Well... Isn't this strange? This is my summer break and all I've done is practice driving and work on my story. My friends are starting to think I have no life but on the good side, this is a very productive time for this story. LOL. I wish you all an eventful summer. Thanks for taking the time to follow my story thus far.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. Just my OC's.
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were the last genin to enter the room. The air was stuffy due to the immense number of people crowded into the small classroom. Kai looked over his shoulder as soon as they entered, "You guys are the last ones."
As soon as Hinata approached them, Kori stood straight up, "Hinata-sama."
The shy girl nodded, "Kori-chan… You made it after all."
"Good luck to you, Hinata-sama."
"Y-You don't have to be so formal… We're not at home…" The older Hyuga's eyes widened when she spotted Kai, "Th-Thank you for helping me the other day."
"Who the hell are you?" He couldn't remember whether or not he helped the girl or she was just making conversation.
Kori's foot connected with his shin before he could blink, "That's Hinata-sama to you. Keep your vulgar language in your head."
"Vulgar?" Kai snorted, "Why is she so important anyways?"
"This is Hyuga Hinata-sama of the Main Branch of our clan." Kori jerked a finger in Kai's direction, "And this jerk is Saizo Kai."
Hinata nodded, "I know… W-We were in the same class."
"I just told you in case you didn't remember this insignificant punk."
"Ehhh…. It's Kori!" Ino leaped onto Sasuke's back, "Get away from Sasuke-kun."
"I wasn't even standing near that guy…" She sighed and gasped when someone pulled her into an aggravatingly tight hug, "Kiba! C-Can't breathe!"
"You've been so cold recently." He whined, "Akamaru and I never get to see you."
"I saw you last week!" She managed to catch Akamaru as soon as he jumped off of Kiba's head.
He ruffled her hair lightly, "You can't just see me just once a week! Come see me at least three times… No! Four times!"
Kai growled, "Take your dirty, dog hands off her."
"What?" Kiba and Kori both spun around with extremely surprised expressions on their faces.
Kai's expression showed the most surprise, "I didn't say anything."
The two exchanged glances and looked back to Kai before looking at each other again. Lowering his voice, Kiba hissed, "You didn't tell me you had a boyfriend."
"He's not my boyfriend." She whispered back, "He's my teammate."
"Teammate? He's being jealous, isn't he?" Kiba glanced over at the blonde, who still happened to be glaring at them.
"I don't know…" She gasped and screamed when a bug was dangled in front of her face, "I hate bugs!"
Kai pulled her back as soon as she screamed, "You… Screamed over a little bug?"
"Shino!" She whined, "Why do you do that every time you see me?"
"It's amusing." He deadpanned.
"It's not funny when she screams in your ear!" Kiba barked.
"Hey! You must be the new genin." A bespectacled boy approached them, "You guys might want to quiet down. The tension is high before the exam and those foreign shinobi look like they want to kill someone already."
"And who are you to tell us what to do?" Sasuke glared over at him.
"Yakushi Kabuto. This must be your first time taking this exam."
"Is it that obvious?" Toshizo whispered to no one in particular.
"I'm only warning you so you wouldn't be picked on." He smiled, "It can't be helped since you don't know much about the exam."
"Kabuto-san, is this your second time?" Sakura asked.
"Seventh." He admitted, earning a few gasps, "This event is held twice every year and it's my fourth year."
"Wow. So you must really know a lot." Naruto said.
"You could say that."
"But you failed it six times." Shikamaru was quick to get to the point, "Is the Chunin Exam that hard? What a drag."
"I guess so…" Kabuto managed to produce some cards from his pockets, "I guess I could share some information with you rookies. These are ninja info cards."
"What are those?" Toshizo asked.
"These cards have information burned into them with my chakra." He put the deck on the floor and sat next to them, turning a card over, "They look white but you need my chakra to see the information."
His hand began to glow with the power of his chakra, revealing a map and chart on his card. Sakura gasped, "What kind of information is that?"
"This shows how many participants from each village are participating in the exams."
"Do you have information on individuals?" Sasuke stepped forward to take a better look at the cards.
"It's not perfect but I do. I even have info on you guys." He smirked smugly, "Is there anyone you're particularly interested in?"
"Sabaku no Gaara and Rock Lee."
"Hyuga Neji, too." Kai added.
Kori raised her eyebrow, "My brother?"
"Here you go." Kabuto laid the cards out before them, "All three of them are pretty much monsters. All three of them are taking this exam for the first time like you guys. Rock Lee and Hyuga Neji both specialize in taijutsu and have completed twenty D-rank missions and twelve C-rank missions. Neji is the stronger of the two apparently and he's considered to be a genius in his clan. There have been some rumors that he's the exact opposite of his much less talented sister but it seems you would know more about that. Sabaku no Gaara even managed to complete a B-rank mission as a genin and apparently he always comes back from mission without a scratch. All of the participants are quite talented and have similar stats."
"M-Makes you lose confidence, doesn't it?" Hinata squeaked.
"This isn't going to be easy." Naruto was shaking in his boots.
"Hey! Naruto… Don't get so down." Sakura reached out to comfort him didn't get the chance.
