Naruto: The Bone-Eyed Maiden Chapter 259: Pressure Test

The room was slightly noisy.

As Konoha's representative among the genin, Kono's appearance alone had already stirred up heated discussion.

Standing beside the other Konoha shinobi, she looked as though she belonged to a different layer of reality. Though they all ca from the sa village, so invisible barrier seed to separate her from the rest.

Compared to the stern, murderous shinobi from the other villages, the difference in atmosphere was even more striking.

She carried no visible weapons. She wore no forehead protector. Her clothes were too long for hand-to-hand combat. When she teased Akamaru, her eyes narrowed softly, and even her temperant seed gentle and mild.

She did not look like soone about to participate in a tense Chunin Exam at all.

She looked more like so noble young lady out for a pleasant stroll, with two bodyguards in tow.

And yet, the more she seed like that, the warier the others beca.

In the shinobi world, intelligence gathering often determined life and death.

Sotis the smallest information gap could get soone killed. Because of that, mystery and abnormality usually ant danger beyond the ordinary.

She was dangerous. Extrely dangerous.

Kabuto Yakushi's mouth hung open weakly. His brain felt like a twisted rubber band, though he could no longer understand why it was twisting at all.

The mont those murky gray eyes landed on him, it felt as though everything buried in his bones and blood had been stripped out.

There was no killing intent. No malice.

It was simply a god standing high above all things, waiting with amused interest for him to step onto the stage and perform.

Not even Orochimaru-sama had ever made him feel like this.

How perceptive.

Kono sighed inwardly, lowering her gaze and restraining the searing brilliance of her dojutsu.

Kabuto Yakushi was one of the very few shinobi in the world capable of mastering Sage Mode. On top of that, he was an exceptionally rare talent who combined research and dicine. In terms of raw aptitude, he was probably even more gifted than Orochimaru by a small margin.

The reason the Akatsuki had been able to contend with the Allied Shinobi Forces was largely because of the perfected Edo Tensei he created.

If not for the fatal flaw in his heart, his ceiling might have brushed the edge of Kage-beyond-Kage.

What a waste of talent. Danzō really did know how to ruin people.

"Need sothing?"

Seeing Kabuto walk over and stare endlessly at Kono's face, Sasuke stepped forward and spoke in her place, blocking Kabuto's line of sight with his body.

Ever since joining Root and signing his contract of absolute loyalty, he had adapted very quickly to his new role.

He already looked every inch the faithful underling.

Shikamaru and the others also turned their eyes to Kabuto, assuming he had co to cause trouble.

"Heh."

Pushing up his glasses, Kabuto forced himself to stay calm beneath Kono's faintly interested gaze.

"You're all rookie genin, right? You'd better keep it down and take a look around you."

While pretending to explain common sense about the exam, he smoothly began advertising his Ninja Info Cards, perfectly playing the role of Konoha's helpful upperclassman.

With the Konoha forehead protector as proof of identity, and given that he did not look like a bad person, the Konoha rookies imdiately beca interested and gathered around him.

"Show my data first."

Naruto crouched in front of Kabuto. He had so doubts about the information of this so-called upperclassman who had failed the Chunin Exam for four years straight, so he decided to start by verifying Kabuto's own accuracy.

"No problem."

Kabuto snapped his fingers and pulled out a card from the deck.

His chakra-coated fingers tapped the card, and tiny lines of text appeared on its surface, along with an idiotic photo of Naruto's face covered in paint.

Kono tilted her head and looked toward the card. She was curious how much information Kabuto had actually gathered on Naruto.

"Naruto Uzumaki, age twelve, has completed seven D-rank missions, and one... S-rank mission!"

Kabuto held the card between two fingers. His expression grew solemn, and when he said S-rank, even the corner of his mouth twitched downward in visible disbelief.

"What? S-rank!"

The Konoha rookies imdiately turned to Naruto.

With the bright red Certain Victory headband on his forehead, Naruto's grin nearly reached his ears. His eyebrows danced smugly, and he looked so punchable that even Kono's fingers started itching.

"Tch. Just a lucky bastard who got to cling to Kono's thigh."

Kiba bared his fangs, sourness practically dripping from his voice.

"I want to cling to her too."

Choji and Ino said it almost at the sa ti.

Beside them, Shikamaru crossed his arms and stiffened his neck. For so reason, he felt slightly insulted.

"Kabuto-senpai, this ninja card thing of yours is actually pretty accurate!"

Naruto had already upgraded Kabuto's title to the much friendlier Kabuto-senpai. He bead happily, and by the end of the sentence he could no longer stop himself from laughing.

As for Kiba's jealous remarks, to Naruto they sounded like the wails of a defeated dog, and the more he listened, the more refreshed he felt.

Being able to latch onto a thigh that thick was a skill in itself. After all, Kono had been assigned as his teammate at graduation.

"Of course."

Successfully promoted to Kabuto-senpai, Kabuto pushed up his glasses and smiled lightly.

The most important thing in undercover work was earning trust, and he had taken the first step successfully.

"Then do you have Kono's Ninja Info Card?"

Naruto asked at once, clearly treating Kabuto's precious intelligence cards like a toy.

Before Kabuto could answer, Ino punched Naruto in the back.

"Idiot! Don't leak our own information!"

At Ino's reminder, everyone looked around.

Sure enough, many shinobi from other villages were staring at them. More than a few of them had clearly changed the way they looked at Naruto after hearing the information on the card.

For most genin, even a C-rank mission was dangerous. A B-rank mission ant almost certain death.

As for the legendary S-rank, it was beyond imagination.

That fool had actually done an S-rank mission.

