Today was the day.

  Tobio had prepared as much as he could, and his foreknowledge of future events gave him a nice advantage over all their competitors. He'd prepacked several days' worth of premium travel rations into a storage seal, done cursory academic studying, and written down a few of his observations on future opponents in coded English notes.

  There wasn't a guarantee that he could change everything about the coming future. He didn't have that reach when it came to his own personal and political power. However, that didn't mean he wouldn't try to make a difference.

  If he sat down and just accepted the future for what it was, what type of person would he be? From the moment Tobio had been thrown into this new world, he'd implicitly understood that if he wanted a brighter future for himself and everyone around him…he'd have to make it brick by brick, with his own two hands.

  The future was what you made of it. That was his nindō.

  With all of his supplies stowed away and prepared, there was nothing else to do but to meet up with the others at the academy grounds. That was what they'd agreed on, even if he felt a little trepidation. Logically, Tobio knew Team Eleven was ahead of the curve in some respects over their peers. But emotionally, rationally, there was a part of him that proved a little trepidatious.

  After so many months of training…he could only hope that their hard work would shine through.

  The event itself had drawn no small number of people to the academy, all of them Chūnin hopefuls, both native and foreign. He got to see hitai-ate from just about every major Hidden Vilge, and a few smaller ones. Out of the bunch, the only ones that weren't represented were Kumogakure, and Iwagakure.

  Though it was understandable in both of their cases. The bad blood ran deep and wasn't helped by any of the actions in the st war or after. Iwagakure, in particur, had a very singur hatred for Konoha. Still, if one man could 'defeat' a thousand enemy shinobi and force his people into a peace treaty, he'd be a little salty too.

  What shocked Tobio was the age of some Genin trying to make it to Chūnin. They ranged up to middle age, and if he was being honest, that was more shocking than not. Some people just ran off copium and hope, though, wondering if that next time would be the test where they could scrape through an advancement.

  Or they were some of the Chūnin pnts that he remembered from the anime. A few were supposed to be around for people to copy off during the written portion of the exam.

  There were others, though, like mercenary ninja from wandering cns and groups. In many cases Tobio understood they were functionally little better than nuke-nin, but even they had to pay lip service to the power and traditions of other nations.

  "Tobio!"

  The sound of his name being called caught his attention, but it didn't take long to find the source. Ami and Hibachi stood side by side, the former vibrating with excitement. His beanie-headed bro seemed a bit more reserved, yet there was still a flicker of anticipation in his eyes.

  "Ami, Hibachi," he nodded, greeting both with a broad grin of his own. "You guys ready?"

  "Am I?" Ami grinned back. "Just a few tests are all that's standing between us and being a chūnin!"

  Hibachi scoffed. "There's probably more than just what the tests are about on the surface."

  That made Tobio raise his eyebrows. "Oh? Trying to show off how smart you are, and get promoted too?"

  "Hell no," the trap-specialist sneered. "Do you think I want all that goddamn work on my shoulders? Nah, you just need to get promoted so we can dump it onto yours."

  "Hmm…" Ami hummed softly, turning a gimlet eye Tobio's way. "That's not actually a bad idea."

  Tobio scoffed. "Oi! Don't go pnning to dump all the mission paperwork onto me."

  "You do have the best calligraphy of any of us…" Hibachi reminded, a sly look on his face.

  That was a categorically true statement, though Tobio attributed it to having an eidetic memory and insane training skills. It didn't mean he wanted to be responsible for all the paperwork! Just the terror of being stuck behind a desk all the time was why he didn't want to be Hokage.

  In war, sure, you got to go on the frontlines and cleave a bloody swathe through your vilge's enemies. He could take the lead on that part of the job with ease. But in peacetime, you were stuck dealing with civil disputes and the more boring parts of being the military dictator of a ninja vilge. That aspect of the job was a waste of time.

  His goal was to get as far up as humanly possible while still being allowed to roam the field and terrorize the various shinobi elements of the Elemental Nations. Maybe he just was being too bsé about the whole thing, but that sounded like a good deal of fun. There was the chance that he, as a retively average guy, was treating rge scale armed conflict too lightly…

  …But then the part of him that was made up of a phantasmal monster that craved bloodshed and violence was pretty alright with it.

