Disclaimer: The author does not own Naruto, anything related to Kishimoto Masashi's works and ideas, except for characters, plotlines, or ideas invented by the author.
Rating: T (mild to severe language and some mildly graphic imagery, no overt sexual references or imagery or graphic death as of the writing of this chapter)
(Chūnin Exams) Chapter 9 – It's Time! The First Stage Begins!
'Now, let's find out how he managed to block my kick so easily,' Sasuke thought before he charged at Lee once more, who didn't appear to be too perturbed. The young Uchiha reared back and prepared a right hook, but right as he was about to punch Lee in the face, the spandex-wearing ninja disappeared in a blur. 'What the…?' was all Sasuke could think before he was hit hard from behind. He hit the ground hard and skidded a couple of feet before stopping. Whipping his head around, he saw that Lee was now standing to the rear of his position, his fist held out behind him momentarily before it snapped back into his seemingly trademark battle ready position.
"There's no way he can move that fast," Sasuke muttered, both impressed and slightly scared at the same time, "Last time we sparred, I was way faster than him…even though that was a year ago." He internally groaned at how little he had come in that span but quickly shook the feeling away. "No matter, I'll get to the bottom of this. Ninjutsu, genjutsu…I'll figure it out." And with that, his eyes flashed a crimson color as the Sharingan activated.
The bowlcut kid's eyes widened in amazement. "Ah…the fabled Sharingan," Lee breathed excitedly, "I was hoping I would have a chance to view them in battle. I had heard you had awoken them during your trip to the Land of Waves!"
"Yeah, well, you'll get to see them up close and personal!" the Uchiha prodigy replied right before he resumed his attack. 'His abilities can't hide from my eyes!' he thought confidently. He approached Lee quickly and was about to prepare yet another assault, but he was once again foiled. This time he received a hard kick to his chin, sending him flying upwards. He caught one quick glimpse of Lee below him before the spandex clad genin disappeared once more.
"Surprised?" a voice behind Sasuke said softly. Sasuke froze at his recognition of the voice, as Lee appeared within his shadow. "Are you curious why your Sharingan cannot pierce the secrets of my technique?"
"Wait a moment…this is…Konoha Kage Buyō (Shadow of the Dancing Leaf)!?" the young Uchiha breathed in shock, "But that's not either ninjutsu or genjutsu! It's…" His eyes widened as it suddenly became clear what was going on.
"That's right," Lee replied from within the shadow, "My moves are all pure taijutsu. There's nothing for your Sharingan to analyze because I expend no chakra with any of my moves. However…" he paused for a moment to mess around with something that Sasuke was unable to see, "…now is not the time for idle talk. I'd imagine both of us are quite busy."
Sakura and Naruto, who had gotten his act together by that point but was still rather disgruntled, were watching from below, and they both were able to see what Lee was doing within Sasuke's shadow. They watched as the taijutsu user began to undo the bandages that surrounded his hands and arms, eventually letting them hang below him freely. "Sasuke!" Naruto shouted loudly, "Watch out!"
"It's too late, Naruto!" the spandex wearer exclaimed, but right before he could initiate his attack, a pink pinwheel came out of nowhere and pinned one of the bandages to the wall. This caused Lee to lose his concentration and fall out of Sasuke's shadow. Sasuke had nothing to support him to begin with, but as he fell towards the floor, he pushed chakra into his feet and managed to pull off a semi-graceful landing.
The next part caused all three genin of Team 7 to stare openmouthed in amazement. A large tortoise wearing a Hidden Leaf forehead protector had appeared within the room and began chastising Lee for almost using a forbidden technique. This continued for a few minutes, with the tortoise continuing to berate the young man and Lee acting almost scared of the ninja animal. Team 7 was surprised enough at this rather odd exchange, but they hadn't seen anything yet.
The tortoise finally said, "I think it's time for Gai-sensei to get involved." Lee really looked freaked out when the animal said that, and all three genin of Team 7 went from looking confused to disgusted in a heartbeat.
"Not him," Naruto groaned, "Anyone but him."
"I'd rather see Lee any day than to have to deal with him," Sasuke muttered in horror.
"Maybe if we leave now, he won't see us," Sakura added in haste.
Both boys liked her idea, but they weren't granted the time to initiate it, as a man appeared on top of the tortoise in a puff of smoke. He looked like nothing more than an older version of Lee. His hair and eyebrows were exactly the same, as well as the green spandex suit and appendage warmers. His eyes were smaller and much more narrow than Lee's, and he was wearing a flak jacket, indicative of someone of a higher rank, but other than that, he seemed to be the basis for Lee's current fashion style.
"The handsome green beast of the Hidden Leaf Village is here at last!" he crowed, striking a rather odd pose while on top of the tortoise. Team 7 could do nothing except look upon him with utter disgust.
