This seems very unfair to some "test-takers." After all, they get the questions right, yet their answers are stolen, and they lose points for it—
But in reality, it's not the case. Precisely because they can solve the problems, they possess a richer theoretical foundation and knowledge reserve, so they should have matching strength. In the first exam, this is manifested as the ability for "anti-reconnaissance" and "transmitting false intelligence"... If they don't have this ability, then being eliminated is actually for the best.
First, regarding Ninja selection, Ninjas still rely more on strength; in the end, they must speak through abilities like reconnaissance, anti-reconnaissance, and combat.
Second, from the perspective of resource utilization, a Ninja with a rich theoretical foundation and knowledge reserve is uncommon and is a "genius" in a sense—therefore, such "geniuses" should minimize battlefield losses as much as possible.
Their stage should be in fields like scientific research and medicine, or specialized units like sealing, perception, and barrier teams.
Eliminating them to save these "seedlings" instead of letting these weaklings risk their lives on the second exam's track—
The death of a Ninja with such a rich theoretical foundation and complete knowledge reserve is something that ten combat-proficient Ninjas dying could not compensate for... If they have the ability to pass the first exam, then they naturally have the ability to pass the second exam.
Being skilled in these non-direct combat intelligence methods of reconnaissance and anti-reconnaissance is enough to stay hidden in the background until victory.
Unless... their luck is truly too abysmal! And bad luck is something even the Six Paths Sage couldn't help with... As the mock written exam on paper ended, Inoichi Yamanaka calmed the seriousness and tension in his heart from his immersion.
"This plan... I'll find someone to do an actual simulation tomorrow. See if there's anything else that needs changing. As for the code-breaking, I'll have the Analysis Class come up with one..."
Speaking of the "Analysis Class," Inoichi Yamanaka couldn't help but want to laugh. The very strange question Ino mentioned earlier was taken by him to test his colleagues in the Analysis Class. After everyone struggled for half a day, only two people found the correct answer—the rest were left with nothing but scratching their heads in frustration... At the Nara Clan home, not far from the Yamanaka Clan.
Shikamaru received the strange question Ino came up with from the middleman Nara Shikaku—of course, both he and his father didn't know it was Ino's; they thought it was a problem Inoichi Yamanaka had thought up.
Nara Shikaku said, "Here... this is a question I ran into your Uncle Inoichi with today. During our chat, he brought up this problem. I found it quite interesting. What do you think?"
"This question..."
Shikamaru took twenty minutes to find the answer.
"As expected of my son!"
Nara Shikaku was extremely satisfied... His child's IQ indeed inherited his own and even surpassed it—he seemed to have taken over half an hour. It was mainly because this question was too deceptive—at first glance, it leaves one stunned, and it takes a while to realize what's going on.
The next day... "Ino, Ino... I heard a very interesting question yesterday, let me test you!" Shikamaru told Ino with an exuberant expression... "This is a very special problem. For the first question, which of the following options is the answer to this question: A, B, C, or D... A. A, B. B, C. C, D. D. For the second question, the fifth question's title is..."
"..."
Ino's small hand pressed down on the strings of the Guzheng, silencing the instrument. Looking into Shikamaru's eyes, she replied stiffly with two words:
"I can't."
But in her heart, she was frustrated: "Oh my god... how did this turn into 'export-to-domestic sales'?"
She never dreamed that the question she used to fool her dad would go around in circles and finally end up back in her own hands, even being used by Shikamaru to test her.
Shikamaru didn't believe her at all: "How is that possible? Ino, you can't be lazier than me, can you?" He didn't believe that a problem he could solve, Ino couldn't—he had personally verified Ino's brain; she was definitely in the same tier as him, or even a tiny bit higher... "I can't" was clearly just "laziness."
Ino took a sharp breath... Hiss!
What kind of soul-level accusation is this! Ino glared at him and sneered, "Someone certainly has a good grasp of their own laziness!"
"Well, well... I'm just afraid of trouble. Ino, you have no idea how annoying my mom is, nagging in my ear all day until I have calluses... Since I'll be nagged if I do it and nagged if I don't, why should I do it?"
Hearing this... it felt strangely logical! But then again... "Shikamaru, are you sure your mother isn't nagging you because you're lazy?"
"Ino, my mom nags me so diligently, forcing me to practice the family Secret Technique every day. Don't you have any idea why? Because of whom?"
"I didn't practice the family Secret Technique! I didn't practice any Ninjutsu or anything, right?"
...Shikamaru glanced at her. Keeping the idea that "a gentleman doesn't fight with a lady" in mind, he simply pillowed his head on his hands and lay down.
After a while, he seemed to feel more and more like he was losing out, so he started rambling... "I don't know who learned characters so quickly. Once my mom heard about it, that was it; she forced me to learn. Those characters have so many strokes each; I almost died learning them... It's really too hard for me, it's like living in darkness..."
"And someone even plays the zither every day, I..."
Shikamaru thought of the Shakuhachi tucked away on a high shelf and let out another sigh: Having a friend like Ino, who knows what sins he committed in a past life. He was either being compared or being compared—what could be more tragic than this? Ever since he witnessed Ino's Throwing Techniques and her ethereal movements on the Plum Blossom Poles that day, he now saw the sun before sunrise every day... It's dark—dark to the core.
He wanted to say there is no sun before sunrise, but his mother said the sun was already scorching his buttocks—this "sun before sunrise scorching buttocks" was truly lethal.
Then, after a series of family Secret Technique practices and Taijutsu training, he would be exhausted, and Konoha's breakfast time would finally arrive... Thinking about it brought tears to his eyes... Ino heard Shikamaru's "someone" after "someone" and was too guilty to say a single word in rebuttal: It seemed, probably, she, Princess Ino, had indeed caused some psychological trauma to the child... At least the Shikamaru in the original story was definitely not this miserable.
However, Ino's guilt came quickly and left just as quickly... She thought to herself, "Well, working hard on cultivation is good too. If your strength is more reliable in the future, I can just stand behind you and Choji and cheer for you during missions..."
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