287th Hunter Exam

The 287^th Hunter Exam is an event that takes place at the beginning of the story.

Applicants

287th Hunter Examination
Badge	Participant	1st Phase	2nd Phase	3rd Phase	4th Phase	Final Phase	Notes
405	Gon Freecss	Passed	Passed	Passed	Passed	Passed	First to pass
404	Kurapika	Passed	Passed	Passed	Passed	Passed	Second to pass
294	Hanzo	Passed	Passed	Passed	Passed	Passed	Third to pass
44	Hisoka Morow	Passed	Passed	Passed	Passed	Passed	Fourth to pass
53	Pokkle	Passed	Passed	Passed	Passed	Passed	Fifth to pass
301	Gittarackur	Passed	Passed	Passed	Passed	Passed	Sixth to pass
403	Leorio Paradinight	Passed	Passed	Passed	Passed	Passed	Last to pass
99	Killua Zoldyck	Passed	Passed	Passed	Passed	Failed	Last to fail; failed by killing #191 (Bodoro)
191	Bodoro	Passed	Passed	Passed	Passed	Died	Killed by #99 (Killua)
246	Ponzu	Passed	Passed	Passed	Failed	N/A
103	Bourbon	Passed	Passed	Passed	Died	N/A
362	Kenmi	Passed	Passed	Passed	Failed	N/A
197	Amori	Passed	Passed	Passed	Failed	N/A
198	Imori	Passed	Passed	Passed	Failed	N/A
199	Umori	Passed	Passed	Passed	Failed	N/A
384	Geretta	Passed	Passed	Passed	Died	N/A
281	Agon	Passed	Passed	Passed	Died	N/A
80	Siper	Passed	Passed	Passed	Died	N/A
371	Goz	Passed	Passed	Passed	Died	N/A
16	Tonpa	Passed	Passed	Passed	Failed	N/A
118	Sommy	Passed	Passed	Passed	Failed	N/A
89	Shishito	Passed	Passed	Passed	Failed	N/A
34	Ryu	Passed	Passed	Passed	Failed	N/A
105	Kyu	Passed	Passed	Passed	Failed	N/A
255	Todo	Passed	Failed	N/A	N/A	N/A
76	Cherry	Passed	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Killed by Hisoka between 1st and 2nd Phases
187	Nicholas	Failed	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	Matthew	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Failed pre-exam
111	Anita	Passed	Failed	N/A	N/A	N/A	1999 anime adaptation-only

The passing examinees of the 287^th Hunter Exam

Exam and Examiners

Pre-Exam

Because becoming a Hunter comes with many benefits and great prestige, millions of people seek to take the Hunter Exam each year, despite fatalities being common during the exam. Since the Hunter Association does not have enough time or resources to test that many people, scouts are hired by them to secretly carry out an unofficial preliminary exam to "trim the fat", eliminating any applicants that these scouts deem unable to handle the main exam.

If a scout deems a candidate worthy of the main exam, they will give that candidate special directions to the location of the next part of the preliminary. After sufficiently proving themself, the candidate will be led to the site of the real exam. Statistically, only 1 in 10,000 people make it to the main exam.

It is impossible for an applicant to reach the exam site without going through these preliminaries, as the public is only given approximate information on the location of the exam, such as the city where it's taking place. To reach the actual location, they must be led there by the person (or Magical Beast) assigned to guide the ones deemed worthy to the exam site.

For the 287^th Hunter Exam, the first part of the preliminary that Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio participated in took place on the ship. The ship's Captain was one such scout who wrote off anyone succumbing to seasickness as the ship sailed through a storm. He gave passengers unwilling to bear the rough seas a chance to alight, and only Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio chose to remain. The Captain invited the three of them to the ship's bridge and asked them their reasons for wanting to become Hunters. Hearing their answers, the Captain decided to drop them off at Dolle Harbor, the port nearest the exam hall. There, the Captain gave them a hint on where to proceed that other less qualified candidates did not receive, which they would learn eventually leads them to a family of navigators that could guide them to the location of the Hunter Exam.

While following the Captain's directions, the three encounter an old woman and her followers. She tests candidates that she encounters by giving them a scenario and two "choices", asking them which they would make. An example scenario involves choosing between one's son or one's daughter and not both to save from a kidnapping. The correct answer to this impossible choice was to stay silent; those that answered incorrectly were directed down a fake path. Remaining silent would have her reveal a secret passage, a plain trail leading to the location that the Captain directed the trio to. The true nature of the test was for the candidate to realize that they might have to face such a scenario one day and have to choose.

