Chapter 6: Fast Forward to Bloodshed

"Genjutsu... is it?"

Memories rushed back bit by bit. Every single scene and image from the illusion just now was now exceptionally clear.

Ibiki Morino’s stern expression remained unchanged, but a violent storm raged within his heart.

To think that someone could trap him—the head of Konoha’s Torture and Interrogation Force, an individual with exceptionally strong anti-genjutsu abilities—into an illusion without him even realizing it.

Worse still, he had been completely under someone else's control, acting like a marionette with strings attached, exposing every single piece of intelligence without reservation.

Such formidable genjutsu prowess! Such terrifying manipulation capability!

This brat is simply a genius at interrogation!

Giving Naruto another deep look,

glancing at the blond-haired kid standing in place with an innocent expression on his face, Ibiki Morino momentarily had no idea what to feel.

This genjutsu hadn't been aimed solely at the proctor; it had targeted everyone present in the room.

At the same time.

A massive flood of extra memories suddenly appeared in everyone else's minds.

"Hey, did I just... fail the exam?"

"Was that... a genjutsu? The exam hasn't even started yet!"

"Damn it, I finally managed to pass the exam in my dream, only for the dream to shatter!"

"Hmph!"

Gaara forced down a mouthful of saliva, a surge of murderous intent immediately rising alongside his fear.

He had actually fallen for a genjutsu just now—he, a Jinchuriki, had fallen for a genjutsu!

"Gaara..."

Kankuro was startled by his expression, but still offered a word of caution, advising him that it was better not to stir up trouble at a time like this.

On the other side.

"Neji... Lee!" Tenten woke the two of them up.

"Damn it, to fall for a genjutsu so easily!" Rock Lee wailed internally. Why did illusions always relentlessly target his weaknesses?

Neji remained silent, casting a cautious gaze toward the suspicious culprit—that small blond kid who was currently chatting away with the bewildered rookie genin.

"It must have been his doing!"

Meanwhile, Naruto fully utilized the age advantage of being only twelve years old, maintaining an innocent and naive demeanor as he chatted with his close friends.

He was making it crystal clear to anyone harboring suspicions: I definitely didn't do what just happened, nope.

He had no desire to bear the brunt of the proctor's wrath.

As for who the culprit actually was?

Those who understood, understood.

He didn't need to spell it out.

Sasuke glanced at Naruto, having a rough idea of what had transpired.

"To think that guy Naruto's genjutsu has reached such a terrifying level!"

Shikamaru stared fixedly at Naruto, asking with absolute certainty, "Naruto, was it you?"

"Eh? What? I have no idea."

Shikamaru: Confirmed. The culprit is definitely Naruto.

"How on earth did this guy pull that off? He seems completely different from the Naruto I knew before."

Staring at Naruto, Shikamaru's mind raced with a thousand thoughts.

Ignoring Shikamaru's gaze and sweeping his eyes over his other friends, Naruto noticed that several of them looked as though they had just snapped out of a dream.

The moment everyone's eyes had locked onto him, the genjutsu had been planted as a subconscious suggestion, triggered the exact moment the proctor arrived.

Furthermore, Naruto could freely choose whether or not to retain everyone's memories of the illusion.

Much like running a game dungeon.

The outcome as he desired: memories retained.
The outcome against his wishes: memories erased.

Fortunately, all nine of them had passed, otherwise he would have had to reset and go through it all over again.

He had no intention of sitting there in dead silence for nearly an hour; it was simply too boring.

Surely no one expected him, a mere examinee, to help the proctors round up the cheating heads, right?

"Take a look."

Choji, currently snacking on potato chips, discovered the secret of the wall clock. "Ten whole minutes have passed."

"Ten minutes?!" ×N

Everyone cried out in shock.

How could ten minutes vanish in the blink of an eye?

"Everyone! Quiet down!"

Ibiki Morino’s angry roar from the podium brought the room back to order.

He, too, had realized the current situation: not only he himself, but every single person present had fallen under a genjutsu.

For someone skilled in genjutsu, casting a control-type illusion on a single individual versus casting one on nearly a hundred people simultaneously represented an exponential leap in difficulty.