'What a weirdo,' they all thought simultaneously, giving the odd man a look of disgusted disinterest. Lee noticed how they were looking at his beloved sensei and immediately took action.
"Do no look at Gai-sensei like that!" he screeched in an almost unearthly tone, "He is the most powerful and respected man in the entire village. Never forget it!"
The tall man lapsed out of his pose and hopped off of his tortoise familiar, shouting authoritatively, "Lee! Come here for a moment!"
The younger spandex lover stopped with his berating of Team 7 over his truthfully odd teacher and bounced over to said teacher, saying, "Yes, Gai-sensei!"
Lee hadn't even come to a standstill in front of his teacher before the jōnin reared back and smashed his fist into Lee's face with an almighty punch, shouting, "YOU IDIOT!" The genin was sent flying, bouncing across the floor a couple of times before meeting with the wall in an unfortunate collision.
The faces of the members of Team 7 now all showed varying mixes of horror and disgust, with the former predominating. A new thought now streamed through their minds, in one form or another: 'What a psycho…'
Lee's cheek was puffy, and blood was trickling out of the corner of his mouth as he struggled to get up, but his teacher appeared in front of him in a flash, offering a hand. "Lee…" Gai said tearfully as his student took his hand.
"Gai-sensei…" Lee replied, equally tearfully.
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"LEE!"
"GAI-SENSEI!"
With that, the two embraced, with an odd scene of a cliff, a sunset, and the waves crashing against the rocks behind them appearing out of nowhere. Team 7 was dumbstruck at the absurdity of the entire thing.
"Oh hell, I hope this is a genjutsu and not some alternate fantasy," Sakura whispered as she made the tiger sign and pumped chakra through her body to release herself from the genjutsu. Sasuke did the same thing, and Naruto let the Kyūbi break him out.
"This is truly a fearsome illusion those two clowns have come up with," it growled angrily, "I'm going to have nightmares for a month because of them. Boy, I thought I told you to stay away from them."
'Trust me, I try, but it's hard when Gai-sensei has this delusion that Kakashi-sensei is his greatest and only rival,' Naruto spluttered in reply.
The giant orange fox hissed in anger but still sent a wave of chakra through the blond's body, finally releasing his captor from the horrific illusion.
The two green clad ninja finally broke apart, and as Lee wiped his eyes of the tears that had fallen, Gai pointed over to the wall where his student's bandages were still pinned by the pinwheel and said, "Lee, go fetch my pinwheel. I want to go talk to those kids over there."
His student saluted and replied, "Yes, sir!" before running over to fetch the mentioned items. Then, before the very eyes of Team 7, Gai disappeared once again.
"Naruto, Sasuke, it is most wonderful to see you again. I see the spirit of youth has not abandoned either of you!" The booming voice came from behind them, and Naruto and Sasuke actually jumped away in shock before turning around to see Gai standing behind them. Sakura actually shrieked in horror and stumbled over in her surprise.
The jōnin then looked down at the fallen female and offered his hand to her, nearly shouting as he continued, "And you must be the most youthful female member of Team 7, Haruno Sakura! It is truly an honor to meet you at long last!" The pink haired ninja couldn't really do much except take his hand just long enough to get to her feet before scurrying off to stand with her teammates. Gai grinned at them, his teeth almost blinding them, before he said, "Well, it was extremely exciting to meet the youthful students of my eternal rival Kakashi, but I need to be going. Lee!" he exclaimed, and his student snapped to attention. "I have to leave now, but I trust that the flames of youth will guide you safely throughout the Chūnin Exams! I will see you soon!"
Lee saluted and took off up the stairs towards the third floor, and Gai poofed away to who knows where. Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura all remained standing there, dumbstruck by the exchange that had just taken place. "Did anyone else think that was rather…odd?" Naruto ground out. His companions could only nod in agreement.
…xXx…
Ten minutes later, after temporarily ridding the horrific images of the last few minutes from their minds, Team 7 stood in front of Room 301, this time the real one. "This had better be the real room," Sasuke muttered.
Sakura checked with a quick genjutsu release to confirm they weren't under the effects of any outside influence, and Naruto added, "According to my nose, there's quite a large crowd in that room, so I think we've got the right place this time." His Uchiha teammate nodded and threw open the double doors, and despite what they had heard and the Kyūbi container's guess, all three members of Team 7 were blown away by the sight before them. Inside the room, one of the larger lecture halls within the academy, were a couple hundred genin from various villages. Symbols from villages far and wide, foreign armor, and even a few scattered unknown weapons greeted the three as they stood still at the entrance, somewhat in shock.
It also didn't help that the entire room had shifted their gaze to glare at the new arrivals.
