Examiner · Shimura Danzō

The continuous sound of fireworks and the clamor of the crowd filled the air.

This was the Chunin Selection Exam hosted by Konohagakure.

Although this event, which invited many people from other villages to participate, also hid a side of "small-scale warfare" where they probed each other's combat strength.

However, only the upper echelons of the village needed to be neurotically vigilant about such things.

For the ordinary villagers, all they needed to do now was enjoy this peaceful "festival."

"Affiliated with the Land of Fire, Konohagakure, first-term student of the Ninja Academy, Genin of Team 6, Ninja ID 1854, Senju Diejian."

Having received their Chunin Selection Exam participation rights, which contained their personal information, the members of Team 6, including Diejian, straightened their backs, thinking, "It's finally here."

The preliminary venue for the Chunin Selection Exam was set a little further away from the center of Konohagakure.

Surrounded by the residences of the Uchiha, Sarutobi, and Aburame clans, this location felt somewhat subtle and unsettling, even to the ninjas of Konohagakure.

Perhaps it was to deal with any possible situation, but one could say it was an overly thorough preparation.

"Oh, you guys. You're already here."

"We thought we arrived quite early."

Entering the exam venue, Team 6 exchanged greetings with their peers who had already arrived.

Juri kept her distance from the noisy, rowdy peers and hummed in boredom.

Leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, she looked every bit the cold, arrogant young lady.

A ninja from another village approached Juri, who was standing alone.

What would be the fate of these poor fools attracted by the moth-lamp of her "appearance"?

One could only say they were too immersed in the atmosphere of the festival.

Sure enough, the ninjas from other villages who were drawn by her cute face were being beaten to a pulp by Juri's sharp tongue.

"Hey, fatty. Know your own weight."

"What did you say, you little brat!"

Provoked by Juri's insults, a slightly chubby man with oil paint on his face had his expression twisted by humiliation.

Judging by his forehead protector, he was likely a Genin from Kirigakure.

His chakra became chaotic, and his long brown hair trembled slightly.

A massive amount of chakra, as if trying to fill the space, was seeping out from the chubby man.

Although not quite on par with Diejian, it was a level of chakra close to that—Sakumo reached for the short blade at his waist, ready to react at any moment.

"What's going on... Oh, it's Juri."

One of the culprits behind this tense atmosphere—one of them was a familiar face.

Diejian hurriedly ended his own conversation and stepped between the chubby man and Juri.

Diejian restrained the Kirigakure Genin with a stiff smile, then pulled Juri away with force.

With his back to the Kirigakure ninja, Diejian put his arm around Juri's shoulder and brought his angry expression close to her haughty face.

"Didn't Kagami-sensei tell you to behave!"

He roared in a low voice, demonstrating this high-difficulty maneuver.

Juri hummed in displeasure.

"That pig over there was overestimating himself by trying to hit on me. I can only assume he looks down on us Uchiha."

"How could that be? Look, you know. It's human nature to want to talk to a beautiful and sexy lady."

"Senju..."

Even though it was flattery.

Seeing Juri's displeased, narrowed eyes slowly round out, Diejian felt the operation was a success—

"You guy, are you lusting after me? Disgusting. Don't touch me. Don't talk to me for a while, you lecher."

Juri hummed, pushed Diejian away, and walked off with a clatter.

Having been scolded despite complimenting her, and even being called disgusting, Diejian indignantly thought it was unreasonable to be spoken to like that.

While grumbling and standing up to brush the dust off his backside, his gaze met the Kirigakure Genin who had been staring at him the whole time.

"...Sorry about that, friend from Kirigakure. She's like that to everyone. I don't think she meant any harm... at least, that's what I think."

"You, you look like you have it pretty rough."

Diejian apologized for his teammate's rudeness, and the Kirigakure Genin seemed to understand.

"It's fine."

He retracted his agitated chakra and grinned.

The teeth revealed were sharp and pointed like a shark's.

"I am Konoha's Senju Diejian. And you?"

"I am Suikazan Fuguki of Kirigakure."

The long sword hidden within his long hair let out a sharp click.

★

Despite the minor conflict, the group arrived safely at the exam venue's lounge and took seats wherever they could find them.

Because of what had just happened, Diejian and Juri seemed to be targeted by the Genin from other villages.

The only saving grace was that the seating was divided by village.

