The day of the Chunin Exams arrived. The Ninja Academy, a place they had left behind only a few months ago, was now transformed. It was packed with genin from dozens of villages, their unfamiliar headbands and hostile glares turning the familiar building into a pit of vipers. The air was thick with a tense, competitive energy, a thousand different chakra signatures creating a disorienting hum that Deva had to actively filter.
Team 7 made their way to the designated classroom, only to find a crowd of genin gathered before a door labeled '301'. Two older, tougher-looking shinobi were blocking the way, turning people away.
"You're not ready for this," one of them sneered, shoving a Leaf genin back. "Go back to the playground, brats."
Naruto, never one to back down, bristled. "Oh yeah? Let us through!"
"Naruto, wait," Sasuke said, his eyes narrowed. "This is the second floor. Room 301 should be on the third."
Sakura, who was no longer with them as a shinobi but had come to wish them luck, noticed it too. "He's right. This is a genjutsu, a simple illusion to weed out anyone who isn't observant enough."
Deva's senses confirmed it. He could feel the faint, layered chakra of an illusion hanging in the air. More than that, he could feel the energy of the two guards. It was far too strong and controlled for genin. "They're Chunin," he stated simply, his voice quiet but clear. "It's the first test."
Their observation drew the attention of another team. A boy with a green jumpsuit, thick eyebrows, and a bowl cut appeared before them. "You noticed the illusion! Very youthful!" he declared, his intense gaze locking onto Sasuke. "My name is Rock Lee. You are Sasuke Uchiha. I wish to fight you!"
Before Sasuke could properly respond, Lee moved, a blur of green. He was impossibly fast, his movements pure taijutsu. Sasuke, even with his Sharingan active, was caught off guard, completely outmatched in speed. Before a real fight could break out, their sensei, a larger version of Lee named Might Guy, intervened. The brief, shocking display left a deep impression: there were genin in their own village who were on a completely different level.
Shaking off the strange encounter, they proceeded to the third floor and the real Room 301. As they opened the door, Kakashi was waiting for them.
"I was worried one of you wouldn't show," he said, giving Naruto a pointed look. He looked at the three of them—Naruto, Sasuke, and Deva. "I'm glad you all came. Now... go make me proud." He gave them a final eye-smile and vanished.
The room was massive, packed with the most intimidating genin they had ever seen. There were the Sand Siblings, whose red-haired member, Gaara, radiated a terrifying, unstable energy that made the hair on Deva's arms stand up. There were ninja from the Rain, the Grass, and a trio from the new Village Hidden in the Sound whose chakra felt unsettlingly sinister.
A friendly-looking, silver-haired Leaf ninja with glasses approached them. "Hey, you guys are the new rookies, right? My name is Kabuto Yakushi. This is my seventh time taking this exam, so I've gathered a bit of data."
He produced a stack of "ninja info cards." Sasuke, ever the analyst, immediately asked about Gaara of the Sand and Rock Lee. Kabuto provided the information with a smile. Then, his eyes landed on the quietest member of their team.
"Deva, huh?" Kabuto said, flipping through his cards. "There's almost nothing on you. No clan. Team 7. Completed one B-rank mission, but the details are classified. Your abilities are a complete unknown."
Deva met his gaze, his own senses analyzing Kabuto. The man's chakra felt... strange. It was layered and muddled, like a calm lake with something dark and twisted lurking in the depths. He felt a quiet, instinctual distrust. He logged the man as a potential threat.
Before they could talk more, a massive, scarred man with a bandana appeared at the front of the room in a cloud of smoke. "Alright, you degenerate maggots!" he roared. "I'm Ibiki Morino, your proctor for the first exam! And I'm here to tell you the rules!"
The first exam was a written test. Ten questions. They were seated far apart, with Chunin proctors lining the walls, watching their every move.
"There are a few rules," Ibiki said with a cruel grin. "If you are caught cheating five times, you and your entire team will be disqualified. Permanently."
The test papers were handed out. The questions were impossibly difficult, far beyond what any genin should know. Deva read the first question and understood immediately. This wasn't a test of knowledge. It was a test of information gathering. The goal was to cheat, but to do it with the skill of a shinobi, without getting caught.
A silent, tense battle began. Sasuke activated his Sharingan, subtly copying the pencil movements of a student in front of him. Shino sent his chakra-infused insects to crawl onto another's paper. Kiba had Akamaru whisper the answers. Ino used her Mind Transfer Jutsu to briefly possess another student.
Deva didn't need such elaborate methods. He closed his eyes and expanded his senses. His oversensitivity didn't just feel the amount of chakra, but its quality. He focused on a studious-looking genin a few rows ahead. As the boy thought, his chakra was a messy, uncertain hum. But when he wrote down a correct answer, Deva could sense a flicker of certainty, a subtle, confident vibration. Deva simply listened for the "sound of correctness" and wrote down the corresponding answers. It was a flawless, completely undetectable method of cheating.
He finished in minutes. His eyes then went to Naruto, who was in a full-blown panic, his paper completely blank.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Ibiki called their attention for the tenth and final question.
"For the tenth question, you have a choice," Ibiki announced. "You can choose not to answer it. If you choose not to answer, your entire team will fail, but you can all try again next year. However, if you choose to accept the question and get it wrong... you will be barred from ever taking the Chunin Exams again! You will remain a genin for the rest of your life!"
A wave of fear swept the room. It was a test of nerve, designed to break their will. One by one, teams began to give up, their hands raised in defeat. Naruto was trembling. He looked at Sasuke, who was glaring ahead, and at Deva, who was calm. He couldn't risk their futures on a question he knew he couldn't answer. He slowly began to raise his hand.
But then he stopped. He thought of his dream, of his oath in the Land of Waves. He slammed his hand down on the desk. "DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME!" he yelled, standing up. "I don't quit and I don't run! I'll take the question! And even if I'm stuck as a genin forever, I'll become Hokage anyway! Believe it!"
His outburst was so full of raw, unwavering determination that it shocked the room into silence. No one else quit.
Ibiki watched him for a long moment, a slow, scar-lined smile spreading across his face. "Excellent decision," he said. "For those of you who remained... congratulations. You've all passed the first exam."
As the genin stared in confusion, he explained that the true purpose of the tenth question was to test their resolve. A shinobi who would crumble under pressure was not fit to be a Chunin.
Just as a wave of relief washed over the room, the window shattered. A woman with spiky purple hair and a trench coat appeared, flanked by a massive banner.
"Alright, heads up, boys and girls! There's no time to celebrate!" she announced with a wild grin. "I'm Anko Mitarashi, your proctor for the second exam! And this is where the fun begins!" She looked at the remaining teams, her eyes gleaming. "Seventy-eight of you. I'm gonna cut that number by more than half before I'm done! Follow me to the next location! The Forest of Death!"