Naruto: I, Shikotsumyaku, Byakugan Princess

How to do?
Facing the blank test paper on the table, Naruto put his hands behind his head, his arms forming a complete inverted triangle behind his head.

His once spiky blonde hair was now soaked and stuck to his temples. His headband, which had been wearing a "Victory" badge, was now smeared with sweat, and the writing on it was blurred, even showing through the cheat sheet inside, leaving black spots on the bright red fabric.

He looked up at the clock for the umpteenth time; it was already 8:35. Although there were still about ten minutes left before the exam ended, he knew in his heart that the exam was over.

Avoiding the indifferent gazes of the proctors, Naruto covered his face with one hand, like a charlatan, while glancing around.

There were only a few people left around him.

No, there were hardly any people left in the entire examination hall.

There were 12 candidates left in the classroom, including him. Not counting the roving proctors in the corridor, there were a total of 22 people including invigilators, examiners, and graders!
In other words, even if one teacher is watching one student, there are still ten students available.

The instant he looked up at the clock, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that at least five proctors had their eyes on him.

Cheating?

In this situation, no one can cheat anymore!

The remaining candidates were simply unable to write down the answers, yet unwilling to give up easily, so they just sat in their seats quietly waiting to die!
"Number 96, Number 32, Number 8..."

The nightmarish voice echoed in his ears. Naruto looked down at the blank page on his exam paper. Expelled examinees passed by him, their steps heavy with suppressed frustration.

The voices of monster, trash, and loser echoed in his mind. Countless times he trained with Teacher Kai in physical combat, pushing himself to exhaustion, his arms trembling so much that he couldn't even hold chopsticks. Wasn't it all to prove himself?

If he can't pass the Chunin Exams, all his efforts over the years will have been in vain!
And then there's Hairi and Sasuke. They're so strong. If he fails the Chunin Exams because of this... Naruto didn't dare to think about it. His only two best friends might hate and isolate him because of this. Just thinking about that scene made him tremble with fear.

That's ten thousand times more terrifying than being called a monster.

"Number 41, Number 64, Number 59..."

59?

Isn't that just...

As number 58, Naruto suddenly heard a deflated thud of a pen being thrown behind him, the desks and chairs shaking, and three more examinees were ruthlessly expelled.

He couldn't help but look up. In the lonely figures of the three people leaving, there seemed to be a sense of relief and joy, as if they had unloaded some kind of burden.

They did it on purpose!

Naruto quickly realized the other person's thoughts. Under the increasing pressure, the other person had given up on the exam and even left the exam room after deliberately failing the cheating test.

As for why he was able to discern the other party's thoughts so quickly, it's because...

no! !
Absolutely not!

The thought of surrender seemed to be resurfacing in Naruto's mind, but he shook his head vigorously, as if trying to shake that weakness out of his head. Never giving up was his ninja way; if he broke his oath here, his path as a ninja would come to an end!
Even if he gets a zero on the test, he will persevere until the end of the exam!

Naruto suppressed his evil thoughts with his strong willpower, and suddenly felt the pressure in his chest drop, and even his churning stomach seemed to be relieved.

"17, 26, 21..."

The cold, monotone chanting began for the third time, followed by the screeching sound of desks and chairs scraping against the floor, plunging the classroom into an unprecedented silence. Naruto, head bowed, drew circles on a clean sheet of paper with his now-dried ballpoint pen, like a condemned prisoner awaiting his final execution.

"Hey kid, aren't you going to hand in your paper yet?"

A cold, harsh voice came from ahead. Although the other party did not mention a name, Naruto still subconsciously looked up at the source of the voice.

A jet-black leather jacket wrapped around his broad shoulders, and the scars on Ibiki Morino's face resembled the wrinkles on old leather. At this moment, the other person looked down at him with a hint of interest in his eyes.

"I?"

Naruto looked around and found that all twenty-odd proctors were staring at him. Even the two remaining examinees were sizing him up with their chins propped up by one hand, their ballpoint pens twirling leisurely between their fingers.

The frequency was almost identical to that of the invigilator spinning a pen.

These are the two Chunin teachers disguised as examinees answering questions; Naruto is the only real examinee left in the examination room.

"If you can't answer the question, hand in your paper and leave now. Come back next year!"

Perhaps out of respect for Naruto's will, Ibiki Morino's words were not as aggressive as they had been at the beginning of the exam.

