Shikamaru ultimately decided not to buy anything. Doing so would be too conspicuous. Unlike the Sound Village trio, they didn't have comrades from the same village and needed to avoid drawing unnecessary attention to show they weren't pushovers. Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji, as the genin representatives from the host village, Konoha, naturally attracted attention from other village shinobi. Reckless showing off wasn't wise.
So even though they arrived early near the academy, they didn't report immediately. Instead, they observed other genin who had already entered and registered early.
Although Shikamaru was familiar with canon knowledge and knew which genin were strong in the Chunin Exams, the battlefield was unpredictable. During the earlier trip to the Land of Waves, even the jōnin Momochi Zabuza had indirectly fallen to Shikamaru when he was still a genin — a reminder to remain cautious.
Besides the known twelve genin from Konoha, the genin from the Sound Village, and the three from Sunagakure, there were many other examinees worth keeping an eye on.
By noon, Shikamaru led Ino and Choji inside the Ninja Academy. Having lived here for many years, they were naturally very familiar with Classroom 301. However, as they entered the stairwell, Shikamaru's brow furrowed at a subtle sense of discord.
Genjutsu, one of the three main ninja techniques alongside ninjutsu and taijutsu, had considerable depth.
The most basic genjutsu relied on simple barriers or transformation techniques to deceive others' senses. Since vision was humanity's most relied-upon sense, visual genjutsu was most common. Many visual genjutsu, combined with barrier techniques, could trap opponents without raising suspicion.
But the human sensory system wasn't limited to vision—hearing, smell, and touch all worked alongside the eyes, governed by the brain. If genjutsu's illusions didn't sync well across all senses, critical flaws would appear and could easily be detected. This required the genjutsu user to skillfully construct and coordinate the illusion.
All sensory input was processed by the brain, so genjutsu aimed to trick the brain by manipulating sensory input. Unless an advanced genjutsu was cast that simultaneously targeted all senses, any mismatch—especially in touch—would make the victim sense something was off, like a vague dreamlike feeling. They'd notice strange anomalies but wouldn't be able to fully grasp or escape it.
Higher-level genjutsu, meanwhile, used the caster's strong spiritual focus and subtle stimuli—secret movements, sounds, images, drugs, or objects—to induce hallucinations that bypassed the senses and directly manipulated the brain. Even victims who knew they were trapped couldn't break free. The Uchiha clan, with their Sharingan, could enhance genjutsu's effects tremendously.
But what Shikamaru faced now was far from that advanced.
When Shikamaru sensed something amiss, he narrowed his eyes and slowed his step as he ascended the stairs, keenly focusing on the slight muscle movements in his legs lifting his body. At last, he detected the anomaly.
He smirked coldly and opened his eyes. To the three, it looked like they were climbing the stairs steadily. But with his keen hearing, Shikamaru noticed the footsteps and the faint scrape of shoe soles didn't match their movements. If he hadn't caught it earlier, he might have blamed echoes in the empty stairwell, but now he was certain — it was genjutsu.
"It's genjutsu!" Shikamaru stopped Ino and Choji and formed hand seals. Two strands of chakra interacted, distorting the space before their eyes. Startled, they realized the staircase ahead still led to the second floor, but their feet were still firmly on the first floor. They had been stepping in place the entire time.
Breaking genjutsu was simple in theory but tricky in practice. It mainly involved disturbing the chakra emitted by the caster during the illusion. If the caster was nearby and resisting, Shikamaru's efforts wouldn't be so easy. But this was just a visual genjutsu paired with a barrier, designed to trick passersby into thinking the second floor was the third. It was crude and couldn't fool a top genin like Shikamaru.
"What's going on!?" Ino gasped in surprise, already reaching into her ninja pouch, body tense and on guard.
As one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries, Konoha was often resented by other villages. Whether from a rivalry in defeating Konoha's famous shinobi or jealousy over their position, the Chunin Exams guaranteed hostility towards Konoha genin.
Shikamaru had already told Ino and Choji about the recent encounter with the three Sunagakure shinobi—Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara—warning them not to trust any allied shinobi blindly. Years of war had bred deep animosity among the Five Great Nations. A simple alliance treaty wouldn't erase that hostility.
Shikamaru's ears twitched, and his muscles flexed reflexively—thanks to years of training, his hearing was even sharper than before, enhanced by his chakra.
"Maybe some examinee wants to thin out the competition," Shikamaru speculated. Since few had registered early, the hall was quiet. He easily detected no nearby shinobi spying or lurking. Also, no other interfering chakra was sensed while breaking the genjutsu.
"But the exams haven't started yet. Starting fights now would only risk exposing our info and secrets. Few genin would be that reckless. So don't stress too much."
Like in canon, some Konoha chunin might test the genin, but Shikamaru wasn't worried. Now that the genjutsu was broken, the trio headed directly to the third floor.
Among the genin, Shikamaru considered himself the strongest—he wasn't sure he could beat Gaara or Rock Lee but had a good chance against others. The focus now was conserving energy, not showing off. The written exam, survival forest battle, and genin matches were continuous and intense. With dangerous participants, surprises were expected. They had to be careful not to lose their footing.
Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji reached the third floor and stepped into the corridor. At the far end was Classroom 301. Asuma wasn't waiting by the door like Kakashi was with Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. The hallway was empty.
...
"It's boring without my team around — too quiet!"
In a tavern in Konoha, three middle-aged shinobi, all wearing headbands, gathered at a window seat. One with a thick beard, cigarette in hand, sighed.
Next to him, a tall female ninja with long wavy hair and crimson eyes nodded, "Yeah, with the team all at the Chunin Exams, we don't even have missions to do."
A silver-haired man with a mask covering his left eye scratched his head. "Actually, I have some business at the Ninja Academy later."
The bearded man asked, "What's up, Kakashi?"
These three were the recently promoted Jonin instructors of Konoha's Genin Classes 7, 8, and 10 — Kakashi Hatake, Kurenai Yuhi, and Asuma Sarutobi.
"I didn't tell my team all had to sign up for the Chunin Exams," Kakashi said seriously but lazily. "It's their choice. I just need to check later. Naruto and Sasuke are fine, but I'm a bit worried about Sakura."
"Sasuke's always done well academically; it makes sense he's taking it. Naruto…" Asuma exhaled a smoke ring and chuckled, remembering Naruto's confident challenge to Shikamaru. "That kid has a stubborn streak. He'll definitely take the exam."
"Yeah," Kakashi sighed, "After getting hit by Shikamaru's Shadow Spiral, Naruto's been planning to reclaim his pride in this exam."
Asuma laughed lightly, flicking ash. "That pride? He's not getting it back."
"Because…" Asuma's hoarse, proud voice lowered, "The strongest genin in Konoha right now… is Shikamaru."
PS: Read Advance Chapters at https://www.patreon.com/c/ReadJin