The vigilance toward the "Senju" who had announced their name in public was quite intense.

Every move Diejian made was under surveillance.

Diejian felt as if he were sitting on pins and needles.

His peers from Konoha heartlessly distanced themselves from Diejian, as if to say they couldn't be seen near a guy like him.

Even the culprit, Juri, sat a little further away from Diejian.

Seeing Juri's attitude—not even sparing him a glance—Diejian felt a bit dejected. She really does find me disgusting.

Sakumo sat behind Diejian, but he was staring intently at the Silver Short Sword he had purchased for the Chunin Selection Exam, showing no intention of intervening.

Sakumo had recently become obsessed with this ninja blade, which was said to have cost the entirety of his mission earnings from his two years as a Genin.

"Ah, found you, found you. You guys are early."

"Ina, you'd better not come over here..."

"Eh? Why?"

Ina and her group appeared just minutes before the start of the Chunin Selection Exam, ignoring the surrounding atmosphere and sitting down right next to Diejian.

Ina turned a deaf ear to Diejian, who was trying to stop her with a troubled expression, and said with a smile, "Hasn't it started yet? I'm so nervous," though she didn't look the least bit nervous.

When did she become so bold? Diejian shuddered at Ina's iron-willed nerves.

As Ina and Diejian were talking, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—Juri leaned over and sat down next to Ina.

"Oh my, long time no see. Have you been doing well?"

"Mm, yeah. You look like you're doing well, too."

Facing Ina, who greeted her with a smile, Juri nodded with flushed ears.

Thanks for last time, I still wanted to ask about maintenance methods... Watching Ina and Juri start a friendly conversation, Diejian wore an expression of pure shock, like a pigeon hit by a bean.

"What is this? You guys are that close? I had no idea."

"Shut up, pervert. I'm talking to Ina right now. Keep your filthy mouth shut."

"That's a bit harsh, don't you think..."

Diejian hung his head in dejection.

Juri gave a satisfied huff, and Ina advised, "Don't be like that."

Juri puffed out her cheeks, wanting to retort, but was stopped by Sakumo behind her.

"Everyone, it's about to begin."

The person who walked into the classroom was a Jonin from Konoha.

His name was Sarutobi Hiruzen.

As a trusted aide of Tobirama who had yet to lead his own squad, he had been entrusted with the role of proctor for the Chunin Selection Exam.

Just like the grandiose name "First Joint Chunin Selection Exam" suggested, the opening remarks were long and boring.

After a long-winded, tedious speech by Hiruzen, the content of the exam was finally announced.

---The answer sheets are now being distributed.

Please answer the questions provided.

The answer sheets will be collected by village.

Furthermore, to prevent misconduct by any village, the answer sheets will be collected and graded by Jonin from other hidden villages.

There is a large number of questions.

Do not make any errors in judgment; continue answering.

Diejian and the others, who had been bracing for something intense, realized this was just a standard written exam.

The Genin received the distributed answer sheets from the Jonin of different villages, and the first exam began.

Question 1---Write down 100 types of ninjutsu and the written descriptions of their hand seal sequences.

There are many types of seals, such as Bird, Monkey, Ram, etc., and ninjutsu can only be activated by combining these seals in sequence.

For those so-called "hard-working geniuses" who memorize techniques by finger movements and flow rather than the "names of the seals," this was a rather cruel requirement.

Diejian sat with his hands under the desk, forming seals one by one, struggling to recall the order and names of the seals.

Question 2---Write down the hand seal sequence for a technique above the "Advanced Ninjutsu" level from your own village. This is a high-scoring question.

The 100 ninjutsu mentioned in the first question also included some high-level techniques. And then, this followed immediately after.

Furthermore, it required the hand seals for techniques above the high-level rank of "your own village."

---I see, so this is an exam testing the breadth of one's mastery over techniques.

--Someone laughed.

---Could it be that this is...--Someone realized the hidden possibilities within.

The third question---Explain the mindset required of a ninja.

This was a psychological test, asking about the mentality necessary to become a Chunin.

At first glance, it looked like a simple true-or-false test, but it was actually quite difficult. It was riddled with traps designed to test a ninja's insight, such as intentionally placed misleading information, typos, grammatical shifts, and passages that could be interpreted in any number of ways.

"Five minutes remaining. Hand in your answers."