The three of them were finally tested by a family of Kirikos, magical beasts that can change their physical appearance to look like humans. The son and daughter use their shapeshifting abilities to pretend to be a human husband and wife under attack by a monster (the Kiriko father). Gon went after the monster when he fled the scene, Kurapika went to look for the man's missing wife, and Leorio gave the man medical attention. Gon passed when he displayed the advanced agility necessary to keep up with Kiriko and the heightened senses that allowed him to notice when the Kiriko swapped places with his nearly identical wife. Kurapika passed because he displayed great intellect and prowess of observation when he noticed inconsistencies that allowed him to figure out what was really going on, such as the wife having a tattoo only worn by women who have taken a vow of chastity. Leorio, despite the Kiriko not seeing his skillset, determined that he had the character worthy of being a hunter for the compassionate medical care he provided, so he also passed.

After this, the Kiriko flew them directly to the Exam site, a "final" test to prevent candidates that stumbled upon the exam location by chance from passing. A password needs to be provided for candidates to enter, which the Kiriko son provided.

First Phase

Satotz having people follow him

The examiner for the First Phase was Satotz. Candidates who made it to the exam hall were given a badge to identify them. The First Phase of the 287^th Hunter Exam required examinees to follow Satotz to the location of the Second Phase and comprised of two parts; the first to keep up with Satotz as he ran through an underground tunnel over an unknown distance (later shown to be more than 80km) which tested one's physical and mental stamina, the second part coming after their marathon, to navigate through the Milsy Wetlands (a.k.a Swindlers Swamp), a foggy swamp filled with deadly man-eating animals who use every trick in the book to trap their prey. After getting through the swamp, about 150 examinees arrive at the site of the Second Phase.

Second Phase

Great Stamps

The examiners for the Second Phase were Menchi and Buhara, a pair of Gourmet Hunters. Examinees were asked by them to prepare a dish satisfying the examiner's requirements, with entry limited to the amount of food each examiner could eat. Buhara's easy-going nature contrasts with Menchi's highly selective one. Buhara passed many without a second thought, while Menchi was much more selective.

Menchi and Buhara eating pork.

For the first round, Buhara asked examinees for whole roast pig made from "any kind" of wild pig in the Visca Forest Preserve. The forest's only type of wild pig was the Great Stamp, a giant horned boar twice as tall as a human, with a weak spot on its forehead.

For the second round, Menchi asked examinees to prepare sushi but did not give hints on what the dish was. Coincidentally, Hanzo was the only candidate to know what it was (as it was a dish from his home country) but unintentionally lets slip much about the dish. This was insufficient for the examinees to prepare a dish to Menchi's satisfaction, and Menchi would get increasingly annoyed and eventually fail all the examinees, resulting in intervention from Netero.

After Netero arrives, he speaks with Menchi and has her change her portion of the second phase to cooking a hard-boiled Spider Eagle egg, obtained from a large, deep canyon in Split Mountain. Her initial assessment of failing all examinees was made void and instead 42 examinees passed the Second Phase.

Third Phase

A combat arena, one of the many obstacles

The examiners for the Third Phase were Lippo, a Blacklist Hunter and the prison warden of Trick Tower who monitored the progress of the applicants from his control room, Togari a former Hunter examiner who returned to confront Hisoka, and an unnamed third examiner.

After an overnight ride on an airship, the 40 examinees (two died between the Second and Third Phases) are dropped off on the roof of the Trick Tower. Examinees are given 72 hours to reach the bottom of the tower. Local fauna attack hunters who choose to scale the tower instead of entering it. Several one-use trapdoors (allowing one person each) in the roof allow examinees to enter the tower. Candidates had to navigate a network of devious traps and obstacles, such as the hurricane storm and the number tag stages, that test the candidates in various ways. Many candidates are forced to work together to have any chance of passing.

To incentivize prisoners to fight Hunter Exam candidates in the Trick Tower, the examiner offers to shorten the sentence of any inmate by one year for every hour they stall the examinees. The only inmates seen are the ones who face Gon, Killua, Leorio, Kurapika, and Tonpa:

• Bendot: Nothing is known about him, but Killua believes he's ex-military or a mercenary based off appearance. He seems to be just a normal, muscled fighter. He fights the first round against Tonpa, who gives up immediately after the start signal as a way to sabotage his fellows. However, Killua remarked that if Tonpa hadn't, Bendot would have tortured Tonpa without killing him to delay their progress in the tower.
• Sedokan: Used to test the examinees. Sedokan is in prison for serial bombings. His challenge was for himself and his opponent to each have a candle, and whichever candle went out first (no matter the reason) was the loser. One candle was longer than the other and his opponent got to choose which one they wanted. Thanks to a little sleight-of-hand, whichever one they choose, they would get an oil-soaked candle, while Sedokan got a regular one.
• Majtani: Used to test the examinees. Majtani is a strong-looking criminal who tries to intimidate by claiming to be part of the Phantom Troupe, but Kurapika easily defeats him. He has a spider tattoo on his back and hearts on his chest to show the number of victims he has killed. But these are what allow Kurapika to prove it is fake; Phantom Troupe members will engrave their member numbers onto the spider. He also states that they have killed too many people to keep track of. Majtani becomes the focus of a subsequent confrontation as both sides wager hours to conclude the battle according to the rules.
• Leroute: Used to test the examinees. Leroute is a former psychologist who reveled in the misery of her clients. She would often intentionally manipulate her clients into committing suicide. During the Trick Tower portion of the Hunter Exam, she faced Leorio's in a non-combat duel and easily manipulated him into losing fifty hours of time. The challenge was a series of gambles, and in each wager, the loser would lose hours however many hours they bet. They each started with fifty and the first to zero lost the round.
• Johness The Dissector: Another prisoner used by Lippo to test the examinees. Johness is allegedly the greatest mass murderer of Zaban City. He killed at least 146 people with his bare hands, which were powerful enough to pull the flesh from bone and even crush stones. In Trick Tower, Johness was pitted against Killua in combat, whom he expected would provide the flesh he loved to tear apart. Instead, Killua swiftly rips his heart right out of his chest, and then crushes it right in front of Johness' eyes. Killua later commented that despite Johness' number of victims, he was still only an amateur killer.

Fourth Phase

For the Fourth Phase of this Hunter Exam, the remaining 24 examinees are taken to Zevil Island by boat. Each of them is given a card with the badge number of one of their fellow remaining examinees. Their task is to possess 6 points worth of badges at the end of one week—three points for their own badge, three points for their target's badge, and one point for any other badges. Unlike the previous Phases, this test cannot end early, and a badge could still be stolen or reclaimed before time is up.

The Fourth Phase did not have a clear examiner. Lippo (from the Third Phase) introduced the rules of the fourth phase to them, and Khara gave them additional information during the boat ride there. Additionally, multiple examiners were secretly following each applicant for the duration of the test. Khara is not seen with the other examiners when they gather during the Final Phase.

Nine people passed this stage, including six rookies.

Examinee	Prey	Result	Points
80 Siper	301	Dead	0
281 Agon	80, 118, 294, 404, 198 or 53	Dead	0
301 Gittarackur	371	301, 371	6
362 Kenmi	80, 281, 118, 294, 404, 198 or 53	Alive	0
118 Sommy	191	Alive	0
294 Hanzo	197	294, 198, 362, 89	6
404 Kurapika	16	404, 16	6
103 Bourbon	80, 281, 118, 294, 404, 198 or 53	Dead	0
99 Killua	199	199, 99	6
191 Bodoro	34	191, 34	6
384 Geretta	405	Dead	0
34 Ryu	80, 281, 118, 294, 404, 198 or 53	?	0
199 Umori	362 or 89	Alive	0
198 Imori	99	Alive	0
197 Amori	362 or 89	Alive	0
405 Gon	44	405, 44	6
246 Ponzu	103	103	3
44 Hisoka	384	384, 80, 118, 281	6
105 Kyu	80, 281, 118, 294, 404, 198 or 53	Alive	0
403 Leorio	246	403, 246	6
89 Shishito	80, 281, 118, 294, 404, 198 or 53	?	0
53 Pokkle	105	53, 105	6
16 Tonpa	403	Alive	0
371 Goz	80, 281, 118, 294, 404, 198 or 53	Dead	0

Badge number 197 was lost somewhere on the island. It can be inferred that Hanzo took badges 362 and 89 from Umori and Amori.

Final Phase

The tournament Bracket

The fifth and Final Phase of this Hunter Exam was a tournament of one-on-one combat. The winner of each match would pass and become a Hunter; the loser would move on in the tournament and get another chance to become a Hunter. This means that of the final nine examinees; only one would fail to become a Hunter. The rules were that you had to make your opponent admit defeat to win. Killing another examinee automatically disqualifies you from the tournament, and everyone else becomes a Hunter by default.

The examiner for the Fifth Phase was Netero, the Chairman of the Selection Committee for the Hunter Exam. He was assisted by his secretary, Beans.

Before the tournament, Netero interviewed each of the remaining examinees, asking each of them two questions: "Who among your fellow remaining applicants interests you the most" and "Who among your fellow remaining applicants would you most like to avoid fighting".

