In the surveillance monitors, the proctors for Exam Rooms A and B were ready in succession. The doors to the Comprehensive Building opened, and candidates began to pour in. Some candidates remained in Exam Room A, confused—the setup of Exam Room A was quite ingenious; upon entering through the door, there was an external hanging corridor about twenty meters long leading directly to a fan-shaped door.
The floor of the corridor had directional arrows painted in white, and a single desk was placed right in the middle.
A proctor sat there, responsible for registering the incoming candidates—the actual hidden purpose was to intercept the flow of people. After the candidates walked past, they would enter the door on the other side and face a test of human nature: whether to stay in Exam Room A or head to Exam Room B. The purpose of this proctor was to ensure that one group finished the test before letting the next group through.
Inside the door at the end of the corridor, other proctors conducted the test. Beyond that were two doors: one leading to the real Exam Room A and the other to Exam Room B... Among them, Asama was responsible for setting up the desk in the middle of the corridor for registration and interception; Toshiki and Yue were responsible for the "test" inside the door at the end; and Raikawa and Yamami were the ones in charge inside Exam Room A.
Everything proceeded in an orderly fashion... "Look at this... wow, that's some real luck." Inuzuka Tsume pointed at a surveillance screen and laughed exaggeratedly.
On the screen, a Ninja from the Hidden Crow Village had actually stumbled through by accident. With his head down, he didn't even notice Exam Room A and just looked up to find himself already in Exam Room B... Ino said solemnly, "Luck is also a form of strength."
This "prelude" wasn't particularly exciting. The only thing worth watching was the agonizing choice faced by candidates who accidentally entered Exam Room A: whether to take a point deduction to enter Exam Room B or keep their points and stay in Exam Room A. Ino had an earbud in her left ear, allowing her to clearly hear the manipulation in Toshiki and Yue's words—"Well then, your time for consideration is up. Please make your choice!"
"The Chunin Exams are a rare opportunity. If you lose your initial 20 points to enter Exam Room B, you'll naturally be 20 points behind everyone else..."
"You can't put it that way; the advantage of information cannot be ignored..."
...Toshiki and Yue, those two sly foxes, improvised based on the script—combined with being masters of manipulating hearts, handling three little Ninjas was a breeze.
However, hearing the same script and similar content over and over again could become tedious.
But while bored, the two became increasingly proficient and performed even better—they could deliver a nearly perfect performance even while being more perfunctory than before. The result was that out of one hundred and twenty-three Genin who accidentally entered Exam Room A, only three teams chose to take the 20-point deduction to go to Exam Room B, while the rest chose to wait.
After the screening in Exam Room A was officially completed, Exam Room B welcomed the chief proctor, Inoichi Yamanaka, along with a dense crowd of proctors standing beside him.
"Hello, everyone! Let me introduce myself. I am the chief proctor for this exam, Inoichi Yamanaka..."
Inoichi Yamanaka was "stingy with his words," using the script he had rehearsed several times at home. The proctors sat around the exam room, monitoring from every angle without any blind spots, and took out their notebooks and pens to record.
"I will now formally introduce the contents of this exam. First, this exam is in team mode. Everyone will receive a test paper with a total of ten questions, worth 100 points. During the exam, please note—you may use any means as long as they are not detected. Every one of your actions will be under the supervision of the proctors..."
"The exam uses a point-deduction model. The initial score is 100 points. For the ten questions, points will be deducted for incorrect answers or if left blank..."
"Now, distribute the test papers."
...Inoichi Yamanaka didn't say a single extra word. His tone was calm, yet it put immense psychological pressure on the candidates.
The carefully designed script structure specifically highlighted the "Intelligence Department"—everyone knew how terrifying a spymaster could be!
The first exam had explicit rules—as Inoichi had stated—and also hidden rules, which Inoichi had slightly hinted at.
The "hidden rules" obviously couldn't be stated directly, yet they had to be somewhat straightforward for a group of youngsters to grasp. Striking that balance was quite difficult.
In the surveillance room, Kuro Maru also had an earbud in one ear. He narrowed his eyes as he listened—
This fellow loved these kinds of intimidating scenes. A purring sound came from him as he grinned and said, "Look at that, those little brats are about to pee themselves from fear... Not bad, Inoichi's script is truly powerful, making the atmosphere so oppressive..."
Ino kicked him and corrected him, "No, you can't call him Inoichi. I call him Dad, so you have to call him Dad too..."
Kuro Maru: "Is that polite? What would your dad think if he knew he suddenly had a dog for a son?"
"You won't lose out by gaining another dad... Kuro Maru, let me tell you. Before, you were just the Inuzuka family's Kuro Maru. Now, if you recognize another dad, that's one more backer. In the future, you'll be able to walk sideways in Konoha. If you take a fancy to any female dog, just go for it—if anyone has an objection, tell them to take it up with your dad."
..."
Inuzuka Tsume's face was covered in black lines as she listened. How did this girl from the Yamanaka Clan become so wicked... Kuro Maru wasn't exactly a good influence to begin with; what if he became even worse by following her?
So, she hurriedly diverted the conversation between the little girl and her Kuro Maru, pulling the attention of the person and the dog back to the exam hall—
"Alright, the exam is officially about to begin."
The tense atmosphere in the exam room also affected the surveillance room. Inuzuka Tsume was clearly getting caught up in it, becoming nervous herself.
A few people had already started writing furiously. Inuzuka Tsume and Uchiha Fugaku, who already knew the hidden rules of the first exam, couldn't help but pity these Ninjas for a few seconds—they were the group most likely to have points deducted and be eliminated.
Ten minutes later... the hidden rules were roughly figured out. Someone observed the recording frequency of the proctors and the corresponding events, and then they had a good idea of what was happening.
Others saw people cheating while the proctors ignored it, and they also understood... The cheating—had begun.
Aside from some of the more common and clumsy methods, Ino paid special attention to some very creative and technical cheating techniques:
A female Ninja from the Hidden Sand Village didn't look very old, but her eyes were incredibly sharp. Just by watching the twitching of a person's shoulders and arms, she could tell what they were writing and find the answers she needed.
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