"The five rules were:
1. The combined scores of the three-person team would determine its final score. If anyone on the team gave up or scored zero, the entire team would be eliminated on the spot;
2. Members of each three-person team would be scattered across different classrooms and supervised by different examiners;
3. The exam had ten questions worth ten points in total. Getting caught cheating cost two points, and losing all ten meant immediate elimination;
4. Each exam paper contained only one question, with a new question issued every ten minutes;
5. Candidates were allowed to use the restroom during the exam, but had to raise their hands and be accompanied by an examiner at all times."
Shikamaru repeated the rules announced at the beginning of the exam, then looked at his father. "Aside from the third and fourth rules, which were there to put us under psychological pressure, rules one, two, and five actually conveyed a message: find a way to raise your total score."
"The first rule said the combined scores of the three-person team would determine its final score. It never explicitly said we'd be ranked by score, but that was essentially what it implied.
"But since elimination had nothing to do with rankings, the rule itself was a trap. I suspect that if too many people passed, the examiners would still use that rule to eliminate another batch...
"That first rule was also what led me to conclude that the purpose of this exam was to eliminate more people."
Shikaku nodded. He hadn't known the exact rules beforehand either, but Shikamaru's assessment was sound.
After all, the original purpose of the first exam was to weed out as many Genin as possible who lacked the strength and might otherwise be innocently dragged into what