The four genins' walk soon turned into a run through the halls. The building felt like a maze to them; they had never been to every corner of the Ninja Academy, and the last room was still far down the corridor.
Shorai glanced at his watch.
08:50.
Not good...
They made one final turn and spotted a familiar silhouette waiting by the door to their destination.
Their pace slowed, and they approached him with relieved smiles.
The masked shinobi closed his orange book. His single visible eye curved into a smile as he looked at them.
"What a pleasant surprise... you all really came together. Even you, Sakura."
Sasuke frowned slightly. "You doubted Kakashi?"
"A little," Kakashi replied. "For a formal registration... it's a requirement for a three-man squad."
His tone was calm, but his gaze drifted from the three genin to Shorai, and his eye narrowed faintly.
"B-but sensei! Wasn't it supposed to be individual?" Sakura asked, then subconsciously glanced toward the fifth shadow that had been walking with them.
"Don't look at me, Sakura-chan. I'm as surprised as you are to hear that," Shorai said with a shrug.
Sakura blinked. "Wait, sensei... what you told me before, were you actually lying?"
Kakashi averted his gaze.
"Yeah... I was."
He looked back at his team, his expression serious now.
"This was a test for your resolve, Sakura. Naruto and Sasuke would have talked you into it... or more like pressured you into accepting, for their sake."
The two boys gave small nods.
"But that isn't what the Chunin Exams are for. We can't have half-hearted shinobi going through them."
Sakura hesitated. "Then what would have happened if only the two of them came?"
"I would have stopped them," Kakashi said firmly. "And I wouldn't have let them go through these doors."
He paused, then let the seriousness fade.
"That doesn't matter now."
His eye curved into a smile again.
"Sakura. Naruto. Sasuke. I'm glad you came. The three of you being here clears my mind. I'm proud of my team."
The three genin stood there with bright smiles on their faces as Kakashi stepped aside to let them pass.
"Wait a sec..." Naruto and Sakura realized it at the same time and turned back.
"We're almost late, guys. Don't waste any more time. Move out!" Shorai said, gesturing forward with a hand. He patted their backs and gave them a small but firm push, still smiling.
Kakashi nodded, one hand resting on his hip.
"The exam is about to begin. Your questions will have to wait. I wish you all good luck. Make yourselves proud... and make me proud too. That goes for you as well, Shorai."
"Hn!"
"You bet!"
"Thank you, Kakashi-sensei!"
"I won't disappoint. Now... come on, guys, step in. Chip-chop!"
Shorai kept nudging them forward.
As Team 7 moved ahead, Shorai exchanged one last look with the copy ninja. Then, lowering his voice, he said beside him:
"I'm bait... but anything can happen. The Sound ninja are suspicious, but so can some of our own be."
With that final comment, his serious expression softened back into calmness. He turned and entered the exam room right after Sasuke, leaving Kakashi alone with a thought that would not leave him easily.
Thud.
The four of them stood at the end of the classroom as the door closed behind them.
Then, suddenly—
They were met with sharp stares from the gathered crowd of applicants.
"W-wow..."
"What is going on?"
Shorai stepped forward and took his place by Sasuke's right side.
"What already—"
"!"
"Shorai-kun! You're late!"
A young woman with a blond ponytail dashed toward them, barely even glancing at Sasuke, and threw herself straight into the white-haired boy's arms, hugging him tightly.
"Oh!" Shorai let out a breath and blinked, caught completely off guard.
He stared dumbly at the back of Ino's head, feeling her warmth against his chest, and his own heart began to beat a little faster.
Sakura's mouth fell open, stunned by her friend's bold move.
"Ino..." Sakura's voice faded into a murmur as she glanced at Sasuke.
Naruto looked surprised. Public intimacy like this was still new to him.
Sasuke only raised a brow and remained calm, perhaps relieved that it had not happened to him this time.
"I finally get to see you after so long. I missed you, Shorai-kun!" Ino said, tightening her grip.
Shorai was momentarily at a loss. His usual masked arrogance, his bait-like intent, all of it seemed to vanish from his mind for a moment.
"I..." His expression softened, and a thin smile formed on his lips. He gently rubbed her back.
"And I missed you too..."
He paused and subconsciously lifted his gaze, looking over the room.
Everyone was staring at them.
Some with open malice.
Some with jealousy.
His eyes moved across the crowd, briefly stopping on a black-eyed woman in a straw hat, and finally settling on the red-haired boy with the tattooed word "Love" on the side of his face.
"...like a desert misses the rain," Shorai finished.
