And so the Chunin exams begin.
Yeah... Don't expect a masterpiece here. I'm not that creative.
So, enjoy. Semi-important author's note down below.
"Keep your heads as much as you can. Work together, and never listen to what another team or proctor tells you unless they have valid proof. You're my kids. You can handle anything, so don't back down either." I ordered with my hands on both Tiburon and Cielo's faces.
"Yes Mom." Tiburon sighed, giving me a deadpan expression. "We're not five. We can take care of ourselves."
"We will be fine, Alice." Cielo assured me.
I sighed. "I know, but I still worry. Don't trust anyone out there but yourselves and as soon as you can, make a password or something of the sort that only the three of you would possibly be able to know so you can make sure there are no imposters. Got it?"
"Yes." Cielo nodded.
"You kick all of those kids' asses, you two." I continued. "I don't care what's going on. You don't start any fights with people, but if someone starts one with you, you had better fucking finish it. Understand?"
Tiburon put his hands on either side of my face and pulled me closer so he could look me in the eye. "Mom. Calm down. We know."
I glared at him. "Shut up. You'll understand when you have kids."
"Whatever." He sighed. He released my head to hug me. "Love you."
"I love you too." I told him. "Be safe and take care of each other." I moved onto Cielo after releasing Tiburon and shared the same farewell with him. "And good luck. And if you can cheat without being caught, you cheat without being caught."
"Thank you." Cielo said with a tiny smile. "Come on Tiburon. Sasuke-sensei is waiting for us with Sanaa at the head of the compound."
Tiburon nodded. "See you Mom."
I watched them run off before glancing down at Sable and Ash who were by my side. "I'm going to die."
Sable licked my hand and howled lowly, her tail wagging.
I sighed. "Let's go find Itachi. Then we can head to the Hokage Tower."
Third Person!
Tiburon sighed as he walked into the building that would be holding the first of the three stages of the exam. According to his family, the first stage was a written exam. He wasn't worried about it. He was confident in his ability to answer any question and he was confident in his ability to use his Sharingan to cheat if he didn't know an answer.
He wasn't worried about Cielo. Cielo was more intelligent than he was when it came to book smarts, and Cielo's Kekkei Genkai would help him cheat without being caught. The only one he was concerned for was Sanaa. However, Sanaa told him not to worry about her and Cielo had smirked when she said that so he was sure they had thought of something.
"Who do you think is giving the exam?" Sanaa asked, bouncing between Tiburon and Cielo as they walked towards the room that contained the massing chakras of the other participants.
"Mom said Ibiki. She said the past is repeating itself so we'll see." Tiburon shrugged. "I have no idea what she meant by that but who knows."
Cielo opened the door to the waiting room and held it open for his team to go in first. "We will have no trouble regardless of who is giving the exam."
Sanaa beamed, skipping into the room. "Duh! Thanks Cielo."
"No problem." He said quietly. "Go ahead, Tiburon. And remember, hide your Sharingan until you need it. Keep the element of surprise."
Tiburon dipped his head and entered the room before his stoic friend. He looked around the room and raised his eyebrow at the killing intent that filled the room. "Yikes."
"Hey Kōri!" Sanaa waved, gaining the attention of the white haired boy and his team. They waved back and meandered their way over to Sasuke's Genin team.
"Hey there Sanaa. Hey Tiburon and Cielo." Kōri greeted. "It's good to see you three made it."
"Yeah." Tiburon nodded, his hands in the pockets of his hooded jacket. "Do you know who the first exam proctor is?"
"Not a clue." Kasai shrugged. "Any ideas?"
"I'm guessing Ibiki." Tiburon admitted.
"What about me?"
All six kids looked around to see the scarred face of the head of the T&I Force. Tiburon scoffed quietly while Sanaa beamed at him and Cielo looked over him quietly.
"I was guessing you were going to be the exam proctor for the written test." Tiburon explained boredly.
"You're Alice's boy aren't you?" Ibiki asked.
Tiburon nodded. "Yep."
"That explains a lot." He said with a sigh.
"You have no idea." Cielo scoffed.
Ibiki smirked down at him before a frown erupted on his face and he looked over the room. "Alright maggots! Listen up! I want all of you to come up here and get a number. You will be seated accordingly by your number for the written portion of the exam!" He glared over the occupants of the room before his frown deepened. "You have two minutes!"
