The Chūnin Exams might've been held in wartime, but that didn't stop foreign genin from showing up.
Of course, only allies of Konoha were allowed in. Sunagakure, fresh off its peace treaty with the Leaf. Amegakure, still clinging to neutrality. Kusagakure and Takigakure, villages that had always kept friendly ties.
And the reason they came was obvious: prestige. Nothing carried more weight than passing the Chūnin Exams under the banner of the Number One Village, Konoha. That stamp on your record meant everything.
Unlike the Shippūden version Yō remembered, this exam had no flashy one-on-one finals. Just two phases: a written test, and the survival trial.
The written test was held on the third floor. No genjutsu trickery here, no examiner spouting lines about "hard work surpassing genius," and definitely no iconic kick that would go down in history.
Plain. A little bleak, even.
Natsume Yō walked into the classroom like a background extra, slipping into a seat without anyone sparing him a second glance.
And why would they? Dressed in a loose, off-white robe over a fitted black combat suit, hair tied back neatly, he looked… ordinary. Forgettable. To most, he was just filler, another genin destined to be cannon fodder.
"Look—that's Hyūga Tenshin, a prodigy of the Hyūga clan. Word is he mastered Rotation at just eleven, and his Gentle Fist has already reached the Sixty-Four Palms!"
"And the one beside him, Hyūga Setsuna—graduated early. Rumor says he beat his examiner flat during his genin test. Together, they're called the Twin Stars of the Hyūga!"
"Wow, they're so cool!"
"A real threat…"
"We'll need a plan to deal with the Byakugan…"
Voices buzzed with awe, nerves, analysis.
"Wait, that's Uchiha Yūsuke, the new star of the clan. They say his strength is already close to the legendary Uchiha Shisui!"
"And over there—Moonlight Hayate. Rumored to have mastered the Second Hokage's assassination move, the Dance of the Crescent Moon."
"That one's a beast too!"
"And don't forget Shiranui Genma. He sparred Hayate not long ago—and actually came out on top!"
The arrival of these so-called geniuses stirred the whole room into a frenzy. Delegates from Suna, Kusa, Taki, Ame—they all had dossiers warning them about exactly these names. Their villages had drilled it into them: don't provoke these talents. Just focus on surviving.
But Yō didn't know that, in another room, the proctor was watching him through the surveillance feed.
"So that's the boy Lionhawk warned me about? Natsume Yō? Doesn't look like much. Quiet, unassuming… hard to imagine this is the same cold, ruthless talent he described."
"…Hm?"
As if sensing the gaze, Yō—who had been slouched over his desk—suddenly lifted his head and glanced straight toward the hidden camera.
"—!"
The examiner stiffened. In that single moment of eye contact, his heart lurched. It felt like a predator's eyes locking onto prey.
Cold. Unfeeling. Inhuman.
For an instant, what stared back at him was no ordinary genin—It was a beast, caged only by skin and silence.