"Examiner, we're handing in our papers!" the three swordsmen from Kumogakure said in unison, as though they shared a psychic connection.
Karui walked at the front.
Atsui and Omoi followed close behind.
"Karui, Atsui, and Omoi pass. Sixteen places remaining!"
Outside, in front of the large screen, Darui nodded in satisfaction this time. "That's more like it. Our Cloud Village focuses on quality. One team is enough to tear through all of yours."
The others curled their lips. Keep trying to save face.
They had the fewest successful candidates among the Five Great Nations.
"Impossible... there's no way I'm going down here!"
Sasuke Uchiha's knuckles turned white from the force of his grip, and the pen in his palm was on the verge of snapping.
"Damn it."
The veins at his temples throbbed with his ragged breaths. Every heartbeat felt like a sledgehammer pounding his chest.
His pen hovered over the paper for a long time, yet he still couldn't bring it down. The torment seeped into his bones, as though a red-hot branding iron were searing his internal organs over and over.
He racked his brains, but he couldn't understand—
I was an Uchiha prodigy!
My Sharingan could see through the weaknesses in even the most complex ninjutsu and perfectly copy every movement an opponent made.
And now I was going to fall to this flimsy written exam?
"What secret is hidden here... come on, think!"
He clenched his back teeth, his scarlet Sharingan darting rapidly in their sockets. His tomoe swept over every word and punctuation mark on the paper.
But no matter how he examined it, the questions were perfectly ordinary. There were no hidden fluctuations of genjutsu, no encrypted symbols or codes—just seemingly simple word games riddled with traps.
"Something's wrong with the paper? Impossible!"
He