Chapter 63: They Say Anyone with Hands Can Join the Anbu
"The more critical the situation, the more we can't afford to let others look down on Konoha—so there's no room for mercy." Tenten stood on a tree branch, gazing down at the examinees running toward Exam Site B.
With the arrival of the New Era of Shinobi, every profession had been affected—Tenten's weapons shop being one of them. Fewer and fewer ninja were buying weapons lately, leaving her constantly troubled. On top of that, her family wouldn't stop nagging her about marriage, making her even more frustrated.
"Even the Fifth Mizukage still isn't married, so what's the rush for me…" she muttered to herself, just as she saw a Mist Village examinee fall into a trap below. "Tch… can't even avoid a basic trap. Ninja of this era really are useless."
As she watched the struggling examinees with a touch of disdain, a figure suddenly appeared beside her in a blur: "Is it really necessary to set up chain traps for these Genin?"
While some Genin were indeed strong, they often had the bad habit of underestimating their opponents. They might dodge the first decoy trap easily, only to grow cocky and get caught in the second one.
Take the Iwagakure examinee, for example. To avoid a pitfall on the ground, he chose to leap from branch to branch. After effortlessly dodging a tree-stump trap from the side, he couldn't help but smirk—only to step right onto an explosive tag on the next branch.
The explosive tags used in this exam weren't combat-grade but had been specially modified to act as training tools—they only sent people flying rather than causing real harm.
"Since this is a joint exam between the Five Great Villages, Konoha can't afford to be underestimated!" Tenten shot a quick glance at Sai standing beside her, then turned her attention back to the examinees below.
Sai narrowed his eyes with a smile. All that talk about not letting Konoha be underestimated? Please. It was just an excuse—she was clearly venting her frustrations.
"Huh? A team actually made it through my chain traps with ease… It's Hanabi's little sister's squad. Impressive."
Though in truth, it was only Shuyu who was truly impressive. With enough experience and a little observation, these traps were easy to spot—especially with the Sharingan's enhanced vision.
"Looks like Hanabi's team will be the first to reach Exam Site B," Sai said with a smile. He didn't care which squad got there first—so long as it was a Konoha team.
That was someone who genuinely had Konoha's best interests in mind—who didn't want the village to lose face.
"Tch, passing through that easily—are they looking down on me?" Clearly, Tenten had a different opinion. She unrolled a scroll and formed several hand seals for a summoning jutsu, slamming her palm down onto the parchment.
A thick white mist suddenly appeared on the path ahead of the examinees, and a line of wooden puppets blocked their way.
"Summoning scrolls with mutual sensory links pre-placed in the exam site? And are those… puppets?" Sai murmured, noting the absence of chakra threads typically used to control them.
"Hmph, this is my latest invention—autonomous puppets!" Tenten said proudly. "Each one has a chakra core inside. Unless the chakra runs out, they'll keep moving on their own."
"Hmm… Looks complicated, but since they're just made of wood, a Fire Release jutsu should be enough to deal with them." Sai nodded. At least Tenten wasn't just blindly lashing out emotionally.
In reality, with business going downhill and her wallet increasingly empty, Tenten could only afford to build puppets from the cheapest materials.
"Shuyu, what do we do now?" Wasabi Izuno took a step back, looking to Shuyu for guidance.
"Puppets, huh? And no chakra threads… So our enemies this time are just the puppets themselves, not the puppeteer. Let's break through."
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"
Flames scattered and engulfed the wooden puppets.
"My puppets… they're all gone just like that? Not even one left…?"
Tenten had planned to use this live broadcast to promote her new puppet line. But it ended before it even began.
No one was going to buy puppets that got wiped out by a single jutsu from a Genin.
"That's not Genin-level chakra output. No wonder—he's a Uchiha clan prodigy," Sai said as he looked at Shuyu. The power of that Phoenix Sage Fire Technique wasn't something a typical Genin could unleash. At the very least, it was Chunin-level. "Well, I should probably head to Exam Site B too. I'll be going, Tenten."
Tenten, crushed in spirit, didn't respond. Sai just smiled and gave silent thanks that his wife was from a wealthy clan—he didn't have to worry about money.
"That took longer than I thought. Only five minutes left—we almost didn't make it," Boruto panted.
Though Boruto, Sarada, and Mitsuki were all gifted, their lack of real-world experience as ninja showed. Tenten's traps had significantly delayed them.
"I didn't expect so many people would make it."
From the platform at Exam Site B, Sai turned to Shikamaru beside him.
"Their overall strength matches our prior assessment, more or less. But the real exam starts now." Shikamaru spoke with his hands in his pockets.
Sai smiled and checked the time. "Time's up. All examinees who haven't arrived are disqualified. Now, I'll explain the rules for the next part: the true-or-false question round. Each team of three will choose what they believe is the correct answer and move to the corresponding mark. If they're wrong, their entire body will turn black, and they'll lose qualification. Let's begin."
On either side of the platform were marked zones—an "X" zone and a "Circle" zone—divided by a white line. A large screen behind the center platform began to display the first question.
"In Volume 5 of the recommended extracurricular reading Memoirs of the Shinobi Strategist, a ninja code appears: 'Heaven pairs with Earth, Rain with Wind, Continent with Vast Sky, Mountain Flowers with Sea Trees, Crimson Sun with Azure Dome'... True or False?"
"What is this! Why are they testing us on stuff from recommended extracurricular books? And Memoirs of the Shinobi Strategist is just Uncle Shikamaru's shameless self-praise! What kind of idiot actually reads this stuff!?" Boruto wailed.
"I read it," Sarada replied, her voice offering a ray of hope to the despairing Boruto. "But I didn't read Volume 5. Still, each of the first four volumes did include ninja codes like this."
"Then Mitsuki…" Boruto turned to him—only to see Mitsuki smiling with his eyes half-closed. "Forget it, you're probably the same as me. There's no way you've read any of the recommended reading. We'll just have to guess."
All the examinees either groaned or frowned—no one could say with certainty what the correct answer was. Even Shuyu was no exception.
After all, he was a remnant of the old era and still unfamiliar with many things in this new one...
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