The First Chunin Exam (Part 2)

Hearing Morino Ibiki's announced rules, many of the candidates' expressions changed, revealing that they had been considering cheating. Seeing this, a fierce glint flashed in Morino Ibiki's eyes.

"If you want to advance to Chunin, you must act like an excellent ninja!"

After hearing Morino Ibiki's words, Sakura, sitting in the back row, immediately began to ponder.

"Never mind Naruto; Sasuke and I will have no problems. Even if Naruto scores zero, we can make up for it..."

Sakura was planning for her and Sasuke to carry Naruto, but she hadn't anticipated that Morino Ibiki would immediately douse her hopes with cold water.

"...If any member of a team scores zero, the entire team will be disqualified!"

"What?"

Upon hearing Morino Ibiki's words, all the candidates' expressions changed again. Sakura and Sasuke, who were on Naruto's team, turned especially grim, clearly having lost hope in the "dead last" Naruto.

Ignoring the candidates' thoughts, Morino Ibiki continued.

"Additionally, the final question will be given forty-five minutes after the start of the exam. The total exam time is one hour!"

As he said this, the clock above the exam room showed 3:30 PM, and he shouted.

"Begin!"

With Morino Ibiki's shout, the candidates immediately lowered their heads and began to read the exam papers carefully. However, as they read, over ninety per cent of them frowned.

The questions could have been more straightforward!

"The parabolic curve B in the diagram shows the maximum range of a shuriken thrown by enemy ninja A from a tree seven meters high. Please describe the characteristics of the enemy ninja within the range of this shuriken and the maximum range in a flat battle, and provide the basis..."

Seeing such a question, not to mention others, even Sakura, who excelled in theoretical studies at the academy, couldn't help but frown.

"This question involves assumptions of uncertain conditions and mechanical energy analysis. How could Naruto possibly write this? Not just Naruto, except for me, probably very few people can do this. The other questions are just as difficult. I hope Naruto and Sasuke can stay calm and not cheat!"

While Sakura silently prayed, Sasuke, sitting not far away, had already put down his exam paper, a look of realisation on his face.

"I see... This exam isn't just a knowledge test. It's actually an intelligence-gathering exercise disguised as an exam. The proctor's intention is that we should cheat without using clumsy methods and without getting caught, like excellent ninjas!"

Thinking this, Sasuke looked at the rules on the blackboard again and suddenly felt enlightened.

"If that's the case, then the strange scoring system and the rule of deducting two points for each detected cheat make sense. In simple terms, this exam tests whether we can gather information correctly without being caught by the proctors or the person being copied from. And then there's that person..."

Thinking this, Sasuke looked towards Zhang Miao, his eyes gleaming with determination.

"He said before that if our answers match his, our entire team will pass. But this isn't about luck; it's about our information-gathering ability. As long as I know his answers, our team will pass!"

What Sasuke thought of, many others did too. Among the 130-plus candidates, at least twenty people simultaneously looked towards Zhang Miao.

Sensing the candidates' gazes, Zhang Miao, who had just finished drawing the fourth pig head, smiled.

There are quite a few intelligent people. But gathering information from me won't be easy, hehe!"

Thinking this, Zhang Miao scanned the exam room and noticed that the candidates had started various cheating methods, some sophisticated and some clumsy.

The only disappointment was that when Zhang Miao looked at Naruto, he saw a wide-eyed, pale-faced, and utterly lost Naruto.

He hadn't grasped the key to this exam at all.

Seeing this, Zhang Miao could only sigh helplessly and shake his head.

"Sigh, I even gave special hints. It seems that testing reaction ability shouldn't be left to Naruto. If it comes to it, I'll give him some help."

Thinking this, Zhang Miao continued drawing pig heads on his exam paper.

When he finished drawing the sixth pig head, proctor Kotetsu suddenly acted.

With a flick of his hand, a sharp kunai flew out, piercing the exam paper of one of the candidates with a "thud."

Seeing the kunai in front of him, the candidate stood up in shock.

"What... what does this mean?"

"That's the fifth time you've been caught cheating. You're disqualified!" Kotetsu said, pointing at the candidate. "The other two members of your team, leave the room immediately!"

Hearing this, two more candidates stood up, their faces grim, and left the room.

At this moment, other proctors began calling out the numbers of disqualified ninjas.

"Number 23, disqualified!"

"Numbers 43 and 27, disqualified!"

"Number 59, disqualified..."

As one number after another was called out, many candidates were directly expelled from the exam room. In no time, the room was nearly a third empty.

Of course, some disqualified Genin were not convinced and slammed their desks.

"What proof do you have that I cheated five times? Can you really keep track of every candidate in the room..."

Before he could finish, a proctor with bandages on his head, "thud" slammed him against the wall with his elbow and stared into his eyes.

"Listen up. We proctors are elite Chunin specially selected for this exam. We don't miss a single movement. In other words, our authority is the evidence!"

Seeing this, many candidates who hadn't been called yet were horrified. Even Naruto, who was about to copy Hinata's answers, horrifiedly gave up on the idea.

Of course, not wanting to lose face, Naruto outwardly remained defiant.

"Hinata... you're mistaken. A great ninja like me would never cheat!"

While saying this with a smile, Naruto's heart was filled with regret.

"Pride will be the death of me! What do I do now? I'm such an idiot!"