Hearing his voice, Ino lifted her head. Her clear azure eyes sparkled as she looked directly into his, happiness and a bright blush on her face.
"Hey! Ino, stop that! Leave Shorai-kun alone and behave! Ino-pig!" Sakura barked, her voice sharp with jealousy.
"Oh my... the registration billboard is here already? What an ugly sight," Ino blinked, pretending confusion. "Shorai-kun is with me. You can glare all you want."
Shorai's smile froze.
For a moment, he had no idea how to respond to that, and he simply stared blankly at the bold girl still clinging to him.
Ino finally let go and stuck her tongue out at the seething Sakura, just as Shikamaru and Choji walked in.
Shikamaru gave Naruto a bored look.
"You're taking part in this bothersome exam too?"
"Of course!" Naruto snapped back. "Oh, the trio of idiots is here."
"Stop calling us that!" Shikamaru replied. "Again with this bothersome guy..."
"Oho! Look at that, what a find! Everyone's gathered here!" Kiba said loudly as he approached with Akamaru on his head.
Hinata tried to greet them, but her voice faded into a murmur halfway through the sentence when she caught Naruto's gaze and blushed.
"Good to see that everyone managed to enter the Chunin Exams this early," Shorai said warmly. "Looks like you all trained hard for it."
"We did!" Ino said, striking an uppercut pose. "Asuma-sensei..." But then she remembered something, and her expression dimmed.
Shikamaru groaned, while Choji kept stuffing his mouth with more potato chips.
"Same goes for our team, Shorai!" Kiba said with a boisterous smirk. "We'll pass this exam with ease! You'd better watch out."
"You're as annoying as ever, Kiba!" Naruto barked.
"Speak for yourself, Naruto. But look at us! All nine... ten rookies are here to take the exam!" Kiba corrected himself.
Amid the rising questions and casual greetings, Ino noticed something.
"Shorai-kun..." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Where is your team—"
But before she could finish, their small world was interrupted.
"It'd be better if you kept it down."
A person wearing a Konoha headband approached them.
Shorai's half-smile faded as he stared into the ninja's onyx eyes, then at the familiar ash-grey hair tied back in a ponytail.
The man's warning had been casual, almost friendly, but it was enough to make the rookies finally realize something important.
They were not alone.
And among everyone in the room, they were the youngest.
Shorai kept watching Kabuto carefully. Their gazes locked for a moment, and then his attention was pulled away by a shift in Ino's expression.
"No need to be scared of them," Shorai said quietly, gently patting her shoulder. "Stares and words don't mean anything. Only actions do."
"And who might you be?" Sasuke asked, lifting his head slightly. He clearly did not take the man seriously.
"I'm Kabuto Yakushi," the man answered. "Like you, I'm a genin here for the Chunin Exams."
He paused, then continued.
"I know quite a bit about them. After all, this isn't my first time."
Sakura raised a brow. "Kabuto-san? So this is your second time?"
"No, actually... it's my seventh."
"Pathetic..." Sasuke huffed. "You failed six times? What use are you?"
Kabuto ignored the insult.
"The exam itself is held twice a year," he said calmly. "You can do the math."
Sakura's curiosity deepened. "Your fourth year? Then you must know a lot!"
"Oh, I do know quite a bit," Kabuto replied with a small smile. "Losing doesn't mean I lack information."
His eyes drifted briefly toward Sasuke.
"Shit... so the Chunin Exams are actually this troublesome?" Shikamaru muttered, looking like he had aged ten years in an instant.
Kabuto smiled and reached into his bag.
"Well, be that as it may... I suppose I can give my cute little juniors some information." He pulled out a stack of cards. "With these ninja info cards."
"Cards?" Sakura stepped closer, curious.
"A special kind of mine," Kabuto explained. "I burned information into them and sealed them so they respond only to my chakra. They contain the results of four years of gathering information."
He held the deck lightly in one hand.
"The real purpose of the exam is to measure the power of nations and maintain balance."
"What about individuals?" Sasuke asked, taking a step forward, visibly interested. "Any information on specific ones?"
Kabuto placed his hand on the deck. "Yes. Who's on your mind?"
Sasuke asked, "Then what can you tell me about Lee in the green jumpsuit from Konoha? And Gaara of the Sand Village?"
Kabuto blinked and glanced briefly around the room before focusing on another card.
After a moment of preparation, he made his move.
"Here."
He pointed as the smoke cleared.
A full profile appeared on the card: name, squad, leader, mission count, skills, and abilities.
