"No wonder you're called Konoha's genius—one glance and you found the real entrance."
The two Sunagakure chūnin chuckled.
"You're not heading up?"
"Heh. Acting clever, aren't you?"
The boy with face paint and a puppet bundle snorted—
Only to be kicked from behind by a blonde girl.
"Don't talk so much."
"Y-yeah, yeah…"
Kankurō quickly nodded, signaling he understood.
Lee and Mami exchanged worried looks before turning to Neji.
"Neji, what should we do?"
"…Watch a bit longer."
Neji frowned.
Souma wasn't the kind to act recklessly.
Why did he go first?
His instincts told him Souma must have a plan—even if he didn't understand it yet. And with the Byakugan…
Simple illusions and building walls couldn't block his vision.
Byakugan!
A moment later, he saw Souma's movements.
Souma walked extremely slowly, each step almost deliberate.
Neji didn't know barrier arts.
But he knew this: for a simple outer test in the Chūnin Exams, the barrier and illusion would never be too advanced.
It should be something even genin could break.
Sunagakure wasn't weak… but in terms of barrier and sealing arts, Neji believed Konoha had deeper foundations.
So Souma should be able to break it easily, right?
But…
Neji watched longer—
His eyelids suddenly lifted in surprise, his expression flickering with confusion.
"…Let's go too."
"Neji, we're heading up now?"
"Mm."
He nodded, following Souma's pace.
Lee blinked.
Didn't Neji say they should wait?
Why go now?
Still, he followed.
The moment they stepped onto the second floor, a dizzying maze of corridors unfolded like a web.
The endless crossing hallways blurred their sense of direction.
Then Neji saw it—
Souma was drawing chakra formulas across the wall.
Tenten and Kazusa turned.
"Neji? You guys came too?"
"Mm."
Neji lowered his head, examining the sigils and then the corridor behind them.
He didn't even know how to comment.
"The sigils aren't finished yet. Stick along the wall and slip out through the edge."
Souma whispered.
Neji said nothing, but obeyed—
Pressing his hand against the illusion-hidden wall and sliding through the narrow seam.
The moment he slipped out—
The scenery changed.
The countless hallways collapsed into a single corridor.
Classroom doors lined both sides.
Even if someone dispelled the illusion outside, the maze barrier would still project this area as a solid wall.
"Whoa! Souma, you're amazing! You even found this tiny spot to squeeze through!"
Lee beamed, sparkling with admiration.
Are you naïve or just… simple?
Tenten narrowed her eyes.
As if an official exam would leave real openings.
That "loophole" existed because Souma made it exist.
Yes.
By the time Souma reached the second floor, he had already grasped the barrier completely.
A simple maze barrier—
Expanded from a figure-8 hallway into a labyrinth.
The only real difficulty: it scrambled your sense of direction.
A true entry-level test.
If you couldn't find the exam room, you didn't deserve to take the exam.
Once Mami slipped through—
"Should we go inside?"
Tenten asked nervously.
The proctor up ahead had been staring at them with an odd expression ever since they arrived.
"Not yet. I'm adding something."
Souma grinned wickedly.
Neji originally thought Souma was just patching the hole he dug out…
But no—
This bastard actually wanted to modify the barrier.
Neji stared in disbelief.
Then silently mourned for the people downstairs.
They probably assumed Souma would break the illusion and clear all traps, letting them walk through smoothly.
Reality?
He crawled through a tiny hole—
Then blocked the entire path behind him.
In under half a minute, Souma finished editing the array.
He didn't add much—
Just patched several weaknesses and rerouted the correct path into a nice loop…
So anyone wandering in circles would simply return to the staircase again and again.
A polite, endless cycle of confusion.
Inside the exam room—
"Yuura-sama… isn't that against the rules?"
The proctor whispered.
"…"
Yuura herself felt dazed.
She was in her twenties—not extremely experienced, but she had hosted the Chūnin Exams twice.
But this—
This was her first time encountering a candidate like this.
From the moment Souma reached the second floor to breaking and modifying the barrier—
It took him less than a minute.
Most unbelievable of all—
He broke through without disrupting the barrier's function.
Meaning…
Had he completely understood the barrier?
Impossible!
After a moment of hesitation, she said:
"Let's keep watching."
The longer she watched, the brighter her eyes became.
That child hadn't gone too far.
Though he severed the original path, Souma didn't seal the gap he used to escape.
Meaning—
As long as the coming candidates had enough skill,
they could still break through the illusion and reach the exam room.
Just… with significantly more difficulty.
Besides, this barrier wasn't a high-level restricting technique.
It was a simple illusion array.
If someone brute-forced their way through with patience, they could still find the path.
But Souma's technique…
Yuura stared at the not-so-tall boy, awe slowly growing in her chest.
Kakashi Hatake's disciple.
Truly living up to the name.
Downstairs—
"He didn't break it? Or did he just find a path?"
Kankurō muttered, stunned.
"Most likely the latter," Temari answered quietly.
"I'm heading up."
Kankurō led his squad up the stairs.
He had walked this barrier dozens of times.
He could normally find the exit even with his eyes closed.
Absolutely no way he'd—
He swung open the classroom door.
A room full of genin stared back at him.
And the two familiar Suna chūnin proctors.
He froze.
Something was wrong.
This wasn't the same as before.
"Hahaha, what an idiot."
Akado Yoroi sneered.
Even though he served Orochimaru, it didn't mean he respected Sunagakure.
Kabuto adjusted his glasses silently.
Because of Orochimaru's involvement, Konoha had taken more control than expected this year—especially in the written portion.
But the setup and the barrier still belonged to Suna.
Logically, a Suna ninja should never lose their way here.
Clearly—
Something unexpected had happened.
Face stiff, Kankurō turned and left.
Not even thirty seconds later, he returned from the stairs again.
"…"
He inhaled sharply, then formed the Illusion Release seal.
Genjutsu dispelled.
The Suna gatekeepers stared blankly.
This exam was not what they'd been told it was.
"If you can't find the path, don't block the way,"
a Rain ninja said with a mocking grin.
Kankurō's eyebrow twitched, anger rising—
But Temari grabbed him before he exploded.
"You all go first."
Soon, the Rain ninja also returned.
The illusion was gone…
But the barrier above was still a nightmare—
Corridor upon corridor overlapping endlessly, no hint of a real path.
"…Let's try as well."
Kabuto narrowed his eyes.
This exam… was finally getting interesting.
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