The Difficulty of the Exam!

Late September.

A light drizzle fell without pause. Outside Konoha, lush forests, tall bamboo groves, wildflowers, and old vines filled the landscape. Raindrops pattered against the leaves with a crisp, steady rhythm.

To make entering and leaving the village easier, there was a small clearing by Konoha's gate. The rain had turned the road outside the village into mud, and horse-drawn carts carrying goods kept getting stuck in the mire. They could only inch forward with help from the Konoha Ninja guarding the gate.

Inside the gate, a group of children had gathered on the road. The harsh weather had done nothing to delay the exam.

"Everyone's here, so I'll explain the rules."

"First, check your ninja pouches. Kunai, shuriken, steel wire, Explosive Tags, and other ninja tools are allowed."

"Compasses, maps, and other navigational aids will be provided by the school."

Jiudai stood before the children and began explaining the rules for the final exam once everyone had arrived. Quite a few children had been eliminated in the first two rounds, so there weren't many taking the third exam today. The total number of children across all three age groups was probably fewer than fifty.

As Jiudai announced the rules, the children lowered their heads and began checking their ninja pouches.

"Now we'll hand out the maps and compasses." Jiudai glanced at the children inspecting their pouches, then waved to a ninja standing nearby, signaling him to distribute the maps.

Jiuming was near the front. Once he had his map, he studied it carefully. It was a simple map, with rivers and mountains roughly marked out. In its exact center was a red X, with the words "Destination" written beside it in red, as if there were any chance someone might miss it.

"The red X on your map marks the destination for this exam. It's a temple located seventy-five kilometers outside Konoha. Reaching it within the allotted time will earn you a passing grade. Anyone who takes more than ten days to get there, or fails to arrive at all, will be eliminated."

"For this exam, Chunin from the village will follow you the whole way. They'll evaluate your physical condition. If your instructors decide you can't continue, they'll escort you back—but you'll still be eliminated."

"Is that clear?"

After explaining the rules, Jiudai looked over all the children, his face stern. For some, this exam would be easy. For others, it might be impossible to complete—especially the youngest group.

Even a healthy adult would need a long time to cover seventy-five kilometers of mountain trails, even with a clear route. These children had nothing but a simple map and a compass. Dense forests surrounded Konoha, and one wrong turn could leave a child lost in the woods. Once lost, they might as well consider the exam failed.

"This is really that hard?" Uzumaki Kuming had been brimming with confidence, but after hearing the details, his expression grew serious.

"It's just an entrance exam for the Ninja Academy. How could they make it this difficult?" Jiuming wondered. This wasn't something children who had never even attended school could be expected to accomplish.

The exam reminded him of orienteering from his previous life, only much harder—and it was aimed at children. Shinobi World children might mature early, but even they had their limits. A task this challenging was bound to be difficult.

"Now, the exam begins. You may form teams freely. If you've teamed up, or if you plan to go alone, you can set off now."

Jiuming was still wondering why the Ninja Academy's entrance exam was so difficult when Jiudai gave the order to begin. At his signal, some children immediately left on their own. A few of the older kids had complete confidence in their abilities and had no intention of teaming up with anyone.

The younger, more timid children began searching the crowd for companions to travel with. Through the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, Jiuming sensed Konoha Ninja concealing themselves and following after the children as they set out.

"So the Third really does care about the kids' exams. Sending this many Chunin to supervise is quite a show of force."

Watching the other students leave one after another, Jiuming felt a surge of excitement. It was his first time leaving the village in years. At last, he'd get to see the world beyond it with his own eyes.

"Let's go!"

Jiuming looked down at the map, carefully checked his bearings, then let out an excited shout. Bending his knees slightly, he shot forward like an arrow.

Unlike the other children who had set off ahead of him, he didn't take the main road. He channeled Chakra into his feet and sprang straight into the woods. When it came to using Chakra, he was already far ahead of all the other children.

It was precisely because Jiuming had mastered channeling Chakra into his feet that he'd chosen to travel alone. He didn't want to drag a few deadweights along with him.

