Satoru and his team made their way to the corner where most of the Konoha genin had gathered. Chosuke quickly spotted his Akimichi cousins and went to greet them, while Kaito headed toward the Yamanaka ninjas.
Satoru's gaze landed on Nawaki, Tatsuo, and Dai talking amongst themselves. Curious, he approached them.
"What are you guys talking about?" he asked.
Nawaki grinned. "We were thinking—why not team up during the exams? Help each other through the different stages."
Tatsuo crossed his arms. "My teammates can't keep up with me. I'd rather have a strong group to rely on. Let's bring the gang back together."
Satoru smirked at the idea. "Then we should add more people." He glanced toward Kaito and Chosuke, who were still talking to their respective clans.
He pointed at them. "Those two should join us."
Kaito and Chosuke noticed the gesture and waved back, though they didn't seem to know what was going on just yet.
Before they could continue, the examiner suddenly slammed the doors shut.
"All students who couldn't enter in time have failed," the examiner announced.
A loud knock echoed from the door. Someone had likely figured out the correct exam hall at the last moment but was too late. Satoru barely spared it a thought—whoever it was, they weren't competition anymore.
The examiner stepped forward. "Find your assigned seats and sit down."
The seating was arranged alphabetically, separating most teams. Satoru glanced around. Strangers filled most of the seats near him, but at least Sakumo wasn't too far away.
Papers were handed out, both the question sheet and answer sheet. The examiner's gaze swept over the room.
"You have two hours," he announced. "If anyone is caught cheating, you and your entire team will be disqualified."
Satoru focused on answering the questions he knew, filling in about seventy percent of the paper without much difficulty. His hand moved steadily until he paused midway through an answer, his attention drawn to the side.
A genin was being dragged out of the exam hall, his protests ignored as the examiner signaled for silence.
Satoru's eyes shifted to another participant—someone who wrote at an unnatural pace, filling in every answer without a single moment of hesitation. The guy didn't even stop to think. It was too perfect. Too mechanical.
'That's suspicious…'
Curious, Satoru extended a thin chakra string, latching it onto a strand of the guy's hair. With a slight tug, he broke the person's concentration—just enough to activate Boogie-Woogie.
In a blink, their papers swapped.
Satoru glanced down at the stolen paper, expecting a treasure trove of correct answers. Instead…
No name. The answers were absurd. A food recipe disguised as a math solution. A history lesson crammed into a science problem.
Satoru slowly looked back at the person. The so-called "genin" sat there completely still, not even reacting to the switch.
'So that's it… This guy isn't even trying. He's bait. A trap to mislead idiots into copying his answers and failing the test.'
Scoffing, Satoru switched their papers back and resumed writing his own answers honestly.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Dai struggling, gripping his pencil like a weapon instead of a tool. His frustration was obvious.
The people surrounding him, however, were the complete opposite—nerdy types, scribbling away with full confidence.
A devious idea took root in Satoru's mind.
Satoru formed a shadow clone beneath the bench, concealing its presence with Texture-Surprise. The clone slithered out unseen, sticking to the underside of the desk before leaping to the ceiling, blending into the surroundings perfectly.
From above, the clone activated Boogie-Woogie, swapping a completed test paper from a dozing-off "smart guy" with Dai's nearly blank one. It quickly changed the names before discreetly returning the swapped paper to its original place.
Dai blinked as a perfectly filled-out answer sheet appeared on his desk. A small note scribbled in the corner read:
"You owe me. Don't mess up."
He smiled slightly, recognizing Satoru's handiwork, and resumed writing as if nothing happened.
Meanwhile, Satoru continued his mischief. He discreetly passed chits with correct answers to his allies, ensuring as many Konoha ninjas as possible passed the exam. At the same time, he handed out sheets filled with incorrect answers to participants from rival nations, watching their confidence turn into confusion.
His eyes then landed on a hot-headed Kumo ninja, clearly frustrated at his inability to answer. Smirking, Satoru extended a near-invisible chakra string, flicking the back of the guy's ear just enough to be annoying.
