Arc Two: Chunin Exams, Chapter One: The Chunin Exams Begin
"Kaito! Kaito! I know you're in there." Hard knocks beat his door senseless as the genin put his clothes on.
"I'm coming!" he said, though with a mouth full of toothpaste, it probably sounded like a sickening gargle.
He spit the white liquid out of his mouth and into the sink, letting the water from the faucet drag it down the drain. Throwing his toothbrush into the drawer, Kaito slipped his sandals on and ran out the house.
An irritated Hayato and Aoi stood waiting on his porch.
"Where's your pass?" Aoi held hers up.
"Uh, be right back!" He ran back inside as Aoi sighed. It was a sunny day, few clouds in the marvelous blue sky. Kaito was tired, but at the same time giddy with excitement. Over the past few days, he had practiced the techniques Mariko taught him and found better ways to use them. He was sure he could past the tests. The only competition Kaito had to worry about, he thought, was Ren.
Coming back out, he showed her the pass.
"Alright, then we're ready. With an hour to spare!" She grinned happily.
"How do you know? You don't even have a clock."
"You left your door open. I can see the clock." She pointed behind him.
"Dammit!" He slammed the door shut, locking it with keys he kept in his shuriken pouch. Walking to the Academy, they saw a lot of ninja in the streets. Each were conversing with each other and casting dirty looks at others.
"Hey, don't you ever fear you might throw you keys at someone?"
"Well, I keep it in a special compartment inside of the pouch. It's never happened before, but that's probably because I'm the best ninja around."
"Mmmhm." She rolled her eyes.
In no time they were at the Academy.
"Okay," Aoi looked around, "Sora said room 301... This way!" She pointed, walking along the polished wood floor. As they made their way to the room, they saw other genin from different villages; Kirigakure, Sunagakure, Amegakure, Kaito was so excited he thought he saw all villages' headbands.
"Here it is." Aoi gulped, standing in front of two large doors.
Kaito looked at both of his teammates. It was clear that Aoi was nervous, because after she saw the door, she would occasionally look to her feet. Hayato didn't show any emotion at all, so, as Kaito usually did, he assumed he didn't care.
"You okay, Aoi?" He walked next to her.
She glanced his way and smiled.
"Yeah, just worried about everything. I wonder what type of exam it's going to be..."
"We won't know until we open the doors, will we?"
Hayato walked up to her side and nodded in agreement.
"Alright, then. Let's not keep them waiting."
The trio opened the door and took their first steps into the room.
They were greeted to a very impolite welcome.
. . .
The room's attention turned to the three rookies, followed by hungry glares. There was an unspoken rule that told Aoi not to speak with any of the other participants. Not even air whispered in the still room as time seemed to freeze for her and her teammates.
"Hey," a kid sitting on the desk called out to her. She noticed that instead of a cheerful greeting, it was more of a street slang sort of way. This caused the stiffness from Aoi's body to leave, annoyance filling its place.
Before she could say, "What?" irritably, she looked at the boy and stared.
He sat in a slouched position on the desk, almost carefree in the room filled with deadly shinobi.
"It's you." He raised a finger to point at her.
"You!" Aoi replied. Aoi could see from the corner of her eyes that Kaito was confused, but she couldn't answer his question at the moment; she didn't know this guy was a ninja!
He propped himself on his elbows, got off the desk and walked towards her. When he neared her, he looked at the two at her side, but said nothing.
"I think I deserve a little more than 'it's you', don't you think?"
He scratched his head at this. "I dunno, sorry, I guess." he muttered.
"No problem. I didn't catch your name the last time." Aoi said.
"Aiko. Aiko Seiken." He looked the exact same as she remembered him; Aiko was a pale blond with the brightest green eyes she had ever seen. He had a black unzipped jacket with a dull gray shirt and mesh armor underneath. He had black pants and black shinobi sandals. A sheathed katana was held in a strap wrapped around his waist.
"Aoi Suzuki." She smiled.
"Wow, you actually got him to apologize for something," a girl said, walking up to them, "This is a rare moment indeed."
"Ah, Shika, don't tease him." A boy joined her.
"Shika Nara," She bowed. She had long dark brown hair kept tied back in a small spiky ponytail, flat bangs hanging to the right side of her face. She sported a small light gray jacket over a gray shirt and mesh armor, the jacket stopping to her stomach. She sported blue shorts and gray sandals with a tint of green. She rose and adjusted the slightly oval-sized glasses on her face.
"Naoki." he smirked. He had fiery red hair and blue eyes. Naoki donned a bright short-sleeved orange robe with black trimmings, black sports, and red sandals, both his arms and legs covered in white bandages.
"Kaito!" Kaito joined in, seizing the opportunity to join the conversation.
"Hayato." He nodded at them.
