Unstoppable

Everyone arrived at the registration classroom, which was packed densely with examinees from various ninja villages.

When the crowd saw the four young ones, their eyes all carried a hint of hostility.

"These people... are all examinees..." Sakura felt her courage waver as she spotted several fierce-looking ninja.

"Don't be scared!"

Jimo and Sasuke stepped in front of Sakura, while Naruto cracked his knuckles, eager for a fight.

"Oh! You're here?" Kiba Inuzuka approached with Hinata and Shino.

Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino also made it to the classroom.

"Stop your chattering, it's annoying." A man wearing glasses walked out.

The man pushed up his glasses on the bridge of his nose.

"Those ninja behind you with the four-stripe symbol on their headbands are from Amegakure. They don't have much patience, so it's best not to provoke them before the exam..."

"You're Kabuto-senpai?" Sakura realized.

"Would you like me to share some intel with you?" Kabuto said, pulling out a set of ninja info cards from his waist pouch.

"No need. I know every single person here's strength better than you do." Jimo cut off Kabuto Yakushi's words.

From Jimo's smile, Kabuto sensed an extremely powerful killing intent and wisely backed off.

"Jimo, how could you treat Kabuto-senpai like that?" Sakura and Ino, for once, stood on the same side.

"This guy's been taking the exam for four years and is still a genin..." Jimo explained. "See that stack of info cards? Must be over a hundred, at least..."

"In other words, this guy's been constantly gathering intel on Konoha's new generation of ninja..." Sasuke, prompted by Jimo's point, suddenly felt something was off.

"What, what? What are you guys talking about?" Naruto looked at everyone in confusion.

"As a genin, it's one thing if he understands their strength, but those cards even annotate each ninja's techniques, even their chakra levels and mastery of jutsu... What's he planning? Maybe I'm just being paranoid." Jimo said coldly. "Stop thinking of yourselves as school students, Sakura..."

"This is what Jimo always says—'One must always be wary of others'..."

"What's there to fear! I won't lose to them!"

Naruto's one sentence made the already tense classroom atmosphere drop a few more degrees.

"This super ultra mega idiot..." Sasuke covered his face, unwilling to look at Naruto.

"Well, great... looks like we've become the target of everyone's hostility..." Shikamaru rubbed his forehead.

Most of the foreign ninja in the classroom had killing intent flickering in their eyes.

"These Konoha brats are pretty cocky... Let me have some fun with them."

A hunchbacked man charged forward, swinging a punch at Naruto.

With a bang, a huge crack split the classroom wall, and a figure flew out.

"Ara ara, if you're coming to another village to take the exam, at least act like a proper guest... Otherwise, it gives me a headache." Jimo lowered his leg, which had been suspended in the air, and flashed a smile.

The ninja who had tried to teach Naruto a lesson was sent flying by his kick, the force so great that he flew from the third floor of the school all the way to the street.

"Tch... still haven't mastered the force."

Jimo muttered to himself.

"Rock Lee... can you keep up with his speed?" Tenten, her hair in a bun, stared at Jimo in shock.

"Unless..."

"Huh?"

"Unless I open the Eight Gates..." Lee stammered.

"I couldn't see his movements just now..." Neji's face also showed disbelief.

"Is that handsome guy really that strong?" Temari whispered to Kankuro.

"I couldn't see his movements either." Kankuro looked at Gaara.

But a flicker of excitement suddenly appeared on Gaara's face.

While everyone was still stunned by Jimo's strength, a figure crawled in through the crack in the wall.

"Hey, don't go destroying the classroom..." Ibiki Morino tossed Dosu, who had been kicked into a dead dog by Jimo, back to the Sound ninja.

"If you guys cause any more trouble, I'll disqualify you from the exam!" Ibiki shot another glance at Jimo.

"Of course, fighting between students is prohibited during the exam, so you all behave yourselves and don't start anything!"

After the test papers were handed out, quite a few examinees were disqualified for cheating.

Sakura and Sasuke stared at Naruto and Jimo sitting in front of them, their hearts pounding with anxiety.

Naruto was famously bad at theoretical knowledge in the academy, and Jimo had never studied theory at all... In this exam, if even one person failed, the whole team would be kicked out.

As time passed, everyone realized this was a test of intelligence-gathering ability.

But Naruto and Jimo were both sprawled over their desks, snoring loudly.

Before the exam, Jimo had already told Naruto not to bother with the first nine questions at all. Just wait for the final big question from the proctor and answer it then.

Time ticked by, second after second, as more ninja were caught cheating and expelled from the exam hall.

"Now, we begin the final question... Before that, I want to emphasize the key points of this test with all of you."

Ibiki stared coldly at the examinees below the podium.

"The final question—whether you answer it or not is your own choice. Note this: if one of your three-person team chooses not to answer, all three lose their exam qualification. But if you choose to answer... and even one person fails, that person will never again have the chance to become a chunin for the rest of their lives."

The air fell into a deathly stillness.

Some examinees began protesting Ibiki's dictatorial methods.

"Blame your bad luck for running into me!" Ibiki swept several defiant examinees out of the hall.

Naruto's heart thumped uneasily as he glanced at Jimo, whose expression remained as calm as a breeze.

"Naruto, the four of us are a team, right?" Jimo spoke quietly, not turning to look back at Naruto.

"Of... of course! We're partners who've been through life and death together!"

"If we're people who will one day entrust our backs to each other, shouldn't we fully believe in one another?"

As Jimo's words landed, Sakura and Sasuke's hands—raised to forfeit and secure Naruto's advancement—froze mid-air.

"So what if I'm a genin for life? Who says a genin can't become Hokage?"

"Kid, I'm asking you—do you really choose to keep answering?" Ibiki's gaze swept over Naruto's test paper; all nine questions were blank.

"Don't underestimate me!"

Naruto gave his final answer. "Even if I'm a genin for life, that won't stop me from charging toward my goal of becoming Hokage!"

"This guy... not only is he a super ultra idiot, he's also a super ultra hot-blooded idiot..." For the first time, Sasuke and Sakura found themselves admiring Naruto.

Ibiki's face remained cold as he stared at the spiky yellow-haired brat. The temperature in the air nearly dropped to freezing.