto see, listen, and experience the world for himself.

"Naruto, you're a child who feels deeply, loves and hates fiercely, and dares to take responsibility for your actions. I'm sorry you'll be accompanying your father to Hell, but I'm very glad to have you as my adopted son."

That was the strength within Naruto, the force that let him charge ahead without fear.

After removing Haruno Sakura from the list of women he might marry and cutting off his impure desires, his heart had become calm as still water.

At that moment, faced with Hyuga Neji's provocation, Naruto laughed boldly. "You want to stop me? Fine. Go ahead and try."

With that, he strode forward toward the end of the corridor, where the real Classroom 301 was.

Neji's face was expressionless. With his Byakugan, he looked even more like a blind man. He silently walked alongside Naruto.

He harbored no ill will toward Naruto. In fact, he even felt a kind of fellow-sufferer's sympathy for him.

Neji had been born into the Hyuga Branch Family and branded with the Caged Bird Seal as a child. His fate was in the hands of the Main Family.

Hinata was inferior to him in both strength and intelligence, yet as the Hyuga clan's strongest prodigy, he could only serve as her sparring partner.

Now he had even been reduced to acting as her bodyguard, driving away Naruto, the poor kid who had approached her.

That was fate—an unchangeable fate.

The two of them pushed open the classroom doors from either side. Hundreds of vicious gazes turned on them, belonging to people with all kinds of bizarre appearances.

Some had huge gourds strapped to their backs, wore smoky makeup, and had the word "Love" tattooed on their foreheads, yet looked as if their whole families had died.

Others were wrapped head to toe in bandages like mummies, but wore porcupine-fur coats that stood as tall as a person.

Weapons scraped deliberately, and throats let out strange, guttural cries.

Malice surged like a tide.

Naruto smiled easily. He had always enjoyed putting down violence, and in an environment like this, he felt strangely at home.

Soon, Sasuke, covered in bruises, and Rock Lee, walking with his head held high, arrived in the classroom.

There was no need to ask who had won.

But Sasuke wasn't discouraged. Instead, his eyes showed a renewed interest in the world.

Boom!

A cloud of white smoke burst across the classroom platform. When it cleared, two rows of Konoha Ninja in white uniforms had appeared.

The man leading them was tall, wearing a black trench coat that reached his ankles. His features were rugged, his face crisscrossed with scars, and his voice was low and harsh.

"My name is Morino Ibiki. I'm the examiner for the first round of the Chunin Ninja Exams. Submit your application forms by team, then collect your exam number and take your assigned seats."

After getting his exam number, Naruto returned to his seat. "They're making this look like a real exam."

The next moment, a girl with an exceptionally warm and caring look in her eyes walked up to him and showed him her number: 52.

"Naruto," Hinata said. "My seat is inside."

It was as if fate had arranged it.

They were seated at the same desk.

Naruto stood to let Hinata take the inside seat. "Sorry for causing you trouble earlier."

Hinata shook her head. Her face was still flushed, but her eyes stayed fixed on Naruto. "It was because of my family."

Just then, the examiners handed out the papers.

Morino Ibiki explained the rules. "Everyone starts with ten points. There are ten questions in all. You lose one point for each wrong answer, and two points each time you're caught cheating. Your final score will be calculated by team."

"If anyone on your team gets zero, the entire team is eliminated. Is that clear?"

Naruto was a warrior, and he knew almost nothing about what was taught at the Ninja Academy. But the moment he picked up the test paper, he grinned.

The first question was a code-breaking puzzle that required finding a pattern. The second asked them to calculate a projectile's range using a parabola.

Except for the last question, which the examiner would give them forty-five minutes into the exam, they were all middle-school math problems.

For someone who had attended high school for three months and university for one month in a technologically advanced society, they were ridiculously easy.

Naruto's pen flew across the page. In less than ten minutes, he had finished the first nine questions.

He glanced around. Almost all the ninjas were looking around like headless flies or scratching their heads.