"I didn't know you were a ninja!" Aoi told Aiko.
"I should've guessed you were. You're one of the rookies, aren't you?" Aiko looked at their team.
"I guess so." She smiled back at her teammates.
"Kaito!" another group came their way.
"Ren!" Kaito exclaimed, fist-bumping his best friend. Ren had a light green long-sleeved robe-like shirt over his usual attire.
Emi was behind Takehiro this time, still glancing sheepishly at Hayato. Though Takehiro wouldn't dare to go near the others, he certainly seemed to be considering making new clients.
Soon Team 12 came through the doors and walked over to the group.
"Yo!" Jin walked in front of his teammates. "Hey! Shika-san's here." He smirked and walked near her.
Shika held a hand up. "I'm older than you. It wouldn't work out." She sweatdropped.
Jin shrugged. "Doesn't hurt to try, ne?"
"Hey Emi." Naoki walked over to Takehiro and Emi.
"H-hi Naoki-san."
"Naoki! Have you decided about my explosive collection yet? Act now and you get the chain free!" Takehiro was about to unzip his jacket when the redhead stopped him.
"Eh, I'm fine..." He sweatdropped.
"You know, I'm starting to hear that more and more nowadays..." He shook his head.
"I see you're getting through to him." Naoki turned back to Emi.
She smiled at this.
"Yes, though he can't remember everything yet. He almost gave a 'flashing set' to a customer who wanted a simple kunai." She shook her head.
"It's his fault. Who just wants one kunai? That's lousy."
"Take-san," she pronounced it as "tak-eh-san", "He just didn't know how to say no to you. Just like so many other people." She smiled, sweatdropping.
"Hayato! Look who I brought today!" She brought out Goremaru, and his tail wagged with excitement as he saw Hayato. Hayato, who hadn't been excited about anything that day, immediately began playing with the dog.
Kaito and Ren were conversing about their first C-rank missions.
"Really?" Ren blinked, "All that happened? Is that girl still in Konoha?"
"I don't know," Kaito admitted, "But I'm pretty sure if she is, she won't be for long. When we were alone, she'd always tell me about how much she loved her home. She said she was excited about her visions, just for the reason that she could prevent bad things from happening. Enough about mine, you fought with shadows?" Kaito said awestruck.
"Yeah, it was pretty cool," Ren nodded, "Suddenly there was a shadow on the enemy, and then they froze. It made rescuing the stolen animals a lot more easier."
Aiko looked at all of the genin before him.
"This is this year's rookie 9. You know I'm a year ahead of ya, right?" He rose an eyebrow.
"Hmm," she touched her lip with a finger, "Do years really matter? I think intelligence is where it's at." She tapped her head.
Aiko shrugged. "We'll see. This is my first time taking this exam. Can't help you out on anything."
"I wouldn't have it any other way."
Poof!
"Sorry to keep you waiting," A voice boomed in the smoke, "I'm Ibiki Morino, proctor for the first test of the Chunin Exams."
A large man in black appeared, a group of ninja in gray behind him.
"First things first to those of you who want to fight; there will be no battles, competitions, and the like without the permission of the proctors. And even if you get permission, actions that could lead to the death of an opponent will not be permitted. Any pig that screws with me will be disqualified immediately." He cast a glare that silenced any small murmurs that were going around. "Got it?
"Now then, we will start the first test of the Chunin Exam! Turn in your applications, take one of these number cards in exchange," he showed a card with the number 1 on it, "and sit in the seat matching that number! After that, we will hand out the paper for the written test."
"A paper test?" Aoi heard Kaito mutter. She had to agree, this wasn't what she expected.
After doing what the proctor asked, everyone was scattered to different seats. Ibiki hit the chalkboard with a piece of chalk, gathering everyone's attention. "There are several important rules to this first test. I will take no questions, so listen well accordingly! First off is the first rule," he began writing on the board, "You are given ten points each from the start. The written test has ten problems in all, each problem being one point. This test is a point deduction system. You are deducted one point for each problem wrong. If you get three wrong, you'll have seven points.
"The second rule is," he turned to the room, "Pass or failure will be determined by the total points of the three-person teams. And the final rule is: those who are deemed by the sentinels as having committed an act of cheating or something similar to that...
"Will have two points deducted for each act. In other words, there may be those who will be dismissed during this test without waiting for test grading.
'So they deduct points from things other than the written test problems...' Aoi thought.
"Know that those who commit awkward cheating will bring ruin upon yourselves. If you aspire to become a Chunin at all, know that Shinobi should act like exemplary Shinobi. And, in the case of even one person on the team getting zero points, everyone on that team will fail.
"What!?' An kid in the group of genin shouted. Ibiki ignored this and continued.