"MY NAME IS UZUMAKI NARUTO AND I WON'T LOSE TO ANY OF YOU JERKS!" He roared loudly enough for every head to turn their way, "YOU GOT THAT?!"
"What the hell is wrong with him?" Ino screamed.
Kiba chuckled, "He's such a show off."
"What a drag. He just turned the whole room into our enemies." Shikamaru sighed.
Kori eyed the lazy boy, "They were our enemies to start with."
The girl almost swallowed her words when three foreign ninja charged at Kabuto. She managed to stop a rain of shuriken with hers while Kai wrestled the second attacker to the floor. The third was the strangest of them all. His face was completely bandaged and he moved fast but held his hands in front of him like a mummy or a zombie. He charged in quickly but Kabuto managed to get out of the way, or so she thought until Kabuto keeled over and hurled. The girl underneath Kori began to squirm. The Hyuga flung the girl across the room but she expertly flipped over to land on her feet.
The mummy man laughed maniacally, "You're a four year veteran and yet you couldn't even dodge my attack."
"Quiet down you morons!" All heads were turned to the front of the room as a puff of smoke signaled the entrance of the proctors. The Sound Ninja snorted and backed away slightly so as to avoid any trouble.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. I am Morino Ibiki, the proctor of the first exam." He was smirking almost sadistically, "Otogakure (Hidden Sound). Stop doing whatever you want. Do you want to fail before we start?"
The zombie ninja lead his team back to the desks, "We apologize. This is our first time so we're a little excited."
"This is a good opportunity to say this." Ibiki had a dominating presence even though there were other proctors behind him, he was the most threatening, eliciting a few gulps and gasps as he spoke, "There will be no fighting unless instructed to do so by the proctors. Killing is not permitted in this exam. Anyone who disobeys will be failed immediately, understood?"
When the genin remained silent in fear, he continued, "We will now begin the exam. Come here and pick up a number and find the seat with that label. We will hand out the test as soon as you're seated."
"A paper test?!" Naruto screamed, "Why me?!"
As soon as they were all seated the proctors handed out the tests one by one, increasing the tension of all of the participants. Toshizo was already starting to panic. If it was a written test then he was already on the verge of failing. His teammates graduated close to the top of the class so they would be alright but he was closer to being as stupid as Naruto. There was no way he could pass a written test without cheating.
Ibiki gave instructions as soon as the tests were passed out, "Don't turn them over yet. There several rules for this exam and I won't be taking any questions so listen carefully. The first rule states that you'll each start off with ten points. There are ten questions on the test. Figure it out, yet? Each one is worth a point and for each one you get wrong you'll lose a point. The second rule, is that this is a team test whether or not you pass will be determined by your group score."
"Wait a second! Why is this a team test?!" Sakura shot out of her seat immediately.
"I said I wouldn't be taking questions, didn't I?" Ibiki motioned for her to sit down, "The third rule is that anyone caught cheating or doing sneaky things will lose two points each time. These guys are chunin shinobi. They'll be monitoring your actions throughout the test. If they see you cheating five times, you will lose all your points and be asked to leave."
"We're watching you." A chunin was slouching in the corner chair waving a clipboard for emphasis.
"Realize that the pathetic genin who get caught cheating aren't going to pass the exam and be proud shinobi." Ibiki smirked, "The fourth and final rule is that those that cannot answer the any of the questions will fail along with their team. So if any member of your team gets zero points, you'll all be failed together."
Kai slammed his head on the table grumbling, "Just great. We're going to fail this damn test."
Toshizo shivered madly, "Kai-san is going to kill me."
Kori laughed quietly at the glaring blonde and when he caught her laughing she waved and mouthed, "We'll be fine. Good luck."
He flushed and turned his head in the opposite direction. His ears just barely registered Ibiki's final instructions, "The exam will last one hour. Begin!"
There was a collective sound of shuffling papers as each of the genin turned over their test to begin. Toshizo slammed his head on the table as he read over each and every question. He didn't know the answer to any of them. He was going to fail and get killed by Kai. He had no choice but to cheat but how would he cheat without being caught by the dozens of chunin watching them like hawks watch prey. He was on the verge of pulling his hair out. There was nothing he could do.
Kai's eyes were almost falling out of his head. Forgetting Toshizo, he himself didn't know how to answer a majority of the questions. Luckily for him, the Saizo Clan teaches cryptology and he was able to answer the first question but the other eight were ridiculously difficult. The tenth question just seemed fishy to him but he pushed it aside. One out of ten would be a terrible score for anyone to get. He was at a loss for words, for action, for anything! He slammed his head on the table. He would have to cheat without getting caught.
Kori sighed. There was no way anyone could know the answers to ridiculous bullshit questions like these. She was going to cheat even if it was the last thing she did but how? Her Byakugan would obviously be the easiest way to see another person's paper without looking but the veins that would pop out around her eyes would make it obvious that she was cheating. There wasn't a single Hyuga that would just walk around with her Byakugan activated just to look at what was right in front of her. She glanced around the room at each proctor and then at both Neji and Hinata. Both of them seemed to have their Byakugan's activated and they were both obviously cheating. She sighed, "Byakugan."
