*Author Note*
My Pat-reons can now read four chapters ahead: https://www.pat-reon.com/Maerry (remove the “-“)
*End of Author Note*
The first test continued, and a few minutes later, someone became desperate and started simply calling his teammate’s name out loud. Although it was possible to hear someone calling from another room, it was impossible to hear what he was actually saying. The result? Many people desperately called out names and numbers, making it completely impossible to understand even a single word.
Seeing the spectacle unfolding, Yuna could only shake her head.
“How about failing everyone that is currently screaming at the top of their lungs? People that lose their composure so quickly have no business becoming a chunin, in my opinion.”
Shikamaru chuckled when he heard Yuna’s words and nodded his head in agreement.
“Although I agree, I won’t fail them. If all the stupid ones are out, it would be too easy to take the group’s lead.”
Yuna gave him a nod and continued watching the spectacle. Just as Yuna and Shikamaru predicted, someone took the lead and started talking to the other people in the room. That person was Neji. He explained to everyone that he would hit the wall four times to let the other two rooms know that everyone in his room will answer the 40 points question.
While that happened, Shikamaru eyed him with suspicion.
“It seems like Neji has changed a little. The old him wouldn’t have been willing to patiently explain his plan and even help the other people in the process.”
“Always interesting to see how a good, old-fashioned beatdown can change a person.”
Despite agreeing, neither Shikamaru nor Temari commented any further on what Yuna just said.
When Neji was about to start his plan, someone else interrupted him and offered to do it instead.
“Wow, that guy is seriously subtle. I will just make a wild guess and say that he wants to sabotage Neji’s idea.”
While Yuna and Shikamaru chuckled a little, a frown appeared on Temari’s face. The person who interrupted Neji was, after all, from Suna, just like her. If Neji’s plan only benefited Konoha’s shinobi, she wouldn’t mind the sabotage attempt, but people from his own village would also be negatively affected if he were to succeed.
Neji easily allowed the other person to take his place, and moments later, he started hitting the wall, sending vibrations through the whole building. Instead of doing with four times, however, he hit the wall five times.
Three simultaneous slaps echoed through the monitoring room as Yuna, Shikamaru, and Temari facepalmed.
“What is that idiot doing? What’s the point of doing five hits instead of four? At least make it six. With five, the message simply changed from “I will do the 40 points question.” to “You two will do the 50 points question.”. And look at how smug he is looking a Neji. Damn, that face is basically begging for a beating.”
“*Urgh* Although I agree, please control yourself, Yuna.”
While Yuna and Shikamaru were talking, Temari had a scowl on her face. She wanted to get angry at Yuna for making fun of one of her fellow shinobi, but no matter how she looked at it, Yuna’s words were correct. In fact, her hands were also itching to dish out a beating.
After the person that tried to mess with Neji’s plan realized that his action was utterly pointless, he turned towards the wall and hit it four times, so the people in the other rooms would get confused, just for Neji to give it an additional hit, making it five again.
He tried again, this time only hitting the wall thrice, just for Neji to add two hits, bringing it to five again.
Temari couldn’t help but blush a little when she saw the shameful display someone from her village was currently showing. She already decided to have a very… intense conversation with that person when they are back in Sunakagure.
“I wonder why he hasn’t tried more than five hits yet?”
Hearing Yuna’s words, Temari couldn’t help but groan in shame. It was already pretty bad that Neji so easily tricked him, but the fact that he tried another two times without even changing up his strategy in the slightest made it even worse.
Moments later, the person snapped and pointed a kunai at Neji, causing Yuna to grin.
“Hehe, since fighting is forbidden during the first test, he will be disqualified the moment he attacks. If that happens, you won’t mind if I collect him for a little discussion, would you?”
Shikamaru glanced at Temari and received an indifferent shrug from her. Since he was someone from Suna, Temari was the one who had the last word about it; Since Temari didn’t care, Shikamaru wouldn’t either.
Unfortunately, Neji had other plans as he pointed at the “no fighting” sign hanging on one of the walls.
“Proctor, are you going to allow a fight? If you don’t answer, I will assume you do.”
Yuna scowled in annoyance at Neji defusing the fight, while Shikamaru couldn’t help but chuckle a little.
“Seems like he wants to force me to make a move as a little extra confirmation that I am not the one that was sending the signal.”
Shikamaru leaned forward and activated the microphone. The moment he did, a mischievous glint appeared in Yuna’s eyes that neither Shikamaru nor Temari noticed.
“I made it clear that the first round is a written exam. Fighting is prohibited. Stop that racket and answer the ques…”
While Shikamaru was talking, Yuna slowly moved closer to him, and when she was in the perfect position, she changed her voice to match Temari’s and started speaking just loud enough for the microphone to barely pick it up.
“*Moan* Shikamaru, it’s so big!”
It was as if the air solidified. No one was moving as every attending genin was looking at the speaker in bewilderment. Temari and Shikamaru, naturally, froze up and were looking at Yuna in total disbelief.
It took Shikamaru’s brain around one second to reboot, and when it did, he realized that he needed to say something as fast as possible to defuse the situation. Luckily, it was relatively easy to explain the current situation.
“Damnit, Yuna, when did you get here? Could you stop playing your tricks just once?”
As soon as he finished speaking, he deactivated the microphone so Yuna would have no chance the mess around any further.
Some outsiders might still think that something fishy was going on, but those who have dealt with Yuna before should understand the situation without a problem.
“*Sigh* Troublesome. Was that really necessary?”
“That’s a stupid question; of course it was.”
Shikamaru murmured another “troublesome” before putting his focus back on the monitors. Meanwhile, Temari was opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of water. She heard about Yuna’s tendencies to mess with people no matter the consequences, but she didn’t expect it to be this bad.
The daughter of the previous Kazekage having an affair while she was supposed to monitor the chunin exams was no joke. Luckily, Shikamaru reacted quickly, or things might have become complicated.
‘Did Yuna predict that Shikamaru would react and played the prank due to that, or did she do it simply because she thought it would be funny? If it is the second answer, then Yuna is a walking bomb that could explode at any moment. If it is the first, then she is just annoying to deal with, but not too dangerous.’
