The Chunin Ninja Exams.
Hiruzen Sarutobi would die in battle, and Orochimaru, unable to obtain Uchiha Itachi's Sharingan, would settle for his next choice: Sasuke's Sharingan.
Chinatsu: Orochimaru, come at me if you've got the guts! I'll beat you from an eight-headed serpent into a mangy little snake!
Chinatsu used the Body Flicker Technique repeatedly at high speed, but she was still a considerable distance from Konoha. Getting back would take several hours no matter what.
Sasuke, keep your head down and get stronger. Don't get reckless!
Meanwhile, numerous candidates from the other four ninja villages had already gathered in Konoha. Just as in the original story, Gaara ran into Naruto and Sasuke.
This time, however, Gaara didn't pick a fight with them, because he sensed their unusual presence and... the threat they posed!
Gaara lowered his head, excitement spreading across his face. Having yet to receive Naruto's personality-correcting punch, he was still in his deranged phase. Although parts of the plot had already been drastically altered, that personality-correcting punch would probably arrive in another form sometime soon...
The first stage of the Chunin Ninja Exams: the written test!
There were nine extremely difficult questions in total, and hidden among the candidates were two people who knew the correct answers. The candidates had to steal those answers through skillful cheating under the watchful eyes of numerous proctors, testing their reconnaissance abilities as ninja.
After the nine questions, there would be an additional question of even greater difficulty, with no answer available in the exam room. Supposedly, anyone who answered it correctly would pass immediately, while anyone who failed would permanently lose the right to become a Chunin. As a result, most people chose to withdraw from the exam outright.
After all, nobody wanted to face such a terrifying consequence for