Theory Exam

The bell rang, and the candidates filed into the examination room.

The first Exam was a Theory Exam.

Asami Ri looked down at the freshly distributed exam paper, his fingertips brushing lightly over its rough surface. His eye twitched involuntarily as he read the questions.

"Question one: if the target is located 15 degrees Upper Diagonal, with a force-three Easterly Wind, calculate the optimal initial angle of deviation for a kunai's trajectory..."

"Question two: a ninja from the Land of Rain is fleeing at 80 km/h, while our Konoha ninja pursues in a straight line at 90 km/h. If their initial distance is 2 km, how long will our ninja need to intercept the target?"

"Question three: state the exact year of Konoha's founding and the exact year Lord Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi took office..."

"Question four: what results from combining three basic Chakra nature transformations?"

Did ordinary ninja really need to know all this?

"Whatever. Time to write."

For Asami Ri, who had received a higher education, these questions were child's play.

Ten minutes later, Asami Ri set down his pen. He had answered every question, but he did not hand in his paper early and leave.

Asami Ri tilted his head slightly. This really was a perfect opportunity to observe the personalities and behavior of these future "big names of the shinobi world" up close.

He rested his chin on one hand, his gaze wandering discreetly around the classroom.

Two aisles away, Obito Uchiha was in dire straits.

He had clawed his already untidy short hair into a bird's nest, and tiny beads of sweat had even appeared on the tip of his nose.

He stared fixedly at the trajectory calculation question, muttering curses only he could hear as his pen scrawled aimlessly over his scratch paper. An air of impending collapse hung over him.

Might Guy, meanwhile, had gone to the opposite extreme.

After attempting to read the first three questions and finding every one incomprehensible, this "genius of hard work" had decisively given up struggling.

Without a trace of anxiety, he calmly folded his arms on the desk, laid his head down, and closed his eyes to rest. He seemed intent on using a deep sleep to store up energy for the next Practical Combat test.

But he seemed to have forgotten that he could not advance to Practical Combat without passing the first Written Exam.

By comparison, the other candidates looked as though they were escaping a fire. Tension covered their faces as they clutched their pens and wrote furiously, trying to squeeze out another point or two within the time limit.

Amid that oppressive silence, the scrape of a wooden stool suddenly rang out.

Kakashi stood up and flipped his paper facedown in one crisp motion.

Without so much as glancing back at Obito, who was still scratching his head, he slipped his hands into his pockets and walked calmly toward the classroom's front door.

The dense scratching of pens briefly stopped. The candidates looked toward the front door with shock, envy, and a sense of their own inadequacy.

Then that pause gave way to even more frantic scratching.

Kakashi's early departure was like an invisible countdown, pulling everyone's already taut nerves tighter.

Asami Ri watched Kakashi's back disappear through the doorway, a flicker of puzzlement in his eyes.

If I remember correctly, hasn't Kakashi been a chunin for ages?

He pondered it silently.

In this Exam, Kakashi seemed more like a specially invited "escort," or someone with special circumstances who had been forced to go through the process again.

Perhaps he was there to complete Team Minato's lineup, or perhaps it reflected some directive from above. Whatever the reason, the presence of the youngest prodigy in Konoha's history felt out of place.

But another small disturbance soon interrupted that thought.

"Tap."

An extremely faint scraping sound came from nearby.

Out of the corner of his eye, Asami Ri caught a tiny ball of paper traveling from Rin Nohara's direction and coming to rest precisely beside Obito's foot.

Obito, who had been on the verge of losing his mind, froze briefly. Then his eyes lit up, and he quickly ducked his head, snatching that lifeline into his palm.

He looked up at Rin, who continued answering her questions as though nothing had happened.

Rather than looking away, Asami Ri turned his attention to the edges of the examination room.

Several Proctors wearing Konoha forehead protectors watched the room from its four corners and elevated positions.

With their powers of observation, Obito and Rin's blatant little maneuver must have been as obvious as ink splashed across white paper.

Yet a Proctor merely swept a cold gaze over them, lingering on Obito for half a second before turning elsewhere as though he had seen nothing.

So that's how it is.

A knowing smile curved Asami Ri's lips.

From the outset, the real purpose of this Written Exam had never been to test those damned trajectory formulas or historical dates.

For ninja, missions they could not complete alone were commonplace. Acquiring Intelligence "illegally" in full view of others was therefore a required skill in its own right.

As long as the method is discreet enough, or this sort of cooperation is tacitly permitted, the process doesn't matter. What matters is whether you can obtain the "Intelligence."

That was what it meant to be a ninja: results came first, and the process did not matter.

Well then, Guy. As your close friend, I ought to lend you a hand too.

Asami Ri straightened his exam paper, rose calmly, and walked toward the front door.

He did not slow down as he passed Might Guy's seat.

Yet the instant his arm swept past the corner of Might Guy's desk, Asami Ri's wrist gave an almost imperceptible twitch.

This was the optimal moment calculated by Celestial Pivot.

Two Proctors happened to be between sweeps of their gaze, creating a blind spot, while Obito's movements had drawn the attention of the others.

A neatly folded slip of paper slid soundlessly into Might Guy's palm.

Might Guy, who had been resting his head on the desk to conserve his energy, suddenly jolted.

Feeling something in his palm, he blinked in confusion at first, wondering if he had imagined it.

Then he quietly lowered his head and peered through his fingers at the white paper folded into a neat square.

In an instant, Might Guy's expression leaped straight from confusion to wild joy.

His large eyes brimmed with glistening tears, as though he had glimpsed dawn amid endless darkness.

Ri... Is this the flame of youth you've lit for me!

Might Guy unleashed a soul-stirring roar in his heart.

He stopped slumping over his desk and abruptly straightened his back, blazing with more fighting spirit than ever before.

Snatching up his pencil, which he had nearly snapped in his grip, he began frantically filling his blank exam paper with the answers from the cheat sheet.

The scratching of the pencil against paper came fast and furious, as though he were swinging Nunchaku on a battlefield.

By then, Asami Ri had reached the examination room's door. Before leaving, he glanced back one last time.

Kurenai Yuhi and Asuma Sarutobi were racking their brains at the other end of the room, while the sight of Might Guy writing furiously struck a particularly comical note amid the oppressive atmosphere.

As for his own two teammates, each distinctive in his own way, Asami Ri was not concerned in the slightest.

One was a Uchiha elite, and the other belonged to the Hyuga main family.

As heirs of Konoha's two most prestigious clans, if they could not pass a test of this level, they would lose more than their own dignity. They would tarnish the reputations of both clans.

Rather than worry, Asami Ri was more interested in finding out what sort of chemical reaction would occur when those two "Powder Kegs" came together in the next team Practical Combat test.