The other proctors were also all smiles; no one knew better than them how much psychological pressure this exam was. Although the other candidate failed to cheat, the fact that they could sit calmly until the end demonstrated willpower that ranked first among all the eliminated candidates.

This unassuming guy is something else!
"No, my exam isn't over yet."

With his wet bangs hanging over his eyes, Naruto looked at his executioner with unwavering determination, neither defeated nor flinching.

The changes that Gray Glass brought to him were not only physical strength, but also a complete transformation of his soul.

He once used his shadow clones to fight off a horde of beasts in the Forest of Death, and he also killed Cloud Village elites with Gray Glass. He also underwent five years of inhuman training, rain or shine.

Even Akai didn't think he could successfully master the Eight Gates, but he did indeed learn it by fighting against his shadow clones.

He is no longer the loser who squatted on the ground crying after being bullied!
If this exam hadn't been related to Hui Li and Sasuke's advancement, he wouldn't have been under so much pressure.

"As long as I persevere to the end, I can accept whatever the outcome may be. Giving up is absolutely unacceptable! This is my ninja way!" In front of all the Konoha teachers, Naruto pressed down on the exam paper with one hand and loudly proclaimed his ninja way.

The boy's voice echoed in the empty examination hall for a long time. The smiles on the faces of the teachers watching slowly disappeared, replaced by solemnity and reverence.

Those who never give up on their ninja way and strive to practice it with all their might deserve respect, regardless of their strength.

"Sorry, please go ahead!" Ibiki Morino apologized, his eyes filled with appreciation, and gestured for Naruto to continue his ninja way.

"Thanks……"

Before Naruto could finish expressing his gratitude, his gaze suddenly froze on the spot, staring intently at Ibiki Morino's palm, or more precisely, at the direction his palm was pointing.

That's the side of the lectern's tabletop.

A square-shaped incantation, no bigger than a fingernail, was embedded in it, as if it were a doodle by some mischievous ninja academy student, but he knew that was not the case.

Those were extremely miniature spells. He had once seen Gray Glass write thousands of spells into a bandage, and the area occupied by the spells was even smaller than a piece of chocolate.

It was his tenth birthday present, that bandage that could seal in heavy objects.

And this condensed curse seal, which doesn't even resemble a curse seal, must have been left for him by Gray Glass!
Many proctors also noticed his gaze and looked at the unremarkable pattern.

Their eyes were thoughtful. Even just absorbing chakra required at least fifteen spells. What effect could a spell the size of a fingernail have?
This is undoubtedly a spell mark that a ninja academy student casually carved while learning the spell seal.

Ibiki Morino also looked down at the curse mark on the podium, his face filled with confusion. This examination room had been inspected when it was set up, and he did not remember seeing this graffiti before.

Squeak!

Before everyone could finish thinking, Naruto suddenly stood up and excitedly picked up the blank test paper with only his name written on it.

"Teacher, I want to hand in my paper!"

Many proctors quickly snapped out of their daze and subconsciously glanced at the exam paper in Naruto's hand.

The answer area above was frighteningly clean, with only a few words left in the name area on the edge. Even from a distance, they could still give the person in front of them a very reasonable score—0!

Didn't you want to persevere?
The teachers, who had just been amazed by the child's willpower, all frowned in unison, feeling as if they had been deceived. "Are you sure?"

Even Ibiki Morino's eyes were filled with suspicion. He was confident that he would never misjudge the other person, but the inconsistency between the other person's words and actions was indeed hard to explain.

He suddenly looked at the fingernail-sized square on the table. There was no doubt that all of the other person's changes began with the discovery of this graffiti.

"Of course!"

Naruto smiled confidently, took the blank test paper, and strode towards the podium—or rather, towards the square graffiti.

Hui Li knew perfectly well that he couldn't answer any of the questions on the exam paper, so she couldn't just leave him in the exam room and ignore him.

The other party must have left him a way to cheat!
The tacit understanding and trust cultivated over five years are worth more than a thousand words.

Naruto stared intently at the square pattern.

Once he reaches that place, he can obtain the answer that Hui Li left for him, and the only way to reach the podium is to hand in his paper.

The equation for victory has already been written for him by Gray Glass.

All he needs to do is trust the other person completely and move forward steadfastly!

Wow…

The exam paper echoed in the air. Under everyone's watchful eyes, Naruto walked unabashedly to the side of the podium, his fingers, shimmering with blue chakra, pressing directly onto the paper.

hum!
As if blue electricity flowed through the curse seal, the ink stains on the podium slowly detached under everyone's astonished gazes, and then crawled onto Naruto's test paper like a snake.

