A/N: Gomen, gomen, gomen! Schoolwork, work, and other crap in general has limited my writing time to almost none! So until June 22 or so updates will be slow. Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone who's reviewed my story up till now, since I finally got 200 reviews! cough Alright it's the First Exam and Squad 13, the Oto Genin, and Kabuto finally come into play. I just need votes if you guys want Naruto to get the Gogyo Fuin or not. Ok I don't own Naruto, but I wish I did!
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Chapter 12: The First Exam: Yes or No
Day of the Chuunin Exam, 2:30 Inside the Exam Hall
Squad 10 is waiting inside the exam area along with many other Genin from several other hidden villages including Sunagakure, Kirigakure, Kumogakure, Amegakure, Kusagakure, Takigakure, and Otogakure. A majority of the ninja present though appear to be from Konoha. Naruto, Hinata, and Shikamaru are standing with the members of Kurenai's Squad 8, Aburame Shino, Haruno Sakura, and Akamichi Chouji, near the main door to the room. Shikamaru is talking with Chouji about the mission in the Land of Waves and how troublesome it all was; Sakura is sitting quietly against the wall, visibly saddened by something; it could be assumed Shino was conversing with his bugs, as he stood a still as a statue, with the only sign of him still being alive being the slight rise and fall of his chest and shoulders as he breathes; and Hinata and Naruto are quietly talking about what they'll do once they are both Chuunin.
At about fifteen minutes to three, A white-eyed boy, with brown hair that went just past his shoulders, a girl with her hair done up in two buns, giving her the appearance of a panda, and a bowl-cut haired kid in a full-body green spandex suit enter the room. Naruto recognizes the white-eyed boy as Hinata's cousin, Hyuuga Neji, the appropriately titled, Hyuuga Prodigy. On one occasion when Naruto had gone to the Hyuuga complex to pick up Hinata, he had seen her spar with Neji, only to watch his girlfriend be beaten decisively. Naruto knew the Hyuuga prodigy was skilled and would never dare go head-to-head, one-on-one with the boy if he could avoid it.
As soon as Neji's eyes fell on his cousin, he led his team over towards hers, stopping a meter or two from Squad 10 and respectfully said, "Hello, Hinata-sama, I didn't think that you would be participating in the Chuunin Exams so soon after becoming a Genin." The white-eyed boy took a quick glance over at the blonde boy, then at the shadow user, before saying, "Pardon my manners, these are my teammates, Rock Lee and Tenten," motioning to the bowl-cut haired kid and panda resembling girl respectively. With that, the three elder Genin walked off and disappeared into the crowd of shinobi.
The fox-boy then turned to the Hyuuga heiress and said, "I bet your cousin was only acting that way so he wouldn't make a scene. His teammates seemed nice enough, though the guy with fuzzy eyebrows creped me out." Both the white-eyed girl and lazy genius nodded in agreement. Hinata then said, "Neji-niisan has a horrible distaste for the Main Branch, but there are times when he can be nice. Though just now, I know his smile was fake." Shikamaru then silently motioned towards his two teammates, and they walked away from Squad 8, nearly unnoticed.
When they found a secluded spot, as secluded a spot could be in a room full of anxious Genin, Shikamaru hunched down and said to his teammates, "Last night I was able to find out about the first stage of this troublesome exam from my dad. He said it's a written test, so I figured out an easy way for all three of us to ace it." This news made the blonde boy and the blue-haired girl's eyes widen. Personally Naruto hated written tests, and he knew Shikamaru was the same, Hinata didn't mind them though. The genius Genin then continued, "Once the exam starts, I'll use the Kagemane no Jutsu to help you guys get the answers. I know it's cheating, but that's the easiest way I can see us getting through the first part of the exam without a sweat."
Naruto was just about to open his mouth and ask Shikamaru what he meant by "first part," when Squad 7 entered the room. Sasuke had his usual smug, pompous scowl on; Kiba had Akamaru on his head; and Ino was clinging to Sasuke's left arm lovingly, though the last of the Uchiha didn't seem to care.
Squads 8 and 10 walked over, and greeted their fellow rookies, the whole time Naruto was restraining himself to not punch that arrogant look off the raven-haired Uchiha's face. Sakura sent Ino a death glare, which practically ordered her to let go of Sasuke. Hinata decided to break the tension between the three squads by politely saying, "It's good to see everyone again; I'm happy that all of us rookies are together here in the Chuunin Exams." The other eight rookies nodded in agreement, though this did nothing to release the tension between Naruto and Sasuke, and Ino and Sakura.