  Entering the halls of the testing site, none of them saw anybody familiar until Tobio spotted the familiar faces of not only Team Seven, but Team Guy. Specifically, Lee getting knocked on his ass.

  "Hah! You pn to take the chūnin with that energy!? You all should just do yourselves favors and quit while you're ahead."

  If Tobio was actually twelve, and had to suffer through the menacing attitudes of these proctors, maybe it would have been a little daunting to him. As it was now, it felt like the worst, most obvious kind of performance to his sensibilities—a dog and pony show, meant to winnow out the most spineless of applicants.

  "Geeze…" Hibachi winced. "They're really letting this happen?"

  Ami shrugged, not looking particurly sympathetic to Tenten and Lee's plight. "If they're too weak to handle this, how are they supposed to handle the rest of the exam? Better they get failed out now, right?"

  "I think there's more going on, admittedly," Tobio commented, feeling the vague sensation of a genjutsu upon his system. "More than just the two 'Genin' keeping people from moving forward."

  "Huh?" Ami frowned, gncing his way. "What do you mean?"

  "Can't you tell, little miss genjutsu mistress?"

  Eyebrows furrowing together, he got to see the moment where it clicked for the purple-haired girl. "Oh! I see…"

  All of this did serve a secondary purpose, though, and it was to filter out further those who couldn't even figure out the fact that the 301 hovering above the door they were 'guarding' was under a genjutsu. The real question was, did Tobio want to say it aloud, or keep them under a low profile for now, and move onto the real third floor?

  If his memory was correct, and he was almost positive it was, just about anyone who mattered already made it past this filler point. The only reason he'd want to stick around is increase the amount of competition, which felt like a bad idea. At least, beyond raising the amount of mooks their team could mug for a scroll in the Forest of Death.

  No, for now, he didn't see much of a point in filling in other people. They'd see Team Guy and Team Eleven upstairs, once Rock Lee got done flexing on Sasuke.

  "I feel like I'm missing something," Hibachi blinked, looking between Ami and Tobio. "What are you two talking about?"

  "There's a genjutsu, idiot," Ami hissed, squinting over at him. "We're not on the right floor!"

  "…Oh," he blinked, nodding slowly. "Alright, yeah, that's on me. I'm just a little dazed by you being so normal."

  That squint of hers turned flinty, as she focused in on Hibachi. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

  "Well, I just remember you having such a crush on Sasuke back in the Academy, like most of the girls there, but you're not trying to flirt with him or anything…"

  Tobio watched the back and forth between them with a sort of macabre interest, especially as Ami's cheeks pinked. "I-I got over it! S'not like you can hold me to a childish crush or anything! I'm a new woman!"

  "It's only been a few months."

  "A new woman, with a new lease on life!" She practically yelled, reaching over to hook her arms in both Hibachi and Tobio's. "I've got bigger fish to fry these days before I go ga-ga over boys."

  "That's awfully mature of you, Ami," Tobio commented, a little surprised by the response.

  "Y-You think so?"

  It took a lot of studious effort for him to ignore the fact that Ami had a crush on him. Even Tobio wasn't so thick to not see the signs. He just…didn't really know what to do about it, and honestly, he'd prefer to put off dealing with it for a little while longer. Nothing wrong ever happened from ignoring key, interpersonal dynamics in a professional environment.

  He'd stab anyone who said otherwise.

  Ignoring the swell of other people tied up in the genjutsu, the three of them headed up another floor, before finding themselves at two heavy, solid doors. Tobio took the vanguard to push them open, as the trio entered into what was a massive, if sparse, cssroom.

  Whatever the normal turnout for Chūnin Exams usually was, these ones were packed. The ages ran the gamut, but it wasn't that hard to find the home Konoha teams in the mix. And honestly, it was a little wild to see pretty much the entire main cast after months of radio silence on their end.

  Team Eight was Kiba, Shino, and Hinata, all of them standing clustered together. Kiba looked excited, though his fellow teammates seemed a bit more reserved. Hinata for example, was a wallflower at the best of times, and Tobio couldn't imagine she was particurly thrilled with the attention the youngest people in the room were getting.