Karui and the others did not want to believe it, but this kind of information could be verified easily. There was no point lying about it.

"Don't be fooled. That blond idiot is Kono Taketori's teammate."

Omoi's eyes had practically been glued to Kono the whole ti. His danger sense was already screaming at him, and if the rumors about her killing an elite jonin were true, then she absolutely had the ability to handle an S-rank mission.

"How terrifying."

Many of the foreign candidates no longer dared to stare openly at the unusually composed girl among the Konoha team.

Their own team leaders were only elite jonin at best. If she truly possessed elite jonin-level combat ability, how exactly were they supposed to fight a monster like that?

Sitting in the very last row, the Sound trio exchanged glances.

Originally, when Kabuto had mocked Sound as so insignificant small village, they had wanted to teach him a lesson. But this was not about fear. Orochimaru-sama's task ca first, and there was no need to stir up extra trouble.

The usually arrogant Sound trio quietly shook their heads. Because of Kono's absurdly overwhelming reputation, a confrontation that had nearly happened died out on the spot.

Kono had been watching the Sound team's movents the whole ti, and when she saw the subtle signals between Dosu and the others, she could only feel helpless.

Ever since arriving in this ninja world that had once existed only in manga, she had never doubted that this place was real.

Not because of anything philosophical.

Because these ninja were simply too realistic.

A ninja's body was frighteningly fragile. Once restrained, even an ordinary person could easily kill a powerful elite jonin.

Because of that, nearly every shinobi she had t without exception fought with extre caution.

Every single one of them was sharp. Even those who had seed impulsive and stupid in the original story, like the Sound trio, were living proof.

When they had seen that Konoha's team consisted entirely of rookies, and Kabuto looked like a loser who had failed for four straight years, they had dared to use them as a stepping stone.

But now that Kono's true level was impossible to grasp, those sa vicious-looking genin had turned astonishingly cautious.

It was not only them. Many genin from small villages who had co hoping to use the Chunin Exams as a path to fa had the sa glint in their eyes, yet not one of them moved rashly.

After Aoba Yamashiro and the others' genjutsu screening, the overall quality of the candidates was frighteningly high. Almost everyone left had at least a chunin-level baseline.

Anyone weaker, or anyone too foolish, had already been filtered out.

Click, click.

The clock above the classroom door ticked on.

The exam room gradually returned to silence.

Kono leaned lightly against the wall and closed her eyes to rest.

Shikamaru and the others glanced at her from ti to ti. They wanted to ask when exactly her eyes had healed, but this was hardly the mont, so they could only remain gathered around her and wait for the exam to begin.

Bang!

A loud crash exploded from the podium in a cloud of smoke.

Already accustod to the silence, the candidates were startled and all turned toward the front.

Whoosh.

As the chakra smoke dispersed, Morino Ibiki appeared on the podium with a group of Konoha proctors behind him.

He was still wearing his black coat, his scar-covered face just as stern as ever, black leather gloves on his hands.

In his arms he held a square device about the size of a vase.

It had a red button on top and a large rectangular display on the front.

"The quality of this year's genin isn't bad. At the very least... they're all obedient."

Morino Ibiki, who looked like a wanted criminal, showed a row of white teeth in a grin. But the smile never reached his eyes. Paired with that face of his, it only made the watching shinobi frown harder.

So of them even glanced again toward Kono.

Though they were both from Konoha, Ibiki and Kono might as well have belonged to two different worlds.

"I am Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the written test in this Chunin Exam. Before it begins, I'll explain the rules. Listen carefully. No objections."

Ibiki's voice echoed through the room like a hamr striking tal.

As head of the interrogation unit, he knew very well how to deal with arrogant shinobi.

"First, the score for this test will be based on the average score of each team. The scoring system is deductive. Each person begins with ten points. There are ten questions on the test. One wrong answer costs one point. A team average of six or above is a pass."

The candidates all paused.

Average team score?

They thought it through quickly.

For a standard three-man team, the three scores would be added together and divided by three. That result would be the team's final score.

For a two-person team, it would simply be divided by two.

The average itself would not change based on team size.

The twins Sakon and Ukon made a small sound of satisfaction.

Out of everyone present, only they were technically part of a four-man setup. If it were calculated by raw total score, things would have been much easier for them.

Naruto scribbled furiously on the scratch paper in front of him, and before long his expression brightened.

If he got zero, and Kono and Sasuke both got full marks, then their team would still pass.

This was easy.

He patted his chest, completely confident in the brains of his two teammates.

Ibiki kept writing on the blackboard.

"Also, if one mber of a team receives a zero, the entire team is considered disqualified."

"Cough!"

Naruto nearly choked on the spot.

"Second, if a candidate is caught cheating during the exam, or even suspected of cheating, that candidate will lose two points per offense. If your score reaches zero, the entire team is disqualified. Shaful cheating will not be tolerated. If you want to beco chunin, behave like proper shinobi."

Ibiki's tone almost sounded like a fair warning.

Unfortunately, with a face like that, he only made the pressure worse.

Naruto's face turned greenish.

Looking at the proctors stationed on both sides of the room, the cheat sheet hidden under his Certain Victory headband was already soaked in sweat.

They had predicted everything.

He was finished.

"And now for the final rule."

Ibiki set the square display unit on the podium desk and pressed the red button.

The dark screen imdiately lit up with a bright red number:

100

He looked down at the many candidates staring up at him and smiled in that terrifying way again.

"At the direct request of the chief examiner, this written test may pass at most one hundred people.

"You are allowed to hand in your papers early.

"But once the number of candidates who have turned in passing exams reaches the limit, then I'm sorry. No matter how high your score is, everyone who remains will be eliminated."