Chapter 124: First Stage of Chunin Exams

Although the ninjas from various villages participating in the Chūnin Exams had already arrived one after another in Konohagakure,

a whole day passed quietly without any trouble stirring in the village.

Night fell as the moon rose and the sun set.

In Naruto and Sasuke's room, a swirling vortex like a dark red black hole suddenly appeared.

At this hour, there was no way the two little ones would be asleep; they were definitely undergoing extra training.

Under the guidance of a Wooden clone of a Six Paths–level ninja, it was practically impossible for their strength not to skyrocket.

Seeing that familiar spatial portal, both Naruto and Sasuke got excited.

When Senshi and Karin appeared, Naruto ran over immediately.

"Teacher Senshi, Karin!"

Hearing this, Karin corrected him: "Naruto, I'm not 'Karin!' You and Sasuke should be calling me 'Karin-nee!'"

Naruto nodded seriously: "Got it, Karin! I'll remember that, Karin!"

Karin: "(O_O)???"

Is this kid really that dense?

Or is he doing it on purpose?

While Karin was thinking about that, Senshi, following local custom, patted Naruto and Sasuke on the head one by one.

"You've both worked very hard lately and finished plenty of missions. You can receive a reward from me."

Once Senshi said that, Naruto and Sasuke were overjoyed!

Naruto went to a nearby bookshelf, took out a notebook, and shouted, "Teacher Senshi, during my missions, I earned a total of 20,460,000 ryō!"

Sasuke likewise flipped open his own mission record notebook and said, "Teacher Senshi, during my missions, I earned a total of 20,470,000 ryō!"

Both little ones were members of Senshi's mercenary group, and whenever they reached twenty million ryō, Senshi would earn 50% of that as "employment points."

Those points were enough for Senshi to do twenty lucky draws. From the resulting twenty items, he would pick two—one for Naruto and one for Sasuke.

Without delay, he did two sets of ten draws each.

Senshi decided: the first item drawn would go to Naruto, and the second would go to Sasuke.

Of course, if these two items—or even all twenty—didn't suit either Naruto or Sasuke, he could select more suitable items from his system inventory as their rewards.

[Begin drawing! Deducting 20,000 employment points! Drawing 20 times! Remaining points: 478,000!]

[Congratulations on obtaining:]

[Passive Ability Disc: "Steadfast" x1!]

[Tri-Color Dango x1!]

[Ichiraku Ramen x1!]

[Sake x1!]

["Wood Fish" Rice Ball x1!]

[Senzu Bean x1!]

…

[Bloodline Limit: Three Tomoe Sharingan x1!]

Senshi: (O_o)???

He was astonished by these draws.

Did Sasuke come here from the Kumogakure? How could his luck be so bad!

At least Naruto had drawn a trait-learning disc—Sasuke had gotten nothing but a skewer of tri-color dango.

Fortunately, there was a "guaranteed safety" mechanism: if the items drawn were useless, he could exchange them for something good.

Otherwise, it would've been a total joke!

He handed the trait disc to Naruto and told him, "This is your prize from Teacher."

Then, if he were to just hand the tri-color dango to Sasuke and say, "This is the reward you earned from grinding away at missions for half a year," that would absolutely send Sasuke's personality spiraling off in a new direction—at least a few steps sooner than Itachi's plan.

Still, Senshi actually came out ahead from the twenty draws.

After giving it a bit of thought, Senshi took out the "Steadfast" trait disc and gave it to Naruto. Then he said:

"Naruto, your reward this time is a 'passive ninjutsu.' It's called 'Steadfast.' Every time you're stunned or knocked senseless, this Steadfast will flare up, giving you a boost of speed as well as an overall increase in your combat power!"

When Naruto heard this, his little head filled with question marks.

"Huh? A 'passive ninjutsu'? That's a thing?"

He wasn't too well-read—was his teacher tricking him?

From Sasuke's point of view, he could clearly see the shining silver disc melt into Naruto's body as if it were light, and his envy skyrocketed.

After all, no matter how strong you are, a ninja could one day still face an enemy they can't handle; that's when Naruto's passive skill, Steadfast, would activate.

In Sasuke's view, that's extremely useful. It could ease one's fear, boost speed, and give a partial increase in overall ability. At that point, you could attack or escape; you might even pull off a miraculous comeback.

Having seen the great prize Naruto received, Sasuke looked forward to what he'd get from Teacher Senshi.

Senshi wasted no time, saying to Sasuke, "Here—it's yours."

