The three continued down the corridors and soon reached the marked door: Room 202. Without hesitation, Dazen opened it.
Upon entering, they were greeted by a spacious room. Seated at the front, reclining casually in his chair, was Haruki, the examiner.
He observed them with a faint smile on his lips, as if he had already been expecting them.
For a moment, Haruki assessed them in silence, his eyes passing from one face to the next with care. 'They don't look older than ten… definitely the most talented team in this group.'
"Very well," he said, his serene voice breaking the silence. "You managed to get here in just over twelve minutes… That might be a new record."
He gestured toward a stack of papers on the table.
"Take a test and sit in separate seats. Once you're finished, remain silent in your places. When time's up, I'll collect the tests myself."
The group nodded silently and immediately obeyed. Each of them picked up a test and positioned themselves at desks far apart from one another.
Dazen sat down, adjusted his posture, and began reading the questions. His eyes moved swiftly across the lines.
'The questions aren't very difficult… just as I thought, the real test was the genjutsu. This part is just to complete the protocol.'
He twirled the pencil lightly between his fingers as he reflected.
'I shouldn't take more than twenty minutes to finish this. Hideki and Ayume shouldn't have any trouble scoring at least seventy percent either.'
Time seemed to trickle slowly in that silent room, broken only by the soft sound of pencils scratching against paper.
A little over twenty minutes later, Dazen had finished his test. He looked around and, as expected, no other teams had arrived yet.
His eyes turned to Hideki, still focused, carefully analyzing each question. 'He'll take a bit longer, but he doesn't seem to be having any difficulties.'
Then he looked at Ayume. She was slightly furrowing her brow as she wrote. Dazen gave a small smile. 'She's having a little more trouble… but if she hasn't signaled anything so far, she must be doing well enough to secure 70%.'
Dazen then leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. Now, all he could do was wait.
Fifteen minutes passed, and soon Hideki and Ayume also finished their tests. Like Dazen, they remained silent, waiting calmly.
Then, the three turned their eyes to the door as they heard the handle turning. Another team had just arrived.
The three genin entered the room, their presence immediately drawing attention. The first was a boy with black hair and sharp eyes, wearing a uniform with the Uchiha clan symbol on the back. Beside him, the second boy, with brown hair and a friendly smile, had a slightly stockier build, contrasting with his companion's piercing gaze. He seemed more relaxed, but his smile showed a positive attitude. Lastly, the girl had a slightly wild appearance, wore her hair in a ponytail, and had a small brown dog with soft fur lying on her head, just as alert as she was. The trio appeared to be about 11 or 12 years old.
The Uchiha fixed his gaze directly on Dazen and the other team members, his expression filled with irritation at realizing another team had arrived before his. Dazen noticed the shift in the boy's demeanor and, with a slight smile, reflected to himself: 'Seems most Uchihas have that prideful personality… And the others look like they're from the Akimichi and Inuzuka clans. An interesting combination.' He continued observing them, paying close attention to their movements.
Haruki repeated the instructions, and time began to pass slowly. Teams began arriving one by one, and Dazen counted them mentally. As each team completed the test, a growing silence filled the room, with only a few glances exchanged among the genin.
Dazen maintained his calm demeanor. The Uchiha, on the other hand, still had a scowl on his face. His irritation was becoming more visible by the minute, making no effort to hide his frustration at being outpaced. His teammates, a bit more relaxed, exchanged quick glances but remained discreet.
With just ten minutes left in the test, Dazen noticed the room held only ten teams. He thought to himself: 'Only ten teams, huh... At the start, it seemed there were over forty. Less than 25% made it here. A very low rate…'
Meanwhile, Haruki was also reflecting silently. He wasn't aware of Dazen's thoughts, but his own were quite similar. With a sigh, he thought: 'I knew it would be like this… Apart from the first two teams, the rest aren't anything special. Looks like I set my expectations too high.'
He had seen many Chunin Exams, and though he knew most Konoha teams weren't high-level, he still hoped to find a few more exceptions. 'These kids are far from what I expected…' he thought, as he shuffled the papers on the desk. He didn't care if he was harsh in his evaluations.
With only a few minutes remaining, teams began finishing their tests.
"Five minutes left…" Haruki announced, breaking the silence.
Soon the remaining five minutes ran out, and Haruki calmly got up from his chair to collect the tests.
"Stay in your seats," he said in a firm, serene voice. "I'll announce the results shortly."
He then settled back in his chair and began correcting the tests with a casual air, as if he were flipping through any ordinary book. Dazen watched him closely and quickly concluded: 'He's just pretending. He doesn't really care about the scores… Whoever got here has already passed. He just wants to see how the genin handle anxiety.'
And indeed, Dazen was right. The real requirement was finding the room — a test involving reasoning, teamwork, and resistance to genjutsu. The written test was just a pretense to build tension among inexperienced genin. Still, Haruki enjoyed playing the role of a meticulous executioner, deliberately taking his time with the corrections.
After about fifteen minutes, he finally placed the last paper on the table, leaned back in his chair, and gave a faint smile.
"Very well," he announced, raising his voice slightly. "None of you scored below 70%. That means you've all successfully passed the first phase of the Chunin Exam."
For a moment, silence reigned in the room, but it was soon broken by shouts of relief and celebration.
Dazen simply crossed his arms and smiled with irony: 'Fifteen minutes to correct 30 tests… he's not even trying to pretend.'
The celebration was short-lived. Haruki stood again, his expression turning serious once more.
"Silence!" he said firmly, and the noise stopped almost immediately. "The Chunin Exam is not over yet. I will now explain some details about the next phase."
The tension returned to the room like a cold wave. The celebratory expressions gave way to attentive and worried looks. Dazen, Hideki, and Ayume also focused entirely on Hakuri, waiting for his next words.