Cherry Blossoms and Chakra Strings: First Hurdle
The moment Team 3 stepped into the room dedicated to this stage of the exams, they were immediately met with a wall of noise.
Sakura had only been in this room once before, back when she was first admitted to the Academy as a child. She had a vague memory of being completely bored out of her mind while teachers droned on about the bright futures awaiting them as ninjas of Konoha. The specifics of the speech were hazy, but she was certain of one thing: the hall hadn’t been anywhere near this packed back then.
The wild open room was a sea of hitai-ate and village colors as least sixty ninja representing a staggering amount of nations were crammed into the room. The noise was staggering, a chaotic hum of conversations, shouts, and laughter that made it difficult to think.
The Five Great Villages were out in force, easily identifiable by their preferred camouflage or the sheer density of their groups, but they were far from the only ones present. Sakura spotted forehead protectors she had only seen in textbooks or on the occasional missing-nin report. Kusa, Ame, Yuga... villages she had barely heard of were represented here, as if everyone had been waiting for this specific exam.
“There’s so many,” Sakura muttered, her eyes widening as she took it all in.
Tsu and Hikari nodded beside her, their mood dampening slightly as reality set in. It was one thing to talk about beating other genin; it was another thing entirely to see them all gathered in one room.
Sakura scanned the sea of faces, searching for anything friendly or familiar. She spotted the Suna ninja from early standing in a corner, glaring at a boisterous contingent of Ame nin chatting loudly nearby. Her gaze continued to sweep the room until it snagged on a figure leaning casually against the far wall.
Unlike the rest of them, Amane looked entirely at ease, her arms crossed over her chest as she relaxed in the face of so many hostile nin. She was talking to another group of ninja that Sakura didn’t recognize. Or well, being talked at would be more accurate.
The girl in front of Amane had tan skin, mint hair, and was practically vibrating with energy, making broad gestures with her arms as she regaled the other kunoichi with a story. The girl’s expression was open and friendly, a stark contrast to the tense atmosphere of the room.
Behind the green-haired girl, two guys who were probably her teammates stood stiffly, keeping their eyes on the room instead of the interaction in front of them.
Amane, for her part, didn’t look annoyed. She was watching the girl with a smile that was surprisingly normal compared to what Sakura had seen from the girl. The two must be friends, she surmised.
“Looks like our trouble has found friends,” Tsu observed, wrinkling her nose as she watched the interaction. “Or at least, someone who doesn’t know better.”
“She must be well connected. She knew the group from Suna too. Or at least they knew her,” Sakura said, watching as Amane laughed at something the other girl said. “Either way, let’s steer clear.”
Tsu grunted in agreement, and the three of them skirted the edge of the crowd, deliberately keeping their distance from the Kumo nin. As much as Sakura was curious about the kind of person who could get Amane to laugh genuinely, they had bigger priorities. Like finding their own allies before the exam officially began.
It didn’t take long. The signature bright orange of a certain jumpsuit acted like a beacon in the sea of actual tactical gear.
“Yo! Sakura! Over here!”
Naruto’s voice cut through the din, drawing the attention of several nearby competitors, but he didn’t seem to care. He was standing on a bench, waving his arms wildly above his head. Beside him, Sasuke was leaning against a wall with his eyes closed, looking like he was trying to pretend he didn’t know the person shouting next to him, while Ame had two fingers pinching the bridge of her nose.
Sakura led her team over, a small smile breaking through her tension. “We haven’t even started yet and you’re already causing a scene, Naruto?”
“Nah, just making sure you didn’t get lost in the ocean of extras!” Naruto hopped down, grinning broadly. He looked them over, his eyes lingering on Sakura’s new outfit before swiftly moving past it in typical Naruto fashion. “You guys ready for this? You better be, cause I’m going to crush everyone!”
After his declaration, it seemed like their entire graduating class decided to show up. Ino was the first to arrive, shoving her way through the crowd with a determined set to her jaw that softened the moment her eyes landed on Sakura.
Sakura was pleasantly surprised when the sight of Ino didn’t elicit any negative feelings. She somewhat expected some form of guilt or embarrassment upon her realization of the other girl’s feelings, but all that came was the usual warmth that she always associated with the other girl.
“Hey, Sakura. You—” Ino paused as she took Sakura in, from her clothes to the paint lining her cheeks. Slowly, her lips thinned and she put a hand on her hip, staring at Sakura accusingly. “You went shopping without me.”
And there went the warmth.
