In Konoha Village, inside the examination hall.
Forty-five minutes had passed.
Ibiki stood on the podium, his hands braced on the edge of the desk, his body leaning slightly forward, his face stern, his eagle-sharp eyes scanning the remaining examinees in the room.
The atmosphere in the classroom was oppressive. Only the sounds of heavy breathing and the rustling of pen tips scratching paper could be heard.
During this time, quite a few Genin had been eliminated for getting caught cheating, leaving many seats vacant.
Now, Ibiki announced the rules for the tenth question.
That was the final question, and also the cruelest.
"The rules for the tenth question are very simple." Ibiki's voice echoed through the silent classroom, each word landing like a hammer on the examinees' hearts. "You can choose to 'answer' or 'not answer'. If you choose 'not answer', then you and your two teammates will immediately lose the qualification to take the exam and be eliminated."
A wave of suppressed gasps sounded in the room.
Ibiki continued, his tone even colder: "But examinees who choose to 'answer' must be aware that if you answer incorrectly, then you yourself will be permanently barred from ever taking the Chunin Exams again. That is to say, you will remain at the Genin level for life, never able to advance."
He stressed the word 'permanently' with particular weight.
The classroom instantly erupted.
"Permanently barred from promotion?!"
"Th-This is too—"
"What the hell!"
Naruto's face turned pale.
He snapped his head around to look at Menma beside him, his lips trembling: "M-Menma-nii... a Genin for life? Th-Then how can I ever become Hokage—"
Nearby, Kiba was also holding his head, Akamaru on his head whimpering, clearly frightened as well.
Kiba's voice was almost tearful: "No way! I want to become a skilled Jonin like my father!"
Some of the more thoughtful Genin, such as Shikamaru, Temari, Chojuro, and Omoi, remained relatively calm.
They quickly realized the loophole in this rule: If you couldn't be promoted in Konoha, did that mean you couldn't be promoted in your own village either? This was clearly just a scare tactic.
But those examinees with poorer psychological resilience, or those who deeply believed in the rules, had already begun to waver.
As the captain of Konoha's Interrogation Division, Ibiki was very satisfied watching the various reactions of the people below.
He raised his hand, signaling for silence, then added the most crucial point: "Furthermore, the tenth question will be announced fifteen minutes after the exam begins. During those fifteen minutes, you may choose to give up at any time. And once someone chooses to give up, all members of that person's squad will be eliminated."
"Now—" Ibiki glanced at the clock on the wall: "The countdown begins. Fifteen minutes from now, I will announce the content of the tenth question."
With that, he sat back down, crossed his arms over his chest, closed his eyes, as if asleep.
An eerie silence fell over the classroom.
The examinees looked at each other, no one daring to speak.
Although Ibiki had his eyes closed, the proctors from the Interrogation Department scattered around the classroom were watching them like hawks.
That feeling of being targeted by a pack of wolves sent chills down many spines.
Time ticked by, minute by minute.
With each tick of the second hand on the wall clock, it felt like a knock on people's hearts.
At the fifth minute, the first person to choose to give up appeared.
A Genin raised his hand, his face pale, his voice trembling: "I-I give up—"
Ibiki didn't even open his eyes, just waved his hand.
Two proctors immediately stepped forward and led the person and his teammates out of the classroom.
The sound of the door closing was particularly piercing in the silence.
This beginning was like opening a floodgate.
In the following minutes, squads one after another chose to give up.
"I give up—"
"S-Sorry, I can't do it—"
"I don't want to be a Genin forever—"
Some were genuinely terrified, while others were 'plants' arranged by Ibiki.
Those Interrogation Department's Ninja mingled among the examinees were now dutifully performing 'breakdowns' and 'giving up', using exaggerated words and expressions to stimulate the nerves of the other examinees.
"It's over, it's over, being a Genin for life might as well die!"
"I'm only fifteen, I don't want my life ruined like this!"
"Teammate, I'm sorry, I really don't dare to gamble—"
These words seeped into the hearts of those examinees with fragile psychological defenses.
Naruto bit his lip hard. He looked at Menma, then at Hinata in the back row.
Hinata also looked nervous at that moment, but when she met Naruto's gaze, she nodded firmly, her eyes saying, "I believe in you."
Menma even had the leisure to spin his pencil in his hand, his gaze sweeping over the remaining examinees in the classroom, silently counting their numbers.
The fourteenth minute.
Only sixteen teams remained in the classroom, forty-eight people.
The wave of give-ups had stopped.
The number who passed was much smaller than in the original work. Menma vaguely remembered that in the original, about twenty-six groups, over seventy people, passed the first exam, prompting Mitarashi Anko to complain about Ibiki.
This was normal. Without Naruto's morale-boosting speech from the original work, many examinees with poor psychological resilience had given up.
"Time's up."
At the fifteenth minute, Ibiki slowly stood up and walked to the center of the podium.
His gaze swept over every face below… some nervous, some determined, some doubtful, some angry.
"Now, examinees who choose to continue the exam, please raise your hands."
A brief silence.
Then, one hand went up.
It was Naruto.
His arm was raised high and straight. Although it was still trembling slightly, there was no hesitation.
His blue eyes burned with firm flames.
Immediately after, a second hand, a third hand… hands one after another went up.
Menma raised his hand, Hinata raised her hand, Sasuke raised his hand, Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Kiba, Shino, Sakura… the Konoha rookies almost all raised their hands simultaneously.
From the Land of Stars, Karin, Kurotsuchi, Ranmaru, Gaara, Temari and Kankuro raised their hands.
