A week later, Feng Zheng, Hodaka, and Mieko met in front of the school building. Feng Zheng looked at them and asked, "Are you ready?"
Hodaka and Mieko both smiled and replied, "Of course."
The three entered the building together. The first stage of the Chunin Exams was held in Room 301. Feng Zheng wondered, "Will someone on the second floor use genjutsu to make people go to the wrong classroom?"
However, there was no commotion on the second floor. They successfully entered Room 301.
Upon entering the room, they saw hundreds of Genin. Hodaka and Mieko were surprised, but Feng Zheng had already expected this.
As soon as they entered, they noticed everyone casting strange glances at them. After all, they were the only 10-year-old and 9-year-old Genin there.
The three did not look for anyone, as none of their classmates were participating.
Although other members of the Hyuga and Uchiha clans were participating, Hodaka and Mieko did not look for them either. They simply found a few empty seats and sat together.
The room was very noisy; it always is when hundreds of teenagers are placed in the same room.
At 9 o'clock, the bell rang three times, and the room immediately quieted down.
At this moment, the classroom door slowly opened. Everyone's attention was drawn to the doorway. A sickly man walked into the room. He coughed a few times, and everyone looked puzzled.
Even Feng Zheng was curious. "Who is this guy?"
Just then, six Ninja wearing Konoha Chunin vests walked into the room with a large number of documents.
The sickly man coughed again and began to speak. "I am the invigilator… *cough cough*… for the first… *cough cough*… stage."
Everyone's eyes twitched. The Konoha Genin thought, "Really? Couldn't they find anyone else?"
The Genin from other Villages, however, thought, "Is Konoha's situation really so bad that they can't find healthier people to preside over the Chunin Exams?"
Immediately, the room filled with the sounds of Genin whispering or chatting among themselves. Some even laughed out loud.
At this moment, the sickly man coughed again and said, "Anyone who makes a sound… *cough cough*… will be kicked out of the room… *cough cough*!"
As soon as he said this, he released killing intent, locking onto every Genin in the room!
Immediately, everyone went silent! No one dared to underestimate him anymore. Most people were intimidated by his aura.
Even Feng Zheng, Hodaka, and Mieko had solemn expressions. Feng Zheng said, "How many people must he have killed to generate such killing intent?"
He continued, "All of you, *cough cough*… each sit on one… *cough cough*… stool."
The entire room was quietly rearranged. Each person took a seat. Since he did not reveal the seating arrangement, everyone sat next to their teammates.
After everyone was seated, the Chunin began to distribute the test papers. They placed them blank side up so the Genin could not see the questions.
The sickly man announced again, "Do not touch the test papers. *cough cough*… You can… *cough cough*… turn over the test papers at 9:15… *cough cough*."
After speaking, he coughed continuously for a minute.
Then he looked up and continued, "Each test paper has 10… *cough cough*… questions. You have 5… *cough cough*… minutes to answer all… *cough cough*… the questions. To pass the Chunin Exams, all… *cough cough*… three members… *cough cough*… of the team need a perfect score!"
This immediately made everyone nervous. Feng Zheng thought, "Only five minutes? And a perfect score? The only possible scenario is that these questions are too simple."
However, he kept thinking, as did many others. They were all wondering the same thing.
"What exactly does this old man want to do? There must be a trick here!"
The room was silent, save for the occasional cough from the invigilator.
At 9:14, the sickly man announced again, "No cheating!"
Then he started coughing non-stop again!
At 9:15, the bell rang again. Everyone immediately turned over their test papers. What Feng Zheng saw left him speechless!
Not just Feng Zheng, but all three hundred and thirty-six Genin in the entire room were stunned!
Feng Zheng's test paper was as follows:
Q1. 3 x 3 =
Q2. 4 - 2 =
Q3. 9 × 2 =
Q4. 3 ÷ 1 =
Q5. 9 × 7 =
Q6. 8 ÷ 2 =
Q7. 1 - 1 =
Q8. 9 × 0 =
Q9. 9 + 9 =
Q10. 8 × 4 =
This surprise left everyone stunned for a few seconds. However, many quickly began to answer. Only a few had not yet.
Feng Zheng analyzed seriously, "What the hell is this? The Chunin Exams can't be this simple! What trick will he pull in the end? Like making us relax our guard, and then suddenly catching us off guard?"
