Ignis Bellator
By Mexicano27
Chapter 14: Meeting the Competition
As soon as Team 7 walked into Room 301, all three of the Genin gasped.
"Wha-What the…" Naruto stammered.
"What is this?" asked Sakura, looking paralyzed.
The entire room was packed from wall to wall with dozens of Genin of every size and shape imaginable. Most of them wore Leaf headbands, but almost half wore some foreign symbol instead, which Naruto deduced meant they came from another village. All of the Genin in the room turned to look at the newcomers, fixing them with intense stares.
The three Genin all felt incredibly tiny and insignificant at the moment, under the fierce glares of over a hundred ninjas.
Are they all here to apply for the Chunin Exam? Sakura wondered, distraught. They look awfully tough…
"Well, if it isn't the billboard brow!" said a voice. Team 7 all turned to see who said it, and saw Team 10 strolling towards them, Ino in the lead.
"Who are you calling billboard brow, you pig?" asked Sakura furiously. Ino looked at her smugly and stuck her tongue out, taking pleasure in taunting her rival. Shikamaru Nara, who stood to her left, had his hands shoved into his pockets and wore an annoyed expression. Choji Akimichi, the third teammate, stood there, hungrily eating his way through a bag of potato chips. Sakura continued to glare at Ino when an obnoxious voice suddenly called out.
"Well, look who made it!" said Kiba Inuzuka, walking towards them. He had the hood of his jacket on, and his ninja dog Akamaru rested on it, looking at all of them in turn like some kind of sentry.
Kiba's teammates walked behind him, both of them looking incredibly aloof compared to their loudmouthed companion. Shino Aburame, dressed in a large coat and sunglasses, towered over his teammates, several inches taller than either of them, and remained expressionless as they got closer. Sasuke Uchiha, in contrast, seemed to glare at everything as if he hated the world and everyone it, giving him a frightening appearance.
This, however, did not stop Ino from screaming in delight and throwing herself at him as if they were lovers. As much as she might have wished that were true, Sasuke had no interest in that and forcefully pushed her off of him. Sakura grinned and waved at him, but he completely ignored her.
"Looks like the gang's all here!" Kiba said, grinning arrogantly.
"Including you, unfortunately," Shikamaru muttered. Choji looked up at Akamaru hungrily, as if he were imagining what he would taste like.
"So, all of the rookies decided to enter this year, huh?" Kiba went on. "How far do you think everyone else is gonna get, Sasuke?" Sasuke looked at the other competitors skeptically.
"Not far," he stated. "I can't tell which team is worse, Ino's or Naruto's."
"Stop trying to act cool, you dumbass!" said Naruto angrily.
"Who's acting?" said Kiba. "There's no way a bunch of idiots like you can beat us!"
"Really? Then how many A missions have you guys been on, huh?" Naruto retorted. Kiba's smirk disappeared.
"You… You guys got an A rank mission?" he asked, looking shocked. "That's… That's impossible! You must be lying!"
"Check our records if you want to, you dope! We're the strongest team here!"
Kiba looked ready to shout something back when another voice interjected.
"Would you guys just shut the hell up!" The Rookie 9 swiftly turned to look at the person who said it. It was a fellow Leaf Genin with white hair and glasses. "You would-be hotshots are all rookies, right?" he continued. "Well, let me tell you, this isn't like the field trips you had back at the Academy. What do you think you're doing here?"
"And who the hell are you?" asked Sasuke, sounding annoyed. The Genin walked up to them.
"Name's Kabuto," he said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "You all might want to watch your step around the Genin behind you. Everyone here's on edge, and they might beat the crap out of you if you give them half a chance. But you're rookies, and I know what that's like. You think you know everything."
"Mistakes come with youth?" inquired Sakura.
"What?" asked Kabuto, looking confused.
"Er, nothing," said Sakura, her face turning red. "Forget about it. So, is this your second try at the Chunin Exam or something?"
"Nah," said Kabuto, shaking his head. "Seventh. The Exam is held twice a year, and I've competed in each one for… going on four years now."
"Then you must be pretty experienced," said Sasuke. "You would know everything we have to expect."
"I suppose you could say that," agreed Kabuto. He pulled what looked like a deck of cards out of his pocket. "I've compiled all the information I know into these cards. They only respond to my chakra, so I'm the only one who can access them. Watch."
The Genin observed as he kneeled and selected a card, sliding it across the ground with his finger. Chakra began to emanate from it in waves, until what looked like a three-dimensional map appeared, displaying the Five Great Shinobi Nations and various minor countries. Three-dimensional bars shot into the air from several of the countries, which Naruto quickly took to represent the amount of Genin participating in the Exam. The Land of Fire was clearly in the lead, with the Land of Wind being a distant second.
