The atmosphere outside was completely different from that inside.
Though there were few people outdoors, Team 7 and Team 8 felt a warmth akin to a cozy corridor in winter.
Inside, however, despite the crowd and the noise, Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura, upon entering the examination room, were suddenly hit by a bone-chilling cold.
As if they had drawn attention, the room fell silent, countless gazes piercing through the air like needles. The tension in Naruto and Sakura's bodies tightened, their eyes involuntarily revealing a hint of fear, as they recalled how they had not encountered Momochi Zabuza and Haku during the Land of Waves arc, and how the Demon Brothers had been defeated by Uchiha Sasuke.
"Dead last, are you shaking?"
At that moment, Sasuke's voice reached their ears.
Seeing Sasuke's mocking expression, Naruto felt his fear dissipate in an instant. He shouted back, "I'm not scared of them! I'm just shaking with excitement!"
Izayoi ignored Team 7 and turned to Hinata and Aburame Shino, saying, "Let's find our seats first."
"Okay."
Hinata and Shino nodded and began searching for their seat numbers, walking away.
Izayoi and Hinata's seats were in the middle of the third row, and they happened to be desk partners.
Indeed, Izayoi's seat was the same as the original Naruto's.
Naruto's assigned seat was still next to Hinata, and Izayoi had swapped seat numbers with him.
Such a small request was naturally not something Naruto would refuse.
Interestingly, the seat number Izayoi received was also next to Sasuke.
Now that they had exchanged seats, Sasuke and Naruto became desk partners. It was uncertain whether Sasuke would help Naruto cheat, and whether the original scene of boosting morale would still occur, but the butterfly effect had already taken place.
The Nine Rookie Ninja were not huddled together at the podium, and Yakushi Kabuto did not appear to gain favor, nor was there any self-directed little drama involving Kabuto and the Sound Ninja.
While waiting for the exam to start, Izayoi and Hinata began to whisper to each other, just like they used to at school.
Of course, considering they were surrounded by strangers, their conversation revolved around normal topics.
"Hanabi has already started learning the Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms? That's impressive!" Izayoi said, somewhat surprised.
"Yeah." Hinata nodded, her face glowing with pride. "Father and the clan elders said that Hanabi's talent in Gentle Fist is even higher than mine. When I was her age, I was still practicing Pressure Point Strike, and my chakra wasn't as strong as hers."
To this, Izayoi smiled but said nothing.
While Hanabi's talent was indeed high, there was still a significant gap compared to Hinata.
If, at the age of five, Hinata had absorbed Izayoi's Whirlpool Bloodline (Purple) and awakened Physical Stamina Healing, allowing her to draw on two years of his chakra, by the time she was seven, she would undoubtedly be more astonishing than Hanabi.
A large chakra reserve was a hidden talent.
However, Hanabi's growth still surprised Izayoi.
It seemed that the Otsutsuki Bloodline (Red) combined with Physical Stamina Healing had turned him into a potent tonic.
Starting to learn the Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms at seven, if Hanabi continued to absorb chakra like in Boruto, to what extent would that change her fate? Would she evolve into possessing the Tenseigan?
That seemed unlikely.
Because Izayoi gradually realized something crucial.
Hinata absorbing his chakra had already pushed her Byakugan beyond the limits of the Hyuga Clan, and it wouldn't be long before it upgraded.
Such a level of enhancement, if placed on a blue trait, would have already upgraded to a purple trait.
However, Hinata's Otsutsuki Bloodline remained just a blue trait.
This meant that Izayoi's chakra could not elevate Hinata's Otsutsuki Bloodline.
As for the Tenseigan, it primarily relied on the Otsutsuki Bloodline (Red). Even if the purity of the Byakugan was only at the golden level, it could still evolve into the Tenseigan.
If Hinata and Hanabi were merely enhancing their Byakugan, the chances of them awakening the Tenseigan in the future were slim.
