Chapter Thirty-Five: The Pitfalls in the Exam

There was no mutual slaughter as one might have imagined. Orochimaru simply called out the names of Feng Xue, Xia Mi, and Mu Qianrou with a detached calm, then turned and left. Upon reflection, this was only natural. After all, this was Orochimaru’s Sound Village, and at this point, he was merely selecting “pawns” to be used as vessels for the Impure World Reincarnation—not choosing permanent bodies. There was no need for large-scale, survival-of-the-fittest bloodshed.

Yet, precisely because of this almost arbitrary selection, the three found themselves subjected to the envious, resentful, and jealous stares of those around them. It couldn’t be helped; Orochimaru had two infamous talents: unparalleled research and the abduction of children.

Still, thanks to Orochimaru’s favor, the three of them could now meet openly without fear.

“You’ve all determined the world’s information by now, haven’t you?” In Feng Xue’s room, Xia Mi was the first to break the silence.

“Yes.” The other two nodded. This wasn’t a redundant question—although the graduation exam was team-based, individual evaluations still existed. Discovering the world’s nature oneself was clearly valued differently from being told by a teammate.

“Let’s talk about the real difficulties of this exam first.” As an upperclassman, Xia Mi was most familiar with the hidden aspects of the exam questions and naturally assumed the role of strategist.

“Our identities have obviously replaced those of Tayuya, Sakon, and Jirobo from the original story, so getting to Konoha shouldn’t pose much difficulty. The main concern lies with these three evaluation metrics.” Feng Xue frowned, beginning to sense the trouble lying ahead.

“Right. The passing evaluation requires at least making it through the second round. If it were only about collecting the Heaven and Earth scrolls, there’d be no real challenge. The real problem is that, in the original, the three Sound ninja were used by Orochimaru to test Sasuke’s curse mark fusion.” Mu Qianrou took over, “Leaving aside Sasuke’s protagonist outbursts, the curse mark itself, once awakened, already brings someone to the threshold of the Heroic level. But before the second round ends, Orochimaru is lurking in the Forest of Death. Any suspicious move from us would invite an attack from him—a master who is at least on the Epic level. Compared to Sasuke at this stage, Orochimaru is ruthlessly efficient. Challenging him is pure suicide.”

“That’s not even our greatest problem. Didn’t you notice the requirement for a perfect evaluation? Defeating the Konoha Twelve isn’t the issue—the real sticking point is surviving until the ‘Konoha Crush Plan’ either succeeds or fails!” Feng Xue’s face grew grim. “Let’s not forget: our characters were originally intended as vessels for Impure World Reincarnation. Unless we leave the world immediately after the third preliminary round, we’re bound to be sealed in coffins, waiting for death. Compared to this, attaining a ‘Good’ rating seems trivial.”

“No, don’t forget that this exam is set in Konoha. Any special potential we display in the first two rounds will likely be recorded by the village authorities, who will then avoid matching us against their own seed candidates in the third round. That’s why almost all of Konoha’s favorites made it through—except for Rock Lee, who was just unlucky. After all, only he and Sakura among the Konoha Twelve are true civilians. (Tenten’s family supplies ninja tools to Konoha; Sakura was only meant to pave the way for Ino, the Yamanaka heiress, but who knew Ino would be so disappointing? What about Hinata? Who could have predicted the Hyuga main and branch families would fight so fiercely?),” Mu Qianrou continued. “We’re likely to face ‘two-versus-two’ matchups. If that’s the case, at least one of us won’t make it past the third round. Since all three of us have reached the Extraordinary level, that means…”

“That means, if that person doesn’t want to repeat a grade, they’ll have to secure an ‘Excellent’ rating!” the three said in unison.

After this analysis, all three wore heavy expressions. Orochimaru’s Impure World Reincarnation loomed over them like an inescapable curse.

“Well, no matter what, let’s at least claim the benefits first!” Xia Mi proved himself a seasoned veteran, quickly regaining his composure. As someone who’d scraped by with passing grades for eight years, he continued, “Since we have three months before the exam begins, the implication is obvious. According to the original story, the journey from the Land of Rice Fields to Konoha takes at most two weeks. Even if Orochimaru detours to assassinate the Fourth Kazekage, it won’t exceed a month. That leaves two months to gather advantages. Being in the Sound Village, I should be able to find plenty of sound-based jutsu. The only question is how much work it’ll take to convert them to run on spiritual energy.”

“My focus is genjutsu. There should be no shortage of that here—after all, Orochimaru is rated a ‘10’ in genjutsu in the databook,” Feng Xue nodded in agreement.

“Hey, am I the only one specializing in taijutsu? But Orochimaru’s taijutsu here is mostly body modification! I have no desire to turn into a snake demon!” Despite her words, Mu Qianrou had already made up her mind. For a traveler whose main combat strength lay in taijutsu, real battle experience was indispensable—and the Sound Village certainly didn’t lack for ‘punching bags.’

At the moment Mu Qianrou made her decision, every genin in the Sound Village shivered involuntarily…

…

“Incorporating genjutsu into the AT Field is indeed difficult!” Feng Xue grumbled as he flipped through his notes, preparing for yet another experiment.

The three had, without discussion, chosen to abandon the chakra system, and for good reason.

At its core, chakra in the Naruto world was a massive trap.

Where did chakra originate in the Naruto universe? Anyone who’s read the manga knows—Kaguya Otsutsuki ate the fruit of the God Tree and gained chakra. She then passed chakra to her two sons. The elder, Hagoromo Otsutsuki—the Sage of Six Paths—founded the way of shinobi and distributed chakra to others.

From then on, chakra was passed down, generation after generation, becoming the foundation of this world’s power system.

So, one could say that chakra is like a virus: once infected, it cannot be shaken off.

Yet, even though this "virus" is widespread, it’s still not a native ability. Its origin ensures that no one who cultivates the chakra system can ever defeat Kaguya Otsutsuki.

Even Naruto and Sasuke in the original story were only able to threaten the Otsutsuki clan by utilizing Sage chakra (Sasuke, before obtaining the Rinnegan, relied entirely on Jugo’s curse mark, which also stems from natural chakra).

But what is Sage chakra? It’s simply chakra infused with natural energy.

However, natural energy is not actually chakra. The term “natural chakra” only appeared after chakra itself was introduced; properly speaking, it should be called “natural energy.”

Natural energy existed in this world long before Kaguya Otsutsuki. The Sage of Six Paths learned to use it from the Great Toad Sage, and it was this power that enabled him to seal Kaguya.

In other words, natural energy, as a native force not derived from Kaguya, is the only thing capable of harming her.