Chapter 339: The Chunin Exam Written Test!
Two days later.
The Chunin Exams officially began.
The shark-faced man, who had arrived in Konoha early but had been wandering the streets and the Naka Shrine every day, finally remembered his official business.
"Well, Itachi-kun, is it just us?" Kisame Hoshigaki looked around, his gaze finally settling on the man before him. "What about the envoy from the Hidden Sand Village?"
"Kimimaro Kaguya is actually also an envoy for Orochimaru. His Kekkei Genkai illness is getting the better of him, so he can only rest at the inn for now."
Itachi Uchiha's brow furrowed, and he said in a low voice, "After the Chunin Exams, Orochimaru will dispatch Kabuto Yakushi to join the organization. I'm worried Lord Second might have a different opinion, so you should head back early."
"…That little brat named Kimimaro is one of Orochimaru's men?"
"That's right. The entire Hidden Sand Village has long been secretly controlled by Orochimaru."
Itachi Uchiha nodded, turned to look into Kisame's eyes, and continued, "I have reached an agreement with Orochimaru. I will send people to monitor his research and obtain his results, but I cannot destroy his power in the Hidden Sand."
"Itachi-kun…"
A wry smile appeared on Kisame's face. "If I remember correctly, Lord Tobirama seems to have mentioned more than once that he would definitely grind Orochimaru to dust…"
Grind to dust was an understatement!
It was said that the old geezer, in order to deal with Orochimaru, had specifically holed himself up to research several forbidden jutsu that targeted the soul.
Even if Orochimaru were to die, Tobirama could guarantee that his soul would be imprisoned somewhere!
"Lord Second is well-versed in the art of politics…"
After a moment of contemplation, Itachi continued, "I believe he should understand the importance of the Land of Wind becoming Konoha's ally."
This was a lesson that Tobirama himself had taught him.
Kisame blinked his eyes and sighed helplessly. "…That's hard to say…"
Actually, he secretly held some admiration for Orochimaru.
Putting other things aside, to have reanimated three Hokage—those sacrificed powerhouses could not rest in peace even after death. Just how great was the grudge…
"Alright, let's watch the Chunin Exams for now!"
Itachi shook his head, his gaze fixed on the teams of genin entering the examination hall. He then looked at a certain female proctor with a crow perched on her shoulder, leading three large dogs into the exam room. "Is the proctor for the first Chunin Exam Hana Inuzuka?"
"Huh? On her body, is that the great Lord Kitahara?"
"I have a bad feeling about this!"
Hana Inuzuka was his contemporary and a friend of many years. She currently belonged to the Beast Taming Squad of the Medical Corps and was extremely serious in her work.
Facts proved that Itachi's feeling was not wrong.
Not long after the first Chunin Exam had started, teams of genin began to pour out of the exam hall, cursing under their breath.
"Are the Konoha Chunin Exams this difficult!"
"What the hell! Who could pass that kind of test!"
"That woman named Hana Inuzuka is a demon!"
"Don't you guys think that crow she's raising is really ugly!"
"This… as a Konoha ninja, I advise you not to talk about bird matters…"
"The first written test is already this difficult, how can anyone pass! Didn't our seniors say it was a test of our intelligence gathering abilities?"
Just from the numbers, at least half of the people who had participated in the Chunin Exams had already been eliminated, and more were continuously pouring out.
"Itachi-kun, can you reveal the questions for this Chunin Exam?" Kisame's expression was a little grim. "Why does it feel like many people are not doing well?"
"It seems to be the very conventional type of test questions."
Itachi tried hard to recall the questions that had been submitted to his desk. "Cheating is allowed in this exam, but Hana has always been rather serious in her work. Perhaps it's just that some genin's cheating methods were too clumsy and she saw through them?"
Not long after…
More and more genin came out…
Among them was even Hana Inuzuka's own little brother, Kiba Inuzuka. The little brat left the exam hall with a sad expression, hugging his ninja hound.
This time, even Itachi was getting a little restless. Seeing that there was no need to hold the second exam, it was estimated that Hana might eliminate all the genin from the exam hall!
