The polls are closed, I took what people were saying into consideration and I think the way it is going to go will work well, something I can be confident in and have fun writing. I am not going to announce the pairing but in the next chapter you will see who has the curse mark.
Also I am sorry for the time between updates I have been sick on and off for a few weeks so it kinda messed me up…
As a last note, note only those of you who review, but everyone who reads…
THANK YOU! I like knowing people are reading, I'm glad you all enjoyed it so far and I hope you enjoy what is to come…
And with that said…
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The genin were given numbers upon entering the room, after finding their seats Ibiki began.
"The life of a ninja is hard, unforgiving, and unfair. Most of you will never become chunin." Ibiki said
"That's a load of bullshit." came a voice from the back.
Ibiki looked up towards the voice before smiling softly, "This is the first exam to earn your right to become chunin." Ibiki said as he paced before the genin. "Out of all the genin in the hidden villages, sixty three percent either die, quit, or remain genin for the rest of their lives, the remaining thirty seven percent become chunin. Out of those chunin, only twenty seven percent ever live to see the age of thirty." Ibiki paused to look at the room of genin, now grinning maliciously. "That means out of one thousand genin, six hundred and thirty will die, quit, or never advance in rank. Three hundred and seventy will become chunin, and one hundred of those few will live to see their children become your age." multiple, audible gulps and gasps were heard throughout the room as Ibiki stood before the genin once more. "With that said, here are the rules for the exam."
Ibiki pulled down a chart from the black board behind him, before turning and slamming his fist to the chart. "Each genin starts with ten points. If a genin is caught cheating, three points will be deducted. For every question left unanswered, one point will be deducted. Once a genin is drained of their points, the genin and their team will be removed from the exam, failing instantly."
Ibiki looked around the room and noticed a few genin shaking, some others were sweating. 'Heh, I still got it.' Ibiki gave a signal to the proctors, and almost robotically several chunin took seats around the genin. "When I say begin, you will flip your tests and start the exam, there are nine questions on the exam, the tenth will be given after the duration of forty five minutes. BEGIN!"
The genin flipped their tests and began, many frantically scratching their pencils on the paper before them. Naruto grinned as he flipped his test over, and calmly picked up his pencil. As he glanced over the questions he dropped his pencil, and slammed his head to the desk, 'Shit…' He slowly picked his head back up and began to go over the questions again. 'These questions are insane, how the hell could anyone answer these!' the blonde thought. 'I wonder how Sasuke and Sakura are doing…'
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Sakura was humming happily as she filled out the answers to the questions, it had been about ten minutes into the test and she was on the seventh question. Her smile began to falter as she thought to herself, 'These questions are not genin level, I am alright, but I can't imagine Naruto answering these… Naruto is so screwed, Sasuke can use his Sharingan to cheat under the radar, but Naruto doesn't have a chance…'
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Naruto pulled at his collar, feeling unusually hot. He tapped his pencil at the paper as he ran his fingers through his hair, 'Damn…'
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Sasuke had a small grin on his face, he was done with the test. He had figured out the point of the test was to cheat early on, and focused his Sharingan on someone who he guessed was a chunin positioned to be cheated off of. Once he could read and copy the movements of the pencil with his own, it was smooth sailing. He glanced at the clock as he leaned back in his chair, only twenty five minutes left. 'I wonder how the others are doing.'
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Naruto was panicking, he had no idea what to do. He sighed and looked up, it was against his ninja way, but he decided he had to cheat to pass. 'It's ok, it isn't like I'm going to get caught.' thought Naruto as he glanced to the paper next to him. Before he could get any answers he started to hear the tapping sounds of a proctor near him.
'Fuck…'
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Gaara was bored, he too had figured out that the point of the test was to cheat and used his third eye to find the answers from the safety of the ceiling. Now he was just looking on his teammates, Kankuro was fine, and Temari was smart enough to know the questions without cheating. Gaara let out a bored sigh before spotting a specific paper…
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Naruto was freaking out by now, he knew he was caught once, and hearing teams being thrown out left and right started to rattle his nerves. Just as he was about to lose all hope, his pencil began to move by itself, scribbling down answers at an amazing pace. Naruto inspected the pencil in his hand, only to find it covered in a thin layer of sand, 'Oh I am so taking Gaara to get ramen by the time these exams are over!' thought the blonde as a small grin plastered itself to his face.
Just as Gaara gave him the answer to the ninth question, Ibiki rose from his seat, and cleared his throat, "Ok pencils down, time for the last question." Ibiki once more stood before the genin, "But before I give you all the question… there's something you should know. If you fail the tenth question, your team in its entirety will be disqualified, and never allowed to enter these exams again."
Kiba rose from his seat as he growled at Ibiki, "THAT'S SO NOT FAIR, THERE ARE PLENTY OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE FAILED AND TRIED AGAIN BEFORE!" the brunette yelled.
Ibiki smiled to the Inuzuka, "Yes but I was not the proctor for those exams, this is my house, and these are my rules, feel free to walk out now and try again next year if you are unsure. That goes for all of you."
Upon hearing this multiple genin rose from their seats and walked out with their team in tow. After a few minutes Ibiki counted the remaining teams, 'only thirty teams left, not too bad Ibiki, not too bad.' "So all of you wish to take the final question?" nothing was said as the remaining genin stood their ground against the proctor. "Good, you all pass."
