A thick cloud of smoke engulfed the area around the blackboard, swallowing the surroundings in a dense gray fog. As the smoke slowly cleared, multiple ninja proctors appeared, standing firmly in front of the assembled Genin.
At the center stood a fearsome-looking man with deep, rugged scars across his face, wearing a black coat—Ibiki Morino.
"Quit whatever you're doing. The Chūnin Exam is about to commence," he announced coldly. "I'm Ibiki Morino, your chief proctor for this first phase."
Ibiki's voice was hard as steel, making all of them freeze just by hearing it.
"And I can guarantee, I'll be your worst nightmare for what I'm about to put you through… you're going to regret ever signing up."
All of them gulped upon hearing this.
The Sound Trio, who had just attacked Kabuto moments earlier, backed off immediately as Ibiki glared at them harshly, leaving the fallen Kabuto alone while they stared at Ibiki.
"Listen up, all of you," Ibiki continued. "Fighting in this room is strictly prohibited. Anyone caught using deadly moves to harm others here will be immediately disqualified, no exceptions."
With that, Ibiki and his team began handing out number tags to each participant, assigning them seats across the room. The Genin shuffled to their spots, each beginning to settle into different seats far away from their teammates.
Once everyone was seated in their designated places, Ibiki, who had been watching from the front, started giving instructions once again.
"Now that you're all settled, I'll explain the rules of this written exam. I won't repeat myself, so pay close attention."
He paused, letting the weight of his words sink in.
"This test has ten questions. Everyone starts with a perfect score of ten points. For every question you get wrong, you lose one point. Simple enough."
Sakura smirked to herself as her gaze flicked toward Naruto, who sat cluelessly near the front.
'Naruto really has bad luck this time. Theoretical exams are always his weakness.'
But before Sakura could bask in her smugness, Ibiki's next words made her stomach drop.
"This is a team-based test," Ibiki said, his eyes sweeping the room. "Your individual scores will be combined with your teammates'. If any of you scores a zero, your entire team fails. That means all three of you are out."
"What?!" both Sasuke and Sakura stiffened in their seats, beads of cold sweat forming on their foreheads.
They had been confident in their own abilities, but the moment you added Naruto into the equation, they both knew they were doomed.
'Naruto, please… just get one question right…' Sakura silently pleaded in her heart, her eyes fixed on Naruto's back.
She clung to the hope that he might manage to answer at least one question correctly. If he could just do that, they had a chance of passing the test.
Sasuke, on the other hand, had already resigned himself to fate.
He'd known Naruto long enough to know that passing this exam was a pipe dream. Honestly, at this point, he wouldn't be surprised if a random stray dog managed to ace the test before Naruto did.
He sighed internally, fully prepared to fail thanks to his teammate's impressive academic record.
Naruto sat stiffly in his seat, sweat beading on his forehead. Even though he had studied hard for the test, Ibiki's words still made afraid him more than he'd expected.
At the front of the room, Ibiki continued explaining the rules, making the Genin even more anxious about the exam.
"You will be given one hour to answer all ten questions. However, the tenth question may only be answered during the final five minutes of the test."
He paused, letting the weight of the rule settle in before continuing.
"If you're caught cheating, two points will be deducted from your score each time. The exam proctors you see stationed around the room will be monitoring you closely.
Get caught more than five times, and you'll be disqualified along with your entire team."
A chill ran through the room. The Genin instinctively looked around, noticing the proctors seated at the ends of each row. They held pens and notebooks, watching with thin smiles that sent shivers down spines.
"Don't think you can fool them with cheap tricks," Ibiki added coldly. "Anyone who gets caught doesn't deserve to be here."
The room fell into an uneasy silence. Then, with a simple gesture of his hand, Ibiki signaled the beginning of the test.
"Let the Chūnin Exams begin."
Test papers were handed out...just one sheet, containing nine printed questions, space for answers, and a blank section clearly labeled: Tenth Question.
As the examinees read the questions, a wave of panic swept through the room. The difficulty was staggering these weren't questions Genin were expected to know. Some froze entirely, unable to even figure out where to begin.
Even those who recognized the material were breaking into cold sweats. It didn't matter if they knew all the answers if their teammates failed to answer anything, the entire team would still be disqualified.
Naruto stared at the paper for a moment… and then let out a quiet sigh of relief.
'Thank god Kakashi-sensei warned me about this ahead of time… otherwise, I'd be screwed.'
The questions were still difficult, but they were within the range he had expected. He could manage them. But as he looked around the room, he noticed the expressions on everyone's faces were really ugly.
He realized he wasn't the only one who thought the test might be too difficult.
'Indeed… this test is way too difficult for Genin. They're not expecting us to know the answers…
They're expecting us to cheat.'
It struck him like lightning.
'This isn't about academics at all. It's a shinobi test. They're judging our ability to gather intel under pressure without getting caught.'
Naruto's throat went dry, sweat trickling down his cheek.
If that was the real test… then he was in serious trouble.