Sakura looked at the map and the nations carefully, noticing that something was amiss. She quickly realized what it was.
"What kind of country is Sound?" she asked, pointing to its position. "I've never heard of it before." All of the Genin craned their necks to look closer at the map, and Kabuto slid his finger to lay on Sound's position.
"Oh, yeah," he said, as if he had been hoping someone would ask that question. "The Empire of Sound. It's pretty new. It used to be called the Land of Rice Fields. A little while back, Rice Fields got the shit end of the stick in a huge war, and was crushed. The country's leader was pretty useless, and had no idea how to fix things. Then along came a powerful ninja seeking his fortune, and he offered to create a hidden village. The country's leader accepted, and the Hidden Sound Village was created. Eventually, the founder of the village, or Otokage, gained enough public support to overthrow the old daimyo and replace him. He renamed the nation to reflect his village."
"That's… unheard of," said Ino, looking bewildered by the news. "The country must have really hated their old leader if they replaced him. I don't think that even the Hokage could pull off something like that, and he's very popular. What kind of country is Sound like now?"
"I'm not sure," said Kabuto. "I've never been there. But I've heard that the Otokage-slash-daimyou has been increasing the military might of his country like crazy, both in shinobi and ordinary soldiers. He has a single ninja clan working directly under him, separate from the army. He's been using it as sort of police force and personal guard, rounding up enemies of the state."
"Rounding them up?" asked Sakura. "What clan is this? Where do they send the prisoners?" Kabuto rubbed his chin, apparently trying to remember something.
"The clan is called the Fuma," he finally said. "But now that I think about it, I believe that the Otokage's secret police membership isn't limited to just them, it's just that they make up the most important officials, being completely loyal to him. As for the prisoners they arrest, I think that they're shipped off to prison camps or something. Nothing serious."
"Is the Empire of Sound totalitarian or something?" persisted Sakura. Something seemed very fishy about this country. "Where does the Otokage get the right to just ship people to camps? Who exactly is he, anyway?"
"No, no, it's not totalitarian," stated Kabuto, fervently shaking his head. "Remember, the people love him. And he only punishes those who have done the nation wrong. As for his identity, it's actually unknown, at least to me. He works from behind the scenes, only letting his people know of his existence by the work he does. Besides, would the people really hate their new leader if they're lining up by the thousands to join his new army?"
"What does he need such a large army for?" asked Sasuke. "Is this Otokage planning on going to war?" He meant the question to be sarcastic, but Kabuto nodded his head seriously.
"He is," he said. "He's promising to get revenge on the country that defeated Rice Fields in the past. He hasn't made it any sort of secret. But none of the Five Great Shinobi Nations care. None of them are allied with the nation in question. If anything, Fire might be obligated to help, seeing as how Sound is its ally. All of the citizens are pretty excited about it, and they're volunteering for the army in droves. But like I said, I've never been there, so don't take my word for it. If anyone would know, it would be the three Sound Genin sent here to compete."
"Do you have individual information about them, along with all the other competing Genin?" Naruto asked curiously. There were a few ninjas he wanted to learn more about.
"I sure do," said Kabuto, reshuffling his deck of cards. "The information about the competing Genin is far from complete, but I've at least been able to attain some basic stats about each one, like how many of each type of mission they've done. For the ones that I have more knowledge on, I have their attributes listed and ranked. Like their skills in genjutsu, ninjutsu, and taijutsu, that kind of stuff. Who are these ninjas you're wondering about?"
"I have a whole list," stated Naruto. "Kankuro, Gaara, Temari, Rock Lee, and those Sound ninjas."
"You know their names?" asked Kabuto. "That makes it too easy!" He went through the deck and quickly produced seven cards. He activated them and handed them to Naruto.
"Hold on!" said Kiba. "Give me Naruto's card! I wanna see for myself that he's done an A mission!" Akamaru barked and growled, apparently agreeing with him.
"Whatever you say," said Kabuto, and quickly gave Kiba a card decorated with Naruto's image. Kiba glared at it for a second, then his jaw went slack as he read the information. He gave Naruto a disgusted look, and flipped the card back towards Kabuto, who put it back in his deck.
Naruto looked at all the cards in his hand, and was shocked to see how skilled all of the opponents appeared to be. There seemed to be no information on the Sand team, though it seemed to hint that they were all very powerful. Sakura quickly snatched the Temari card out of his hand and studied it intently.
Rock Lee turned out to be a taijutsu specialist, with no abilities in ninjutsu or genjutsu whatsoever. That particular bit of information didn't particularly surprise Naruto, considering the kinds of moves Lee had used.
