12:30 PM.
Team 7 rushed into the Ninja Academy.
"Why was the exam suddenly moved from 3 PM to 1 PM?!" Naruto complained.
"Quit whining, Naruto," Sakura sighed.
Naruto stretched his arms behind his head. "It's so quiet… are we the first ones here?"
"…Huh?!"
Sakura suddenly gasped. Naruto and Sasuke followed her gaze and froze.
On either side of the academy gates, two banners had appeared:
Chunin Exams – Konoha Division
Where effort turns into fun
"…Fun?" the three of them muttered, completely confused.
"Tch. Cheap tricks," Sasuke said, frowning as he pushed the gate open.
The moment it swung open, the world shifted.
It was like stepping into another dimension.
Before them stretched a hundred-meter corridor, the floor covered in a dizzying grid of colored tiles—red, blue, green, black—so dense it made their eyes spin.
"This is… a genjutsu?" Sakura whispered, quickly forming a hand seal. "Release!"
"Won't work," Sasuke said calmly. "If this is the first test, there's no way it's that easy to break."
"So this is the first exam?" Naruto grinned. "And it's not a written test? That's awesome!"
"Wait, Naruto—!"
Too late.
Naruto stepped onto a red tile.
The walls instantly lit up with a flashing red glow.
"W-what's happening?!"
"Idiot, Naruto! These tiles must each trigger something—"
The lights stopped. Black text appeared:
Encounter: Cannon Fodder Enemies
Threat Level: Low
Eliminate them!
"Cannon fodder?"
The scene shifted again.
They found themselves in a sealed arena.
No people—just two "enemies."
A giant lobster… and an oversized crab, clacking their claws as they charged forward.
"So we beat these things and move on?" Naruto dodged a snapping claw, grinning. "This is actually fun!"
Meanwhile, other teams faced their own bizarre trials.
Rock Lee stepped on a green tile—perfectly suited to him.
His entire team was punished: hold their noses and spin in place 100 times.
Tenten and Neji exchanged looks, clearly debating whether to beat Lee up first—or try to escape the punishment.
"Meow~ I'd advise against it," the chubby cat said lazily. "That old trickster wants you to resist. You'll only make it worse."
The three exchanged glances.
Lee raised his thick brows. "Tenten! Neji! Let's compete to see who finishes first!"
Tenten grimaced. "Is there seriously no other way…?"
Toneri's team stepped on a black tile.
Condition: Reveal your true inner desire to proceed.
The three of them went quiet.
…A trust exercise?
Toneri didn't mind—his feelings for Hinata were no secret. Sai scratched his head, indifferent.
Hoshino…
Slowly lowered her tiptoes to the ground.
Kankuro stepped on a blue tile.
Reward: Advance 50 meters.
But when he tried another blue tile…
They were instantly sent back to the start.
Hidden in a corner of the academy, Akio stood with his eyes closed, a wide grin on his face.
"Interesting… so that's Hoshino's deepest wish. No wonder…"
"Neji can still use Rotation while pinching his nose? Impressive."
"Naruto, you idiot… think cannon fodder is fun, huh? Still stepping on red tiles?"
He smirked.
"Alright then—boss battle time. Let's see how you handle this."
Outside the academy—
Dozens of ANBU and jonin instructors surrounded the training grounds.
Hundreds of candidates stood frozen, trapped inside the illusion.
Space warped, and Obito appeared beside Kakashi.
"I didn't expect Master's genjutsu to be this strong… evaluating this many people at once."
Kakashi glanced at him. "Why add a preliminary round all of a sudden? And have him run it?"
Obito paused. "Master said there are too many participants this year. Some of them are too weak—they'd just die in the real exam. So he's filtering them out early."
Kakashi immediately thought of the betting craze over the past few days… and said nothing.
This setup actually benefited Team 7.
…And besides, he had money on them too.
Around them, jonin from other villages were clearly dissatisfied—but no one dared speak up.
They all understood one thing:
You don't challenge Akio unless you're ready to get crushed.
Inside the illusion—
Team 7 finally defeated the "Dragon Prince."
Sasuke and Sakura let out a breath of relief—
Then their faces darkened.
Naruto had stepped on another red tile.
"Hey! What's next?!"
New text appeared:
Encounter: Dragon King
Threat Level: High
Defeat him!
"…Dragon King?" Naruto muttered. "So… the dad of that last one?"
Sasuke stared at the massive sea dragon now towering before them.
His eye twitched.
"Naruto… you complete idiot."
"Idiot," Sakura echoed.
The two of them silently made a decision—
Once they beat this thing, Naruto was getting pinned to the ground.
Time passed.
Thirty minutes later, the first team finally cleared the test—
Tenten's team.
Their strategy?
Brute force.
They deliberately chose red tiles the entire way.
After their oversized cat shredded the final boss, they finally broke free from the illusion.
With tears of passion streaming down his face, Guy led the trio (and the cat) into the written exam hall.
"We're first! Nice, chubby kitty!"
"Meow~ Obviously. That last boss? You wouldn't have won without me. And knowing that old schemer… if you lost, you'd have been sent straight back to the start."
The cat wasn't wrong.
Many teams—including Team 7—had already been reset multiple times.
Naruto had been thoroughly beaten by Sasuke and Sakura.
And then—
They started over.
More and more teams began figuring out the rules.
Especially Kenshi, whose brain was working overtime.
"Red tiles test combat. Blue tiles test luck. Green tiles test endurance. Black tiles test trust," he explained calmly. "Each time you step on the same color, the difficulty increases. So we can't repeat too much… but there should be a cap. If we clear the highest difficulty, we might get through instantly."
Choji kept munching chips, clearly not understanding—but deeply impressed.
Ino blinked. "So… what's the plan?"
Kenshi hesitated.
Trust exercises… were a pain.
"…Three red, three green, two black. Then we gamble on blue for the rest."
2:58 PM.
More than 200 candidates suddenly woke up on the academy grounds.
"You failed to clear the illusion. You are eliminated," Obito announced loudly.
Silence fell over the field.
Before waking up, every one of them had seen a final message:
"Final interpretation rights belong to Uzumaki Akio."
"If you disagree… feel free to prove it."
The meaning was perfectly clear.
No one dared object.