Is this the difficulty of the Chunin Exam!

Early the next morning.

Obito and Ruohuo rose early to help their grandmother with chores.

By the time the sun clocked in for work, Grandmother had already prepared rice balls for three.

These rice balls were quite large; a normal adult would be full after eating at most two.

"Big Brother, does the Chunin Exam take many days? Why do you need to bring so many rice balls..."

Obito, who was helping Ruohuo pack, asked in confusion.

"Normally it takes a week, and with the subsequent assessments, it might take ten days."

Ruohuo thought for a moment and replied.

Due to the special circumstances, the scale of Konoha's Chunin Exam this time would be much smaller.

There would certainly be no joint exams; all participants were Konoha Genin.

There was only one day of rest between the second and third stages of the exam; Orochimaru had told him as much before leaving.

"That long... wait, no!" Obito's eyes widened. "Big Brother, the amount you're bringing definitely won't be enough. Take mine too!"

"No need, Obito."

Ruohuo ruffled Obito's spiky hair.

To be safe, Ruohuo did indeed intend to breeze through the exam at lightning speed.

Moreover, to prevent any accidents—such as defeating his opponents but being judged as lacking the strength of a Chunin—he had a plan.

Ruohuo had actually prepared to eliminate all his opponents during the second stage.

If there were no opponents left, he would surely be promoted automatically, right?

The location for the first stage of the exam was a bit remote.

Starting from the Uchiha compound, he basically crossed the entire village to reach the other side of Konoha.

The exam site was a flat building resembling an abandoned factory, backed by a forest, with a makeshift sign erected in front.

[Chunin Exam Site]

I have to say, it really felt like taking the college entrance exam in my past life.

But Ruohuo, who considered himself already guaranteed a pass, certainly had no psychological burden.

Kakashi had passed the exam at six years old.

Itachi had even passed it alone.

With his current strength, he wouldn't be afraid even if those two came at him together.

"The ones guarding the gate are Hyuga... tsk, and they have their Byakugan activated."

"I guess Plan A won't work."

Perhaps because of the war on the front lines, Ruohuo saw quite a few members of the Hyuga clan at the entrance and inside the exam site.

They all had their Byakugan active, scanning back and forth in every direction; perhaps they were preventing spies from infiltrating?

In a sense, the Chunin Exam was indeed the Ninja World's version of the college entrance exam, and given the current special circumstances, it was normal for things to be strict.

"Good thing I didn't choose the Hyuga clan at the start, otherwise I'd never escape the fate of being a security guard."

Ruohuo muttered as he walked into the exam site.

He had originally intended to use the Transformation Technique to disguise himself as Orochimaru.

He could go in, find some excuse to send people away—saying the exam location had changed, or simply announcing that this bunch was disqualified.

Anyway, given Orochimaru's current status, there were really very few people in Konoha who would dare to disobey.

Even if he were discovered, it wouldn't matter; it wouldn't count as a violation...

But with so many "cataracts" staring, Ruohuo decided to forget it.

Regardless, he still had Plan B.

Entering the classroom-like exam hall, the proctor was not yet present. Ruohuo glanced around and found that there were quite a lot of people.

Most were teenagers of eleven or twelve, in the prime of their youth, the current graduating class.

There was also a middle-aged man who looked to be in his thirties, with a bowl cut, thick eyebrows, and huge eyes...

"What the?" Ruohuo's eyelid twitched. Isn't that Might Duy!

Why is this guy here too?

Well, that made sense. As a perpetual Genin who came with a "never give up" buff, repeatedly failing and fighting again should be this man's style.

"Hmm..."

"A talent like this might just become a loyal partner to my Uchiha clan."

"Perhaps Plan B can be adjusted."

Ruohuo found a seat at random and sat down, beginning to calculate in his mind.

Plan B: Seize the exit during the second stage of the exam and eliminate all other examinees.

Might Duy would certainly resist, and that guy was definitely no match for his genjutsu.

After all, Might Duy did not have a "rival for life" who possessed the Sharingan.

However, the Eight Inner Gates and the various Steel Fist Taijutsu techniques that guy possessed were still of great value.

Once he became the clan head, he could easily popularize this method of training within the Uchiha Clan.

It would allow those Uchiha clansmen with insufficient talent to possess a certain level of combat power as well.

The Uchiha are truly fortunate to have a clan head like me in the future, Ruohuo thought.

The proctor was late to appear.

The examinees gradually lost their restraint.

Since they were all ninjas from Konoha, many of them knew each other and began whispering, causing the exam hall to grow noisy.

"Hey, Uchiha."

A young ninja approached Ruohuo. "Why are you sitting here all by yourself? Where are your teammates?"

"I don't need teammates," Ruohuo replied coolly.

The young ninja's expression immediately turned strange.

"Hey, hey, hey... I thought you were just the type who didn't grow, but listening to your voice... how old are you?"

Ruohuo glanced at him, carrying out the Uchiha Clan's aloofness to the end.

"None of your damn business."

"You brat..." The young ninja was about to flare up when, suddenly, a burly proctor walked in.

"Quiet, all of you!"

The proctor's voice was rough, the type that could scare children into tears.

The entire exam hall fell silent at once.

The burly proctor scanned the room with a fierce gaze, lingering on Ruohuo for two extra seconds, seemingly surprised by the presence of such a young examinee.

"Distributing the test papers now. You have ten minutes for the exam, starting from this moment!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire hall erupted in exclamations.

"Ten minutes!?"

"It must be a speed-test, right?"

"Damn it, why is it different from last year?"

Some even sought advice from Might Duy. "Dai-san, you've taken this exam so many times, do you have any similar experience?"

"I..." Might Duy scratched his head. "Sorry, I've basically been eliminated in the first round every time, so..."

"Tch."

Ruohuo was sitting near the front and was the first to receive his paper.

The content of the paper surprised him.

Aside from the fields for personal information, the entire sheet was completely blank!

The other examinees quickly discovered this as well.

"There are no questions!? How are we supposed to write this!"

"Damn it, is this the difficulty of the Chunin exam!"

"Could the questions have already appeared somewhere I overlooked?"

"I get it, this must be a genjutsu. Release! Hmm? Release again!"

Watching the examinees descend into chaos, the proctor finally curled his lips into a cruel arc.

"The moment you stepped into this exam hall, the test had already begun."

"The content of this exam is to test your intelligence-gathering capabilities!"

"Limited to this exam hall, including myself, write down every piece of information you can gather—names, blood types, specialty ninjutsu, everything—onto your papers!"

"Your profiles are in the proctors' hands. One point for every correct piece of information, minus one for every error! Only teams with a total score exceeding 20 points will be eligible for the next stage of the exam!"

After explaining the rules, the proctor paused deliberately, checked his watch, and grinned.

"Now, you only have eight minutes left..."