There was more information on the cards with the Sound ninjas than the Sand team, but not much. The leader, a Genin named Dosu, looked like a hunchback with his entire head wrapped up like a mummy, leaving only his right eye visible. A kunoichi named Kin had long dark hair that reached her ankles and eyes that seemed to be permanently stuck in a glare. The third Genin, Zaku, wore a sort of metal facemask that lined his cheeks, like an ancient helmet. He wore a shirt with the symbol for "death" on it. All of their headbands bore the symbol of the Sound Village, which was a musical note, the quaver.
All of the rival Genin looked fearsome and powerful.
"So, are all of the Genin here like the best in their class or something?" Sakura asked.
"Absolutely," said Kabuto. "They represent their respective countries, and are hand-picked elites. Remember, all of the foreigners competing have only been sent here because they stand a good chance at winning." Naruto, however, noticed something.
"Why is Leaf the only village to have Genin with bloodline limits competing?" he asked. The question seemed to take everyone else by surprise. Had he really been the only one to notice it?
"That's true, huh?" said Ino, looking between Hinata and Sasuke. One of them had the Byakugan; the other the Sharingan. Kabuto began looking at the two as well, looking to be deep in thought.
"Yeah, that's right…" he said. He stared at Hinata intently, as if he had never noticed her before. Maybe he hadn't; she had been completely silent the entire time.
"It increases the chances of at least one surviving the whole thing…" he murmured. He seemed to do some mental calculations, moving his lips slightly.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Sasuke sounded annoyed, narrowing his eyes at Kabuto. The white-haired Genin looked up at him in surprise.
"Nothing, nothing," he quickly said. "Just rambling, was all… Where was I? Right, well, like I was saying, all of the rival Genin are going to be really strong and experienced. The Chunin Exam won't be a cakewalk, especially for you rookies straight out of the Academy."
At his words, Naruto turned to look at all of the other foreign Genin, sitting and waiting for the Exam to officially commence. Some of them were still looking in the direction of the Rookie 9. Looking at all of the competitors, he felt something surge within him. Was it fear? No, it couldn't be.
He remembered how his team had gotten through everything together. The perilous mission in the Land of Waves, the mission to help Konohamaru, and even the annoying D missions. If Team 7 could make it through all of that perfectly fine, then what was all of this competition except a minor annoyance?
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Kakashi stood outside Room 301, remembering that day when he had recommended all three of his Genin for the Chunin Exam. He had been a hundred percent certain that they were capable of passing, though there had been some who had protested against his decision, not just Iruka.
"Regardless of the test Lord Hokage has proposed, I think that Iruka may have a point," Guy said, stepping forward. "They really are too young. They undoubtedly have much untapped potential, but they are still inexperienced. I believe that you three might be rushing them into something new that they can't quite handle."
The entire room turned to look at Guy. Iruka was respected as the mentor of their pupils, but was often regarded as not really knowing what it meant to be an active ninja. Someone who ran a classroom was not regularly putting himself in danger. Guy, on the other hand, was widely regarded as a powerful Jonin, and his opinion on a matter like this would carry much more weight.
"Just look at my Genin!" Guy continued. "They were good enough to begin with, but I decided to wait a year so that they could grow. And now look at them! They're the strongest and most feared competitors from Leaf!"
"Guy, what my team lacks in experience, it more than makes up for it in surprises," Kakashi said simply. "They have grown faster than you could possibly imagine ever since they left the Academy. Give them a chance, and you'll see for yourself who the strongest and most feared Genin from Leaf really are."
Guy looked insulted, and Sarutobi sighed.
"Enough of this!" commanded the Hokage. "The decision has already been made. Now, let's please continue selecting competing Genin…"
Kakashi leaned up against the wall, letting his head rest on it so he could look up at the ceiling.
They are strong, he thought to himself. They're strong individually, and that's great. But even more importantly, they're stronger working together as a single unit. They're all confident of their abilities, and Naruto has sort of taken the position of role model, much to my surprise. Hinata sees him as a source of strength and motivation to push herself to the limit. Sakura takes note of the way he selflessly defends others, which she tries to emulate. And what's more, Naruto is fearless. He might have gotten himself killed by now if it weren't for his kunoichi friends there to help him, but he's brave nonetheless. His attitude encourages both Hinata and Sakura to face new challenges that they otherwise might have tried to shy away from. But above all, the three of them have learned to rely on each other. They all fully understand how important teamwork is, and none of them try to stand out and steal all the glory. And no matter how powerful all the other competitors might be, that's what makes Team 7 the strongest out of all of them.
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Sakura looked at Naruto as he stared out at the competition. His shoulders seemed to be shaking slightly.
Is he really starting to get freaked out? Sakura wondered. That's not like him… But who can blame him? We're just a bunch of rookies, absolute beginners! Maybe I can comfort him or something…
She extended her arm so that it would rest on his shoulder, but he suddenly took a step forward before she could reach him. With what sounded like a low growl, he pointed his finger out at the competing Genin before them.
