Kairen chuckled lightly, stood up, and prepared to make his move.
As he rose, all the examinees focused their eyes on him; the chief examiner and assistant examiners were the same.
"Student, what are you—"
A red glow flashed in Kairen's eyes, and in an instant he pulled all the examiners into genjutsu.
With his hands clasped behind his back, he strode toward the podium like a seasoned teacher.
Kairen stood at the podium, chalk in hand, coughed twice, and said,
"Now it'll be Moku-sensei… teaching you how to do this!"
Apart from the examiners, all the examinees were astonished.
Some recognized Kairen as the dead last of the ninja academy.
"Kairen, what do you think you're doing?"
"Kairen, do you think the teacher is blind?"
"Kairen, you're this cocky—does your dad know?"
…
Obito stared at Kairen as he began writing answers on the blackboard.
His heart was full of shock—Kairen was basically sitting on the examiners' heads and taking a dump. Weren't they going to do anything?
He looked around. All the examiners acted as if they couldn't see Kairen at all, still wearing the same stern expressions as before.
The examiners are idiots!
That was Obito's guess. He was about to probe recklessly, but a cold voice immediately crushed his suicidal urge.
"Candidate in the third row, second seat—get out!" an examiner said sharply.
It turned out that the candidate had thought the examiners were robots and directly snatched the paper of the person next to him, copying it roughly.
The candidate was furious.
"Why? The guy up there is straight-up copying the answers onto the board!"
The examiner didn't reply, as if everyone except Kairen was visible to him! In three swift moves, he used a Body Flicker and kicked the candidate out.
Many were puzzled by the examiners' abnormality, but a few outstanding ninjas noticed.
Nara Yūji analyzed it instantly. "The examiners have all fallen under his genjutsu. Incredible!"
Shisui was somewhat shaken. The chief examiner was a jōnin, and from the interrogation unit—a jōnin trained to resist genjutsu.
With a single glance, he put a jōnin and numerous chūnin under genjutsu. This level of genjutsu mastery already surpassed the Uchiha.
Obito and Guy didn't bother thinking further and directly treated the answers Kairen wrote on the board as a lifeline.
Quite a few others followed suit and began copying.
Anko clenched her fists below.
"I didn't expect him to be this strong!"
She'd wanted to teach Kairen a lesson, but now she was stunned by his genjutsu.
If he used genjutsu to mess with her—strictly speaking, he already had.
After finishing, Kairen rubbed the chalk dust off his palms with satisfaction.
The chief examiner beside him even reached out to shake Kairen's hand, making many break out in cold sweat.
Kairen returned to his seat and winked at Anko.
"I won, right!"
Anko started playing dirty. "You didn't win—one person got eliminated!"
"You're counting that unlucky guy too?"
"Of course!"
Anko lifted her nose, returning to her earlier haughty demeanor.
She even reminded Kairen, "Don't forget the 300 skewers of dango!"
Kairen was speechless and could only agree.
"Alright, alright, I'll satisfy you—meatballs, three-color dango…"
After a long while, the chief examiner loudly announced,
"Exam over!"
All the examinees stood up and filed out of the examination hall.
After everyone left, an assistant officer stared wide-eyed at the blackboard.
"Captain, look!"
The chief examiner turned and looked at the board full of answers, subconsciously freezing for a moment.
Finally, he gave a wry smile. "This batch… is strong!"
The papers were graded quickly. Only one person was eliminated, breaking a record that had stood for many years in the Chūnin Exams.
…
Everyone was led to the second exam by its examiner.
A group gathered around Kairen, full of reverence.
Toying with the chief examiner—this was a first in Konoha's history.
Obito patted Kairen on the back.
"Good. I knew I wasn't wrong about you."
Guy was beaming, just short of writing "youth" on his face.
"Yeah! Passing the first exam was that easy."
Obito nodded. "Exactly. Too bad so many passed—round two is definitely going to be a bloodbath!"
Kairen smiled. "Want me to carry you through?"
Obito and Guy shook their heads in unison.
"No need. For the second exam, we'll rely on real strength!"
Guy was confident—his taijutsu was strong, and now he'd mastered the Eight Gates, giving him plenty of confidence in actual combat.
As for Obito… that was just inexplicable confidence.
But his team had Kakashi. Kakashi became a chūnin at six, and now his strength was basically above a Special Jōnin.
With a big shot leading the way, Obito naturally felt very confident.
The second exam was a field exercise, originally planned for the Forest of Death.
But the Forest of Death had been occupied by Kairen, so the village chose another training ground—less dangerous, but still vast.
Upon arrival, the chief examiner quickly explained the rules.
Different from the Chūnin Exams Kairen remembered.
This time, only five scrolls were distributed, hidden somewhere in the forest.
The examinees had to find one within three hours, and as long as they handed it to the examiner, they would pass.
That meant only five teams could ultimately pass.
Everyone quickly familiarized themselves with the rules and entered the exam area.
At the Hokage Tower, a group watched the examinees enter the forest, their gazes calm—yet beneath that calm, who knew what kind of storm was brewing?
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Tsunade beside him.
For some reason, his usually familiar disciple seemed to have an extra edge today, as if nurturing a strong aggressiveness.
Hiruzen Sarutobi asked, "How is Jiraiya doing?"
Tsunade replied, "No major issues. Two more weeks in the hospital should do it. He should be grateful Kairen didn't go all out."
Hiruzen Sarutobi said nothing, continuing to watch the children in the crystal ball.
Tsunade's words broke the silence.
"Sensei, do you think the Senju clan has become too soft?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi was puzzled. "What do you mean by that?!"
"Nothing." Tsunade shook her head, tightly concealing the killing intent in her eyes.
Orochimaru glanced at Tsunade, feeling that she was different from usual today.
But it didn't matter. No accident could stop the plan.
Sensei and the others could eliminate the hidden danger that was Kairen, and he could obtain Kairen's body.
Thinking of Wood Release and the Sharingan, Orochimaru's eyes couldn't hide their deep greed.
As long as he possessed that body, he could learn all the ninjutsu in the world, gain immortality, and become the second Sage of Six Paths.
...
I recommend checking out my new Pokémon fanfic, "Pokémon System: Me, the Strongest Champion of the League"! It features a system that isn't overpowered, keeping the story balanced and engaging. The main character isn't Ash, but an original, cool MC, which makes it even more enjoyable to read. I'd love to hear your feedback!