The mood in the classroom suddenly became tense. Suigetsu, who had been planning to cheat, blinked and turned his head toward Kimimaro with a guilty look.
Kimimaro stayed expressionless and gave him an "OK" hand sign.
Maybe cheating in the chaos wasn't such a bad idea after all.
"Even if there's only one teacher inside, there could still be others guarding the outside!"
"Jumping in like that is way too reckless."
"But getting kicked out during the written test... that's just hard to accept."
The students looked up at Hatake Satoru, then quickly lowered their heads again like it had nothing to do with them.
The student in front of him had red eyes and looked like he was about to stab Hatake Satoru with the kunai in his hand. Judging by his expression, he had clearly lost it a bit.
There was no one else in the room, and he'd heard from other students that Hatake Satoru might not even be a real ninja.
That's why he decided to rush in and take a chance.
But he didn't actually want to kill the teacher—just scare him a little.
When he saw Hatake Satoru still sitting motionless at the desk, his hand started to hesitate.
"When you raised your weapon at me, you should've thought about what would happen next."
Hatake Satoru finally looked up, still sitting still. His black blindfold faced the student directly.
Even though his eyes were covered, the student could still feel the pressure coming straight at him.
"I don't like picking fights with kids, but I hate stubborn idiots who don't listen even more."
Satoru lifted his hand slightly, and in the blink of an eye, the kunai pointed at him suddenly turned and aimed right at the student's face.
"No… no, teacher, I…"
The moment the kunai turned, the student's face filled with panic.
His hand wasn't moving on its own anymore! It was like some invisible force was controlling it!
"You don't have the guts to kill anyone, yet you still tried to threaten me. So stupid~"
"Get out. You're not getting another chance to take this test."
As soon as Hatake Satoru finished speaking, the kunai flew straight through the student's clothes and slammed into the wall behind him with a loud *thud*.
Everyone was startled by the sound and nervously glanced back at the student, who looked like he'd been scared out of his mind. Then they quickly lowered their heads again.
Some of them had definitely been thinking of cheating too, but after seeing what Hatake Satoru could do, only someone crazy would still try anything.
Even if he wasn't a ninja, this guy was seriously scary as a teacher.
No wonder he was picked to be a proctor for the Chunin Exams.
Suigetsu took a deep breath, forced himself to recall the answers in his head, and quickly began writing.
During the earlier chaos, he had spilled some water on the floor, turned himself into liquid, and sneaked a peek at the answers behind the podium.
If that student hadn't caused such a scene, he probably wouldn't have gotten the chance to see the answers.
Sometimes stepping stones really do have their uses.
That idiot is still a bit too unreliable…
Even though some of the questions were a bit beyond the usual level, Sasuke wasn't stupid. He managed to get just enough right to barely pass.
Just to be safe, he also used his Sharingan to copy a couple of answers from someone nearby who looked like they knew what they were doing.
Hatake Satoru glanced at the clock. Cheaters had cheated, copiers had copied—everything was just about wrapped up.
He suddenly sat on the teacher's desk, full of energy, and raised his hand high into the air.
"Alright! By now, you guys have probably finished writing, right?"
"I thought about it more carefully~ Disqualifying all three of you just because one person messes up seems a little too harsh!"
"So now, you have a chance. You can pick the teammate you trust the least and vote them out early."
"That way, even if that person's score is too low, the rest of you won't be eliminated."
Some of the students suddenly got excited, while others turned pale and looked around nervously.
"Wait… hold on, don't we still need three people for the next part of the test? If we kick someone out now, we won't have enough people!"
Among the people taking the Chunin Exam this time, not everyone was new. Some had already taken it several times before.
As soon as they heard Hatake Satoru's words, a bunch of them raised their hands to question him.
"Hmm, that's true, but if you don't vote someone out, and one of you fails, then all of you will lose your chance!"
Hatake Satoru shrugged carelessly, then picked up some of the students' answer sheets and looked through them.
He didn't show any reaction, as if he was just casually checking the answers.
Even if Hatake Satoru looked at their answers, no one could be sure if they actually passed or not…
Hatake Satoru kept wearing a slight smile the whole time, which made people feel uneasy no matter how they looked at him.
Some students had already started pointing out teammates they didn't like. One by one, people stood up, all with awkward looks on their faces.
Some of them were dragging the team down because they weren't good at anything, while others were skilled in combat but struggled with written tests.
After Hatake Satoru walked around the classroom once, the voting was over.
Five or six people were now standing in the classroom.
Naruto was pale and shaking, almost in tears, scared that Sasuke or Sakura might vote him out.
Hatake Satoru stood at the podium with a cheerful smile, looking at the few who had been left out.
"You were all abandoned by your teammates, just so they could pass and become Chunin."
Hatake Satoru tidied up two answer sheets on the desk.
"Alright—number 10, number 32, you both failed the test, so your whole teams are disqualified."
"As for the others, you chose to give up your teammates for your own mission, so the ones who got voted out *and* their teams all fail!"
With a bright, playful smile like he was congratulating them for passing, Hatake Satoru shouted to the whole class.
The ones who had voted out their teammates stared at Hatake Satoru in shock, looking completely dumbfounded.
Yep, this was just the kind of thing he would do.
When it came to cheating and voting out teammates—both things that could get the whole team kicked out—Hatake Satoru never clearly explained the rules.
That gap in information was enough to trick a bunch of students.
"It doesn't matter if you got the answers from me or from someone else—as long as you could copy them, it shows you have the skills to gather information."
"People who failed the written test or got caught cheating just didn't meet the standard for intel gathering."
"And those of you who voted out your teammates… this was just a test, so maybe you thought it was okay to ditch them."
"But if this were a life-or-death situation, and you chose to abandon your teammates that easily, a lot of people would end up dead. So, you fail too."
Hatake Satoru gave a simple explanation. The written test was just one part of being a ninja—it was also a way to test other important skills.
"Alright then—congrats to those of you who are left! You passed the written test~!"
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