First Examination

At the other end of the crowd, Kabuto Yakushi, wearing round-framed glasses, pushed up his spectacles with a finger.

Behind the lenses, a glint of extreme excitement and curiosity flickered.

On the intelligence scroll in his arms, a new line of text was swiftly recorded and marked with a special symbol as top priority.

[Naruto Uzumaki possesses an unknown mechanical destructive weapon, confirmed capable of directly breaching Gaara's "Absolute Defense."]

"I never expected this."

He muttered under his breath, lightly licking his dry lips.

"Besides Sasuke Uchiha, the perfect vessel, Konoha is hiding such an unexpected surprise."

"It seems Lord Orochimaru is destined for a bountiful harvest this time."

The frozen air was shattered by a series of heavy footsteps.

Examiner Ibiki Morino appeared from the stairwell with a group of stern-faced Chunin.

The crisscrossing scars on his face made the surrounding examinees instinctively part and clear a path.

"What is going on?"

Ibiki's voice was low, carrying the pressure of an interrogation.

"The Chunin Ninja Exams venue is not a place for you to settle private grudges."

Kakashi appeared before Ibiki like a ghost, still speaking in that lazy tone. One hand was tucked into his pocket while the other lifted in greeting.

"Yo, Ibiki. Long time no see. Don't be so serious."

"It's just a little friction between examinees. Young people are hot-blooded. Perfectly normal."

Ibiki's brows drew tightly together. He had received a report that Sunagakure's Jinchūriki showed signs of losing control, so he had come specifically to suppress him and protect Konoha's examinees.

But the scene before him was the complete opposite.

The three from Sunagakure looked worse than the last.

That boy named Gaara instead looked like the one who had been thoroughly frightened. He was lowering his head and reining in his sand.

Meanwhile, the blond boy from Konoha looked perfectly calm, as though the potentially fatal clash from moments ago had merely been a breeze brushing against his face.

Ibiki could not help looking Naruto over a few more times.

Kakashi took the opportunity to pat Ibiki on the shoulder and steer him toward the classroom.

"All right, all right. It's getting late. Let them go in and take the exam."

"If there are any questions, we can talk them over after the exam."

Ibiki gave Kakashi a long look, then swept his gaze across the silent Team 7. In the end, he did not pursue the matter further.

"All examinees, enter the classroom immediately and find your seats!"

Under countless gazes filled with awe, fear, and curiosity, the three members of Team 7 entered the classroom.

Sakura walked last, feeling as though her entire back had gone stiff.

Sasuke sat down without a word, crossing his arms before his chest. He looked cold and aloof, but the tense lines of his shoulders betrayed the unrest in his heart.

When Naruto passed by him and sat in a nearby seat, Sasuke finally could not hold back any longer.

He turned his head and asked in an extremely quiet yet utterly serious voice.

"What was that?"

Naruto was checking whether the desk and chair were sturdy. He did not even raise his head at the question.

"A tool for judging heretics."

That answer was like an icy key, opening a door Sasuke could not understand at all.

Heretics?

Judgment?

Those words did not belong to the world of ninja at all.

An inexplicable irritation and tightness rose in Sasuke's chest. He realized that he understood Naruto less and less.

"Silence!"

Ibiki stepped up to the podium and slammed a stack of test papers onto the desk.

"Now begins the first examination: the written test."

"The exam will last one hour. The rules are simple. There are ten questions in total, worth ten points each. Deductions will be calculated by team. If even one member of a team scores zero, the entire team will be eliminated."

He bared his teeth in a cruel smile.

"Also, if any cheating is discovered during the exam, being caught five times means elimination. Their team will immediately lose its qualification to continue, and they will never be allowed to take the Chunin Ninja Exams again!"

This threat stirred a subdued commotion through the classroom, and the examinees' breathing grew heavier.

Naruto felt no ripples in his heart.

His mind automatically broke Ibiki's words down into a complete logical model.

[Basic psychological screening model: Tests examinees' resistance to pressure, intelligence-gathering ability, and spirit of teamwork through rule-based pressure and intense surveillance.]