Jiuming set off at a breakneck pace. Shikaichi Nara had been about to ask him to team up, but he'd only looked away for a moment, and Jiuming was already gone. With no other choice, Shikaichi found some other children to team up with.

Hizashi Hyuga had a good nature, and he'd shown impressive fighting skills in the earlier rounds. Plenty of children wanted to team up with him, and Hizashi welcomed them all. Before long, he'd gathered a large group of eight and led them out of Konoha's gates. Few children traveled alone; most formed groups of three or more.

After all, it was survival in the wilderness. Traveling in a group made people feel safer.

"Whoosh! Thump!"

Uzumaki Kuming raced through the woods. As he dashed between the trees, his footprints marked the branches. In the distance, a figure pursued him, moving swiftly through the forest as well.

"That Kuming sure is fast. You'd never guess he was only five!"

Minato Namikaze followed Uzumaki Kuming from a distance. He couldn't see Kuming, but he could tell which way he was going from the footprints and other traces left on the branches.

That's right—the Chunin assigned to protect Kuming during this Ninja Academy recruitment exam was none other than Minato Namikaze, who had graduated from the academy not long ago. At twelve years old, Minato had already become a Chunin!

But Kuming up ahead had no idea his assigned Chunin was an old acquaintance. He was busy rushing along.

After running for who knew how long, Kuming looked up at the darkening sky and decided to stop for a rest. He was starting to feel tired. It had been drizzling ever since he left Konoha, and by now, the rain had begun to grow heavier. The instructors hadn't given the students raincoats.

By this point, Kuming was soaked through, and as his energy dwindled, he could feel his body temperature dropping.

"I can't keep going. Traveling in the rain is way too inefficient. I'll find somewhere to rest for today."

The sky looked just as gray and gloomy as it had that morning, making it impossible to tell the time. But the exhaustion in his body told Kuming he'd been running for a long while. The rain was getting heavier, so he had no choice but to stop.

"Whoosh!" Uzumaki Kuming leaped down from a tree and landed on the ground. He looked around, unsure where to make camp.

"..."

"If only I knew Yamato's build-a-villa jutsu. Then I wouldn't have to sleep out in the woods."

"I used to think Yamato was terrible at developing Wood Release. Now I realize he just knows how to live."

After dropping from the tree, Kuming found himself surrounded by deeper darkness. The dense forest blocked most of the light. He envied Yamato's Wood Release techniques and surveyed the area around him.

There wasn't much open ground near where Uzumaki Kuming had stopped, but a short distance away stood a massive tree, its trunk wide enough for three people to encircle. The ground beneath it was relatively dry, so Kuming decided to spend his first night there.

Once he'd chosen a spot, he needed to build shelter. After thinking it over, Kuming settled on the simplest option: an A-frame shelter. He'd find a sturdy pole, lean it against the massive tree, then lay smaller branches across it to widen the shelter. Finally, he'd cover those branches with leaves, and the basic shelter would be complete.

Kuming quickly got to work. Thanks to his Strength of a Hundred, he could carry branches that most children couldn't even lift. Building the shelter was a little tedious, but otherwise no trouble at all. With the help of his Strength of a Hundred, he finished in less than two hours.

That was remarkably fast. It didn't compare to Yamato, of course, but for a child, being able to build a shelter at all was already impressive.

After finishing the shelter, Kuming gathered dry leaves and dead branches beneath the giant tree. Luckily, the forest was dense enough that he could still find plenty of dry firewood despite the rain.

Once he'd gathered enough, Kuming took a kerosene lighter from his ninja pouch and lit the firewood.

"Good thing I was smart enough to bring an Asuma-brand Lighter. Using flint like everyone else would've been so dumb."

The fire crackled to life. Kuming took off his damp outerwear and ducked into the shelter to warm himself. The heat filled him with a deep sense of comfort. Outside, the rain kept pouring, its steady patter reaching his ears and leaving him feeling unusually calm.

In the relative comfort of the shelter, Kuming ate half a Military Ration Pill and drank some water. Then he set up warning seals nearby and fell into a deep sleep in his makeshift shelter.