"Twenty D-rank missions and eleven C-rank missions. Teammates: Tenten and Neji Hyuga. Proficient in taijutsu... other than that, the rest seems rather average. He and his team skipped a year, and this is their first time entering, just like the ten of you."
"Huh? Hyuga..." Naruto muttered, puzzled for a moment, before his expression changed. He stared at the cards with open fascination. "That's amazing!"
"What? I lost to that..." Sasuke murmured, fists tightening. "What about the guy from the Sand Village? Gaara of the Desert?"
Kabuto showed the next card.
"Gaara of the Desert..." His expression shifted slightly, and Shorai noticed it immediately.
Kabuto stared at the card with mild surprise.
"Hmm... most of his record is unknown. Even the number of D-rank missions is unclear, but it seems he has cleared eight C-rank missions and..."
"What is it, Kabuto-san?" Sakura and Naruto asked at the same time, noticing the change in his voice.
"...one B-rank mission," Kabuto said, adjusting his glasses. "For a genin, that's impressive. I can't tell you much more, since he's from another village."
After a short pause, he added, "There is one small detail, though. He returned unharmed from every mission."
"What?"
"That guy..."
"But... but... he's a genin?!"
Shorai's lips curved into an involuntary smile. His heart began to pound faster, not from excitement, but from a deep, instinctive unease.
He glanced toward Gaara.
The red-haired boy was staring back at him with a deep frown.
"What about him?"
"Huh?"
Shorai blinked, pulled out of his thoughts by the question.
Sasuke pointed at him and asked Kabuto.
Kabuto's eyes narrowed slightly. "Sure. Let me check..."
Here we go, Shorai thought.
After a minute, smoke rose from the card.
All three genin teams, along with the spy, stared at the new information with mixed reactions.
There was a title: Special Associate. Beneath it were Shorai's name and appearance. His ability circle was drawn as a thin, sharp five-pointed star, a complete mystery, but one that clearly suggested exceptional skill.
What the hell... Shorai twitched, staring at the measurements. Someone had fun... maybe too much fun.
"W-wait! What?! Shorai-kun...?" Ino blinked in stunned disbelief as she leaned forward to look, tightening her grip on his arm.
The others shared the same shock. How could their classmate, now a genin, have completed an A-rank mission? It was unusual to say the least.
Kabuto's fingers tightened on the card, his usual mask of helpfulness cracking for the first time. He adjusted his glasses and scanned the text again as if searching for a forgery.
"Forty D-ranks," he whispered, his voice cutting through the sudden silence. "And... a single A-rank mission. Completed."
Then he raised his head and locked eyes with the white-haired boy, who stared back with the same calm half-smile.
"Without injuries or dust on my clothes, yes," Shorai added with a smirk.
"What?"
"Kabuto-san, did you make a mistake?"
"I don't believe this!"
"How?"
"When?"
"That's absurd."
"Shorai-kun... you hid this from us."
The small crowd was thrown into confusion by the revelation.
Kabuto blinked, adjusted his glasses again, and looked over the card once more.
"You actually completed an A-rank mission... such an achievement is astonishing," he said slowly. "And yet you're still a genin..."
"Shorai, how did you do that? What kind of mission was it?" Kiba demanded.
"What does 'Special Associate' mean, Shorai?" Shino asked, as the others turned and exchanged curious looks.
"It means I can do a lot of things," Shorai said with a small laugh, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand while the other remained trapped in Ino's grip. "And it means I'm free of the usual three-man squad restrictions."
"Hm..." Sakura and Ino both looked at him suspiciously.
"What are you hiding, Shorai-kun?" Ino asked.
Shorai's eyes drifted to hers. She was clearly fishing for more information, but then her expression shifted, softening into something almost innocent as she tried a different approach.
"I have my specialization," he said with an awkward smile. "Other than that, you can ask Lord Third for more. He-he."
"Huh? Shorai-kun... you're actually keeping secrets from me?" Ino tried again.
"Ino... guys..." Shorai sighed and shook his head. "I won't lie to my friends. Some things are just out of my hands, and I can't explain them."
"Well..." Kabuto cut through the atmosphere, "as abnormal as it is, this is a place for abnormalities."
He took out another card and showed a map of the world, with each village marked upon it.
"Every hidden village sends its most promising and experienced candidates for a Chunin title. Even the smaller and rising ones from recent years. Like the Sound Village..." Kabuto paused, a small smile appearing. "You should understand by now what you're getting yourself into."