The Kumo genin flinched, looking around angrily. Satoru repeated the action, making it seem like someone was messing with him.
Finally, the guy snapped.
"What the hell is your problem?!" he roared, grabbing the collar of the genin sitting beside him. Within moments, a full-blown brawl erupted.
The examiners didn't even hesitate. "Both of you, and your teams—out!"
As the furious Kumo team was dragged away, Satoru kept going. Using his chakra strings, he created small irritations—mosquito-like bites, tapping sensations—breaking the focus of competitors. Some scratched at phantom itches, while others lost precious time trying to concentrate.
For the exhausted participants, he went a step further—pricking them with thin, poison-tipped needles just strong enough to lull them into unconsciousness. They slumped over, their exams incomplete.
His shadow clone observed the growing chaos from above, counting the victims.
At least twenty disqualified.
Three saved.
---
Satoru watched as the invigilators collected the answer sheets. The room buzzed with mixed reactions—some genin looked satisfied, others fidgeted nervously, while a few leaned back as if they didn't care.
Once the papers were gathered, the examiner announced that they would have to wait an hour for their results. At first, the genin sat quietly, but as time passed, tension started to build.
The hotheaded genin who had been disrupted during the exam were the first to snap. Accusations flew across the room.
"Someone was messing with me!" one Kumo genin yelled.
"Same here! I felt something pulling at my ear the whole time!" another snapped.
The room descended into chaos, with Iwa, Kumo, Suna, and Kiri shinobi pointing fingers at each other. What started as arguments soon escalated into full-on fights.
Meanwhile, Konoha, Uzushio, and Tea shinobi remained unaffected. Unlike the others, they had actually been helped during the exam. They quietly gathered in a corner, exactly as the note Satoru had passed instructed:
"Gather in the corner with your team."
As they stood together, the shinobi from Uzushio and Tea quickly noticed something—only the rival villages were fighting while Konoha and its allies remained untouched. It didn't take them long to realize that someone from Konoha had orchestrated this chaos to keep them out of trouble.
Satoru smirked and leaned toward Tatsuo, whispering something in his ear. Tatsuo's eyes widened before a grin spread across his face. Without warning, the two suddenly lunged at each other.
"You're such an idiot, Tatsuo!" Satoru yelled, shoving him.
"Oh yeah?! Say that again, you smug bastard!" Tatsuo shot back, throwing a light punch that Satoru barely dodged.
The shinobi around them blinked in confusion. The Konoha and allied shinobi who had been watching closely, however, saw the quick wink Satoru gave them.
"A shinobi should see underneath the underneath," he whispered.
The message was clear—fake it.
Without hesitation, the Uzushio and Tea shinobi caught on. They turned to their nearest Konoha ninja, shouting random insults before engaging in their own fake fights. They made sure to target someone from a different village to make it seem believable.
From an outsider's perspective, it now looked like everyone in the room was caught up in the same confusion and infighting.
The real fighters, who had been genuinely furious about their disturbances, barely paid attention to the shift. They assumed that the Konoha and its allies had also been affected and continued their own heated arguments.
Satoru smirked as he dodged another exaggerated swing from Tatsuo.
'Now, we just sit back and let them tear each other apart.'
The allies of Konoha continued their fake fights, laughing and chatting among themselves as they threw exaggerated punches and dodged slow kicks.
Then, the doors to the hall suddenly swung open.
A group of examiners entered, their eyes scanning the room. Without hesitation, they began pointing at certain genin, calling them out for indiscipline.
"You, disqualified."
"Your entire team, out."
One by one, the names piled up. Teams who had gotten too aggressive in their fights, those who had been too loud with their complaints—all of them were eliminated on the spot.
By the time it was over, five to six more teams had been removed from the exam.
As the eliminated teams left, another group of examiners entered, this time carrying stacks of answer sheets. One examiner cleared his throat and spoke:
"All genin who scored less than fifty percent, step forward."
