Chapter 125: Solving the Person Causing the Problem
All eyes in the room were fixed on Haruko.
"Who is that? Is he really that brave?"
"Isn't that guy a Jonin! How is he a candidate?"
"Haruko, what are you doing?!"
"Do you have a problem, candidate?" Ibiki narrowed his eyes, his killing intent locking onto Haruko.
"I will not choose to sacrifice my comrades," Haruko said, completely unfazed by the (Special) Jonin's killing intent. "Likewise, I will not give up either."
"No!" Ibiki didn't budge. "Either eliminate one person, or give up and leave. It's a binary choice. This is the situation you have to face."
"Heh, a binary choice?"
Thump, thump, thump—
Haruko walked across the exam hall, step by step, until he stood in front of Ibiki, looking him straight in the eyes.
"I'm not choosing either. I choose for all three of us to pass."
Ibiki's eyes flickered, and he was just about to open his mouth—
But Haruko didn't give him the chance.
Bang!
With a zero-frame start, Haruko threw a punch.
Ibiki was sent flying into the wall, leaving a clear human-shaped indentation.
"Since you created this 'binary choice' situation, I just need to solve you instead."
Clatter—
The sound of a pen rolling onto the floor was exceptionally clear.
Whether they were candidates or proctors, everyone had their mouths agape, their eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.
Is this even an exam hall???
This candidate hit the examiner???
The dust settled.
Ibiki pried himself out of the wall and brushed the dust off his body.
The look he gave Haruko wasn't one of anger, but rather shock and... admiration?
"Cough, cough..." Ibiki coughed twice, scanning the candidates who had been scared silly, especially noticing the few who had originally wanted to quit but were now too afraid to move.
"Hahaha... Good! Very spirited!"
Ibiki laughed loudly, though his smile was slightly twisted. "Since you have the resolve to break the rules, then..."
He waved his hand, pointing at everyone still in the room:
"Everyone still in this room, you have all passed the first exam!"
"Yeah!"
Some cheered...
"...Huh? What about the tenth question?"
Some scratched their heads...
"So that's how it is."
Some nodded in realization.
"That guy... did he just punch a Jonin into the wall?"
There were still some who noticed the real point of interest.
"In reality, the choice you just made was the tenth question..." Ibiki began to reveal the answer, explaining the significance of the exam, but Haruko wasn't listening at all.
His attention was entirely on those few from Kusagakure.
"Fortunately, everything went smoothly. It really made me wait for a long time..."
Rattle—
Asuma pushed open the door, his gaze sweeping over the room, which still had more than half the people left, looking a bit bewildered.
"This... so many people passed?"
He turned to look at the human-shaped dent in the wall, then back at the dust-covered Ibiki, and sighed.
"I am the proctor for the second exam, Asuma Sarutobi! Everyone who passed, follow me to the site of the second exam."
...
At the entrance to the Forest of Death, Asuma stood before the crowd, holding two scrolls in his hands.
"The second exam is a scroll retrieval mission. The rules are simple: half of you get Heaven scrolls, half get Earth scrolls. If you can collect a pair and reach the tower in the center of the forest with your entire team within five days, you pass..."
Haruko leaned against a tree trunk, Asuma's explanation going in one ear and out the other. He already knew these rules.
He appeared to be resting his eyes, but in reality, his attention was entirely on those few from Kusagakure.
The three of them were huddled together, glancing over here from time to time—just like most of the people around.
"Hey! Proctor, this isn't right!" A Ninja wearing a headband from Amegakure pointed at Haruko and shouted, "Isn't that " Kakashi Hatake " the lead Jonin?"
As soon as he said this, the candidates in the exam hall all turned to look at Haruko in unison.
"Tsk, how annoying..."
Haruko pulled an ID card out of his pocket and waved it, not even lifting his eyelids.
"My name is Haruko, not Kakashi Hatake. I am a legitimate Konoha Genin."
"E-even if you are a Genin... you have the strength of a Jonin. Isn't it..."
The Amegakure Ninja tried to argue, but his companion covered his mouth.
"Stop talking! It's too embarrassing!"
Haruko couldn't be bothered to respond; he didn't even glance at him.
For someone like that, who had no skill and only knew how to complain, even mocking him felt beneath him.
"Alright, enough chatter." Asuma clapped the stack of papers in his hand. "Start picking up your consent forms now. If you want to participate, sign it. If you don't want to participate, you can forfeit and leave now."
Uchiha Izumi picked up a consent form and walked over to hand one to Haruko.
"Haruko, you're... a bit too high-profile today."
Inuzuka Hana, who was nearby, nodded repeatedly in agreement. "Indeed, this isn't like your usual style. I thought you'd find a corner and hide until the end."
"This is just the beginning," Haruko said, taking the consent form and signing it without even looking.
Neither side had been serious with that punch earlier. If he had used the Superhuman Strength Technique, Ibiki might be in the hospital by now—provided he could actually land the hit.
Ever since he agreed to participate in the Chunin Exams for the Third Elder—no, ever since Haruko could use Sage Mode and felt he had Kage-level strength—he didn't plan on keeping a low profile like before.
Keeping a low profile before was to save trouble; now, being high-profile was also to save trouble.
Besides, once this exam was over, being promoted to Chunin was a given, and he might even be promoted directly to Jonin, so keeping a low profile would be impossible anyway.
Not far away, Kamano's gaze drifted toward Haruko from time to time, and he scooted further away. "Hey... is Haruko... really that strong?"
"What, not calling him 'Lazybones' anymore?" Ichi curled his lip, unfazed. "I still prefer your previous arrogant attitude; please go back to that."
"I didn't know... back at the academy he was just..." Kamano flushed, mumbling incoherent excuses.
"In any case, we should try our best not to provoke him." Maki Retsu pushed up his glasses, his gaze lingering on Haruko for a moment. "If we run into him, we'll just flee directly. Given his personality, he probably won't chase us..."
"You all seem quite familiar with that Haruko~kun?"
A grey-haired Konoha Ninja had appeared beside them at some point, wearing an innocent smile, though his glasses were reflecting the light.
On the other side, Maki from Hidden Sand Village had reached a similar conclusion.
"Remember this," Maki said, back turned to Haruko, instructing her companions. "After the second exam starts, try to avoid that white-haired guy. If you accidentally run into him, your first choice is to retreat. If that's not possible, surrender and hand over the scroll."
Some were eager to try.
A youthful blonde Ninja from Kumogakure was staring intently at Haruko, his eyes burning with excitement. "Hey, that guy is strong! Let's go find him and fight later..."
"Calm down, Atsui!"
His two Kumogakure companions quickly covered his mouth, whispering in his ear: "Don't forget our mission!"
At the far end, away from Haruko, the three from Kusagakure were huddled together, looking tense.
Seeing that Haruko hadn't chased them, and had "not even glanced at them," they finally relaxed a little.
"Sigh... We really shouldn't have gone to that shop to cause trouble."
"Who would have thought that such a monster would be in a crappy roadside stall like that!"
"Enough of that." The oldest Kusagakure Ninja steered the conversation back. "Once we go in, try to stay as far away from that guy as possible."
"What if we run into him?"
"The exam area is huge; it's not that easy to run into him."
Seeing his companions still looking worried, the Kusagakure Ninja added:
"If we really do run into him, just run. It doesn't matter if you get a little hurt. Don't forget, we brought 'that thing' with us this time."
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