Candidate	Who interests you the most	Who would you avoid fighting
44 Hisoka	99 Killua and 405 Gon in second	405 first and 99 second
53 Pokkle	404 Kurapika	44 Hisoka
99 Killua	405 Gon	53 Pokkle
191 Bodoro	44 Hisoka	405 Gon and 99 Killua
301 Gittarackur	99 Killua	44 Hisoka
405 Gon	44 Hisoka	99 Killua, 403 Leorio, 404 Kurapika
294 Hanzo	44 Hisoka	44 Hisoka
404 Kurapika	405 Gon, 44 Hisoka
403 Leorio	405 Gon	405 Gon

Netero uses the results of the interviews with the examinees to come up with the tournament pairings, a rather unbalanced tree that gives every examinee at least two chances to win a fight, but some as many as five chances to win a fight.

Matches and results

Participants	Result
294 Hanzo and 405 Gon	405 Gon wins
404 Kurapika and 44 Hisoka	404 Kurapika wins
294 Hanzo and 53 Pokkle	294 Hanzo wins
44 Hisoka and 191 Bodoro	44 Hisoka wins
99 Killua and 53 Pokkle	53 Pokkle wins
403 Leorio and 191 Bodoro	Postponed for 191 Bodoro to recover
99 Killua and 301 Gittarackur	301 Gittarackur wins
403 Leorio and 191 Bodoro	403 Leorio wins (191 Bodoro is killed by 99 Killua)

Given that there are 9 examinees in a system that uses one-on-one matches to have 8 candidates pass, 8 matches are expected to happen. However, as a result of Killua killing Bodoro, Killua is automatically disqualified and the other 8 candidates are automatically made hunters. The match that did not happen was to be the final one, between Killua and the loser of the Leorio-Bodoro match.

Post-Exam

After the exam concluded, Beans gave a presentation on the uses of their Hunter License to the successful exam candidates.

Those who passed now had to take the secret Hunter Exam, the learning of Nen. They all went their own way and met various people to teach them:

• Wing (Gon and Killua): An assistant master of Shingen-ryu kung fu; his main pupil is Zushi. He meets Gon, and Killua at the Heavens Arena and eventually teaches them Nen. Although he initially refuses to train the two (even lying to them about the purpose of Nen), he changes his mind when they advance to the 200^th floor of Heavens Arena, realizing they could die or be badly injured from the "initiation" rituals of other Nen users. For the next several months, he teaches them the basics of Nen, after which he announces they have passed the secret final requirement for being a Hunter. He does, however, somewhat fear their immense potential. Wing's teacher was Biscuit Krueger, who incidentally becomes Gon and Killua's second teacher.
• Izunavi (Kurapika): Kurapika's master. He met Izunavi while looking for a job as a Blacklist Hunter. When Izunavi discovers that Kurapika is a Hunter, he suggests teaching him Nen. Later, Izunavi discovers Kurapika can become a Specialist when he activates his scarlet eyes.

Trivia

• Leorio was informed that had he intervened in the match between Gon and Hanzo, Gon would be disqualified; however, when Killua attacked Bodoro in the latter's game against Leorio, it is Killua who was disqualified, possibly due to Killua having killed a fellow candidate, or because, as Netero stated, Leorio was likely to win in either case.
• Ponzu and Pokkle are the only deceased examinees of the 287th Hunter Exam who did not die during the exam.
  • Pokkle is also the only graduate of the 287th Hunter Exam who has already died.

Anime and Manga Differences

• In the 2011 anime adaptation, Gon and Killua have a small competition between themselves during the First Phase to see who reaches the end of the tunnel first, with the loser treating the winner to a meal. Their competition is declared a tie and Gon decides to have both treat each other. This is not present in the manga.
• In the 2011 anime adaptation, the Second Phase of the exam has examinees only making one dish (whole roast pig), which both Menchi and Buhara judge. The examinees also present their whole roast pig in some orderly manner. In comparison, the manga has the examinees make two dishes (whole roast pig and sushi), each judged by one examiner. Menchi is only seen sitting beside Buhara as he receives his dishes (not doing any judging) and declaring the end of the first part. Additionally, the examinees present their dishes to Buhara all at once.
  • The shown order of the examinees presenting their whole roast pig is Todo, Hanzo, several unshown examinees, Leorio, Gon, and finally Kurapika with some examinees still seen cooking in the background.
  • In the 2011 anime adaptation, the main characters are also shown giving their whole roast pig some variety.
• In the 2011 anime adaptation, Satotz is seen calling Netero about Menchi failing everyone in the Second Phase, and Menchi is surprised to see Netero arrive. In the manga, Menchi herself is speaking on the phone (though it is unknown who called who and for what purpose).

Intertextuality and References

• In the Naruto franchise, the Forest of Death and tournament preliminary in the Chūnin Exam are likely based off of the Zevil Island stage and tournament stage in the Hunter Exam due to their strong similarities.
  • Similarities also exist with the preliminary stage of Maximilian Pegasus's Duelist Kingdom tournament from the earlier Yu-Gi-Oh! manga series, although to a significantly lesser extent.