The fresh genin looked around the room again, their earlier fairytale ideas about the exam shattered in an instant. Kabuto had opened their eyes to the grim reality of the ninja world, where the inexperienced were thrown in among the seasoned and dangerous.
"Damn..." Shikamaru exhaled. "Now I don't want to participate even more..."
"This is too much..." Ino muttered, still clinging to Shorai's arm.
"Now you understand?" Kabuto smirked. "All the top-tier genin have gathered here. That should tell you enough."
As the group struggled with their emotions, Shorai's attention was drawn to Naruto, who was trembling.
'Please... please... don't be—'
Shorai thought.
"HEY! YOU ALL DON'T SCARE ME AT ALL! REMEMBER MY NAME! UZUMAKI NARUTO WILL NOT LOSE TO ANY OF YOU!" Naruto shouted, pointing at the crowd.
Shorai glanced at his armguards.
'No response... good.'
"There! That felt good," Naruto said, exhaling with a wide, happy smile.
"Why would you provoke them, idiot!" Sakura shouted, stepping forward and smacking him on the head before moving to strangle him.
"Heh." Sasuke let out an amused smirk.
"Well said, Naruto," Shorai said. He turned to Ino and gently brushed her hair. "You've got real potential. This exam is where you prove it — to Sakura, sure, but mostly to yourself."
"Don't let them get inside your head. You've got your team. You're not alone. And if you need me, I'm here."
Then he glanced toward Naruto. "Though right now, he's taking most of the pressure off everyone."
"T-thank you, Shorai-kun... but you're not getting rid of me that easily."
Ino was visibly less tense now. She blinked and stared absentmindedly into his turquoise eyes, a faint redness touching her cheeks. But beneath the blush, something in her gaze had turned uneasy.
Just then, something shifted in the room. Shorai's sharp perception caught a subtle movement between the tables in the crowd, and Kabuto seemed to notice it too.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Three ninjas stepped onto the tables and floor, charging straight toward Kabuto.
He dodged the kunai, but he was not so fortunate against the invisible force of a punch that shattered the lens of his glasses.
"He dodged," Sasuke remarked with a faint smile.
But then Kabuto dropped to his knees and vomited.
"What the...? Why would that happen?" Sasuke asked, confused and a little uneasy.
"Not every attack is visible to the naked eye," Shorai said casually, with a hint of disdain. "Sound ninja... the village name isn't just for show."
"Heh." Zaku turned his head toward Shorai. "At least one of you can understand that."
"Hey! Kabuto-san!" Naruto and Sakura rushed to help him.
"Look at that. What a pathetic sight," Dosu said menacingly. "The one who's been taking this exam for four whole years... you should just retire."
"Add this to your card collection. The three from Hidden Sound are certain Chunin."
Then—
Puff!
"Settle down, degenerates! The exam begins!"
A loud, commanding voice silenced the room. All eyes turned to the front, where a group of Chunin and Jonin stood watching them. At the center was a tall man in a coat, a bandana on his head, and scars across his face, staring gravely at the crowd.
"I'm Morino Ibiki, your proctor for the first test of the Chunin Exams!"
His gaze locked onto the far end of the room.
"You three from the Sound Village," he said sharply. "Are you trying to get disqualified before the exam even starts?"
"I'm terribly sorry..." Dosu said, changing his tone. "I got a little excited. This is my first exam, after all."
"Then let me make this clear," Ibiki said, sweeping his gaze across the room. "No one is allowed to fight unless the examiners give permission. And even then, killing is forbidden."
He paused.
"Anyone who breaks my rules will fail on the spot. Am I clear?"
"A Chunin Exam? What a softy..." Zaku muttered, backing down.
"Now," Ibiki continued, "here is how this will proceed. You will come up, submit your applications, and receive your number tags. They will tell you where to sit. After that, we will hand out the papers for the written test..."
"P-paper... test?!" Naruto shouted, visibly panicking.
"You punk, quiet!" Ibiki snapped. "If you don't like it, the door is right there!"
That was enough to silence the trembling Naruto.
As everyone began registering and taking their seats, Shorai's turn came. He approached Ibiki and noticed Kotetsu smiling beside him.
"Oh, here's the arrogant brat himself..." Kotetsu remarked, making Ibiki look at the white-haired boy with stern curiosity.
"What's my number, sir?" Shorai asked calmly, holding out his application.
"Shorai..." Ibiki stared at the paper, then at the boy, then back at the paper again.
Shorai tilted his head slightly, brows furrowing.
"What an interesting case..." the proctor finally said, sharing the written context with his helpers.
