Konoha Ninja Exam

The ninja graduation exam was a written test concerning the rank of Genin. Everyone who appeared here today, aside from Long Ye, was already a bona fide Genin.

This exam also concerned an extremely important matter: the upcoming Chunin Ninja Exams.

Only those who passed this written test were qualified to participate in the Chunin Ninja Exams.

Becoming a Chunin was practically every Genin present's fondest dream, so everyone took this exam very seriously.

The test papers were handed out.

Long Ye took only one look before clutching his head in distress.

The contents were all about ninjutsu theory, which happened to be his greatest weakness. His mind was completely blank, and he didn't even know what constituted a right or wrong answer.

He looked up at Obito.

The two were fellow sufferers, wearing identical expressions and making identical movements. Obito, however, wanted the chance to take the Chunin Ninja Exams even more badly than he did, so he was burning with even greater anxiety.

Time passed little by little.

Long Ye watched helplessly as less than fifteen minutes remained until the exam ended.

The ninja exam is the first devil side quest I've received. Is this going to be an inauspicious start, ending in failure right away?

More importantly, this determines whether I can become a Konoha Genin. If I fail, joining Konoha will naturally be out of the question. At this rate, won't I be forced to leave Konoha before long? And seeing Rin again will become even more difficult...

At that thought, he subconsciously glanced toward Rin, who was seated diagonally ahead of him.

At that very moment, Rin happened to be secretly looking at him too.

When she saw Long Ye looking over, Rin gave him a meaningful look. Then, while the examiner up front wasn't paying attention, she stealthily brought her right hand to her left side and flicked out a paper ball.

Long Ye's face lit up with joy. After waiting for a long time, he seized an opportunity when the examiner wasn't looking and silently picked it up.

The tiny paper ball was covered in neat, graceful letters, all of them answer choices. At the very end of the note, two characters were written: Obito.

Long Ye understood immediately.

He quickly memorized the answers, lowered his head, and began writing furiously.

Five minutes remained.

After finishing his answers, Long Ye kept looking for an opportunity to throw the paper ball to Obito.

Obito was on the verge of going mad. He kept scratching at his head until broken strands of hair covered his desk.

Just then, Kakashi, seated to his left across an aisle, suddenly stood up, handed in his paper, and left.

"Kakashi, this exam determines whether you qualify to take the Chunin Ninja Exams. Don't you need to check your answers again?" the examiner kindly reminded him.

With both hands in his pockets, Kakashi reached the doorway. He stopped, but without turning his head, he said blandly, "It was too easy. There's no point checking."

With that, he disappeared through the door.

"That bastard!"

Obito was so angry that his legs trembled.

Just then, a paper ball suddenly rolled to his feet.

His body jolted. When he turned and saw Long Ye give him a slight nod, he immediately grinned in excitement.

Obito's hearing reached its peak. As the examiner patrolling the room passed by him, he used both hands and feet to retrieve the paper ball, then began copying like mad.

Five minutes later.

The bell signaling the end of the exam rang.

After the examiner collected the papers and left the examination room, Obito stood up and burst into laughter.

"Good job, Long Ye! Nicely done!"

Obito walked over to Long Ye and gave him a thumbs-up.

"Did you two finish your answers?"

Rin hurried over to ask.

Long Ye let out a sigh of relief and nodded with a smile. Obito needed no explanation; his excited expression said it all.

Rin chuckled.

"That's wonderful. This way, Obito, you've qualified to take the Chunin Ninja Exams, and Long Ye has been promoted to Genin. From now on, he's a member of Konoha, and we'll be lifelong teammates."

Obito was overjoyed. "What? The higher-ups agreed to let Long Ye join our Konoha?"

Not many people knew yet that Long Ye could join Konoha after passing the exam, so Obito was extremely excited by the news.

"That's fantastic! Then we have to celebrate properly tonight. I'm treating you both to dinner." Obito thumped his chest loudly.

Rin seemed to think of something. "We should celebrate. Why don't we invite Kakashi too?"

"What? That annoying guy? Why invite him? If he comes, I'm not paying for him."

Obito was deeply disappointed.

Long Ye felt somewhat awkward.

He was short on money, so nearly every time they ate together, Obito paid. Yet Obito had never complained, always acting as though it were only natural.

Things will get better from now on. Once I become a Konoha Genin, I'll be able to take missions issued by Konoha. Completing missions means earning money, so I shouldn't have to live in such embarrassment anymore.

Long Ye had grown tired of relying on relief payments every month. Now that he had begun to gain power, he no longer needed to survive by watching other people's moods.

That evening.

As expected, Rin brought Kakashi along.

The dinner went exactly as expected. Obito and Kakashi started arguing again, and in the end, only Rin could stop them.

After spending the evening with Kakashi, Long Ye gained a better understanding of him.

Having just gone through his father's suicide, the young Kakashi was living through the darkest period of his life. Aside from mocking and taunting Obito, he displayed almost no other emotion the entire time.

Although Obito had claimed he wouldn't treat Kakashi to dinner, when it was time to pay, the kindhearted Obito still covered the bill for all four of them.

Long Ye could tell that although Obito and Kakashi's personalities clashed, Obito still regarded him as a teammate deep down.

That night, the sky was clear, with sparse stars scattered across it.

In his dim little house, Long Ye lay on his bed, staring wide-eyed into the darkness and tossing restlessly, unable to sleep.

As his friendship with Obito and Rin deepened, he became increasingly unwilling to see how their stories would end.

Rin's tragic death and Obito's descent into darkness both drove him to do everything he could to change what was about to happen.

Without me, everything would proceed according to the established ending. But now that I'm here, I've become the only variable. So I should be the only one capable of stopping all this...

If I want to change things, then ultimately, it still comes down to strength.

Lying on the bed, he raised his right hand in the darkness.

Zzt, zzt...

Blue electricity flickered and coursed across his hand.

"According to the system's introduction, my Heart Meridian Shock fruit ability will be powerful enough to rival Chidori Stream once fully developed. That means its power isn't fixed; it can continue growing."

"The Third Shinobi World War will begin in about a month. During this month, I have to raise its power to the limit. Only then can I save Rin from that crisis."

"Besides that, the most important thing is to advance to a one-star devil as soon as possible. Once I gain the ability to modify the human body, even if I can't obtain the Sharingan Kekkei Genkai for now, I can use other methods to alter my body and keep this body from being so frail..."