Written Exam and Strategy

The first stage of the assessment was the written exam, the one most easily underestimated.

Precisely because it was easy to underestimate, the Ninja Academy had deliberately given it more weight.

The test did not consist merely of terms and general knowledge to be memorized by rote. The latter half also included basic terrain assessment, pursuit route selection, the order of response when teammates were injured, and priority issues in scroll delivery.

In other words, while testing whether the children could memorize their lessons, it was also testing whether they possessed the most basic ninja instincts.

Before the exam began, the classroom was unusually quiet.

Kiba spun his pen at high speed, clearly impatient; Ino kept lowering her head to review key points; Hinata had arranged her sharpener, eraser, and pencil in perfect order, obviously nervous beyond measure. Sasuke sat in the front row with his back straight, like a blade still sheathed.

The moment Ling received his test paper, he merely glanced over it once and felt at ease.

The first half was not difficult for him.

The truly interesting part was the second half.

"If a three-person squad escorts an intelligence scroll through woodland, one member scouting ahead loses contact, one member in the middle is injured by concealed weapons, and the pursuers behind them have yet to be identified, what should be the highest-priority action?"

Many children would first think, Who should we save?

But Ling thought faster.

Losing contact did not mean death, and an injury in the middle of the formation did not mean they had to retreat immediately. The real key was to first determine the pursuers' position and the importance of the intelligence. If the scroll was more important than the people, they could not blindly turn back; if the squad had already been exposed, they had to erase their tracks first.

His pen moved steadily.

He answered one question after another, barely pausing.

Beside him, Shikamaru had originally been lazily propping up his forehead, but he suddenly grew serious once he reached the second half of the paper. By chance, he caught sight of Ling's answering speed, and a faint trace of surprise flashed through his eyes.

He had thought Ling was the kind of genius who specialized in combat.

But now, it seemed the other boy did not hesitate over these strategy questions either.

What a pain... Shikamaru sighed inwardly.

It would have been fine if this kind of person only had strong fists, but he also happened to know how to use his brain.

Halfway through the exam, someone in the back of the classroom suddenly knocked over an ink bottle out of sheer nervousness, causing a brief commotion. Iruka quickly restored order, but the small incident still disrupted the rhythm of many children.

Ling was unaffected. By the time he finished the last question, the wind outside was stirring the window paper.

He looked up just in time to see Sasuke put down his pen at the same moment.

They exchanged a brief look across several rows of desks. Neither showed any extra expression, yet each saw the same calm in the other's eyes.

This was only the first round.

The real tug-of-war still lay ahead.

The papers were graded quickly that afternoon. The scores were not announced on the spot; Iruka merely selected several representative questions for explanation. When he reached the scroll escort question, he read out several common wrong answers before adding casually, "Only two people in the class gave the most complete answers for both priority assessment and evacuation route."

Whispers immediately spread through the classroom.

Kiba could not help turning around. "Who?"

Iruka's gaze swept across the front row. "Uchiha Ling and Nara Shikamaru."

Shikamaru did not even raise his head, as though being called out was not worth feeling happy about.

Ino instinctively looked toward Ling, unable to hide the surprise in her eyes. She had known before that this guy was not merely good at fighting, but she had not expected him to come out ahead even in an exam focused on thinking like this.

"You really know a little bit of everything without telling anyone." During the lunch break, she set her lunchbox down across from Ling, smiling as she spoke. "That puts a lot of pressure on people."

Ling said blandly, "Pressure belongs to whoever is in first place."

Ino blinked, then burst out laughing. "So you really have your eye on Sasuke."

"It is not about having my eye on him." Ling picked up a bite of food, his tone calm. "I am just moving upward too."

He said it lightly, but Ino fell quiet for half a beat.

Because she could hear that he was not merely talking big. He truly regarded "surpassing first place" as something natural that he would simply do.

After school that afternoon, Shikamaru unusually walked the same way as Ling for a while.

"Why did you judge the importance of the scroll first in that question?" he suddenly asked.

Ling glanced at him. "Because most of the time, missions are worth more than people."

Shikamaru was silent for two seconds before saying softly, "That does not sound like an answer the Ninja Academy would teach."

"But it sounds like an answer the ninja world would use."

The wind swept through the trees beside the road.

Shikamaru suddenly found himself unable to say anything.

This Uchiha could be so cold when he spoke that it made people uncomfortable, but it was precisely that coldness that let him see certain things earlier than others their age.

"No wonder you answered it that way." Shikamaru sighed. "If I ever end up on a team with you, I had better not become the one you abandon."

Ling's steps slowed slightly. After a moment, he said blandly, "If I can still make it in time, I will not let a teammate die for nothing."

Shikamaru turned to look at him. For the first time, he heard something heavier than a promise in those indifferent words.

This person always looked as though he believed only in results.

But when the time came to choose between people, he might not choose the coldest path.

And precisely because of that, he was even harder to see through.