“I wouldn’t exactly call it shopping,” Sakura said, chuckling nervously. “I needed some new gear for the exams. I wasn’t exactly thinking about fashion when I grabbed it.”
“Everything is fashion if you do it right, Forehead,” Ino sniffed, inspecting Sakura’s outfit with a critical eye. Her gaze lingered on the plated gloves and armlets, eyes glinting in a way that suggested she knew why Sakura had picked them. “Hmph. I’m not happy, but you picked out some good stuff. It looks good on you. Not as good as something I picked out, but good.”
Sakura opened her mouth to retort but the conversation was cut short before she could defend her fashion skills. Kiba shoved his way to the front of the group, Akamaru perched happily on his head, his usual grin stretched wide across his face.
“Well look at this. Looks like you guys are having a party. Mind if we cut in?” Kiba announced his presence, puffing out his chest. Shino and Hinata followed close behind him, spreading their little huddle into something more of a gathering.
“Don’t worry, we’re just getting started,” Naruto declared loudly. “I was just telling everyone here about how I’m gonna win this whole thing! Believe it!”
Kiba let out a sharp laugh, crossing his arms over his chest. “You? Win? Don’t make me laugh. The only thing you’re gonna win is a participation award for trying the hardest. I’m the one who’s gonna take this exam by storm. Ain’t that right, Akamaru?”
The puppy on his head barked in agreement, puffing out his small chest.
“Yeah right!” Naruto shouted back, already getting riled up by the challenge. “You couldn’t beat me on a good day! I’m gonna wipe the floor with you before you even make it to the finals!”
“Oh yeah? Bring it on!” Kiba snarled, baring his own canines. “I’ll show you who the top dog is around here!”
The two boys were quickly in each other’s faces, shouting over one another in a rapid-fire exchange of insults and challenges that made absolutely no sense to anyone listening.
“Is that a challenge, dog-breath? ’Cause I’ll take it!”
As the volume of their argument spiked, drawing annoyed glares from the surrounding foreign ninja, Shino adjusted his glasses and let out a long, heavy sigh.
“I should have expected this,” Shino murmured, his voice low and flat. “Bringing them together is always a bad idea.”
Sakura shook her head, watching Kiba poke Naruto in the chest with enough force to make the blonde stumble back a step. “No kidding. But there’s no way you could have avoided it. The only way you could stop them from riling each other up is with a leash and a muzzle.”
She paused, tilting her head thoughtfully as Kiba started shouting about something involving ramen and fleas. “And even then, I’m not sure it would be enough.”
Ino giggled, the sound cutting through the rising tension. “You’re probably right. It’s like they’re allergic to peace and quiet.”
Before Sakura could respond, a massive explosion of smoke detonated at the front of the room, instantly silencing the bickering match between Naruto and Kiba.
The crowd tensed, hands flying to weapons, but as the smoke cleared, a single imposing figure stood at the front of the room, flanked by around five others wearing flak jackets. He was a tall, scarred man wearing a black trench coat with a grey bandana emblazoned with a metal leaf insignia.
He surveyed the room with a gaze that felt like it was peeling back layers of skin, and the oppressive atmosphere that had been brewing among the rivals seemed to snap into something far more serious.
“Who the hell is that?” Kiba whispered, Akamaru flattening his ears against his head.
“That’s Ibiki Morino,” Ino whispered back, her voice uncharacteristically tight. “He’s part of our intelligence gathering team. That is to say, he pretty much runs the Torture part of Torture and Interrogation.”
It made sense. If Sakura was captured by an enemy village and came face to face with that guy, she'd probably be much more liable to spill her guts before he did it for her
Ibiki’s scarred face remained impassive as he scanned the room, eyes boring into each and every single one of them as the silence stretched and the tension settled over their shoulders.
“This year’s Chunin Selection Exams have attracted an unprecedented number of applicants,” Ibiki’s gravelly voice echoed through the hall. “We have more participants than ever before. Too many.”
He paused, letting his words settle as he narrowed his eyes. “If I had it my way, I’d just send you all home and tell you to try again next time, in some other village. But since the Hokage wouldn’t let me just kick the lot of you out, we’re doing something else.”
A ripple of unease went through the crowd and the Chunin standing on either side of Ibiki reached into their pouches and threw something into the crowd.
Sakura’s hand snapped up, her fingers closing around a piece of wood before it could hit her in the face. Beside her, Ino did the same, while Naruto and Kiba caught theirs with their foreheads.
