Revolution in the Ninja World

Eighty Konoha genin passed the first round of the written exam. Compared to the restrictive nature of the first exam, the second exam seemed a bit too free.

Early the next morning.

Before the exam began, Habara arrived at the assembly point on time. He found the place already "fully prepared."

The proctors were in position, and most of the examinees had arrived as well, standing in groups of two or three, constantly talking about something.

Habara didn't know anyone, so he silently stood in a corner.

"Time's up. Now, I will announce the specific rules for the second exam."

After a short while, the chief examiner announced that the exam was about to begin.

The person presiding over this exam was completely covered up; there wasn't much skin exposed anywhere on his body. Judging from his voice, attire, and other details, he was probably around twenty-five or twenty-six years old.

This age should be considered the new generation of ninjas who grew up during the Third Shinobi World War. Moreover, this familiar style of dress, plus the special gourd on his back – combining the two, Habara thought this proctor, who even omitted a self-introduction, was very likely Shibi Aburame of the Aburame clan.

The age also matched.

If it really was this person, then this proctor's strength was at the standard of an elite jonin. And it made sense for him to preside over this kind of exam… Besides his strength, Shibi Aburame was also a close subordinate of the Fourth Hokage.

Theoretically, all Konoha ninjas were subordinates of the Fourth Hokage, a scope that even included the retired Third Hokage. However, subordinates were not all the same.

"First, the exam site is the mountain forest in front of you. The area is relatively large, so you don't need to worry about going out of bounds after entering. Second, the exam duration is one week. You can bring sufficient supplies. Third, the exam content is the identification and capture of specific targets, and the acquisition and deciphering of codes. The details are as follows:

Before the exam started, we released one hundred enemies into the venue. These enemies are mostly ninjas from different enemy countries captured during the Shinobi World War, so they pose a considerable threat to you.

Each enemy carries a piece of coded text, but only fifty of them have the true code. The rest are false.

Each examinee will also carry a piece of coded text. These codes are also split evenly between true and false. However, when you possess your own initial code, it is considered true regardless of whether it is actually true or false. But codes taken from others must be identified as true or false.

Before the exam ends, as long as an examinee brings two true codes to the designated location, they are considered to have passed. The inspection location is shown on the map.

Whether examinees form alliances or rivalries is permitted, but any killing within the exam site is strictly forbidden… Information gathering should be done by subduing the opponent and keeping them alive, not through wanton killing.

Next, we will announce the method for deciphering the code and the correct codes. But examinees can only memorize them on the spot and are not allowed to make any copies.

If examinees understand the decryption method and have memorized the correct codes, they can receive their own code and then enter the exam area on their own… These are all the rules. Are there any questions?"

"Are we not allowed to eliminate the enemies either?"

Just as the rules were finished being explained, someone immediately asked this question, a question many people were concerned about.

"That is not permitted in this exam."

The proctor gave this answer, and the examinees immediately started murmuring among themselves.

Judging solely by the rules, this exam was harsh. There were eighty Konoha ninjas participating in the exam, and one hundred enemies in the venue. Not to mention the numerical difference, the problem was that the enemies would definitely try to kill the Konoha ninjas, but the Konoha ninjas couldn't launch lethal attacks if they wanted to pass the exam.

The examinees wanted to pass the exam. Based on these rules, theoretically, everyone except themselves could be considered an enemy, because everyone carried a code. The codes on the enemies could allow a ninja to pass, and the codes on the Konoha genin could do the same.

Although, probabilistically, a maximum of sixty-five people could pass, the actual situation would never be so optimistic.

Then, a large curtain was hung up. The upper half of the curtain showed the decryption rules for a certain code, while the lower half was a series of already deciphered correct codes.

When Habara saw this dense mass of text, he immediately understood one thing – in this Chunin Exam, the first round written test wasn't the real written test; this survival free-for-all was.

Who could remember all this? And they also had to remember the code decryption method. Honestly, this was a bit too much to ask of Habara.

Then he saw the other examinees starting to find people they knew and form teams.

Considering the large number of enemies in the venue, teaming up was the best choice. At the same time, once a team was formed, they could divide the work… One person could remember the code decryption method, while the others could each memorize several of the true codes.

They were truly ninjas who had experienced the war; their quality was quite good… even though these people were just genin.

So what about Habara?

He didn't know anyone, so he could only team up with the air.

So he just glanced at the curtain, then went directly to receive his own code. Then, under everyone's astonished gazes, he walked into the dense forest.

The malicious ones thought Habara was courting death, and good riddance; the kinder ones desperately wanted to stop this blind action… Ah, ninja, stop! The forest is full of Jackie Chans.

Habara naturally didn't feel that malice or kindness. Giving up on deciphering and memorizing the code didn't mean he was giving up. On the contrary, he was going to pass this exam in his own way.

"So… Let's guess how many of the so-called one hundred enemies are actually Konoha ninjas in disguise? In any case, this is quite a grand gesture."

Habara thought this as he walked.

Honestly, he absolutely didn't believe that the "enemies" in the exam site would be captives from enemy countries, because it didn't make sense. Genin who had managed to survive on the battlefield would then die in their own village's ninja exam? That would be too bizarre.

So Habara believed that at least most of the one hundred enemies were Konoha ninjas in disguise, or even that they were all Konoha ninjas in disguise… This showed that Konoha had invested a great deal of manpower and resources into this Chunin Exam.

But this investment wasn't incomprehensible, after all, this was the first public village-wide event hosted by the Fourth Hokage since he took office. Its symbolic significance was very important.

In fact, Konoha's investment was even more extravagant than Habara imagined. The entire exam site was now covered by a barrier. The proctors weren't worried about examinees running around after entering the venue, because the examinees couldn't run around.

As for Habara not paying attention to the method of deciphering the code and still wanting to pass the exam, his approach was actually very simple… utilizing the laws of probability.

On average, two "enemies" would carry a true code, so Habara planned to deal with ten people and seize ten codes.

Surely there couldn't be not even one true code among ten? Had they ever played a gacha game? Did they understand the concept of a guaranteed pull? The probability of obtaining one is 50%, and you can't get one in a ten-pull? Uninstall the game.

If ten weren't enough, then twenty. Anyway, the passing criterion was to obtain another true code while keeping one's own code. In other words, as long as the code was true, it didn't matter if it had been correctly deciphered.

If Habara brought out ten or twenty codes, he would definitely pass.

It could be said that this method was an essential trick for home and travel. It had no other shortcomings, except for being unfriendly to other examinees, disrespectful to the proctors who formulated the assessment method, and completely ignoring the intent of the exam.