At this moment, Gaara and Naruto weren't the only Jinchūriki present in the examination room.
There were several others.
Uchiha Hikaru's eyes remained fixed on the large screen, while his chakra spread out subtly, sensing the emotions radiating from those around him.
Rasa: Hmph. That old man Ōnoki—since neither Han nor Roshi are participating in this Chunin Exam, just you wait. My son will be the one to take revenge!
Fourth Raikage (A): Haha, that old fox Ōnoki looks more sour than spoiled miso. Among the Five Great Villages, Kumogakure even sent in one of the Yuki Clan. This time, Iwagakure's performance is clearly the worst!
Ōnoki: Sigh... Only Kurotsuchi's team might make it to the finals. For a mere Chunin Exam, the other villages probably wouldn't risk sending their Jinchūriki like Konoha has...
As for Mei Terumi, Uchiha Hikaru didn't bother trying to sense her emotions.
Mainly because her gaze—already becoming sticky and threadlike—was boring into him with an intensity that made Tsunade on the side start massaging her knuckles, clearly about to turn his thigh purple… (๑•̀д•́๑)
Of course, Kirigakure had sent Jinchūriki too—two of them, in fact.
The Three-Tails' Jinchūriki: Yūkimaru, and the Six-Tails' Jinchūriki: Utakata.
Uchiha Hikaru's gaze focused on Yūkimaru, a boy roughly Naruto's age, with a face that bore an uncanny resemblance to the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura.
What intrigued Hikaru was this: the Three-Tails had supposedly been sealed inside the stomach of the Shinigami by Hiruzen Sarutobi using the Reaper Death Seal three years ago.
Apparently, Orochimaru must have felt some guilt over Hiruzen's death. Over the past few years, he'd hunted down the Uzumaki Clan's lost mask of the Dead and somehow cracked it—leading to the Three-Tails' resurrection and return to Kirigakure.
On the monitor, Yūkimaru formed a near-invisible water mirror in front of him. Through his Sharingan, Hikaru caught a glimpse of the pale-blue crystalline reflection.
Water Mirror Technique...?
Although Yūkimaru's version was small in scale, Hikaru suspected the boy was likely Yagura's son.
After all, in Boruto, Yagura was shown to have a grandson. Combine that with the original series showing Yūkimaru's connection to the Three-Tails, his being kidnapped by Orochimaru, and that matching hair color and eye shape...
The likelihood was high.
Still, not only the Five Great Villages had promising shinobi.
Among the smaller nations, Uchiha Hikaru had identified several standouts as well.
In particular, the Seven-Tails' Jinchūriki from Takigakure—Fū—and a kunoichi named Hydrangea from Amegakure.
Fū had cleverly used the glitter of her insect scale powder to temporarily blind a nearby examiner. As he rubbed his eyes, Fū and her teammates finished their tests with swift precision.
Hydrangea, meanwhile, had pulled a Tenten-style move—using the reflection of a polished blade to copy from another test paper.
Uchiha Hikaru glanced up at the clock above the screen. An hour had nearly passed. He slowly rose from his seat, eyes sweeping over the village leaders in the room.
"Everyone," he said calmly, "it's time to announce the additional questions. I hope you'll receive them rationally."
"Let's see what the pride of each village can really do."
From the back of the room, Konan froze upon hearing his voice. Her head dropped slightly.
No one else noticed the subtle trembling in her lips… or the faint shiver in her bright orange eyes.
Except Uchiha Hikaru.
He had recognized her instantly—but the time wasn't right.
Instead, he chose to let his words plant the first seed of doubt.
"The purpose of these additional questions is to test the character of each Genin. As for whether they'll be allowed to continue taking your village's Chunin Exams in the future if they fail... that's for you to decide."
The Fourth Raikage stroked his chin and nodded.
"You're right. Anyone lacking inner strength has no business becoming a Chunin. In Kumogakure, we don't allow cowards to climb the ranks!"
Ōnoki grumbled but nodded as well—for once not arguing back.
As for Rasa, his expression was calm on the surface… but unreadable.
After all, this was the man who had once handed over Suna's own hero, Pakura, to Kirigakure in exchange for political favor after the Third Great Ninja War. He'd never culled his inner circle—except Chiyo and Ebizō—and rarely invested in training the younger generation.
As the saying goes: when the head of the beam is crooked, the rest follows.
Most of the Sand shinobi… were painfully "simple" in mind.
Kirigakure's case was even grimmer.
Though the Bloody Mist era had officially ended, the current teachers were all products of that brutal time. Cold-blooded, indifferent to life and death, and merciless to the weak—there was no room in their ranks for cowards.
Back in the exam hall, Kurenai slammed the blackboard with a crisp snap! as the clock struck three.
(๑°ㅁ°๑)‼ "It's three o'clock~ Time for tea~!"
"There's still half an hour left in this round. Now, it's time to announce the rules for the additional questions!"
Many of the Genin who had been mid-cheat were caught off guard by her loud interruption, drawing attention from the nearby proctors.
"0023—out! 0991, 0004—out!"
"0592—out! 0772, 0857—also out!"
...
Over forty Genin were disqualified on the spot due to Kurenai's sudden announcement.
The once-crowded hall of over a thousand was now whittled down to fewer than four hundred.
Among those who remained, some were anxious, others excited. A few wore neutral expressions, their minds calculating strategies already.
Once the last batch of eliminated teams had left the room, Kurenai spoke again.
"Once the additional questions are announced, everyone must answer."
"If all three members of a team answer correctly, that team will earn a full exemption—even if they failed the earlier test."
"But... if even one of you answers incorrectly, the entire team fails. You will be banned from participating in the Chunin Exams for the next ten years!"
Gasps echoed across the room.
"However, if you choose to forfeit now, you may return for next year's Chunin Exams."
"You have ten minutes. From this moment on, think carefully. The additional questions will be revealed after that. If you're not ready... quietly exit through the back door."
The room sank into heavy silence.
Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata, Shino, Kiba, Neji, Tenten, Rock Lee, Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, Gaara, Kankuro, Temari, Yūkimaru, Utakata, Omoi, Karui, Kurotsuchi, Hydrangea, Fū…
All of them wore furrowed brows.
These were the elite rookies—those who had used intellect, teamwork, or bloodline techniques to scrape through the written test.
But everyone understood that the answers to this final question... would not be copied from someone else's paper.
They hesitated. The tension grew.
And the clock... kept ticking.
⏳(๑•﹏•)੭⁾⁾
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