  Shino was…Shino. Reading an Aburame's emotions was a fool's errand at the best of times.

  Whereas Team Ten was in their own little grouping. This generation's rendition of the Ino–Shika–Chō Trio, with Shikamaru, Ino, and Chōji.

  "Damn," Hibachi huffed, looking around the packed room. "They let anyone in to take these things."

  "I'm pretty sure the genjutsu we passed didn't even qualify as the first real test," Tobio pointed out. "A lot more people will probably get filtered out with the subsequent ones."

  "Then we'll just have to make sure we pass each stage with flying colors," Ami nodded, looking as determined as ever. "I'd kill myself if I let Sakura or Ino get further than me."

  Tobio turned a sidelong look her way. "Are you still beefing with them?"

  "No!" She protested. "But it's the principle of the matter. With how hard we've been training, I'm sure they've been going at it just as hard. Imagine how satisfying it'll be when I can trounce them still."

  The Mixed-Blood didn't have the heart to tell her that a stiff breeze could beat the shit out of Sakura and Ino right now. They took each other out in a double knockout in the original order of events. How things would shake out now…he couldn't say.

  "Should we, like, talk to anyone, or…?" Hibachi asked, changing the subject. "It feels like it's been forever since the academy, weirdly enough, but everyone's probably had their own exciting missions of their own."

  His poor teammates just didn't know how far ahead of the curve they were. It'd be more of a delight to let them discover that on their own. Hibachi did raise a salient point, though.

  Did they want to stick to themselves or talk to one of the other teams before the exam got started?

  With a sigh, Tobio grinned toothily. "We should probably be social. Y'know, making our boredom everyone elses' problems, like proper ninja."

  "Ah, like sensei," Hibachi nodded in understanding. "We should aspire to be such menaces to society."

  "Does that mean when we get our own Genin students, we should bully them as much as he does us?" Ami asked.

  "Who is we?" Hibachi huffed, rolling his eyes at her words. "When I hit Chūnin, I'm going into a cushy desk job."

  Tobio cast his dark-eyed gaze toward his bro. "What if we need your snark in the field?"

  "Then I'll have to pry myself out of my comfortable intel job, just to keep you two idiots alive," he snarked back. "And after, I'll go back to my dank, dark domain."

  "Ew. What a cryptid…" Ami wrinkled her nose, looking at him askew.

  "As much as I'd like to continue this banter, let's go see what Ino, Shikamaru, and Chōji have been up to."

  "…Can I change my vote for being antisocial?" the sole kunoichi on their team whined.

  Tobio scoffed. "This team is a dictatorship. Let's go."

  "Democracy dies in darkness…" Hibachi murmured, as the three of them headed off toward Team Ten.

  Nara Shikamaru, for all that Tobio looked like an off-color clone of him at the start of his transmigration, was the first to notice them. He looked tired, and perhaps a little zy, but that was hiding one of the most brilliant minds of their generation behind that subtle mask.

  "Tobio, Ami, Hibachi," he greeted with an inclination of his head, hands shoved into his pockets.

  "Team Ten," Tobio greeted back, giving them all their own nods in return. "What's been going on?"

  Chōji was too busy eating to answer, so with a put-upon sigh, Shikamaru stepped up to the lot. "Honestly? Our sensei put us up for these troublesome exams."

  "Really?" Ami asked, looking a little surprised. "Our sensei was hesitant to do that."

  "Probably because he was worried you weren't cut out for it," Ino bluntly stated, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "No offense, but none of you were setting the world on fire at the academy."

  Ami, much to Tobio's surprise, didn't fly off the handle immediately. "Ah, yes. You were really trailbzing there, when you got kunoichi of the year, didn't you?"

  Then the purple-haired girl gasped, eyes widening as she feigned surprise. "Oh wait! You didn't win kunoichi of the year!"

  "I still scored higher than you!"

  "I had a stomachache the day of the test. Threw me off my game," Ami shrugged.

  That was the start of the back and forth between them, as Ami and Ino sniped at each other. Some of it subtle, some of it…not particurly subtle.

  Tobio gave Shikamaru and Chōji an awkward pair of gnces, as he tried not to snoop too much at the exchange of insults. "…So how's life been?"