Sakura looked down at the plaque in her hand. It was a simple wooden tag engraved with black ink, containing a letter and a number. F-3.
“Look at the number on your tag,” Ibiki ordered. “You are to report to the designated room for screening. If you fail, you're out of the exams. If you pass, you move onto the next portion.”
“Screening?” Naruto shouted, confused. “What do we need screening for? We already signed up!”
“Just do what the man says, loser!”
“Oi!”
Their argument spawned even more muttering from the ninja around them, and soon enough the room devolved into a sea of noise once more. Ibiki’s eyes narrowed at the crowd, his lip curling in annoyance and a vein straining on his temple.
“Enough talking! Get moving or I'm just going to fail all of you!”
The sheer volume of Ibiki’s voice pushed the room into a frenzy. The crowd dissolved into a chaotic stampede as sixty-some shinobi scrambled for the exit, shoving and pushing to be the first out the door.
Team 3 let the initial surge pass before slipping out into the hallway, moving against the flow of traffic toward their assigned classrooms.
“That was weird,” Sakura muttered, clutching her wooden tag as they dodged a frantic group from Kusa. “Splitting us up for a screening? I’ve never heard of that happening before.”
“It’s probably just a security measure,” Hikari said, their tone calm as they stepped neatly around a larger Ame ninja who was blocking the path. “There are a lot of foreign ninja in the village right now. More than the Police Force usually handles. It makes sense to weed out anyone who might cause trouble before they get into the actual exam.”
Tsu snorted, crossing her arms behind her head as they walked. “Then this should be easy for us. We literally live here.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Sakura said, frowning at the number on her tag.
They navigated the crowded hallway until they reached door F-3, a classroom practically on the other side of the building from the one Sakura used to call home.
Just as they arrived, the door swung open, and another team of Konoha shinobi stormed out, nearly colliding with Hikari before the Hyuga stepped out of the way.
The three ninja looked furious. The boy in the lead was scowling furiously, while his teammates were muttering darkly to one another.
“Hey, watch it!” Tsu barked, stepping to the side to avoid being shouldered.
The lead boy didn’t even apologize, though he did turn to look at them, glaring all the while. “You guys going in there? Good luck. They’re kicking people out for nothing.”
Sakura paused, sensing an opportunity for insight into their test. “What happened? Did you fail already?”
“Tch, yeah. They asked us these pointless questions,” he spat, crossing his arms over his chest. “Nothing that actually mattered, . Just stupid stuff like what’s our favorite food or biggest fear. That damn proctor definitely had it out for us or something.”
Behind them, the door creaked open further. A nondescript man in a standard flak jacket stepped out, a clipboard held loosely in one hand. He adjusted his glasses, looking over the rim of them at the disgruntled team.
“All the questions were standard screening protocols,” the man said, his voice utterly bored as he regarded them. “You were disqualified because you didn’t deserve to continue. Accept that you don’t belong here and move on. It’ll be easier for everyone.”
The three bristled, their faces turning red, and the lead boy stepped forward angrily, brandishing a fist and gritted teeth, “That’s a load of crap!”
“Yeah, you just didn’t like our answers!”
Sakura looked back at her teammates. The anger radiating off the other team was palpable, but the proctor didn’t even blink. He just stared at them, completely unimpressed by their posturing.
“Leave,” the man said, pointing a pen down the hall. “Before I have you removed for disrupting the other examinees.”
The team hesitated, clearly wanting to say more, but the threat in the proctor’s voice must have sunk in. With a final collective grumble, they turned and stormed off down the corridor, shoving past a few stragglers as they went.
The Chunin waited until they were out of earshot before turning his attention to Team 3. He checked his clipboard, glancing between them and his paper.
“Team 3?”
“Yeah, that’s us,” Sakura confirmed, stepping forward. She exchanged a brief glance with her teammates as he hummed, checking the paper.
After a moment, the man grunted, making a mark on his clipboard. “Right. Head inside. The examiner is waiting.”
He stepped aside, holding the door open. Team 3 moved past him, stepping over the threshold with a small amount of trepidation.
The room behind the door was a complete transformation from the standard Academy classrooms Sakura was used to. Every poster, map, and decoration had been stripped from the walls. The desks were completely devoid of anything as well, even dust, like someone had studiously cleaned everything inch by inch despite the fact that Sakura knew that classes were held yesterday.
Sitting at the teacher's desk in the front of the room was an older man with thinning grey hair pinned back in a ponytail and a face that looked like it had been carved from weathered stone. He regarded them expressionlessly, and gestured to the desk at the front row.