"Hey! Sakura! Over here!" a female voice piped up to their right, and the girl whose name was called out looked over and saw the other six members of their graduating class sitting and milling around one of the long tables in the room, so they made their way over. Like the rest of the Hidden Leaf genin and unlike the last few times they had seen her, Ino wore a purple tank top and skirt, bandages around her upper legs, fishnets on her joints, and her forehead protector as a belt around her waist. Her blonde hair was secured in a high ponytail.
"Oi, Ino, keep it down," Kiba, who was sitting behind her, said, poking her in the arm, "Do you want everyone in here to hate the Hidden Leaf Village?" The young dog tamer was wearing a black, fur lined hooded sweatshirt, with the hood currently down, matching pants with weapons holsters, and regulation sandals. His dog companion Akamaru, was resting on the table, almost out of his puppy years at three and a half feet long.
His concern was waved away almost instantly. "You're lucky your dog is so cute or I'd be mad at you," she muttered, "Besides, they probably hate us anyways…right Sasuke?" She cozied up to the Uchiha male and gave him a suggestive look.
He was used to it by now, but that doesn't mean it didn't still annoy him. "Come on, Ino, cut it out," he said in annoyance.
"Yeah, Ino-pig, back off," Sakura growled immediately after, darting over and shoving herself in between the two. The blonde beauty merely smirked, causing the pinkette to glare at her best friend.
"Honestly," Shikamaru grumbled from his spot on the other side of the table, opening his eyes briefly to take in the new arrivals, "Are you two ever going to grow up? You're 17 for heaven's sake. Get a life. Geez." His answer was twin glares from the two girls, and he sighed and closed his eyes again. He wore a long sleeve black shirt underneath a gray vest adorned with his clan's symbol, as well as standard pants and weapons holsters.
Next to him, Chōji was munching on a bag of chips. His attire consisted of light armor under his red jacket and on his forearms, as well as light wrist guards, black slacks, and boots instead of sandals. His spiky brown hair stuck up around his head and shoulders. A light scarf was wrapped around his neck, and his chest armor held the character for "food," a characteristic of his clan. "Don't listen to him, you guys," he said happily between bites, "He's just nervous, like the rest of us. Blowing off some steam never hurt anyone."
"It might if everyone in this room starts gunning for us, we might have a problem," the lazy genius muttered back.
"Shikamaru has a point," Shino murmured from next to his male teammate, "It might not be the best idea to antagonize the visitors of the village. Why? If we have to be fighting them in the coming days, it would be wise not to make them angry and give them a reason to target us." The Nara pointed his hand at the bug master, emphasizing his point. Shino was dressed in a long beige jacket and shorts, and the only part of his face that could be seen were the sunglasses covering his eyes.
Finally, the last remaining member of the rookie class spoke up, as Hinata added, "Regardless, we should try to relax, don't you think?" She wilted slightly as everyone turned her way at once, but continued speaking, "We won't have much more time to just sit around and talk as friends." She brightened a little as the faces of her teammates and classmates all calmed, and Naruto's smile didn't hurt, either.
Everyone had no issue with that, and with the niceties complete, the genin started chatting amongst themselves. Sakura and Ino began to whisper frantically about various things, while Hinata listened and nodded at all the right times. The boys were not surprised to see a few magazines appear before disappearing under the table. The boys did likewise, though they spoke at normal volumes, and discussed a number of topics. Neji and Lee soon joined them, while Tenten joined the female end of the table.
"Hey, you guys. Are you the rookies this year?" another new voice said, as a taller genin walked up to them, looking somewhat sheepish. He had on a simple outfit compared to most of the other genin. His headband was in a normal spot on his forehead, right above glasses. His hair was gray and tied back into a ponytail. He continued, "Only reason I say that is because every year it's a common occurrence for the rookie genin to ignore the atmosphere of the room. You all seem to understand the importance of keeping a low or neutral profile." His gaze swept the entire room, where many rough characters still sat, shifting their eyes to and fro in cautious observation, "I know from past experience that most of the ninja that participate in these exams are on edge before the exam begins."
"Who're you?" Sasuke asked abruptly, "You seem to know a lot about these exams, don't you?"
The newcomer smiled genially. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. My name is Yakushi Kabuto, a fellow Hidden Leaf genin like yourselves."
"Alright, then, Kabuto, could you tell us what you know about the exams? It sounds like you have plenty of experience with these exams, huh?" the Uchiha asked bluntly.
The older genin nodded softly. "This is actually my seventh time taking them." He chuckled when he saw the varying looks of horror on the young ninjas' faces. "Don't look that way. Even though I'm a genin, my specialty is more brains than brawn, so while I can get through the first few rounds with the help of my teammates, I usually end up losing when the individual matches come around." His sheepish expression calmed his fellow village mates, especially the ones who had strength on their side. In particular, Naruto, Sasuke, Lee, and Kiba all looked charged up and ready to go, and Neji's cool demeanor even showed some excitement.