  "Kind of boring, but that's how I've liked it," Shikamaru admitted.

  "Same," Hibachi agreed.

  Chōji was the one who spoke up next, stopping his indomitable snacking spree. "We did a C-rank mission a month ago, escorting a merchant caravan to the capital. It was pretty interesting."

  "Oh yeah," Shikamaru blinked, nodding at that reminder. "Asuma-sensei used to be on the Twelve Guardian Ninja roster for the daimyo. He knew a few pces around the capital to show us around before we headed back."

  "Plenty of great food spots too," Chōji added.

  That piqued Tobio's interest. "Any pces in particur as standouts?"

  "Oh man, lemme tell you about this one ramen stand, they let their pork marinade in this specialty sauce…"

  Chōji was a good guy. The Akimichi were the smartest of all of the Cns in Tobio's opinion, focusing on good food and healthy living with a stupidly rge family. What could be better?

  Of course, while the four of them were having a polite, rational conversation like boys their own age could, Ami and Ino's little tirade hit a critical mass.

  "You know, I've always been envious of you," Ino admitted.

  That was enough to make Ami blink in surprise. "What? Really?"

  Of course, Tobio saw that glint in her eye, and knew that the kunai was about to plunge in at any moment. "Oh yeah. It takes a lot of confidence to walk around in clothes like those. I could never do it."

  He felt as if Ami could take all sorts of insults in stride. Slights against her cooking? She knew she wasn't as good of a cook as her mother. Knocks against her skills? Well, Ami worked hard every day to make up for her deficiencies.

  …But fucking with her fashion sense? Even he understood that was a bridge too far.

  Tobio could see it in the way she got all still, the same she did right before she went in for the kill during their spars. And he was lunging to wrap his arms around her midsection, lifting her up and off of her feet as he held the thrashing kunoichi from surging forward for Ino.

  "You blonde bimbo bitch, I swear by the fuckin' Kami I'm gonna knock your goddamn teeth out, a-"

  It was for the best that Team Seven walked in at that point.

  Enmity forgotten, though with a tiny smirk on her face, Ino turned to greet Sasuke. "Oh Sasuke-kun~! You've finally arrived."

  "Get away from Sasuke-kun, Ino-pig!!"

  Ah, it was nice to see that the entirety of Team Seven was as loud as ever. Tobio would have liked to enjoy it more, but he currently had arms full of aggressively thrashing kunoichi.

  "Let me at her!"

  "Save it for ter in the exams!" Tobio barked, making the girl pause briefly, before she huffed softly.

  "…Alright, alright. I'm chill."

  "I don't believe you."

  Her guise sted for about three seconds, before she began thrashing again. "I'm gonna shove some pins under your fingernails if you don't let me go!"

  Tobio ughed. "Joke's on you. That's just torture training."

  "…"

  "What?"

  "That's kind of fucked up, bro," Hibachi commented.

  "Oi. It isn't like it'll hurt," Tobio denied. "I'm pretty sure I can figure out how to eventually turn off my pain receptors."

  "That…doesn't make it any better!" Ami yelled, her ire at least redirected for a moment. Tobio felt more confident in letting her down at this point, if only because Team Eight was coming by. Obviously, they'd be a stabilizing influence.

  "My, my, everyone is here!" Kiba barked, looking smug underneath his parka.

  "Man…you guys too?" Shikamaru commented, giving the approaching team a sidelong gnce.

  "Ha~! I see…" He nodded, Akamaru on his head shifting with the movement. "I wonder how far we'll all get, eh, Tobio-kun?"

  …Didn't he originally say that to Sasuke? Why was bro calling him out in front of all these people.

  Sasuke chuckled softly himself, entering into the conversation. "Hmph. Mighty confident, Kiba. Especially for a mutt that lost to him back at the graduation exam."

  "Can't you say the same?" Kiba shot back.

  "Don't worry," Sasuke smirked, before turning toward Tobio. "I pn on redeeming that loss soon."

  "Bro, don't bring me into this rivalry," Tobio compined, looking between the two of them worriedly. "I'm just here to pass."

  And then there was the new voice, that made Tobio's blood run cold.

  "Hey, you guys! You could all be a little quieter."

