The Answer! The Ninja's Rules

Ibiki's aura suppressed everyone present.

Neji took the opportunity to grab Rock Lee, and together with Tenten, they entered the exam hall.

"Don't even think about trying to cheat. Everyone take your assigned seats; members of the same team will be seated far apart!"

At Ibiki's command, all the genin began to take their seats.

Watching the flow of people around her, Tenten said worriedly, "What do we do? I thought we could look out for each other during the written test, but I didn't expect..."

Neji, however, smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'm here."

"You?"

Tenten's gaze was full of doubt.

The first round was a written test, and it was incredibly boring.

For Neji, who could already use the Byakugan with ease, the answers were practically within his grasp.

After successfully obtaining the correct answers, Neji finished the nine major questions on his own paper.

He wrote out two copies of the answers on scrap paper, crumpled them into balls, and placed them at the corner of his desk.

"Byakugan!"

Under the vision of the Byakugan, it wasn't just his insight that was enhanced; his ability to analyze data like distance and angles was at an incredibly precise level.

"9 o'clock direction, 3.7 meters away. And Rock Lee is... behind me at 6 o'clock, 6.6 meters away, is it?"

"This distance is no problem." Neji took a deep breath.

He then closed his eyes and began to refine his chakra.

Bursting with chakra was a simple matter, but true control lay in extracting it in precise amounts...

"Rotation!"

Because the chakra used was minimal, the power of the Rotation was reduced to an infinitesimal scale, but the nature transformation of his wind-attribute chakra was enough to carry the paper balls...

After rotating half a circle, they landed precisely on the desks of Rock Lee and Tenten!

To think of a method like this, Neji-kun is getting smarter and smarter! Rock Lee thought to himself, overjoyed.

Time ticked by second by second, and most of the genin managed to obtain the correct answers through their own methods.

"What about the last major question?"

Finally, someone asked, because the rules on the test paper were very clear: the first round of the written test consisted of ten questions, totaling one hundred points.

"The last question?"

Ibiki stood up and chuckled, "Listen well to this last question."

"To answer this final question, you must follow one rule. That is to choose to stay, or to give up..."

"If you stay, once anyone in your team answers incorrectly, the entire team is disqualified, and everyone on the team will remain genin for life! Answer correctly, and you advance. But you can also choose to give up now; if the whole team is disqualified, you can still participate again next year..."

"Nani?"

"What kind of lousy rule is this!"

Someone complained, and Ibiki slammed his hand on the table: "I set the rules! If you can't pass this hurdle, you will never become chunin!"

"Sorry, I'm giving up."

Slowly, people began to leave the room.

"I..."

"I'm giving up too!"

Team after team, Neji watched it all.

He couldn't let this continue. The more people who participated in the second round, the more opportunities Neji would have for real combat. These people were his stepping stones; the more who stayed, the better.

"Wait a minute!"

Neji stood up, and Tenten and Rock Lee were immediately panicked. Could this guy be planning to give up?

The two exchanged a glance, neither wanting Neji to be so lacking in confidence. Tenten, in particular, sighed; in her eyes, a genin of Neji's level shouldn't have come to take the Chunin Exams in the first place!

Who would have thought that after standing up, the corners of Neji's mouth would curl up, his eyes revealing confidence.

"Proctor, this multiple-choice question is the answer to the tenth question, isn't it? Furthermore, this is just a test of our mindset, not an actual rule, because it appeared in the form of a question and wasn't written into the test paper itself."

Neji's tone was calm, yet it drew the attention of the entire room.

"Oh? Why is that?"

Ibiki tilted his head; he had never seen a candidate with enough courage to actively question him.

Neji chuckled: "You are testing everyone's psychological resilience! Using the threat of never becoming a chunin because of one's own incompetence is a provocation meant only to scare away cowards. And by placing the penalty on one's teammates, you are scaring away those with weak mental fortitude."

"In the world of ninjas, comrades are very important. But sometimes, in order to complete a mission, one cannot be misled by the enemy's psychological warfare. That is the true answer to this question, isn't it?"

The entire room fell silent!

Neji's answer suddenly made everything clear to them.

"Has this guy seen the answer key?"

A look of disbelief appeared in the eyes of several proctors.

The answer? I've already read the script in advance!

Ibiki had not expected such a person to appear in the exam hall. Looking closely, this person was unknown, and judging by his eyes, he was from the Hyuga Clan, yet the Hyuga Clan hadn't produced any particularly gifted ninjas in recent years.

However, what concerned Ibiki most was that this guy not only grasped his true intentions but dared to brazenly announce the answer to the world!

You have to understand, normal people would curl up like the others, hoping this exam would eliminate as many rival teams as possible, but this person...

"Remarkable. It is your courage I admire, not your intellect."

Ibiki finally stood up, his gaze toward Neji still filled with disdain and contempt.

"You just spoke of rules, but do you understand the rules of this ninja world?"

Neji did not answer.

Ibiki then removed his hat, revealing dozens of scars of varying sizes across his scalp!

His gaze was terrifying!

"As a ninja, you must sometimes face even more difficult, even more arduous choices."

"Sometimes you must abandon your comrades, or even sacrifice yourself to complete a mission. When that time comes, will you still have this resolve?"

"Your answer is technically correct. Yet you fail to grasp the situation, sharing the answer with your future enemies. The true, cruel reality of the ninja world is that the mission comes first. This 'break the pot' mentality is nothing but the act of a fool!"

"By giving away the answer, you have essentially abandoned the mission!"

Ibiki continued to sneer at Neji: "As a ninja, if you cannot take the path with the highest certainty of success, you will always need the courage to take risks!"

Sure enough, things were developing in an unexpected direction.

But at this moment, the raging fire within Neji's heart was ignited!

He lowered his chin slightly, his eyes becoming even more resolute.

"This is the first written test of the Chunin Exams; it should be testing the courage to accept a mission and the resolve to face it."

"The next stage is combat, which tests the ability to complete the mission."

Neji's words grew increasingly resonant and powerful, his gaze unwavering.

"And you, you keep asking us what to do when we cannot complete a mission. Isn't that being afraid before the battle has even begun?"

At these words, the entire hall was stunned. A mere genin possessed such awareness, while so many other genin in the room were still just hoping to scrape by as chunin to take on higher-paying missions.

Yet Neji was here, engaging in a loud, spirited debate with the chief proctor!

Following this, Neji let out a laugh: "You say that by telling my enemies the answer, I fail to grasp the situation and am taking unnecessary risks? But in my own eyes, this is precisely the path with the highest certainty of success for me!"

At this moment, Neji's gaze actually stunned Ibiki.

He recoiled in shock, stumbling back a step!