Their elder friend pulled out a rather large stack of cards from within one of his pouches. The twelve younger genin watched him curiously as he flipped through them until he found one and pulled it out. However, to their surprise, when he turned it around, the card was blank. "I guess you're all wondering what is supposed to be on this card, right?" he asked rhetorically, "These cards only react to my chakra and therefore only show information when I handle them."
"That's pretty neat," Ino whispered to Sakura, and the pink-haired kunoichi nodded in response.
Kabuto continued, "I hate going into situations without knowing everything I can about them, so I go to great lengths to gather as much information as I possibly can. I cannot give you any particulars on the exam itself since the proctors and various tests change each year. However," and he held up the card, "I can give you a little inside glimpse of what to expect from each of the villages involved."
"Let's see it," Sasuke immediately replied. Kabuto tilted his head towards the young Uchiha slightly and sent a wave of chakra into the card. It soon was covered with a map of the major ninja countries. A 3-D bar graph soon emerged from the card, with bars over a lot of the countries. Kabuto set the card on the ground so all of the genin could see it.
GENIN REPRESENTATION IN CHŪNIN EXAMS
Hidden Leaf Village
Namikaze Minato, Hokage
Hidden Leaf: 29 teams, 87 participants
Hidden Sand: 10 teams, 30 participants
Hidden Rain: 7 teams, 21 participants
Hidden Grass: 2 teams, 6 participants
Hidden Waterfall: 2 teams, 6 participants
Hidden Sound: 1 team, 3 participants
He then set a few more cards out, giving some more information for each individual village.
CHŪNIN EXAM TEAM BREAKDOWN
Hidden Leaf Village
Namikaze Minato, Hokage
Team 2: Akadō Yoroi, Tsurugi Misumi, Yakushi Kabuto
…
Team 7: Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto
Team 8: Aburame Shino, Hyūga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba
Team 9: Hyūga Neji, Rock Lee, Tenten
Team 10: Akimichi Chōji, Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino
…
Hidden Sand Village
Rasa, Kazekage
…
Team 2: Gaara, Kankurō, Temari
…
Hidden Rain Village
Yahiko, Leader
…
Team 11: Baiu, Midare, Shigure
Team 14: Kagari, Mubi, Oboro
…
Hidden Grass Village
Bokusō, Leader
Team 2: Ashiboso, Chigaya, Karin
Team 6: Hatomugi, Shiore, Yamagusa
Hidden Waterfall Village
Shibuki, Leader
Team 4: Hisen, Kanchū Fūka, Tarumi
…
Hidden Sound Village
Daijagan, Leader
Team 1: Dosu Kinuta, Kin Tsuchi, Zaku Abumi
The large group from the Hidden Leaf gathered around, examining the cards individually. Nothing in particular stood out to any of the genin or held any significance to them.
Pointing to the card representing the home village, Kabuto began to explain his precious research. "As you can see, being the hosting village, Leaf has the most teams competing this year." He then lifted up the well-represented foreign powers. "Sand and Rain have quite a few teams as well. The former is due to improved relations between the two countries. The latter isn't unusual because Hidden Rain always sends as many teams to each round of exams as they possibly can." Finally, the grey haired young man took the cards showing the remaining villages and gazed at them. "These other teams are likely the pride and joy of their respective villages. Grass and Waterfall aren't as large as the five main powers, so they only send their best to compete. Sound is a different story because it was only established recently. Their ninja force probably isn't as developed as other countries, so the main reason for sending a team is to send a message that they aren't weak."
"What about Cloud, Rock, and Mist?" Ino asked, a question on the minds of many of the genin, "Surely they have some eligible candidates?"
Kabuto nodded thoughtfully. "Mist is the easiest to explain, so I will start there," he began, "Lately, there has been talk of possible rebellion. Confirmed reports have not come in, but there has been no movement in or out of the village for a year or two now. The reasons behind Rock and Cloud are more personal, the former being just a simple grudge against the Fourth Hokage and the latter being bitterness over the death of their Head Ninja almost 15 years ago." No one missed the scowls that flashed across the faces of Naruto and both Hyūga.
As the genin continued to look at Kabuto's cards, Sasuke piped up with an interesting request. "Do you have information about the individual participants," he asked, pointedly ignoring Shikamaru's sighs of annoyance.
If he was surprised by the question, Kabuto didn't show it. "I do, but the only potential issue is that I only have complete facts on ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village," he said, looking rather apologetic, "For all of the foreign ninja, I could only get information based on what was available in public records. But, if you want, I can show each of you the information available on you. Most of it is based on mission reports and assessments by each of your jōnin senseis."
"Good enough," the young Uchiha replied, "What do you have on Rock Lee?" Kabuto paused for a moment and then whipped out a card. Pumping some chakra into it, the data on the odd young man was revealed. The card's creator took a look at the card for a few moments before silently handing it over to Sasuke, who took it and examined it carefully for a few moments. Over his shoulder, the subject of the card also took some interest in his own assessment and peeked over the Uchiha's shoulder.
