In the corner of the classroom, the three Genin from Iwagakure were observing the entire examination hall with an almost bored demeanor.
Deidara, with his long blonde hair tied in a ponytail at the back and his left eye hidden behind his bangs, had been casually spinning a pen in his hand, scoffing at the 'trivial antics' of the Konoha's Genin around him.
In his eyes, these guys were nothing but a bunch of frogs at the bottom of a well who had never witnessed true 'art'.
However, when Big Sis Hinata's Byakugan erupted with that pressure that made everyone present's heart palpitate, Deidara's pen-spinning suddenly halted.
"Oh?" Deidara muttered to himself, a smile of interest curling at the corner of his mouth: "This Byakugan girl... is somewhat interesting."
That pressure wasn't just Chakra... it was also mixed with Kekkei Genkai, something he had never seen before.
Although Deidara couldn't articulate what it was, as Onoki's disciple and a genius of Iwagakure, he had a keen intuition for powerful auras.
'That seemingly soft and weak Hyuga girl was definitely not simple. Was it because of those Byakugan, or because of the person herself—'
Subsequently, Ibiki's entrance interrupted Deidara's thoughts.
Watching that scar-faced, imposing man walk to the podium, Deidara stroked his chin with interest, murmuring, "His entrance was pretty cool, Mm."
His mind had already begun brainstorming new artistic plans: 'If I use clay bombs to create smoke and then emerge from it, combined with lighting effects… yeah, it should be even more striking...'
Ku and Kirara, sitting beside Deidara, were quietly observing the Land of Stars' Ninja on the other side of the classroom, silently gathering intelligence on the new generation of Land of Stars' Ninja.
As Ibiki announced the start of the exam, over a dozen Chunin proctors from the Interrogation Department dispersed.
Each found a chair in the corners of the classroom and sat down. Some held scoreboards, some had their arms crossed over their chests, all wearing knowing smiles, as if enjoying an upcoming good show.
Several Chunin proctors began assigning seats to the examinees.
They mixed up the seating arrangements in a seemingly random pattern, having Ninja from different villages sit interspersed, maximizing the difficulty of cheating.
Menma looked at his seat number: Row 3, Column 5.
He walked over and sat down, then noticed Naruto had been placed in the seat next to him, Row 3, Column 6.
"Phew—" Naruto let out a long sigh of relief after sitting down, wiping the sweat from his forehead. 'Good thing Menma-nii forced me to study so much cultural class before. Now it's finally paying off.'
During his years at the Ninja Academy, Naruto's theoretical grades had always been below average, but not hopelessly so.
He owed this to Menma often tutoring him, even if it occasionally came with some 'punishment', like not being allowed to eat ramen if he didn't finish his problems.
Menma gave Naruto a disapproving glance and said quietly, "Don't get too happy too soon. The first exam probably isn't just about the questions. Pay attention yourself."
Of course, he knew the true purpose of this written test: to assess information gathering and transmission ability, in other words, the art of 'cheating'.
But he couldn't say it directly, only offer this veiled hint.
Naruto nodded, seeming to understand.
Menma was about to say something when suddenly, a fragrant breeze wafted over.
A figure zipped into the seat next to him.
"Menma-nii!" Karin's eyes sparkled like she'd found treasure, and she threw herself at Menma again. "We're sitting at adjacent desks! What a coincidence!"
She made no effort to hide her excitement, grabbing Menma's arm and rubbing her face against it like a spoiled kitten.
Thud!
A dull sound came from behind.
Everyone turned to look.
There, in the fourth row, Big Sis Hinata had slammed one hand hard onto her desktop.
That sturdy desk nearly split in two under the force.
She raised her head, her Byakugan wide, veins bulging at the corners of her eyes as she glared furiously at Karin.
The temperature in the entire classroom seemed to drop a few degrees.
"Nyah nyah nyah~" Karin turned to make an exaggerated funny face at Big Sis Hinata, then turned back to Menma, saying in a saccharine sweet voice:
"Nii-san… She's so mean~ Unlike me, I only know how to care for nii-san…"
Menma shuddered all over, goosebumps rising on his skin.
He forcefully extracted his arm from Karin's embrace: "Act normal. You're giving me goosebumps."
On the podium, Ibiki's brow twitched violently.
In all his years as an examiner, he had seen all kinds of examinees: nervous ones, arrogant ones, ones who cried for their parents after being caught cheating.
But this was the first time he had seen such open flirting and jealous rivalry in an examination hall.
"Everyone, quiet down!" Ibiki's voice boomed like thunder in the classroom, carrying the authority of the proctor. "Anyone else whispering will be penalized directly!"
Karin pouted and finally sat up straight properly.
It wasn't that she was afraid of Ibiki... she was mainly afraid that Menma might genuinely dislike her.
In the back row, Big Sis Hinata watched Karin settle down, her right fist still cracking audibly.
She leaned forward slightly and said coldly behind Menma's head, in a voice only the two of them could hear: "You'd better give me a good explanation later about how this red-haired 'little sister' came to be."
The chill in her tone made even Naruto, sitting next to Menma, shrink his neck involuntarily.
Menma turned his head and gave Hinata a somewhat sheepish smile: "L-Let's take the exam first. We'll talk after."
Big Sis Hinata gave a light snort.
Naruto wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and muttered quietly: "So scary... Hinata when she's angry is even scarier than Iruka-sensei..."
The exam officially began.
After the test papers were handed out, the rustling sounds of turning pages and writing filled the classroom.
The nine questions were indeed very difficult, covering cryptography, trap identification, geographical intelligence, tactical analysis, and other fields. An ordinary Genin would be doing well to answer two or three correctly.
