_________ POV Narration _________

The written exam was a rather trivial affair for the children who had already passed through the strenuous first phase of the Chunin Exams.

It was not meant to be an eliminatory exam either, as individual knowledge could be learnt and developed through time.

They just needed a basic understanding of the Shinobi world to pass it.

Getting full marks, however, was another beast entirely...

Throughout the entire tenure of shinobi and assassins that attended that year, only two of them managed to get full marks.

One of them was Morita, and the other one was Yugito Nii, the young two-tailed Jinchūriki of the Cloud.

Nii was a rather quiet and brooding young girl, not even 11 years old yet already participating in the Chunin Exams. She was also clearly stronger than all of the other Cloud participants.

It wasn't like they were weak, most of them seemed to have already reached the level of a Chunin. But the competition that year was far too difficult for regular people.

Momo and Ume, as well as Akio, were not that far from a full score either. They had found a way to copy off of each other, which was not really against the rules as long as they didn't get found out.

Tatsukio didn't bother copying, so he fell further behind. Bull was also not that bright when it came to written tests, even if they were mostly multiple-choice tests.

Kushina was also not the best at the written exams, though she didn't get that bad of a score.

The Uchiha members that were attending all seemed to have passed, likely using some special contacts to hide their Sharingan and copy more easily.

The Uzumaki Genin present was also not doing too bad, they didn't have any special method of copying, at least none that wouldn't have been noticed by the Anbu presiding over them.

So they just took the exams normally, well most of them did... Uzumaki Takehiko, the young Adamantite Sealing Chain user didn't bother to write much besides answering the very basic questions.

The rest he either filled in randomly or ignored. He spent most of the test sleeping, much to the annoyance of his team.

No one chastised him though, as there were no rules against resting during the exam.

The exam only lasted an hour anyway, so it wasn't like he had gotten to rest too much. The tests were then graded and then the tournament participants were listed.

The first preliminary bouts were decided almost instantly in fact.

Tatsukio was faced with someone called Matsumura Shigeru, a genin from the Cloud. It felt a bit unfair, but the preliminaries were selected randomly.

This was also one of the reasons why Morita ended up facing Bull.

Momo and Ume were also stuck facing each other.

Kushina was fighting one of her brethren from the Uzumaki Clan.

Yugito Nii was also fighting someone from the Land of Iron, a young man called Raiden. He was said to be the strongest from the Land of Iron recruits.

Akio, the sickle-wielding assassin of the Brotherhood, also ended up with none other than Takehiko, it was bound to be a difficult battle.

The rest of the matchup was not quite as exciting. Naomi didn't even show up to the written exam and was disqualified.

She was, after all, Yue's little shadow. She had decided to flunk out the exam as a form of protest since she was essentially the only one within the Dark Brotherhood who felt Yue was wronged.

Her protest was of course ignored, and her stupidity was called out by some of her siblings. But she at least managed to use that opportunity to get closer to the spoiled little princess she idolized.

Only time could tell whether or not her efforts were going to be worth it. For now, though, her protest was not that effective in making Ken reconsider Yue's disqualification.

After the tests were graded quickly with the help of Shadow Clones, the participants were directed towards a large underground arena where the preliminaries were to happen.

Only the finals and semi-finals were going to be a showcase for civilians and nobles alike. Of course, not a lot of noble representatives were present this year due to the Three Corner Alliance's current standing in the world.

Ken, Yorihhiko, Hiruzen and Mifune were all present in that underground area, all sitting on the side sitting on the most comfortable chairs that the Hokage could find.

The Raikage was not currently present as he had some urgent matters to attend to and had to return to the Cloud.

He was likely going to make it back in time for the semifinals. For now, Jonin were overseeing the cloud team.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The Hokage proceeded to give a small speech for the attendees, one that Ken promptly ignored.

Instead, he observed all of the participants with a tinge of interest.

Kushina seemed to notice him sitting on the side with her father, she seemed excited to see the both of them.

Yorrihhiko seemed to gain a radiant smile when seeing her, his wary gaze immediately turned warm. His usual act of a cold and calculating ruler seemed to fall apart in front of his daughter.

Of course, Yugito Nii also noticed the leaders in front of them. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the masked assassin who leisurely rested on a large chair.

'So that's the Red Dot, huh?' She couldn't help but feel a bit conflicted.

For a man that was rumoured to be so brooding and ominous, he seemed quite ordinary in person.

But that ordinary feeling made Nii somewhat fearful...

All of the other leaders present seemed to exude power and pressure befitting their titles, all of them except Ken.

The Blind Assassin was considered the strongest among them, but his presence seemed fleeting. If Nii took her eyes off of him, then she likely would not even be able to tell that he was still among them.

Hell, even as the young girl peeled her eyes at Ken, it still felt as if he could vanish at any moment.

Many had the habit of forgetting that, at the end of the day, Ken was more assassin than he was a fighter. He may have reportedly slaughtered armies of shinobi and split a tailed beast and a mountain in two. But at his core, he was still an assassin.

The more Yugito felt that ordinary presence, the more sinister it felt.

Of course, the Tailed Beast sealed within her seemed to agree with her completely.

'Don't let appearances fool you, young girl... That 'man' is the furthest thing from ordinary. It's a good thing that the Raikage had the foresight to befriend him early on...'

