CH_83

Among the examinees in Tōji's room, two could manipulate objects remotely, and one had a small summoning creature…

Tōji did the math in his head—

If these nine people were a sample… maybe four of them could score higher than the others.

Factoring in one or two who might be using hidden methods, roughly half of them had some skill.

Looking at it the other way, the chance that a whole team had no one who could score at all was about 12.5%.

The written exam had to eliminate at least 25% of the teams. That meant someone with only 20 points was still likely to be eliminated…

『Whatever—can't worry about everyone.』

There probably weren't many people who had no idea how to calculate the odds. After all, among genin, there were very few like Naruto.

So he figured that some of the more unscrupulous examinees might try to attack his clones!

And all he could do was wait.

A normal genin could run up and down three floors in just a few minutes, logically speaking.

Tōji's clones had been out for a while now.

『Will they make it back safely?』 Beneath his calm exterior, Tōji was nervous.

This Chūnin Exam was crucial—it would determine whether he could get on Minato Namikaze's radar. After all, no one knew what the criteria were for being eligible to learn the 【Flying Thunder God Technique】.

Tōji thought it would be ridiculous if they tried to teach every single young shinobi.

After a while longer, one of Tōji's clones—an Earth Clone—returned.

"That clone…"

"He's back. Think he'll get both teammates full marks?"

"He probably can. That technique's way stronger than what we've got."

"…"

Tōji had never imagined that someone like him would one day be the subject of gossip.

"Natchi's in Room 03, and Neru's in Room 06. I've already given the answers to Natchi, and the Water Clone has delivered the answers to Neru." The Earth Clone whispered in his ear, then dispelled.

Along with it, Tōji dispelled the Water Clone he hadn't released yet.

『Everything went smoothly!』 Tōji quickly wrote down the answers, then observed the other examinees…

『Hmm… The atmosphere is strange. Good thing the exam rules protect us!』

Feeling confident he'd passed the written exam, Tōji now thought of himself as just a spectator.

Occasionally, an unknown bird would fly past the window—probably "writing" in the air. Insects would fly in and crawl across someone's test paper—probably messages from an Aburame teammate.

Tōji watched it all like a performance showcase of Konoha genin communication techniques.

"Five minutes left!" The proctor hadn't spoken in a long time—and when he finally did, it was good news—at least for Tōji.

Only three examinees still hadn't figured out their teammates' room numbers. Their anxiety was unmistakable.

Other examinees had either completed everything or were still missing one teammate's room number.

Tōji, who'd been waiting to see if there would be a "teamwork test," found himself watching the exam end without one… 『Aren't they testing whether these genin would abandon their teammates this time?』

Tōji found it odd—this was different from what he remembered about Konoha's Chūnin Exams! Was it because of the pass rate, or because of the recent silent emphasis on "following the rules is more important than saving teammates"?

『Whatever—as long as I pass, that's what matters.』 Following the proctor's instructions, Tōji put down his test paper, left his seat with the others, and stepped out of the barrier.

"Phew—the written exam is over." Tōji only truly relaxed once he was fully out of the exam room.

He glanced at the sign that had previously read "Yellow"—now it read "02."

"Heh—my clones are pretty reliable!" Tōji praised himself silently, then turned and headed downstairs to find Natchi.

"Tōji! Over here!" At the stairwell, Natchi was already waiting for him.

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I know the word count of each of my chapters is always pretty short—much shorter compared to other works. But this is actually just my habit—it happens to fill up one full screen on my end. If you find it uncomfortable to read, I can combine two chapters into one. Would you like me to do that?