The written exam began.
Seiryū was completely familiar with the questions on the test paper.
They had come straight from his own hand.
Good grief.
They had not even changed the wording, numbers, or punctuation.
They had copied them over directly.
And they were the harder questions from the later part of the "question booklet," the section that was not included in the compulsory "question booklet" used at the Ninja Academy.
He had not expected them to be used as Chunin Exam questions.
Very good.
Seiryū did not even need to use a single brain cell, the answers were already obvious.
Of course.
They were not difficult for Seiryū because he had made them himself.
But for many others, they were as hard as reaching the heavens.
In this exam hall, the moment ninety percent of the people saw the questions.
Regardless of age or gender.
They all put on expressions of pure pain.
Especially the shinobi from the other villages.
They had never gone through the "question grinding" ordeal, and this was their first time seeing these twisted, trap-filled questions. It was perfectly normal that they could not understand them.
They immediately started scratching their heads, their faces turning pale gray, looking completely broken...
What the hell was this?
Was this really knowledge a Genin should know?
They clearly understood every word and number, but when put together, it looked like a heavenly scripture.
Seiryū looked at their expressions from the corner of his eye and found it strangely amusing.
He really liked seeing other people make those pained expressions.
He secretly thought that if he had some kind of system that collected negative emotions.
This wave alone would probably let him soar.
Seiryū watched with great interest, feeling very entertained. Other people's suffering was his fun.
And precisely because the questions were so difficult.
Quite a few clever people realized something.
This written exam was not testing whether they could answer questions, nor was it testing their own knowledge.
It was testing whether they could cheat without the proctors noticing, in other words, their ability to gather intelligence!
And so.
A lot of capable people had already begun using their own methods to cheat.
They used every trick they had to find the answers from those who knew how to solve the questions.
"There are quite a few people with some skill."
Having already finished all the questions, Seiryū silently observed how the others were cheating.
Some of their cheating methods even made his eyes light up.
Shinobi really did have all kinds of methods.
There were all sorts of them, and Seiryū had his horizons broadened!
But this old man here, at your age you could already retire, so why are you still being a shinobi? Oh, you're probably the 'inside man' providing answers for others to copy, then that's fine.
One particularly old grandpa caught Seiryū's attention.
Even though the old man's right hand trembled as he wrote, he really had answered them.
A reasonable guess.
This should be the 'inside man' providing the answers for cheating.
It was just that.
Old man, had you considered the feelings of the people trying to copy your answers?
You wrote far too slowly, they were already getting impatient waiting!
Could this also be a kind of test, a test of patience?
Sure enough, Duy is scratching his head too. Questions like these are still too hard for him.
Seiryū also saw Duy next to him scratching his head.
His expression looked even more painful than everyone else's, the pen in his hand lifting and falling, lifting and falling.
He looked like he wanted to die.
Seiryū smiled helplessly, then put both hands under the desk and began forming hand seals.
A genjutsu directly fell on Duy.
Because he had informed Duy beforehand.
Duy did not resist either, and allowed himself to be controlled by the genjutsu.
Just like that.
Seiryū used genjutsu to control Duy into answering the questions.
In only a few minutes, the test paper had already been completed.
During that time.
There were also quite a few people whose cheating methods were too obvious and clumsy.
After using up all five chances, they were disqualified by the proctors and left the exam hall with ashen faces.
Several dozen minutes passed.
The first written exam was already over.
Out of the more than forty people in this exam hall, only about twenty passed successfully.
And that did not include the "inside men."
The written exam alone had directly eliminated more than half of them...
The chief examiner, whose name nobody knew, looked at the twenty or so people who had passed and said flatly, "You have passed the written exam stage. The venue for the second stage will be the Forest of Death. It will officially begin at one in the afternoon. Those who are late will lose their qualifications!"
After saying that, he formed a hand seal and vanished in a flash.
Duy walked over and gave Seiryū a thumbs-up. "I really have to thank you for earlier, Seiryū. I have no idea who came up with those questions, they were just too hard."
Those questions were simply far too difficult for him.
Even if someone had been willing to accept him before and form a team with him for the Chunin Exam, he probably would have been eliminated in the written exam stage.
As long as the Chunin Exam was not reformed.
He felt that in this lifetime, he would never be able to pass the written exam by his own ability.
It was just too hard!
Kakashi, who had also walked over, fell silent for a second.
Then he said to Duy, "Uncle Duy, there were ten questions in total. Seven of them came from Seiryū's old 'question booklet,' and the others were also somewhat similar to the questions in Seiryū's 'question booklet."
He was also someone who had seen the first edition of the "question booklet."
He had tried solving all the questions included in it. Although he had not been able to answer all of them at the time.
The memory of them was still very deep.
Among the ten questions on this test paper.
Seven came directly from Seiryū's "question booklet," and the remaining three also bore the shadow of Seiryū's "question booklet"...
Duy froze for a moment, then gave an awkward smile and raised his thumb at Seiryū.
Those questions that looked like heavenly scripture to him.
Had actually been Seiryū's handiwork, that was simply incredible!
Seiryū: "..."
Was that his fault?
Seiryū smiled and said, "Let's go back first. We still have to go to the Forest of Death this afternoon for the second stage. It looks like the second stage will last three days, so we need to prepare some things."
He already knew the full process of the Chunin Exam.
The second stage in the Forest of Death would last three days.
Just like the Chunin Exam the Konoha Twelve took in the original story, it also involved competing for scrolls.
The Heaven Scroll and Earth Scroll formed a pair.
And each team could only hold one type of scroll.
If they wanted a matching pair, they could only take it from another team's hands...
"You won't need three days, and you won't need to prepare anything, because you won't live that long."
A cold voice rang out as Ryosuke walked over step by step.
He ignored Kakashi and Duy.
His gloomy eyes were fixed only on Seiryū, filled with indifference and killing intent...
A cruel, icy smile curled at the corner of his mouth. "You can hide like a rat, but I'll still find you in the end."
When he reached Seiryū's side, Ryosuke paused for a moment.
Then he muttered coldly, "I've waited many years for this day. The shame you brought me back then can only be washed away with your life and your blood..."
After saying that.
He gave Seiryū one last cold glance.
Without waiting for Seiryū to reply, he continued walking forward and left the exam hall.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)