"Oh wow... how lucky... for us," Kotetsu said, his smile deepening.
The next second, Ibiki's smile vanished.
"You are very lucky indeed, peacock. You hit the jackpot!" Kotetsu snickered.
"Sir, am I participating or just standing here?" Shorai asked, still looking at Ibiki, puzzled but ignoring the jab.
Ibiki pointed at the desk beside him with a strange smile. "Here is your assigned seat."
"W-what?" Shorai's calmness broke. His eyes widened. "What's going on?"
"No more questions. Sit down, take the paper, and wait for instructions."
He fell silent and watched the confused boy.
A while later, when everyone was finally seated, the proctor began explaining the rules of the test.
There were ten questions. Everyone started with ten points, and each wrong answer would deduct one point. Reaching zero meant failure.
When another commotion was shut down by the proctor, he turned toward Shorai.
"You're a special case here... Special Associate-san."
Ibiki's voice dropped low, and he let out a dry laugh.
"Unlike the others, you begin with only one point."
His smile turned almost maniacal.
"Shorai-kun..."
"The hell is going on?"
"Who is that brat?"
"So... one mistake will disqualify me," Shorai thought.
"Indeed," Ibiki said, turning back to the class. "And there's something else. Any of you punks who try to cheat or do anything of the sort..." He pointed at the examiners seated along the sides of the room. "If they determine that you're guilty, you will lose two points for each offense."
"The fuck?"
"Why would—"
Worry and curses filled the classroom.
"Keep that in mind. Sooner or later, some of you will be forced to leave without your tests being graded," Ibiki said with a smile at the concerned crowd. "Be careful with your actions. You don't want to make a foolish mistake and end up hurting yourselves, do you? This will show how good a ninja you really are... after all, you're trying to become Chunin. So prove it."
"And one more thing. Your tests are connected to your squad members. If one of the three reaches zero, the other two go with them, and the entire team is disqualified."
The curses grew even louder. The examiners had to shout to calm the room.
Ibiki observed the effect of his words in silence.
"A final question will be added forty-five minutes into the test. You have one hour total."
"BEGIN!"
He announced it loudly.
As everyone began reading the questions, Shorai leaned back casually in his chair and did not even bother turning over his test paper.
Instead, he calmly watched the room, as if waiting for the cheating show to begin.
"Kid, are you waiting to fail? You can tell me and be done with it," Ibiki smirked, standing and looking down at Shorai.
"If that earns me an automatic pass to the second round, I'm all ears." Shorai replied in a bored tone.
"Heh. Not going to happen."
"Then I'll just sit here and wait this one out," Shorai said quietly, directing the words at the proctor.
Time passed slowly.
The forty-five-minute mark was drawing near when Shorai suddenly felt something shift.
"Huh?"
His awareness sharpened, and the world around him changed.
Shades of white, black, and grey surrounded him. He stood on a murky surface that felt neither solid nor liquid, while in the distance a strange swirling mass loomed like a black hole split between light and darkness. At its center, a faint crimson glow pulsed ominously.
'What the hell...?' Shorai muttered, blinking and rubbing his eyes. The scene remained unchanged.
He looked at his hands, then at his body, then focused inward.
'There's something wrong here...'
He felt a foreign chakra presence pressing against his mind.
Without hesitation, he forced his chakra to circulate and touched the Reality Stone. A dark crimson light surged outward, washing away the strange pressure in his mind.
The next moment shook him.
Ino's flickering figure materialized in front of him.
Surprise and concern flickered across her face, and somehow Shorai could feel all of it.
'Oh no... she used her clan's jutsu...' Shorai thought.
'I... did?' Ino blinked in confusion. 'Shorai-kun? Is that you?'
'It's me, Ino.'
'W-where am I? Is this your inner world?'
'I'm as puzzled as you are. But if you used your jutsu and ended up here with me, then that's the only explanation.'
Shorai tightened his mental grip on the stone, dimming its presence so she would not notice it.
'This is the first time I've been somewhere like this,' Ino said, looking around curiously. 'How did you pull me in here? And what is that spinning thing?'
'It's my first time here too,' Shorai said, shaking his head. 'I only became aware of this place a moment ago and tried to check whether I was under a genjutsu. I guess that's how you ended up here.'
'I didn't know something like this could happen...' Ino's concern reached him again. 'Father never told me this could happen...'
'Ino. Your clan's technique is Yin-based. Anything can happen when chakra is driven by strong willpower or other powerful energy. You can never be certain of the outcome. A mental projection into an unknown mind is always risky.'