ROCK LEE
Personal:
Hidden Leaf Village
Rank: Genin
Team 9, under Jōnin Might Guy
Age: 18
Clan/Family: NA
Proficiency (ranked in increasing level, from 0 to 5):
Ninjutsu: 0.5
Taijutsu: 3.5
Genjutsu: 1
Intelligence: 1.5
Strength: 3.5
Speed: 4
Stamina: 3.5
Hand Seals: 1
Abilities:
Hachimon (Eight Gates)
Fighting style proficiency in Gōken (Strong Fist)
Sasuke noticed him there before too long and handed it back to the young silver haired man with a satisfied nod and a slight flush of embarrassment because he had forgotten Lee was standing right there.
After that, Kabuto handed Lee's card to the correct genin and pulled out a stack of eleven other cards. After he had pulled the information up on each one.
As the Leaf genin continued to chat, three genin within the crowd of exam-goers had overheard the comments that Kabuto had made about their village. "You hear that?" one said, "He thinks Hidden Sound is too small and weak to matter." This Sound genin was hunched over, and his face was covered in bandages save one eye, giving him a countenance similar to a troll. A fur cloth covered his back, and a large device was mounted on one of his arms.
His teammate scoffed at the "nerve" of the elder genin. He had spiky black hair, and the front of his outfit carried the kanji for "death" vertically three times on the front. As he flexed his hands, two air holes could be seen in each palm. "No one underestimates us. We'll show everyone who really owns this exam!" he hissed, "Let's go show that punk who's boss." With that, the two and their female teammate disappeared in a flash.
Naruto was the first to pick up an irregularity amongst the crowd, three rapidly moving figures amongst the massive herd of genin. His head whipped towards the crowd of genin as he tried to identify the assailants heading towards them at a rapid velocity.
Kiba and Akamaru also caught it and walked to the blond's side. "I guess you smelled that as well, huh," he muttered, "Who is it?"
"No idea," Naruto replied softly, "but whoever it is has been in contact with a scent that's familiar…I just can't place who it is…" Neither of them caught Kabuto also detecting the abnormality. The silver haired genin turned his head slightly towards the crowd to watch them approach but continued to explain the cards to the Leaf genin.
Out of nowhere, the Sound ninja with the strange device on his arm appeared crouched down in front of Kabuto. Before the tall young man could react, the foreign ninja had already swung upwards with the accessory on his arm, aiming for the face of his prey. Surprisingly, Kabuto neatly dodged the hit by leaning backwards. He straightened himself out with a smirk, but that quickly changed to a look of surprise as the lenses of his glasses cracked. He looked like he was going to say something as his hands went to his face, but then he keeled over and started to violently throw up on the ground.
"Kabuto!" Sakura and Ino shouted in worry, and they ran over to attend to him as the others looked towards the Sound team, who was now standing before them in full, looking rather cocky and ready to fight if need be.
"I could have sworn Kabuto dodged that attack…" Naruto muttered under his breath, more to himself than anyone else, but the others heard it as well.
"Naruto…" Shino intoned, coming to stand at his side, "…that device on his arm may have something to do with it. When he first appeared, I saw him tap it with his free hand before attacking," indicating that he also noticed something was up.
"I don't know if Shino's onto something or not, but something from over there almost blew out mine and Akamaru's ears," Kiba whined softly, holding his hands protectively over his ears, with Akamaru doing likewise with his paws.
None of them were able to comment further, however, as the one with the arm device stepped forward and growled, who was still on the ground, "That's for calling us a weak village."
The black haired male added ferociously, "Yeah, we're going to show all of you bastards that Hidden Sound is the most powerful of all of the ninja villages!"
An explosion in the corner of the room near the entrance drew everyone's attention, as well as a few coughs and wheezes from the smoke that was generated. From within the smoke emerged around 30 men and women dressed in drab gray uniforms. At the lead was a man wearing a black trench coat over the traditional ninja garb. He was a tall, hulking man. He wore his forehead protector as a bandana over his head, and from what could be seen of his face, it was covered in scars.
All of the locals were well aware of who he was, but not many of the foreigners were familiar with the head of the Hidden Leaf Torture and Interrogation Force, Morino Ibiki. As such, many of the more squeamish visitors recoiled in horror at his patchwork face, and frantic whispering broke out throughout the room.
"QUIET DOWN!" he roared, and everyone did exactly as he said and shut up. Ibiki took a step towards the Sound genin and snarled, "Go back to your seats and stop causing trouble, or I'll disqualify the lot of you. Do you understand?" While none of the three appeared to be all that scared, they nodded and shuffled back to the desk they had been sitting at.
"Our apologies," the apparent leader, the mummified one, murmured, "It's our first time at an event like this."
