The atmosphere outside and inside was worlds apart.
Though the corridor was sparsely populated, Teams 7 and 8 felt a cozy warmth, like a winter hearth.
Inside the exam room, despite the crowd and clamor, a different energy reigned.
As Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno stepped in, a bone-chilling tension gripped them.
As if sensing their arrival, the room quieted. Countless gazes pierced like needles, making Naruto and Sakura—who, in this timeline, hadn't faced Zabuza Momochi or Haku in the Land of Waves, and had seen the Demon Brothers defeated by Sasuke—tense up, a flicker of fear in their eyes.
"Dead last, you shaking?" Sasuke's voice cut through.
Glancing at Sasuke's mocking smirk, Naruto's fear vanished. He shouted, "Your grandpa's not scared! I'm trembling with excitement!"
Izayoi ignored Team 7, turning to Hinata and Shino Aburame. "Let's find our seats."
"Mm."
Hinata and Shino nodded, scanning for their seat numbers and heading off.
Izayoi and Hinata's seats were in the third row, center—side by side.
Indeed, Izayoi's seat was Naruto's in the original story.
Naruto's assigned seat was still next to Hinata's, but Izayoi had swapped with him.
Such a small request was one Naruto wouldn't refuse.
Amusingly, Izayoi's original seat was beside Sasuke's.
Now, with the swap, Sasuke and Naruto were desk mates. Would Sasuke help Naruto cheat, as in the original? Would that iconic morale-boosting moment still happen?
The butterfly effect was already evident.
The nine rookies didn't gather at the podium, Kabuto Yakushi didn't appear to charm them, and there was no staged drama with the Sound ninja.
With the exam yet to start, Izayoi and Hinata whispered to each other, just like old school days.
Mindful of the strangers around, they stuck to harmless topics.
"Hanabi's already learning Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms? That's impressive," Izayoi said, surprised.
"Mm." Hinata nodded, her face glowing with pride. "Father and the elders said Hanabi's Gentle Fist talent surpasses mine. At her age, I was still practicing acupoint strikes, and my chakra wasn't as strong as hers."
Izayoi smiled without comment.
Hanabi's talent was remarkable, but compared to Hinata, she still fell short.
If Izayoi had gained the Uzumaki Bloodline (Purple) at five and awakened Physical Healing, letting Hinata absorb his chakra for two years, she'd have been even more astounding by seven.
Vast chakra was a hidden gift.
Still, Hanabi's progress caught Izayoi off guard.
It seemed his Otsutsuki Bloodline (Red) and Physical Healing had turned him into a potent elixir.
Starting Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms at seven—if Hanabi kept drawing from him into the Boruto era, how far could she defy fate?
Evolving into a Tenseigan?
Unlikely, Izayoi thought.
He was beginning to grasp something crucial.
Hinata, absorbing his chakra, had pushed her Byakugan beyond the Hyuga clan's limits. She was close to a breakthrough.
Such progress, if tied to a blue entry, would've upgraded it to purple by now.
Yet Hinata's Otsutsuki Bloodline remained a blue entry.
This meant Izayoi's chakra couldn't elevate her Otsutsuki Bloodline.
The Tenseigan, however, stemmed from the Otsutsuki Bloodline (Red). Even with a Byakugan of only gold-tier purity, it could still evolve.
If Hinata and Hanabi only enhanced their Byakugan, their chances of awakening a Tenseigan were slim.
But if their kekkei genkai Byakugan reached a red-tier entry, what then?
Would it grant oppressive aura and genjutsu, like Kaguya Otsutsuki?
Or unique abilities, like pureblood Otsutsuki?
Izayoi didn't know, but he eagerly awaited the sisters' futures.
As Izayoi and Hinata chatted, candidates filled the room.
Pop, pop, pop—
Some time later, the sound of bursting balloons interrupted their whispers.
At the podium, clouds of white smoke appeared.
When they cleared, the first exam's proctor, Ibiki Morino, stood with several invigilators, making a striking entrance.
"Silence."
Ibiki's single command hushed the room to a pin-drop quiet.
Genin who'd been glaring fiercely at newcomers froze, some holding their breath, too scared to exhale.
It was unavoidable—Ibiki's scarred face and piercing gaze were terrifying, like a prison warden eyeing convicts, ready to unleash brutal interrogation at any moment.
With his commanding presence, Ibiki didn't need to make examples.
He briefly outlined the rules, noting the tenth question would be revealed last, then declared the first exam begun.
"Sasuke, help… help me…"
Faced with his ninja academy nightmare—a written test—Naruto turned pale, his usual defiance toward Sasuke crumbling as he sent out a desperate plea.
Sasuke's lips curled smugly.
But when the papers were distributed, his expression froze.
What… was this?
Were these questions really from six years of academy lessons?
Could it be that he, a top student, was a fraud?
Almost instinctively, Sasuke glanced at Izayoi and Hinata.
They were already writing.
In that moment, Sasuke felt a vast chasm open between him and them.
They weren't on the same level.
Luckily, he sat in the back.
His smirk returned, black eyes shifting to the scarlet two-tomoe Sharingan.
Fixing his gaze on Izayoi, not glancing at his paper, Sasuke's pen moved, scrawling answers on the blank sheet.
Close inspection would reveal the handwriting didn't match the name on his test.
As Sasuke mimicked Izayoi's movements, other stumped candidates unleashed their tricks.
Some used secret techniques, others kekkei genkai, ninja tools, or blatant peeking—every cheating method was noted by Ibiki and the invigilators.
They said nothing.
Only when cheating was painfully obvious did an invigilator mark a -2 beside the candidate's seat number.
The test was worth ten points. Each caught cheat deducted two, not an instant elimination.
Only when a candidate lost ten points would their entire team, including teammates, be disqualified.
"Number 35, eliminated. His two teammates, out with him."
Within five minutes, the first candidate was ousted.
The first eliminated protested, naturally.
But after a scolding from an invigilator, who demonstrated the gap between them and a chunin, the cheaters' stress skyrocketed.
They had no idea if their tricks would be caught by the sharper chunin.
If they were eliminated, dragging their teammates down, how could they face them?
Only those with secret techniques or kekkei genkai were unfazed.
Forty minutes passed swiftly.
The once-packed exam room now had many empty seats, countless teams disqualified.
Izayoi and Hinata had long finished, now chatting under the desk with academy-taught code gestures, making observant invigilators' lips twitch.
Five minutes later, Ibiki checked his pocket watch and barked, "Everyone, pens down. Time to announce the tenth question."
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