  Turning around, everyone turned to face the approaching, gray-haired boy. He wasn't that much older than them, and honestly, if Tobio didn't know who he really was he wouldn't have thought much of him. With his spectacles and lean build, he was fairly unassuming, all things considered.

  Unassuming, just like a ninja should be. It was unfortunate that it was attached to one of the biggest traitors in the entire series, who would eventually become the mastermind behind the army of undead shinobi in a couple of years.

  One of his stretch goals in Tobio's rough pns for this exam was finding a way to take out this guy.

  Kabuto.

  "You guys must be the twelve rookies…fresh out of the academy, right?"

  "What's it matter to you?" Hibachi asked, frowning over at the slightly older Genin.

  "Because this isn't a school field trip."

  "Who are you? Acting all haughty!" Ino frowned.

  "I'm Kabuto," he spoke, as if that answered everything. "Anyway, take a look around you."

  True enough they did so, though it was made painfully clear that they were…perhaps a little louder than would have been advisable. All of the bickering and boasting drew quite a few eyes to them.

  Not that Tobio was afraid of anyone in this room outside of Rock Lee, Kabuto, and Gaara, but still.

  "Everyone's on edge already, waiting to take the exam. Figured I'd warn you guys before you got your ass kicked by them." It was a friendly, polite action. If you didn't know any better, and were blissfully unaware that he was the world's number one Orochimaru dickrider.

  Or Danzo supporter.

  Or Obito's zombie apocypse enabler.

  Who's fucking side was Kabuto even supposed to be on? Did that guy even know himself? It got a little hazy toward the end of the story, and it felt like Kishimoto just kind of…lost the plot, when it came to his storyline.

  "I guess it can't be helped," he huffed, reaching into his back pocket. "You rookies are totally clueless. You even remind me of my old self."

  "Then this is your second time taking the test?" Sakura questioned.

  "No, not really. It's my seventh time. This exam is held twice a year, so this is my fourth year taking them," he expined.

  That was enough to make Ami frown. "So why would we want a loser's take?"

  Kabuto, an outstanding actor that he was, did fake a wince. "That may be true, but I've still gathered up a lot of information over my attempts."

  Hibachi shrugged. "I'll hand it to them, information-gathering is part of being a ninja."

  "Then allow me to share my info with my cute juniors…in the form of these ninja info cards!"

  "I take it back, this guy's a dork."

  Sakura was undeterred, though. "Ninja info cards?"

  "They're basically cards that information coded into them through the usage of chakra."

  "Fūinjutsu," Hibachi corrected.

  That was enough to make Kabuto's eyes flick up toward the beanie-headed boy, before giving him a nod. "That's so. It took me years to gather up all the info into these cards, with almost two-hundred entries. They're bnk, but when I put my personal chakra into the cards…"

  He spun some around on the ground, revealing some kind of combination map and bar graph. Which, if Tobio was going to be honest, was kind of impressive from a technical aspect. Kabuto might have been a filthy traitor, but he did know his shit.

  "It shows the number of test takers and participating shinobi nations, and the number of applicants from each respective vilge is individually dispyed," Kabuto expined.

  "That's…extensive," Shikamaru commented, taken a little aback.

  "Do you have cards with detailed information on individuals?"

  "Hah…are there ones you're concerned about?" Shuffling through his deck, the teen gave them a nod. "I've got information for the applicants this time around, even if it isn't perfect…including your teams."

  All of the hairs on the back of Tobio's neck raised. They couldn't have information on them, could they? The Takigakure mission was supposed to be cssified.

  "Gaara from Sunagakure, Rock Lee from Konohagakure, and Nakamura Tobio from Konohagakure as well."

  "Oh, you know their names. No sweat, then!"

  Tobio could only gape at the sheer audacity of Sasuke. "My man, I am literally standing right here. You could just ask if you wanted to know about me!"

  "Got something to hide?"

  "Yes," Tobio bluntly stated. "My secrets have secrets."

  Shuffling out a new card, it had a whole-ass drawing on it, with Rock Lee's stats and abilities listed out. The same for Gaara, with both of their information being listed out. But the one thing he didn't much care for, was the fucking lore dump that Kabuto apparently had about himself.