"Listen up all of you!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, making sure he got the attention of everyone in the room. "We're Team 7, and we're gonna beat every one of you! Believe it!"
The room was deathly quiet for a moment after he spoke as all of the competing Genin turned to look at him. Unbeknownst to them, outside the door Kakashi began laughing.
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Kankuro glared at Naruto as soon as he heard the boy's outburst.
"It's that little punk again!" he said furiously. Gaara stared over at Naruto with disinterest, then turned away again. Temari looked at Naruto and laughed.
"Cute," she murmured.
"Yeah, I'd like to see you saying that when he and all of his little friends are gone for good!" Kankuro continued, enraged. Temari looked at him quickly, a look of horror on her face.
"Kankuro!" she said, shocked. "What do you think you're doing? Shut up!"
Gaara fixed his eyes on Kankuro and glared, convincing him to shut up for the duration of the wait for the Exam to begin.
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Neji glared at Naruto as well. Rock Lee looked over in their direction, though his gaze didn't seem to burn with hatred.
"That little snot," muttered Neji. "Who does he think he is? Just because he helped knock over a Chunin doesn't give him the right to make a spectacle of himself!"
"You shouldn't be talking, Neji," said Tenten. "At least he did something to that Chunin. You just stood there, even when he slapped me!"
"I—the plan we agreed on didn't—" he looked flustered. Tenten looked away from him, her nose in the air. Rock Lee shook his head, giving Neji a disappointed look. The Hyuga was normally very articulate, but he seemed to be at a loss for words when his own teammates held some loudmouthed blond in higher regard than him.
He glared over at Naruto even more fiercely than before. He vowed to crush him in the Exam…and disgrace the Main Branch of the Hyuga Clan while he was at it.
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"What the hell is he playing at?" asked Zaku as he stared at Kabuto. "Going on as if he's never set foot in—"
"Yes!" said Kin, smashing her foot on top of Zaku's and interrupting him. "A Leaf Genin would most likely have never set foot in our home country. A real Leaf Genin would have no reason to go to our country, now would he?"
"Oh, right," Zaku stammered, his face turning red. "I just forgot, is all."
"Even still, I feel like we should teach that idiot a lesson," Dosu said, narrowing his visible eye. "I mean, he's a Leaf Genin, insulting our home country! We have to represent our homeland, right?"
"Dosu, what are you talking about?" Kin asked, lowering her voice into a harsh whisper. "Attacking…him? Are you out of your mind?"
"What's the harm in attacking a talentless Genin?" he replied in a normal voice. "Come on," he went on, lowering it to a whisper like Kin's. "It wouldn't hurt to make everyone think we've got nothing to do with him. Besides, wouldn't attacking someone insulting our country be a logical response?"
"I…I don't know…" Kin looked very uneasy about the idea.
"Come on, it'll be fun," Dosu persisted. He turned, and began stepping in Kabuto's direction, his two teammates reluctantly following his lead.
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"Uh, could you say that a little louder?" Kiba asked sarcastically, laughing at Naruto's expense. Akamaru barked in agreement. Naruto merely leaned back and chuckled, proud of himself.
"Are you trying to get everyone in here to hate us?" asked Shikamaru.
"He's right, Naruto!" hissed Sakura. "You're gonna get us killed!"
"Jeez, Sakura!" exclaimed Ino. "Keep your boyfriend under control!"
"Shut up, you pig!" shouted Sakura, her cheeks turning red. "He's more your boyfriend than mine!"
"That doesn't even make sense!"
"Well, I'll just kick your ass until it does!"
Kabuto sighed and shrugged. The rookies could certainly be a weird bunch. A flicker of movement caught his eye as three ninjas suddenly sprang in different directions, and he quickly turned to look at them.
Without much warning, the Sound ninja Zaku suddenly leaped into the air above Kabuto and hurled two kunais at him. Kabuto leaped backwards and out of the way, and the kunais imbedded themselves in the ground. He slid to a halt, just as the ninja Dosu swiftly moved towards him, pulling his fist back for a punch. His right arm had some sort of metal device strapped to it.
Dosu swung his fist at Kabuto's head, but the Leaf Genin quickly dodged. He grinned as he moved out of the way, foiling another attack. His smile disappeared when his glasses suddenly shattered, and the shards fell to the floor.
"What happened?" asked Sasuke, looking at Kabuto. "He dodged the punch!"
"He must have been grazed," suggested Shikamaru.
Kabuto took off his glasses and inspected them curiously. Suddenly, he dropped them and clutched at his stomach as he fell to his knees, vomiting.
"Ah, crap!" exclaimed Naruto. "He's puking!" Both he and Sakura ran to the fallen Genin, and the three Sound ninja stood before them menacingly.
