Before Ino could look closer, three sound ninja suddenly launched a sneak attack on Kabuto.
Kabuto first jumped back to dodge Zaku's kunai, then leaned back to avoid Dosu's punch!
His quick reflexes left everyone impressed.
But in the next moment—
Kabuto's glasses suddenly shattered, breaking into pieces that fell to the ground.
"What? He dodged it all though." Sasuke looked surprised.
"Maybe it brushed the tip of his nose?" Shikamaru guessed.
As the two of them were talking, Kabuto suddenly felt dizzy and dropped to the ground, throwing up.
"What's going on?"
Seeing Kabuto hurt, Sakura rushed over to help him up.
"Are you okay, Kabuto-senpai?" Sakura asked with concern.
"I'm fine," Kabuto replied, holding back the pain, though it was clear he was forcing himself.
It was obvious he had taken some serious damage!
"Heh… what kind of guy passes the exam four times? Looks like he's not that strong after all," Dosu said with a cold laugh.
The three Sound ninjas stood together, looking proud as they stared at the Konoha group, like they were showing off their strength and tricks.
"Shut up, you bunch of trash!"
At that moment, a smoke bomb exploded.
Special Jonin Morino Ibiki appeared on the platform with a group of Chunin.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. I'm Morino Ibiki, the proctor of the first test of the Chunin Exams!"
When everyone saw the scarred, sharp-faced man in front of them, the room immediately went quiet.
Morino Ibiki looked around at everyone, and finally fixed his eyes on the three Sound ninjas standing around Kabuto.
"You three from the Sound Village—stay quiet before the exam starts. Or are you looking to get kicked out early?"
The three Sound ninjas stared at Ibiki for a second. Then Dosu, the leader, apologized, "Sorry, it's our first exam, and we got a little too excited. We couldn't hold it in."
Seeing how sincere Dosu sounded, Ibiki didn't press the issue.
He looked at the rest of the room and said, "Let me use this moment to tell you some rules: unless you're given permission by a proctor, you're not allowed to fight. And even if you're allowed, you can't kill your opponent!"
"If anyone dares to go against that, you're out—immediately! Got it?"
Nobody answered out loud, but many people seemed relieved after hearing that rule.
At least now they didn't have to worry about dying!
"Alright, we'll now begin the first part of the exam. Hand in your application forms! Take a number tag and sit according to your number!"
Ibiki held up a square card with a big number "1" on it and said, "I'll give out the test papers afterward."
Everyone lined up to hand in their application forms one by one.
Naruto noticed something—
Even though they submitted their forms as three-man teams, the number tags they received were completely spread out!
Clearly, this was done on purpose to split up the teams.
Soon it was Naruto's team's turn.
"Uzumaki Naruto?"
Morino Ibiki looked at the application form in his hand and stared at the photo, which barely looked 40% like the Naruto standing in front of him. "Are you sure you're the real one? If you're trying to take the test for someone else, you better think about the consequences!"
"..."
"I just changed my hairstyle to something more trendy, that's all," Naruto said, speechless.
Morino Ibiki gave Naruto a deep look, then stamped the form and handed him a number card—36.
"As long as you know what you're doing. Next!"
Morino Ibiki was fully aware that Naruto was the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki.
Someone like him, constantly under the watch of the Konoha Village's top brass, wouldn't be able to fake the test even if he tried.
So Ibiki didn't dig any further and chose to believe Naruto for now.
Naruto took his number and walked to the center of the room, taking a seat next to Hinata.
"Naruto-kun, what a coincidence~" Hinata said in a soft voice, her cheeks slightly red as Naruto sat beside her.
"Yeah, what a coincidence," Naruto nodded and waited quietly.
He had a better impression of Hinata compared to Ino or Sakura. So even though they weren't teammates, he was still kinder to her.
And honestly, who would hate a shy girl who liked them...
After a while, once all the test-takers were seated, the exam papers were passed out one by one.
Naruto took his and gave it a quick look before immediately deciding to give up on doing it himself.
The scope of the questions was way too wide.
It covered everything from ninja knowledge to physics, chemistry, math, history—even English!
Was there even anyone in this world who spoke English?
Naruto had no idea, but based on his past-life English grades—which barely scraped a 10 out of 100 with random guesses—there was no way he could solve any of it.
So he naturally gave up on doing it himself.
Anyway, cheating was allowed in this test—as long as you didn't get caught.
"Now I'm going to tell you a few very important rules. After this, I won't answer any questions, so listen carefully!"
Morino Ibiki suddenly picked up a piece of chalk and slammed it on the blackboard. "First rule: Everyone starts with 10 points! There are 10 questions on the exam, each worth 1 point."
"This is a deduction-style test. Get one wrong, you lose one point! Miss three, and you're down to seven. Get all ten wrong, and you're at zero!"
"Second rule: You pass or fail as a team! If even one person in the squad gets zero, the whole team is disqualified!"
"Third rule: If you're caught cheating or doing anything that looks like cheating, you lose two points every time you're caught!"
"In other words, some of you won't even make it to the grading stage—you'll be kicked out right away!"
"Anyone using cheap tricks to cheat is asking for trouble. Remember that!"
"You're all trying to become chunin. If you're real ninjas, then take the exam like real ninjas!"
"Lastly, question ten will be given out 45 minutes into the test. The whole exam lasts one hour—start now!"
As soon as Ibiki finished explaining the rules, everyone buried their heads in the test.
Even though Naruto knew he could probably pass without writing a single word, just to be safe, he decided to try for a perfect score.
To make sure there were people worth copying, Morino Ibiki had planted a few chunin in the room—ones who knew all the answers by heart!
So all Naruto had to do was find those chunin and steal their answers. A perfect score wouldn't be hard at all.
He glanced around at the people in front of him and spotted a few who were writing away without even hesitating.
Even a genius like Sakura had to think before writing—these guys were way too fast. Something was off.
Light Style: Virtual Projection!
Naruto held out his palm, and the light in the room began to bend and shift.
Soon, a mini version of the test paper appeared above his hand, slowly revealing the answers line by line.
If you looked closely, you could even see the answers filling themselves in.
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