Naruto: From Novice to Grave

As soon as the examiner gave the order to begin, all the candidates picked up their pens and began to work hard.

Everyone made the same choice: first, solve the problems you know how to do; for the ones you don't know, either figure it out yourself or rely on your teammates.

Higashino Makoto didn't try to get special treatment. Although he knew all the answers and could pass without cheating, he didn't finish quickly and leave. Instead, he completed the five easy questions at a normal pace and then slowly answered the more advanced ones.

For example, the first question was a translation of a piece of Konoha's advanced coded text. He wrote it very slowly, stroke by stroke, with neat and easily legible handwriting.

This made a middle-aged male ninja and a girl of about 14 years old sitting next to him feel incredibly lucky, as they could see the answer with just a slight shift of their gaze.

Luckily, I'm sitting next to a top student; now we're saved.

The fourth question, about the harm caused to the human body by mixing three common plant poisons, and the methods of rapid first aid, is also very difficult to answer completely correctly without a medical background.

He wrote each of these difficult problems very slowly, as if he was afraid that others wouldn't know what he had written.

Because Makoto Higashino sensed that everyone in the classroom was a test taker, and the village had not arranged for anyone who knew the answers in advance to be mixed in with them.

They were all from the same village, and to ease their burden, Higashino Makoto had no choice but to make a contribution. After all, Mr. Higashino was a very kind person.

He's not an arrogant genius like Kakashi; he cares deeply about his Konoha comrades, so his character can't be ruined.

After everyone finished the easy questions, some noisy commotion began to rise in the quiet examination room. In order to get the answers to the other five difficult questions, the candidates began to use all their ingenuity.

Just like the girl to Higashino Makoto's right, after copying the top student's answers, she started playing with her ponytail. But she played it in a very unique way. Her nimble little hands could always use chakra to control a strand of hair into a symbol and secretly pass the answers to her companions.

Her hair-controlling skills are quite strange; it seems she has the potential to become Jiraiya's apprentice.

The middle-aged man on the left was the same; after finishing the test, his armpits started to itch, and he scratched himself while making sign language to the people behind him.

This was a special code he used to communicate with his teammates.

There are some methods to this. Those guys without special skills just used the paper-throwing technique. But you guys are supposed to be ninjas, can't you be a little more professional?

Did you forget to bring your exam proctor's eye when it flew through the air?

And that guy who stuck the answer in the hole of his sword, it was wise of you to throw it from your feet, but could you have been a little more accurate? It pierced someone's calf! Look how much pain that kid is in.

Faced with such a clumsy method, the proctoring Chunin did not follow the procedure of recording five attempts and eliminated the entire team on the spot.

Soon, an hour passed, the first written test ended, 10 of the 25 teams were eliminated, leaving only 47 people to enter the second test.

Then, the examiner of the second round arrived and led everyone to the training ground No. 41, located behind Shadow Rock. This training ground was not as big as the Death Forest No. 44, but it was not small either. From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., everyone would have to spend the rest of the day inside.

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Outside the second examination room, Higashino Makoto looked at the slip of paper he had received and already knew what to expect.

Currently, there are 15 regular three-person teams and 2 individual candidates in the second exam, for a total of 17 teams.

Each team received a slip of paper with a number and several strings of numbers and clues written in advanced ciphertext. The ciphertext wasn't difficult to crack; it contained the content of the first question in the first exam. If you didn't remember the correspondence between the ciphertext and the written text when copying the answer, you'd be in trouble.

Those candidates who copied the answers and then ignored them now wished they could rush back to the exam hall, retrieve their exam papers, and take a good look at them.

The fact that the two exams could be linked in this way shows how insidious and cunning the person who designed this Chunin Exam was.

The condition for passing the second test is to find the eight mission scrolls hidden in Exercise Field 41 and hand them over to the examiner in the center of the forest.

If you don't know how to decipher ciphertext, you'll have to steal it from someone else.

Soon, all the teams stood at the corresponding entrances according to the numbers on the slips of paper. When the time came, the entrances opened, and all the candidates rushed into the forest of Exercise Field No. 41.