From the crowd, the nine Konoha rookies were being watched by a few other squads, namely Gaara's, Neji's, and the sole Otogakure squad. They watched as Sakura and Ino continued to get louder and louder, arguing over Sasuke, when a grey-haired boy, with glasses, and in an all purple outfit walked up to them.
"You two should really learn to keep your voices down, you're quite noisy," said the grey-haired boy as he walked up to the nine rookies. They all turned and Kiba asked, "Who the hell are you?" The boy smirked slightly and adjusted his glasses, responding, "I'm Yakushi Kabuto, and I'd try not to draw so much attention, unless you want to end up dead." Kabuto then pointed towards a group of ninja across the room and said, "You see those guys over there? They're from Amegakure and they're really irritable, it'd be best if you didn't piss them off." The rookies all nodded slightly in agreement except for Sasuke who was too busy wondering how much of a challenge they would be.
Kabuto then continued, "Since you're all rookies I guess I can give you a couple of inside tips, since this will be my seventh time taking this exam." Sakura gasped slightly at this, and then she said, "So you're a veteran then." The grey-haired Genin chuckled lightly and responded, "I guess you can put it like that." Kabuto then reached into his tools pouch and pulled out a large deck of cards. Looking at them curiously, the fox-boy asks, "What are those?" Kabuto quickly answered, "Information cards."
Kabuto then drew the top card and showed the face to the nine rookies, only for them to see it blank. The grey-haired boy smiled and asked rhetorically, "You're probably wondering why the face is blank, ne?" He then proceeded to place the card face up on the floor and place his right index finger on it, and next forming a seal with his left hand and began to gather chakra. As the tip of Kabuto's right index finger started to glow blue, the card began to rotate until there was a small puff of smoke. Where there had been a blank image, there was now a miniature map of the world, with all the ninja villages that were participating in this Chuunin Exam clearly depicted.
What happened next surprised all nine of the rookies. Small green squares that had been next to each village's symbol and had the number of its participants for the Exam written in it, expanded into three dimensions, with those with more participants, such as Konoha expanding the most, while for Oto, there was barely any change since they only had three Genin taking the exam. Then, as quickly as the small map had appeared on the card, it disappeared and Kabuto picked the card up. The gray-haired Genin looked up and said, "I also have information on individual participants, including you guys, though for some entrants, my information is incomplete."
The blonde-haired boy then stepped up, and asked, "Do you have any information on Hyuuga Neji from Konohagakure and Sabaku no Gaara from Sunagakure?" Kabuto frowned and sarcastically responded, "Aww, you know their names and where they are from; that makes it no fun looking for their cards." Kabuto then swiped a hand over the deck and held two cards in that hand.
He placed one card on the floor and said, "First is Hyuuga Neji." The gray haired Genin then did as he had done with the previous card, forcing some chakra into it and releasing the hidden image. He picked up the card and showed it to Naruto. It had a small picture of his face in the top-left corner and a full picture of Neji that switched from a front view, to a back view, then to a side view, before repeating the order.
Kabuto adjusted his glasses and said, "Hyuuga Neji was at the top of the class that graduated the year before all of yours. He's got top marks in taijutsu and well above average marks in genjutsu and ninjutsu. His teammates are Rock Lee and Tenten and his sensei is Maito Gai. His squads completed eleven C-Rank missions and twenty D-rank."
Kabuto then resealed Neji's card and placed it back in the deck, before setting Gaara's card on the floor and releasing it. He picked it up and showed it to the fox-boy. As with Neji, it had a picture of the sunanin's face and full picture in the same areas. Kabuto said, "Sabaku no Gaara is, as you already know, a ninja of Sunagakure. I don't know much about how he fares in taijutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu, but he has completed an unknown number of D and C-Ranked missions and… hey look at this." All of the rookies leaned in for a closer look right before all of their eyes went wide and Kabuto continued, "He's even completed an A-Rank mission. But that's not all, it's also recorded that he returned from every mission without a single scratch."
Through each of the Genin's minds, pardon Sasuke's and Shino's, the same though passed through, "This guy completed an A-Rank mission without a scratch… we're so dead!" After a minute or two, Naruto snapped back to reality and asked, "You wouldn't happen to have any info on the Genin from Otogakure, would you Kabuto?"
The gray-haired Genin sighed and said, "Otogakure is a relatively new village that just sprouted up recently that's rather small and weak, so I have little to no info on them. There's something I can tell you though, this year's competition is going to be intense, each village has sent its best Genin to participate and it's going to make this Exam highly competitive."
