The atmosphere outside and inside the building were completely different.
There were very few people outside, yet Class 7 and Class 8 felt a strong warmth, like a heated corridor in winter.
But inside the room, even though there were many people and it was noisy—
As soon as Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura stepped into the test room, a bone-chilling cold instantly swept over them.
As if their presence had been noticed, the exam room suddenly quieted down a lot. Countless needle-like gazes pierced toward them. These were directed at the Naruto and Sakura who, in this version of the Land of Waves arc, didn't meet Momochi Zabuza or Haku, and whose only fights were against the Demon Brothers and were won by Uchiha Sasuke.
Their bodies tensed, and fear showed in their eyes.
"Dead last, are you shaking?"
At this moment, Uchiha Sasuke's voice entered their ears.
Looking at Sasuke's mocking expression, Naruto didn't know why, but the fear in his heart instantly vanished. He shouted loudly, "I'm not scared of them! I'm just shaking because I'm excited!"
Izayoi didn't pay attention to Team 7 and instead said to Hinata and Aburame Shino, "Go find your seats first."
"Mm."
Hinata and Shino both nodded, then looked for their seat numbers and walked over.
Izayoi and Hinata's seat numbers were in the third row from the center—right next to each other.
That's right, Izayoi's seat was originally the same one Naruto had in the original story.
Naruto's assigned seat was still next to Hinata's, but Izayoi swapped seats with him.
Such a small request—of course Naruto wouldn't say no.
Interestingly, Izayoi's original seat was right next to Uchiha Sasuke's.
Now that they had switched seats, Sasuke and Naruto ended up as desk mates. Whether Sasuke would help Naruto cheat or whether the original morale-boosting scene would still happen—who knew?
But the butterfly effect had already taken place.
The nine rookies didn't gather around the podium, Kabuto Yakushi didn't show up to win favor, and the staged skit by Kabuto and the Sound Ninjas didn't happen.
Taking advantage of the time before the test started, Izayoi and Hinata whispered to each other, just like back in school.
Of course, since they were surrounded by unfamiliar people, they only talked about normal topics.
"Hanabi has already started learning the Eight Trigrams: Thirty-Two Palms? That's amazing," Izayoi said with some surprise.
"Mm." Hinata nodded, her face full of proud smiles. "Father and the elders said that Hanabi's talent in Gentle Fist is even greater than mine. When I was her age, I was still practicing basic pressure-point strikes and didn't have chakra nearly as strong as hers."
To this, Izayoi smiled without commenting.
Hanabi's talent was indeed high, but compared to Hinata, there was still a big gap.
If Izayoi had obtained the Uzumaki bloodline (purple) when Hinata was five, and awakened his physical healing ability, letting Hinata absorb his chakra for two years, then by the time she was seven, she would definitely have surpassed Hanabi.
Huge chakra reserves—this was a hidden talent.
But Hanabi's progress was still surprising to Izayoi.
It seemed that the combination of the Otsutsuki bloodline (red) and physical healing had turned him into a walking miracle drug.
Starting to learn the Eight Trigrams: Thirty-Two Palms at just seven years old—if Hanabi kept absorbing chakra all the way to the Boruto era, to what level could she defy fate?
Could she evolve the Tenseigan?
It didn't seem likely.
Because Izayoi gradually realized something very critical.
Hinata had been absorbing his chakra, and her Byakugan had already broken through the Hyuga clan's upper limit. It wouldn't take long for it to evolve.
This level of improvement—if applied to a blue trait—it would've already upgraded to a purple trait.
However, Hinata's Otsutsuki bloodline was still just a blue trait.
This meant that Izayoi's chakra could not upgrade Hinata's Otsutsuki bloodline.
The Tenseigan required a dominant Otsutsuki bloodline (red). Even if the Byakugan's purity was only at a gold level, it could still evolve into the Tenseigan.
If Hinata and Hanabi were only strengthening their Byakugan, then the chances of them awakening the Tenseigan were slim.
But if their Kekkei Genkai—Byakugan—upgraded to a red trait, what would happen?
Would it be like Kaguya Otsutsuki, able to release pressure and illusions?
Or like the pureblood Otsutsuki clan, capable of awakening special abilities?
Izayoi didn't know—but he was very much looking forward to both girls' futures.
While Izayoi and Hinata were chatting, the examinees had gradually arrived.
Bang bang bang—
No one knew how long had passed, but a few overlapping sounds like balloons popping interrupted Izayoi and Hinata's whispering.
On the podium, a few clouds of white smoke suddenly appeared.
When the smoke cleared, the first test's chief examiner—Morino Ibiki—appeared, shining brightly with several proctors behind him.
"Quiet."
With just a soft command from Ibiki, the whole test room became dead silent.
The Chūnin-level proctors who had earlier tried to scare the examinees who just came in, several of them now held their breath—not daring to even exhale.
No wonder. Morino Ibiki's appearance and his gaze were just too terrifying.
A face full of scars, eyes like a prison warden—as if the people in front of him weren't test-takers, but criminals—ready for torture at any moment.
With such a powerful aura, Ibiki didn't even need to use someone as an example.
After briefly explaining the rules and stating that the tenth question would be revealed at the end, he announced the start of the first test.
"Sasuke… save… save me…"
Seeing the first test as a nightmare from six years of ninja school, Naruto turned pale, and for the first time, he sent a distress signal to Sasuke—whom he was usually never convinced by.
Hearing that, Sasuke smugly curled his lips.
But when the test paper was handed out, his expression stiffened.
W-What the heck?
Were these questions even part of the six years of ninja school education?
Could it be… that his status as a top student in academics… was fake?
Almost instinctively, Sasuke looked toward Izayoi and Hinata's direction.
He saw that the two had already started writing.
At that moment, Sasuke felt as if a vast chasm had opened between him and them.
They were simply on a different level.
Fortunately, his seat was in the back row.
So, Sasuke's mouth curved upward again, and his black pupils had already turned into scarlet two-tomoe Sharingan.
He kept his eyes fixed on Izayoi—not even looking at his own test paper—as his hand started to write down characters on the blank answer sheet.
If you looked closely, you'd find that the handwriting was completely different from the name written on the test.
While Sasuke copied Izayoi's answers, other examinees who couldn't answer also began showing off their skills.
Some used secret techniques, some used Kekkei Genkai, some used ninja tools, and others relied on shameful peeking—every possible method of cheating was seen clearly by Ibiki and the proctors.
They didn't say anything.
But whenever they saw a particularly clumsy cheating method, a proctor would write "-2" next to that person's seat number.
The test was only worth ten points total—getting caught cheating meant a deduction of two points, not immediate elimination.
Only when someone lost all ten points would the entire team—including teammates—be disqualified.
"Candidate 35 is eliminated. His two teammates, out too."
Less than five minutes in, the first disqualification occurred.
Of course, the first eliminated person felt unjust.
But after getting lectured by a proctor and witnessing the huge gap between themselves and a Chūnin, the pressure on the cheaters increased dramatically.
After all, they didn't know whether their cheating had been noticed by a Chūnin.
If they were eliminated, they'd take their teammates down with them. How could they explain that to their team?
Only those with secret techniques or Kekkei Genkai were exceptions.
Very quickly, forty minutes passed.
The previously full exam room now had many empty seats—no one knew how many teams had been disqualified.
Izayoi and Hinata had already finished all the questions and were chatting in hand signals under the table—ones taught in ninja school. The proctors who noticed them couldn't help twitching at the corner of their mouths.
Another five minutes passed, and Ibiki glanced at his pocket watch.
Then he shouted, "Everyone, put down your pens. It's time to announce the tenth question."