The torture specialist scowled and raised his voice to address the entire room. "While I have your attention, let me make one thing very clear. You will follow my rules, you will behave, and if we deem you to be unfit to continue in this exam for any reason, you are done. Am I clear?" His intimidating countenance didn't create any objections, and the silence that ensured confirmed his suspicions. He nodded slightly and continued, "Good. We will now begin the first stage of the Chūnin Exams."
Two of the chūnin moved up to his side, one holding a clipboard and another with a box, and many of the Hidden Leaf contingency scowled as they recognized the disguised genin that had tried to fool them with genjutsu earlier in the day. "Izumo and Kotetsu here will be handing out seat assignments to each of you so we can get started with the written exam."
Shocked and astounded were only two of the adjectives that could be used to describe the reaction that swept through the room, though conversations were much more muted than earlier. As teams whispered strategies and concerns, Ibiki continued, "When your name is called, come to the front of the room, draw a lot, and sit at the seat assigned to the number you draw. And do it quietly!" he added at the end, once again stifling the atmosphere of the room.
Mostly due to fear of retribution, the genin quickly received their seat assignments and found the correct location. No two teammates found themselves next to each other, though Naruto somehow was lucky enough to find that he was sitting next to Hinata. Trying to make light of the exam, which was not something he had been historically good at, he cracked with a wry smile, "Well, at least I can say I participated in one exam."
"Don't say that," the Hyūga beauty replied softly, "You'll be fine. How hard can a test be anyways?"
"Obviously she doesn't know you very well…," Kurama growled, and his chamber was soon filled with various insults and curses. Of course, that only served to induce peals of laughter in the ancient, multi-tailed fox, but it made Naruto feel better.
Once all of the genin had located a seat, Ibiki raised his voice once more. "You'll see that your exams are lying on the table in front of you. Don't you dare look at them until I give you permission to do so." A few of the more adventurous test takers removed their hands from the table. "There are a few vital rules to this test, and I won't be answering or accepting any questions, so you had better listen closely the first time because I won't repeat myself."
He took a piece of chalk and began writing on the blackboard at the front of the room. "There are ten questions on this examination, and everyone in this room will start with ten points. Those are yours to lose. For each question you answer wrong, you lose a point." He wrote that on the board, along with a simple illustration and examples to demonstrate the point system of the test.
"Next up," he continued, "you will be judged as a whole alongside your teammates. If it helps you to think about it this way, you are directly responsible for the fate of one third of your team's collective score of 30." Again, he added that to the rules on the blackboard.
"Of course, as ninja, the first instinct might be to cheat," he added, almost as an aside, but his voice quickly rose in volume, "but you would be wrong in this case! As you can see here, I have brought along some of my best subordinates to help me with overseeing this examination, and their job is to make sure you keep your noses clean." As the genin looked around, some of the Hidden Leaf participants took note of ninja that they had seen around town, such as Ino's father Inoichi. "If any of us catch you cheating, you lose two points from your score for each infraction that we observe." He started scribbling on a different part of the board, as his rules were taking up a lot of space.
"Finally," and his voice deepened as his face contorted into a sadistic sneer, "this is the most important and crucial rule of them all. We emphasize teamwork as an essential characteristic of chūnin in the Hidden Leaf Village, so we want to ensure the candidates are in line with that philosophy. Therefore, if any one person has their score reduced to zero for any reason, they will fail…and so will their two teammates!" That sent another wave of horror through the room, and this time everyone was too shocked to say or whisper anything.
Smirking, and having finished his rules, Ibiki turned to face the crowd and concluded his speech, "You all have one hour. Good luck." The way he said that last phrase jerked everyone out of their stupor, and the sound of flipping papers flowed through the room as the exam began.
…xXx…
Sakura started to read the first question. While it was not impossible for someone of her intellectual level, she was still blown away at how difficult the questions were. 'If a concealed ninja hiding 22.5 meters from and 48 degrees north of an enemy throws a shuriken at 20 meters per second, accounting for normal wind velocity and gravity, how long would it take to hit the enemy, where would it hit, and how much reaction time would the enemy have to dodge the blow...these are much more difficult than academy level questions. I think I can answer enough to get by, but I have no idea what they trying to pull here?' She began to scribble calculations and notes as her train of thought continued, 'It's almost like they want us to cheat…'
Her eyes widened imperceptibly. 'That's it! They're trying to weed out the weaker teams by forcing each individual to show off how well they can gather information. If a ninja cannot even hide a simple deception, they are a liability to the team, and they won't be able to work on high-level missions as a member of a chūnin squad,' she thought, reciting the basic tenets of qualified ninja. Her face fell as she considered the possible consequences. 'I'm just worried that Sasuke and Naruto won't be able to answer any of these questions. I'm going to have enough trouble figuring out all of these in just an hour, so I can only hope they get the true purpose of the exam.
