Seeing everyone looking as though they had seen a ghost, Qifeng's small sense of vanity was somewhat satisfied.
His first experience as an examiner for the Chunin Exams seemed pretty good.
He patted Odasuke's stiff shoulder. "Go back and get some rest. No matter what they say, settle it in the exam hall. Don't waste your breath arguing here."
Then he looked toward the mist ninja, his gaze passing over the man who had just been spouting off before landing on Kisame Hoshigaki.
Kisame Hoshigaki gave Qifeng a deep look without saying a word, then turned and walked deeper into the alley.
The other mist ninja came to their senses as well. They shot the Konoha side vicious glares before indignantly following Kisame Hoshigaki away.
Qifeng promptly defused what could have become an unexpected conflict. Without lingering, he waved behind his back and headed toward his residence.
The Konoha Genin behind him exchanged looks.
In the end, their gazes all settled on Odasuke.
They had thought that Qifeng, who was about their age, was a Genin participating in the Chunin Exams just like them. Who would have thought he would suddenly turn into an examiner?
Noticing their gazes, Odasuke smiled helplessly. "Don't look at me. I don't know what's going on either."
He was probably the most surprised of all.
Looking in the direction Qifeng had left, he simply could not understand how such a huge change had happened all at once.
Qifeng returned to the Morgue.
Somewhat irritated, he removed the headband from his forehead.
This "Inherited Headband" had far more influence than he had expected. Even without it, he would have done the same thing.
But his starting point would have been completely different.
"Forget it. I'll find a chance to pass it on. Obito should be a pretty good choice."
Removing the headband changed the system's evaluation. Qifeng thought it over for a while and decided he should be able to react in time, so it would not be a problem. He put it back on.
He had not used up today's corpse-searching attempts yet.
However, there were not many corpses left in the Morgue.
Over the past week, the families of the various shinobi had come to collect their bodies. Some had been searched by Qifeng, while others had not.
Fortunately, his gains this time had been quite substantial.
Besides the steady increase in his attributes and the Inherited Headband, an upgradable piece of equipment, he had also obtained quite a few ninjutsu.
What concerned him most was a medical ninjutsu called Healing Technique.
Healing Technique was a basic ninjutsu for Medical Ninja. It could heal certain external injuries. While it was not as powerful as the Mystical Palm Technique, it was still decent.
No matter what, Qifeng was a corpse collector and technically belonged to a branch under the Medical Department.
As half a Medical Ninja, how could he not know medical ninjutsu?
He used up his attempts without any fanfare.
The next day.
Qifeng arrived at the examination venue, at the office next door.
The proctors for the first round of the Chunin Exams had gathered here.
"Qifeng's here." Upon seeing him, Nara Chuichi smiled and greeted him first.
"I'm not late, am I?" Qifeng nodded to each of them in greeting.
He was a newcomer, so he still needed to show his seniors enough respect.
This behavior earned him unanimous approval from the seniors in the office.
If nothing else, he had made a good first impression.
Nara Chuichi clapped his hands, signaling everyone to look at him.
Qifeng stood to one side with a hint of restraint, perfectly fitting the image of a newcomer.
"As usual, the first round of the Chunin Exams will be a written test. Cheating is permitted, but limited to five times. Anyone caught exceeding five times will be eliminated without exception."
No one was surprised by this.
The Chunin Exams held in Konoha had always followed this process. Other villages might differ. For example, Kirigakure started straight with combat and slaughter. But Konoha placed greater importance on academic ability, so the tradition would not change.
The shinobi from the various villages who had come to participate in the Chunin Exams had also learned about the test through their respective instructors.
Nara Chuichi looked around at everyone. After a brief pause, he said, "Then this time, Maruyama Qifeng, Yamanaka Akikaze, and Akimichi Chouba, the three of you will remain in the examination hall and oversee the test. The rest will wait outside and escort away any Genin who violate the rules or reach the maximum number of attempts."
"Yes!" everyone answered.
Qifeng was somewhat surprised.
A newcomer like him was overseeing the exam?
He had thought he would just be there to make up the numbers.
What he did not know was that not only him, but Yamanaka Akikaze and Akimichi Choji had also only served as proctors a few times.
The reason they had been selected was merely to put on a show.
Konoha valued academic scores, but that did not mean the other villages did.
If the invigilation was too strict and caused the Genin from other hidden villages to suffer heavy losses, it would give people the impression that Konoha was suppressing them too harshly. And if too few people remained, the later rounds of the exam would not proceed smoothly either.
Thus, having Chunin like them, who lacked much experience, oversee the test was basically deliberate leniency in plain sight.
After giving a simple explanation of their duties, the exam had yet to begin, so everyone simply sat in the office and chatted.
Whenever he had taken exams in his previous life, Qifeng had always been at least a little nervous. He had been especially envious of those calm, unruffled proctors.
He had not expected that he would one day become a proctor too.
There was no pressure at all. If anything, he felt a little pleased at others' misfortune.
Happily, he took out a cigarette, rubbed his fingers together to light it, took a deep drag, and slowly exhaled a ring of smoke.
Comfortable.
But soon, he noticed that the conversation in the office had stopped, and every gaze had fallen on him.
The hand holding his cigarette paused. He gave an awkward smile. "Uh, sorry. Sorry. It's a habit."
Just as he was about to stub it out, Nara Chuichi's hand appeared before him.
He looked up and saw Nara Chuichi's expression saying, "You know what to do."
"...?"
After hesitating slightly, he tentatively took out his cigarette pack and offered one to Nara Chuichi.
The cigarette was quickly "snatched" away.
Qifeng instinctively rubbed his fingers together, igniting a flame at his fingertips and holding it out before him.
Soon, another person in the office was puffing away.
But when it came to offering cigarettes, with so many people present, how could he possibly give one to just a single person?
And then...
Qifeng's cigarette pack was empty.
The office was instantly shrouded in smoke. Anyone unaware of the situation might have thought they had entered some immortal realm.
Watching this, Qifeng was speechless.
He could not help asking, "Mr. Chuichi, you all...?"
Nara Chuichi sat beside him and patted his shoulder with a lonely expression. "Qifeng, you don't understand. You don't understand the helplessness of married men."
To say more would only bring tears.
But Qifeng understood. Realization dawned on him.
So everyone in this office... was henpecked by their wives?
People in the Shinobi World matured early, so they generally married early as well. Only then could they maintain sufficient population despite the Shinobi World's extremely low average lifespan.
"Marriage is a man's grave, Qifeng," Nara Chuichi said with a sigh.
He patted Qifeng's shoulder earnestly.
No, he had heard that the Nara Clan was henpecked, but for the entire office to be like this was a little ridiculous.
He did not believe it.
He would rather believe... that these people were scamming him out of cigarettes.
Although he had no proof.
Looking at the empty cigarette pack, he felt like crying but had no tears.
Still, because of this incident, he had clearly grown much closer to all the examiners in the office.
Before, they had been chatting while Qifeng merely listened.
Now, he could finally join the conversation.
Overall, it was not bad.
Half an hour later.
Nara Chuichi stood up. "The exam is about to begin."
New author, new book. I may not be thorough enough when revising, so if there are any typos, I hope everyone can point them out in time. I'll do my best to correct them! Thank you, everyone!
Before you continue