"Heiji Hattori, eliminated!"
"Kakarot, eliminated!"
"Dahua Kuchacha, eliminated!"
Amid the repeated announcements of elimination, ninja after ninja was declared out.
In the blink of an eye, fewer than half the examinees remained in the testing hall.
Naruto was still sprawled in the corner, sleeping soundly and smacking his lips from time to time.
Sakura had already finished the entire test paper. As she handed it in, she did not forget to make a face at Ino.
Ino gritted her teeth in frustration, but there was nothing she could do. Who told her she had not scratched out a magical pen?
Morino Ibiki looked at the remaining examinees, and the ease from earlier had vanished from his expression.
There were definitely still people among them who had cheated.
It was just that their methods were comparatively clever, making them impossible to detect right away.
Quite some time passed again.
"Ring!"
With the ringing of the bell, the exam ended.
Morino Ibiki clapped his hands and spoke to the examinees who had not been eliminated.
"Congratulations. You have passed the first exam."
Quite a few people were still surprised, but they understood the meaning a moment later.
So this exam had been meant to eliminate those whose cheating methods were not clever enough!
Everyone left one after another.
Ibiki collected the unfinished test papers one by one.
When he reached Naruto, he lightly knocked on the desk.
But Naruto did not react in the slightest. Ibiki lowered his head, wanting to see what Naruto was doing.
Unexpectedly, Naruto drowsily raised two fingers at that moment and muttered indistinctly.
"Sunflower - Acupoint Sealing Technique!"
"Pfft!"
A muffled sound rang out.
Naruto's fingers went straight into Morino Ibiki's nostrils.
Then Morino Ibiki froze in place in an exceptionally elegant, half-hunched posture.
Naruto curled his fingers twice.
"Hm? What is this feeling?"
He slowly opened his eyes and saw Ibiki's scarred face less than two inches away from his own.
He jumped to his feet in fright.
"Bang!"
As he stood up, his forehead slammed squarely into Ibiki's chin, and Ibiki toppled straight to the ground in that very posture.
"Ah! Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" Naruto clutched his head and fled in a panic, no longer caring about the test paper.
After leaving the testing hall, he saw a black-clad figure in the distance trudging toward him with his head hanging low.
"Ebisu-sensei!" he shouted happily.
To his surprise, the moment Ebisu heard his voice, he shuddered violently and yelled.
"Don't come any closer! I'll scream!"
Naruto licked his lips and scratched his head. "You look so down. What happened?"
Ebisu clenched his fists and roared.
"Isn't it because of you? You robbed me of my money, and now I have no money to buy flowers for the girl I like..."
At that point, he suddenly jolted.
Naruto was showing concern for no reason. This definitely could not be anything good!
He retreated repeatedly. "Stay away from me! Don't come any closer!"
Naruto did not listen and kept walking forward.
Ebisu turned around at once, remembering what had happened in the Hokage Building.
Even now, the memory still terrified him.
"I can't let Naruto get close again. And if I don't look at him, I refuse to believe he can do anything to me."
Ebisu muttered under his breath, then pulled off his headscarf and blindfolded himself with it.
"Naruto, let's see what you can do this time!"
He proudly raised his chin.
In his eyes, Naruto was merely a genin, while he himself was already a Jonin.
Even blindfolded, there was no way Naruto could get close to him.
However, he had overlooked one thing. Naruto loved going to the Scratch-off tickets shop so much—how could he possibly have no trump cards in hand?
"Ebisu-sensei, let me show you the composite ninjutsu I just learned!"
"Composite ninjutsu?" Ebisu froze slightly. He had never heard anyone use that term before.
Then Naruto said in a low voice, "Composite Ninjutsu, Wood Style: Thousand Years of Impalement Technique!"
In an instant, countless wooden stakes descended and trapped Ebisu tightly.
Then another explosive sound came from the ground, and a wooden finger struck dead center into the heart of his chrysanthemum.
Ebisu let out a miserable scream of pain.
Naruto walked over with ill intent, slowly reaching a hand toward the pocket where Ebisu kept his money.
"Naruto, I only have that tiny bit of money left! How can you bring yourself to take it?"
Ebisu cried out in panic.
No one knew whether it was because his chrysanthemum hurt or because his heart ached for his money.
Naruto opened the wallet and looked at the Silver notes crumpled into a ball inside, sighing softly.
"Ebisu-sensei, so you're poor now too."
Tears streamed down Ebisu's face. "You've robbed me three times already! Where am I supposed to get any money?"
However, even after saying that, Naruto had no intention of letting him off.
This time, he simply emptied Ebisu's wallet completely, not even sparing the coins inside.
"No, this little money isn't even enough for me to scratch a round of tickets!"
Just as he was frowning in worry, Konohamaru happened to appear.
"As long as you let me become your disciple, I'll take you to find someone rich. When you come back from the second exam, we'll go rob him!"
Invincible Scratch-off.
After the first Chunin Exam ended, Ino dragged Shikamaru and the other two over to scratch for prizes.
After seeing Sakura obtain a magical pen, her heart felt as if it were being scratched by a cat's claws, unable to settle for a long time.
However, when they had just arrived at the entrance of the Scratch-off tickets shop, they saw a group of Anbu ninja wearing masks and carrying short swords gathered outside.
Among them stood a striking figure dressed in pink.
Ino shuddered. Wasn't that the nasty old man who had stolen her fairy wand last time?
"Shikamaru, I think we should forget it. Let's come back to scratch after he leaves!"
Shikamaru shook his head helplessly. "Women really are troublesome."
Ino smiled apologetically and said to the two beside her, "Don't be mad. I'll treat you to barbecue!"
"Barbecue?"
The moment he heard those words, Choji's tiny slit-like eyes flew open.
"Okay, okay, okay! Barbecue is my favorite! Let's go eat barbecue!"
Shikamaru stared expressionlessly at the two of them and let out a long sigh.
Inside the Scratch-off tickets shop.
As he watched the pink figure stroll in, a strange gleam surfaced in Wu Di's eyes.
"Oh, isn't this Danzo from the Root?"
"I heard you scratched out a god-tier ninjutsu, the Sunflower Manual."
"Have you severed your ties with the Root yet?"
As his words spread, the people outside wore confused expressions.
Danzo alone looked like he wanted to devour someone.
Of course, he knew exactly what Root Wu Di was referring to.
He gritted his teeth and asked.
"Is there a way for me to restore my ties with the Root?"
Wu Di chuckled and pointed at the Scratch-off tickets behind him.
"As long as you're lucky, you'll definitely have a chance to regain your former vigor!"
"A friendly reminder: the more expensive the Scratch-off tickets, the better the items inside!"
Danzo steeled himself, pulled out a stack of Silver notes from his robes, and slapped them onto the counter.
Before you continue