Cheating

Kanna looked at the first question.↑,

Write the hand seals for Water Style: Water Clone Technique, and explain what would happen if the seals were reversed.

The very first question stunned Kanna. It wasn't that it was especially difficult; it was a trap.

Normally, a ninja wouldn't try reversing a jutsu for no reason, just as most of us wouldn't stop to wonder why one plus one equals two. So, when most people had no idea what would happen if they reversed the hand seals, plenty of them would surely try it on the spot.

And the result was—

"Blergh!"

"Cough, cough!"

Sure enough, it wasn't long before Kanna heard a string of retching sounds. He glanced up and saw quite a few people clutching their stomachs and vomiting mouthfuls of clear water.

The Water Clone Technique first gathered chakra, sent it outside the body, transformed it into water, and formed it into a shape. Reversing the hand seals instead caused chakra to contract into the abdomen, transform into water, and flow throughout the body. It was like washing the abdomen inside and out, so of course they threw up.

Beside him, the proctors began writing in their record books.

"So this question tests whether you can judge the reliability of intelligence. Anyone who tried reversing the jutsu without checking first will probably lose quite a few points."

Today, it was only a reversed jutsu. But if, someday, you were on a real battlefield and received a false deployment plan from the enemy, would you blindly accept it as true without checking? Wouldn't that bring disaster down on your side?

Kanna felt a fresh knot of tension inside him. He took the exam even more seriously.

He bent over his paper and wrote the hand seals for the Water Clone Technique: Horse—Ram—Snake—Tiger—Hare. Then he added, "Reversing the hand seals for Water Style: Water Clone causes a large amount of uncontrollable water to form in the user's abdomen, leading to vomiting, bloating, diarrhea, and other symptoms."

The very first question had laid a huge trap for the examinees, catching quite a few of them. Was the whole written exam unusually difficult this time, or had they deliberately made the first question so hard to put the candidates under pressure?

Kanna skipped straight to the last question to gauge the difficulty of the exam.

It read: "Suppose you are a squad leader leading several subordinates on a mission. One of them is unfortunately captured. While leading your squad in a breakout and retreat, you suddenly encounter that subordinate again. What would you do in this situation? Explain your reasons."

"An open-ended question? Testing a ninja's ability to carry out orders, make judgments, and weigh their options?"

The question was asking whether, upon encountering a subordinate who should have been captured, you would first observe them to determine if they were really who they appeared to be before deciding whether to accept them; isolate them immediately; or drive them from the squad—or even kill them.

How could you tell whether the subordinate had been bought off by the enemy? Whether the enemy had disguised someone using the Transformation Technique? Whether they had deliberately allowed the subordinate to escape, then tracked their route to decipher your signals—or even find your hideout?

This question went far beyond what a Genin should be expected to think about. It was the sort of problem only a squad leader had the standing to consider. Honestly, Kanna couldn't come up with a perfect answer either.

There were only two possible results for a ten-point question: right or wrong, and a wrong answer would cost you points. So, in the end, cheating was the way to go!

If Kanna's guess was right, Kirigakure would have a standard solution to this question, one that had been compiled by those who came before and was considered the best approach.

And Kanna already knew who he wanted to copy from: Momochi Zabuza. The guy had definitely received training in this sort of thing after joining the Anbu. His answer should be right!

But there was still plenty of time. Zabuza probably hadn't reached this question yet, so Kanna moved on to the second-to-last one.

It read: "The hand seals of a jutsu can be combined to produce different effects. The seals for the B-rank Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique are: Ox—Monkey—Hare—Rat—Boar—Rooster—Ox—Horse—Rooster—Rat—Tiger—Dog—Tiger—Snake—Ox—Ram—Snake—Boar—Ram—Rat—Ram—Monkey—Rooster—Dragon—Rooster—Ox—Horse—Ram—Tiger—Snake—Rat—Monkey—Hare—Boar—Dragon—Ram—Rat—Ox—Monkey—Rooster—Ram—Rat—Boar—Rooster. There are forty-four seals in total. Write which combinations of hand seals are used in this jutsu and what effects they produce."

Kanna furrowed his brow and thought it over.

He had once drawn the S-rank Water Style jutsu Great Shark Bullet Technique. It was an ultimate Water Style jutsu, and if he fully understood it, figuring out the Water Dragon Bullet Technique would be child's play. Kanna hadn't understood it completely, of course, but he could still infer some of the Water Dragon Bullet's hand-seal effects. That wasn't nearly enough, though. Unless he got the whole answer right, it would be useless!

Inferring a jutsu from the hand seals alone was far too difficult. If they had also given him the Water Dragon Bullet's chakra circulation, the movements of its muscles and organs, and even the pattern of its skin, Kanna might have been able to work out the answer. But unfortunately, the person who wrote the question hadn't told him any of that.

"A jutsu can be fully analyzed in three aspects: hand seals, chakra circulation, and coordination with the body. Take Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique, for example. You form hand seals while circulating chakra, then expand your abdominal cavity and inhale. Using a breath-drawing technique, you move chakra to the throat and expel it in a single breath, transforming it into flames. That's the most typical Fire Style jutsu. The Water Dragon Bullet is much more complicated. Just looking at the hand seals, there's no way an inexperienced Genin could analyze it."