Only a few were writing, including Haruno Sakura and Hinata.

Naruto suddenly realized that he was more than just a warrior.

He was a top student! A well-rounded genius!

In this backward world, his knowledge alone was enough to change everything!

Naruto slid his paper to the right. "Hinata."

Hinata was still working hard on the questions. In a soft voice, she said, "Naruto, wait a little. I'll show you my answers when I'm done."

"I'm finished."

Hinata wondered if she'd heard him wrong. She turned her head and saw Naruto's neat paper, with clean, concise calculations.

Her eyes practically sparkled.

So her Naruto was this smart?

"Can I—"

"Mm."

Hinata happily copied his answers. It was as if she had honey in her mouth and candy in her hand.

Naruto surveyed the room. Almost everyone was cheating, but some people were doing it so openly that the examiners seated in a row were taking note.

After five catches, they'd drag the whole team out of the exam room.

Others were much more discreet—or perhaps their methods simply couldn't be proven.

For instance, the two members of Team Eight sitting with Hinata: Kiba Inuzuka relied on the dog perched on his head and its barking, while Shino Aburame used the bugs perched on his. Both were unconventional methods based on controlling animals.

Sasuke, meanwhile, had activated his Sharingan and was copying the movements of people writing their answers.

Forty-five minutes into the exam.

"All right! Put your pens down!" Morino Ibiki stomped his foot. "Now I'll announce the tenth question."

"But before that, I need to warn you: anyone who answers incorrectly will lose the right to take the Chunin Ninja Exams for the rest of their life!"

Morino Ibiki gave a menacing grin. "Will you answer, or will you give up?"

Temari of Sunagakure slapped the desk. "What happens if we give up?"

"The whole team will be eliminated."

The exam room erupted. Some people questioned the rule, while others protested, but Morino Ibiki shot them all down with one sentence.

"I am the rules here!"

Hinata suddenly grew anxious.

It didn't matter to her whether she became a Chunin, but she wanted Naruto to become one. She hoped he would thrive in Konoha, then come to her home one day and ask for her hand in marriage.

By then, she would stand up to her father and marry Naruto.

If his future ended here—

Naruto said, "The choice is..."

"Huh?" Hinata said anxiously. "But what if we get it wrong..."

"We won't. Trust me."

Judging from the first nine questions, Naruto concluded that hardly anyone could solve them. The exam was simply encouraging people to cheat, testing their ability to gather information.

So the final question wouldn't be something the examinees could answer either.

That meant the real question was whether they would answer at all.

Given the threatening way Ibiki had phrased it, this was undoubtedly a test of resolve.

Hinata gazed at Naruto's confident expression. "Mm."

One after another, people raised their hands to withdraw. If one person raised a hand, the whole team was eliminated. If even one person on a team lost their nerve, they'd have to come back next year.

When only the final seventy-eight people remained in the room, and ten more minutes passed without anyone wavering—

"The tenth question is..." Morino Ibiki grinned. "You! I declare you all qualified!"

The examinees fell silent for a moment, then slapped their desks and cheered, filling the room with noise.

Hinata, however, kept her eyes on Naruto. She had been ready to be eliminated with him, but the truth was clear: Naruto would lead her down the right path, the path to success.

She was nearly giddy with happiness. Had someone as wonderful as Naruto really written her a love letter and confessed to her?

Was she dreaming?

"Hinata," Naruto said, turning his head to look straight into her crystal-clear eyes. "No matter who tries to keep us apart, as long as you're still willing, I won't give up."

"Mm!" Hinata nodded, much more vigorously than before.

Crash!

The window shattered, glass scattering across the floor. Four kunai pierced a banner.

A woman wearing a brown trench coat over a sheer fishnet outfit, with a deep, ample cleavage, slapped the banner with gusto and announced:

"Kids! The fun is over!"

"I'm the examiner for the second round! Mitaraishi Anko!"