[Chūnin Exam Hall — Written Test]
"Begin."
Ibiki's voice rang out — final and sharp as a drawn blade.
Pens scratched.Breaths held.The weight of the room shifted — silent tension winding tighter.
Naruto's gaze dropped to the paper.
Ten questions.Each one chosen not for fairness — but for failure.
Even at a glance, he knew:
Designed to break them.Impossible through knowledge alone.
His grip on the pen remained light — fingers poised.Breath even.Mind clear.
No need for panic.No need for wasted movement.
He understood the true game.
Without warning, his right hand moved.
A single fluid hand seal — practiced, precise.
From beneath the stairwell that led down to the ground floor, a soft ripple shimmered in the dim shadow.
A clone took shape — not flashy or noisy, but solid and silent, like a shadow stepping into the world.
The clone vanished quietly through the door at the bottom of the stairs, slipping into the corridor beyond the exam hall.
Downstairs, the ground floor stretched wide and dimly lit.
The building's library lay a short walk away — a cavernous room filled with dusty scrolls and ancient tomes.
The clone moved swiftly, barely making a sound, eyes flicking over the spines of countless volumes.
Its mission was simple but vital: find the answers.
[Orochimaru — Kusa-nin]
Across the hall, a shadow leaned against the far wall, cloaked and hooded, face partially masked.
His golden eyes gleamed with interest.
"So precise," he hissed softly.
"The use of clones deployed beyond the exam hall... a chess player thinking several moves ahead."
His gaze traced Naruto's calm figure, then flicked back to the door by the stairs.
"Silent runners gathering knowledge, returning with immediate recall."
A faint smile curled at his lips.
"Interesting indeed."
Orochimaru's golden eyes sparkled with cruel amusement.
"This exam is not just a test of strength or knowledge... but of cunning and endurance."
He turned his gaze to Sasuke for a brief moment — the Sharingan blooming with promise.
But his interest flickered back to Naruto.
"Alone, yet already a threat."
Outside the hall, the afternoon sun cast long shadows down the stone steps to the library.
Inside, the clone navigated swiftly through the aisles — rows of scrolls and tomes stretching endlessly.
Its expression was neutral, scanning, absorbing.
The first question was complex, requiring knowledge of historic battles and clan tactics — details rarely memorized.
The clone found the scroll, its fingers brushing ancient characters, quickly committing information to memory.
Moments later, the clone dissolved into a wisp of chakra, a faint pulse rippling through the air as the knowledge returned to Naruto's mind.
Back upstairs, Naruto's expression remained unreadable.
His right hand moved once again, forming the same precise seal.
Another clone shimmered into existence beneath the stairs — silent, unseen, dispatched to continue the mission.
Inside, genin whispered nervously, some stealing glances toward Naruto.
No team, no backup, yet calm and collected.
Upstairs, the timer clicked steadily.
Naruto's mind was a fortress.
Each clone dispatched from the ground floor returned with fresh answers, information flooding into his consciousness in sharp, clean pulses.
He wrote answers with certainty — no hesitation, no doubt.
The room hummed with tension.
But Naruto's calm was a stark contrast.
No panic.
No desperation.
Only quiet control.
[Nejire's Perspective]
Nejire Hyūga's pale gaze flickered, a faint narrowing of her eyes.
She'd caught it — the faint ripple of chakra leaving the hall.
Her Byakugan pulsed softly beneath her lids, vision expanding through layers of the building.
With a calm breath, she adjusted her sight.
Down.
Down.
Through floor and stair, past stone and wood.
There—
She saw it.
A perfect clone, moving swiftly between the library shelves on the first floor.
Its features mirrored Naruto's exactly.
Purposeful. Focused.
She watched it pause before a towering shelf, fingers moving over scrolls and texts with surgical efficiency.
Not mindless.
It was searching.
Absorbing.
Nejire's breath caught faintly in her throat.
She blinked once, resetting her gaze.
"That's… dangerous."
A clone gathering answers.
Cheating? No — the test permitted it. But this was beyond simple peeking.
A whole different strategy.
She suppressed the faint flicker of admiration curling at the edge of her thoughts.
Cool logic reclaimed her mind.
"Calculated. Efficient. He's using them as extensions of his mind… And no one else here even realizes."
Her gaze flickered back to Naruto's seated form.
He hadn't moved. Hadn't even looked up.
As if everything was happening beneath the surface — a silent war, unseen by most.
For a moment, her brow knit faintly.
Not disapproval.
Not concern.
Something deeper.
Recognition.
[Meanwhile]
The hall's silence deepened.
Naruto's clones formed and dissolved like clockwork, silently running between floors — the ground floor a hidden battlefield of knowledge.
Each return was a wave of insight.
Each answer, a step closer to mastery.
The tension in the room was a storm around him.
But Naruto's gaze was steady, eyes flicking calmly from paper to window to door.
A swordsman's patience.
A strategist's mind.
He was no longer the reckless boy from the village streets.
He was something new.
Outside the exam hall window, the shadow beneath the stairs shifted once more.
Another clone, unseen, vanished down to the library's depths.
But last battle still remains.
The clock struck the final moment.
Ibiki Morino's voice cut through the room.
"Pens down."
Chairs stilled.
Eyes turned forward — tense, waiting.
Ibiki surveyed them with a cold smile.
"You've done well to endure this far."
"But now — the true test begins."
He folded his arms.
"You may choose not to take the tenth question. If you do not take it — you and your team will be disqualified."
A sharp pause.
"But if you do choose to take it… and fail… you will remain genin. Forever."
The words slammed into the room like iron chains.
Shocked gasps rippled across the ranks.
"This is your choice," Ibiki continued. "Stand now and leave if you cannot accept this risk."
Footsteps. Shuffling chairs.
Dozens rose and left.
Naruto remained still. Calm.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
A bluff.
Ibiki let the silence stretch, then spoke once more.
"For those who remain — you have accepted the risk."
"Now — the tenth question."
He smiled faintly.
"Answer this: Do you have the unshakable resolve to take on dangerous missions, knowing you might die — and will you still stand up and protect your comrades, no matter the cost?"
He paused.
"Write your answer."
A single line.
No tricks.
Only truth.