“Sit.”
Team 3 exchanged a quick glance before moving to the three desks at the front of the room. As they pulled out their chairs and sat down, a soft, melodic chime sounded out from the corner of the room, echoing strangely in the bare space.
Sakura stiffened for a moment but relaxed when nothing happened aside from the proctor shuffling his papers.
Probably just a timer or a signal to start.
As if on queue examiner looked up from his own desk, his gaze flat and uninterested. “Let’s get this over with. State your names and Shinobi IDs.”
“Hikari Hyuga,” Hikari spoke first. “ID 012350.”
“Tsuyoka Inuzuka,” Tsu grunted, crossing her arms. “ID 012352.”
“Sakura Haruno,” Sakura finished, eying the man. “ID 012601.”
The man made a few scribbles on his clipboard, not looking up. “Alright. Now, just a few preliminary questions to establish a baseline for the exam.”
Team 3 exchanged a quick glance before moving to the three desks at the front of the room. As they pulled out their chairs and sat down, a soft, melodic chime sounded out from the corner of the room, echoing strangely in the bare space.
Sakura stiffened for a moment but relaxed when nothing happened aside from the proctor shuffling his papers.
Probably just a timer or a signal to start… She rationalized, though it didn't stop a small amount of tension from settling into her gut.
As if on queue examiner looked up from his own desk, his gaze flat and uninterested. “Let’s get this over with. State your names and Shinobi IDs.”
“Hikari Hyuga,” Hikari spoke first. “ID 012350.”
“Tsuyoka Inuzuka,” Tsu grunted, crossing her arms. “ID 012352.”
“Sakura Haruno,” Sakura finished, eying the man. “ID 012601.”
The man made a few scribbles on his clipboard, not looking up. “Alright. Now, just a few preliminary questions to establish a baseline for the exam.”
The man adjusted his glasses, his gaze shifting mechanically to Hikari.
“Hikari,” he began, his voice devoid of inflection. “You were ejected from the Hyuga clan recently, correct? Have you made any progress in seeking forgiveness and returning to the compound?"
The air in the room seemed to drop several degrees as Team 3 processed the question. Sakura's jaw dropped as her friend stiffened abruptly. There was no way he asked that, right?
“I... that is a private matter,” Hikari managed to get out, their voice tight.
“It is a standard question,” the examiner insisted, not looking up from his clipboard as he moved his pen to the next line. “Please answer.”
"Standard," Hikari repeated, swallowing roughly. They looked like they weren't sure what to do. "I have no desire to return to the Hyuga compound. My father made his position clear, and I have accepted my own."
The man made a noncommittal hum, scratching a note onto his paper. “I see...”
Sakura frowned as the sound of scribbling echoed in the silent room. She looked to her teammates. Hikari was staring straight forward, eyes unblinking, while Tsu was practically vibrating with anger.
Sakura was only a step behind the Inuzuka. Where did this guy get off asking such a sensitive question? More importantly, what the hell did it have to do with their entrance to the Chunin Exams?
Before she could dwell on it too long, the examiner’s eyes shifted to the center of the trio.
“Tsuyoka Inuzuka,” he said, his tone clipped and businesslike. “It is noted in your file that you have recently come into the possession of a weapon belonging to your deceased teammate?”
Tsu's eyes narrowed dangerously. “Yeah. What of it?”
“You understand that there are certain procedures to follow in events like this, correct?” the examiner continued in that same monotone. “Grave robbing and looting is more than fine when it is applied to enemy nin or bandits, but stealing from your own teammates is highly frowned upon in Konoha.”
Tsu slammed her hands onto the desk, the wood groaning under the impact. “I didn't steal shit! What!? Did you expect me to just leave the only thing he actually owned in that hole with him!?”
The examiner didn't even flinch at the outburst, making another mark on his clipboard. “Please refrain from shouting. It is an evaluation of your psychological state regarding the incident. Do you feel guilt over your teammate's death? Do you believe taking his weapon is a valid substitution for his presence in your life?”
Tsu looked ready to vault over the desk and strangle him, her teeth bared in a snarl. “You shut your damn mouth! You don’t know anything!”
“Sit down, Tsu,” Sakura hissed, grabbing her teammate’s arm and forcing her back into her seat. She shot a sharp look at the examiner. “She's right though; what kind of question is that?”
