As the chief proctor announced the start, all the examinees immediately picked up their pens and began working.
Everyone made the same choice: first finish the questions they knew how to do; as for the ones they did not, either think of a way themselves or rely on their teammates to figure something out.
Makoto also did not do anything special. Although he knew all of these questions and could pass even without cheating, he did not rush to finish and hand in his paper early. Instead, he wrote the five simpler questions at a normal pace first, and then slowly worked through those questions that went beyond the syllabus.
For example, the first question was a translation of a piece of high-level Konohagakure cipher text. He wrote it very slowly, stroke by stroke, with neat and easily legible handwriting.
This made the middle-aged male genin sitting beside him and the girl who looked to be around fourteen feel extremely fortunate in their hearts. With just a slight shift of their gaze, they could see the answers.
Good thing we're sitting next to an academic prodigy of a junior—now we're saved.
The same was true for the fourth question, which concerned the damage to the human body caused by mixing three common plant poisons, as well as the methods for rapid first aid. For a question like this, if one did not have a medical background, it really would be very difficult to answer it completely correctly.
For every difficult question like these, he wrote very slowly, as if he were afraid that others might not know exactly what he had written.
This was because Makoto had discovered through perception that everyone seated in the classroom was an examinee; the village had not arranged for anyone who knew the answers in advance to be mixed in among them.
In the same village, they were all comrades. To ease their pressure a little, Makoto could only make some contributions for everyone—after all, Higashino-sama was a very yasashii person.
He was not the aloof genius type like Kakashi. He cared a lot about Konohagakure comrades; his persona could not collapse.
After everyone finished the easy questions, the quiet exam hall began to produce some noisy disturbances. In order to get the answers to the other five difficult questions, the examinees began to each display their own abilities.
Like the girl to Makoto's right: after copying the academic prodigy's answers, she started playing with her ponytail. But she played in a very distinctive way—her nimble hands could always use chakra to control a lock of hair into some kind of symbol, quietly passing the answers to her teammates.
A very strange hair-control technique. It seemed she had the potential to become Jiraiya's disciple.
The middle-aged uncle on the left side was the same. After finishing the paper, his armpit started itching. While scratching, he was also using sign language to the people behind him.
This was a special contact code between him and his teammates.
This was still somewhat methodical. As for those guys without special means, they directly used the great art of throwing paper notes—but you're at least a ninja. Can your methods be a little more professional?
Your paper ball is flying through midair—did you think the proctor chūnin's eyes were left at home and forgotten?
And that brother who stuffed the answers into the hole in his shuriken—choosing to throw it from underfoot was very wise, but can you aim a little more accurately? You even stuck it into someone else's calf. Look how much it hurt that kid.
For such crude methods, the proctor chūnin did not even go through the procedure of recording five violations; on the spot, they eliminated the entire squad.
Very quickly, an hour passed and the first written exam came to an end. Of the twenty-five teams, ten were kicked out, leaving only forty-seven people to advance to the second exam.
After that, the chief proctor of the second exam, who had just arrived, led everyone to the outside of Training Ground No. 41, located behind the Hokage Rock. This training ground was not as large as Death Forest No. 44, but it was by no means small. From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., everyone would have to spend the entire time inside it.
…
Outside the second examination area, Makoto looked at the slip of paper he had received and already had a clear idea in his mind.
At present, a total of fifteen standard three-person teams had entered the second exam, plus two solo examinees—seventeen teams altogether.
Each team received one slip of paper. Besides a serial number, it also contained several strings of numbers and hint words written in high-level cipher text. The cipher itself was not difficult to crack—it was exactly the content of the first question of the first exam. If, when copying answers, you had not memorized the corresponding translations between the cipher and the text, then you would be in trouble.
Those examinees who had copied the answers and then paid no further attention now wished they could rush back to the exam hall, retrieve their papers, and take another careful look.
To think that the two exams could be linked together in this way—the person who designed this Chūnin Exam was truly both devious and fond of playing games.
This was because the condition for passing the second exam was to find the eight mission scrolls hidden within Training Ground No. 41 and deliver them into the hands of the examiner stationed at the center of the forest.
If you did not understand cipher decoding, then you could only snatch it from someone else's hands.
Very quickly, all the teams lined up at the corresponding entrances according to the numbers on their slips. When the time came, the entrances opened, and the examinees all rushed into the forest of Training Ground No. 41.
