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This rule was simple and brutal: don't answer, and you're eliminated immediately; choose to answer, and you face the risk of being a genin for life.
How should one choose?
For Kagaya, the answer was undoubtedly to choose to answer. His goal was to proceed to the second exam and successfully rendezvous with Orochimaru.
As for being a genin for life? Kagaya wasn't a ninja from any village to begin with. Titles like genin or jōnin were utterly meaningless to him. He neither needed nor cared about them.
Of course, choosing to answer didn't guarantee passing; it only offered a possibility. But not choosing meant a one hundred percent guarantee of elimination.
Immense pressure hung over the classroom.
The consequences of this choice, while meaningless to Kagaya, were potentially devastating for these genin.
Immediate elimination versus a lifetime as a genin.
How should they choose?
Some examinees roared in protest, claiming the choice was too unreasonable. But Ibiki merely stated calmly that their generation had exceptionally bad luck to encounter him. For this round, he, Ibiki Morino, was the rule!
It was despair-inducing.
"I... I won't answer!"
After several minutes of this tension, someone finally cracked and raised their hand to give up.
"Number 50 disqualified. Numbers 130 and 111 implicated and also disqualified."
The examiner showed no sympathy, flatly reading out the disqualifications.
The three silently walked out of the exam hall. They were done with this exam.
Following that, many others chose not to answer. People continued to leave one after another.
Sakura looked nervously at Naruto. She wouldn't raise her hand to give up because she was confident that even if she chose to answer, she could get it right. What worried Sakura was Naruto. If Naruto chose to answer, he had almost no chance of being correct.
So...
'Naruto, hurry up and raise your hand to give up!'
Even though Naruto's disqualification would implicate Sakura, at this moment, she still hoped he would quit. She didn't want that blond boy who always proclaimed he would surpass all previous Hokage to have his journey halted here.
A lifetime as a genin—what a hopeless prospect.
Sakura didn't want that for Naruto.
But time ticked by, and Naruto still didn't raise his hand.
'Why?'
Right now, Sakura just wanted to ask Naruto that. Raise your hand, you idiot! You can't possibly answer the question correctly!
Yet, no matter what Sakura thought, the Naruto in front of her showed no sign of raising his hand.
Yes, regardless of what the tenth question was, it was a fact that Naruto almost certainly couldn't answer it correctly.
Considering only Naruto, not Sakura or Sasuke, raising his hand now was the best choice.
'I'm sorry, Naruto. I don't want to shatter your impossible dream either.'
That guy who constantly shouted about becoming Hokage... to make him a genin for life?
Sakura couldn't bear it.
She had originally intended not to give up. But now, she reached out her hand, preparing to give up herself, thereby eliminating Naruto along with her.
However, at the very moment Sakura was about to raise her hand, Ibiki suddenly pointed at an examinee and spoke.
"You, are you intending to give up?"
Kagaya was taken aback. He looked carefully in the direction Ibiki pointed, double-checked, then finally pointed at himself.
"Me?"
Ibiki nodded. "That's right, you."
The person Ibiki pointed at was Kagaya.
Kagaya was utterly bewildered. He had no idea why Ibiki suddenly pulled this move. Was this in the original story? Kagaya couldn't remember. Was this a coincidence or intentional?
Regardless, since he was singled out and asked, Kagaya had to respond.
"I choose to answer the tenth question."
That was the unquestionable choice.
But Ibiki pressed further.
"Oh? You choose to answer? Aren't you afraid of being a genin for life?"
Kagaya felt somewhat speechless. How should he answer that? He couldn't very well say, "I don't care at all," could he?
At this moment, the gaze of everyone in the classroom was fixed on Kagaya, waiting for his reply.
Sakura glanced at the forehead protector on Kagaya's head.
'A foreign shinobi? He's covered up tightly. What a strange person. I wonder how he'll answer.'
Naruto stared intently at Kagaya.
'This guy... how will he answer?'
Dosu examined Kagaya carefully.
'So this is one of the three ninjas the village sent later.'
In that moment, everyone waited for Kagaya's answer.
Kagaya thought for a moment, remained silent briefly, then spoke.
"I will not back down. Regardless of whether I can answer the tenth question correctly, I believe that as long as I choose to answer, I have already won. And if I choose not to answer, no matter if I can take the Chūnin Exam again in the future, I have lost."
His calm words conveyed unwavering resolve.
If forced to answer this question, this was the only reply Kagaya could give. He truly would not back down. From the moment his parents died, from the moment Shisui died, he had decided: he would never compromise on important matters with anyone! He would not retreat.
This operation against Danzō was the same.
Ibiki Morino gave Kagaya a deep, penetrating look. "Is that so? I hope you can live up to your words."
During the earlier part of the exam, Ibiki had noticed something odd about Kagaya. He was too relaxed, so relaxed it seemed as if he didn't take the exam seriously at all.
Moreover, not a single examiner had detected any trace of cheating from this individual!
That was alarming. For others, even those still remaining, their cheating methods had mostly been spotted by the examiners.
Take Kankurō earlier, for example. He thought his puppet hadn't been discovered, but Ibiki had seen through it long ago. The reason it wasn't exposed was that the examiners deemed his cheating method "passable." Those who were eliminated had methods deemed too clumsy, thus "failing."
In this context, Kagaya stood out conspicuously. No one had detected any cheating from him, as if he hadn't cheated at all. Yet in reality, the test questions were extremely difficult. Examinees at this stage were basically incapable of solving them on their own.
And aside from the lack of detected cheating—there were a few others whose cheating went unnoticed as well—the main issue was that Kagaya was the only person in the entire exam hall who showed absolutely no sense of tension. Aside from writing for a period, he spent the rest of the time either spacing out or playing with his pen.
This naturally drew Ibiki's attention. Once Ibiki started focusing on Kagaya, something else happened that startled him greatly.
From Kagaya's person, Ibiki could intermittently sense an overwhelming feeling of danger!
This guy!!!
In Ibiki's perception, Kagaya seemed like an ordinary ninja with genin-level strength.
But if Ibiki observed him for too long, he would suddenly feel an immense sense of peril. One moment, he appeared to be a normal genin; the next, it was like facing a ferocious beast with its eyes closed.
In the entire exam hall, only two people gave Ibiki this feeling: Gaara from Sunagakure, and Kagaya.
Gaara, Ibiki knew, was Suna's Jinchūriki, so he wasn't surprised.
But what on earth was up with Kagaya? That sense of danger even seemed to surpass Gaara's.
'Is this guy... also a Jinchūriki?!'
Harboring such thoughts, Ibiki had decided to single out Kagaya for questioning.