Chapter 103: First Stage of the Chunin Exam
A week later, Kaito, Hodaka, and Mieko met in front of the Academy building. Kaito looked at them and asked, "Ready?"
Hodaka and Mieko both smiled. "Of course."
The three entered the building together. The first stage of the Chunin Exams was being held in Room 301. Kaito wondered, Will someone on the second floor use genjutsu to make people go to the wrong classroom?
However, there was no commotion on the second floor. They successfully reached Room 301.
Upon entering, they saw hundreds of genin. Hodaka and Mieko were surprised, but Kaito had already expected this.
As soon as they walked in, everyone cast strange glances their way. After all, they were the only ten-year-old and nine-year-old genin there.
The three didn't look for anyone, as none of their Academy classmates were participating.
Although other members of the Hyuga and Uchiha clans were taking part, Hodaka and Mieko didn't seek them out either. They simply found a few empty seats and sat together.
The room was very noisy—it always is when hundreds of teenagers are packed into the same space.
At 9 o'clock, a bell rang three times, and the room immediately quieted down.
The classroom door slowly opened. Everyone's attention turned to the doorway. A sickly-looking man walked into the room. He coughed several times, and everyone looked puzzled.
Even Kaito was curious. Who is this guy?
Just then, six ninja wearing Konoha chunin vests walked in carrying a large stack of documents.
The sickly man coughed again and began to speak. "I am the proctor... cough cough... for the first... cough cough... stage."
Everyone's eyes twitched. The Konoha genin thought, Really? Couldn't they find anyone else?
The genin from other villages, however, thought, Is Konoha's situation really so bad that they can't find healthier people to run the Chunin Exams?
Immediately, the room filled with whispers and chatter. Some even laughed out loud.
At that moment, the sickly man coughed again. "Anyone who makes a sound... cough cough... will be kicked out... cough cough!"
As soon as he said this, he released killing intent, locking onto every genin in the room!
Immediately, everyone went silent! No one dared to underestimate him anymore. Most were completely intimidated by his presence.
Even Kaito, Hodaka, and Mieko had solemn expressions. Kaito thought, How many people must he have killed to generate such powerful killing intent?
The proctor continued, "All of you... cough cough... take a seat... cough cough... one per desk."
The entire room quietly rearranged itself. Each person took a seat. Since he hadn't revealed a seating arrangement, everyone sat near their teammates.
After everyone was seated, the chunin began distributing test papers, placing them face-down so the genin couldn't see the questions.
The sickly man announced again, "Do not touch the test papers. cough cough... You may... cough cough... turn them over at 9:15... cough cough."
After speaking, he coughed continuously for a full minute.
Then he looked up and continued, "Each test has 10... cough cough... questions. You have 5... cough cough... minutes to answer all... cough cough... questions. To pass, all... cough cough... three team members... cough cough... need a perfect score!"
This immediately made everyone nervous. Kaito thought, Only five minutes? And a perfect score? The only way that makes sense is if these questions are too simple.
However, he kept thinking, as did many others. They were all wondering the same thing.
What exactly is this proctor planning? There must be a trick here!
The room was silent, save for the occasional cough from the proctor.
At 9:14, the sickly man announced, "No cheating!"
Then he started coughing non-stop again!
At 9:15, the bell rang. Everyone immediately flipped over their test papers. What Kaito saw left him speechless!
Not just Kaito—all three hundred and thirty-six genin in the entire room were stunned!
Kaito's test paper read:
Q1. 3 × 3 =
Q2. 4 - 2 =
Q3. 9 × 2 =
Q4. 3 ÷ 1 =
Q5. 9 × 7 =
Q6. 8 ÷ 2 =
Q7. 1 - 1 =
Q8. 9 × 0 =
Q9. 9 + 9 =
Q10. 8 × 4 =
The surprise left everyone stunned for a few seconds. However, many quickly began answering. Only a few hesitated.
Kaito analyzed seriously, What the hell is this? The Chunin Exams can't be this simple! What trick will he pull at the end? Like making us relax our guard, then suddenly catching us off guard?