The room exploded with movement as everyone rushed forward to get a number. Tiburon simply reached around Ibiki and grabbed six numbers before handing them out to his team and Kōri's team. He inspected his paper boredly which had a thick 16 on it.
"What number are you?" Sanaa asked.
"Sixteen." He admitted. "You?"
"I'm two." She chirped. "Cielo?"
Cielo showed them his card. "Thirty."
Kōri, Kasai, and Ken were numbered forty, twenty-one, and eight respectively. Now that they had their numbers, they went to their seats and sat down, looking over the others in the room as they hurried to obey Ibiki.
"Alright." Ibiki growled when everyone was seated. "The rules of this test are very simple. There are nine questions on the test which you have fifty minutes to complete. At the final ten minutes of the hour, I will give you the tenth question. The last question will make or break you regardless of how well you do with the other nine questions. There will be no cheating, hence the Chūnin placed around the room. They will be watching all of you carefully and be monitoring your cheating. If you are caught cheating three times, you will be thrown out and your entire team will fail and you'll be sent out to try again next year." He looked around. "Any questions."
"Yeah, how the hell are we supposed to answer these questions if you haven't given any of us a pencil?" Tiburon asked, raising his hand. "I'm not writing my answers in blood."
Ibiki glared at him. "Who else doesn't have a pencil?"
Everyone raised their hands.
"Why are none of you prepared?" Ibiki demanded.
Sanaa snickered. "We weren't told to bring one."
Ibiki handed a box of pencils to one of the Chūnin who began passing them out. He sighed. "Any other questions?"
Tiburon raised his hand again.
"What do you want, Uchiha?" Ibiki sighed.
Tiburon lowered his hand and smirked a bit. "What language are we supposed to be writing in?"
Everyone stared at him.
"What?" He asked, glaring at people who stared at him. "I know three languages. Is that a crime?"
"Japanese." Ibiki sighed.
"Cool." Tiburon nodded. "I'm done now."
"Alright, now that everyone is done…" He sighed when Sanaa raised her hand. "What?"
"I have to use the little girls' room." Sanaa said with a smile.
Ibiki stared at her. "Really?"
She nodded, still smiling.
"Does anyone else have to use the bathroom?" He wondered.
Twenty people raised their hands.
"Go then. You have three minutes." Ibiki sighed.
After a brief potty break…
"Anything else before we get started?" Ibiki demanded.
No one moved.
"Alright. Turn your tests over and begin." He barked.
Tiburon chuckled to himself as he turned his paper over. He read the first question and smirked to himself. It was a math problem about the trajectory of a kunai. Kakuzu and Sasori were extremely advanced in math and had taught the three of them countless equations and strategies. Not to mention, Sanaa's mother was fairly decent at some things, and this sort of math was her area of expertise.
He wasn't even sure if he needed to activate his Sharingan to cheat.
And all the while, people were caught cheating and he smirked to himself with amusement while teams began dropping out like flies.
Meanwhile…
Sanaa hummed quietly to herself as she drew a smiley face and a heart beside her name before looking at the first question. She read over it and paused briefly before closing her eyes and flipping her hair over her right shoulder.
Two seats behind her, Cielo chuckled to himself and focused his chakra into a fine line before sending it into the back of Sanaa's neck. He then stemmed an image into her eyes, cutting off her vision and replacing it with his own as he showed her the answer to the first, second and third questions since he had already completed them while she was doodling.
Sanaa smiled when Cielo released her and she rubbed her hands together before getting started. She had just finished the third question when Cielo fed the answers to the last few questions to her.
Cielo released Sanaa a few moments later and glanced over to the other side of the room to see Tiburon drawing boredly on the back of his paper. He smirked and shook his head before turning his paper over boredly to wait out the rest of the twenty minutes of the test until the tenth question.
Sanaa flipped her paper over and began drawing a picture. She was so intent on the picture, she didn't notice Ibiki coming over to her desk, since she sat in the front row, and watching her draw.
He raised his eyebrow as she drew, impressed by her skill. He knew her father proclaimed himself an artist, but he was impressed by a nine-year-old's skill in drawing.
She was drawing a picture of each of the Akatsuki members, small enough so she could fit all of them doing something, but large enough to add in detail. She had just finished drawing Akasuna no Sasori with one of his puppets when the timer at the front of the room when off.
He glanced over his shoulder as the timer rang through the room. "Alright, pencils down!"