"The last problem will be given forty-five minutes after the start of the test; the time for the test is one hour."
In the moment of silenced that followed, the ticking of the clock seemed to intensify by each second, as if a microphone got closer each click. An hour seemed to pass until a loud click rung in the still room.
"Begin!" The proctor yelled. Everyone flipped their tests.
. . .
Hayato had quickly realized that this isn't just any achievement test; the real aim of the test was to see the ability for intensive information collection with the full use of deception and concealment techniques.
In other words, the true intention of the proctor is, if you're going to cheat, just don't get caught, like an "exemplary shinobi". Viewed in this light, the point deduction system made sense, also explaining the leniency of only deducting two points if and when caught. What's being tested here is how they can gather the correct answers without having our cheating detected by the proctors or by the one being cheated on. For this reason, Hayato was sure that someone in here had the answers, but he didn't need that person.
He'd figure it out by himself.
Hayato looked up at the clock and smirked to himself. The clock had been slightly adjusted, and was being controlled by very thin, almost invisible strings. Hayato knew that quite a degree of skill with wires was required to do such a thing a not get caught. Out of curiosity, he took his headband and aimed at at the clock; he was very shocked to see that Takehiro was behind the strings, controlling it with only one hand while writing answers with the others. Takehiro wasn't the only one cheating; Kaori's dog was gathering information and barking, somehow communicating with its owner that way.
Hibiki began using Byakugan, and Hayato assumed he could see answers. Hayato decided he'd use Takehiro's trick to his own advantage, and began using the reflection from his headband to answer questions. He wondered how Kaito was doing.
. . .
Kaito smiled giddily to himself. Thanks to the armor around his arm warmers, he could see his neighbors' answers through the reflections. Unfortunately for him, after answering his third question, the chunin in gray began calling numbers, telling the student next to him to go out with his teammates. After that, numerous numbers were called in what seemed like a chain, proctors grabbing resisting students and dragging them out of the class.
Hayato was in the row behind him, to the far right, and Aoi was two rows behind him. Now that Kaito had no one to copy off of, he began to get bored. Eventually he got tired and rubbed his eyes.
'Just for a second,' he told himself, 'I'll close my eyes just for a second.'
As he lay his head down, a voice jerked him awake.
"Number 34." He said, staring right at Kaito.
"Eh?" Kaito blinked.
The chunin smirked, and then said, "My mistake, number 44."
"What!? I didn't do anything!" A genin behind said, marching out of the room angrily.
Well that woke Kaito up.
"Alright, here is the tenth question," Ibiki's voice rose from the front of the room, "But before we start, I'm going to add some rules for the final question. These are... the hopeless rules."
. . .
"First, you all will have to choose whether or not you will take this 10th question. If you choose not to take the exam, then your score will be zero. In other words, you fail. And of course, the same goes for the two others in the same group. And, one more rule; if you choose to take it and are unable to answer it correctly, then you will have to...
"Relinquish your right of taking the Chunin Exam forever. Then, let's begin. The 10th question. Those who will not be taking it, raise your hands! Once I confirm your number, I'll ask you to leave."
At first, no one rose their hand. Then, finally one after one, ninja broke; a kid next to Aoi rose his hand, and violent curses escaped from his teammates' mouthes. Aoi got nervous as more and more teams left. She answered every question except one, so she was safe. She couldn't see Kaito because of the people behind him, but she could see Hayato who flipping his pencil in the air idly. Aoi was sure her teammates wouldn't quit, but was worried they didn't score enough points. How many points was needed to score again?
"I'll ask again. This is a choice that will alter your life; if you want to quit, now is your chance!"
"Hey Kaito, aren't you gonna quit now?" Ren said two seats across from Aoi.
"You wish!" A voice retorted, "I thought you'd get out first."
"I can't get out before you, that'd mean I was a weak ninja." Ren smiled.
"Guess all those other kids were weak ninja, huh?"
At this, ninja who raised their hands only a moment before yanked them down. Aoi could already tell their pride stood in the way. Aoi herself was sure she wouldn't like to get beaten by a rookie ninja, and with Kaito's goofy appearance, she was sure that it had doubled for them.
Apparently Ibiki caught this too, as a solid five minutes had passed since anyone rose their hand. Everyone's eyes were set on the proctor, almost daring him to give them the final question. Yes, everyone, including Aoi, was ready for it.
"Then, for those who are still here," Ibiki continued, "The first exam...
"You have passed it!" The man grinned.
Everyone in the room blinked.
"Wait, what about the tenth question?" Aoi had been thinking of potential questions, so this was definitely a let-down. I mean, sure, if she's glad that there wasn't one, but imagine if all those other kids hadn't quit. there would've been, like, 90 teams to go against!
Ibiki chuckled.