"This kid is dozens of times stronger than anticipated."

What a pity,

the trap he had meticulously designed for this exam could only be used once; since it had already been deployed within the genjutsu, he couldn't repeat it in reality.

Fortunately, the exam just concluded had already run its course.

Therefore, he had no choice but to accept the results generated within the illusion.

With this thought, he cast a subtle glance in Naruto's direction. "The 39 individuals eliminated during the exam just now—numbers 3, 7, 12, 18...... spanning 13 teams in total—have all failed. Get out of the classroom immediately!"

"The rest of you pass!"

"What?!"

Many people found this utterly unacceptable, especially those who had been eliminated.

Just because of a genjutsu? Because they were eliminated inside an illusion, reality deemed them failed?

On what grounds?

I refuse to accept this!

Unfortunately for them, the next phase was already underway.

Konoha Chuunin proctors, deploy!

Naturally, the Konoha Chuunin proctors also retained the memories from the illusion.

Quite a few of the cheaters had been directly exposed because of those memories.

Elite genin?

At the end of the day, they were still just genin.

Especially the ones who had failed.

The fists of Konoha’s Chuunin proctors were not something one wanted to test lightly.

Six punches in one second, shattering the examinees' dreams of becoming Chuunin.

Once the eliminated individuals were cleared out,

looking at the remaining examinees in the classroom, Ibiki Morino had intended to say a few words, but his momentum had been completely derailed by Naruto's prior genjutsu.

Still, he delivered a speech nonetheless.

He reiterated the points regarding intelligence and its critical importance that hadn't been fully covered in the illusion.

To summarize: intelligence is sometimes far more valuable than life itself.

To this statement, Naruto expressed his full agreement.

His shadow clones were currently scattered across the globe gathering intelligence, and so far, six of them had been lost—they had literally traded their lives for information.

As for where those losses occurred...

The Land of Lightning... was it the Hidden Cloud Village?

Having three of his Jonin-level clones wiped out there meant he would have to send Yutong over for a friendly visit next time.

And the Land of Rain.

One Kage-level clone and two Jonin-level clones lost.

A tiny place like the Land of Rain actually possessed hidden dragons and crouching tigers, boasting such formidable strength.

Next time...

Thinking of Uchiha Yutong currently posing as a reporter in Konoha, Naruto hesitated for a moment.

Well then, he would just create an Uchiha Hongzhong shadow clone tonight to pay them a visit.

Just as Ibiki Morino finished announcing the end of the exam,

*Swish!*

*Crash!* The glass window shattered as someone came flying in from the outside.

*Swish, swish!* Two kunai pinned a large sheet of cloth covered in writing right before everyone's eyes.

A voluptuous beauty clad in fishnet stockings—

no, wait, wearing a black mesh outfit—made her grand entrance!

Seeing the newcomer, Naruto’s eyes lit up.

He had always deeply loathed ninjas' peculiar fashion choice—black mesh outfits.

Because he had discovered that many male ninjas also loved wearing this kind of attire, which was far too agonizing to look at.

However, when female ninjas wore them, Naruto was all for it!

The woman who had just arrived fit this description perfectly.

Black mesh covered the main parts of her body, accentuating her curvaceous figure exceptionally well, while her form-fitting clothes made her breathtaking assets practically burst into view.

The newcomer wore brown shorts topped with a long khaki trench coat, sporting lovely purple hair.

Uh.

Though referred to as a girl, her age was far greater than Naruto's.

It seemed... she had just turned eighteen?

Glancing at the mesh-clad beauty, then glancing sideways at Hinata,

indeed,

there was still quite a gap in figure between a young girl and a grown woman.

"I am the proctor for the second exam, Mitarashi Anko!"

Following a round of self-introduction, this proctor actually complained that there were still too many examinees remaining.

She bluntly stated that the next round would eliminate more than half of them.

Naruto instantly perked up.

Hurry, hurry!

Fast-forward straight to the next round; I want to see rivers of blood!

"The details will be explained tomorrow. For anything else, ask your respective Jonin instructors."

"Now, dismissed!"

Huh?

Tomorrow?

Why couldn't you start it today?!