  "Lastly, we've got Nakamura Tobio. Missions: Ten D-ranked, one C-ranked, and a mysterious A-rank. His sensei is Kanden Tekuno. Specifically Tobio is known for a supertive skill in just about all shinobi arts, save for the social ones, with a massive number of known jutsu, and a growing reputation as a kenjutsu prodigy."

  Tobio was about to break out into hives, and it was Kabuto's fucking fault.

  The idea that he was possibly on Orochimaru's radar was enough to make him freeze on the spot. It felt like the world was slowing down around him, as every paranoid fantasy he had about this world. Avoiding attention forever just wasn't feasible, not when he was having medical tests for bloodlines done, and coming to the attention of powerful people.

  Hell, Tobio had even made his peace with Danzō being aware of him. That old warhawk had fingers in so many pies, it went without saying that he was going to know before long. But having someone like Orochimaru on your case was just…bad for your health, across the board.

  Even worse was the fact that there was an entire picture of him on the card, along with his main statistics. All of them were surprisingly high, though his genjutsu and ninja tools were lower than the rest. It wasn't all that surprising.

  "Of note is Tobio's extreme durability, and outsized chakra reserves for his background."

  "That's pretty extensive!" Ami excimed, looking genuinely surprised. "How'd you even get all that?"

  "I've got my sources."

  "Some sources…" Shikamaru mumbled.

  "Konoha, Suna, Ame, Kusa, Taki, Oto… This year every Hidden Vilge has sent outstanding Genin to compete," Kabuto continued.

  "I don't know much about Otokagure," he lied, like a fucking liar. "It's a minor vilge of a small nation that was created st year, so there isn't really much information. But all of the other competing vilges are well-respected, and home to formidably powerful shinobi."

  Hinata looked a little frightened, wringing her hands. "T-That kind of thing makes you lose your confidence…"

  "In other words, all of the applicants who have gathered here…" Sakura trailed off.

  "That's right! Not just Lee, Gaara, and Tobio…they're all elite Genin selected by each nation."

  Tobio frowned. "Hey, don't put me in that elite category."

  Ami and Hibachi shared a sidelong look with one another, one inscrutable to his gaze, as they stayed silent. Though he felt like they might have been judging him.

  Naruto fell silent, though. Almost trembling, from what it looked like, or shivering, and Sakura reached over to put a hand on his shoulder. "Say…Naruto, don't be scared, it'll be-"

  Of course, she misjudged the situation. He wasn't terrified, but restraining himself, as he exploded with noise. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto!" He bellowed, pointing out toward the crowd. "And I won't lose to any of you bastards! Got that?!"

  It got the attention of the entire room, and Tobio could only wince as everyone turned to face the rookies. "…Goddamnit! You do know we're gonna get lumped in with you, right?"

  "Are you saying you'd have a problem if they ganged up on us?" Hibachi asked.

  "No," Tobio bluntly stated. "The number of people in this room I'm genuinely worried about fighting can be counted on one hand. But it's the principle of the thing."

  "Kind of arrogant, isn't it?" Sasuke asked, turning Tobio's way with a keen focus. "Unless you've advanced that far in so little time."

  He didn't know what to say to that. So he defaulted to his usual strategy of demurring. "I've picked up a thing or two over the st few months. Our sensei's really passionate about teaching."

  "That's an understatement," Hibachi huffed. "The guy trains us into the fucking dirt."

  Ami nodded in vociferous agreement. "You guys are all getting it as badly, right?"

  "Well…" Sakura trailed off, exchanging gnces with Sasuke and Naruto, who seemed to be taking the news well. For retive values of the term.

  "Kakashi-sensei's always showing up te for our team meetings!" Naruto excimed, throwing his hands into the air. "It's so frustrating, y'know?"

  "I'll admit to some… dissatisfaction," Sasuke agreed, looking like he'd sucked on something sour.

  "Honestly, we mostly train our cn jutsu when we're with Asuma-sensei," Ino admitted, shrugging softly. "He hands us critiques and suggestions, but we've usually got our own hands full."

