Chapter Nine: Pass or Fail! The Chunin Exams Have Arrived!
Miya was restless. It had been three weeks since they Inari's escape and from what she had heard, the ANBU scouts hadn't been able to find her again. That didn't sound like good news. Couple that with what Inari had said to Shikune, about Orochimaru having some kind of plan to destroy the Leaf Village, and it meant bad news. She looked out the window of her room. It was dark, probably still night time. She decided to go take a walk to clear her head. She headed in the direction of the ninja academy. Maybe she would use some of the practice fields there. As she began to approach the academy. She saw two other figures there. Looking closer, she saw that Kanna and Shikune were already there.
"What are you two doing here?" Miya asked.
"Anuri-sensei sent us a note," Kanna said, "He told us to meet here. You mean you didn't get one?"
Miya shook her head. "It must have slipped his mind," she said, "However, I decided to come here to practice my skills."
"I see," Shikune said, "Well, I wonder what's keeping him? These Jonin are all the same." At that moment, Anuri appeared in a puff of smoke.
"Sorry I am late," he said, "The Hokage wanted to see me."
"I see," Kanna said, "So what did you write those notes for?"
"I have something important to tell you," Anuri said, "I have decided to recommend you for the Chunin Exams."
"The Chunin Exams?" Miya said, "Are you serious?"
"Indeed," Anuri said, "I think you would be good at it. You three have proven yourselves to have exceptional abilities. I think that you are ready to be Chunin."
"Wow," Kanna said, "So what do we do then?" At this question, Anuri produced three pieces of paper from inside his vest.
"These are your sign-up forms," he said, "Fill them out and take them to room 305 in the ninja academy tomorrow at noon. Don't be late. And one more thing, you must all agree to join as a squad. Otherwise, you cannot. " With that, he disappeared the same way he had arrived.
"So what do you think?" Miya said, "Should we do this?"
"Yeah," Kanna said, "I think that we should. We would be awesome Chunin."
Shikune nodded enthusiastically. "Absolutely," she said, "Let's do it."
"All right," Miya said, "If you guys are in, then so am I."
"Excellent," Kanna said, "Let's get out of here and celebrate our future ascension to the Chunin level."
"You guys go ahead," Miya said, "I'm going to train for a while."
"Okay," Shikune said, "See you later, Miya."
(Next morning, Kanna's POV)
Kanna woke up eagerly, greeting the sunlight. She had filled out her form last night and left it at her bedside. She dressed quickly and took the form, placing it in her pocket. She consulted the clock. 11:15. Only 45 minutes to make it to the academy. She left her house and began running at top speed. Even at her fastest, it still took 30 minutes for her to arrive.
She hurried up to the third floor, being sure to hurry. She knew she had only fifteen minutes left before the start. When she got to the third floor, she saw that Shikune and Miya were already there.
"Oh good, you're here," Miya said, "We thought you would be late."
"Sorry," Kanna said, "So who do I give my form to?"
"Him," Miya said, pointing to a ninja, "Then he'll let us in." Kanna nodded and handed the form to the ninja by the door. He nodded and consulted a clock nearby.
"Okay everyone," the ninja said, "It's time for the exams to begin." The ninja began to flood into the examination room and take seats, which were assigned so that the members of the squad could not sit together. The examination proctor stood there.
"Ibiki Moreno," Kanna whispered, "He was the first ninja assigned to interrogate Inari."
"He's our proctor?" Shikune asked, "This should be interesting."
"Greetings, candidates," Ibiki said, "This will be a written examination with ten questions. You will receive the first nine questions now. The tenth question will be given 15 minutes before the end of the test. You will be scored as a squad. If any member of your squad receives a zero, the whole squad will be disqualified from the exams. These sentinels around the room will be watching for evidence of cheating. Any person caught cheating will lose 2 points off of their score. Any person caught cheating five times will be disqualified, along with the other members of their squad."