The examiner finally looked up, his eyes dead and glassy. “It is a standard screening,” he repeated robotically. He turned his gaze to Sakura. “Let's move on. Sakura Haruno,”
Sakura straightened her spine, her heart hammering strangely in her chest.
“You practice puppetry,” the man said, the word falling flat in the empty room. “An art traditionally associated with Sunagakure and their hidden puppet brigade. A village that is currently, as I’m sure you are aware, our ally in name only.”
He tapped his pen against the clipboard, a rhythmic, annoying click. “It is well documented that you apprenticed under Lady Chiyo. Tell me, Sakura: did your instruction include the retrieval of village secrets? Have you been approached by other nations regarding the transfer of those secrets? Please be honest; we will know if you are lying.”
Sakura stared at him, her mouth slightly open. The question wasn’t just invasive; it was bordering on treasonous. To accuse a genin of selling secrets to other nations? If that line of thinking got to the right people, she would be executed on the spot. That, or tortured to death.
“That’s ridiculous,” Sakura said, her voice trembling slightly with suppressed anger. “I’m a loyal kunoichi of Konoha. My training is for the benefit of this village and it's people, not anyone else’s.”
“Benefit, ” the man repeated, scribbling furiously. “An interesting choice of words considering the nature of the techniques involved. Do you believe that utilizing tools designed for assassination and subterfuge truly aligns with the Will of Fire? Or are you simply adhering to a foreign methodology because you lack the skill to compete with standard shinobi arts?”
“That’s enough!” Tsu snarled, halfway out of her seat again. “You can’t talk to her like that! We haven’t done anything wrong!”
“This is a controlled environment,” the examiner droned, though he made no move to defend himself as Tsu lurched forward. “Disorderly conduct will be noted on your permanent record.”
"Screw your record!" Tsu shouted, her hand curling into a fist. Hikari reached out, grabbing their teammate by the shoulder and physically hauling her back into her chair.
“Calm down, Tsu,” Hikari said, their voice strained but even. “Don't do anything you'll regret.”
“Trust me, I won't regret it,” the Inuzuka muttered, glaring at the examiner.
Said examiner tapped his pen against the clipboard again, the sound echoing sharply in the bare room. “Hostile. Unable to process standard psychological evaluation protocols.”He looked back down at his paper. “I will mark you as “volatile’.”
Sakura sat frozen, her hands gripping the edge of her desk until her knuckles turned white. Her heart was hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird, a cold sweat breaking out along her hairline.
Is this a hazing ritual? she wondered frantically. Some messed up test to see how much verbal abuse we can take before breaking?
It felt cruel, but she couldn't deny that the questions were designed to hit them exactly where it hurt.
A strange feeling was nagging at the back of her mind, though she couldn't quite place what it was. Something was definitely off here, but it was hard to rationalize what it was as she wrestled with the desire to leap over the desk and punch that smug look off his face.
Calm down, Sakura, she told herself, closing her eyes for a moment. He's just trying to get a rise out of us. Don't let him win.
She opened her eyes, locking gazes with the examiner. “Do you have more questions for me?” she asked, her voice steadier than she felt. “Or are you going to insult my teammates some more?”
The man didn't answer immediately, simply staring at her, his expression unchanging. Then, without warning, he nodded slowly.
"Interesting," he murmured, almost too quietly for her to hear. “Your resilience has been noted.”
Sakura’s eyes narrowedz that tingling feeling returning. There was something wrong with the way he was looking at her. His eyes were bright, but there wasn't anything behind him. His voice, his expression, even his posture. It was all wrong. Like... he wasn't real.
“Now, regarding the permanent damage to your hand,” the examiner resumed, his voice grating on her ears. “I understand that you've found a workaround to your issue, but the issue still remains. Do you believe this physical limitation renders you a liability to your team? Under most circumstances, a crippled kunoichi like yourself would be pulled from the force to make way for someone more able.”
Sakura didn't answer, staring at the man for a long moment. Her eyes slid over his face, darting from place to place like she was studying points on a graph. This whole situation tingled something in the back of her mind, like an old instinct rearing its head and warning her that something wasn't quite right.
And as always, when faced with a situation like this, she turned to the one thing she knew she could always trust. Cold, hard, logic.
This was the Chunin Exams. Ibiki Morino, the head of torture and interrogation, was running the show. He had split them up, sent them into bare rooms, and immediately started asking questions designed to break their composure and force out secrets under the guise of some test. It made sense.
Or at least it would have, if it wasn't for the fact that resistance to these sorts of techniques was one of the first things they learned in the academy. Tsu clearly hadn't taken much to heart, but Sakura did.
