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Pen and ink! Swish, swish, swish
Gojo Kaigetsu quickly wrote on the white paper: ["Honesty in Examinations - The Transparency of Konoha's Chunin Exams"]
[A year ago, during my travels in Konoha, I befriended Naruto, who is now an excellent Genin and is preparing to take the Chūnin Qualification Exam.]
At that time, he invited me to his home as a guest, to drink the beer brewed by his father, and to play video games while drinking—surely a delightful experience. On the appointed day, he apologized and said to me, "Today is the first written exam for the Chūnin Exam. Could you wait for me outside the exam hall for two hours?" I readily agreed, sitting on a bench outside the exam hall flipping through magazines, and time passed without me noticing.
On the way to Naruto's house, I asked him about the exam. Naruto excitedly told me that the answers were attached to the back of the test paper, and after completing the questions, the examinees could roughly estimate their scores. He said he had performed well this time.
"What? The answers are on the test paper?" I found it baffling. "Then you all must be able to get 100%!"
"No. No one copies the answers on the back of the test paper."
Hearing this, I immediately asked without thinking: "Why are the answers attached to the back of the test paper if not to be copied?"
Naruto immediately explained: "No, no, no! We strictly follow the exam regulations, completing the questions in the first two hours, and then comparing our answers in the following 10 minutes. Regardless of whether we are right or wrong, we are not allowed to alter our answers. Afterwards, we submit our self-graded test papers to the proctor, Morino Ibiki."
Naruto told me that the Konoha Chūnin Exam always attaches answers to the back of the test paper so that examinees can assess their scores. If they find they have done poorly, they are expected to study and retake the exam until they pass.
This made me reflect.
For many years, the quality of Konoha shinobi and the integrity of the Hokage Tower have been renowned throughout the shinobi world, consistently ranking high in various evaluations. The efficiency of completing missions is also higher than that of shinobi from other villages at the same price point.
Perhaps now, I've cracked the secret.
When honesty, trustworthiness, and adherence to rules become a conscious behavior, a habit, in a country or village, the result is inevitably a harmonious, warm, and beautiful village.
They refuse to achieve their goals through irregular means, and honesty, integrity, and self-discipline have become the social atmosphere of Konoha. Under the influence of this atmosphere, Konoha shinobi village consistently leads in various shinobi and ninja-dimensional competitions.
I finally understood why Genin like Naruto are so "Naive."
And why Konohagakure is so powerful and renowned throughout the world—there must be a certain inevitable connection with this "exam."
Working as a civil servant in Konohagakure, although the salary and benefits are high, self-discipline is very strict. Whether working in the Hokage Tower, Anbu… in these departments, accepting gifts and being treated to meals is a serious offense, easily jeopardizing one's future and career.
I heard Naruto say that the first thing his father did after entering the Konoha civil servant system was to clarify the limits of "corruption"—that is, the maximum value of gifts or meals he could accept. His father once asked an experienced Konoha civil servant for advice, who told him: "You can have a beer, or smoke a soft Konoha cigarette, but if you accidentally drink someone else's wine, or smoke a hard Konoha cigarette…"
"Then you might be in trouble every minute, living in constant anxiety and fear."
Perhaps the next minute, secret shinobi will find you; perhaps in the next two minutes, Anbu shinobi will find you… In short, Konohagakure has various anti-corruption measures to address potential chaos.
Konoha's laws stipulate that civil servants cannot accept gifts of high value, and they have a detailed definition of "high value":
Adjusted according to the price index, it's generally around 100 ryo.
And if it's official hospitality—that is, entertaining for official purposes—from the Hokage to ordinary employees, everyone who attends the meal, what dishes were ordered, and how much was spent, must be listed in detail on a report submitted to the office of Advisor Gojo in the Hokage Tower.
Once you enter Advisor Gojo's office—
Everyone can see it, everything can be investigated, everything is under the scrutiny of the Will of Fire!
The public can report any irregularities, and even file a lawsuit.
Business trips are the same.
If a civil servant travels for less than one day, they receive an allowance based on the hour—they even go that far in being stingy. Want to visit tourist attractions during a business trip? Pay for it yourself. The Hokage Tower's allowance won't give you a single extra ryo.
This applies to civil servants of all levels, even ambassadors dispatched to Kirigakure and Sunagakure, like Nara Shikaku and Mitokado Homura.
I couldn't help but ask Naruto if anyone engaged in corruption under such strict regulations?
Naruto thought carefully and told me that the most recent case was a year ago—when the elder of the Hokage Tower, Danzō Shimura, accidentally ate a serving of foie gras while hosting a special envoy from the Land of Fire. It was recorded by an honest shinobi and presented on Advisor Gojo's desk, and Elder Danzō was transferred for that foie gras!
This moral tradition and social atmosphere of honoring integrity and shaming corruption has a great influence and constraint on Konoha officials.
I miss Konoha, and the Genin Naruto. In such an atmosphere, he will also be able to grow into a true Konoha civil servant who is useful to the village's lower-level shinobi and citizens.
Sometimes, I can't help but wonder
If other village towers could emulate the Hokage Tower of Konoha and implement such strict regulations, what would happen?
As far as I know, the Konoha shinobi receive the lowest commission when accepting missions from the Hokage Tree.
For a mission worth 10,000 ryō, the Hokage Tower might only take a 3,000 ryō commission; the Iwagakure Tower would take 3,500 ryō; the Kirigakure Tower would take 4,000 ryō; the Sunagakure Tower would take 5,000 ryō; and the Kumogakure Tower would take 6,000 ryō!
I don't understand economics, but according to my simple and worldly view—
Isn't it true that the more corrupt a village tower is, the higher the commission it takes on missions? Because the corruption of the village tower causes a huge financial deficit for the village, and it has no choice but to extract money from the people and the sweat of the shinobi to fill this hole?
If so, that's a topic that shouldn't be discussed… Alas, let's not talk about national affairs, let's not talk about national affairs!
Let's talk about something more relaxing~
[Perhaps, when I reveal such information to the shinobi world, I will be defined as "500,000" by Konohagakure's Anbu—because I have revealed their powerful secret~]
—Finished in one breath!
To the point!
After finishing the last period, Gojo Kaigetsu took a deep breath, feeling refreshed and invigorated.
This was truly a cathartic and exhilarating writing session!
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