Chapter 122 A big gamble

An hour before the exam started, Kakashi lazily occupied the entire sofa in the examiner's lounge, sitting opposite Asuma and Kurenai, and covered his face with a book so that no one would come to talk to him.

He didn't mind Hong and Asuma talking in low voices, even though the couple would occasionally flirt with each other while speculating on the content of the exam.

"I don't think Ibiki will make things difficult for them. Kiba and Shino may fight, but they are like siblings, and they will stick together at the critical moment." Hong said. They all got the outline of the exam content, Kakashi glanced at it, sneered with disdain, and then lit his pipe.

"They will be fine. The bond between them is unbreakable, and they will make the right choice," Asuma vowed.

"You're right." Hong comforted herself, then glanced at Kakashi. "Why aren't you nervous at all, Kakashi?"

"I'm certainly not nervous."

"Aren't you worried about them at all?"

"not at all."

"Aren't you worried that they will be disqualified for disobeying orders from their superiors?" Asuma asked. "Your students don't seem to be very good at following the rules."

"They know when to obey," Kakashi said in defense of his students. "I think I taught them that at least."

"That's right, but you taught them more than just that." Hong retorted. "Xuanjian told me that all three of them have inherited your eccentric personality perfectly. To be honest, I am more worried about the examiners of this exam than the candidates."

"I have already set the bottom line for them before the exam begins."

Asuma tilted his head in confusion and narrowed his eyes.

"What's the bottom line?"

"You'll know later," Kakashi muttered vaguely, crossing his arms over his chest and continuing to cover his face with the book.

Hong was about to say something, but suddenly stopped and looked past Kakashi to somewhere behind him.

After a while, Kakashi understood why she stopped so suddenly - Kai's chakra was noisy enough at normal times, not to mention that the guy himself was just as eye-catching.

"What a beautiful day for Konoha's youth!" he shouted loudly, and Kakashi let out a long groan helplessly, but his voice was quickly drowned out by Kai's shout that echoed throughout the corridor.

"The three teams are about to embark on a new journey. Their faces are filled with youthful radiance and they are full of energy!" He walked to the sofa and sat down in the empty seat next to Kakashi's feet. "Don't you think this is worth remembering, my friend?"

"Yes, Kai." Kakashi replied expressionlessly, trying his best to maintain his remaining patience. "It is memorable."

"Let's make a bet!" Xuan Jian walked into the lounge and said loudly. "Now, if you miss this opportunity, you will never get it again!"

"What a great idea!" Kai laughed. "I bet one thousand taels that my class will definitely pass the final round of the exam!"

Asuma couldn't help but laugh. Kai had been out training his students for the past month and had never participated in the joint training he organized with Kakashi and Hong. He had no idea about the strength of the three teams, and Asuma was obviously going to take advantage of this. "I'll also bet a thousand ryo that all members of Team 10 will walk out of the examination room as Chunin."

As expected, Kai looked surprised.

"I admire your confidence, my friend, but your decision may not be wise."

"I'll also bet one thousand taels on the team I lead," Hong added without hesitation.

"Interesting." Kai turned to Kakashi thoughtfully, "Would you like to place a bet as well, my friend? This is the first time your student will take part in the Chunin Exams."

Kakashi did not answer, but raised a hand and said lazily:

"I bet five thousand taels that Class 7 will sweep the entire examination hall."

******************

Ibiki thought he was a relatively good ninja at judging people. He only needed to observe a ninja for a period of time, or communicate with him a few times, and he could roughly understand his strengths and weaknesses.

He had seen hundreds of candidates take the Chunin Exams, and most of them failed in the first exam, the one he was currently presiding over.

And he had never seen such a dull and boring candidate as today.

Of all the candidates who took the first round of exams, Ibiki had determined that about eighteen had enough potential to pass, a number that was three times that of previous years.

Nine of them stand out in particular.

If he didn't know that this was impossible, he would have suspected that these nine people were undercover agents arranged by him - of course, even if they were undercover agents arranged by him, they would not perform so poorly.

He recognized that many of them were heirs or clan members of famous families, including Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru. There were also the two little ghosts with cat and dog faces, and the heir of the Hyuga clan sitting between them.

Ibiki thought back to the strange warning Hong had given him this morning.

"You must keep a close eye on the students that Kakashi is leading. Seriously, don't relax for even a moment."

To be honest, Ibiki thought she was joking at first - Hatake Kakashi, taking students? This was too ridiculous, and he rejected it without even thinking about it. Although other special jonin also privately rumored that a terrifying trio had been training under the guidance of the former Anbu in the past few months.

He had read the man's information - at least the part that was not covered up by the Anbu, and he knew that Kakashi was a typical loner. He had no relatives and very few friends, and he didn't seem to want to establish relationships with others outside of missions.

A person like this would go and teach students? If the rumors were true, Ibiki almost felt sorry for the three kids.

But although Hong had a strange personality, she never lied, and her tone at that time was unusually serious.

Ibiki deliberately didn't write down the list of ninja teams - he preferred to quickly evaluate the potential of each team and member through his own observation so as not to be disturbed by external factors, but now he began to regret it. He really wished that he had done more homework before.

By the process of elimination, he already knew which children were Hatake Kakashi's students, and this gave him a headache.

He had already seen two of the children - one was the last of the infamous Uchiha clan, a survivor of the genocide; the other was the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, the orphan of the Fourth Hokage. As for the third child, he had never seen it before. It was a girl with short pink hair and a pair of bright green eyes. Her words and actions were like those of a twenty-year-old adult, not at all like a twelve-year-old girl.