Matatabi, the cat-like two-tailed beast within Nii was rather unnerved by Ken's overall existence.

Its senses as a tailed beast were as powerful as all of its siblings. Even then it had issues sensing Ken. Nature Energy converged around him and through him in such a way that it made it feel as if he was part of the environment.

'To think a human like this would ever be born...'

Much like most of its other siblings, Matatabi had somewhat forgotten Hagoromo's fears and didn't realise what Ken really was.

Kurama however, knew exactly what Ken was now, and it was even more filled with anger as he couldn't act and try to kill the tail-less monster in front of him.

Kushina gulped a bit and clutched her stomach as the fox-like beast trashed against its seal. But it wasn't going to break out. If it was that easy then it would have broken out a long time ago.

The Hokage eventually ended his speech, encouraging the next generation to do its best and letting them know that they were destined to inherit the will of fire or something.

Ken was only half listening, curious about the whole will of fire situation. But he didn't get much context from the Hokage's words.

And the fights proceeded after that. All of the participants and accompanying Jonin stood on a platform to the side of the arena, and the leaders continued sitting in the same place.

The first fight was that of Tatsukio.

The one-legged assassin hopped down to the arena and stood in place, awaiting his opponent.

Matsumura Shigeru didn't make him wait too long. The young man jumped down and immediately took out a rather unexpected weapon... A large metallic rod.

"I've heard plenty about you, One-Legged Devil... I can't afford to go easy on you." Matsumura muttered as his entire body tensed up.

The young genin of the cloud was a rather tall and burly teen. Certainly above others his age. He had blonde hair and slightly tanned skin, a common trait shared among his comrades.

Ken tilted his head slightly when sensing the young man.

'Hmm... He is not half bad...'

The assassin felt that the metallic rod wielder was a child who took his training seriously. His calloused hands and sturdy stance spoke for themselves.

Mifune seemed to have a similar opinion to Ken.

'It seems the Jinchuriki wasn't the only notable participant from the Cloud.' The general couldn't help but smile when seeing the spirited young man preparing for battle.

But that smile fell just as quickly.

'It's just a shame that he got such an unlucky matchup...'

As soon as the referee shouted, "GO!", Matsumura dashed forward, thrusting his metallic rod forward as it sparked with lightning.

Tatsukio blinked a few times underneath his mask, a bit shocked at his opponent's speed. But it was nothing compared to his own.

Tatsukio immediately turned into a blur, as the tip of Matsumura's rod just barely scratched the assassin's afterimage before it faded away.

In an instant, the cloud genin turned around and took a large swing with his rod, aiming to close off any opening he may have left behind him.

This forced Tatsukio, to hop backwards for a second. Seemingly giving Matsumura a slight opening.

The genin's hands moved unnaturally fast as he pointed his palm towards the assassin.

"Lightning Release: Panther!"

In an instant, a panther-like construct rushed out of the genin's palm, its speed greatly surpassing that of any regular genin or even chunin.

Unfortunately for Matsumura, he was not exactly facing a regular chunin.

Even though he was technically still in midair, Tatsuki seemed to move his leg in an odd way, finding his foothold in the air as he became a blur once more, dodging the jutsu and rushing towards Matsumura.

The Cloud Genin tried to move quickly, thrusting the lightning rod forward and trying to pierce Tatsukio. But his rod only pierced yet another afterimage.

"No hard feelings~"

The cloud genin didn't even get to react before he felt a palm on his abdomen.

"Wind Release: Twister Palm!" In an instant, Matsumura felt himself flying backwards, as a tornado emerged from Tatsukio's palm and sent him hurtling towards one of the walls of the arena.

The tornado didn't last too long, the jutsu itself was mainly just used to knock back an opponent.

But it was so powerful that it had crushed Matsumura into the wall of the arena, knocking him out almost instantly.

"Winner. Numbered 1 of the Dark Brotherhood!"

It was a good time to mention that most people present didn't know the names of the Dark Brotherhood participants. The Numbered were called out by their numbers, although Tatsukio was still recognized with his monicker.

Ken sighed when seeing how easily the cloud genin was defeated.

'That's the expected outcome. It's nice that Tatsukio gave him some time to show off, he certainly showed skill surpassing his rank. Keeping up with Tatsukio even momentarily isn't something a genin can do.'

Ken made a mental note to remember the young genin of the cloud and bring it up to the Raikage eventually, as it would've been a shame to let his efforts go unnoticed.

The arena was quickly cleaned up, not that there was much damage to it yet.

The next fight was going to be a bit more competitive, however...

Morita. Number 2 of the Dark Brotherhood stepped into the arena.

The young blonde assassin faced none other than the towering mountain of muscle that was Bull, Number 4 of the Brotherhood.

Although the distance between number 2 and number 4 was great, Bull still had plenty of tricks up his sleeve, and the fight was bound to not be anywhere near as one-sided.

There was also a pretty significant factor... Ken was 'watching' them. And this meant only one thing.

"Sorry Number 4... But I'll be going all out..." Morita uttered as he unsheathed his blade.

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Number 2!" Bull spoke, his muscles flexing as veins popped up on his hands as they gripped his large mace.

"Second match... GO!"