Daiki considered himself a genius. He was from the Uchiha clan, the strongest clan in the shinobi world. But he had a fatal weakness: he hated studying. Whenever he sat down in a classroom, he fell asleep. In his opinion, all theoretical knowledge was completely unnecessary.
Now he was in the Chunin Exams, and the first test was exactly the kind of thing that could torture him. He thought he could secretly use his Sharingan to cheat, but the presence of two Hyuga ninjas made that difficult.
He placed the test paper on his desk. "Okay, no problem. I'm a genius. I'll read the questions first and answer the easiest ones."
He started reading, but the words on the paper might as well have been in a foreign language. Question one... blank! Question two... he didn't understand a single thing! His mouth went dry and his mind felt sluggish. "Forget it! Let's move on to the next one!"
With each new question, his frustration grew. He couldn't even make out a single word of the questions. Holding his head in his hands, he groaned, "Why do they even have a written exam?!"
He nervously looked around. Many people had already started writing. There was only one path left: cheating. He slowly turned his head to the person next to him, trying to peek at their paper.
Suddenly, one of the proctors yelled, "Number 121 disqualified! I caught you and your teammates cheating five times! Get out!"
Daiki's body froze for a moment. What does that mean?! This is how I'll fail!
His fear was overcome by anger. "Forget it! To hell with all of them! I'll use it! Sharingan!"
Behind his dark glasses, his eyes began to turn red. But at that exact moment, a voice echoed in his mind: "Zwei! Karin! Can you hear me? I got the answers to the first and second questions! I'll read them to you!"
Daiki was stunned. Fuu's voice was in his head, and it was clear no one else had noticed. He hadn't known about this ability of hers. Fuu began reading the answers, and Daiki started writing as fast as he could.
Before this, he thought this girl, who was just over thirteen, was nothing more than a bubbly person with a minor sensing ability. But now he saw what a huge help she was to him. This gave him more confidence. "Sharingan!"
He then started watching the hands of the person writing in front of him and copied their movements. It wasn't long before nearly half of the participants had been disqualified, but that no longer mattered to Daiki. He was very happy inside.
However, his happiness didn't last long. About forty minutes into the exam, Ibiki Morino, the Chunin Exam proctor, looked at his pocket watch and shouted, "Everyone, put your pens down. I will now announce the tenth question."
"But before the last question, it has a special rule. First, each of you must choose whether you want to receive this question or not. If you decide not to answer question ten, your score will be zero. This means you and your teammates will all fail."
A grin appeared on Ibiki's scary face. A murmur filled the classroom. Why wouldn't we want to receive the tenth question? Everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing.
"Let me finish what I'm saying. Those who choose to answer question ten and get the answer wrong won't just fail; they will also lose the chance to ever take the Chunin Exam again!"
But under the imposing presence of the Chunin Exam proctor, Ibiki Morino, they quickly fell silent and began to wrestle with their decision.
"I give up!"
Soon, one of the candidates closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and raised his hand.
"I also give up. It's not a big deal; I can just try again next time."
"I'm not gambling with my future!"
"..."
With one person leading, the other candidates quickly followed, raising their hands and making excuses. Since one person's failure meant the entire team was harmed, every candidate who gave up caused their three-person team to leave. In a short time, the exam hall, which already had a lot of empty seats, suddenly found even more chairs vacated.
Daiki was stunned for a moment. He was afraid and wanted to raise his hand. He didn't want to remain a Genin forever, but he couldn't raise his hand. His mission was to pass this exam, not any other! He closed his eyes and pressed his hand firmly on the desk.
Suddenly, the sound of a hand slamming down startled him. Sasuke's teammate slammed his hand on the desk and yelled, "Don't underestimate me! I won't run away! I choose this question! Even if I'm a Genin for the rest of my life, I'll still become the Hokage one day!"
His declaration left Daiki with his mouth wide open. The others in the classroom seemed to be affected too, as no one else wanted to get up and announce their surrender. His bold statement immediately made the despair that Ibiki had planted in everyone vanish like a mirage.
Ibiki looked around and finally said, "Good. I see you have good willpower. Therefore, I declare: the first exam is over. Everyone who is still in their seat has passed!"
"Huh?!"
A few people protested, and Ibiki explained the purpose of the exam. The first nine questions were designed to test their ability to gather information, while the tenth question was meant to test a ninja's willpower and mental readiness. As a result, the exam had perfectly selected the right people to pass.
Seeing the Genin nod in understanding, Morino Ibiki smiled with satisfaction.
But right at that moment—
The classroom windows shattered, and a stormy figure suddenly burst in, hanging a large banner on the wall that read "Second Exam"!
"It's too early to celebrate! I am Anko Mitarashi, the proctor for the second exam! The next challenge awaits you! Follow me!"
The target is 100 POWER STONES for the BONUS CHAPTER!