Scanning the room, she was able to see the sheet on each clipboard. It seems that not a single one of the chunin was docking points from Neji or Hinata for using their kekkei genkai. She was absolutely sure that she would be able to cheat off of Kai but when he saw his nearly blank papers she almost laughed. Team after team was getting kicked out of the room for cheating.
She smirked as soon as she saw Neji's paper, "Jackpot!"
Her brother could be copying answers from someone who was bullshitting their answers so as soon as she copied the first two, she moved on to look at someone else's paper. Her eyes landed on Sabaku no Gaara who had one eye closed but his pencil was moving. She copied a few answers from him and then moved on to Sasuke's paper. She dropped her pencil as soon as she was done, rubbing her eyes. Now she just had to think of a way to share answers with her teammates, who still had blank papers right up until she finished copying the answers. She rolled her eyes and reactivated her Byakugan. Kiba had ended up sitting next to her and it was obvious that he was cheating off her by way of Akamaru, who was sitting on his head and quietly barking the answers to his friend. She snorted when Kiba put his pencil down and rubbed her thigh gratefully under the desk so as not to be caught.
Toshizo was already wildly panicked and that was to be expected but even Kai was practically pulling his hair out. She managed to spot Tenten moving awkwardly. Kori's eyes followed the older girl's line of sight and spotted a mirror attached to the roof of the classroom. She smirked. If Tenten was able to see the answers then Kai would be able to see them too. He was only sitting a few rows ahead of the girl but on the opposite side of the room from Kori. Now she just had to find a way to tell him. The idea practically slapped her in the head, Naruto kept panicking obviously and shuffling around but he hadn't been marked down for cheating. She rubbed her nose and took a deep breath slamming her head on the table, drawing the attention of several of the genin and the chunin proctors. She locked eyes with Kai who turned to look at her and managed to keep her eyes locked with his. She rubbed her eyes with her cheek still attached to the table, glancing between Kai's face and the mirror hanging only a few rows in front of him.
At first he just glared at her like she was crazy but then his eyes flickered over to the front of the classroom like she was doing. The first few times he checked, he just kept looking at her like she was crazy but finally he spotted the mirror. It was at just the right angle for him to see the answers of the person in front of him. His pencil immediately began to move, copying the answers down word for word. He felt Kori's Byakugan on him, making sure that he had gotten her meaning.
The girl turned her attention to the instructors again and realized that Naruto had been docked for cheating but she and Kai had gotten away with it. Ibiki was chuckling in the front of the room and Kori realized that he was watching her the whole time. She blushed. He knew she was cheating but he wasn't telling the proctors to dock her for it. He was smirking but he turned his eyes to the next most interesting cheater, Sabaku no Gaara who was sitting next to Toshizo.
Speaking of Toshizo, it was a crazy gamble but he was sitting a row behind Tenten. If Tenten could see it, maybe he could too. Unfortunately, Toshizo was lost in his own world of panic and he wasn't coming back. Kori growled, the panicked boy hadn't even turned to look at her when she slammed her head on the table earlier. She glared at him hoping he would at least look her way but time was running out.
The tenth question was to be announced in ten minutes. Her glaring caught the attention of Gaara instead of Toshizo. And she slammed her head on the table again. Wrong person. She wanted to get Toshizo attention not Gaara's. Her head was resting on the table again and she felt like killing someone. Her eyes were about to fall out of her head but she had no choice but to monitor the chunin to prevent losing too many points for getting caught more times than she should be. She was actually surprised that she wasn't docked points for that last attempt.
"Time. The tenth questions will now be announced." Ibiki was still smugly looking in her direction, "There are a few rules for this question. These are the rules of desperation."
Kakashi sighed, "It sure is boring without my team."
"Don't worry, you'll be busy again soon." Asuma was smoking a cigarette on the sofa across from his friend in the Jonin Standby Station.
"Why?"
"The first proctor is Morino Ibiki."
"The sadist?"
"Sadist?" Kurenai was clueless about the interrogation squad's most terrifying special jonin.
Asahina nodded, "He's the captain of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Force, Morino Ibiki. They say his mental torture is just as good as any physical torture."
"He's a real pro." Asuma nodded, "They say he's also quite the good actor. He can make you believe anything with just his demeanor."
"He's probably not going to physically torture them though." Asahina laughed at the terrified look on Kurenai's face, "Maybe he'll show them some picture they wouldn't want to see at the most."
"Wouldn't want to see, huh?" Kakashi chuckled, leaning back against the sofa, "Isn't Kotetsu helping him during the exam?"
Asahina didn't like the way he looked straight at her when he asked, "How should I know?"
"Hmm… You don't know or you don't want to tell me?" He was smiling but he wasn't happy at all.
"Maybe you should just mind your own business." She didn't look back even once as she left the room.
Asuma looked fairly surprised, "What happened?"
Kakashi sighed, tilting his head back to look at the ceiling, "I'm not so sure myself."
Kurenai rolled her eyes, "Kakashi. You should hurry and go after her."
"She'll get over it." He smiled over at the woman but she just shook her head quietly.