Chapter 60 — The Vicious Question-Setter

Compared with the Raikage, A, who prided himself on brute courage, the Mizukage, Mei Terumi, was a far more delicate thinker.

After all, following the mad internal attrition of the Bloody Mist era, the Mist had effectively cut off one of its own arms. Lacking absolute strength, Mei could only make up for her disadvantages in other respects.

She had keenly sensed the deeply concealed schadenfreude in Tsunade and Rasa.

Which raised the question.

What had the Raikage just done wrong—something that not only he himself failed to notice, but even she had missed?

Mei's beautiful eyes gathered light, a charming slyness at the tips of her brows.

In the blink of an eye, she had her answer.

The elite jonin of the Leaf, Wang Xu!

Just now, the Fourth Raikage, A, had been seized by the thrill of the hunt and wanted to spar with this seemingly unremarkable ninja.

Had only the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, shown that sort of attitude, Mei would not have thought much of it—she would simply have assumed Tsunade's ego had swollen and she had misjudged the strength of the Leaf's ninja.

But the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, clearly shared Tsunade's thinking.

That was very much worth savoring.

"On closer look, this young man called Wang Huai'an is actually quite handsome..."

Mei tilted her head and looked at Tsunade with a smile. "I wonder if Lady Tsunade would be willing to part with something she loves and give him to me?"

"Heh heh, you do love your jokes."

Tsunade parried with a smile that did not reach her eyes, which only made Mei more curious about Wang Huai'an.

She had felt the resistance and hostility Tsunade was straining to hide.

Why?

For a mere jonin of great strength, why would Tsunade value him so highly?

However strong Wang Xu might be, could he compare with Orochimaru and Jiraiya?

Mei did not cling and press her demands; she still hoped to leave a good impression on the other Kage, the better to latch onto a powerful patron.

Her gaze settled on Wang Xu, brilliant light flowing through her beautiful eyes, yet she could not pierce that layer of mist.

At that moment, Wang Xu smiled shyly. "Hello, everyone. I am the one who set this written exam."

His voice carried only the volume of an ordinary conversation, yet every spectator and examinee could hear him perfectly clearly.

His manner was that of a clean-faced sixteen-year-old standing before a girl he had secretly admired for a long time—bashful and gentle.

Some of the examinees, brimming with resentment, found the anger in their hearts quietly dissipating.

Hearing this, the Fourth Raikage, A, lost much of his interest in Wang Huai'an, and even began to grumble: "What's this! Just a kid!"

At first, seeing the man fly and display that trick of gathering the papers from afar, A had jumped to the conclusion that Wang Huai'an had "extraordinary chakra control" and was "a formidable character to rival Ohnoki of the Third Tsuchikage, the Fencesitter."

Now A felt he might have misjudged him.

Irritably, he punched at the air.

A thousand armies are easy to destroy; a single worthy foe is hard to find.

Who could understand such loneliness?

The outwardly boorish Raikage, A, was admiring himself in solitude.

But Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto—those veteran genin of the old Team 7—had all broken out in goosebumps, feeling a chill coil around them that they could not dispel.

"So then, that final essay question..." Sakura covered her mouth, terror flickering in her jade-like eyes.

"We're dead! We're dead!"

Naruto looked like a god of misfortune had possessed him, sprawled face-down on the floor in an otz pose, the color drained entirely from his being.

Sasuke stared fixedly at Wang Xu, his little face deathly pale. "Multiple enemies at the level of the Sage of Six Paths, Hagoromo Otsutsuki... according to the records in the prophecy book, they should be aliens of the Otsutsuki clan... But weren't they supposed to descend on the ninja world only many years from now? Nine months... nine months of preparation time, what's the difference between that and no preparation time at all?!"

Recently, because he and Naruto had both undergone Orochimaru's genetic optimization experiment, his relationship with Orochimaru had improved somewhat. Through that connection, Sasuke had gotten his hands on a good many books, films, and TV dramas that Jiraiya had already gone through.

Among them, a film called *The Butterfly Effect* had left a deep impression on him.

A single person ten years ago sneezing one extra time, compared to his destined fate, could cause the destruction of an entire city ten years later.

But even the butterfly effect had to follow basic rules, didn't it?

Sasuke was certain the instructor had started stirring up trouble again.

The two newcomers of Team 7 could not understand their reaction.

"Instructor Wang Xu is quite nice, so why are you all..."

Tenten trailed off, feeling her companions ought to show the instructor a bit more respect, rather than acting like this...

Fear.

Whatever the others were thinking, Wang Xu, floating in the air, conjured himself an inert air chair and sat down comfortably.

He held up three fingers. "This written exam is, in essence, divided into three stages."

The crowd listened with keen interest.

They wanted to see where the Leaf's confidence in its claim of absolute fairness and justice came from.

Theoretically speaking, so long as there were any questions that were not multiple-choice or fill-in-the-blank, true fairness was absolutely impossible.

"Basic knowledge, the unity of knowing and doing, and seriousness of effort."

Wang Yanzhou spoke leisurely. "The basic knowledge section is worth ten points. The correct answers are here; everyone may compare them at their leisure."

With a wave of his hand, four particle fluorescent screens materialized out of the void, so that every spectator and examinee could clearly see the contents upon them.

The questions, the options, and the correct answers—all clear at a glance! Every examinee could see their score in this section.

"As for the final essay question, no matter what any of you wrote, there is only one criterion for judgment."

Having said this, Wang Xu redeemed himself a cup of iced cola and took a satisfying sip.

That gesture made the examinees' teeth itch with anger.

You bastard—you're not the one waiting for results, so of course you're not worried in the least, are you?

Compared with the measly ten points of the first section, this essay question was worth a full thirty points!

Wang Xu drained the cola, then waved a single hand; the plastic bottle dissolved into particle quarks and scattered between heaven and earth.

He softly pronounced four words: "Word count."

"Huh?"

Telepathy simultaneously read thousands of identical bewilderments. Wang Yanzhou said calmly, "Through this question we are mainly judging how seriously each of you takes the Chunin Exams. The more words you wrote, the higher your score."

The examinees were textbook-definition dumbfounded.

It was quite a while before someone finally reacted.

Naruto let out a heart-rending wail.

He had written only a few words on the last question!

If only he had known, he would have written more!

There were plenty of other examinees in the same boat...

But what could they do?

The man had already said the essay question tested seriousness and how much importance one placed on the exam. Objective it certainly was—the grading criteria were written plain as day on the fluorescent screens!

[1–10 words: 2 points for effort.]

[11–100 words: 15 points.]

[101–300 words: 25 points.]

[Over 300 words: full marks, thirty points.]

[Wrote not a single word? How many points? Zero, of course!]

[Wrote nothing and still want points... Child, are you awake yet?]

The examinees ignored the mockery on the screens, swallowed their humiliation, and quickly calculated the score they had earned so far.