"Are you all right?" asked Sakura once she reached Kabuto, putting her hand on his back.
"Yeah, I'm okay," he said weakly, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
"You don't look okay…" muttered Naruto.
"You're nothing but a pushover," said Dosu. "Pretty sad, for someone who's been competing for four years!"
"Add this to your cards," said Zaku. "All of the Sound ninja will pass the Chunin Exam!"
"All of you, shut up!" roared a commanding voice. A large cloud of white smoke suddenly appeared with a poof, filling up the room. When it cleared, a tall Jonin with a scarred face, bandana, and trenchcoat stood at the end of the room, and had dozens of Leaf Chunin behind him. At the forefront were the two Chunin who had been blocking the false Room 301 less than an hour ago.
"I am Ibiki Morino," said the Jonin. "I am going to oversee the first part of the Exam." He suddenly extended a gloved hand and pointed at the Sound ninjas. "You three!" he yelled. "Stop horsing around, unless you want to be disqualified!"
"Sorry," said Dosu. "It's our first Exam, and we got a bit…carried away."
"Is that so?" sneered Ibiki. "Well then, let me lay down a few ground rules before we begin. From this point forward, there shall be no more fighting for the first part of the Chunin Exam. You Genin can do absolutely nothing unless I say so. If you do anything that endangers the life of another applicant, you'll be immediately disqualified! There will be no second chances."
"So, this is a test for pansies, huh?" said Zaku.
"The first part of the Chunin Exam is now about to officially commence," Ibiki continued. "All of you must now turn in your signed applications, and take one of these seating assignment cards." He held up a card with the number 1 for everyone to see. "You then report to the indicated seat. Once everyone is in the correct place, we'll be passing out the written test."
"A written test!" Naruto felt like he had just been dropped off the edge of the world. He had always sucked at tests, and now it was the very first challenge?
Naruto turned in his application and was given his seating card. To his dismay, both Sakura and Hinata were placed in completely different parts of the room, dashing any of his hopes of getting help from them. He was isolated and helpless. He gloomily let his forehead rest on the table, until he heard someone take a seat next to him.
"Well well, look who it is," said an all-too-familiar voice. Naruto quickly looked up to see who it was.
"You!" said Naruto angrily.
"Of course it's me, you moron," said Sasuke Uchiha as he sat down. Naruto banged his head against his desk, crushed. What could be worse than having to sit next to such a loser and asshole like Sasuke? Sasuke looked at him and chuckled, shaking his head.
"Knowing what a dumbass you are, you won't make it past the first part," Sasuke said, grinning at Naruto's misfortune.
"Shut up, you asswipe," Naruto growled angrily, keeping his head on the table. Sasuke continued as if he hadn't heard him.
"But I guess it's just as well," he sneered. "If you got any further than the first part, I'd just kick your ass." Naruto furiously sat up straight in his chair.
"I'm going to kill you Sasuke!" he yelled, pointing at him. The Uchiha merely snorted and shook his head again.
"Okay everyone," Ibiki said. He was standing in front of the class, by the blackboard. "Keep your tests face down until I tell you otherwise. Now pay close attention to these rules. I'm going to write them down on the blackboard for everyone to see, but I'm not taking questions and I'm not going to repeat myself." He grabbed a piece of chalk and began to write on the blackboard.
"Rule number one!" he said as he wrote. "Each one of you starts out with ten points. The test has ten questions, each one worth one point. For each question you get wrong, we subtract one point from your total score. If you get all ten questions right, you retain all of your points and have a perfect score. If you get seven questions right, you retain seven points. It's that simple." Ibiki wrote the examples he had cited on the board.
"Rule number two!" he continued. "This test is still a team event. Passing or failing will be determined by the total scores of all three members of each team. In other words, the real total score is thirty points, with each team member being responsible for their third. The goal remains the same, however: to try to get as close as possible to a perfect score."
The entire room began to murmur uncomfortably at this rule. How would it be to get a perfect score but fail anyway because your teammates couldn't pass? Naruto pulled at his hair, getting frantic.
What if I get no points? he wondered. Well, I guess Hinata and Sakura are pretty smart. They should get enough points so that we could all pass… I hope…
"Rule number three!" Ibiki went on. "If, during the course of the exam, someone is caught cheating by the proctors, we subtract two points from their total score. If you are caught five times, you will automatically have failed and be asked to leave."
More murmurs came with that rule, but not as much as the second one. At least this rule made sense.
"Rule number four!" bellowed Ibiki. "If anyone receives a zero on their test, that person's entire team, regardless of how well they performed, will fail and be disqualified from the Chunin Exam."
The entire class erupted. What kind of rule was that?
Oh, man… Naruto thought miserably, banging his head on the table again. I'm the only one on my team dumb enough to fail a test that badly. And if I go down, I'll drag Hinata and Sakura with me!
