"Of course," Hyuga Arin said, baring his teeth in a grin.
Every examinee present suddenly felt a chill crawl up their necks.
"Completing the written test is only part of this exam. The real final stage is figuring out how to keep this test paper safe and make it out of here alive."
He kicked open the door and strode out, holding the mission scroll high in plain sight.
"This is the mission item for this exam. Anyone who wants it—come and take it."
With a casual flick of his hand, a black longsword appeared in his grip. A feral smile spread across his face.
Sneaking around and secretly smuggling the item out?
Impossible for him.
He wanted to farm experience right here.
Every examinee's gaze locked onto the scroll in his hand—but one by one, they all quietly turned their heads away.
Nawaki and Aburame Mushi-hime rushed out of their rooms and grabbed onto Arin at the same time.
"Calm down, Big Bro—seriously, this is overkill!"
Arin ignored them and shouted at the remaining candidates who were still hesitating:
"Come on, grab it! Don't be cowards! If you take it, you'll pass this exam!"
At those words, the surrounding ninja scattered in all directions.
"Big Bro, there's no need to make everyone fail," Nawaki said with relief when he saw them retreat.
Letting Arin fight these people was just too unfair.
"A bunch of spineless trash. Tch." Arin spat on the ground.
He was being this blatant, and they still didn't dare to move.
What kind of chūnin did they think they were becoming?
"Go home and babysit," he muttered.
Nawaki and Mushi-hime practically dragged Arin out of the testing area. If he stayed any longer, a real fight would break out.
They'd both seen him fight before—it would've been a complete massacre.
"That guy's way too arrogant," someone muttered, glaring at Arin as he was pulled away.
"If you've got the guts, go try him yourself," a teammate sneered.
The three genin who'd been instantly knocked out earlier were fairly well-known among the candidates. Their leader had been just a step away from becoming a chūnin.
And yet he'd been taken down in two or three moves.
The disgruntled genin shrank back.
Yeah… he really couldn't beat that guy.
Still, that Hyuga ninja was unbearably arrogant.
Everyone hesitated, secretly hoping someone else would step up and test him.
But no one dared.
"With people like this in Konoha, how are we ever supposed to rise again?! The mighty Leaf Village, reduced to a bunch of rats!"
Arin continued ranting angrily. He was deeply dissatisfied that no one had even tried to take the scroll from him.
"Big Bro, let's just finish the exam properly," Nawaki urged.
They soon reached their destination, where several people stood guard.
Seeing the flame fan crest on their clothing, even Arin wasn't the only one who noticed something was off.
Nawaki muttered quietly, "Is Konoha really this short on manpower?"
The Uchiha and Hyuga clans were traditionally somewhat distant from the village leadership, and they were rarely mobilized.
Yet here they were—even the Chūnin Exam had Uchiha involved.
"What are you muttering about?" two Uchiha said coldly.
Arin tossed the scroll over.
They snorted, checked it briefly, and nodded.
"You're the first group. Go in."
With that tone—
Could Arin tolerate it?
He rolled up his sleeves.
"You two got a problem with me?"
The two Uchiha sneered. Just a genin—
Bang! Bang!
[Experience +1456]
[Experience +1897]
"Just two Uchiha, and you think you can provoke me?" Arin clapped his hands. "Chūnin, huh."
Nawaki and Mushi-hime stared blankly at the unconscious Uchiha duo.
Were chūnin really this fragile now?
And wasn't Arin the one who provoked them? They were already letting them through!
They'd just beaten up two chūnin exam proctors—could they seriously still pass the exam?
"Well? What are you standing around for?" Arin said impatiently.
Since he couldn't farm experience from the candidates, he'd settle for these two.
Passing through the guarded gate, they entered Konoha's arena. The massive space felt eerily empty.
There was hardly anyone there.
"Congratulations on completing the first stage of the exam," Jiraiya said, clapping as he walked over with a bright grin. "Oh? Nawaki, is that you?"
"Jiraiya-brother!!" Nawaki shouted happily as he ran over.
Arin rubbed his chin, studying the silver-haired man before him—the future Sannin, Jiraiya.
So even he had been dragged in as an examiner.
"Jiraiya-brother, what's the next test? Give me a hint, will you?" Nawaki whispered, elbowing him.
"As if I'd tell you that," Mushi-hime couldn't help but complain.
Jiraiya clearly looked like the chief examiner.
"The next stage is one-on-one combat," Jiraiya explained. "But victory alone isn't what matters. We'll evaluate your performance to determine whether you're qualified to become chūnin."
So that was it.
"Jiraiya-jōnin," Arin asked, "don't you think this Chūnin Exam feels a bit… barebones?"
Just two stages.
"It can't be helped," Jiraiya scratched his head. "The Ho—Fire Shadow is still on the front lines, and most of the village's strength is deployed. We had to simplify everything."
"Yeah… figures," Arin muttered, not even sure where to begin complaining.
He might as well look forward to the missions after the exam. Hopefully there'd be more enemies then.
The first exam finished in the morning.
The second began at noon.
All the teams that passed gathered in the arena.
Including Arin's team, there were only nine squads—twenty-seven people in total.
Many of them entered the arena already wounded.
"Can they even still fight like this?" Nawaki asked Jiraiya quietly.
It was Orochimaru who answered instead.
"In normal times, there would be a rest period," he said calmly. "But this is wartime. Even if you're seriously injured, you must still be able to counterattack."
This stage was meant to test adaptability—to make them more suited to the battlefield.
Arin turned toward Orochimaru and Jiraiya.
"So, you two are in charge of this exam?"
Orochimaru felt a bad premonition and closed his mouth, saying nothing.
Jiraiya, however, answered casually, "Yep. We designed both tests together."
It was a pity Tsunade was still on the Sand battlefield.
A brilliant smile spread across Arin's face.
"I think there are still too many people here. How about we change the format a bit, Jiraiya-jōnin?"
Jiraiya's instincts screamed danger.
"…What are you planning to do?"
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