"I already told them to go in first I have no idea why they waited outside for me so long."
After seeing Naruto and Sasuke enter, Furina who had been secretly observing from hiding finally jumped down from the tree she was concealed in and slowly walked toward the exam venue.
She didn't actually have anything to do, contrary to what she had told Naruto and Sasuke. That was just an excuse. In truth, these past couple of days she had been extremely idle with nothing to keep her busy. The reason was that a few days earlier, the live stream had updated with new content. Out of boredom, she took a look and then…
It was all very ordinary scenes. But when she saw Team Guy's three members, something suddenly occurred to her: in the original story, Rock Lee confesses to Sakura during the first stage of the Chūnin Exams. And now she had taken Sakura's place in Team 7…
If the thing Furina didn't want to think about really happened, the sheer awkwardness would have her digging a three-bedroom, one-living-room apartment into the ground with her toes. So just to be safe, she decided to stay hidden and observe first only coming out after Lee and the others had left.
Yes, that was it.
"Huh, Sakura?" Suddenly, in the crowd, Furina spotted Sakura's figure. And beside her were two other people who appeared to be her teammates people Furina also recognized. They were civilian ninjas from their class who had pretty good talent.
Was this the power of the world's correction? Even though she had replaced Sakura in Team 7, Sakura had simply been reassigned to another team and was still participating in the Chūnin Exams.
Thinking about it that way though it felt a little mean meant she probably didn't have to worry about that particular thing anymore. Yay୧⍢⃝୨.
...
After the genjutsu set up by two of the proctors was seen through, and after a bit of commotion, Rock Lee still confessed to Sakura just like in the original story. And naturally, he was rejected.
Seeing this, Furina finally stopped worrying. She let out a sigh of relief, dropped her concealment, and walked over to Naruto and Sasuke pretending she had just arrived, asking about the situation with exaggerated seriousness.
"Furina, let me tell you that damn bushy-brows guy just confessed to Sakura! I mean, I already cough cough anyway, Sakura didn't accept him. That guy's really got some nerve thinking he could pull that off."
"Mm-hm, mm-hm." Though Naruto's topic had veered off course, Furina still nodded with a smile. She knew exactly what had happened just now she was just trying to blend in and act natural.
"Naruto, you really are something."
Seeing Naruto's conversation completely derail toward Sakura, Sasuke couldn't help feeling helpless. He had lost count of how many times today he had felt this exasperated. Still, he gave a brief summary of what had just happened, which earned repeated nods from Furina.
Though he felt her responses were a bit perfunctory, with the exam about to start, Sasuke didn't say anything more. He simply followed the crowd into the exam room.
After everyone had taken their seats, the chief examiner for this stage stepped onto the platform and began explaining the rules. His tone was extremely serious, and combined with the terrifying scars across his face, he successfully created a strong sense of intimidation for the exam.
The most obvious sign was that after hearing his explanation of the rules, quite a few candidates already looked distressed clearly under heavy pressure. And this became even more pronounced once the test papers were handed out.
"Hah~" Watching Naruto in the distance scratching his head and ears without ever putting pen to paper, Furina couldn't help feeling amused. Hinata beside him had practically placed her paper on his desk, yet he still wouldn't even glance at it. Really he was letting down her good intentions.
Unlike the tense atmosphere around everyone else, Furina appeared completely relaxed. This wasn't just because she knew what the exam was truly testing it was also because there wasn't a single question on the paper she couldn't answer. With that, she naturally felt zero pressure.
After finishing all the questions in a very short time, Furina had no interest in watching the others' clumsy cheating attempts. Mainly because looking at them made her feel second-hand embarrassment. So she simply turned her head toward the window and started staring blankly at the sky.
"Is this really the Chūnin Exams? This is basically just a cheating competition eight immortals crossing the sea, each showing their divine powers."
"True, the variety of cheating methods is honestly impressive. But I think the production team is using this to showcase the different characters' abilities and set up foreshadowing for their future battles. After all, combat is definitely the most important part of a shinobi exam."
"Makes sense. But Furina actually knows all the questions for real. While everyone else is pulling off all these fancy cheating tricks, she just finished writing everything herself in no time. Too bad I was curious what cheating method she'd use."
[Favorability +1+1+1...+1+1]
"Ahem, now it's time to reveal the final question. But before that, there's something I need to remind all of you."
After most of the candidates had finished answering, Ibiki finally announced the last question that had been held back until now the true test of the first exam.
"Right now, you have two choices: continue with the exam, or give up. If you choose to continue and get it wrong, you will be barred from ever taking the Chūnin Exams again for the rest of your life. If you give up, you lose this chance but you can always try again later.
Now, give me your answers."
Upon hearing Ibiki's severe penalty for getting it wrong, even the candidates who had managed to stay until now each of whom had some ability couldn't help their expressions changing. Being stuck as a genin forever was something no one could easily accept.
"I… I give up."
"I'm giving up too. Worst case, I'll try again next year. If I get this wrong, I'll never get another chance."
...
Watching candidate after candidate raise their hands to give up and leave, Furina couldn't help sighing inwardly that the kids still weren't thinking flexibly enough. Even if getting it wrong really meant you could never take the Chūnin Exams again for life so what?
If in the future you truly developed the strength to reach higher ranks or even become a Kage would the village really let you waste away as a genin forever? No way!
Even if you couldn't participate in the Chūnin Exams, they could always promote you through some other pretext like a special genin advancement test or whatever. Different name, same content. You tell me is that not basically the Chūnin Exams?
"Anyone else planning to quit? Do it now. Once I reveal the content of the final question, you'll have to answer it."
Seeing that no one had left for a long while, Ibiki deliberately repeated his earlier statement in a grave tone. A few more people trembled slightly, clearly engaged in intense internal struggle. Ibiki didn't rush them he simply waited silently for their decisions.
But in the end, he didn't get anyone else giving up. Instead, he got one person slamming the desk and standing up.
The one who suddenly stood was naturally Naruto. Just like in the original story, after Naruto's impassioned speech, the wavering candidates moved by his words firmly resolved to see it through to the end.
For someone so young, Naruto was already displaying his extraordinary talent for Talk no Jutsu. The title "Talk-no-Jutsu Master" was well-earned.
"Hmph hmph hmph. No one's giving up? Very well then I'll reveal the final question."
Hearing this, the remaining candidates all held their breath. Though they had just been pumped up, when it came to something that would decide their future, they still had to treat it with utmost caution.