"Ah, poor Naruto," said Sasuke, smirking. "Not only will you fail, you'll keep your entire team from passing the Exam!"
"Sasuke…" Naruto's voice trembled with rage.
"You have one hour," said Ibiki to the Genin. "Starting… Now!"
In unison, the room of Genin flipped their tests over and began working. Naruto looked at the first question.
Cryptography? he thought. Deciphering codes? I suck at that crap! I'll just have to skip it…
He looked at the second question. It was a diagram marked with letters to represent specific places, and had instructions underneath it. Naruto read it.
The parabola marked B represents the greatest effective distance the shinobi marked A could throw a shuriken from the top of a tree 23.3 feet high. Calculate the specific features of the scenario and deduce the range of the shuriken's effectiveness, assuming a consistent speed for shinobi A's assault upon any enemy shinobi operating within the arc that the flight of the shuriken describes.
Naruto looked up from the paper, feeling a sense of horror spread within him. There was no way he could answer this question. What was the point of it, anyway? Wouldn't a ninja in a real combat situation have to figure this kind of stuff out for himself, without any time for complicated math equations?
He skipped down the questions, looking for any one that was easier for him to solve and answer. His search was pointless; the questions only seemed to get harder as he went down. At the tenth question, he paused. It was different from the rest.
This question will not be provided until forty-five minutes into the exam, it read. At that time, please answer the instructor's question to the best of your ability.
What was that all about? He spared a glance at Sasuke, more out of curiosity as to how he was doing than anything else. To his surprise, he saw that Sasuke's paper was completely blank, with none of the questions answered. Sasuke was looking at his test and chewing on his pencil, his brow furrowed in confusion. So, the test was too hard for a hotshot like him, too? Despite having his own problems to deal with, Naruto felt a sly grin creep up his face.
An idea came to his brilliant mind, so used to making up pranks on the spot when they were needed. Starting with question number one, he began hastily scribbling answers all the way down. He tried to make the answers seem as likely as possible, or at least not stand out as being obviously wrong at first glance. When he got to number nine and finished, he looked back up at Sasuke. He still hadn't even answered the first question.
"I thought you were smart, you little snot," Naruto whispered to Sasuke. "But look at you! You can't even answer the first question!" Sasuke glared at him from the corner of his eye.
"Oh, and I suppose you could do bet— What the hell?" He looked down at Naruto's paper in shock.
Naruto had done everything to make sure that his test looked convincing. He even did the work, drawing out long and complicated (but clearly wrong) equations to masquerade as hard work done to solve the questions. The work he did for question two looked particularly convincing, filling up almost half the sheet. It was all done in pencil, so he didn't have to worry about not being able to redo the problems.
"I guess the Uchiha Clan isn't as great as everyone was saying, you big dummy!" Naruto said gleefully. Of course, Sasuke had no idea that Naruto was lying. They were in equally bad positions.
"You must have cheated!" Sasuke hissed angrily at him. "You should be getting kicked out by now! You're way too stupid to be able to answer these kinds of questions!"
"I might be stupid," Naruto conceded. "But at least I'm not as stupid as you!" He flipped over his test so that it lay face down, as if he cared that Sasuke might try to copy the answers. It helped add to the illusion. Besides, if Sasuke took a closer look at his answers, he would probably realize they were wrong.
Naruto yawned and leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes. Sasuke glared at him again, then returned to trying to figure out his test, fuming. Despite pretending to be asleep, Naruto was actually deep in thought.
All those other answers are completely wrong. I don't stand a chance of passing on those alone. And Sasuke was right. I'm not smart enough to get those answers right, I'd have to cheat. But I don't know how I can do that without getting caught… If I get the tenth question right, though, it'll save me from getting a zero. If I get at least one right, the whole team will get to pass. I know that Sakura's super smart, she'll be able to answer all of these questions no sweat. Hinata isn't stupid, either. I'm sure she could get at least one right, but probably enough to get our team close enough to the total thirty so we can pass to the second exam. Hell, with her Byakugan, she can probably cheat without getting caught. Having x-ray vision really can come in handy. If I had the Byakugan back at the Academy, I probably wouldn't have had such low scores all the time…
Naruto continued to think of all the things he could have done with the Byakugan, getting progressively more creative (or perverted, though that was not a word that he used to describe himself). Several people were caught cheating five times and were forced to leave, disqualified. The Sand ninja Kankuro got up to go to the bathroom and was followed by a proctor, and quickly returned. Naruto slid the worries about the tenth question to the back of his mind, and before he knew it forty-five minutes was up.
