Ch 14

Wally, May and I strode into the Academy, and looked at our tickets. "The first exam starts in room 201," Wally said.

I motioned towards the stairs, and we started to go up, but hallway up, May grabbed my bag, so I turned to see she'd also grabbed Wally's shirt. "What's up?"

She pointed to a desk on the ground floor. A sign nearby read: Room 201. "Isn't that room 201?" she asked.

"We're on the ground floor," I blinked my eyes, but the sign didn't change.

Wally started up on the stairs again. "Genjutsu. A trick to see which genin are hopeless, no doubt."

"Atta boy," I said and clapped him on the back, "Wally comin' through with the genjutsu know-how."

We were the first group to walk into room 201, so we went to a table in the exact middle, sat down, and I put my head down. "Wake me when the exam is going to start."

I drifted off for a moment, or at least it felt like a moment, but when May tapped my shoulder, the entire room was packed to bursting with genin. "Hm? What's goin' on?"

She pointed to the back of the room where Naruto was surrounded by genin wearing forehead protectors with a musical note logo. "One of yours is getting into it already," Wally said, "the knucklehead in orange."

I waved it off and put my head back down, "Naruto can handle any regular genin."

There was some yelling from the front of the classroom, but I ignored it, until the yelling got louder. When I looked up, there was a man in a black trench coat, holding up a slip of paper with a number one on it, he continued, "… you will sit in the seat that correlates to your number, am I clear?"

"They're separating us," Wally whispered, "why?"

The exam proctors, all chunin or higher, walked through the rows, handing out number slips. A chunin with a band of white cloth over his nose handed me number ten, and continued by. Seat number ten was dead center in the front row, putting me next to a boy in a green jumpsuit with a Hidden Leaf forehead protector tied around his waist, and Temari of the Hidden Sand. She sat down with her nose pointed up. The proctor began to explain the rules, but I wasn't listening.

"How are ya?" I asked.

"Why are you talking to me?" she demanded.

"Well, you're really pretty and I'm hoping a little flirting might get you to smile," I said, "Because I bet that's just amazing."

Her eyes widened. "I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not."

I chuckled, "Might be a little of both, if I'm honest."

A hint of a smirk tugged at her lips, but she fought it down. "Conversation over," she insisted.

"Guh," I sighed, "You're bad at flirting."

The guy to my left gave me a thumbs up, and he whispered, "I, Rock Lee, approve of your youthful expression of admiration. I myself just confessed my love before this exam."

I blushed, "Whoa. I didn't express my love. I expressed flirtation."

Temari leaned over to me, her lips inches away from my ear, and whispered so I felt her breath with each word, "Hm, you know… it's fun to watch you squirm."

When she pulled away I turned back to her, "I take it back, you're good."

"Do you understand the rules, as I have explained them, Brendan, of Olivine City!?" the lead proctor exclaimed.

Reflex took over, and I nodded, so the head proctor handed me my exam first, and the rest of the proctors went through the rows doing the same. "You have one hour, beginning now!" the proctor shouted, and walked away.

While they were passing out papers I read the chalkboard that the head proctor had been writing on. Evidently his name was Ibiki Morino, and the rules for the test were a bit unusual.

Each genin would start with ten points, having points taken from them with each wrong answer… genin scored as teams… blah, blah, blah, and if you got caught cheating five times, your entire team would be disqualified. That struck me as odd, but I continued reading. Tenth question would be revealed just before the hour.

I sat back in my chair, and stared at the blackboard. Something was up, so I looked down at the questions. Each one detailed an advanced ninja art or tactic. Way too advanced for genin. I looked back up at the chalkboard, and smiled. I couldn't get caught cheating five times, but I was allowed to be caught cheating four times. It was so obvious.

I raised my hand, and Ibiki approached me. "I gotta use the restroom," I said with a smile.

He rolled his eyes, and motioned for one of the other proctors to guide me. He put me in hand cuffs, and walked me out of the room. On the way out, I made eye contact with Naruto, who looked like he'd drank sour milk again. I winked at him, hoping he'd take the hint, but no such luck.

In the restroom, the proctor uncuffed me, and I slipped into a toilet stall. I reached into my pack, and grabbed an Aspear berry, the berry I figured I was least likely to need. I dropped the berry into the toilet bowl, and pulled out Jiton's scroll. Once he was summoned, our link resumed, and he camouflaged.

The pokescrolls only released a lot of smoke on a capture, so I was fairly certain the proctor couldn't have known, but I couldn't give him any reason to suspect my subterfuge. I had no idea how these points would be used, really, or if they would be important in the next exam, so I pulled toilet paper, ripped it, and threw it on top of my Aspear berry sporadically over the next five minutes.

When I felt like I'd sold the lie enough, I flushed, made sure the berry went away, and exited the stall. The proctor let me wash my hands, cuffed me, and brought me back to my seat, Jiton floating behind us the entire time.

Jiton levitated to the exam room's back, right hand corner, and anchored himself in the drywall with his claw. I closed my eyes, and looked around through my Pokémon. Out of the entire room, only nine genin were answering a question, and after a brief survey, I realized they were all working on different questions.

Two and two came together. They were chunin, pretending to be genin. I instructed Jiton to link up with May and Wally too. Jiton hummed with the effort of connecting our minds together, but went quiet after a moment. I felt May think: What was that?

May? Wally thought.

Jiton connected us, have you two figured it out, yet? I projected.

We shouldn't be doing this, they said we shouldn't cheat.

They said we couldn't cheat five times… Nice work Brendan.

I rolled my head forwards and then back, Okay, close your eyes, I'll have Jiton show us the answer for number one.

