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The next afternoon, at 2:55 PM, Naruto, wearing his mask, arrived at the examination hall with his two teammates.
After submitting their application forms, they entered the exam room at 2:57. The test was scheduled to begin at 3:00.
There were no distractions along the way—no genjutsu, no Rock Lee challenging them to fights, nothing of the sort.
If I knew all those things would happen, why would I show up so early? Am I stupid or something?
As long as we make it in time for the exam, that's fine. If not, well, being a Genin isn't so bad anyway.
When they opened the door, the entire room turned to look at the three of them. Even Sakura was stunned by the attention.
Naruto, however, remained unfazed. You can't see who I am anyway.
Seeing that it was them, their fellow rookies quickly gathered around.
Ino approached Sasuke, Choji headed straight for Naruto, and Shikamaru came along as an "extra."
Hinata sought out her beloved, while Kiba came over looking for dog food—and ended up getting double helpings of secondhand embarrassment.
Naruto felt like his head was about to explode. Don't you ninja have any sense of time? It's already 2:58! With only two minutes until the exam starts, shouldn't you all be heading back to your seats? Aren't you afraid the teacher won't hand out the test papers?
And Kabuto… sneaking in behind us like that, did you really think I wouldn't notice?
Seeing Hinata approach, Naruto removed his mask. He never wore it in front of her, no matter how many people were around.
"Naruto-kun."
"Hinata-chan."
Kiba, who had come over to ask for dog food for Akamaru, suddenly felt full just watching them.
"Naruto, you guys are late!" Kiba said, letting out a satisfied burp.
"Naruto, you're so late!" Choji complained, feeling a bit impatient.
He had been waiting for Naruto for ages.
Choji felt that life after graduation was absolutely terrible. He could only eat barbecue once a month now, and even then, it was only because Asuma treated him. Before graduation, he used to eat so much barbecue that he couldn't walk afterward.
Seeing Choji arrive, Naruto immediately took out a bucket, broke off a piece of wood, and placed some grilled meat inside.
Choji swallowed hard, his mouth watering uncontrollably.
Finally, he'd get to eat his fill. As for whether eating in the exam hall was allowed, Choji didn't care. No one could stop an Akimichi from putting food into their mouth.
Naruto then handed raw meat to Kiba to feed Akamaru.
Meanwhile, Ino and Sakura were fighting over Sasuke.
"Naruto, sometimes you need to pay attention to timing. If you want to know why…" Shikamaru started lazily.
"Hey, Shino, you're taking the exam too?" Naruto interrupted, surprised. He had noticed Kabuto but completely missed Shino earlier.
Shino adjusted his glasses and spoke calmly, "Naruto, I also want to pass the Chunin Exam. To…"
Suddenly, a cloud of smoke filled the room, and a deep, commanding voice boomed, "Get back to your seats, you worthless bunch!"
As the smoke cleared, a group of proctors appeared, led by a tall man in a black coat with a hood—Morino Ibiki, the head examiner.
Watching everyone return to their seats, Ibiki sniffed lightly.
Hmm? Is that the smell of barbecue?
Kabuto returned to his seat with a look of regret. [Damn, is it too late?]
Earlier, he had tried several times to interject, but these guys were too busy to even acknowledge him. Only Shikamaru glanced at him with a sigh.
Naruto felt his plan had succeeded. You wanted to sell information to ingratiate yourself? Too bad—you'll be gone soon enough. By the way, do you want intelligence on Orochimaru or Kabuto?
Naruto sat down, with Hinata beside him. For this, he felt like sending Kishimoto some nice offerings during the holidays. What a good guy Kishimoto was.
Ibiki tapped the blackboard and began explaining the rules of the exam.
"The first rule: Everyone starts with ten points, and there are ten questions worth one point each."
"Additionally, this exam uses a deduction system. For every incorrect answer, one point will be deducted."
"The second rule: Your team's score will be based on the total points of all three members."
"If any member is caught cheating or suspected of cheating by the proctors, two points will be deducted per offense. If any member scores zero points, the entire team will be disqualified."
Naruto listened attentively as Ibiki explained the rules. While he might not write anything down himself, listening to others speak was a matter of respect.
After the rules were explained, the person most nervous in the exam hall wasn't Naruto or Sakura—it was Sasuke. He had a bad feeling about this and prayed fervently that the questions would be easy.
"Also, the final question will be given forty-five minutes into the exam. The total exam duration is one hour. Begin."
