I started answering, forcing my focus onto the papers in front of me as I worked through the questions quickly, keeping an eye out for the trap hidden among them. A few moments later, something felt off. A sense of unease crept over me, followed by a faint buzzing inside my head, like broken headphones distorting sound into an uneven hum. The noise grew steadily more irritating, to the point where I stopped writing and sat still for a heartbeat, listening.
Keeping my movements minimal, I carefully extended my chakra senses, limiting the field to the space around my desk. That was when I caught it. The genin seated directly behind me was using a low-frequency humming mixed with chakra. It was subtle and clever, designed to distract and disorient.
I felt irritation spike. A tight tick formed on my forehead as I pinched the edge of the wooden seat and carefully broke off a small piece. I rolled it between my fingers, fed a thin layer of chakra into it, then flicked it backward with precise control. I felt the moment it struck flesh. A quiet gasp of pain sounded behind me, and the buzzing vanished instantly.
I allowed myself a small smile and returned to answering, refusing to let the interruption slow me down. Still, from time to time, I took a measured breath, disrupted my chakra out of caution, and rolled my shoulder to ease the tension building in my body. Without turning my head, I scanned the room using only my eyes, moving them to their limit, and what I saw made it clear that I was not the only one dealing with interference. Some of the others were struggling far more than they realized.
The attempts themselves were outrageous, to the point that I cautiously extended my chakra senses while limiting their range so as not to draw too much attention. The first one I caught came from a genin from the Hidden Stone Village. I could vaguely sense him feeding a thin stream of Earth chakra into the floor, which required no hand seals and only a minimal investment of chakra. It was barely enough to notice, not useful or practical in any meaningful scenario, creating tiny tremors under the seat in front of him. The target was a poor kid from the Hidden Cloud Village, who was already struggling. The kid kept restlessly bouncing his legs, heels tapping the ground in a frantic rhythm from stress. Sweat ran down his temples as he tried to force himself still, jaw clenched, shoulders tense, eyes locked on his paper.
Every time he finally managed to steady his legs, the hidden stone genin would send another pulse into the ground. Just enough to make the floor buzz beneath his feet. The Hidden Cloud kid's legs would immediately start up again, twitching and bouncing like they had a mind of their own. His breathing grew uneven. His pen stalled more often. He wiped his hands on his pants, then froze again.
It was cruel in a deviously delicious way. No obvious jutsu. Just enough interference to keep resetting his focus until frustration and panic did the rest.
Then there was something on a whole other level. It was so insane my mouth actually dropped open. A genin from the Hidden Hot Water Village, of all places, openly betraying his village's relaxed spirit. He was the first kekkei genkai user I had ever seen in this world.
He was emitting cold chakra directly into the air, doing it effortlessly, naturally transforming it within his body without any visible strain. No hand seals. No preparation. Just raw, instinctive control. It blew my mind. First a dojutsu user cheating with his eyes, and now a kekkei genkai user sabotaging the exam with what looked like Ice Release, all while I was here busting my ass just to keep up.
The air around the kid grew steadily colder. His teammates were already wearing heavy clothing, which had made no sense earlier given that we were in hot Hidden Sand weather, but now it clicked. He did not have perfect control. The cold sphere around him spread unevenly, bleeding into nearby desks and affecting his teammates as well as some genin from minor villages. At first, people only shivered. Then the shivering worsened. Pens started to slip. Fingers stiffened. A few students clenched their hands under the desk, trying to force feeling back into them while still writing. Frustration spread as fast as the cold.
Some tried to glance around, desperate to understand what was happening, but the instructor's voice cracked through the room like a whip. "Do not look around. Focus only on your paper. Anyone who does otherwise will be disqualified." That shut them down instantly. One of the affected genin looked ready to complain, but a single look from the jonin scared the courage right out of him. He lowered his head and kept shaking, jaw tight, eyes burning with irritation.
After a while, it became impossible to ignore how extreme the temperature had dropped. Breath was now visible, faint clouds forming with every exhale. That was when the Hidden Hot Water genin noticed it too. He cut his chakra immediately, clean and fast, just as the jonin started moving toward their section. By the time she arrived, the cold was already fading. There was no clear source. No strong lingering effect. Just confused, shivering students and normal air returning too quickly, aided by the naturally warm air, to accuse anyone outright.
The jonin's eyes lingered on the heavily dressed hidden hot water genin. She snorted quietly, as if she knew exactly what had happened but lacked proof, then turned and walked back toward the board.
An evil smirk tugged at the corner of the genin's mouth as he watched her go, already deciding that this was not nearly enough mayhem for one exam.
Then there was another demonic method of sabotage. A genin from the hidden sand village, one who clearly had incredible chakra control, extended a very thin chakra thread. I could not see it, but I could sense it faintly as it crept downward, slipping between cracks in the floor before climbing back up along the side of the desk in front of him. The thread stayed low and slack, careful not to draw attention.
It attached itself to the edge of the paper belonging to a genin from the Hidden Mist. The Mist genin was leaning to one side, one hand propping up his head while the other hovered over the paper, pen poised as he gathered his thoughts. The moment he tried to write, the Sand genin tugged the thread just enough to nudge the paper sideways. The mark came out wrong. Not ruined, but off. Crooked enough to matter.
The Hidden Mist genin froze. His breath hitched. He almost looked around on instinct, but the memory of the jonin's earlier reaction stopped him cold. Instead, he forced his eyes back down to the page and tried again. Another thread was extended soon after, and with a second tug, just as the Mist genin was about to commit to another line, the paper was moved to the side once more at the perfect moment. The hidden mist genin's eyes reddened with frustration. His rhythm was gone. Thoughts scattered as he struggled to refocus on the exam.
The move was clearly taxing for the Sand genin. Maintaining that level of control took effort. Eventually, the victim adapted the only way he could. He planted one hand firmly on the paper to keep it from moving and wrote with the other, abandoning his usual posture and flow just to protect his answers.
It worked. But by then, the damage was already done.
I wanted to extend my senses even further, both excited and a little afraid to see what others were doing to their poor fellow genin. At this point, I would not have been surprised if someone in the back was sacrificing a goat, considering what was already happening in the middle of the hall.
Then I heard something to my side. A soft, steady sound. Sena was tapping her pen against the desk, imitating the tick of a clock, while subtly angling it toward the actual clock hanging near the jonin. The gesture snapped my attention back to reality. Time was passing faster than I liked.
I shook my head slightly and refocused, forcing my thoughts back onto the paper. Whatever madness was unfolding around us, I needed to finish. I pushed the distractions aside and went back to answering, determined not to let any of it slow me down.
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A/N: I had soooooooooo much fun writing this, and I hope you had just as much fun reading it. Let me know in the comments what you thought of this unusual battle.