After entering the forest, Higashino Makoto quickly recalled the situation at Training Ground No. 41. This comprehensive training ground, which was several sizes smaller than the legendary Death Forest No. 44, was also surrounded by high steel fences to prevent people from accidentally entering.

Its radius is only about 2 kilometers, and there are a total of 20 entrances around it.

In other words, the entire training ground was within his perception range. Although the mission scroll did not have chakra fluctuations, making it a bit difficult to find, Higashino's perception ability was quite unique, and if he looked carefully, he could still find it.

However, he wasn't going to do that, because the answer was already on the note, which gave him the joy of playing a puzzle game.

Higashino entered the forest from entrance number 5, naturally choosing the data starting with 5, and quickly arrived at a location according to the clues on the note.

The data set starting with 5 is 5, 17, 4, 7.

None of the numbers are greater than 20, indicating that each number represents an entry point, and each group of numbers represents a position.

Therefore, the correct location should be the intersection of the two straight lines formed by the four entrances 5-17 and 4-7, which should also be the closest mission location to him.

The clue word corresponding to this set of numbers is "Red in the Forest".

But there are no red tree leaves or red wildflowers here.

Higashino looked around at the trees near the mission location, then smiled slightly. As if he had escaped the planet's gravity, he floated gently to a bird's nest in a large tree.

This is the nest of the Red-crowned Warbler, a bird species native to the south-central part of the Land of Fire. However, it is an abandoned nest with a small roll underneath.

The mission was successfully completed.

After obtaining the scroll, Higashino Makoto immediately headed towards the center, and unsurprisingly encountered a small team blocking his way. It seems that those who couldn't decipher the cipher weren't stupid after all. It doesn't matter if I can't decipher it; I can just wait for them near the center of the training ground.

No amount of hard work can compare to snatching something away.

This was a group of genin (lower-ranking ninja) around fifteen or sixteen years old, all male. The leader, a boy with spiky black hair, excitedly said, "Lucky us! We've run into someone so quickly, and alone at that! Hey, kid, did you find the mission scroll?"

"Found it! Isn't this just a matter of having a brain?"

"You bastard, are you mocking us? Well then, don't blame us for taking action!"

Konoha's low-ranking genin had limited sources of information, and ninjas were a profession that valued secrecy. They only knew that two minor heroes had emerged on the eastern front, but Konoha couldn't possibly post their photos everywhere, so how would ordinary ninjas know what they looked like?

But his companion was still clear-headed and suggested from behind, "Um... Falcon, he seems to be the only one besides the Uchiha who is taking the exam alone. He must be really strong. Let's just try to steal his talent."

The spiky-haired falcon scoffed, "Even if he's a genius, how good can he be at such a young age? We're ninjas who graduated years ago, you bastard! Can't you have some self-respect?"

Higashino Shin appeared behind him in an instant, his killing intent enveloping the three of them: "I think that in the future, when you're on a mission, you'd better trust your comrades' judgment, otherwise, you could easily die."

He disappeared after saying that.

The three stood frozen, trembling. Another companion asked, "Falcon, should we still try to steal it?"

"..." Falcon paused for a moment, then regained his composure and said, "Of course we need them. The younger ones are all monsters. Let's find some older teams. If they're still genin after living that long, their strength must be very weak. We might just succeed."

After discussing it, the three decided to switch places and continue being the sixth person.

Higashino Makoto arrived at the central building's lobby and handed his mission scroll to the Chunin Examiner in charge of registration.

The examiner and his colleagues were completely dumbfounded. Someone had passed so quickly?

"Register your name and then wait on the side." He calmed himself down and recorded Higashino Makoto's information according to the procedure.

Then, less than a minute later, the group of people who had just regained their composure were stunned again. Someone was this powerful? Whose subordinate was this?

Upon seeing the clan crest on the person's body, oh, it's the Uchiha clan. Then it's alright.

When Uchiha Shisui saw Higashino Makoto, he had an expression that said, "I knew it." After registering his information, he walked over. Judging from his eager look, he probably had something to ask.

"Oh, it's Shisui. As expected, this kind of exam is no challenge for you." Higashino greeted him while secretly making a sign with his right hand.

"Aren't you the same, really!" Shisui saw the meaning of the sign language: there was surveillance, so he also chose to give a normal answer.