But soon, some clever examinees realized the true purpose of this exam.
It wasn't testing whether you could solve the problems... it was testing whether you could 'cheat'.
Thus, it was time for everyone to show their skills.
Sakura sat in the second row. Looking at the questions on the test paper, a confident smile appeared on her face.
As a top student in theoretical subjects at the Ninja Academy, although these questions were difficult, they weren't too much for her.
She picked up her pen and began answering earnestly.
Ino, sitting diagonally behind her, quietly watched Sakura's back, a sly smile curving at her lips.
She gauged the time, and when Sakura had finished the first few questions, she secretly formed hand seals under her desk.
Mind Body Switch Technique.
Invisible spiritual energy extended like threads, silently invading Sakura's consciousness.
Sakura's body stiffened slightly but quickly returned to normal.
To outsiders, she merely paused to think about a question.
In reality, Ino was now controlling Sakura's body.
She quickly scanned the answers Sakura had already written, committed them firmly to memory, and then released the Jutsu.
The entire process took less than ten seconds, stealthy and unnoticed. When Sakura regained awareness, she only thought she had been distracted for a moment.
Sasuke sat in the fifth row.
He glanced at the test paper, didn't even frown, and directly activated his Two-Tomoe Sharingan.
A crimson flash of light passed through his eyes.
His gaze locked onto an examinee ahead of him, a Konoha's Genin wearing glasses who looked very bookish and was earnestly answering questions.
The Sharingan's dynamic vision allowed Sasuke to clearly capture every subtle movement of the other's pen.
The trajectory of the pen tip on the paper, the pauses, the angles of turns—
All this information, analyzed by the Sharingan, quickly transformed into corresponding answers.
Sasuke began to write expressionlessly, or rather, to 'imitate'.
Shino sat in the sixth row, in the corner of the classroom.
He pushed up his sunglasses. A few tiny parasitic insects flew silently from his sleeve and dispersed unnoticed among the surrounding examinees.
The insects couldn't talk, but they could fly around like flies, look at the answers the examinees wrote, then fly back to Shino.
Through the special connection between the insect swarm and the Aburame Clan, the information was relayed to Shino's mind.
He closed his eyes, quietly 'listening' to the insects' reports, and then began answering.
Over in the Kirigakure's section, Chojuro sat in the fourth row, earnestly bent over his answers.
He pushed up his glasses, fine beads of sweat forming on his forehead. These questions were indeed somewhat difficult for him, coming from the era of the Bloody Mist Policy.
Honoka sat one seat away from him, her brow furrowed, biting her pen as she tried hard to recall what she had learned, her expression quite troubled.
Suigetsu sat in the last row, slumped in his chair, looking utterly exhausted.
He scratched his white short hair, his cheek twitching slightly, and muttered quietly: "What the hell... Ninjas have to take tests too? Isn't just knowing how to fight enough..."
In the Kumogakure's section, Omoi scratched his white hair, his expression cautious as he observed his surroundings.
When he saw his teammate Karui had started answering, he relaxed slightly and carefully picked up his pen.
Atsui, however, looked completely bewildered, holding his pen and staring at the questions on the test paper like they were written in an unknown language, having no idea where to start.
He looked pleadingly at Omoi, but Omoi was focused on answering and didn't notice his gaze.
Over in the Iwagakure's section, Deidara glanced at the test paper, snorted dismissively, and tossed his pen onto the desk.
"Boring," He said quietly, then took a small lump of clay from his ninja tool pouch and started kneading it in his hands.
Ku and Kirara continued answering quietly.
Their pace was steady, not fast, showing these questions weren't too difficult for them.
In the center of the classroom, Kabuto pushed up his glasses, quietly observing everything in the examination hall.
As the head of the Land of Stars' Anbu's Intelligence Division, Kabuto's strength far surpassed that of an ordinary Jonin.
At that moment, all the examinees' little tricks, like Ino's Mind Body Switch Technique, Sasuke's Sharingan copying, Shino's insect reconnaissance, even Deidara kneading clay under the desk… could not escape his eyes.
Compared to the Ninja from other villages, those from the Land of Stars, like Gaara, Temari, Karin, Kurotsuchi, and others, were all earnestly answering the questions.
Kabuto picked up the test paper on his desk, glanced briefly at the questions, and a smile curved at the corner of his mouth.
These questions might be difficult for Genin from other villages, but for Ninja of the Land of Stars—
They were a piece of cake.
The Land of Stars had implemented a brand new educational system. At the Ninja School, students not only learned Ninjutsu and Taijutsu but also received systematic cultural education.
Mathematics, physics, chemistry, geography, history—
The nine-year compulsory education system gave Land of Stars' Genin a knowledge base far surpassing that of traditional Ninja.
Kabuto looked at these questions, recalling the textbooks he had studied at the Land of Stars' Ninja School.
These exam questions, within the Land of Stars's educational system, were even only part of the sixth-grade basic curriculum.
He gently turned his head, his gaze sweeping over an unremarkable Ninja in the Otogakure's group… a plain-looking, thin-built boy who was earnestly answering questions.
But Kabuto knew that was Orochimaru in disguise.
As the person communicating between the Land of Stars and Orochimaru for this operation, Kabuto was very curious: what exactly was Orochimaru's purpose in disguising himself as a Genin to participate in the Chunin Exams?
'Was it for the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki?'
'Or for Uchiha Sasuke's precious Sharingan?'
'Or—'
'Was it for Menma?'
'Orochimaru, I hope you don't disappoint us...' Kabuto's glasses reflected the classroom's lights, obscuring his eyes.