Speaking as he handed Sasuke a skewer of tri-color dango.

Sasuke: (O_o)???

Naruto: (O_o)???

Karin: (O_o)???

Sasuke was stunned: That's his reward—a skewer of dango?

Naruto was dumbfounded too—why did Sasuke's prize turn out to be dango?

Karin couldn't help guessing: maybe Senshi accidentally gave him the wrong thing?

Otherwise Sasuke seemed pretty pitiful…

Luckily for Sasuke, that was just a false alarm. Right then, Senshi pulled out three more skewers of tri-color dango, giving one each to Naruto and Karin, and keeping one for himself.

While eating, he explained: "Sasuke, training the Sharingan from a single tomoe onward, step by step, is too time-consuming. So I'm just going to help you open the Three Tomoe Sharingan all at once as a reward for your hard work on missions."

Sasuke: (O_o)???

Senshi's words filled Sasuke's head with questions. Training the Sharingan step by step is time-consuming? But then, if you don't do it step by step, how are you supposed to awaken the eyes? And can you really just jump straight to Three Tomoe?

From the old records of the Uchiha clan, such a thing sounded impossible.

While Sasuke was still confused, Karin nodded seriously and said, "Exactly, Sasuke. Slowly leveling up the Sharingan is just too time-consuming! My Sharingan started at that level from the beginning, so I saved a ton of time!"

When she finished, Karin directly opened her Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.

Naruto looked at that elaborate and mysterious design in Karin's eyes, then recalled Sasuke's single-tomoe Sharingan. Inwardly he thought, "Is that really the same type of eye? So overpowered!"

As Sasuke stared at Karin's Eternal Mangekyō, he began to question his entire worldview. Could the Uchiha clan's records be wrong? Maybe you're not supposed to train tomoe by tomoe—the real path is to open the Mangekyō from the start?

While Sasuke was in the middle of a breakdown, Senshi motioned for Karin to hold back any more surprises. Karin had nearly spilled the beans that a "pureblood Uchiha" already had the Eternal Mangekyō. That kind of revelation would be psychologically crushing to a ten-year-old Uchiha!

Then Senshi patted Sasuke on the shoulder and said, "Karin's situation is special. For you to have Three Tomoe at age ten is already very impressive."

As he spoke, he lightly tapped Sasuke on the forehead. Using a spare set of Three Tomoe Sharingan, he raised Sasuke's eyes directly to Three Tomoe.

If Karin weren't here, Sasuke could have bragged: "I awakened Three Tomoe in both eyes by the time I was ten—what about you guys?"

But with Karin around, he had to tone it down.

Even so, Sasuke was thrilled; his strength took a huge leap.

By now, Naruto and Sasuke were more than ready to pass the Chūnin Exams.

So Senshi decided not to teach them anything else or grant them any further "cheat boosts." Besides, he had his own plans and needed to hold these two younglings back just a bit.

"Naruto, Sasuke," Senshi said, "you've gained a big power-up, but as an outstanding ninja, you still need to study one more lesson in theory."

"This lesson is about learning to keep your own intel secret!"

"For any ninja, revealing all of your abilities is extremely dangerous."

Naruto, Sasuke, and Karin all nodded seriously.

Karin, however, would soon realize that once they left here, Senshi would preach a different lesson to the others.

Seeing that Naruto and Sasuke were listening intently, Senshi continued his gentle persuasion:

"That's why, in any situation, hiding your true power is the greatest triumph!"

"As long as you can accomplish the mission, you must conceal the full extent of your abilities, ensuring you always have cards left to play."

"Even in the most extreme scenario, you won't be panicking helplessly with nothing left at your disposal!"

Naruto, hearing this, clapped his fists together with a determined expression: "I guess I shouldn't casually use that super-strong 'Aura Sphere' jutsu. I'll keep it as a trump card!"

Sasuke nodded, just as serious: "Teacher Senshi, I understand. From now on, unless it's absolutely necessary, I'll pretend I haven't awakened the Sharingan. That way, enemies who don't know my intel will completely underestimate me!"

Senshi was overjoyed. Sasuke had grasped the essence of it! Being able to open both eyes to Three Tomoe but acting like you haven't awakened them at all—that's genius!

After reminding the two little ones, Senshi left with Karin. Once he got back to the gathering place for the Amegakure group, he took five more kids away to his room at once via Kāma. Those five were all dumbfounded at being warped over so abruptly.

