[It's obviously a serious scene, but hearing "Ninja Disqualified," why does it crack me up so hard]
[This show is inherently blessed with legendary memes]
[Is it just me, or do the lines in Ninja's Path always feel like they're full of familiar references?]
[It's not just you. But some of those references actually originated from Ninja's Path—people who haven't watched it are still using the memes]
[Intel-Hanabi is invincible 233]
[Oh right, the intel meme]
In the original series, there'd been a scene where Team 7 clashed with Lee in this same chapter. But Hanabi wasn't Sakura, and Lee had no such feelings toward Hanabi either... nor would he dare. So the original conflict never happened.
Yet the plot still played out—just through a different scenario.
Clearly, after dishing out a beating to Naruto and Sasuke, Neji was in a much better mood.
Once Team Guy left, Naruto and Sasuke—having rested for a bit—finally recovered.
"Damn it, next time I'm definitely gonna take him down!" Naruto was still grumbling.
"Gentle Fist... If your chakra gets sealed, the Sharingan loses its power too..." Sasuke, meanwhile, was analyzing how to counter the Gentle Fist.
And with that, Team 7 arrived at the door to Room 301.
"Yo." Kakashi had been waiting there for a while. When he saw the three approaching, he greeted them.
"Kakashi-sensei!"
Naruto was happy to see Kakashi here.
"Hanabi, you gave those two examiners quite a scare earlier." Kakashi was referring to what happened with Kotetsu and Izumo.
He paused, then said, "Just to be safe, let me ask first—"
"You don't need to ask." Hanabi cut him off.
"Huh? What are you guys talking about?" Naruto was totally lost.
"Those two people—are they the examiners?" Sasuke immediately recalled the pair who had cast a genjutsu back at Room 201.
Then a possibility occurred to him.
"Hey, hey, hey—Hanabi, don't tell me you used genjutsu on the examiners?"
[Sasuke's already learned to blurt out the answer first]
[Wait, so THAT'S why Hanabi went to find those two examiners—she hypnotized them beforehand?!]
[As long as all the examiners are down, I can graduate.JPG]
[I'm guessing it's a triggered genjutsu—set it up in advance, then during the exam she can cheat or throw matches in plain sight]
[Isn't that against the rules?]
[Throwing a match in combat—who's going to be able to tell?]
[What if it's a written exam? Didn't the job descriptions mention written tests before?]
The audience's guesses were things Hanabi had considered.
But...
A "scenario" this obvious to both Sasuke and the audience was, of course, not the route Hanabi intended to take.
"I would never do something like that." Hanabi said. "Actually, I just went to say hello to the two examiners. After all... they've helped me out quite a bit."
"Hold on."
Kakashi broke into a cold sweat.
He couldn't quite pin down what Hanabi's greatest skill was.
But in the eyes of both her teachers—Kakashi and Iruka—the most unfathomable thing about Hanabi was her Transformation Technique.
Everyone else's Transformation Technique was easy to see through. But Hanabi's was nearly impossible to detect by appearance alone.
When Hanabi said "helped me out," she probably didn't mean Kotetsu and Izumo had actually gone out of their way to help. She meant they'd been "helped."
But what would Hanabi impersonate examiners for? Could it be...
No, no, no—there was no way, right?
"Don't tell me Kakashi-sensei suspects Hanabi of cheating?" Naruto felt like his teacher was thinking something very rude.
"Ara, Naruto." Hanabi gave a light smile.
Mm, very friendly attitude.
"If you don't get caught... then it doesn't count as cheating."
[As long as you don't get caught, it's not a crime~]
[Damn, what's the person above trying to do]
[It's just an old anime reference, haven't you seen Nyaruko?]
[I knew the ninja exam wouldn't have anything normal about it]
"Huh?"
Naruto was dumbfounded.
So Hanabi actually cheated?
"What did you do?" Sasuke was confused too.
They hadn't even registered yet—they didn't even know the exam content.
"Knowing Hanabi, she definitely did her research—past Chūnin Exam formats and content, that sort of thing." Kakashi offered an explanation on Hanabi's behalf. "You've probably already figured out what the first test is going to be."
[Damn, so what exactly did Hanabi DO?]
[Kakashi: The pressure is immense!]
[Hanabi's as reliable as ever at giving everyone high blood pressure]
[Naruto drives his own mom's blood pressure up every day, Hanabi drives everyone else's blood pressure up every day, only Sasuke—Sasuke never gives anyone high blood pressure]
[Yeah, every time I see Sasuke, he just feels steady]
[Even when he's being dorky and showing off, it still feels more like a normal person]
[Sasuke is still pretty attention-seeking, but when he wants the spotlight he's also genuinely serious about it 2333]
[Ninja's Path's designated serious person: Sasuke]
[Sasuke: I'm often out of place with you people because I'm too serious]
Can't deny it—as things stood, Sasuke really was the most straight-laced member of Team 7.
"Oh, right."
Just as they were about to head in, Hanabi produced a bamboo scroll case.
It was small—easy to conceal.
"Hey, hey, hey..."
Kakashi tugged at his forehead protector.
The worst, most diabolical possibility he'd imagined had just materialized.
"What is... this?" Sasuke and Naruto were both baffled.
"The first test is a written exam." Hanabi said. "As for the content—you don't need to know, because it was never meant for Genin to answer anyway."
"Wait, you already know all that?!" Naruto was stunned.
Sasuke caught on immediately: "Don't tell me what's inside that is—"
He peeked inside right away.
A rolled-up piece of paper, covered in written questions and answers.
"If you don't get caught, it doesn't count as cheating." Hanabi repeated what she'd said before, then continued: "And if you want to avoid being caught, all you need to do is finish the cheating before anyone can catch you."
The cheating was already done.
"What is this?" Naruto also took a look.
A sheet of paper with questions and their corresponding answers.
"The exam paper."
That's right.
Before all of this, Hanabi had already borrowed the examiners' appearances to go and obtain the exam paper and answer key.
Fancy cheating tricks?
None of that here.
[The real cheating was over before the exam even began]
[Holy crap, I'd sort of guessed it, but I didn't think she'd actually go through with it]
[Fake cheating: smuggling a cheat sheet. Real cheating: stealing the exam paper]
[No wonder Kakashi can't take it—she stole the paper right from under the examiners' noses 2333]
[Ninja stealing intel—makes perfect sense]
[Real-life crossover]
[I hereby declare this the supreme play of all time]
This move scored big—both her follower count and popularity got a boost. Hanabi was very pleased.
And amid one "supreme play" after another, the three of them finally arrived at the door and pushed open the entrance to Room 301.