But what changes would occur if their Kekkei Genkai, the Byakugan, upgraded to a red trait? Would they be able to exert pressure and genjutsu like Kaguya Otsutsuki?
Or would they awaken special abilities like the pure-blooded Otsutsuki Clan? Izayoi didn't know, but he was very much looking forward to the future of the two girls.
While Izayoi and Hinata were chatting, the examinees began to arrive one after another.
Bang! Bang! Bang—
After an unknown amount of time, several overlapping sounds that pierced the air interrupted Izayoi and Hinata's whispering. A few puffs of white smoke appeared at the podium.
As the smoke dissipated, the chief examiner, Morino Ibiki, along with several proctors, made a grand entrance.
"Silence."
With just a sharp command from Ibiki, the entire examination room fell silent, as if a pin drop could be heard.
The previously fierce-looking genin, who had been scaring the newly arrived examinees, held their breath, not daring to make a sound.
There was no helping it; Ibiki's appearance and his gaze were simply too intimidating.
His face was covered in scars, and his eyes resembled those of a prison warden, as if the examinees before him were criminals, ready to face severe punishment at any moment.
With an astonishing presence, Ibiki didn't need to assert his authority.
After briefly explaining the exam rules and announcing that the tenth question would be revealed at the end, he declared the first exam officially started.
"Sasuke, help… help me…"
Seeing that the first exam was the nightmare of six years at the ninja academy, Naruto turned pale, and for the first time, he sent out a distress signal to Sasuke, who he had never conceded to.
Upon hearing this, Sasuke couldn't help but smirk.
However, when the exam papers were distributed, his expression froze.
What… what is this? Are these questions based on what we learned in six years at the ninja academy? Could it be that he, the top student in cultural subjects, was actually a fraud?
Almost instinctively, Sasuke glanced over at Izayoi and Hinata.
He saw that the two had already begun writing.
At that moment, Sasuke felt a massive chasm slowly opening up between him and the two.
They were on completely different levels.
Fortunately, his seat was in the back row.
Thus, Sasuke's lips curled up again, his black eyes transforming into the crimson hue of the Two-Tomoe Sharingan.
His gaze remained fixed on Izayoi, not even glancing at the exam paper, while his hand continued to write characters on the blank sheet.
Upon closer inspection, one would notice that the handwriting was completely different from the names on the exam paper.
As Sasuke copied Izayoi's actions, other examinees who couldn't answer the questions began to show their tricks.
Some relied on secret techniques, others on Kekkei Genkai, some used ninja tools, and even resorted to ugly peeking… various cheating methods were all observed by Ibiki and the proctors.
They said nothing.
Whenever they witnessed particularly egregious cheating, the proctors would simply write a -2 next to that person's seat number.
The exam was out of ten points, and being caught cheating would result in a two-point deduction, rather than immediate disqualification.
Only when someone lost all ten points would the entire team, including their teammates, be eliminated.
"Candidate 35 is disqualified; this guy's two teammates are out too."
In less than five minutes, the first disqualified candidate appeared.
The first person disqualified naturally felt indignant.
But after being reprimanded by the proctor and realizing the gap between them and the Chuunin, the psychological pressure on those who cheated increased dramatically.
After all, they had no idea whether their cheating would be discovered by the higher-ranking Chuunin.
If they were disqualified, their teammates would also be eliminated; how could they explain that to their teammates? The only exceptions were those with secret techniques and Kekkei Genkai.
Before long, forty minutes had passed in the exam.
The previously packed examination room had emptied out significantly, with no telling how many teams had been disqualified.
Izayoi and Hinata had long since completed all the questions and were now using the hand signals taught at the ninja academy to chat under the table, causing the proctors who noticed them to twitch their lips slightly.
Another five minutes passed, and Ibiki glanced at his watch before calling out, "Everyone, put down your pens; we will now announce the tenth question."
(End of Chapter)