[Assessment: The methods are crude and rely too heavily on intimidation, but they possess basic functionality and are quite suitable for young people.]

The test papers were handed out.

Naruto glanced over the questions.

As expected, they involved cryptography, ballistic calculations, and advanced sealing technique theory. Their difficulty far exceeded the knowledge reserves of ordinary Genin.

This was an exam designed to force you to cheat.

Questions like these are indeed far too difficult for Ninja Academy graduates.

He thought calmly.

But for graduates of the Imperial Schola Progenium, they are a little too easy.

He could pass without cheating at all, so he did not rush to start writing.

His gaze slowly moved across the classroom, taking in every corner.

[Examiner A, Aoba Yamashiro, disguised as an examinee, located at seat five in the third row. Breathing steady, heart rate seventy-two, currently observing.]

[Examiner B, Namiashi Raidō, disguised as an examinee, located at seat two in the seventh row. His left hand bears calluses from long-term knife use. His gaze lingered on Sasuke and Neji for more than three seconds.]

[There are a total of eight Chunin-level planted operatives in the examination room, distributed among visual blind spots and advantageous surveillance positions.]

Analysis complete.

Naruto picked up his pen.

He did not answer the questions, which he considered far too basic.

Instead, he rapidly wrote across the blank answer sheet in a code that looked like indecipherable scribbles to outsiders, combining Gothic letters and mechanical symbols.

They were not answers, but a report—and also a habitual exercise in thought.

It was an analysis report on the design flaws and security vulnerabilities of this examination itself.

[First Written Examination Security System Assessment Report]

[Proctor Deployment Analysis: Eight planted operatives, unevenly distributed. The rear-left area contains a 2.7-second surveillance gap, sufficient to complete three high-level intelligence transfer actions. It is recommended that an additional patrol officer be assigned, or that the observation sector of the operative at position C-4 be adjusted.]

[Question Design Flaws: The difficulty gradient is improperly structured, lacking tiered pressure testing of examinees' adaptability and psychological resilience. It is recommended to introduce variables such as "intelligence leaks" or "rule changes" to evaluate the examinees' true ability to adapt.]

[Conclusion: This screening process contains 23 percent redundant procedures and 17 percent potential risk.]

[Optimization Recommendation: Pending.]

After writing the final symbol, Naruto spent five minutes filling in the test answers. Then he set down his pen and quietly closed his eyes to rest.

He made no further unnecessary movements. He simply sat there in silence, like a statue blended into the background.

Second by second, time passed.

Throughout the classroom, all sorts of covert cheating methods began to unfold. Kiba Inuzuka pretended to yawn, letting Akamaru on his head peek at answers; Shino's Kikaichū silently scattered in every direction; Ino Yamanaka had already prepared to use the Mind Body Switch Technique.

Sasuke's Sharingan slowly turned, like the finest camera, precisely capturing the writing movements of an examinee in disguise.

Sakura, meanwhile, was writing furiously with her solid theoretical knowledge, though a thin layer of sweat had already appeared on her forehead.

"Hm?" Naruto noticed an eye formed of sand hovering above the classroom, sneakily staring at him.

Gaara was observing him with fear and curiosity.

Naruto coldly glared in the direction of the Sand Eye, and it swiftly dispersed into sand and fled.

A cruel smile hung on Ibiki's face as he singled out one cheating examinee after another and expelled them along with their teams.

"Number fifty-seven, eliminated!"

"Number twenty-three, eliminated!"

"Number one hundred and one, eliminated!"

Each declaration made the atmosphere in the classroom grow heavier.

Finally, only fifteen minutes remained in the examination.

Ibiki straightened up, his scarred face looking increasingly savage beneath the lights.

"All right. Now, I will announce the tenth question."

Everyone stopped writing and looked at him nervously.

"For the tenth question, you may choose to answer it or not."

"Those who choose not to answer will personally receive zero points, and their team will be eliminated immediately."

"Those who choose to answer, if they get it wrong, will lose their qualification to take the Chunin Ninja Exams forever!"