"All right!" Ibiki called out to the Genin. "Everyone get ready for the tenth question!" Naruto's eyes snapped open and he leaned forward. Looking over at Sasuke, he saw that the Uchiha's pencil had been chewed so thoroughly that it was almost separated into two pieces, and it looked like he hadn't been able to answer a single question. The marks and smears of erased work were all over the sheet, but no definite answers to the questions. It looked like Sasuke was going to have to rely on the tenth question, too.
"Now, before we get to the tenth question, I'm going to be adding a fifth rule," said Ibiki. "Let me explain it to you. This rule has two halves. It is going to be absolute, and no exceptions will be made. Before I announce the question, you will all have a simple decision to make. And that is, to either accept or reject the question."
"What?" called out Temari, confused. "What's the catch? What happens if you reject the question?" Ibiki grinned, looking very pleased that someone had asked that question.
"The catch," he said, "is that if you refuse to accept the tenth question, you will fail immediately. You will lose all of your points, and will be disqualified from the Chunin Exam along with your entire team."
"Then why the hell would anyone want to reject the question?" Temari protested. "You're not giving us a choice at all!"
"You're forgetting the second half of the fifth rule," Ibiki said, looking even happier. He paused before continuing, clearly for dramatic effect. "If you accept the tenth question and get it wrong… You and your teammates will never be permitted to take the Chunin Exam ever again!"
The class erupted yet again, descending into near chaos. If Ibiki's other rules had been unreasonable, then this one was beyond description.
"You can't be serious!" yelled Kiba, ever the skeptic. "There are ninjas here who have failed the Chunin Exam before and came back to retake it! We know there are!"
"Then I guess it's just too bad for you to be taking it this year," said Ibiki, chuckling. "I wasn't making the rules in the past years. I am now!" He looked around at the class filled with Genin, most of whom had worried looks on their faces.
"Anyone who has doubts about their ability to answer this question would be wise to leave now," Ibiki advised them. "You can always just retake the Exam in another six months. It's really not a bad deal, when you think about it." The room fell into a deep silence; if Naruto had tapped his pencil on his desk, the noise would have echoed across the entire room.
"Ready?" asked Ibiki. "Then let's begin. Anyone who wishes to reject the tenth question should now raise your hand. You will immediately be disqualified, along with your entire team. You will then be recorded, and will leave the room."
What kind of question is this? Naruto wondered, feeling that bothersome emotion of dread creep up him again. If I get it wrong, I'll be stuck as a Genin for my entire life! That's not something I could live with! But if I reject the question…then Hinata and Sakura will have to fail along with me because I didn't have any guts! I couldn't live with that, either…
"I quit!" said the Genin to the left of Naruto, raising his hand. He stood up, shoulders slumped, and began to leave the room.
"Number fifty-two, failed!" called out one of the proctors, recording it down on his clipboard. "Number one hundred-thirty! Number one hundred-eleven! You both fail as well!"
The quitting of number fifty-two seemed to set off an avalanche. Dozens of Genin began raising their hands in the air, deciding to play it safe and quit. It seemed that everyone else had been unwilling to quit simply for the sake of their pride, but were now lining up to leave now that there were other people already doing it.
Naruto's willingness to continue began to corrode. Seeing everyone else forfeit was beginning to convince him that it was the smarter choice to take. He had virtually nothing to lose, so why not? He looked over at Sasuke, and their eyes met. Sasuke looked as worried and unsure about himself as Naruto did. The look Sasuke gave him was one full of fear, one which Naruto couldn't help but return.
Misery loves company, Naruto thought. He looked down at his lap, and clenched his fists, gripping his pencil in one hand. He gripped it tighter and tighter until the small wooden stick snapped in two. He didn't bother to try picking up the pieces. He slowly looked back up and turned to Sasuke again.
The Uchiha was looking at him as if he were waiting for him to do something. Naruto gazed into his dark eyes, and saw his own hopes and dreams reflected in them. Sasuke had just as much to lose from this as Naruto did. Was he actually looking to Naruto for support?
Naruto gave Sasuke a questioning look, sending a silent message across. Sasuke looked back at him, his hands gripping the edge of his desk hard enough to turn his knuckles white. He turned to look down and exhaled a deep breath. Then, suddenly, he turned to look back up at Naruto. His eyes had a sort of determined look to them. He gave Naruto the slightest of nods. A silent agreement had been made between them. Who would have thought that two kids who hated each other so much could read each other's emotions so well?
Naruto turned back to Ibiki, who stood before the room of Genin with his arms crossed. Angrily, Naruto forcefully slammed his hand down on his desk and stood up.
"Don't underestimate us!" Naruto yelled fiercely. "We would never quit, not after getting this far! My team has been through everything you could imagine! Your stupid question is nothing! We'll get it right, then just move on to the next part of the Exam!"
"I'll repeat myself just this once," Ibiki said warningly. "This is a question that could very well affect the rest of your life. Quit now, while you still have the chance."
