The exam hall buzzed louder and louder after Natsume Yō suddenly drew everyone's attention.
Some people even dug up his file, and the reactions were instant, waves of gasps rippling through the candidates.
"No way—he actually beat Uchiha Yūsuke?!""He even graduated early… and he crushed Hyūga Setsuna in just a few moves!""That's insane!""Man, talk about low-key!"
The crowd's eyes turned toward Natsume Yō, filled with awe and curiosity.
"Everyone, back to your seats! The exam is about to begin!"
The proctor's stern voice cut through the noise, snapping the room back into silence. Still, many glances lingered on Yō. In their minds, this unknown genin had transformed into a dark horse bursting out of nowhere.
The written portion tested information-gathering ability—a stage that technically hadn't existed before. But the Third Hokage himself wanted to use this as a filter: to pick out those with the potential to be chūnin, and weed out the weak so Konoha would suffer fewer losses. Naturally, the questions were brutal.
Yō scanned the papers. From what he saw, very few could complete them properly.
"Well then… guess it's time to show what I can do."
He rested his chin in his hand, eyes drifting lazily. The word "exam"—what a familiar kind of torment. In his past life, Natsume Yō had been beaten down by endless tests.
"Hah… feels nostalgic, in a twisted way."
As time ticked by, students were caught and disqualified for cheating one after another. But Yō knew better: those weren't real disqualifications, just actors meant to rattle everyone's nerves. Pressure-testing.
"Oh? Someone actually answering on their own? Impressive."
Yō caught sight of something and smirked faintly. Unlike the majority, he wasn't struggling at all—after all, he had completed multiple A-rank missions already. These questions were child's play.
And the one he'd noticed, solving the exam with her own skill, was the girl seated behind him—Mitsuki Chinatsu.
The room grew more and more chaotic: some genin used tricks, others got caught. To Yō, the proctors felt like seasoned actors, deliberately pretending not to see the clumsy cheating right under their noses. If they weren't good at keeping a straight face, they'd be laughing by now.
The clock moved on. More candidates were kicked out, seats emptied.
Forty minutes later, Yō finished his paper, leaned back, and swept his gaze around. More than half the room had already wrapped up too. Unlike the "team test" in the original Chūnin Exams, this round was mostly individuals—everyone fending for themselves.
Finally, the time limit ran out. Roughly thirty examinees remained.
"All participants, follow me. I'll be overseeing your second trial—the Survival Battle."
A jōnin appeared, one Yō didn't recognize. As expected, the second test's venue was none other than Konoha's infamous Forest of Death.
"The rules are simple," the jōnin said, raising two scrolls. "Heaven and Earth. Each of you will carry one. To pass, you must gather both within seven days."