Across the room in the midst of the crowd, the three Otonin, two boys and a girl were listening in on what Kabuto was saying. One of the boys had his entire face bandaged up except for his left eye, and a grey long sleeve shirt, with sleeves that were far longer than his arms. The other boy, had wild, spiky, dark hair, and had a yellow shirt with the kanji for "kill" written three times on the front. The girl had long black hair that went just down to her waist, and wore a pale green ninja vest. All three had matching black and gray camouflage pants and scarves.
The bandaged boy said to his teammates, "'Small and weak' eh? Why don't we show that brat why he shouldn't underestimate ninja from Otogakure!" With that, the three Otonin rushed through the crowd without running into anyone, and in mere seconds, the bandaged boy was in front of Kabuto, and his two teammates were behind the gray haired Genin. Kabuto dodged a punch from the spiky haired boy and a kick from the girl, but then the bandaged kid pulled up his right sleeve to reveal some weird instrument attached to his arm. The boy tried to punch Kabuto, but the Konoha Genin dodged it easily.
Kabuto smirked, then, a second later, the lenses of his glasses shattered. Next, the gray haired boy heard an ear-piercing ring his ears, and dropped down to his hands and knees a vomited. The nine rookie Genin who had watched all this happen in just a few seconds were left awestruck. The thought running through all of their heads was, "What happened? Kabuto dodged that guy's punch easy!" Naruto, Shikamaru, and Sasuke quickly realized however, that there was more to the attack then what there seemed.
As the bandaged Otonin prepared to punch Kabuto again, who had just gotten to one knee, there was a large puff of smoke at the opposite end of the room, that once cleared, revealed several Konoha ninja, many appearing to be Chuunin, except for the one very large man in the center, who wore a large, black trench coat and had a bandana style Konoha headband. There were also a few visible scars lining his face. He shouted, "Stop right there you little bastard! Fighting outside the jurisdiction of the exam is highly prohibited! If you got a problem with that, you can take it up with me!"
The bandaged Otonin pulled his sleeve back down and began to walk off with his team, and without looking back, he said to Kabuto, "Next time you won't be so lucky."
That's when the large man spoke up again and shouted to all the Genin in the room, "Now if you worthless maggots are ready, follow me and we'll begin the first stage of the exam!" All the Genin did as they were told, and as they entered the room, they were each handed a small piece of paper with a number on it, and told to sit in the seat with the corresponding number. Soon, all the Genin had filed in and were seated. Naruto was overjoyed when he discovered he was sitting next to Hinata and even happier, that Shikamaru was in the row behind them, which made their plan foolproof.
Suddenly, the large man reappeared at the front of the room, and all the Chuunin from before were now sitting on either side of the room, each holding a clip board in their arm. The large man then spoke, "All right you Chuunin wannabes, I am your proctor for the first stage of the Chuunin Selection Exam; my name is Morino Ibiki. The first stage of this exam is a ten question written test."
The room was silent for about a second or two, before a loud, "WHAT?!" erupted from most of the Genin's mouths. Various arguments against Ibiki soon followed before the bear-like man roared, "Shut up! If you don't like it quit now and try again next year!" That quickly quieted anyone who had a second thought about questioning the Jounin's orders. Taking a deep breath, the head of the ANBU interrogation squad said, "While the Chuunin proctors on either side of the room hand out your tests, I'll go over a few simple rules with you maggots. First, this test is based upon ten points, if you are caught cheating, you will receive a two point reduction to your overall score. Second, if you are caught cheating five times you and your teammates will be disqualified. Finally, the tenth question will be given out after forty-five minutes have passed. You have a total of one hour." Ibiki's eyes then trailed up to the clock, and as the time turned to 3:05 he shouted, "Begin!"
Shikamaru immediately activated the Kagemane no Jutsu and placed the Hyuuga heiress and the fox-boy under the technique. After about fifteen minutes, Squad 10 had answered all but the tenth question. Shikamaru released Hinata and Naruto from his technique and leaned back to sleep through the test till the tenth question was revealed. The midnight-blue haired girl and the blonde-haired boy did the same.
Over the next half hour, team after team after team was eliminated. During this time, various techniques could be witnessed being used by the Genin. Neji used his Byakugan, Sasuke his Sharingan, Tenten used mirrors and wires to help her and Lee copy from another Genin. Gaara used his Daisan no Me (Third Eye), Kankurou used his puppet Karasu to get the information and having the puppet give it to him when he had to use the restroom. Ino used her family's Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch Technique) to possess Sakura and look at her answers, while Kiba had Akamaru spy on other testers and relay the answers to him through yips and barks. Shino used his bugs to obtain the answers, then had one of them deliver the answers to Chouji through a small piece of paper.