"Hmph. As expected, you can't pass a ninja exam by honestly answering the questions." Kanna twirled his pencil and began surveying the room.

What surprised him a little was that plenty of other examinees had stopped working and were, like him, secretly watching those around them to see what they were writing. They were all planning to cheat.

Just then, Kanna felt a slight tingling at his waist, like an electric shock. He glanced down without drawing attention to himself and saw a fine strand of hair resting against his side.

Kanna recognized it as Amayuri's signal. He pretended to act casually as he scooped it up with his right hand, then quickly wound it around his finger.

He hid his right hand beneath the wide sleeve of his left and held his breath. Gently tugging the strand, he felt a current of electricity travel along it.

Zzap! The current jolted Kanna's right hand, making his finger twitch involuntarily. It drew a horizontal line on the paper, followed by a diagonal stroke, another line, and a hook.

Kanna didn't resist, letting Amayuri continue. Before long, a few words appeared on the paper.

"I can't."

Kanna nearly laughed out loud. He glanced at the sun outside, then drew his hands to his chest, hid them behind his clothes, and formed the Ram seal.

At his feet, Kanna's shadow twisted, stretched into a strip, and spread behind him, striking Amayuri's shadow with precision.

Amayuri was sitting quietly, but her body stiffened. Her right hand began moving on its own.

"Wait a moment."

"That girl." Amayuri smiled faintly and waited.

On the other side, Kanna used Shadow Possession Jutsu again, aiming at Zabuza. His shadow shot out.

"Hmm?" Zabuza had been doing the questions absentmindedly when he suddenly felt his body grow much heavier. He immediately realized something was wrong!

No matter which side took the initiative, Shadow Possession Jutsu meant using one person's strength to move both bodies. That was when the other person wasn't resisting. If they fought back with physical strength or chakra, the two of them could easily end up locked in a stalemate. Zabuza was a master swordsman with exceptional control over his strength, so of course he could tell something was off.

Zabuza stopped writing, ready to retaliate. Suddenly, his right hand began writing on the paper by itself.

"I want to see who you are!" Zabuza sneered inwardly and decided to read on.

"So you found me, Zabuza. But the first exam should be easy for you, right? Mind if I copy your answers? I can only get to the next exam by passing the written one. I want to have a good fight with you during the practical exam! Kanna."

After writing out the message, Zabuza's right hand automatically picked up an eraser and rubbed the words away.

"Oh? Kanna?"

Zabuza raised an eyebrow. He immediately remembered the name.

The only one who hadn't been killed by him in the graduation exam. So it was you?

"Interesting! If you want revenge, I'll give you the chance. It'd be a shame if someone who escaped me got stopped by an exam this simple." Zabuza's lips curled into a cold smile. He ignored the chakra coming from Kanna and went back to answering the questions.

Seeing his right hand move under Zabuza's guidance, Kanna finally let out a sigh of relief.

The exam had been revamped this year, but the questions were much harder. There was no way to pass under normal circumstances. Even Amayuri, who hadn't received Chunin-level theoretical training, was helpless with this sort of thing. All that remained was to see how generous Zabuza was.

The result was pretty good. Zabuza clearly wasn't the petty type. This exam was as good as in the bag.

Kanna relaxed his whole body and let Zabuza guide him as he filled in the answers one after another. As he worked, he silently mocked those unlucky fools who had been caught cheating and paid special attention to the solution to the last question.

"Since the subordinate in question was captured, determining whether they are who they claim to be, checking whether they have defected, and deciding whether they are part of an enemy trap would consume more effort and resources than the alternatives. Therefore, in a dangerous situation, it is recommended that you abandon that subordinate outright. If they show any sign of following you, kill them immediately!"

Kanna frowned as he read this bloodcurdling passage. This was probably the Anbu's recommended solution, and it revealed a certain attitude in Kirigakure:

Better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go.

Kisame followed this principle closely in the original story. When several Intelligence Department members carrying a password were surrounded by Konohagakure, he made the decisive choice to kill his teammates and then throw himself into the river to escape, without even considering other options like breaking through.

Now that he had the "correct" answer, Kanna understood what the question was really testing: on a mission, everything had to take second place to completing the mission.

It was cruel, but it was a rule followed throughout the Shinobi World.

Kanna finished the question and was about to withdraw his shadow when his right hand paused. Then it firmly wrote five characters.

"I'll be waiting for you!"

On the other side, Amayuri had used Lightning Release chakra to send electricity through the strand of hair, letting her sense the movements of Kanna's hand muscles and joints. She had successfully deciphered all the words—and naturally saw that challenge, too.

A surge of fighting spirit welled up inside her. Amayuri's expression turned serious. She pushed a burst of chakra through the strand, sending a series of electrical pulses to Kanna's fingers and making them write a sentence on the paper.

"I'm Amayuri! I'll be waiting for you two as well!"

"Heh, heh, heh." Kanna narrowed his eyes. He suppressed all his excitement with the mental discipline of the Silent Killing Technique, saving it for the final exam.

Tightening his grip on the pencil, Kanna quickly wrote his own challenge.

"See you all in the final exam!"