"And did you notice the calluses on his fingers?"
Sasuke emphasized the point.
"Calluses?"
Naruto looked puzzled, turning to glance at Rock Lee's hands. He squinted for a long while but didn't spot anything like what Sasuke was talking about.
"Aren't that guy's hands wrapped in bandages?"
"Look at the few fingers exposed outside the wrappings," Sasuke said. "Even though he's trying to hide them, the calluses and scars on his fingers don't lie."
"So this guy's been training taijutsu day and night. In terms of both strength and effort, he's way ahead of us," Sasuke said through clenched teeth.
"So that means… this Chūnin Exam's gonna be tough, huh? (||๐_๐)" Naruto said.
"Tough is good. That's what makes it a challenge."
Sasuke's lips curled into a confident smile.
...
Elsewhere.
After Lee decisively admitted defeat, another strange figure appeared on the first floor.
Same bowl-cut hair, same green spandex suit as Lee!
It was Might Guy!
Guy pointed at Lee and called out, "Lee! Are you here bullying?!"
Lee turned and, upon seeing it was Guy-sensei, looked like he was on the verge of tears.
"Guy-sensei, I wasn't bullying him! And… you're right, he's way stronger than me. "
Guy tilted his head toward Shinju.
His mild case of face-blindness meant it took him a while to recognize that Shinju was the same boy he and Lee had once seen on the training grounds outside the village — the boy who had used the Eight Gates.
"Yo! We meet again, young man! Seems fate has brought us together! ❛‿˂̵✧"
Guy said warmly, giving Shinju a big thumbs-up.
"You didn't disappoint me at all. You can already open up to the Sixth Gate now, can't you?!"
Lee: (꒪⌓꒪) !!
What?!
That red-haired kid has already mastered the Sixth Gate?!!!
Lee didn't doubt Guy's words for a second. He turned to look at Shinju, standing just a short distance away, utterly stunned.
How old is this guy?!
He only just graduated from the Academy, didn't he?!
How long could he have been training?!
Even if Lee had started practicing the Eight Gates from the day he was born, he wouldn't be anywhere near this fast in progress!
Guy then turned back to Lee, eyes glistening with tears.
"Lee! This reckless challenge of yours has deeply disappointed your teacher!"
Lee immediately declared, "Guy-sensei! I'm willing to accept any punishment!"
Guy nodded. "Yosh! Then run one hundred laps around the Academy training field! Let everyone witness our youth!"
Lee stood at attention. "Yes, Guy-sensei!!"
And with that, thick-browed Lee actually took off running around the field.
Might Guy followed right after him. Just before leaving, he glanced back at Shinju and the others.
"You three must be Kakashi's students, right?"
"That's right," Shinju nodded.
"Your teacher is my eternal rival. Give him my regards! (^з^)-☆"
With that, Might Guy vanished.
Naruto: "What a pair of weirdos. o_O"
"Let's head out too," Neji said to Tenten beside him, a faint smirk on his lips. "This Chūnin Exam is getting more and more interesting."
"Alright."
Tenten nodded, but her gaze lingered on Shinju with a hint of reluctance.
"That boy actually made Guy-sensei pull that kind of face, and his strength is even greater than Lee's. Who do you think is stronger — him or you…?"
Neji didn't give her a direct answer, instead saying,
"If I fought Lee head-on, I definitely wouldn't win as effortlessly as he just did."
Tenten: "So you're saying… you think…"
Neji cut her off. "Come on. We graduated from the Academy a year earlier than they did. We can't let these brats overtake us."
...
Once everyone from Guy's team had left, Sasuke, Shinju, and Naruto also went home to begin their training.
...
Before long, the day of the Chūnin Exam arrived.
According to the exam schedule, the first stage Shinju would face was a written test.
Inside the classroom.
The chief examiner, Morino Ibiki, stood at the podium, his face covered in scars.
His sharp gaze seemed to pierce right through people, carrying a crushing sense of pressure.
Ibiki's eyes swept over all the genin in the room before he spoke.
"This exam is simple. There will be ten questions in total, each worth one point."
"In addition, no low-level cheating will be tolerated during the test. There are more than ten elite chūnin proctors in the room. If you're caught cheating, two points will be deducted each time. If all ten points are deducted, you'll be immediately removed from the exam."
Shinju, quick to notice the wording, picked up on a loophole.
"No low-level cheating…?"
Doesn't that imply you can cheat?
As long as you're subtle enough not to get caught?
Still, Shinju wasn't going to cheat.
Written tests were nothing to him — child's play! ( ' - ' * )
Up on the podium, Ibiki continued.
"One more thing — you will take the exam in teams of three."
"So if even one member of your team scores a zero, your entire team will be disqualified!"
Shinju: --003d͟͟͞͞(꒪ᗜ꒪ ‧̣̥̇)
Sasuke: (≖╻≖;)
Danger! Danger!
If even one of them got a zero, the whole team would be eliminated!
Even though Naruto's ninja knowledge had been trained up by Shinju before, it probably still wouldn't be enough for this test.
The odds of him scoring zero were high.
They had to find a way to help Naruto cheat.
Shinju and Sasuke both wiped the cold sweat from their foreheads, the same thought flashing through their minds.
Meanwhile, Naruto sat there completely oblivious, looking around at the other candidates.
Just then, Hinata, who was sitting next to him, called softly, "Naruto~"
Naruto turned in surprise.
"Oh, Hinata. Why are you sitting next to me?"
He had always had a rather vague impression of her back in the Academy — she had such a low presence in class.
The only thing he remembered was that she never dared to look him in the eye and would blush whenever she saw him…
Behind him, Shinju saw Naruto and Hinata talking and let out a silent sigh of relief.
He had noticed back in the Academy that Hinata had a crush on Naruto.
A very obvious crush — so obvious that she'd blush and panic the moment she saw him.
The whole class had probably noticed… except for this clueless idiot.
Hinata's written test scores back then had even rivaled Shinju's.
With her sitting next to Naruto, Shinju felt much more at ease.
On the other side, Sasuke also breathed a sigh of relief.
Naruto really was the kind of fool who lucked into good fortune.
Up front, Hinata answered Naruto's question in a flustered voice, cheeks red.
"Um… the seating for the exam was arranged randomly…"
"Oh."
Naruto nodded, still puzzled as he studied her.
He just couldn't figure out why this girl would blush whenever she saw him…
On the podium, Morino Ibiki began unsealing the test papers.
"Alright, the exam begins now! You have sixty minutes total. At the forty-five minute mark, the tenth question will be handed out!"
The other proctors began distributing the papers.
Shinju accepted his and, as with every test he'd ever taken, he first skimmed through the entire thing…