At this moment, the corners of Sakura's mouth curved upward to their maximum arc.
Without a doubt, for an ultimate theoretical genius like Sakura...
A mere written test posed absolutely no pressure. Throughout her time at the Academy, Sakura Haruno's theoretical exam scores had never once fallen out of the top three in the class.
Sakura was confident that no matter how difficult the exam was, as long as it followed common sense, she could definitely answer it.
Menma, Sasuke, Ino, Hinata, Shino, and even Shikamaru expressed that they weren't under too much pressure. Only Choji, Naruto, and Kiba's expressions instantly petrified.
"Ah? Wr... Written test? What's that?"
Naruto even began to stutter a little.
Naruto, who feared nothing in heaven or earth, truly feared this kind of theoretical written exam. He really didn't know how to do it.
Kiba and Choji might be slightly better than Naruto, but only slightly.
Now, the three of them had to worry about failing even the first round of the exam.
However, the exam content was set in stone.
It was what it was.
This was an unchangeable reality.
Naruto, Kiba, and Choji could only follow their teammates with the resolve of a "suicide charge," stepping forward one by one to hand in their application forms, receive their number plates, and take their assigned seats.
Menma didn't care about this first round of exams at all. If not for the chance to enter the Forest of Death and secure a private meeting with Orochimaru, Menma wouldn't have been interested in this Chūnin Exam in the slightest.
It was just going through the motions.
Ibiki continued to explain the exam rules from the podium.
Especially the moment they heard that the final result would be determined by the team's average score...
It brought varying degrees of shock to the other Genin, including Sakura and Naruto, but Menma remained completely unfazed inside.
"The final rule is that the content of the tenth question will be announced after 45 minutes. Now, the exam begins!"
As Ibiki Morino's last sentence fell...
Scratch scratch scratch scratch scratch.
The entire exam hall was filled with the dense sound of pens writing.
The core of this first written exam in the Chūnin Exams wasn't actually testing how much theoretical knowledge one had truly mastered—though if one could purely rely on their genius attributes to answer the questions, that was fine too.
But the true purpose of this assessment lay in testing the Genin's intelligence gathering and situational judgment abilities.
Just as Ibiki said: "Do not use clumsy cheating methods," "Ninja should act like ninja," and so on.
He was explicitly and implicitly telling the candidates:
"Hurry up and copy the answers from the right people, but you must use high-level cheating methods!"
To put it bluntly:
As long as your cheating method was clever enough to meet the proctors' minimum requirements, even if they saw through it, they wouldn't call you out.
Conversely.
You would definitely be eliminated.
Clever people could pick up on Ibiki's suggestive words, but for those not clever enough, the result was obvious.
Therefore, less than ten minutes into the start...
"Second row, third person!"
"Fifth row, first person."
"Last row, fifth person."
"And you..."
The voices of the proctors rang out constantly from the sides.
Candidate after candidate had points deducted, accumulated to zero, and were then expelled.
This merciless posture...
Dealt a heavy blow to those whose wills were not firm enough.
It could be said that this torture expert of the Hidden Leaf was very adept at pressuring others. Even though this wasn't his torture chamber and he couldn't use any torture devices, just through words, expressions, and atmosphere...
Ibiki Morino still transformed this exam hall into his specialized torture stage.
The subjects of his torture were naturally these participating Genin.
Under the constant pressure from Ibiki and his team of proctors, those with weak willpower were already sweating profusely, their mental states beginning to crumble.
The continuous exit of other candidates easily piled immense psychological pressure on those remaining, not to mention the team liability rule Ibiki had announced earlier.
The number of people kept dwindling.
With the exam only half over...
Nearly a third of the approximately one hundred participating Genin had already been eliminated.
Seeing the time was about right...
Ibiki Morino planned to deliver the final heavy blow to the remaining candidates.
The opening remarks were terrifying to ordinary Genin, and the rule for the tenth question was equally intimidating.
"Now, it's your turn to choose!"
When Ibiki Morino looked at the remaining candidates with a cruel expression and spoke words that sounded like the whispers of a demon...
The hearts of most candidates instantly sank to rock bottom.
This extreme mental torture...
Became the last straw that broke these candidates.
"Number 25 withdraws; teammates are disqualified."
"Number 79 withdraws; teammates are disqualified."
"Number 104 withdraws..."
After a minute of deathly silence...
Like machines, these candidates stood up slowly, one by one, giving up their qualification for the exam.
From his high seat, Ibiki maintained an expressionless demeanor.
He watched indifferently as candidates left or remained in their seats, struggling with hesitation.
In Ibiki's view...
Those who couldn't even withstand this bit of pressure were not qualified to become Chūnin.
The crowd thinned rapidly again.
While silently counting the remaining numbers...
Ibiki decided to add more fuel to the fire: "One minute remaining. If you don't give up now, once I announce the content of the tenth question, you will have no way back!"
This continued pressure...
Was intended to further crush the candidates' spirits.
However, those who hadn't given up by now were unlikely to do so at this final moment. Even Sakura, Ino, Choji, and others who had shown hesitation earlier chose to persist until the very end.
Not to mention the perpetually optimistic Naruto.
In the silent Room 301, after waiting for the final minute or two and seeing that indeed no more candidates were giving up...
Is this about it?
Looking at the remaining candidates, most of whom wore expressions of determination...
Ibiki nodded secretly to himself.
Then, with a wave of his hand, causing the hearts of most candidates below to hang in suspense...
Ibiki suddenly smiled and said, "Very good. It seems you have all made your resolve. Then, I announce that all remaining personnel... have passed!!!"
"Eh?"
"Ah?"
"Huh?"
"What?"
The sudden, massive shift.
This complete psychological drop.
Leaving aside Menma, who knew the original plot, among those present, only a few quick-witted individuals seemed to grasp something.
The other Genin all wore expressions of utter confusion.
They couldn't understand what Ibiki's sudden reversal meant at all.