"I'll repeat myself," Naruto growled, mimicking the instructor. "I said we're staying, and we're going to get it right. I never go back on my word, that's my nindo!"
No more Genin raised their hands to quit. Ibiki waited several moments, looking to his proctors for confirmation. They all nodded their heads at him. Naruto anxiously waited in his seat, preparing himself for the tenth question. Whatever it was, if it was half as hard as Ibiki made it out to be, it would be the hardest test question he'd ever had in his entire life…
"Well then, it looks like nobody else is going to quit," Ibiki stated, looking around the room again. "In that case…" he trailed off and cleared his throat.
Here it comes… Naruto thought.
"Congratulations," Ibiki said. "You've all just passed the first exam."
"Say what?" asked Sakura from the back. "What about answering the tenth question?"
"You already did," said Ibiki, his face splitting into a large grin. "The decision you had to make was the tenth question. And you all answered it correctly."
"Then what were all the other questions for?" asked Temari, looking furious. "It was all just an act!"
"It was not an act," said Ibiki. "They served a purpose."
"Such as?"
"They were to test your skills in gathering information. Cheating, in other words."
"But you said—"
"I said that there would be a two point deduction for each time you were caught," interjected Ibiki. "I did not say that you would immediately fail the test, or that cheating was even against the rules. That should have been a red flag right there."
Naruto laughed to himself nervously. He hadn't even tried to answer the questions or test his skills; he just used the test as a way to pull a prank on Sasuke.
"Once you got to the actual test, you may have noticed that the questions were a bit difficult," Ibiki went on. "Very difficult. So difficult, in fact, that no normal Genin would be able to have a chance at answering them correctly. The test practically demanded that you cheat. To help you Genin along, we had two Chunin who had memorized the answers put in among you."
At that, two ninjas sitting down in different parts of the room suddenly raised their hands, signaling that they were the Chunin. Ibiki continued.
"Many of you figured out the test was a trap; the others were probably too lazy to try and figure out the questions and only cheated to make things easier. The ones who were no good at information gathering, or cheating, were weeded out and failed." He reached up and removed the bandana on his head.
His head was bald, and riddled with scars from burn marks, slashes, and punctures where screws had been used. He had clearly been severely tortured some time in the past.
"Information gathering is a crucial skill that all Chunin would need. As leaders, getting the wrong information could cost them not just their own life, but the lives of their entire units." In his case, it looked like false information had gotten him tortured. He put the bandana back on, covering his hideous scars. "The information you obtain can't be trusted if you don't keep your presence a secret. If the enemy knows you're there spying, he'll toss out false information like a fisherman with a lure. Learn that and learn it well. Don't do the enemy's work for him and put yourself in danger. This is why you were all maneuvered into cheating. Those who were no good at secretly attaining information are not fit to be Chunin."
Naruto squirmed uncomfortably in his seat, and Temari suddenly called out again.
"But what was with the tenth question?" she asked. "I don't get its purpose."
"The tenth question was the first real test of the Chunin Exam," Ibiki said simply. "It gave you a nasty choice, a no-win situation. It basically put each of you in charge of your entire team. By choosing to stay, you could have potentially dragged your entire team to its destruction. Those who left took the easy way out, not to mention potentially going against the wishes of their fellow teammates. Now, all of you pretend that this had been a mission. You were the Chunin in charge of your team, and you had to decide between accepting a potentially deadly mission or staying home, keeping your asses safe from harm. You all accepted that dangerous mission, and are thus capable of attaining the rank of Chunin. No real leader would only take missions that were guaranteed to be safe. Doing safe missions are the job of Genin, and that's all the applicants who quit are fit to be. Well…the first exam is concluded. You all pass to the second stage. Good luck to all of you; you've proven you're capable of becoming Chunin."
"That's right we do!" said Naruto excitedly. He felt his confidence in his ability to be a Chunin revived. So what if he was no good at information gathering? He could get better at it later. He knew to make critical decisions on the fly, and that was something you couldn't improve.
Without warning, something smashed through one of the glass windows of the room, causing everyone to cry out in alarm. It spun in midair as it sailed across the room, and four kunais shot out, hitting the ceiling and floor in separate places. A large banner appeared, being held in place by the kunais. The strange object hit the floor… and stood up. It was a ninja, a Jonin kunoichi. She was wearing a large coat over a metal mesh suit and shinguards. Her hair was done up in a bun with spiky edges, and she wore a strange pendant hung around her neck that looked like a large talon or fang.
"None of you pathetic Genin are in any position to be celebrating!" she declared in a loud voice. "I'm Anko Mitarashi, the instructor for the second part of the Exam. And when I'm through with you, I guarantee there'll be less than half the competition left!"
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Quote of the Day:
"There are days when it takes all you've got just to keep up with the losers."
- Robert Orben