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While copying, Kagaya also pondered. Since Karin could find answers to copy, there must be people in the exam hall who knew how to solve these questions. Thinking about it, were those who knew the answers actually examiners disguised as participants?
That was a possibility.
Of course, there was also the possibility that some people were simply writing random answers, and Karin had mistakenly believed their scribbles were correct answers.
But that likelihood was small.
Kagaya glanced around. Everyone taking this Chūnin Exam was taking it very seriously. For them, this wasn't a simple test; it was an exam that could affect their entire lives. Probably no one would resort to randomly filling in answers until the very last few minutes.
Moreover, Kagaya specifically looked at Sasuke and noticed that he, too, seemed unable to answer the questions.
This further confirmed Kagaya's speculation. If even a genius like Sasuke couldn't do them, it was certain that ninety percent of the people in this classroom didn't know the answers either.
From Kagaya's perspective, he only saw Sakura actively writing.
Sakura was quite intelligent. In theoretical knowledge, she was probably the top in her age group.
As he thought, Kagaya didn't stop his hand, continuously copying answers from Karin in the distance.
Gradually, as time passed, Kagaya noticed more and more people beginning to cheat. It seemed they, too, were slowly realizing the true nature of this exam.
Whoosh!
Right at that moment, a shuriken suddenly flew out, embedding itself in an examinee's test paper.
The examinee, startled by the sudden shuriken, stood up angrily and shouted,
"What... what is this?!"
The shuriken had been thrown by an examiner. Now, he smiled slightly and spoke calmly.
"Five mistakes. You are disqualified."
The examinee's eyes widened in disbelief.
"H-how could..."
The examiner pointed at the standing examinee. "This guy's teammates, both of you, leave the classroom immediately."
Upon hearing this, two people stood up and silently walked out of the classroom. The exposed examinee had no choice but to follow.
By now, Kagaya had finished copying the answers. He deactivated his Sharingan and quietly released the genjutsu he had placed on the examiner monitoring his row earlier.
Then, Kagaya picked up his pen and began twirling it idly, bored.
'Five mistakes...'
What that examiner had just said wasn't "five instances of cheating" but "five mistakes."
There was a significant difference. This phrasing essentially gave a clear hint—almost an outright indication—to all the examinees present.
As long as one wasn't stupid and gave a little thought to the examiner's words, they could uncover the true purpose of this exam.
Sure enough, after the examiner's statement, the number of people starting to cheat increased dramatically. Most had figured out the exam's essence.
But with the increase in numbers, some inevitably used clumsy techniques. So...
"Number 43, Number 27, disqualified."
Like this, people were announced as disqualified from time to time.
Under such an intimidating atmosphere, it wasn't long before someone couldn't bear it any longer. One examinee suddenly stood up, challenging the examiner's judgment, arguing that the examiner had no evidence of them cheating five times.
That examinee's fate was to be dragged to the wall by an examiner and given a sharp, punishing elbow strike.
"Listen up. We are elite shinobi specially selected from among Chūnin for this exam. We absolutely will not miss the moment you make a mistake. If you want proof, consider this overwhelming strength as evidence."
This examinee, a genin taking the Chūnin Exam, was utterly powerless before the examiner.
As the examiner said, they were elites selected for this exam, and they were Chūnin.
Instantly, the entire examination hall fell into a tense silence. The strength of the Chūnin examiners had greatly intimidated the examinees.
Kagaya, however, wore an expression of sudden realization. So, they were only Chūnin? No wonder it had been so easy for him to cast a genjutsu on the examiner earlier.
He had initially thought these people might be regular Jōnin from Konoha. Turns out they were only Chūnin. It seemed Konoha's Jōnin numbers were still lacking. Although gradually recovering from its low point, Konoha's strength currently wasn't that high.
Suddenly, a few fine grains of sand drifted past Kagaya's line of sight. He glanced at them briefly before looking away.
This was obviously Gaara's doing. Gaara had also begun to act.
Now that most had realized the need to cheat, this written test would likely conclude soon.
Some more time passed.
Ibiki, standing at the front podium, suddenly spoke.
"Alright! Now, I will announce the tenth question!"
After saying that, as if remembering something, Ibiki added,
"Oh, before that, regarding the final question, I will add a small condition."
Just then, the door opened. An examiner escorted Kankurō inside. Kankurō had gone to the bathroom earlier and was just returning. The examiner had been supervising Kankurō's bathroom visit.
However, Kagaya looked at the examiner beside Kankurō. It was a puppet disguised by Kankurō.
'Clumsy technique.'
Kagaya internally made this judgment. Although Kagaya didn't know puppetry, having spent considerable time in the Akatsuki organization, he often saw Sasori. Sasori's puppetry skills were on a completely different level compared to Kankurō's. After seeing Sasori's puppets so often, Kankurō's puppet now seemed instinctively clumsy to Kagaya.
This was similar to the original story, where Kisame, after spending a long time with Itachi, couldn't help but feel Sasuke was very weak upon their first meeting. In reality, Sasuke wasn't weak for his age at that time. But without comparison, there is no sense of disparity.
Ibiki Morino looked at the entering Kankurō and smiled slightly.
"Lucky timing. Your doll-playing efforts weren't wasted."
'Lucky timing' referred to Kankurō returning just in time. If he were any later, Ibiki wouldn't have waited for him. As for 'doll-playing efforts not being wasted,' that meant Kankurō's efforts in cheating with his puppet weren't in vain because he had made it back for the tenth question.
If he hadn't, all his previous cheating efforts would have been pointless.
Hearing Ibiki's words, Kankurō couldn't help but be startled.
'This guy... he actually saw through Crow!'
Before this, Kankurō had secretly looked down on these examiners, thinking they couldn't even see through his puppet. Now, he was immediately proven wrong the moment he returned.
He was, after all, still at the level of someone just leaving his village. Perhaps in Kankurō's view, his Crow puppet was well-disguised. But in Kagaya's eyes, it was as he had just thought—a clumsy technique.
"Well, take your seat."
Ibiki Morino didn't press the issue. In this classroom, he had seen through the cheating methods of the vast majority. However, he only pointed out those with particularly clumsy techniques. For the somewhat passable ones, even if he saw through them, he pretended not to notice.
Kankurō obediently returned to his seat and sat down.
Ibiki Morino continued.
"Now, let me explain. This is... a rule of despair!"
At this point, Ibiki paused briefly before continuing.
"First, you must choose: whether or not you will answer this tenth question. If you choose not to answer, the examinee will be immediately judged as scoring zero—in other words, failing. Of course, both your teammates will also be disqualified along with you."
As soon as these words were spoken, the examinees erupted in an uproar.
"What's going on?"
"In that case, of course, we choose to answer!"
"It's too unreasonable to have a rule that disqualifies the whole team!"
Ibiki Morino didn't try to quiet them. He closed his eyes and continued. "And then, there's another rule. If you choose to answer but answer incorrectly, then the person who answered... will be permanently barred from taking the Chūnin Exam for the rest of their life!"