Kirigakure's Suigetsu, Chojuro, Honoka raised their hands.
From Kumogakure, Karui, Omoi and Atsui raised their hands.
Ku and Kirara from Iwagakure raised their hands. Deidara looked impatient but still raised his hand along with them.
In the end, all forty-eight people in the classroom raised their hands.
Ibiki watched this scene. His previously stern face broke into a smile.
"Very good." He smiled approvingly. "Then I announce that everyone here has passed the first exam."
"Huh?" Naruto was stunned.
The other examinees were also stunned.
'We passed?'
'But the tenth question hadn't even been announced yet!'
Ibiki explained: "The tenth question was actually given the moment the exam began. It was… 'Do you have the courage to face unknown risks and trust your teammates'."
He paused, his voice becoming deep: "Being a Chunin requires not only strength, but also the ability to make difficult decisions on missions. If you don't even have the courage to trust your teammates and move forward with them, then that person lacks the qualifications to become a Chunin from the very beginning."
"Those who chose to give up didn't do so because the question was too hard, but because they didn't believe in themselves, nor did they believe in their teammates. But you—"
His gaze swept over every person below.
"You chose trust and courage. That was the true answer to the tenth question."
The classroom was quiet for a few seconds.
Then, Naruto let out a huge cheer.
"Yeah—!"
Naruto was the first to jump up, waving his fists: "We passed! Menma-nii! Hinata! We passed!"
Sasuke snorted, but the corner of his mouth also curved up slightly.
Shikamaru let out a long sigh of relief, slumping in his chair: "Finally over... what a drag..."
Choji had already impatiently pulled out a new bag of potato chips and was happily crunching away.
"Menma-nii! Great! Let's become Chunin together!" Karin tried to throw herself at Menma again.
Hinata in the back row was so anxious her face turned red.
Karin also noticed this, turned her head, and muttered quietly: "Strange—"
Gaara sat with his arms crossed, eyes closed, occasionally glancing at Sasuke a few rows ahead.
Ku and Kirara were quietly discussing something, their expressions serious.
Just then… Crash!!!
The classroom window was suddenly broken violently from the outside!
Glass shards flew everywhere. A figure flipped in through the opening and landed lightly on the podium.
It was a woman, seemingly in her twenties, with long dark purple hair tied in a small spiky ponytail at the back. She wore fishnet underneath, with a beige trench coat over it.
Her face had a flamboyant smile, her eyes full of wildness.
She scanned the examinees in the classroom and nodded with satisfaction: "Forty-eight people, an elimination rate of less than seventy percent. Morino, you're still not ruthless enough."
Ibiki shook his head helplessly: "Anko, you're always like this—"
"Like what?" Anko grinned, interrupting him, then turned to the examinees below, hands on her hips, her voice loud: "Listen up, you brats! I'm your proctor for the second exam, Konoha's Special Jonin, Mitarashi Anko!"
She paused, her smile becoming even more dangerous.
"Congratulations on passing the first one. But don't get too comfortable—"
Her gaze swept over every face, like a wildcat sizing up its prey.
"I'll make sure at least fifty percent of you will be eliminated in the second exam."
The relaxed atmosphere in the classroom that had just formed instantly tightened again.
…
The forty-eight Genin examinees who had passed the first written exam followed Anko and stopped in front of a massive iron gate.
It was a rusty iron gate five meters tall, wrapped in thick chains with links as thick as an adult's arm.
Over a dozen proctors stood in front the iron gate. On both sides were walls of towering barbed wire, extending left and right with no end in sight.
The wire fence was covered in dark green vines, and moss grew thick on the foundations, clearly showing its age.
A wooden sign hung on the gate, bearing a striking warning written in red paint:
Training Ground No. 44
Alias: Forest of Death
Danger Level: A
Entry Strictly Prohibited Without Permission
The words [Forest of Death] were written in an even brighter red, the strokes sloppy and fierce, as if written in blood.
"We're here." Anko turned around to face the examinees, a flamboyant smile on her face. "Welcome to the venue for the second exam… Training Ground No. 44, better known as the Forest of Death."
As she spoke, she raised her hand and slapped the rusty iron gate, producing a dull clang.
"As you can see, this is an enclosed training ground. It spans twenty kilometers in circumference, completely surrounded by these walls." Anko put her hands on her hips, her gaze sweeping over every face.
"Your exam is simple: take your mission scroll and reach the central tower located in the heart of the training ground within 120 hours… that is, five days."
'Five days?'
The examinees looked at each other.
Choji, holding his bag of potato chips, paused mid-bite.
He blinked and asked somewhat blankly: "Th-Then what do we eat?"
Anko grinned, revealing gleaming white teeth: "You figure it out inside the exam venue, of course. This forest has abundant resources… wild fruits, mushrooms, streams, and plenty of wild animals like wild boars and snakes. Of course—"
She deliberately dragged out her tone, her smile becoming even more dangerous.
"There are also many highly toxic creatures, like the rainbow ring snake. Its venom can cause total paralysis and respiratory failure in an adult Ninja within three minutes. There are also 'man-eating flowers' that disguise themselves as ordinary plants, suddenly closing their petals and secreting digestive fluids when prey approaches. Oh, and deep in the forest, there are bears and wild boars several times larger than normal."
With each creature she mentioned, the examinees' faces grew paler.
"So if you're not careful," Anko shrugged, "you might just die in there."
She said the words 'might die' very casually, but the impact was even greater than the written exam just now.
The written exam, after all, was just a test in a classroom. This was a real battlefield where people could actually die.