Ibiki's words gave Sasuke a glimmer of hope, but not much.
Sure enough, as soon as the proctor said "begin," Sasuke saw Naruto glance through the questions and then stop moving—exactly as he had expected.
Naruto was playing chess with Kurama in his mind. He didn't dare space out, fearing he'd accidentally turn to look at Sasuke.
If I don't know, I won't write anything—that's my nindo (ninja way).
Sasuke, meanwhile, was lost in thought. He didn't even feel like copying anymore. He understood Naruto's personality—if he didn't know something, he wouldn't write anything. These questions were beyond him, let alone Naruto, who hadn't brought a book to school since forever.
Sasuke tossed his pen aside, rested his chin on both hands, and stared at the ceiling.
There was nothing he could do. Even if he and Sakura answered all the questions correctly, their team would still lack one person's score, making it almost impossible to pass.
Besides, he didn't care about becoming a Chunin. His goal was Itachi.
As long as he had strength, what difference did it make whether he was a Genin or a Chunin?
Thinking this, he stopped feeling despair.
Next, it was Sakura's turn to despair. After furiously writing down her answers, she exhaled deeply, confident that she had scored full marks. She trusted her theoretical knowledge.
But when she looked at her two teammates—one resting his head on one hand while spacing out, the other resting his chin on both hands while staring blankly—she despaired. What was the point of scoring full marks if her teammates scored zero?
Inner Sakura went berserk.
[You idiots, start moving!]
Ino, seeing that Sakura had finished answering, prepared to use her Mind Transfer Technique to enter Sakura's body and copy her answers.
But the moment her technique activated, Inner Sakura punched her right out of it.
[My teammates already scored zero, and you want to copy my answers? Go fail with them!]
"What… what happened?" Ino stared in disbelief, confused that her technique had failed.
She tried again but still failed!
Ino didn't understand why. The moment she entered Sakura's mind, she was knocked unconscious before she could regain awareness.
With no other choice, Ino decided to target someone else.
Shino tried using his insects to gather answers, but their limited brain capacity meant the answers were inaccurate. He could only slightly raise his head to peek at the person next to him.
A proctor glanced at him, noted his candidate number, and wrote it down after scanning the room. On the proctor's notepad, the number "27" appeared.
Shino was candidate number 56, but 27... was Naruto.
Shino had four questions he didn't know, which he peeked at in four separate instances. After finishing, he glanced at the proctor nearby and found that he hadn't been caught.
He didn't know whether to feel relieved or hopeless.
Meanwhile, on the proctor's notepad, the number "27" appeared four times.
Hinata, after finishing her questions, spent the rest of the time sneaking glances at Naruto, imagining how many people would attend their future wedding.
Forty-five minutes later, the proctor announced the final question. Naruto didn't hear it—not out of disrespect, but because his focus was entirely on the chessboard.
Sasuke was daydreaming, floating among the clouds.
For the tenth question, if any one of the three teammates chose not to take it, the entire team would be disqualified. If they chose to answer but got it wrong, they would remain Genin forever.
Sakura looked at her two teammates again and realized they were still spacing out, meaning they hadn't heard a word of what was said. The decision rested solely on her.
Sakura suddenly felt immense pressure. They were in such a state that they couldn't even choose not to take the question, nor could they answer it.
[What kind of teammates are these?!]
Inner Sakura pounded her head in frustration, feeling like she was about to explode.
Before the exam, she had worried that she would drag the team down. Now, she realized that Naruto and Sasuke were the real ones holding them back—one leg tied to each of them, unable to move forward.
By the time Ibiki announced that everyone remaining in the exam hall had passed, Sakura still hadn't recovered from her shock.
Naruto and Sasuke were startled awake by the sound of shattering glass.
Naruto looked up to see a black cloth with the name of the second examiner written on it: Mitarashi Anko.
Looking at the woman standing in front of the black cloth, Naruto muttered under his breath:
"You again, Mitarashi Sweet Potato!"
Anko then declared that she would eliminate half of the examinees in the next round.
Currently, only 19 teams remained in the exam hall—seven fewer than in the original storyline, thanks to Naruto's absentmindedness.
---
That evening, Ibiki, while collecting the answer sheets, looked at the names on two completely blank papers.
"So this is what Kakashi calls his strong subordinates?"
"If they manage to become Chunin, Kakashi, I'll give you my head to use as a bookshelf."
Ibiki muttered to himself as he continued checking the cheating records. Upon comparing them, he discovered that Naruto's score was negative!