"There wasn't such a thing to begin with!" The proctor laughed, a large grin plastered across his face, "You can look at the choice you just had to make as the 10th question!"
"But what about the other nine questions?" Shika asked, "Don't you still have to check them?"
"The objective of the nine questions were already accomplished: to test your individual ability to gather information. First, the focus of the test was on the system of determining the pass or failure based on the three-person groups that was proposed in the first rule. By grading the exam on a group basis, I added the unimaginable pressure of dragging down your teammates.
"Second, the questions on these tests weren't things that you genin would have been able to solve. So in that case, I imagined that most of you here would have come to this conclusion: 'In order to score points, I'll have to cheat.'
In other words, this exam was created under the premise that you all would cheat. That being said, I had two Chunin in the group who knew all of the answers from whom you could cheat. However, those who just foolishly cheated, naturally were disqualified. That's because information, depending on the time and situation, will be more valuable than life. In a mission or on a battlefield," Ibiki removed his headband, revealing his horribly burned, nail punctured and scarred head, "you will always have to risk your life to fight for it. When information is gathered and the enemy or a third party finds out about it, that information is no longer guaranteed to be correct. Just remember this," Ibiki put his headband back on before continuing.
"To be given the wrong information can bring a catastrophic blow to your friends and town. So that is why, out of necessity, we forced you all to cheat in order to test your ability to collect information. And we filtered out those who were clearly lacking in those abilities. However, this 10th question was the main issue of this first exam."
"Whah?" Jin said from somewhere in the classroom.
"I'll explain," Ibiki sighed, "The tenth question was to take on the question, or not. Needless to say, it is a painful decision to make. Those who chose not to take on the question would be immediately failed along with their whole squad. Those who chose to answer the question and got it wrong would be robbed of their chance to take the Exam forever. It really is an unfair question.
"Then, how about these two choices? Let's say that you guys did become Chunin. The mission is to steal a secret document! You have no idea how many ninja the enemy has, their ability, and other armament they may have. On top of that, there may be the pitfall of an enemy trap. Now this mission... Will you take it? Or not take it? Because you want your life spared, because your parents will be put in danger, can you get away from dangerous missions?
"The answer is... No!" He sternly told them, "There are going to be missions you cannot avoid no matter how risky or dangerous it may be. Showing your courage to your teammates in a tight spot, and the ability to get through the hardships...
"This is the quality that is needed in a Chunin troop leader! In a pinch, there are those who cannot risk their own fate, and those who waver and give up their chances because they think they will have another chance. I believe that such fools who don't have strong determination have no right to become a Chunin!
"For those of you who chose to take on this question, you can say that you have successfully answered the difficult 10th question! You shall be able to take on the adversity that may lie in your way. You've passed through the gates. The first exam for the Chunin Exams... has been completed!
"I wish you all well!"
Ibiki's attention turned to the window. At first, the students were wondering what he was doing, but then a cloaked figure burst through the glass window, kunai flying from its hands and stabbing the roof, attached to them the ends of the cloak. A black-haired lady dressed in a tan overcoat with a puple in-seam, a mesh body suit that stretched from her neck down to her thighs, a dark orange mini-skirt, black sandals and shin guards skidded to a halt.
"You guys, this isn't the time to be celebrating!," she gestured to the banner behind her, "I'm the proctor for the second exam, Anko Mitarashi! Let's move onto the next stage! Next!"
She pumped her fist in the air enthusiastically.
"Follow me!"
"Yeah!" Kaito stood up in the same stance.
Everyone stared dumbfounded at the woman, clearly at a lost for words. Aoi sighed as Kaito tried to gesture for others to join him.
Aoi thrust her finger at Kaito. "I like you!" She explained.
Ibiki stepped from behind the banner and said, "Again, read the atmosphere."
Anko blushed and glared ruefully to no one in particular.
"69?! This time it's 23 teams that slid by! Again, you made the first exam easy."
"It seems like, again, there are a lot of excellent candidates."
"Huh! Another case of them again? Well, alright... I'll still drop more than half of them in the second exam."
"M-more than half!?" Emi stuttered.
"Ah, I haven't been excited in so long. I'll give you the details tomorrow. We'll be changing locations, so get information from your jounin/jonin about the location and the time. That's it! You're dismissed."
. . .
"What is this place?" Kaori gawked. She looked down to her pet dog. "This is not a peeing ground, okay?"
The dog's tail fell, and he made a sad face to the owner. Kaito sweat dropped and looked past them.
"No trespassing" was written on the gates, the large moss-covered trees with tangled roots were impossibly tall, making the tall gate seem like an ant. three Chunin, proctors Aoi guessed, were seated in a small booth.
"This is the location for the 'second exam', the 44th Training Field. Also known as the Forest of Death."