A lot of emphasis on cheating, Kanna thought, They're really going all out for this.
"Your tests are in front of you," Ibiki said, "You may begin now."
Kanna looked down at her test and immediately took stock of the situation. These questions, she said, They're difficult. Nearly impossible for shinobi at our level. What are they trying to pull here? Kanna thought for a moment, meditating on this. And why only two points off for cheating? she wondered, Normally, if someone was caught cheating on a test once, they could be immediately disqualified. And these questions. It's like they're purposely designed to make us cheat. Wait, that's it! I've got it.
Kanna looked around the area, using a skill her dad had taught her: She could look around without moving her head. She took a look at each of the people taking the exam.
Someone in here is different from the others, she thought. She kept scanning the area until she noticed something, Someone was writing nonstop, blazing through the questions no problem. Ha, Kanna thought, Found you. She closed her eyes, invoking the one jutsu she knew how to perform without a hand sign: Light Manipulation. Every image had it's own source of light. That was how it could be seen. Most people couldn't see the light, only the image. Light shinobi, however, could see the light and redirect it however they want it. Kanna used the jutsu to redirect some of the light surrounding the ninja's paper onto her surface, causing the image to reflect off of the bracelet's surface. She smiled. Piece of cake. She looked down as the answers slowly appeared on the surface. She began writing them on the paper with her pen. Oh yeah, Kanna thought, I've got this for sure. I hope Shikune and Miya figured it out too. Kanna finished the test and placed the pen down. A few moments later, the other candidates began to do the same. Ibiki spoke up.
"It is now time for the final question," he said, "But before I ask it, I want to tell you all that if any of you do not feel up to taking the tenth question, you may leave now. However, if you do, you're entire squad will receive a zero for the exam. Also, if you take the question and answer incorrectly, you will not only receive a zero, but you and the other members of your squad will not be permitted to take the Chunin exams again."
"What?" one ninja protested, "But there are plenty of people here who have taken the exam before!"
"I wasn't making the rules before," Ibiki said, "Now, anyone wishing to stop now should raise their hands."Several ninja began to raise theres. Kanna's eyes widened when she saw that one was Naruto Uzumaki. No. He couldn't give this up! He would lose his dream of becoming Hokage forever. Suddenly, however, he slammed his hand back down.
"No!" he declared, loudly,"I refuse to give up! One day I will be the greatest Hokage! No exam is ever going to take that away from me! Bring on the tenth question!" Kanna almost smiled.
Good job, Naruto, she thought, I knew you wouldn't give this up.She watched proudly as the ninja who had raised their hands departed.
"I guess this is all of you," Ibiki said, "So I should tell you that you all pass."
"We pass?" someone asked, "But what about the tenth question?"
"As I'm sure some of you noticed, there was more to this test than meets the eye," Ibiki responded, "The first nine questions were difficult. Too difficult for any of you to be expected to solve without cheating. The sentinels were placed all around the room to test your ability to gather information without being seen. Only the most skilled shinobi could have gathered the answers under such adverse circumstances. But of course, you couldn't be expected to cheat without someone to cheat from, so I planted to Chunin who had taken the test before and knew all of the answers."
Kanna nodded. Just as she had thought. That person she had copied from had been a plant.
"Okay," a ninja asked, "So what about the tenth question?"
"For the tenth question, you were presented with a choice. Risk the chance of being barred from the exams forever or running away, causing your squad to fail as well. An impossible decision, but the kind Chunin must face every day. Those who chose to stay answered the question correctly. Those who abandoned the question and took their squads down with them will not be permitted to take the test again while I am in charge of it. A ninja who runs away at the first sign of adversity or danger is unworthy to advance to the rank of Chunin." Kanna nodded again. That was true. She smiled, knowing that Shikune and the others would make it through.
"You are all dismissed," Ibiki said, "The next test will began in one hour at the 44th Battle Training Zone, also known as the Forest of Death."