Shorai turned back to look at her.
Ino's eyes drifted across the strange world as Shorai watched her carefully. The shadowy space, barely lit by the white side of the strange phenomenon, seemed distorted, as though fog were rising and falling from the murky floor.
To their surprise, the fog shifted like turning sludge, tinged with crimson. From that bleak mass, silhouettes began to form and vanish.
'Whaa...?' Ino blinked, looking more and more confused.
Shorai felt uneasy. Worry tightened in his chest.
'Ah!' Ino jumped and moved to Shorai's side.
The fog where she had been standing rose and twisted into something incomprehensible. Shorai's brows furrowed. His mind remained calm and focused, but he could distinctly sense Ino's mental presence, as if something foreign were pressing heavily against his own thoughts.
Here, feelings were exposed. Thoughts were spoken aloud. Intentions were visible to one another. Such honesty — such nakedness of the self — felt too intrusive and uncomfortable for the host.
'What were you trying to do, anyway, Ino?' Shorai broke the silence as they stared at the shifting, revolving matter.
'Ahm... I...'
'Curiosity? About my behavior?'
'Y-yeah... S-sorry...'
Ino looked down at her feet.
'No harm was done. But we both learned something interesting today — how jutsu behaves in mental worlds.' Shorai's eyes narrowed as he watched the center of the swirling mass, where the glow of the embedded Reality Stone remained hidden.
'What is that feeling...?' Ino blinked, startled by something. She looked at Shorai, then her gaze drifted toward the dark center.
Shorai felt a chill run through him. His eyes snapped to her.
'Ino, please. Undo the jutsu.'
But Ino's attention was fixed on that dark spot, as if she had not heard him.
Then the fog around them pulsed outward like a wave. Shorai felt something strange — as if something, or someone, were moving through his mind. As the wave spread, it stirred the sludge-like matter into rising swirls that began to form shapes: whispers, bodies, people, scenes — memories.
Shorai's worry deepened. He shuddered.
'Ino, what are you trying to do?'
'Ino?'
She stared.
'INO!'
'Ah?!' She blinked, looking around the surrounding space.
'What are all these things?' she asked, her gaze darting around. 'Are these your... memories...?'
The revolving sludge moved outward with the wave, changing rapidly like images flashing too quickly to follow, replaying fragments of events.
'Ino. Enough. I won't repeat this again.' Shorai's thought turned commanding, and it pulled her out of whatever state she had fallen into.
At that moment—
Crack!
Something in the revolving scenes seemed to break. A low hum echoed through the dark space.
Ino blinked. She felt it too.
'I... did I do that...?'
'Curious cat.' Shorai sighed, tightening his focus on the stone.
He carefully expanded his consciousness, and his chakra flared. A burst of dark crimson energy, fueled by his will, made Ino's eyes widen. The next second, her presence vanished from his mind.
Only Shorai's faintly glowing body remained standing there.
'She only managed a brief glimpse into my memories... perhaps involuntarily... perhaps because of the Reality Stone.' Shorai stood gravely serious, analyzing the phenomenon.
'I can definitely feel that a small part of something is slipping from my mind... like waking from a dream and trying to remember the last thing you saw.'
'So this is the warning in action!'
He sighed again.
'I'm lucky it doesn't take everything at once. Or maybe it depends on the method?'
He rubbed his chin.
'I wonder how much I lost...'
He looked at the Reality Stone and released his focus, letting its glow fade as the effect was switched off.
In the next moment, the space seemed to rush away from his perception, as if he were being thrown backward.
The sound of voices, the scratching of pencils, and the feeling of his head resting on his arms returned.
Shorai slowly raised his head and surveyed the room.
"You woke just in time." Ibiki glanced down at him before raising his voice and declaring that the time for the final question had arrived.
After Ibiki's words sank in, the room began to crack under the pressure.
One by one, genin stood and gave up.
Shorai leaned back, bored, but his eyes drifted to Ino. She looked tense — guilty, even — and when their gazes met, she quickly looked away.
The silence dragged on until Naruto finally snapped.
"This is MY NINJA WAY!" Naruto shouted. "You don't scare me!"
For a moment, the room went still. Then the pressure broke.
One by one, the genin lowered their hands. No one else quit.
Shorai smirked. "Looks like your little psychological trick just got beaten by a fool."
Ibiki looked across the room, then at his examiners. They nodded in silence.
After a long pause, Ibiki let out a slow breath.
"Everyone still here... passes."
"YOU PASS!"