…xXx…
Sasuke had quickly come to the same conclusion as his female teammate and was now running through all of his options. 'Unfortunately I don't have much in the way of stealth or long distance information gathering, but I do have the Sharingan.' His eyes flashed around the perimeter of the room, surprised to see the proctors rather active in writing down the names of potential cheaters. 'I'm slightly worried about how much they're writing down. I was considering using a genjutsu to mask the activation, but this is the Torture and Interrogation Force; there's no way they don't have a sensor.' He paused and weighed his options. Not seeing any other choice, mostly because the questions were way beyond his comprehension, 'I'll risk using my Sharingan, but I won't use a genjutsu.' His eyes flashed red, and through his bangs he began scanning the entire room. Before too long, he locked onto someone writing furiously, and he quickly copied that person's movements.
…xXx…
Tenten was resorting to a much more discreet method, as she and Lee were using a group of mirrors on the ceiling and their headbands to communicate. It had been easy enough to flick some thin line up to the glass thanks to a small, nearly invisible weight on the end of the wire, and a small burst of chakra up the line gave her full control. She had already located a fully answered exam paper using that method, and now she was trying to get the right angle to allow her teammate to view her paper.
A flash of metal confirmed the correct alignment, and she leaned back and relaxed.
…xXx…
Shikamaru, being at a level of intelligence far surpassing that of even Sakura, was quickly able to deduce the answers to all of the difficult questions, but he was having a much harder time trying to find Chōji through the use of his Kage Mane no Jutsu (Shadow Imitation Technique).
'Of course the stupid proctors would have placed him behind me somewhere,' he grumbled internally, 'I'm glad I set up a signal with him so I would know when our chakras connected.'
A few minutes later, he finally felt the telltale table taps of his best friend, and he began writing down the answers to the questions.
…xXx…
Both Hyūga were able to quickly ascertain the hidden purpose of the exam, and discreetly they were able to activate their Byakugan in bursts and copy down the answers using people from around the room.
…xXx…
Both Kiba and Shino had easy solutions to the cheating problem thanks to their animal partners. Akamaru was perched on the table in front of his master, somewhat cramping their space, but his position allowed him to quietly feed the answers down via barely audible yips, while bugs circulated through the room and brought the answers back to their master through the chakra link they shared.
…xXx…
Ino, unlike everyone else, was in absolutely no hurry and did not panic from the outset because she had an ace in the hole. Spending most of her allotted time letting her mind wander; she finally sprung to action at the halfway mark, when she noticed that her target had ceased writing. 'I hate to do this, but you're much too favorable a target,' she thought. Bending over as if she was going to pass out on her desk, she instead aligned her hands where she had a clear shot, whispered her technique, and drooped over completely.
Seconds later, Sakura's eyes glazed over momentarily before "she" grabbed her paper and memorized all of the answers, grinning mischievously.
…xXx…
In another part of the room, a kunoichi was debating the best way to enact her plan. She was decently sure she could pull it off, but she couldn't be sure. Finally, as the realization that time was running out came to mind, she made up her mind. Opening her mouth slightly, she breathed out a fine mist that almost instantaneously scattered into the air.
Moments later, proctors and participants alike in her corner of the room screamed as a great flash of light blinded them. Smirking, the young woman took advantage of this as she stole the paper next to her, knowing that it contained the correct answers, and jotted them down before her seatmate could recover.
…xXx…
Seated in the back row, another girl timidly glanced around at the people near her before extending her chakra throughout the room experimentally. Sensing the rapid movements of one of the genin writing on their exam paper, she quickly locked onto that individual and mimicked his movements through her sensory link.
…xXx…
Gaara appeared to be holding his head in his arms in thought or in pain, but he was only making sure to cover his eye, which was unusable at the time. Hovering near the ceiling was a third eye made entirely of sand, scanning the papers of everyone in the classroom. Upon locating a decent paper, he quickly sent out streams of sand to his siblings. Upon their papers, the sand formed into the right answers one by one before dispersing, allowing the sharp Sand ninja to write down the correct responses.
…xXx…
Finally, Naruto had been running through numerous ideas in his mind with Kurama, but none of them were feasible because he had no long distance sensory skill, and his genjutsu was limited to dispelling them, not casting them.
'I'm so screwed,' Naruto moaned internally, scratching his head in disgust, 'Sasuke and Sakura are going to kill me.' He continued the anxious tapping of his foot on Kurama's snout, where he was currently sitting/freaking out, 'Are you sure you don't know the answers to any of these questions?'
'Uh, hello?' it muttered back in growing ire, 'I'm not human, I never have been human, and I won't ever be human, past the lovely experience I get to have in your body. Why in the blue blazes would I know anything about human arithmetic?'
'Geez, I was just asking…' the blonde mumbled back.