The words of Hiruzen, who had appeared in front of the cubicle, gave Diejian a sense of unease.

He glanced at the cubicles of the other villages and saw a Sunagakure Jonin standing before the Suna cubicle, and a Kumogakure Jonin before the Kumo cubicle; it seemed they were all there to collect the answer sheets.

What was this feeling of unease--his thoughts were in a tangle.

In that moment, Diejian realized the truth behind this exam.

He widened his eyes, stopped his pen, and began to erase his answers.

Looking two seats over, Juri seemed to be doing the same thing.

"STOP!!"

The signal for the end of the first exam.

The Jonin from each village began collecting the answer sheets from their respective Genin.

"Hey, are you okay? Pull yourself together."

"So tired..."

"That damn Second Hokage..."

"Looks like it's over for me."

The brief intermission arrived--the classroom became noisy and chaotic, with Diejian and Juri slumped over, looking as if they had burned out completely.

"I will now announce the those who passed the first exam. Silence."

Appearing with a flourish was the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama.

When it came to Senju Tobirama, he was the "fastest" man in the ninja world, unmatched by any other.

A ninja who didn't know of him was no different from a "layman."

As a living legend, no one had yet surpassed Tobirama; if anyone could stand on equal footing with him, it was likely only the Gold and Silver Brothers of Kumogakure.

The brothers Kinkaku and Ginkaku, known as the "Twin Lights of the Clouds," had seized chakra from the Nine-Tails and made it their own before being manipulated by Uchiha Madara and sealed by Senju Hashirama.

Without having the Nine-Tails sealed within them, yet possessing power equal to a "Jinchuriki," the Gold and Silver Brothers were feared as living legends.

It was this very celebrity, Tobirama, who had appeared in person.

The Genin were suffocated by the sheer performance of a man who could grade them at such high speeds.

The names of those who passed were announced one after another, and when Diejian, Juri, Ina, and Sakumo were called, they let out sighs of relief.

Tobirama concluded the announcements with a curt "That is all."

However--

"Are you kidding me! I should have gotten them all right! I checked them! There's no way I made a mistake!"

It was a Genin whose name had not been called.

It seemed he was confident, and other Genin noisily chimed in, "Yeah, that's right!"

They have a death wish, Diejian thought, bowing his head as if to avoid looking.

This was the foolish behavior of those who only knew Tobirama by name, not by his true nature.

Diejian sighed at their misfortune and offered a prayer to the Sage of Six Paths.

"Shut up."

A single, calm sentence--yet with those words, the atmosphere in the room changed completely.

Tobirama's heavy chakra instantly filled the room.

The overwhelming power was enough to make even the Konoha Jonin break out in a cold sweat.

Diejian could endure it because he was used to it, but Sakumo and Juri couldn't help but shiver, recalling the demonic visage they had seen during the Genin promotion exam.

Was Tobirama aware of the psychological trauma he was inflicting on his own village's youth?

The Genin who had been shouting just moments ago clamped their mouths shut in the face of Tobirama's pressure, or hugged themselves to stop their bodies from trembling.

Tobirama slightly eased the pressure and cast his gaze toward the Genin who had been shouting so presumptuously.

"This exam did not test your academic ability. It tested your 'judgment'."

Tobirama had spoken to this extent, and the quick-witted ninja frowned.

The Genin who had sensed it from the start nodded, thinking that it was just as they had expected—confirming the correctness of their own deductions.

This first exam concealed a deeper meaning that was not a survey of academic ability.

Just like that Genin promotion exam from the past, which had sparked discord while actually testing team cooperation.

Before the exam began, the words of Sarutobi Hiruzen.

---Now, distributing the answer sheets.

Please answer the questions above.

The answer sheets will be collected uniformly by the village.

Furthermore, to prevent misconduct by various villages, the answer sheets will be collected and graded by "Jonin from other hidden villages."

The number of questions is very large.

Do not misjudge, and continue answering.

A sentence within the questions.

---Write down the hand seals for one high-level ninjutsu or above "from your own village."

Moreover, hidden within Hiruzen's speech and the questions were keywords sufficient to lead to "that answer."

At the same time, by having Jonin from other villages distribute the answer sheets, the statement "answers will be collected by other villages" was given an air of authenticity.

Yes.

The truth hidden behind this exam was "to realize the negligence of leaking one's own village's intelligence."