He quickly thought and came to a conclusion. "No, there's something else wrong. This makes me uneasy."
He racked his brain for several minutes before finally remembering! "What makes me uneasy is not just this test paper. It's also my Chakra."
Realizing this, he finally calmed down and closed his eyes.
He observed his Chakra, which was flowing very smoothly. He took a deep breath, and suddenly, his Chakra became completely chaotic.
His entire Chakra was disturbed. He opened his eyes and looked at the test paper. Every number had changed! Feng Zheng immediately broke out in a sweat, as he realized how easily he had fallen into a genjutsu.
He looked up at the sickly invigilator.
Surprisingly, there was no sick person at all! Instead, there was a tall, healthy, handsome man with long hair.
He looked at Feng Zheng and smiled, nodding.
Feng Zheng thought, "So it was Kurama Hikaru! No wonder."
He lowered his head and secretly disturbed his Chakra again, ensuring that there were no multiple layers of genjutsu.
Then he quickly began to answer the questions. Although the numbers had changed, the questions were still very simple.
While writing, he gently kicked Hodaka, who was sitting in front of him, and Chakra flowed into his body, disturbing his Chakra.
This broke the genjutsu on him. Hodaka also noticed that the numbers had changed, and all his answers were wrong! He quickly corrected them.
As Hodaka was correcting his answers, Feng Zheng turned to look at Mieko, who was sitting to his right, and thought, "Great, her Sharingan is already activated."
Mieko also noticed the genjutsu and broke it. After answering, she used her Sharingan to check Feng Zheng's and Hodaka's Chakra. Seeing that neither of them was under genjutsu, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Feng Zheng answered all his questions, then wondered, "When exactly did he cast the genjutsu?"
He looked at Kurama Hikaru and saw that he was still coughing occasionally. Feng Zheng understood and gave a wry smile.
"His coughing triggered the genjutsu in this room. Perhaps not just the coughing, but even those bells cast genjutsu on us. Sound-based genjutsu, applied in very small amounts, ensuring we wouldn't notice any sudden changes in Chakra, and because it only changed the content of a test paper we had never seen, we all thought everything was real."
As Feng Zheng analyzed, he realized, "Wait a minute, he actually gave us a lot of clues. His constant coughing was suspicious. And the most suspicious thing was these questions. If these questions were difficult, I would never have realized I was under genjutsu!"
Feng Zheng sighed, thinking, "I didn't expect to learn anything here. But this Chunin Exams shows that I'm not as careful and vigilant as I need to be. If this were a battlefield, I would have died long ago."
By 9:20, everyone, whether they had discovered the genjutsu or not, had finished answering.
A few seconds before 9:20, Kurama Hikaru announced in a steady and authoritative tone, "Everyone put down your pencils. After the bell rings, anyone holding a pencil will be disqualified from the Chunin Exams."
The stability of his voice surprised many. Immediately after, the bell rang loudly. Only this time, it was not to cast genjutsu, but to break it.
As soon as the genjutsu was broken, many Genin's eyes widened. They noticed that the questions had changed, which meant all their answers were wrong. Even the sickly invigilator suddenly became healthy.
Some people immediately started to stir, but Kurama Hikaru released his killing intent again. This immediately quieted the room.
Overall, only 31 Genin were able to correctly write all the answers. Only 8 teams had all 3 members answer correctly.
Of the remaining 7 Genin, 1 was sitting too far from his team, and the other 6 only recognized the genjutsu at the last minute and could not communicate with their teammates in time.
Feng Zheng breathed a sigh of relief. "Fortunately, Hodaka was sitting right in front of me!"
Knowing the results, Kurama Hikaru smiled and said, "In battle, many times the enemy will subtly cast genjutsu on you, which can cause you to make wrong moves and put your entire team in danger. The enemy can also use this method to transmit misleading information to you, and if you fall for it, you might put the entire Village in danger, so you must be careful and cautious when performing missions, because sometimes, just one wrong step can ruin you."
As he spoke the last sentence, his killing intent was released again.
Then he announced, "Those who failed, please leave. Those who passed, please wait here. The invigilator for the second stage of the Chunin Exams will meet you here at 9:45."
After announcing this, he disappeared.
The remaining Genin instinctively disturbed their Chakra. But they never saw him again.
The Genin who failed left in disappointment. But regardless of the outcome, all Genin learned an important lesson.