The Chunin Exam has begun.

Residence Kazeji.

Kaito was finally waking up as the sun hit his face, and as per his routine, he started his physical exercises, followed by a kenjutsu training.

Soon after, he went into the bathroom for a quick shower. After a few minutes, Kaito had already come out of the bathroom and was in front of the mirror.

"My physique is definitely growing with the training, but what did Ryuji take? He looks like one of those gym guys, all pumped up. I'm sure his mother was giving him whey instead of milk," Kaito chuckled as he imagined the scene.

After that, Kaito began studying fuinjutsu. Today was the last day before the chunin exams began.

...

The next day at the Ninja Academy.

Kaito was waiting for his team partners in front of the academy gate. Today was the day of the chunin exam, so there were many people entering the academy.

After a few minutes of waiting, Kaito finally saw Ryuji and Hikari.

"Hey, guys," Kaito said as they approached.

"Hey, Kaito, you're early today," Hikari greeted Kaito.

"Yes, I think an exam of such importance awakens a little responsibility in him," Ryuji smiled as he joked with Kaito.

"Hahaha, you guys are quite funny," Kaito chuckled insincerely.

The three of them were together, so they decided to enter the academy.

Soon, the three arrived in front of a tall metal door. Several other genin had already passed through that door, so Kaito and his team didn't linger.

Upon entering, all they saw were several people from other villages. At that moment, Kaito felt someone jumping on his back.

Kaito quickly turned around and was ready to retaliate, but upon seeing who it was, Kaito did nothing and smiled.

"This is new for me, Ino," Kaito said as Ino simply smiled at him. At that moment, he had also seen that Naruto's team had entered through the door, and Sakura was looking at them.

'She definitely did that to provoke Sakura,' Kaito smiled upon discovering the reason for Ino's sudden hug. He knew Sakura didn't like him and wouldn't be jealous seeing this, but Ino's provocation was more in the sense of, 'I hug the guy I want and he doesn't refuse, unlike you.' Well, it was just a childish thing, so Kaito smiled and didn't react. He didn't care about such trivial matters.

Kaito felt nothing for Ino, not in terms of attraction, but that couldn't be said for the next few years.

The next moment, Kaito overheard Naruto and Shikamaru talking, and several other teams joining them. All the new genin from Konoha were present at that moment.

Everyone was talking among themselves while Kaito was simply silent, observing.

Until at that moment, another person arrived, a person with white hair and the Konoha headband on their forehead.

"Hey, you guys there."

Upon hearing this, almost everyone turned to the person who spoke.

But Kaito was no longer paying attention. At that moment, all he was thinking about was whether he should kill Kabuto or not.

After deep reflections, he gave up on this idea, for several reasons.

By that time, Kabuto had already explained everything to them, something that Kaito missed but didn't care much about because he already knew everything he had to say.

At that moment, Kaito saw several shadows approaching rapidly towards them, specifically towards Kabuto.

And there was all that progression that had happened in the anime. Kaito was observing the Sound Village personnel coldly because it was quite a troublesome attack to contain.

'If I encounter them, I will kill them quickly.' Kaito thought.

At that moment, a large cloud of smoke formed at the beginning of the room, and several people appeared amidst the smoke.

Kaito didn't pay attention anymore; everything was unfolding just like in the anime, so he began to think about his fuinjutsu.

"Yesterday, I managed to make my first seal with a lot of effort. I'm eager to test it, too bad the first exam won't involve any fights."

At that moment, Ryuji snapped Kaito out of his thoughts.

"Hey, Kaito, you seem a bit distracted. The examiner asked us to submit our registration number."

Kaito nodded and followed Ryuji to submit the number.

...

The exam had finally begun, and everyone was trying to cheat in some way.

Kaito was focused on his test, writing normally. He had always studied the theory, so the test was not difficult for him.

'I know this test is to see who can obtain information without being caught, but seriously, there are so many things the instructor simply let pass, like the threads tied to the mirrors on the ceiling, or the floating eye in the area, or just a guy whose black eyes turn red out of nowhere.' Kaito found it unbelievable.

Soon the test was coming to an end. Kaito was answering the test slowly; he wasn't worried about Hikari or Ryuji because he knew they had enough techniques to pass, especially Hikari, who could even help Ryuji.

Kaito saw that many participants were eliminated for getting caught cheating, but he still wasn't worried.

There were only 15 minutes left, and Kaito could see the scene where Naruto raised his hand in a sign of surrender, but in the next moment, he began to speak about not giving up easily and that one day he would become Hokage, inspiring many of those who wanted to give up.

Kaito smiled at that and waited for the test to finally end.

Shortly after, the instructor declared the end of the test and began to explain the purpose of the test, about determination, persistence, and trust in one's team.

Finally, he declared that everyone left had passed the first stage of the chunin exam.

In the next moment, another instructor appeared by his side, to be exact, an instructor.

'Anko Mitarashi finally appeared, she's very beautiful,' Kaito thought as he watched her intently.

Today, Kaito was getting distracted very easily.

At that moment, Anko was beginning to take everyone to the next part of the chunin exam.

The Forest of Death.

...

At that moment, Kaito, Ryuji, and Hikari were all together inside the Forest of Death. The test had started a few minutes ago, but they were already alert because at any moment, they could be ambushed.

The forest was quite dark, and they could hear various screams and roars, clearly indicating it was a dangerous forest.

"Stay alert at all times. We don't know when we might be ambushed," Kaito informed his friends, who nodded in agreement.

"Man, this forest is so eerie," Hikari said as she looked deeply into the forest, but it was quite dark, giving a hint of how dangerous the forest would be.

Ryuji agreed and walked ahead of Hikari, as she was the weakest physically in the group and needed to be protected in case of an ambush.

Meanwhile, Kaito was at the back of the group because he was the most versatile, capable of either attacking or providing support at any moment.

They walked among the trees with extreme caution, but the forest seemed to have become silent, which was much more frightening than the noises they had heard before.

Kaito constantly looked around, searching for dangers, and the next moment, several kunai were thrown in his direction.

The three of them quickly jumped, dodging the kunai. While dodging, Kaito threw his own kunai in the same direction where the others had come from.

At that moment, they saw who had attacked them, a ninja team in strange attire, with the emblem of the Sand Village.

Kaito, Ryuji, and Hikari were prepared to engage in combat at any moment.

Observing them closely, Kaito quickly assessed their capabilities.

'First, one of them is wearing some weird gloves, so he'll probably try to fight with taijutsu. The other is thinner and has a more cunning look, probably more adept at speed, while the last one shows no obvious signs.' After considering the possible styles of each one, Kaito looked at his team and said,

"Ryuji, you take the one with the gloves. Hikari, you take the thinner one. I'll handle the last one. If you feel you can't defeat them, retreat and regroup."

Ryuji and Hikari nodded simultaneously and then looked at their respective targets.