A ninja who cannot perceive the deeper meaning is still too early to become a Chunin.

Those who would leak classified intelligence just to become a Chunin are beyond the pale.

Therefore, "answering all questions" is a failure.

Only answering common ninjutsu known to every village, such as the Clone Technique or Transformation Technique, and not answering the high-scoring second question—scoring points without compromising the interests of one's own village—that is the condition for passing.

Precisely because of this, the true collector was revealed only in the final five minutes.

It was to inform them that the initial claim of "answers being collected by other villages" was a lie.

Then, why was it necessary to tell this lie—the answer comes naturally if one just thinks about it.

If one still cannot perceive it even then, it means they should go back and re-read the Genin manual.

Because the Konoha Genin understood Tobirama's personality, many found the answer at an early stage.

Ina and Sakumo were among them.

However, expecting Genin from other villages to fathom Tobirama's personality was asking too much.

Therefore, they were inevitably slower to start than Konoha.

This seemingly fair rule was, in reality, far more advantageous to the ninja of Konoha.

What a formidable man—the Konoha Genin who grasped the deeper meaning trembled.

For his reliability and strength as Hokage, as well as his ruthlessness toward outsiders.

The failed candidates, having been completely refuted, stood up and left the venue.

After this, they would likely be severely reprimanded by the Jonin of their own villages.

The leakage of high-level ninjutsu—for example, it would be like Diejian teaching the Shadow Clone Technique to an outsider.

"What a terrifying exam..."

And so—the remaining Genin from other villages were all survivors of that extremely disadvantageous information war.

Although it was unclear what the next exam would be like, they could not afford to let their guard down.

Diejian lifted his prone body and checked the sparse number of Genin remaining.

★

"Why is my partner you, Senju!"

"Oh my, on that point, you should be happy to be in the same village and class... Sakumo was forced to team up with a ninja from Iwagakure."

While worrying about his partner who was not here, Diejian kicked away the ground covered in rotting leaves and ran.

The second exam—it was a scroll-snatching survival battle of team versus team.

"Collect '3' scrolls, including the 1 assigned to each squad, and deliver them to the tower in the center of the forest."

These were the words of the examiner in charge of the second exam, Shimura Danzō.

A survival match with extremely simple rules—however, the team composition was a difficult problem.

The faint hopes of the examinees, who had been looking forward to a test of pure strength, were shattered when the rules were announced.

The partners they would challenge this survival battle with were not comrades from their own village whose habits they knew well.

Instead, they were temporary two-man squads formed by randomly drawing from all examinees across village boundaries—in a survival battle that tested the basics of a ninja, it also demanded strategic skills for target acquisition and defense, and even required impromptu team cooperation.

Furthermore, considering the content of the first exam, one probably shouldn't reveal too many of their trump cards to partners who are ninjas from other villages.

What was even more excessive was the stage for the second exam: that sea of trees.

Countless poisonous insects and fierce beasts inhabited that place; it was a notorious forest where even veteran ninjas walked hand-in-hand with the danger of death.

The abilities of the Genin would be tested under extreme conditions.

Just as Diejian had said, Sakumo had paired with a ninja from Iwagakure, and Ina had paired with a ninja from Kirigakure.

Therefore, Diejian, who had miraculously ended up in a team with Juri, expressed immense gratitude for his own luck.

"Having to write a will just to get a scroll—who could stand that?"

"Oh? Are you afraid of dying, Senju?"

"Of course I'm afraid. There are still a ton of things I want to do."

Naturally, he wouldn't mention that he had actually already died once.

Juri was momentarily confused by this unexpected reaction.

Although she immediately resumed her sharp-tongued demeanor, her expression was slightly different from before.

"Juri, stop."

Responding to Diejian's words, Juri halted her steps.

Following the inertia, her twin tails swayed back and forth.

Crouching down, Diejian threw several Kunai.

The targets were the discolored ground a few steps away and the tripwires stretched taut in the air.

With the sound of the wires being cut and the clatter of metal breaking.

The explosion that followed immediately—mixed in with the blasts of the pre-set explosive tags, the heavy sound of metal grinding echoed, and countless Kunai flew through the empty air.

Beneath the humus, several iron traps painted the color of earth appeared, snapping their sharp teeth shut.