Clearing his throat, Senshi said to Karin and the five children, Musen and company:

"I've already explained the written test portion of the Chūnin Exams and all the other parts. But here's an extra note: after the written portion is over, once you enter the Forest of Death to hunt for the heaven and earth scrolls, do not hold back—give it everything you've got!"

"As an outstanding ninja, you must remember—'Even a lion uses its full strength to kill a rabbit!'"

"Don't worry about going overboard. In the exam, just do whatever it takes. However many other teams you can overpower, do it—don't leave room for mercy!"

The five "Musen" kids were fine; they hadn't been taught that "concealing your strength is the ultimate victory" line of thought. Karin, though, was left completely confused.

Karin: "(O_o)???"

She had just learned an "excellent ninja philosophy" about hiding your power. Weren't they telling her something totally different now?

But on second thought, she found this new lesson also kind of made sense. If you crush your enemies with all you've got, you won't have to worry about a thing!

Once Karin and the other five nodded seriously, Senshi felt reassured. Everything was set—now it was just a matter of waiting for the exam to begin.

They didn't wait long. On the second day of their arrival in Konoha, the Chūnin Exams formally started.

Teams from each village all entered the test site in an orderly fashion.

From Amegakure, Karin and the other five also came in. The moment they arrived, Karin realized that there were a lot of weirdos in this exam room.

Some were wrapped up like mummies, and others wore breathing masks as if Konoha's air was poisonous.

That wasn't even the strangest sight: Karin noticed that the candidate on her left was squatting upside-down on the ceiling like a spider, and the candidate on her right had countless little bugs crawling up and down his arms—bugs that would burrow into his body.

Karin felt annoyed. Couldn't they arrange for two normal people to sit next to her?

After most of the candidates filed in, a big middle-aged man in black walked into the classroom.

He swept his sharp gaze across the room, then spoke in a cold, emotionless tone: "The first part of the Chūnin Exams is a written test, and I am your proctor for this portion—Morino Ibiki!"

Ibiki's intimidating aura made more than a few examinees shiver in fear.

The one perched on the ceiling obediently climbed down to sit, and the Aburame ninja playing with his insects also tucked his bugs away.

Once all the candidates were paying attention, Ibiki continued: "In this written test, there are nine standard questions and one additional question."

"For every question you answer wrong, one point is deducted. If, across a three-person team, the total points lost hit ten, the whole team is eliminated."

"In a three-person squad, if even one member ends up with zero points, the entire squad fails!"

"We'll distribute each question in turn and allow a set time to answer; once time's up, we move on to the next!"

He paused, then continued: "Also, if you're caught cheating more than five times, you'll be disqualified on the spot."

A hush fell over the entire exam hall.

The six kids from Ame (Karin and her group) were fine—they already knew exactly how this test worked.

Others, however, were already nervous. The rules seemed a bit odd. But once they thought it through, they noticed that if you weren't sure about an answer, it was better to leave it blank and avoid losing points. On the other hand, if you felt certain, you should go for it. After all, if your squad could get at least one point, you wouldn't be disqualified.

But what was that about cheating five times before disqualification? Could it be that cheating was actually allowed? If you weren't sure at all, maybe you could cheat without getting caught…

They guessed mostly correctly. Meanwhile, the six from Ame knew for sure that among the examinees there were two undercover chūnin who held the correct answers. All they had to do was figure out how to copy those.

When the test started, Karin dove in confidently—not because she studied like crazy and could do any question, but because she had her "Mind's Eye of the Kagura" technique. With it, she could read every tiny movement in the room, quickly identifying which two chūnin had the real answers and copying them.

The three from Uzumaki Musen's group, though also Uzumaki clan members, had not awakened Mind's Eye of the Kagura. Still, they had their own ways. Uzumaki Lanyu had strong ninja fundamentals and believed he could answer most questions himself. Uzumaki Lanwu only needed to get one question right, and Karin had promised to slip her an answer.

Indeed, just as Lanwu was thinking about that, her pen began to move by itself, writing out the correct response—Karin had deployed "Killer Queen" to control Lanwu's pen from a distance.

As for Uzumaki Musen, he planned to hand in a blank paper, just to mess with Ibiki and "show him a thing or two."

Meanwhile, Raimon Yukika and Raimon Hayate were stunned that these problems were actually simpler than what they'd faced in Ame's academy. Though they were the weakest two in terms of combat ability among the six, academically they were top students, so they flew through the questions.

Not far off, Kabuto found himself bored. These were just standard-knowledge questions for genin, so to someone who'd spent years assisting Orochimaru, they were trivial.

