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The street of Akihara Village was bursting with activity. Merchants, common folk, and shinobi were packed along its busy lanes. The walls and stalls were decorated as if for a festival.
*Boom!* *Boom! **Boom!* Multiple small explosions erupted, drawing the crowd's attention toward a giant, coliseum-like building. Despite the blasts, no trace of fear or anxiety appeared on anyone's face as if such detonations were perfectly normal.
And normal they were: these sounds originated from the final round of the Chūnin Exam, held here in Akihara Village. After two intense qualifying rounds, the remaining Genin were now matched in one-on-one fights a spectacle not to be missed. Unfortunately for those on the street, the coliseum was already packed, with no space left for spectators. They could only wait outside until the matches ended and then pester the lucky few for every detail.
Yet they weren't entirely disappointed. The Village Chief had announced that everyone could watch the exam on television a new invention of Akihara Village's Advanced Science Centre. A newly invented "camera" would record the entire Chūnin Exam, and television would broadcast the images live.
Not just the final round, but the first and second as well. Their Hearts pounded with anticipation: villagers had already heard how grueling the early rounds were and the clever tricks the participating Genins had use to overcome them. Now, thanks to this device, they could see those clever maneuvers for themselves.
From what they'd heard, the first stage was called the Written Test of Deception and its five rules were shocking:
1. Cheating was not allowed and if caught it resulted in point deductions.
2. Too many deductions meant elimination.
3. If one team member was disqualified, the whole team failed.
4. The combined score of the entire team had to equal exactly one hundred neither more nor less.
5. Each Genin sat separately at a desk; no one sat with their own team.
If that shocked you then what was even more surprising was that the Genin had never been told these rules outright. They'd only received small clues the day before from passing shinobi, hints most ignored. Only the smartest candidates had pieced the clues together, deduced the rules, and prepared accordingly.
Information gathering was one of the most important jobs of Shinobi line and being good is almost as important as being able to use Jutsu.
So those who took the clue and find out the rules prepared for the exam.
Those who prepared breezed through. The rest, forced to improvise on the spot and used whatever strategy they came up on the spot to pass.
The first to exploit the loopholes was a Senju from Konoha. By using Water Release, he formed tiny droplets on his teammates' question papers, leaving only the questions he wanted them to answer visible. His teammates seeing only blanks where their questions had been had no choice but to give up. The invigilator noticed nothing, since the Senju drew almost no chakra, pulling moisture directly from Akihara's humid air.
Next came the Genin known only as A , a wierd name which the people got to know is the son of Raikage. A sent small lightning shocks to his teammates whenever they tried to write, keeping them from answering a single question while he himself completed every one flawlessly. It was a gamble: one wrong answer or misstep, and all three would be eliminated. Not every answer were easy that's why team work was recommended, fortunately nothing went awry.
The third was a Genin from Akihara Village, who simply warned his teammates in their team's secret code. Akihara village efficient as always.
Fourth was a Nara, who employed his clan's Shadow Possession Jutsu.
A few more passed after him, but their methods weren't as spectacular, so word did not spread.
After that first round where more than sixty percent of Genin participants failed the second round began: a flag-capturing game. Each team received a flag bearing one-third of a riddle; they needed to find two flags to complete the riddle before solving it. But there was a catch: every team's riddle was different, so they had to locate not only two flags but the correct pair.
Originally, the round was tough enough fighting rival teams while piecing together the riddle. Now it grew more brutal: a one-day time limit in a vast, mist-shrouded forest of Akihara village.
This second test truly pushed the Genin to their limits be it their endurance, their critical thinking or their ability to think outbox and adapt. If the first round eliminated sixty percent, the second was merciless: only about ten percent passed. A mere one-tenth. That alone speaks to its severity.
Finally came the third round: one-versus-one battles, a relatively straightforward exam to determine rankings. But even this held a twist: it began immediately after the second round, allowing no rest for survivors.
Thus, the Genin stepped into the arena exhausted, mentally drained, physically spent, chakra-deprived. The examiners reminded them that in real missions, neither enemies nor assignments pause for recovery. No matter their condition, they had to perform at one hundred percent at all times.
With no retort possible, the Genin could only steel themselves, step forward, and give their all.
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