'Yeah, well, let me ask you a question,' the fox god rumbled, 'Why aren't you paying attention to your girlfriend? She's been trying to catch your eye for the past few minutes.'
'Because I know what she wants to do, and I won't let her get disqualified for letting me peek at her paper,' Naruto replied immediately, ignoring the fox's snarky comment about Hinata being his girlfriend, 'I want to get through this with my own skills and not hinder anyone else's progress.' In his actual body, his eyes focused on the final question. 'I'm banking on being able to answer that final question.'
The multi-tailed fox shook its head in sheer disbelief. 'You are the mother of all idiots.' Naruto shook off his tenant's insult and in the real world, leaned back and waited for the final question.
As the forty-five minute mark passed, the number of teams had whittled down significantly, though over half of the original number still remained. Ibiki stood in front of the room and boomed, "We've gotten rid of a lot of the rubbish, so I think we should institute the final question." The sounds of pencils on paper quickly came to a screeching halt as everyone tuned their ears to listen. "Before I tell you the question itself, there are a few more rules that I need to inform you about."
The room once again erupted into complaints, but the lead proctor quickly silenced that. "Silence! The next person that speaks out of turn is out of here, got it?" Not hearing anything to the contrary, he continued with his explanation, "You have a choice as to whether or not to accept this question. If you decide to decline the opportunity, you automatically lose all of your points, and your entire team fails..." He allowed that to sink into the minds of the genin before dropping the other bomb, "…but if you accept it and answer wrong, you will lose your ability to take this examination ever again." He smirked at the looks on their faces. "You have 15 minutes to make up your mind. Think quickly and carefully. If you wish to withdraw, just raise your hand." Walking back to his seat, he and the other proctors waited for the genin to make up their minds.
…xXx…
AN: Please review and stay tuned!
As I mentioned earlier, I included physical descriptions for each of the relevant genin, and my basis for each of their outfits were mixes of their Part 1 and Part 2 appearances, to account for the added age on each character.
Before I get into reviews, there's something I want to address that people perceive to be a major issue with the story, and I want to clear things up so people can understand why I did what I did. There is some level of concern about how weak the characters are in comparison with their boosted ages. First, I am shocked that people think that Team 7 is weak by any stretch of the imagination. A reviewer, windwarrior234, I believe put it best when he said that they are actually stronger than their canon counterparts by a significant deal, which was the goal. Sasuke and Naruto have significant advantages over their original counterparts thanks to much more knowledge in elemental training and the benefit of families, less scorn, and better instruction. As for the female member of the team, to be honest it wouldn't be too hard to make Sakura stronger than she is in canon, and as such I've begun her on a course to be more proficient with genjutsu, though medical training is on the horizon.
As the Chūnin Exams unfold, I think that you will find the members of the other three Hidden Leaf teams, and the rest of the characters in general, to be boosted accordingly, but my goal is always to have a more balanced story. I hate narratives where there are god-mode characters, they just aren't fun to read.
Review Responses:
Ryuujin96: I answered a major part of your first issue already, but I'll touch a little more on the rest. Naruto's parents have contributed greatly to his learning. At this point, only Kushina's influence can be seen, but before too long, Minato will have his day. As for Lee and Naruto, that was a necessary fight that I wanted to get past so I can proceed with the exams, and I figure that even with improved relationships amongst the genin, there still isn't much cross interaction when it comes to training amongst the classes. So while Teams 7, 8, and 10 are decently aware of each other's skills, Team 9 (what I'm deeming Gai's team) is more of a mystery in the minds of Naruto's class. No go on the Fūton Reppūken, Rasengan is and always will be an Uzumaki signature technique, but it won't be disappearing for good, don't worry.
zigmas: Thanks!
windwarrior234: Again, I addressed some of your comments above but as for the rest…I read your review over and over. Truly enjoyed your input and seeing some of your conjectures. I wish more people would take the time to give the type of constructive criticism that you have. You are on the right track with the initial deviation in time/space, but what occurred will have to wait until I deem it appropriate to reveal it.
justsomerealguy: Hey, as long as he's improving, that's all that matters right? I just can't take away his headstrong nature, though I'd like to think it's toned down a bit to accommodate a more mature character. And that's all I ask for, I guarantee you'll appreciate it once Zabuza makes his reappearance in the story.
Soten-ni-zase: When it comes to appearances, consider all characters to be post-timeskip size and a mix of pre- and post-timeskip. I included a bunch of descriptions here. Kushina, I refuse to give you an answer, which should give you your answer (lol). The origin of the butterfly effect, you're thinking too far in the past, it's a lot more recent than that. If Zabuza is messing you up, then let me say that everything contained in that interlude chapter, while original, is based in fact and should be considered as pre-butterfly effect for all intents and purposes. Haku and Shiro are just my personal addition, their genesis was just my own selfish desire.