Murmurs spread through the crowd, and one by one, nervous genin approached. The examiner wasted no time.
"You have failed."
More than a hundred genin were eliminated instantly, roughly ten percent of the total participants. The tension in the room grew heavy.
Among those who failed, very few came from Konoha or its allies. Many of the allied genin glanced at their answer sheets, seeing they had barely scraped by. Their eyes flickered to Satoru, who was calmly stretching his arms.
They understood.
Had it not been for him, they wouldn't be standing here.
One of the Tea shinobi walked up to Satoru, lowering his voice.
"Was it you?"
Satoru gave him a confused look. "What are you talking about?"
But his smirk gave him away.
The Tea shinobi grinned, clasping Satoru's shoulder in gratitude before stepping back.
Although Satoru had only directly helped a handful of people, the ripple effect was massive. Since failure meant disqualification for an entire team, even saving one person had ensured the survival of many.
Silently, more and more shinobi from allied villages gave him subtle nods of appreciation.
Just then, the examiner stepped forward again.
"For those who remain, your next examiner will arrive in a few minutes. Wait here."
With that, the examiners left.
Satoru exhaled and leaned against a nearby desk, pulling out the lunchbox Keiko had given him earlier. He flipped it open and took a bite.
Tatsuo plopped down beside him, watching as Satoru pulled out another lunchbox and handed it to him.
"This one's from Reiko."
Tatsuo blinked, then chuckled as he took it. "Reiko didn't join the Chunin Exams?"
Satoru shook his head. "Her sensei didn't allow it. Said her team was too weak and inexperienced."
Tatsuo sighed, opening the lunchbox. "Too bad. It would've been fun to have her here."
The heavy doors creaked open, and a tall woman strode in.
Her pale skin, golden snake-like eyes, and pitch-black hair sent a shiver through the room.
Orochimaru.
A student of the Third Hokage.
The Konoha ninjas stood straighter, their expressions a mix of respect and awe. Meanwhile, the foreign shinobi eyed her with unease. They had heard the stories—about her, about her team, and most of all, about her infamous sensei.
Murmurs spread through the crowd, hushed whispers of speculation.
Then, she raised a single finger to her lips.
"Shhhh."
Instant silence.
A slow smile spread across her lips.
"How obedient," she mused, her voice dripping with amusement.
She then addressed the remaining genin. "Congratulations on passing the first stage. Now, follow me. We are heading to the next phase—the Forest of Death."
With that, she turned and began walking out.
As Satoru followed, he caught sight of the examiners and invigilators still standing by. Their expressions held something subtle—approval. Some even smiled at him, a rare gesture from seasoned shinobi.
They had seen everything.
They knew exactly what he had done.
Satoru smirked. He had suspected it before, but now he was sure.
The exams were rigged.
Rigged in Konoha's favor.
As they walked, Tatsuo nudged Satoru. "Hey, did you notice something weird?"
Satoru raised an eyebrow. "What?"
Tatsuo gestured to the groups of genin ahead. "There are barely any older genin. Everyone here is either young or a rookie. Where are all the experienced ones?"
Satoru glanced at the crowd before answering. "They're in a different exam."
Tatsuo blinked. "What?"
Satoru continued, lowering his voice slightly. "For the past few years, older genin started getting paid to enter the exams just to disqualify as many rookies as possible. They would target younger genin, crush their chances, and then surrender when they felt like it. It made the exams unfair and way harder than they should be."
Tatsuo frowned. "That's messed up."
Satoru nodded. "So now, the exams use skill-based matchmaking. Rookie genin fight rookies. Older genin have their own separate exam. The oldest genin here is probably around fifteen at best."
Tatsuo stared at him in disbelief. "How do you even know this?"
Satoru smirked. "Danzo told me."
Tatsuo sighed. "Of course he did."
They kept walking, the towering trees of the Forest of Death coming into view ahead.