Elsewhere, Naruto's personal goal was to get at least one question right. Recently, Teacher Senshi had taught him a lot about fundamental ninja knowledge; he was pretty confident he could do at least one.

Sasuke, on the other hand, had already figured out the trick of this test. He simply opened his Three Tomoe Sharingan and copied the handwriting of those two chūnin who had all the correct answers.

Meanwhile, not far from Naruto and Sasuke, there was a seasoned test-taker—Kabuto himself—but his two new teammates were proving to be quite a headache. Naruto sat there ages without picking up his pen, and Sasuke wrote so fast that it looked suspicious.

To Kabuto, none of this was actually difficult, but he was worried they'd all fail if Naruto got zero or Sasuke lost too many points.

"What on earth are they doing? I can't let them ruin Lord Orochimaru's plans!"

He wanted to help them cheat, but they sat too far away. All he could do was watch anxiously, hoping some twist of fate would let his team survive the first round. As long as they got through this part, the rest would be easy.

But Naruto and Sasuke just kept upping the anxiety. Naruto stared at his paper, not writing a single word for the longest time, leaving the first several questions blank. Sasuke, on the other hand, scribbled madly. Kabuto suspected Sasuke wasn't even reading the questions, just blindly copying the two chūnin's motions.

Kabuto: o(T﹏T)o

He was beside himself, worrying they'd get disqualified in the first round.

Eventually, time ran out. Sasuke completed all ten questions, while Naruto only filled in one, something about Water Release that Teacher Senshi had explained earlier.

The proctor, Ibiki, and his assistants collected the papers and graded them swiftly. Soon, Ibiki was back at the front, holding several test sheets in his hand.

They belonged to:

Uchiha Sasuke

Yakushi Kabuto

Raimon Yukika

Raimon Hayate

Uzumaki Karin

Uzumaki Lanyu

Uzumaki Lanwu

and Uzumaki Musen

Seven of them were perfect scores, whether by real ability or by skillful cheating. But the real surprise was Uzumaki Musen, the red-haired kid who submitted a blank paper for all ten questions.

Thanks to a hidden rule in the exam, Musen also passed. Ibiki wasn't aware that Karin had secretly secured another perfect score for their team, ensuring they passed anyway.

When Ibiki finished grading, he said:

"Besides testing your fundamental knowledge, this written exam also measures your skill in intelligence gathering. All ten of these questions were quite difficult, and within the room, two chūnin who knew the correct answers were actually filling them in. …"

As he spoke, those two chūnin stood up, waving slightly to the crowd. Some examinees were shocked—so that was how you were meant to pass. Others had already suspected.

Ibiki then read out the names of those who passed. Afterward, a ninja from Iwagakure asked: "I watched that red-haired kid, Uzumaki Musen—he didn't write a single correct word. How come he still passed?"

All eyes fell on Ibiki, who answered coolly, "Because a ninja must understand this principle: no matter how dire the circumstances, you must never give up. Even if you can't answer a single question, as long as you never surrender, you pass."

"Uzumaki Musen may not have answered anything, but he never turned in his paper early or left in frustration. That alone means he passes."

Many examinees were speechless. That was a reason to pass? But some gained a new respect for Musen—he was able to endure all the way to the end even with a blank sheet, whereas many people gave up after leaving several questions blank. That made Musen the only one who passed with a completely empty paper.

At the back of the classroom, Kabuto was wiping the sweat off his brow. Naruto and Sasuke had really put him on edge, but in the end it was just a false alarm.

Before the written exam had ended, the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, had already gone to the Hokage's office to discuss something urgent with the Third Hokage.

Rasa, upon seeing Hiruzen Sarutobi, said worriedly, "Lord Hokage, this situation is not what we expected!"

Hiruzen nodded. "That can't be helped. Most of the time, plans just can't keep pace with the changes that happen."

But Rasa cut straight to the point: "The reason we, Sunagakure and Konohagakure, decided to hold this joint Chūnin Exam was to showcase the power of our two great villages—to bolster our standing in the shinobi world and curtail the rapid growth of Kiri, Kumo, and some smaller villages.

"Yet this time, Kiri, Kumo, and even Iwa have sent some of their most promising young ninjas to take the exam as well. I fear that, for both Konoha and Suna, this might not turn out in our favor."

He didn't like the possibility that this event, meant to glorify Suna and Konoha, could end up becoming a stage for someone else to shine.

~~~

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