During all of this secretive cheating, squad after squad after squad was caught and eliminated. In some cases, the disqualified applicants had to be dragged out and in others, even knocked out in order to get them to leave quietly. Finally, the first forty-five minutes had passed, and Ibiki spoke up, "All right you worthless maggots! I'll now give out the tenth question, but before I do that, there are a couple of rules I need to go over." A few groans were audible from the remaining Genin, complaining about the addition of more rules.
"First off," the bear-like man began, "you have two choices, to either accept or reject the tenth question. However, if you reject the tenth question you and your teammates will lose all their points and be disqualified. But, before you all go shouting your pretty little heads off, there's also a clause to if you choose to accept the tenth question." The blonde from Suna then asked, "And what would that be?"
Ibiki smirked and coldly stated, "If you choose to take the tenth question and get it wrong you will be barred from ever taking the Chuunin Selection Exam again and forever remain a Genin!" One Genin from Konoha stood up and yelled, "What the hell are you talking about?! The test wasn't like that last time!"
"I wasn't running this section of the exam last time," Ibiki spat back. "These are my rules and you will follow them or be disqualified!" This last statement caused some of the Genin to break into a sweat. "Now, any of you and all of you who don't wish to risk the tenth question raise your hands now!" Slowly, one after another, examinees raised their hands, and they and their teammates left. Ibiki smirked as he saw the number of remaining examinees dwindle at a rapid pace.
Naruto, sat firm in his seat, as did his teammates, the Otonin, the Sunanin, and Sasuke's squad. Shino was stoic as usual, but Chouji and Sakura were on edge. The fox-boy looked around and thought, "We'll be here another hour waiting for everyone who's too scared to raise their hand, there's gotta be something I can do to speed this up." "Why not make some brave speech to throw a bit of backbone into the wimps?" The Kyuubi suggested from within Naruto's mind. "Guess I could, if it'll make this test end faster," the blonde thought, or rather said to Kyuubi lazily.
Naruto then raised his hand and slammed on his desk and shouted, "Like hell I'd ever be scared of some stupid question! Whether I get it right or wrong, I'm still going to pass this damn exam and become a Chuunin with my entire squad!"
Ibiki smirked at Naruto's short speech and thought, "This kid's interesting." He then surveyed the room and thought, "Looks like that little speech put a bit of backbone into all the would-be quitters, guess I'll end this then." "Since it seems no one else is going to jump ship, I have two words for you all." Ibiki's smirk now broke into a full-fledged smile and he said, "You pass."
The room grew quiet for about two seconds then a loud, "WHAT?!?!" exploded from the remaining Genin. Ino stood up and asked, "What about the tenth question?!" Ibiki just kept smiling and responded, "That was the tenth question, or at least you decision to take it was." Temari now stood up and shouted, "There was no purpose at all in the other nine questions then!"
Ibiki's smile now returned to its former, cold expression and he said, "That's where you're wrong. This test had two main purposes, starting with the nine questions. It was designed to test your skill at gathering information without being detected; those who were unable to do that were eliminated. In a real mission, you would most likely have but one chance to get the information you need. If your caught spying…" Ibiki stopped talking and undid his bandana and took it off, revealing a head covered in burn marks, puncture wounds, and various other scars. "This is what can happen, unimaginably painful torture.
"As for the tenth question, it was to test you on if you were willing to risk everything. That is something a Chuunin squad leader faces in everyday of their lives. You could have chosen the safe route and tried at another time to become a Chuunin, or you could risk it all on a question you had no idea on what it could be. On missions where you are sent to steal valuable information, you may often find yourself facing an unknown amount of enemies, and you will not know if the enemy anticipates your arrival or not. But in not being caught and choosing to face a possibly dangerous unknown, you all have taken your first steps towards becoming fully fledged Chuunin. I congratulate each and every one of you on making it through the first stage of the Chuunin Selection Exams."
Everyone jumped up from their seats pardon Shikamaru who had fallen asleep during Ibiki's speech. The celebration was cut short, when something burst through the window. In a puff of smoke, a purple-haired woman in a full-body fishnet uniform, a pale yellow trench coat, and a orange miniskirt appeared, with a large flag with the name "Mitarashi Anko" written on it. She yelled out, "Hey you brats, I'm Mitarashi Anko and I'll be the proctor for the second stage of your Chuunin Exam!"
A/N: It's finally done! A whole damn month of writing bits and pieces has finally paid off! Ok, I predict that I'll be posting now and again until my last final sometime in mid June, but after that there will be nothing to stop from writing all I want! I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please wish me luck on my AP European History Exam on Friday, thank you. As always R&R and stay tuned for the next chapter, it's probably going to be a bit bloody.