  It did occur to Tobio at some point that…wasn't the Oto team supposed to 'attack' Kabuto at this point? He gnced over to them, unsure if they were still going to go through with that chain of events. In the anime and manga, it was a little goofy when they were ostensibly supposed to be on the same side. Though that presumed that the three of them even knew Kabuto was a deeply embedded Konoha spy for Orochimaru.

  The divergence was so small, it likely didn't even matter. Over the st couple of months, Tobio had been made painfully aware that events didn't occur precisely how they were supposed to have in the media that he was familiar with. For all that Naruto was predictable in some aspects, he'd been adding an increasing number of divergences to the setting at rge. Things not being precisely how he'd remembered them was…expected.

  Ideal, even. He didn't want to live in a world where predestination meant all of his choices and struggles up to this point didn't matter.

  Before Tobio could spiral even further into introspection, there was an explosion of smoke at the front of the room. It quieted everyone down, and got all of their attention, as every Genin looked forward to try and see what caused the commotion.

  Once the smoke cleared, the entirety of the proctors stood there, with Ibiki Morino standing at their forefront. And Tobio wouldn't lie, they possessed some immacute pull-up game. The aura farming was real.

  Yes, Torture and Interrogation, we see the fit.

  With a slight little smile, the man spoke. "Sorry to keep you guys waiting. I'm Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the first test of the chūnin exam."

  There was just something about the man, about the way he carried himself, that grabbed your attention. Or maybe it was his trenchcoat, and Tobio was projecting his longing for something so sleek and cool in his life. He wasn't tall enough to pull off that look yet, but one day…

  One day…

  "Let's y down some ground rules, shall we? From this point forward, there will be no more fighting without the express permission of the examining officers," he expined. "And even if that permission is granted, anything that endangers another applicant's life is strictly forbidden."

  His gaze turned flinty and cold, with just the slightest amount of killing intent leaking into the room. "Any of you little piglets that break that rule are out of this exam. Disqualified immediately, with no second chances. Do I make myself clear?"

  Silence reigned for a few seconds, before he nodded, satisfied with the seriousness of his words being impressed upon everyone. "We will now begin the first part of the chūnin exams. Turn in your written applications, take one of these seating assignment cards, and report directly to the seat assigned."

  "When everyone's seated, we'll pass out the written portion of the test."

  From there, just about everything else continued as how Tobio had been expecting, as people got seated and spread across the room. He was near the front, Ami and Hibachi near the middle section of the room, as the rules of the written exam were expined.

  Each shinobi started out with ten points, and the test had ten questions, each worth one point each. For every wrong answer, they took away a point. All ten right, and you could retain your total. The second rule was that the sum total was going to be the combined amount of all three members of your team. And, the expected rule about being caught cheating, which removes two points from each person.

  "You have one hour…starting…NOW!"

  Flipping the paper over and looking at it, Tobio immediately focused in on the cryptography that was listed there. There was a code to be found among the different characters, but maybe they made that one a free gimme? Because it wasn't hard to find at all.

  Who were they expecting to fool with a bog-standard polyalphabetic cipher? Child's py. The next one wasn't that difficult either, as he gnced at the question.

  The parabo marked B represents the greatest effective distance the enemy shinobi, A, could throw a shuriken star from the top of a 23-foot-tall tree. Calcute the specific features of the scenario and deduce the range of the shuriken's effectiveness, assuming a consistent speed for shinobi A's assault upon any enemy shinobi operating within the arc the flight of the shuriken describes. Show your work.

  He didn't take more than five minutes to break that one down, before his pencil stilled at a particur realization.

  "Wait…" He murmured, just barely loud enough over his breath. "…Fuck, I'm actually smart…"

  He couldn't dodge the prodigy allegations for long, because Tobio was capable of just raw-dogging this entire test without even needing to cheat. Which was in and of itself a flex, even if he did kind of miss the entire point about cheating being the purpose. Depths of the Mind had made him genuinely a genius, and it was times like this where he was painfully made aware of the difference between himself and everyone else.

  Passing the test wasn't the problem. It was helping his other two idiots cheat their way to the top. Not that his friends were dumb…

  …They just weren't as smart as him. But that was fine. What was the point of having a genius teammate if they wouldn't help you cheat on official vilge examinations?

  The real question was figuring out how to get away with it.