What the hell is going on!
Inside the first Chunin Exam hall.
The Haimaru brothers patrolled back and forth in the middle of the room. From time to time, they would sense a strange smell on a genin, bite their clothes, and drag the person out.
Clearly, that genin had received a note from a comrade.
"Proctor Inuzuka, isn't this a little too strict…" The other ninjas in charge of monitoring couldn't bear to watch the exam hall. "At this rate, we probably won't be able to put together a few complete squads for the next stage!"
"It's no matter!"
Hana smiled and shook her head, her gaze fixed on the candidates below. She bit her lip lightly. "In any case, our purpose is to eliminate the unqualified candidates, isn't it?"
The crow beside her pecked at her clothes and looked at a certain candidate below. "Caw!"
(That little one, he's definitely cheating!)
(Hurry up and kick him out! Make him fail the Chunin Exam!)
"Kitahara…"
Hana squeezed its wing, looked at the candidate who was glaring at the crow with great resentment, and said softly, "Sasuke really isn't cheating…"
A moment later, seeing that the crow was a little unhappy, she ruffled its feathers again. "Alright, alright. In any case, this written test is very difficult, and he hasn't answered questions in a long time…"
"Caw…"
The crow pecked at her hair, a renewed spirit in its crimson eyes as it met Sasuke Uchiha's gaze.
When Itachi Uchiha was standing outside the exam hall, he happened to notice this scene. The corner of his eye twitched. He beckoned for Hana to come out of the hall and said in a low voice, "This… isn't the elimination rate for the first stage a bit too high?"
"Not high… not high…"
Kisame Hoshigaki followed closely behind. The moment he saw the crow, he waved his hand and said, "Itachi-kun's little brother is still sitting in there!"
Kitahara nodded with an appreciative look.
Itachi Uchiha: "…"
"These questions are indeed very difficult, but I have observed the entire exam hall, and there are quite a few who can answer them…"
Hana's gaze swept over the remaining candidates one by one, landing on Sakura Haruno and Hinata Hyuga. She continued in a low voice, "As a ninja, one must have the perseverance to endure everything and wait for the best opportunity to strike…"
"The last five minutes are to test their intelligence gathering methods."
"At that time, I will also chase the Haimaru brothers out of the exam hall. As long as their methods aren't too clumsy then, I won't deliberately make things difficult for them."
"…That's good."
Itachi nodded. The Chunin Exams were more or less up to the proctor's discretion. He just looked at the empty seats everywhere in the room and asked with confusion, "Why didn't you eliminate all the teammates of the cheating candidates?"
"A ninja must ultimately make sacrifices. Non-combat attrition is not a rare situation."
Hana shook her head. "Even if we are born in a time of peace, we cannot avoid this situation. They either have to fight alone or be eliminated."
Kisame felt this deeply. Back in the day, he was always the last lonely ninja left. "Indeed…"
"…Um, will Kiba be in trouble after he goes home?"
Itachi looked at the remaining Hinata and Shino of Team 8 and said in a small voice, "I heard that Clan Head Tsume Inuzuka's family discipline is rather strict. To be eliminated in the first round…"
"Huh?"
The veterinarian's large eyes blinked. She looked at the empty seat where her little brother had been sitting and said with some surprise, "I remember he never had the guts to cheat in front of me? Could it be that the Haimaru brothers were bullying Akamaru again?"
"…Woof woof woof woof!"
A large dog shot out and howled a few times at its master.
"Huh? He actually used Akamaru to peek at other people's test papers to cheat?"
Hana was stunned for a moment, then suddenly said, "Wait! I remember we did the same thing during our Chunin Exams back then!"
"…I feel…"
Itachi's expression was a bit subtle. "If I hadn't sent you to be the proctor for the first exam, there was a high probability that Kiba would have passed."
"…We didn't want things to turn out this way either…"
Kisame quickly tried to smooth things over, pulling Itachi back. "We'll have to trouble Proctor Inuzuka for the rest of the exam!"
"Great Lord Kitahara, do your best!"
"Strive to eliminate Sasuke in the first round!"
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