Back in the exam hall, the chūnin monitors were in an absolute uproar. Several furious monitors rushed to the podium, shouting orders to restore order while frantically trying to figure out how someone had managed to swipe dozens of test sheets right under their noses without triggering a single physical confrontation.
"Silence!"
The lead proctor's voice boomed over the rising panic of the classroom, cutting through the murmurs like a kunai. He slammed his fist onto the podium, glaring down at the sea of bewildered and furious genin.
"Listen up, and listen well!" the proctor shouted, his eyes sweeping across the room. "If your test paper is gone, that's on you! In the shinobi world, losing your intel means you die on the battlefield. No replacement sheets will be distributed, and no second chances will be given! Even if your sheet is lost if your team score is in the top twenty then you qualify, so quit yapping and shut up."
A collective gasp echoed through the hall. Across the room, several genin who had fallen victim to Shinra's sudden heist turned pale, their faces contorted in sheer despair and rage. Some stood up, pointing accusing fingers and demanding justice, but the proctors immediately leveled intimidating, killing intent right back at them.
"Sit down or face immediate disqualification! No more warnings will be issued." the proctor warned sharply. "The clock is ticking. You have thirty minutes remaining to complete what you have, or submit a blank sheet and fail!"
Panic immediately set in. The unlucky participants whose desks were now empty scrambled to look over for their teammates to help them out risking instant elimination by cheating, while others simply stared at their blank desks in defeat.
With only fifteen minutes remaining , Shinra sat casually at his desk, his expression entirely innocent as he started writing on his empty sheet of paper. Outside of the academy, in a random alley, his shadow clone had flipped through the stolen papers stacked neatly and dispelled himself. With the papers of sixty other genin now in his possession, compiling the correct answers would be child's play. Not to mention that from the sixty papers he had stolen most of them were from different teams.
Now as long as Hyori uses her Byakugan to copy his answers and Inumaki doesn't score a zero, they are guaranteed a spot in the second phase.
Across the room, Hyori caught his eye and gave a subtle, approving nod, while their other teammate remained in quiet concentration with Yoshimaru hidden underneath his shirt. The first phase of the exam had just turned into absolute chaos, and Shinra sat right at the center of the storm, as cool and collected as if he were taking a leisurely stroll through the village marketplace.
"Time is up! Put your pens down immediately!" the lead proctor commanded, his voice echoing sharply off the walls as the final countdown expired.
The proctors moved swiftly down the aisles, collecting the remaining test sheets.
Groans of exhaustion and sighs of relief rippled through the classroom. Several teams whose members had lost their papers glared daggers across the room not knowing who to blame, but under the watchful eyes of the jonin monitors, no one dared to throw a punch.
As the stack of completed exams was carried away to be graded, the tension in the room remained suffocating. Shinra remained seated on his chair, crossing his arm behind his head and looked at the lead proctor.
'I might've overdone it. Judging by their reaction they most certainly didn't except that someone was going to pull such a stunt in a big event like the Chūnin Exams.' Shinra thought in silence as he smirked inwardly, watching the proctors frantically recount the stacks to ensure no funny business had slipped past them.
'Even experienced shinobi had blind spots. Under the right circumstances, rank alone meant very little.The main starting point of being recognised as an elite is the Jōnin rank, but it's still just a rank at the end of the day.'
The heavy doors at the front of the hall creaked open, and a hush fell over the exhausted genin. A chunin assistant hurried in, placing a final tally sheet on the podium before whispering something into the lead proctor's ear. The proctor's eyebrows arched in brief surprise before smoothing back into a stern expression. He cleared his throat.
"Grading is complete," the lead proctor announced, his gaze sweeping the room. "Out of the sixty teams that entered this hall, exactly twenty have qualified for the second phase. The teams that have qualified are as follows:
Konoha Team Eight: Pass
Konoha Team Five: Pass
Konoha Team Eleven: Pass
Konoha Team Six: Pass
….
Sunagakure Team Two: Pass
Takigakure Team Eleven: Pass
…"
Shinra's eyes widened slightly, 'From a total of twenty teams, twelve of the teams were from Konoha. What's unexpected is that some of the unassuming villages made it through.'
A murmur of disbelief rippled through the survivors. Many sighed in relief, while others felt that the exams had been rigged by Konoha to eliminate them specifically. Chairs scraped across the floor as the eliminated teams rose in disbelief. Some stared blankly at the proctor while others clenched their fists until their knuckles turned white.
"Bullshit…"
"Our entire team lost our papers."
One of the Takigakure's shinobi got heated up and pointed at the proctor, "This was sabotage! you damn racist tree-huggers just don't want to see other minor villages outperforming you!"
The entire room turned silent, it was one thing to insult major villages in private or among friends, but to do so in the middle of their village is idiotic.
The proctor in-charge of this phase walked slowly to the Taki-ninja until he stood right in front of his face.
"I think I may have misheard you, did you just insult Konoha while standing in the center of the village? Even if the leader of Takigakure was in your place, he wouldn't spout such nonsense."
A suffocating killing intent descended upon the Takigakure genin.
His legs immediately stiffened.
The proctor brought his face down to the same level as the Takigakure shinobi and said coldly, "I don't think I will mishear you from this distance, so would you kindly repeat what you just said?"
The man stood in place as still as a stone, in a fit of rage he had pushed himself into a corner. ' 'H—he will kill me!'
The Takigakure genin didn't dare look the proctor in the eyes and whispered, "I am sorry."
The proctor remained still for a few seconds before he turned to the other participants.
"Does anyone else have a problem with Konoha that they want to get off their chests?" the proctor asked, his voice sharpening. "The second phase of the Chunin Exams will test your survival skills, adaptability, and teamwork in the notorious Forest of Death. Report to Training Ground 44 in one hour. Dismissed!"