Everyone's eyes widened in surprise and confusion. Ibiki had just passed everyone who had remained in the room.
Toru knew the exam had been focused on information gathering, but he hadn't seen this coming.
Sakura stood up from her seat.
"Wait a second, sensei. What do you mean we passed? Where's the tenth question?"
Ibiki simply laughed before answering.
"There is no tenth question, at least not a written one. In fact, your decision to stay was the answer to the tenth question."
'So it was basically a mind game. I'm surprised,' Toru thought.
"Seriously? So the other nine questions were just there to make us waste our time?" said the girl with the giant fan.
Ibiki sighed.
"It's the exact opposite. Those nine questions had a very important purpose in this exam," he said, crossing his arms. "That purpose was information gathering under the most unfavorable circumstances."
"Ah... Well... That explains a lot," said the girl with the fan.
"I'll explain it simply. My main objective was to test both your individual abilities and your ability to work as a team. I wanted you to keep an eye on one another. That's why I made that rule: if one of you got a zero, the entire team would be eliminated from the Chunin Exams. That's why the exam was intentionally so difficult, forcing you to use tricks to obtain the answers. Of course, none of you would have been able to answer those questions if it weren't for the two Chunin who infiltrated the room among you."
The infiltrators, disguised as ordinary shinobi, raised their hands with smiles on their faces.
'I was able to solve them on my own,' Toru thought.
"I knew it," Naruto said, laughing. "Nobody can fool me. I knew it from the beginning."
'It's obvious you had no idea what was going on,' Sasuke grunted.
"This exam was very difficult for you. I can tell just by looking at your faces. Information gathering is important in the shinobi world, but being uninformed is better than having incorrect information," Ibiki added. "A single mistake can lead to your death. I'm sure a few of you have experienced that firsthand."
Toru remembered something similar.
'That's true... During the reconnaissance mission, our team was almost wiped out because of a lack of information. In a way, having no information is better than being misinformed.'
"As shinobi, we have to give everything for our village. There will be many moments when we'll have to make difficult decisions."
Ibiki brought his hands to his head and removed the cloth covering it.
Everyone's eyes widened in surprise.
That man had all kinds of scars on his head. Burns, cuts, bruises, and who knew what else. It showed that the life of a shinobi wasn't easy. Sometimes, you had to sacrifice something to protect something else. That was something that became etched into the minds of most of those present.
"Now, with that said, I wish you the best of luck in this exam. You passed, that's something I can't deny, but this won't be your only test, so show me why you passed the written exam. And... give it everything you've got to achieve your dreams."
A faint smile appeared on the man's face. That made everyone in the room feel relieved and happy that they had passed. But this was only the beginning.
"Alright, I've finished my speech, so you can—"
Ibiki fell silent when a bundle of cloth appeared in front of him.
The bundle spun around the entire room, throwing four kunai in different directions.
'Seriously, why does she always do this?' Ibiki thought with a tired expression. He already knew the identity of the person behind all of this.
"Hello, maggots! Are you ready for the next exam?!"
When a woman's voice echoed through the room, the bundle of cloth opened, revealing a woman with dark blue-black hair. Her eyes were brown and she was... quite eye-catching.
"Anko, it's not your turn yet," Ibiki said.
That made Anko's face turn slightly red from the embarrassment.
"Yeah, I know," she said.
"You should've waited a little longer. I was already finishing. Well, it's not like you were going to listen to me. After all, you're pretty stupid."
"Hey! Well..." Anko gave up and looked at the rookies.
"There are a lot of them... Looks like you're going soft, Ibiki."
"It's the opposite. It seems there are some very capable shinobi this year."
"Whatever you say." Anko stepped forward with a smile. "Listen up, trash. Everything you went through today was child's play compared to what I'm going to put you through."
Anko smiled maliciously, crossing her arms like some kind of tyrant.
'Just as expected...' Toru thought.
It was true that the written exam had only been the beginning, but even so, everything Anko said gave them a hint of what the next exam would be like.
"Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow morning. I'll give you all the details you need that same day. And I hope none of you die, or that would be a real shame."
After saying that, Anko left the room, causing just as much of a commotion as when she had arrived. Everyone remained silent because of Anko's strange personality, but after a few seconds, everything returned to normal.
—Hours Later—
Toru was sitting atop the Hokage Monument. He was eating a sweet bun while looking over the village.
"Ugh... This is disgusting."
Even though he complained about the taste of the fruit-filled sweet bun, he continued eating it anyway.
He was trying to relax there while suffering through the taste of his dinner, but a strange feeling accompanied him. Toru couldn't explain what it was, but he understood that it was connected to the dream he had that day.
'It was only a moment in a high place, but now...'
Amid the darkness of his thoughts, like a brief flash that quickly faded away, he saw blood and felt loneliness. Those emotions felt so real that it was difficult to contain them. Honestly, it was a horrible feeling.
'I wish I knew what all of this means. This has never happened to me before.'
But he felt that everything he saw was familiar to him in some strange way.
'I'll think about what it means later. I need to sleep. The exam continues tomorrow.'
—The Next Day, at Ino's House—
The sound of an alarm clock echoed through the room.
"Shut up already!"
Ino punched the clock, crushing it as if it were made of butter. Then she got up.
'What time is it?'
She rubbed her eyes as she yawned.
There was still a full hour before the next exam, but Ino had decided to wake up early so she wouldn't be late.
"Aah... Toru..."
Ino's eyes immediately widened when she mentioned that boy's name. Right after that, her face turned as red as a tomato, and she began beating the innocent teddy bear sitting on her bed.
After a few seconds, the crushed bear looked like it was begging for the end of its suffering, but Ino showed no mercy.
'Why do I always have to think about that idiot every morning?! He only acted like a man once! That's nothing!'
With her face red from embarrassment, Ino got out of bed and headed for the shower. A few minutes later, she was completely ready for the Chunin Exams.
"Thoughts about boys aside. The exam continues today, and I don't want to mess it up. I'm sure Toru feels the same way."
Again...
The poor bear suffered once more.
—Forest of Death—
The noise of the crowd could be heard from a kilometer away. After all, the next stage of the Chunin Exams was about to begin.
There were all kinds of shinobi gathered in the area. Among them, the rookies who had recently graduated from the Shinobi Academy stood out.
"Come on, just start this thing already!" Enko complained.
Seeing that, Kiba simply put on a poker face to hide his embarrassment.
"Enko, shut up," he said, but the girl was only offended by Kiba's words, so she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Why are you so boring? No girl is ever going to fall for you if you keep acting like an idiot."
"I'm not interested in that stuff."
"Really?"
"Calm down, you two. You can do your couple stuff after the exams are over," Shino said, causing Enko's and Kiba's faces to turn bright red.
"We're not in love!"
Kiba and Enko reacted nervously, making Shino sigh and ignore his teammates.
Meanwhile, Toru, Ino, and Hinata had just arrived at the location.
"Don't you think there are more people than yesterday?" Ino asked.
"Yeah, I noticed that too," Toru replied, but his attitude was different.
'Toru-kun... He's acting differently...' Hinata thought.
Ino noticed it too, but decided not to say anything about it.
"Everyone, gather around. We'll begin the exam shortly," Anko said. She was especially cheerful this morning. "Now that everyone's here, how about we go over the rules?"
Anko crossed her arms and began explaining.
"This exam is a survival test, so if you die, it's not my fault."
Anko smiled maliciously as her gaze turned sadistic.