After dealing with Tobitake Tonbo, Ino's thoughts returned to herself.
Why would she, perfectly fine, think of Indra? Who in this classroom was related to Indra now? She subtly turned her head, her peripheral vision glancing at Sasuke.
This was a test center, after all, so Ino couldn't openly talk to the person behind her.
Passing notes was even less appropriate, so she could only suppress the doubts in her heart and focus on the test paper in front of her.
There were priorities, and Indra's matter wasn't a big deal right now!
After Ino finished her own test paper, she used the Mind Body Switch Technique to help Choji in the front row complete his test, then waited for the tenth question.
Shikamaru? Shikamaru didn't need her to worry at all. That guy usually didn't want high scores because he found it troublesome, but when he was serious, Shikamaru knew how to do all these questions. If he handed in a blank paper, his mother would kill him.
Sasuke rubbed his eyes vigorously. He had felt an intense pain in his eyes just now. That special Dojutsu Power, which had been sealed by the Third Hokage, suddenly went berserk, almost breaking through its original seal.
The pain was instantaneous. It still hurt a lot now, but the sensation was rapidly fading.
He spent a little more time, and his eyes finally returned to normal. This time, he didn't dare to imitate Ino again. He aimed his Sharingan at Sakura, mimicking Sakura's movements, and answered the questions by rote.
The subsequent process was similar to the original timeline. The last question tested team cohesion. Ibiki announced the rules before answering the tenth question, the so-called despair rule.
The rule was that examinees chose whether to answer the tenth question.
If they chose not to answer, the examinee would be immediately disqualified, and their two teammates would also be eliminated. If they chose to answer the tenth question and answered incorrectly, the person would be permanently stripped of the right to participate in the Chunin Exams. In other words, they would only be able to be a Genin for life.
This was a question that caused great despair. Once a wrong choice was made, the impact would follow them for life. Most Genin without much background thought this way.
Examinees successively withdrew, giving up on this exam.
The Chunin Exams are held every six months, and the questions are different each time. They are all set by the proctors themselves, with no unified standard. Sometimes they are particularly simple, sometimes extremely difficult.
If one wasn't confident, they could completely wait for the exam in six months. There was no need to gamble with their Ninja career.
Many examinees believed they were unlucky this time, encountering a proctor who liked to make things difficult, and left the exam room muttering curses.
More and more people left, but Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji remained seated.
After about ten minutes, Naruto raised his left hand and delivered an impassioned speech, vowing that even if he could only be a Genin for life, he would continue the exam!
Then, Anko Mitarashi, with her large chest and boisterous personality, appeared and announced that the second exam would take place tomorrow.
Leaving the Ninja Academy, Ino bid farewell to Shikamaru and Choji, then turned onto a small path and saw Uchiha Sasuke waiting for her by the corner of the wall.
It was very quiet here. Ino looked left and right, saw no one else, and said, "Look at me with your Sharingan one more time."
Sasuke disliked this commanding tone, but to resolve the doubts in his heart, he still stared at Ino with his Sharingan.
The Tomoe rotated rapidly, and a genjutsu was activated. Ino was pulled into the genjutsu constructed by Sasuke, but her mental energy was strong, and her Yin Release level was high. Sasuke's genjutsu construction was only average, and she easily broke free.
No illusion, no old man, no Indra.
Ino was afraid it was another memory loss issue. She tried hard to recall, racking her brain, but didn't detect any abnormality.
Had Indra's Sharingan entered a cooldown state?
Ino listed many possibilities in her mind, then ruled them out one by one.
The two of them studied for a long time, and it seemed that today's incident had not affected them. Sasuke's Sharingan had not evolved into Three Tomoe, and Ino had not experienced any increase in attributes or Ninjutsu. Immunity to genjutsu was even more out of the question.
It seemed like a hallucination that appeared inexplicably and disappeared just as inexplicably.
If Ino hadn't firmly remembered Indra's name, even she would have doubted her own memory.
"What exactly did you see?" Sasuke had no memory of the hallucination. From Ino's expression and tone, he felt that the woman in front of him seemed to possess some information he didn't know.
This made him very angry. It was clearly his Sharingan, so why could an outsider obtain information, while he, the owner, was completely confused?
Ino pondered for a long time but still did not offer any explanation.
The name Indra was best not discussed openly. Perhaps the Six Paths Sage was currently monitoring the Ninja World with some ability. He might not be able to monitor millions or tens of millions of people, but he should be able to monitor the reincarnation of his son.
Ino's face was full of disdain: "Strange eyes, don't look at me again!"
She turned and left, walking very fast.
Sasuke tried to grab her but was a step too slow, only able to watch her quickly depart.
Ino passed by the Hyuga Clan, and using the excuse "no one is home tonight," she invited Hinata to the back mountain to spar in Taijutsu.
The young girl Hinata was becoming more and more familiar with her, and her confidence had improved. Ino also needed this somewhat weak opponent to help her hone her Taijutsu. The two hit it off and would spar whenever they had a chance.
Originally, she had also called Tenten, but unfortunately, Tenten prioritized romance over friendship and went to train with Neji after the exam.
On her way home, Ino saw Yakushi Kabuto leaning in an alley, waiting for her.
This guy was about to defect from the village, right? Ino didn't really want to get involved with him, but at this moment, she couldn't pretend not to see him.
She hadn't even thought of how to speak yet when Kabuto suddenly let out a "wah" and spit out a large mouthful of blood.
"Senior Kabuto? Manager? Are you alright?"
Having worked at the hospital for so long, she could tell that the blood Kabuto was spitting out was fresh, dark red blood.
So severely injured?
Ino didn't know what act he was putting on today, so she could only put on a panicked expression to cooperate, given the current situation.
Kabuto raised a hand: "I'm sorry, I can't go on. That guy from Otogakure is just too strong, cough cough cough cough."
He coughed up blood as he spoke.
Kabuto's acting was superb. If Ino didn't know his true abilities, she would definitely have been fooled.
"...I'm leaving this world. This isn't what I wanted. I also wanted to develop a panacea to free everyone from suffering, but my injuries are too severe... I don't want to die! Really, I want to live! Please bury me by the sea..."
Yakushi Kabuto's head tilted, and he died!
Really dead?
Ino didn't believe it one bit. Could those two blows from Dosu of the Six Paths kill Kabuto? Impossible!
But she used her medical techniques and perception abilities and didn't detect any life signs from Kabuto, not a single trace. He seemed thoroughly dead.
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