One by one, we answered every question. More and more genin, however, were doing the same thing. Once we had our questions answered, I pulled the plug on May and Wally, leaving me and Jiton alone again.

Maybe I was feeling cocky, or maybe I just wanted a little pay back, but turned my attention to Temari. She'd answered all of her questions, but she kept peering periodically at an empty chair a few rows back. Jiton surveyed the room, and while I found Gaara, I did not find Kankuro. He was up to something, and she was nervous.

Jiton floated over, and poked her leg, before beating a hasty retreat under my chair to avoid any potential reflex kicks. Temari's eyes shot open, and she began to tap her feet around under her desk, trying to find whatever had touched her.

Naturally, I had Jiton float up, and tap her shoulder before another hasty retreat. Her eyes were wide, but there wasn't panic there, there was hawk like precision. She kept her cool, but I wasn't done. Jiton floated under the desk, up to Temari's face, and lightly bumped her forehead.

Temari swept her hands out at a wide angle, nearly grabbing Jiton, and attracting the attention of the nearby proctors. I couldn't help it, a repressed giggle escaped me. We locked eyes, and I smirked, all mischief with a wink. She rolled her eyes, and went back to ignoring me, which made me have to fight the giggles harder.

I ultimately had to turn away from her and put my head down, I was so out of control. Rock Lee arched an eyebrow at me, so I had Jiton poke him at the base of his neck. His mouth made a tiny "o" and he whispered, "You, Brendan of Olivine City, are a canny opponent."

The mention of my home town sucked all the joy out of my soul, so I put my head down and silently fumed. Maybe Temari was right. Was I really a Hidden Leaf ninja, or was I Brendan of Olivine City, working inside the Village Hidden in the Leaves?

As if on cue, Ibiki strode to the front of the classroom, and bellowed, "We will now give out the tenth question! But before that, there are some new rules that you don't know about, so listen up."

At that moment, Kankuro walked back into the room, and Ibiki laughed, "Aha! Just in time, I hope your trip to the bathroom was as enlightening as Brendan's."

He flashed me a grin as Kankuro sat down, and I muttered, "Shit."

"Anyway," Ibiki continued, "Try not to let these new rules frighten you. Rule number 1: Each of you is free to choose not to be given the final question."

"What happens if we don't take the question?" I asked.

"If any of your team members don't take the tenth question, none of you get to go on," he said with a sadistic smile.

Conversation broke out between genin teams, but Ibiki cleared his throat, "You didn't let me finish. If you answer the tenth question, and you fail, then you will be barred from ever taking the chunin exams ever again."

Panicked silence fell. Ibiki's smile just kept getting wider. "If you don't want to take the question, raise your hand."

That was one hell of a choice. If Wally, May, or I failed, none of us would become chunin… but, I didn't raise my hand. I wanted to become a chunin now. I wanted to make a step towards my true goal: becoming a jonin, and learning Mega-evolution. I glared at Ibiki, and stayed right where I was.

However, a few genin here or there began to raise their hands. These genin were escorted out, and the room became less populated. I crossed my arms, and glared my refusal at Ibiki. Then, from the back of the class, came Naruto's voice, "Don't underestimate me! I don't quit and I don't' run!" he hollered, and I smiled, "You can act tough all you want, but you guys aren't gonna scare me off, no way! I don't care if I get stuck at genin for the rest of my life! Because I'll still be hokage someday! Believe it!"

"Damn right!" I shouted.

Ibiki looked around the room, "Well, I certainly admire your determination, if nothing else. For those remaining, there's only one thing left to do: listen to me when I tell you that you've all passed the first exam!"

"What are you on?" Sakura shouted, "What do you mean? What's the tenth question?!"

"There was no written tenth question," Ibiki said with a smile that completely lacked any of his earlier malice, "by deciding to stay in the face of extreme consequences, you pass the first exam."

"Wait," Temari said, "The first nine questions… those were, what? A waste of time?"

I found a grin spreading on my own face, "he was getting rid of the cowards, and the weak."

"My newest hero!" May declared from somewhere in the back.

Temari rapped the side of her head with her knuckles, and said, "Oh. Now I feel silly."

I urged Jiton to tap her right shoulder, and drop his camouflage. Temari jumped, and then Jiton flew back into my arms. "No, now you feel silly."

"I totally get it!" Naruto declared, "Never had me fooled, not even for a moment."

I snorted with laughter, and Temari gave me a look. "That kid's an idiot, but I can't help but like the blockhead."

"Explain it again, though, just in case somebody else doesn't get it," Naruto said.

Ibiki sighed, and said, "To be a Chunin squad leader means you will have to make tough, sometimes even suicidal choices. So I made everyone here face a choice like that. Chunin are expected to complete their missions, and eschew the safer of two paths.

"And now that you've passed my test I have nothing left for you but a fond wish for good luck in the rest of the exams for the rest of you," Ibiki finished, "Get ready."

A maroon ball of cloth flew through one the room's windows, and unfurled, revealing kunai tied to each of the corners, and a woman. The kunai anchored the cloth, which ended up being an improvised banner, and the woman pointed at us, "Are you worms ready for the second exam? Too bad! It starts now! Follow me!"

Ibiki sighed, "You're early again, Anko."

Anko was average height, with a chain mesh shirt, a trench coat keeping her "decent," and a beige skirt that was too small and tight to conceal anything ninja related. She gave Ibiki a look, and then eyed each of us. "How did this many pass?"

"They're that good," he said simply.

"Yeah, right. You softie," Anko accused, "I'll tell your squad leaders where you guys will meet me tomorrow. Dismissed!"

AN: writing this story to keep writing while my actual book is getting read by beta readers. Thanks for reading my practice.