There was silence for a few minutes before Naruto rose from his seat, "Wait, what the hell was that? We pass?" the blonde screamed, confused.
"As a chunin, you need to know when to back down, and when to take chances, if you are unsure you will lead your comrades to death. With that said, sometimes backing down from a mission is not an option, if you can't trust yourself to take a test, who could you trust yourself with other people's lives. Along with that, you need to know how to gather information and operate undetected. The exam was designed to test your decision making skill, as well as your information gathering skills. Congratulations, the remaining genin pass."
As Ibiki finished his speech, a purple haired woman burst through the window, before grinning at the students, "Nice work Ibiki, you got a good portion of the teams." The woman walked next to Ibiki and leered at the group before her, "Ok maggots, I'm Anko, proctor of the second exam, we will be meeting at the forest of death, training grounds 44. Be there in one hour, or don't show at all." said the woman before Ibiki and herself disappeared in a plume of smoke.
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Team seven was showing the sand siblings to the training grounds, well most of team seven that is.
"THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!" yelled the blonde as he threw his arms around his shy friend, "Without you I don't know if I would have stayed in!"
Gaara laughed softly before patting his hyper friend's shoulder, "Do not worry about it Naruto, what are friends for."
"NO! Gaara, I'm so taking you out for cinnamon dango after this!" the blonde boy declared while wiping tears from his eyes dramatically.
"That's so cool that you can manipulate sand like that, it must come in handy." stated Sakura, only to receive a nod from the older kunoichi.
"It does, I can't remember Gaara every being scratched, he sand is truly amazing." Temari said as the genin advanced upon the training grounds.
"How can you control it anyways, from what I can tell, you're the only one who uses it. The chances of it being a bloodline is slim since your siblings cannot control the sand." questioned Sasuke as Gaara nodded.
"I am the jinchuuriki of the one tailed Shukaku, the sand spirit of the desert. We can only guess that it's the influence of the Shukaku even though no other holders have ever had control over sand." Gaara stated as Sakura and Sasuke shared a look between each other.
"You mean… you're a demon?" Sakura asked timidly.
"NO!" said Naruto, shocking his teammates, "Just because he holds the Shukaku doesn't mean he is the beast, Gaara has had a hard life in his village because most people can't get past that!"
Sakura and Sasuke were shocked at the outburst but shrugged it off as being a protective friend. Neither seeing Naruto reaching towards his own stomach.
As the group made it to the training grounds, Anko cleared her throat announcing for all the genin to quiet down.
"Ok worms, listen good cause I aint repeating shit. There are two scrolls, heaven and earth, each team receives one." said the woman as she pulled two scrolls from her sleeves. "To pass the second exam, you must obtain the second scroll and make your way to the tower at the middle of the forest. There are no rules besides this, do not open your scroll. If you die, you die." Anko snapped her fingers and a chunin began passing waivers around. "You have exactly five days to complete the exams, not to hard eh?"
Anko sighed and waited as the genin signed the forms, "Once your forms are signed, go into the tent and grab your scroll, I would conceal it if I were you."
The teams scurried to the tents, receiving their scrolls and their starting locations. Team seven made their way to their gate before Sasuke stopped them, "We need to be careful, no matter who we see, friend or foe, do not trust anyone." the rest of the team nodded and continued to the gate.
Once all the teams were ready, Anko grinned and held her hands in the tiger seal. "GO!" she yelled as paper bombs went off on all the gates, throwing them open.
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Gaara was following his two siblings, glancing between the two quickly, something was wrong with them.
It had all started on their trip to Konoha, one night Baki had talked with them privately, and since then they had been on edge. Gaara's brow furrowed as he pondered more about it. Temari had not given Naruto the hug she usually greeted him with, and Kankuro had not made fun of his height, something was up.
He was able to look past the lack of greeting, or even acting on edge, but the last straw broke the figurative camel's back.
FLASHBACK
"NO! Gaara, I'm so taking you out for cinnamon dango after this!" the blonde boy declared while wiping tears from his eyes dramatically.
"That's so cool that you can manipulate sand like that, it must come in handy." stated Sakura, only to receive a nod from the older kunoichi.
"It does, I can't remember Gaara every being scratched, he sand is truly amazing." Temari said as the genin advanced upon the training grounds.
END FLASHBACK
'No… That is wrong somehow…' thought the red haired boy.
FLASHBACK
"NO! Gaara, I'm so taking you out for cinnamon dango after this!" the blonde boy declared while wiping tears from his eyes dramatically.
…
…..
END FLASHBACK
Gaara's eyes widened in realization, 'Temari never made a ramen crack!'
Gaara concentrated on his sister once more, every time the saw Naruto, Temari was sure to ridicule Naruto for his ramen.
It was as sure as the sun rising.
'I must keep an eye on you both…' Gaara thought to himself, 'I don't know what you two are planning, but you will do no harm.'
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Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were all moving along at a fast pase, it had been four hours since the exams started and they were thick into the woods.
The trio had stopped and looked around as the decided to set up camp. Naruto waved to his teammates and went to go get wood, Sakura leaving to go hunt for fish, leaving Sasuke to set up the tents and begin a small fire.
It was then at that very moment, when hell broke loose upon team seven.
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So this is the last chapter before two very important things happen, the first being the curse mark since I plan on it being a major plot point, the second thing being Naruto's memories.
Can't tell you all what yet though, got to wait, so until then, R&R! ^_^