Everyone set their pencils down and looked up at him as he walked back to the center of the front of the room to shut off the timer and look over the participants. "Only 25 teams remain…" He crossed his arms and smirked. "Now for the tenth and final question. If anyone would like to pull out now, you may."
No one moved.
"No one? No one wants to leave even if this question will be the deciding factor if you pass or not?" He asked, raising his eyebrow. "Know that if you get this question wrong, not only will you fail, you will also be stuck as a Genin for the rest of your career."
Gasps sounded throughout the room.
"This is your last chance to back out. Either stay and risk failing, or back out and try again another time." Ibiki growled.
Hands shot up all over the room and Tiburon watched teams leave in threes. He raised his eyebrow and looked over his team. Cielo looked bored, and Sanaa had picked up her pencil again and was drawing.
"Anyone else?" Ibiki asked as he looked over the eighteen remaining teams. When no one moved he raised his eyebrow. "Last call."
"Well that is just sad." Kōri mused.
Cielo glanced at him and lifted an eyebrow. "How so?"
"Obviously this question is just a ploy. There is no way Konoha could force Genin from other villages to stay Genin forever. Konoha doesn't have that sort of authority. Besides, I'd love to see him try and keep me a Genin forever. It's rather pathetic to see all of these people quit." Kōri explained.
Cielo smirked. "True."
"Can we just move on?" Tiburon asked with a sigh. "Obviously no one else is going."
Ibiki glared at Tiburon before looking over the others. "Alright. The tenth question is…"
He paused for dramatic effect.
"Nonexistent." He finished.
Confused looks broke out over almost every face.
Kōri smirked. "Called it."
"There never was a tenth question." Ibiki continued before people could start an uproar. "This test was never about what you knew, it was to test your resolve and willingness to take risks. All of you passed and will now proceed to the second stage of the exam." He shooed them away. "Head to the Forest of Death. The next stage of the exam starts in two hours. Your proctor will meet you there."
"Finally!" Sanaa cheered, drawing everyone's attention.
Everyone looked at her.
She rolled her eyes dramatically. "Hidan-oji's hair is always a pain in the butt to draw, but I finally got it yeah!" She held it up as proof. "See?"
Tiburon face-palmed. "Come on, Sanaa. It's time to go."
"Okay!" She chirped. She set her paper down and skipped out of the room.
Ibiki stared after them before shaking his head. "Kids." He went about the room, collecting the tests, looking over the answers to see who answered and who didn't and looking at the snide notes the participants wrote. He paused when he got to Tiburon's seat which was the last of the first section.
He picked up Tiburon's paper, nodding at all of the correct answers, but rolling his eyes at the notes.
I'm bored.
This test sucks.
The guy next to me smells like crap and I swear he picked his nose and ate his booger. That's fucking gross, dude.
BORED!
A few of the notes stemmed off into different languages that Ibiki couldn't understand, before he flipped over the test and sighed.
My mom said to tell you Hi. And she told me to sing you a song, but I refuse. So, I'll write you the lyrics.
That note was followed by the Masochism Tango that Alice had sang so long ago when she was being tortured by Konoha. Beneath that there was another note, one that made Ibiki pale just a little.
My uncles and dad said if they see you while we're here, they were going to kill you. Something about payback for my mom or something. Just thought I'd warn you. Kisame Hoshigaki, Hidan, Akasuna no Sasori, and my dad seemed pretty adamant about it.
So watch out.
Tibby makes me laugh.
Fun Fact: Marilyn Monroe had six toes on one foot.
Answer: Favorite non-anime TV show... Probably the Office or The Big Bang Theory. I adore Sheldon.
QotC: If you were handcuffed to a member of the Akatsuki for a day, who would you want it to be, what would you do, and why would you pick that person/do those things?
WotC: Forest - Bosque
Alright, time for author's note.
1. Get used to the POV switching from first person Alice a lot. As the kids grow, it will probably be switching to third person rather often to focus on them when Alice isn't around.
2. My updating schedule which is typically Tuesdays and Saturdays is probably going to change. My boss likes to schedule me from open to close on Saturdays nowadays so... yeah. So, I have a question for all of you. Would you rather me make a new schedule, or try something new? One of my friends, who is a veteran on the site, has suggested I update based on number of reviews per chapter. Now, see, I'm not a big fan of this because I'm not a review whore. But, it could potentially have me updating more often because you guys are nothing short of fucking amazing.
It's all up to you guys though, so tell me what you think in a review or something and I'll go for the majority.
Bye~