No Opportunity to Rest

While walking, Suguru noticed that Hyuga Kyou flinched momentarily. This made Suguru's instincts scream.

Quietly, he activated his Dark Release while acting as if he had yet to notice any anomaly.

His body instantly consumed the foreign chakra that kept entering his body, invading his mind and altering his senses. He did not need to disrupt his chakra. As long as he could keep his Chakra Field Hacking active, any influence of foreign chakra would be rendered null and void.

Suguru was happy with his jutsu's performance, pondering on more of its applications as he walked.

Meanwhile, the genins behind him began to stray further and further away from Hyuga Kyou. Their jounin guardian noticed this, and could only shake his head.

After a while, some of the genin returned while most were left staring at a seal on one of Sunagakure's buildings.

'A Genjutsu barrier?' Suguru thought, 'I've never seen this in the original. How mysterious.'

When Hyuga Kyou reached the center of the village, a man was there waiting for him. Suguru recognized the red markings on his face and his apparent height. With a turban covering half his face, it was hard to forget who he was.

'Baki,' Suguru thought.

"Welcome," Baki nodded, "It seems like some of you have strayed far away. Consider those who have yet to break out of the Genjutsu as those who have already failed."

Hearing this, Kyou sighed. "Indeed. It is quite disappointing that only a few of Konoha's genin recognized the state they were in."

Perhaps it was because Konoha was very safe when one was in the village. Threats would only arrive when they were roaming the Training Grounds or the forests outside.

Of course, that was unless you were an Uchiha or one of Danzo's Root shinobi.

The Night of the Uchiha was still sharp in the minds of Konoha's higher-ups.

Anyways.

Baki quickly introduced the group of Konoha-nins to a waiting room, where the rest of the genins were.

Upon arriving, Suguru looked around.

Shinobi from nearby villages were here. Iwagakure, Kusagakure, Konohagakure, and Amegakure were all present.

'Four villages answered Sunagakure's invite.' Suguru noted the implications of such an acceptance. 

It was politically intriguing.

While in the waiting room, Suguru felt another wave of chakra wash over him.

'It isn't a chakra field... But another Genjutsu?' Suguru activated his Dark Release and began munching on the foreign chakra.

For some reason, he was starting to have a taste for different types of chakra. This one tasted like bread.

'Odd,' He thought, throwing the sentiments to the back of his mind.

Focusing back on the present, Suguru was one of the few aware that the test had already begun — the jounins, the instructors, and him. Slowly but surely, a few of the genin stood up, walking out of the room of seemingly their own volition.

Some were resisting, and some had already realized the Genjutsu contaminating their system once again.

They disrupted their chakra and returned to reality. The look on their faces was one of bewilderment and shock.

'...I should've let the Genjutsu hit me for a bit. That way, I would know what kind of illusion everyone had been shown.' Suguru smacked his lips. 'Oh well,'

Another wave of chakra washed over him. This time, Suguru did not devour it in an instant. He wanted to see what kind of visions had been forcing out everyone's behaviors.

***

Ito Nao was a genin from Iwagakure.

Upon entering the waiting room, he spotted the shinobi from the different villages. The most notable of which, was Konoha, where a small child could be seen, staring at everyone with a curious gaze.

He made eye contact with every shinobi in the room the moment he arrived — including the jounins. And he didn't even flinch.

Ito Nao felt uneasy when he met the boy's gaze as well.

Nevertheless, that unease passed by quickly as a beautiful woman walked to the front of the waiting room and spoke.

"Hello, aspiring genin. For this chuunin exam, I will be your proctor for the first part. The test is simple. All you have to do is figure out a way to escape this room before your time runs out."

A gas cloud began exiting from the woman's mouth with her every breath.

"A puppet?!" 

One of the Genin exclaimed, and Ito Nao instantly felt a flash of danger. He hurriedly held his breath and glanced at the door.

'Gone!'

The entrance that he had used, suddenly disappeared.

'But how?' He was shocked. The room filled with shinobi had suddenly turned into a room filled only with genin.

Furthermore, they were all trapped within, forced to hold their breaths.

'Hm?'

Suddenly, Ito Nao noticed that one of the genin was missing — the boy from before. This caused him to think.

'Wait! Could it be?'

Memories of what had happened as they were moving towards the center of the village returned to him. A Genjutsu that struck when he least expected.

It was a crazy thought, but Ito Nao just wanted to be safe. He hurriedly went to disrupt his chakra. He formed a seal.

'Kai!'

That was when the world returned to normal. He was still standing in the same room, with his jounin guardian right next to him. Furthermore, all of the genin were still in a daze, trapped by the illusion that had struck when they were weak.

Ito Nao sighed in relief as his gaze moved over to the peculiar child. When he saw his silver hair and ever-curious silver eyes, he couldn't help but sigh again.

'Safe,' He thought.

Not expecting yet another Genjutsu to strike, and that Suguru wouldn't release himself instantly as he did before.

Thus, when the third area Genjutsu fell upon the genin, there were a lot who weren't able to escape. Suguru, who had become a beacon of reality for the genin, was unreliable. To use him as an anchor would be their mistake.

Many would thus fail the first portion of the exams because of this misunderstanding. 

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(No space.)

You can read up to Chapter 85, where I update more than once a day!

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