Something wasn't right.
As the man opened his mouth to deliver another verbal barb, Sakura trusted her brain and closed her eyes, cutting off the visual input to focus on what she could feel.
Her breath hitched immediately. It was subtle, so faint that if she weren't a puppeteer who spent a dozen hours every day manipulating her own chakra to move external objects with microscopic precision, she would have missed it entirely.
There, thrumming beneath the surface of her own vibrant chakra, was a foreign chakra signature. It was cold and oily compared to her natural chakra, but masked itself well enough that even she could barely detect it, slithering deep into her coils and wrapping around her tenketsu like a snake as it imposed its own will on her.
Genjutsu.
Sakura didn’t panic. Instead, the realization made her flush with relief. She reached inward, grabbing hold of the chakra coils that were currently suffocated by the oily presence of the foreign technique. She focused and tensed, abruptly stopping the flow of energy in her body, like the breath before a hiccup or a powerful sneeze.
For a split second, the world held its breath, before she released it all at once.
A surge of her own chakra rushed through her tenketsu like a tidal wave, violently purging the intrusive signal that had latched onto her senses. The foreign chakra didn't stand a chance and was swept away instantly, washed out by the sheer force of her own renewed flow.
The effect was instantaneous. The room around her wavered and then seemed to melt away like wax under a flame, colors bleeding into one another before snapping back into reality.
The oppressive silence was replaced by the low, dull murmur of a crowded room. Sakura blinked, the sudden brightness of the actual room making her eyes water. The oppressive interrogation room was gone and its place was a normal classroom, walls decorated in maps and other paraphernalia.
Her teammates were also gone, Tsu and Hikari vanishing into thin air and being replaced with a trio of Konoha ninja standing just a few feet away. The one in the center, a man with sharp features and his hands still frozen in a Tiger seal, stared at her with wide eyes. He lowered his hands slowly, the shock evident in his posture.
Sakura’s gaze slid past him to the man standing slightly behind him, and she blinked.
“Inoichi-san?” Sakura spoke to the familiar face. The blond man merely smiled, a small, satisfied expression passing over his face.
“Well done, Sakura,” Inoichi said, marking something down on his clipboard before looking at the caster of the genjutsu. “See? What did I tell you?”
The lead jonin – clearly the one who had put her under – lowered his hands completely, looking between Inoichi and Sakura as if she had just grown a second head. “She... she broke it so quickly. I didn't even get the chance to layer it before she snapped the flow.”
“I told you that the usual techniques wouldn't work. That girl's chakra control is something special. You probably won't find anything like it outside of the Hyuga clan and even then…”
Inoichi tucked his clipboard under his arm, giving Sakura a nod of approval that was far more reassuring than the proctor’s stare.
“You did good, kid,” Inoichi said, his voice dropping so that the few genin nearby who were starting to rouse from the illusion wouldn’t overhear. “Most kids your age would have been too busy trying to defend their honor or getting angry to notice the flow of their chakra. You've got good instincts.”
Sakura felt a blush heat her cheeks, but she nodded firmly. “Thank you. But…” she looked around, once again noticing the distinct lack of teammates surrounding her, “Where are Hikari and Tsu? Did they pass too?”
“They did. You were all put under individually based on your skill level. They managed to break out of their respective illusions and are waiting in the main hall.”
Sakura let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding, her shoulders dropping an inch as the tension bled out of her. “I see. Thank you, Inoichi-san.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” the blond man said, though his expression remained kindly. “This was basically just a filter for the ones who weren't even qualified to participate. The real test is just getting started.”
He gestured toward the door with a tilt of his head. “Go join your team. Try not to let the others know what happened here. We have to do this in batches.”
“Right,” Sakura agreed. She gave the three proctors a shallow bow and turned on her heel, striding toward the exit.
Sakura pushed the classroom door open and stepped into the hallway, the chatter of the examinees inside fading behind her. She let out a long breath, glancing down at herself.
That was definitely not what she had expected. She had anticipated a written test, maybe a combat trial, but a psychological evaluation wrapped in a high-level genjutsu? It was clever, she had to admit. It weeded out the ones who lacked the discipline to control themselves and the awareness to realize when they were being manipulated.
She had beaten it, though. She had floundered at the start, but when faced with a hurdle, she had jumped over it. It was a small victory, but a satisfying one.
One step down, she thought as she descended a set of stairs.
Just the rest of the test to go.