He didn't have any fancy techniques or hidden tools like the others probably did. And with all those sharp-eyed proctors, trying anything obvious would be suicide.
(｡﹒︣︿﹒︣｡)
He stared at the paper, his mouth twitching.
'So what if I don't have any intel-gathering skills? I don't need those… I'm going to do this the unconventional way. I'm gonna cheat… on a test about cheating.'
Thinking this, Naruto confidently chose the nerd path. He already knew all the answers so instead of risking anything, he began scribbling them down without hesitation.
"You can't catch me cheating if I'm not cheating!"
'Oh, so smart of me!' Naruto patted himself on the back for his genius thinking.
He was going to answer every question himself.
'What can they do, huh? I'm gonna be a damn sucker and ace this test!'
Naruto grinned to himself as he finished writing. It only took him fifteen minutes to complete the test, leaving only the final question blank.
Just as he leaned back with a satisfied smile, a soft voice whispered from his side.
"Umm… Naruto-kun, do you need any help? I… I can help if you want…"
Hinata shyly shifted her paper, nudging it slightly toward him.
Naruto turned to her, blinking.
"Hinata… are you feeling okay?" he asked, tilting his head as he noticed how red she had turned.
Then he shook his head, catching on to her intentions.
"I really don't need the answers, Hinata. I don't think cheating is something a ninja like me would do," he said seriously. "But I do appreciate your help. Thanks, Hinata… you really are the best to me."
He said it with such a straight face, Hinata couldn't help but believe every word… even as he casually glanced at her paper to double-check if his answers were right.
Cough! Cough!
He was just making sure. That doesn't count as cheating.
(//∀//)
Hinata's brain simply crashed out after hearing Naruto compliment her. She began muttering to herself incoherently, her face turning a deeper shade of red.
Meanwhile, Naruto turned his attention back to the classroom, casually scanning to see how others were doing.
To be honest, he wasn't disappointed.
He couldn't exactly see anyone cheating, but he could feel something was off like the air itself had changed.
Then… he started noticing the weird stuff.
A floating eyeball drifted through the air, quietly observing answers across the room.
"Whoa…" Naruto thought. 'Whoever cast that, that's actually pretty smart.'
Elsewhere, Akamaru the little ninja dog was barking oddly specific phrases into Kiba's ear.
But then…
He saw something that made his mouth twitch.
Someone was using mirrors. Four of them. Dangling from a lightbulb on the ceiling, perfectly aligned to reflect others' papers.
"…?"
Naruto just stared at it in disbelief.
'How is that not caught yet? I can see it clearly, here's no way the proctors missed that.'
Still, whoever pulled that off definitely had guts.
As Naruto continued scanning the room, a sudden thud made him jump.
A kunai embedded itself into a desk just a few meters away from him. His spine stiffened.
"Number 49 is eliminated for cheating," Ibiki's voice rang out.
"But… but I didn't even—!"
Before the Genin could finish protesting, he was pinned to the floor by a proctor. His teammates were dragged out immediately after.
Chaos began to ripple through the room.
One after another, Genin were exposed and kicked out. The proctors were merciless, whenever someone got caught, they were immediately thrown out of the classroom along with their teammates.
Naruto straightened up instantly, now fully aware of how serious this was.
The exam continued as more desperate Genin tried new tactics some clever, some downright ridiculous all in an attempt to gather information without getting caught.
Ino, on the other hand, had her eyes locked on Sakura.
Sakura had just finished her test, casually setting her pencil down.
Ino smirked.
'This big-forehead girl's gotta have at least some right answers. Let's borrow her answers for a bit.'
She formed the hand signs swiftly.
'Mind Transfer Jutsu.'
In an instant, Ino's consciousness jumped from her own body straight into Sakura's.
Sakura's eyes blinked—then her body froze as Ino took control.
'Let's see what she's got here…'
Looking down at the paper, Ino's smirk widened.
Seven out of nine answers already written.
'Perfect.'
She memorized them quickly, then released the jutsu and snapped back to her own body.
Without wasting a second, she began writing. Within minutes, all her answers were complete too.
'Easiest steal ever.'
Meanwhile, Neji had already activated his Byakugan, calmly scanning the room. With his 360° vision, he could see multiple answer sheets at once. It was effortless. He spotted the correct responses and began copying them down with mechanical precision.
He wasn't the only one pulling off tricks.
All around the room, other Genin had begun using their unique methods—whatever tools, techniques, or pets they could get away with.
Sasuke had his own plan.
Eyes narrowed, he watched the pencil movements of the person in front of him. His Sharingan activated, memorizing the motions with perfect clarity. Smoothly, he began copying the answers onto his own paper, not missing a single stroke.
Everyone was showing their cards now.
And then—tick, tick, tick…
The clock finally reached the last five minutes.
Ibiki raised his eyes, coldly scanning the room.
He already knew most of the tricks being used. He had seen them all before. But he didn't care.
Most of them had already displayed skills that were acceptable for this phase of the exam.
And now came the final test before they could move on to the next phase, the most important one. This would determine whether they truly had what it takes to become real ninja.