He thought hard and came to a conclusion. No, there's something else wrong. This makes me uneasy.
He wracked his brain for several minutes before finally realizing! What makes me uneasy isn't just this test paper. It's also my chakra.
Realizing this, he finally calmed down and closed his eyes.
He observed his chakra, which was flowing smoothly. He took a deep breath and suddenly disrupted his chakra flow.
His entire chakra network became chaotic. He opened his eyes and looked at the test paper. Every number had changed! Kaito immediately broke out in a cold sweat, realizing how easily he'd fallen into a genjutsu.
He looked up at the sickly proctor.
Surprisingly, there was no sick person at all! Instead, there was a tall, healthy, handsome man with long hair.
The man looked at Kaito and smiled, nodding.
Kaito thought, So it was Kurama Hikari! No wonder.
He lowered his head and secretly disrupted his chakra again, ensuring there were no multiple layers of genjutsu.
Then he quickly began answering the questions. Although the numbers had changed, the questions were still very simple.
While writing, he gently kicked Hodaka, who was sitting in front of him, and sent chakra into his body, disrupting his chakra flow.
This broke the genjutsu on him. Hodaka also noticed the numbers had changed, and all his answers were wrong! He quickly corrected them.
As Hodaka corrected his answers, Kaito turned to look at Mieko, who was sitting to his right, and thought, Good, her Sharingan is already activated.
Mieko had also noticed the genjutsu and broken it. After answering, she used her Sharingan to check Kaito's and Hodaka's chakra. Seeing that neither was under genjutsu, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Kaito answered all his questions, then wondered, When exactly did he cast the genjutsu?
He looked at Kurama Hikari and saw that he was still coughing occasionally. Kaito understood and gave a wry smile.
His coughing triggered the genjutsu in this room. Maybe not just the coughing, but even those bells cast genjutsu on us. Sound-based genjutsu, applied in very small amounts, ensuring we wouldn't notice any sudden changes in chakra. And because it only changed the content of a test paper we'd never seen, we all thought everything was real.
As Kaito analyzed, he realized, Wait a minute, he actually gave us plenty of clues. His constant coughing was suspicious. And the most suspicious thing was these questions. If these questions were difficult, I would never have realized I was under genjutsu!
Kaito sighed inwardly. I didn't expect to learn anything here. But this exam shows that I'm not as careful and vigilant as I need to be. If this were a battlefield, I'd be dead already.
By 9:20, everyone, whether they'd discovered the genjutsu or not, had finished answering.
A few seconds before 9:20, Kurama Hikari announced in a steady, authoritative tone, "Everyone put down your pencils. After the bell rings, anyone holding a pencil will be disqualified from the Chunin Exams."
The stability of his voice surprised many. Immediately after, the bell rang loudly. But this time, it wasn't to cast genjutsu—it was to break it.
As soon as the genjutsu was dispelled, many genin's eyes widened. They noticed the questions had changed, which meant all their answers were wrong. Even the sickly proctor had suddenly become healthy.
Some people immediately started to stir, but Kurama Hikari released his killing intent again. This immediately silenced the room.
Overall, only 31 genin were able to correctly answer all the questions. Only 8 teams had all 3 members answer correctly.
Of the remaining 7 genin, 1 was sitting too far from his team, and the other 6 only recognized the genjutsu at the last minute and couldn't communicate with their teammates in time.
Kaito breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Hodaka was sitting right in front of me!
Knowing the results, Kurama Hikari smiled. "In battle, the enemy will often subtly cast genjutsu on you, which can cause you to make wrong moves and put your entire team in danger. The enemy can also use this method to transmit false information, and if you fall for it, you might endanger your entire village. You must be careful and cautious when performing missions, because sometimes, just one wrong step can ruin everything."
As he spoke the last sentence, his killing intent was released again.
Then he announced, "Those who failed, please leave. Those who passed, wait here. The proctor for the second stage of the Chunin Exams will meet you at 9:45."
After announcing this, he disappeared in a blur.
The remaining genin instinctively disrupted their chakra. But they never saw him again.
The genin who failed left in disappointment. But regardless of the outcome, all genin had learned an important lesson.
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