Unlike in the original timeline, Naruto right now wasn't that illiterate, loudmouthed kid who was stupid because of years of neglect and malnutrition. Thanks to the proper upbringing and training he had received from Izanami, he was an absolute genius who could easily be considered the first in his class. He could see right through Kabuto's fake, friendly senior act.
An ordinary older genin wouldn't have been able to gather his information like this. With all the Yokai members strictly isolating and locking down his files under Izanami's orders, Naruto could practically be considered a ghost even within Konoha's own system. The fact that Kabuto had any data on him at all meant this "senior" had some highly suspicious backing.
Sasuke, standing right next to him, caught the subtle shift in Naruto's eyes instantly. As someone who had shared the same brutal suffering under Izanami's relentless "torture training", his teamwork and mental synchronization with Naruto ran incredibly deep. They could practically read each other's thoughts with a single look. Keeping his expression completely cold and unreadable, Sasuke's guard went up immediately. He didn't say a word, but his hand subtly drifted closer to his weapon pouch. This silver-haired guy was digging into things he shouldn't be, and he was definitely hiding something dangerous.
Before Kabuto could notice that his cover was starting to slip or explain any further about the remaining cards, a loud, explosive noise suddenly shattered the heavy atmosphere of the packed room.
BOOM!
A thick cloud of white smoke erupted right at the front of the classroom. The intense, crushing pressure rolling out from the smoke was so heavy that several foreign genin instinctively took a step back, their hands flying to their weapons.
As the smoke slowly cleared, a massive, intimidating man wearing a long black trench coat stood there, surrounded by a dozen specialized Konoha examiners. His face was covered in deep, jagged scars, and his dark eyes carried the cold weight of a seasoned interrogator who had seen the worst of humanity.
"Quiet down, you worthless brats!" the scarred man roared, his voice booming across the entire hall and causing the window panes to rattle violently. "My name is Ibiki Morino, and I am your proctor for the first phase of the Chunin Selection Exam!"
Ibiki's cold gaze swept over the entire room like a hawk, stopping for a brief, heavy second on Team 7 before moving on. He pointed a thick, gloved finger towards the rows of neatly arranged desks.
"Take a number and sit down at your assigned desks immediately! Anyone caught causing a scene or fighting without my explicit permission from this moment on will be disqualified on the spot. Now, move!"
The heavy feeling in the room made everyone shiver. The noisy crowd of over a hundred genin instantly quieted down. Everyone quickly moved to do what the scarred proctor said.
Naruto and Sasuke looked away from Kabuto, hiding their suspicions for now. They walked forward and picked a random desk number from a box held by a chuunin examiner.
"See you guys later," Sakura whispered nervously, checking her ticket and walking towards the middle rows.
The seats were set up to separate teammates. Naruto sat in the middle-left aisle, while Sasuke was a few rows behind him to the right. As Naruto sat down, he looked at the people next to him. To his right was Hinata Hyuga. She gave him a small, shy nod and quickly looked down, her face turning red. Naruto gave her a friendly smile and then looked back at the front of the room.
Ibiki stood by the blackboard with his arms crossed. He looked very scary and demanded absolute silence.
"Since everyone is seated, I will explain the rules for the first phase of the chunin exam," Ibiki said, his deep voice echoing in the room. He tapped the board with a piece of chalk. "This is a written test with ten questions. You start with ten points. If you get a question wrong, you lose one point. If you miss three, you have seven points, and so on."
"Oh, and one last thing," Ibiki said with a mean smile. "The examiners on the walls are watching. Get caught cheating once and lose two points. Get caught five times, and your team is thrown out. You have one hour. The last question comes later. Start now!"
With this command, everyone quickly began to flip their papers at once.
Naruto looked at the questions. They were full of hard formulas, secret codes, and advanced strategy problems.
'Hmm, is this paper supposed to be this advanced?' Naruto thought in doubt as his eyes scanned the room. Then his eyes lit up as he realized, ' I get it, these are too hard for normal genin. We aren't supposed to know this. The real test is to see if we can cheat without getting caught.'
As he looked around, he noticed that two genin in the front rows were writing smoothly without any hesitation. Their pencil movements were perfect. Naruto smirked. Those two were definitely planted chunin who held the correct answers. The exam was practically begging the students to steal from them.
Across the room, Sasuke activated his Sharingan, his eyes turning red as he tracked the muscle movements of a planted chunin's hand, perfectly copying the answers onto his own sheet.
Other ninjas also began their moves, keeping their actions completely hidden from the sharp eyes on the walls.
Neji Hyuga activated his Byakugan, but he did not open his eyes wide. He kept his eyelids nearly closed, hiding the veins around his temples. His vision pierced through the wood of the front desk, memorizing the answers in a single glance.
Shikamaru leant his head on his hand, looking bored. He let his shadow slide perfectly under the shadow of the desk next to him, blending into the dark lines of the floor. The student next to him felt a slight stiffness, unknowingly guiding Shikamaru's hand to match the correct strokes.
A Rain ninja looked up at the ceiling. He used a secret trick to make tiny water drops on the lights. The water drops acted like little mirrors. They reflected the correct answers straight into his eyes.
A sand ninja let a tiny bug puppet crawl out of his sleeve. The bug was as small as dust. It crawled up a smart student's desk and looked at the test. Then, it sent the answers back to the ninja using chakra.
Meanwhile, Naruto didn't need to copy anyone. Thanks to Izanami's brutal training, his mind was sharper than that of any normal ninja. So this test is a bit easy for him. However, he noticed something hidden in the paper. The specific placement of the symbols in question four formed a secret code used by Japan's intelligence network—a hidden message meant only for him and Kiyomi's subordinates.
'Orochimaru is already inside the building,' the code read.
Naruto's eyes narrowed slightly, but his hand didn't shake. He smoothly filled out the correct answers on his test paper while keeping his face completely blank. But his mind was working at high speed to understand this hidden cryptic message.
Author's Note: I'm currently balancing my university studies with writing, and things can get pretty tight. If you enjoy my work, even a $1 donation on Patreon makes a massive difference in helping me cover my education expenses.
Also, I'm going to create a new fanfic, so there are a few voting polls to decide on the story will continue. I would appreciate it if you can go to my Patreon and cast your vote. The more feedback, the better.