Bear traps—this type of trap would tear through the flesh of anyone who stepped on them, and once they caught their prey, they would never let go.

Although limited in scope, they were effective stalling traps.

Furthermore, smoke billowed up, shrouding the area around the bear traps.

They had set double and triple layers of traps.

However, that wasn't all.

"1, 2, 3... eight of them. Hmph, clumsy stealth. You're completely exposed."

"Wait, Juri. Come over here."

The talent of a "sensor-type" who can perceive chakra is difficult to acquire later in life.

Both Juri and Diejian were poor in terms of chakra perception, but they had honed their ability to detect enemies not through chakra, but through their five senses, such as footsteps and the sound of the wind.

But even so, it was still inferior to the observational skills of a natural-born sensor-type ninja.

Moreover, this forest, which served as the stage for their battle, was a sea of trees with giant trunks that blocked out the sunlight.

In these conditions, which were perpetually dim and provided excellent hiding spots that obstructed a ninja's line of sight, the enemy ninjas had not only utilized the aforementioned traps, but their presence had also been detected by Juri.

Not an enemy worth worrying about, Juri thought, resting her hand on the hilt of her weapon at her waist.

"I'm going to charge in with a shout. Keep up, Senju!"

"No, I told you to wait."

Just as she was about to rush out, Diejian grabbed her collar from behind, causing her to stumble.

Juri choked, glaring angrily at Diejian's finger as it rapidly approached her face.

A sharp pain and an impact that struck straight to the bone—it was a flick to the forehead.

Juri glared at the helpless-looking Diejian with tears in her eyes, clutching her forehead.

Just as the atmosphere was about to turn hostile, Diejian gestured to the surroundings with a movement of his head.

The presence had vanished.

"Where did those guys go..."

"It's a genjutsu. In a team that was formed temporarily and includes members from other villages, an alliance is basically impossible. How could eight people suddenly surround us together? Calm down."

The opponents had likely prepared thoroughly, even pre-inscribing the genjutsu seals, waiting for their prey to take the bait.

As a member of the Senju clan, Diejian had been thoroughly drilled in the foundations of genjutsu, ninjutsu, and taijutsu by Tobirama.

Genjutsu at the Genin level could be dispelled by him "with ease."

"What a humiliation... that I actually..."

Rather than self-reproach for the fact that she, a member of the Uchiha clan, had been easily caught in a genjutsu, it was more that her killing intent toward the caster was overflowing; Juri's pupils revealed a reptilian sharpness.

"Juri, in which direction were you about to charge just now?"

Diejian lowered his voice, and Juri indicated the direction with her gaze.

"What's the reason?"

"Because that's the direction with the fewest people... So what?"

"Since we're dealing with an opponent who's prepared traps so thoroughly, I think the illusionary scene also has meaning."

It was highly likely that Juri's intended direction had new traps.

Therefore, the safest direction was the one Juri avoided in the illusion.

Diejian threw a kunai.

"Juri, Dragon Fire Technique."

"Alright."

A thin steel wire was attached to the kunai Diejian threw.

Understanding his intent, Juri ran to the side and quickly formed hand seals.

Diejian's kunai plunged deep into the grass, disappearing from sight, but the wire remained unbroken.

Juri brought her fingers to her mouth, taking a deep breath.

"Tiger! Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique!!"

However, what she exhaled was not air—but raging flames.

The spewing flames engulfed the steel wire, hurtling forward with astonishing speed.

"Are you alright, Juri?"

Clack— The kunai rolled to Juri's feet.

Juri nodded slightly.

It was Diejian who had knocked away the kunai thrown at her, which had been aimed at her while she was defenseless after releasing her ninjutsu.

"Suddenly aiming at a woman, that's really not gentle. Hey."

"I should be the one saying that. Suddenly using a fire jutsu. Are you trying to start a forest fire?"

Diejian's voice carried a sense of intimidation.

He exuded a dangerous aura, and in front of his sharp gaze were two Genin.

The symbols on their forehead protectors were from Kirigakure and Kumogakure.

Facing Diejian's gaze directly was the man from Kumogakure.

Sparks flew between the two.

Before they could finish speaking, they threw kunai at each other.

The trajectory of the kunai pointed directly at each other's throats—they collided, and the momentum-canceled kunai rolled to the ground.

And so, the first battle of the Chunin Selection, the second exam, began.