The exam hall was a stifling cauldron of nervous energy. Genin, their faces slick with sweat, employed a desperate array of covert tactics.
Kin Tsuchi, with the unsettling chime of her bells, strained to catch whispered answers.
Dosu Kinuta, his eardrums thrumming, picked up the faintest rustle of papers.
Kankuro, his puppet Karasu a silent accomplice, scribbled down stolen knowledge. Mirrors flashed, summoned insects buzzed, and fleeting genjutsu warped reality, all in a desperate bid to survive.
Sakura, her brow furrowed, relied on the fragile shield of her own knowledge.
Sasuke, the eye of the storm, watched with his Sharingan, dissecting every twitch and tell, every desperate attempt to cheat.
Forty-five minutes. Ibiki's voice, a chilling blade, sliced through the tension. "Alright, listen up," he announced, his gaze a predatory sweep. "The tenth question is about to be given. But before I do, I'm going to give you some rules. These rules are absolute. There is no room for negotiation."
"You can choose whether or not to answer the tenth question. If you choose not to answer, you & your team will fail. If you choose to answer, and you get it wrong… you and your entire team will not only fail this exam, but you will never be allowed to take the Chunin Exams again. Your ninja career will be over before it even begins."
A collective intake of breath, a silent scream of terror. The room became a tomb, each genin trapped in their own personal hell.
Naruto, a sleeping enigma, remained unmoved, his confidence a silent defiance. He had positioned himself in his chair, head tilted back, arms loosely crossed over his head, as if he were taking a casual nap. His breath was slow and even, a picture of undisturbed slumber amidst the rising tide of panic. It was a calculated display, a silent declaration that he was above the fear, beyond the reach of Ibiki's psychological games.
The minutes stretched into an eternity, each tick of the clock a hammer blow against their resolve. Hands trembled, eyes darted, and the air crackled with the weight of impossible choices.
Then, the wave began. One by one, hands rose, pale and shaking, signaling surrender. The gamble was too high, the stakes too devastating. They had broken, their ninja dreams crumbling into dust.
"Alright," Ibiki's voice, now laced with a cruel satisfaction, filled the room. "For those who remained, you pass."
A stunned silence.
Then, the hammer blow: "There was no tenth question. This was a test of your resolve. Those who gave up, failed."
The room was a graveyard of broken spirits. The number of disqualified teams was significantly higher than in the original timeline.
Naruto's silent, sleeping defiance had inadvertently amplified the terror, pushing more genin past their breaking point. The sheer psychological pressure had eliminated far more contestants than in the original exam.
Suddenly, a voice, a chainsaw ripping through the silence: "Alright, you little slugs! Time for the main event!"
_ _ _ _ _ _
Anko Mitarashi exploded into the room, a whirlwind of purple hair and predatory grins. She bounced on the balls of her feet, her eyes gleaming with manic excitement.
"I'm your proctor for the next stage! Anko! And you're gonna love what I've got planned for you! It's gonna be a blast! Literally!" She cackled, a sound that sent shivers down spines. "Follow me, you little worms! We're going to the Forest of Death! And trust me, it's gonna be killer!" She made a throat cutting gesture with her hand, then skipped out the door.