After entering the forest, Makoto quickly recalled the situation of Training Ground No. 41. This comprehensive training ground, several sizes smaller than the legendary Death Forest No. 44, was likewise surrounded by tall steel fences to prevent people from wandering in by mistake during normal times.
Its radius was only about two kilometers, and there were a total of twenty entrances around it.
That is to say, the entire training ground lay within his perception range. Although the mission scrolls had no chakra fluctuations and were somewhat difficult to locate, Makoto's perception ability was rather peculiar; if he searched carefully, he could still find them.
However, he did not plan to do that, because the slip of paper had already given the answer, which gave him a sense of enjoyment, like playing a puzzle-solving game.
Makoto entered the forest from Entrance No. 5, so he naturally chose the set of data that began with 5, and soon arrived at a location based on the hints on the slip.
The set of data that began with 5 was 5, 17, 4, 7.
None of the numbers were greater than 20, which indicated that each number represented an entrance, and each set of numbers represented a position.
Therefore, the correct location should be the intersection point of the two straight lines formed by the four entrances—5–17 and 4–7—and this should also be the mission location closest to him.
The hint corresponding to this set of numbers was "Red in the Forest."
However, there were no red trees or leaves here, nor were there any red wildflowers.
Makoto surveyed the trees around the mission location, then smiled faintly. His entire body was as if freed from the planet's gravity as he lightly drifted up beside a bird's nest on a large tree.
This was the nest of a Red-crested Tree Warbler, a bird species unique to the central and southern regions of the Land of Fire. It was an abandoned nest, with a small scroll pressed beneath it.
The mission was successfully completed.
After obtaining the scroll, Makoto immediately headed toward the center. As expected, he soon encountered a squad blocking the way. It seemed that those who could not solve the cipher were not fools either—if I can't solve it, that's fine; I can just wait by the central area of the training ground and ambush others.
Why bother searching painstakingly when snatching it is faster?
This was a team of genin around fifteen or sixteen years old, all male. The leader, a youth with black spiky hair, said excitedly, "So lucky—we ran into someone so quickly, and it's just one person. Hey, kid, did you find a mission scroll?"
"Of course I did. Isn't it just a matter of using your brain?"
"Bastard, are you mocking us? In that case, don't blame us for making a move!"
These low-level genin of Konohagakure had limited sources of information. Ninja was a profession that emphasized secrecy; they only knew that two little heroes had emerged on the eastern battlefield, but Konohagakure would never plaster their photos everywhere. How would ordinary ninja know what they looked like?
However, his teammate still had a clear head and prompted from behind, "Um… He seems to be the other solo examinee besides the Uchiha. He should be pretty strong. We'd better go rob someone else."
The spiky-haired boy was unconcerned. "Even if he's a genius, how strong can someone that young really be? We've been ninja for several years already, damn it. Can you show a little backbone?"
Makoto used the Body Flicker and appeared behind him in an instant. Killing intent enveloped the three of them. "I think that, when you're out carrying out missions in the future, you'd better trust your teammates' judgment. Otherwise, it's very easy to die."
After saying that, he vanished.
The three stood there dumbfounded, trembling. Another teammate asked, "Falcon, are we still going to rob people?"
"…" Falcon fell silent for a moment, then pulled himself together and said, "Of course we are. The younger ones are all monsters. We'll look for teams with older members instead. If they're that old and still genin, their strength must be terrible. We might actually succeed."
After discussing it, the three decided to change locations and continue lying in wait.
Makoto arrived inside the central building hall and handed his mission scroll to the chūnin examiner responsible for registration.
The examiner, along with several colleagues beside him, looked completely stunned. Someone passed already—this fast?
"Register your name, then wait off to the side," he said, steadying himself as he followed procedure and recorded Makoto's information.
Then, less than a minute later, the few who had just steadied their nerves were stunned again. Someone else was this strong too? Who was backing this kid?
One look at the clan crest on the newcomer's body—oh, an Uchiha. Then it made sense.
When Shisui saw Makoto, he showed an expression of as expected. After finishing the registration, he walked over. Judging by the urgency in his eyes, he probably had something he wanted to ask.
"Yo, Shisui. Figures this kind of exam would be no challenge for you," Makoto greeted him, quietly making a hand sign with his right hand.
"Aren't you the same, Makoto?" Shisui understood the meaning of the hand sign—there's surveillance—and likewise chose to give a normal response.
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