Lines of sharp, bold handwriting covered the answer area of ​​the exam paper.

Looking at the test paper that had been quietly filled out in his hand, Naruto grinned and slammed it on the teacher's desk.

Ibiki Morino tilted her head to look.

Cipher translation: Following the advantages of military strategy, one should pursue a path of various skills and talents…

This font looks so familiar!

As he continued reading, the answers in the subsequent question-answering section that exceeded the standard further confirmed his suspicions.

This is the answer from Sunburst Gray Glass!
That special, graffiti-like incantation was left by her.

Five minutes into the exam, in full view of all the invigilators and examinees, he quietly left the answers to the questions to his teammate!

In terms of knowledge and wisdom, she surpasses everyone; in terms of disguise and intelligence transmission, she still reigns supreme!

Is this the legendary number one genius of Konoha?
Ibiki Morino swallowed hard, looking at Naruto's perfect test paper, and truly felt the talent overflowing from that silver-haired girl.

This was also the first time he truly understood what kind of freak this genius was, whose talent surpassed Kakashi's and all previous Hokage's!

"Eight, eight points!"

After deducting two points for cheating, the examiner quickly entered Naruto's exam score into the system.

Drip!

On the computer screen, both Ash Blossom and Sasuke Uchiha had a score of 10 in the first column, while Naruto Uzumaki at the bottom lit up in gray, and the eight points behind him shone brightly.

With an average score of a terrifying 9.3, they ranked first among all the genin groups.

Naruto was secretly pleased, but looking at the quiet counter on the podium, his heart, which had been at ease, slowly rose again.

Because so many ninjas wanted to see the counter, Ibiki Morino adjusted the screen to an angle that only he could see, as he still didn't know if there were any remaining spots in this exam.

There are very few people left in the largest exam room, but if someone in another exam room submits their paper at the same time, or even before them, they may still not be able to advance.

Drip!

His worries did not materialize. The counter emitted a barely perceptible electrical hum, and the screen of the grading teacher immediately displayed the words that three people had advanced.

"yes!!!"

Naruto swung his fist with all his might. Heaven knows how many internal struggles he had gone through during this exam. At this moment, he even felt like crying.

clap clap clap...

Just then, a crisp clapping sound made Naruto look up in confusion.

Seemingly infected by Naruto's emotions, many teachers, led by Ibiki Morino, were smiling and applauding him.

Even the wanted criminal-looking Ibiki Morino flashed a 'nuclear-kind' smile:

"Unwavering will, accurate and calm judgment, and absolute trust in one's companions."

Although your disguise and intelligence gathering are utter garbage, and your intelligence transmission is even worse than garbage, you are undoubtedly qualified to be a Chunin!

"Young man, please state your name!"

Ibiki Morino stared intently at Naruto, and the many proctors stopped clapping to listen attentively. The qualities Naruto possessed were more valuable than the exam questions themselves.

Feeling the genuine respect from everyone, Naruto, who had been slightly dejected because of Ibiki Morino's words, excitedly raised his head, his blue eyes already overflowing with tears.

This is what he has always wanted, and it is also the purpose of participating in this Chunin Exam!
He wasn't a loser, he wasn't a monster, and he was some damned nine-tailed fox.

"I am Naruto Uzumaki, the man who will become Hokage in the future!" Facing everyone's gaze, Naruto gave a thumbs-up and earnestly said his name.

"Nice dream."

"Haha, I was like that when I was his age."

"Naruto, you need to work harder! You can't become Hokage with this level of skill!"

Upon hearing Naruto's unique self-introduction, the Chunin watching all smiled, and some even began to cheer him on.

"Thank you, thank you..."

After Naruto first shared his dream, he was met not with ridicule but with kindness and encouragement. He just stared blankly at everyone's smiles, feeling as if he were in a dream.

"Kid, go to the lobby on the first floor and prepare for the second exam. You're the last candidate in the three exam rooms, and this written exam will be over after you hand in your paper!"

Ibiki Morino picked up the counter on the table and slowly turned it around, revealing bright numbers to Naruto.

His azure eyes widened suddenly, a faint red tinge appearing in his pupils.

15!

There were 100 spots available, but after Naruto finished answering the questions, there were still 15 spots left, meaning that only 85 people passed the test.

If we calculate based on a total of 250 people, the pass rate for this exam is only 34%! (End of Chapter)