Chapter 53
"First, you Menma and the candidates hidden from the sound" said Ibiki "Knock it off who told you you can fight? You want to be failed before we even begun?"
Menma and the sound ninja lower their guard.
"Sorry it's our first time" said Dosu. "Guess we're a little jumpy."
"I just act on impulse sir" said Menma "They attack a fellow leaf shinobi I defend"
Ibiki chuckles at Menma. He turns to the rest. "I'll say this once so listen up. There will be no combat between candidates no attacking each other without the permission of your proctor and even then, the use of fatal force is strictly prohibited. Anyone who even thinks of messing with me will be disqualified immediately. Got it?"
Sairana and Aylana look at Menma. "Relax guys" said Menma "I got this
"No fatal force" said Zaku "That's no fun"
"Now if you're ready, we'll proceed to the first stage of the Chunin exams. Hand over your paper work and in return you'll get a number. This number determines where you will sit. We'll start the written test once you're all seated."
"Wait did he say written?" said Naruto and Menma
Naruto sees the large stack of test answers.
"No!" said Naruto "Not a written test no way!"
Everyone gets seated in a large classroom. Menma is seated next to Sakura. Sairana is by Shino two seats in front of Menma slightly to the left just two seats from Naruto. Naruto is by Hinata Aylana is next to Sasuke near the corner of the room in viewing distance of Sairana and Menma. Ibiki taps on the chalkboard.
"Everyone eyes front" said Ibiki. "There are a few rules you need to be aware of. And I won't answer any questions so pay attention." He starts writing on the chalkboard. "Rule #1 the test is conducted on a point reduction scale. Contrary to what some may be use to, you all begin the test with 10 points. One point will be deducted for each answer you get wrong. So if you miss three, your final score will be seven. Rule #2 Teams will pass or fail based on the total score of all three members. Everyone gets shocked. Menma face palms and Sakura bangs her head on the desk.
"What? Wait a second" said Sakura. "We get scored as a team?!"
"Silence, I have my reasons. So shut up and listen. Rule #3 the sentinels you see position around the room are there to watch you carefully for any signs of cheating. And for every incident they spot, they will subtract 2 points from the culprit's score. Be warned, their eyes are extremely sharp and if they catch you 5 times, you'll be dismissed before the tests are even scored. Anyone fool enough to be caught cheating by the sentinels doesn't deserve to be here. If you want to be considered shinobi, then show us what exceptional shinobi you can be. Oh and one more thing, if any candidate should get a zero, and fail the test, then the entire team fails.
Menma and Sasuke turn blue in the face. "What'd he say?" said Sakura
"The final question won't be given until 15 minutes before the end of the testing period. You'll have one hour total." The clock strikes 3:30. "Begin"
Everyone flips over their test. Menma takes a look at the first question He slowly scans the rest realizing how complicated they are. "What do you think nine tails?" asked Menma
"Real complicated stuff" said nine tails
"No not the question, the test. This is defiantly a play on words similar to what Adonn sensei did with us."
"Really, what are you thinking?"
"Well take a look at these questions; they seem to be very complicated, almost impossible. Aside from maybe the first three, I don't think I can answer any of them. Sakura's smart, I'm sure she can answer the first six and Sairana can do the same. But everyone else, I'm not sure if they can especially Naruto."
"Hmm, you may be on to something. So if that's the case, then the only way to get answers is to cheat."
"Meaning that this is a test of information gathering and teamwork since the entire team passes based on a combined score." Menma looks up and sees Sairana staring at him with sharingan active. He looks directly into her eyes and the two of them find themselves in the middle of a large white void of nothingness. "Genjutsu huh"
"Exactly" said Sairana "I figured it's the best way to communicate without talking.
"Cleaver, so I guess you figured it out?"
"Yeah, they expect us to cheat and gather information."
"Does Aylana know?"
"She's busy getting answers to problem 6 through 9."
Back with Aylana, she holds out her hand over her test. "Nacs moor" A symbol under her gloves starts glowing. She closes her eyes. She sees an image of the entire room with nothing but the test answers. Only two people have answered question 6 and 7 so far. She memorizes the answers and quickly undoes the jutsu and proceeds to write the answers down.
"So what answers do you have?" asked Sairana
"One through four so far" said Menma.
"I got five; we'll exchange answers to make sure."
Suddenly, they hear a booming voice. "Number 23 fail, Number 27 fail" Sairana quickly undoes the genjutsu and Menma sees that people are starting to fail. They are being forcefully excused from the room.
"Damn that was fast" said Menma "We better make this quick."
30 minutes pass and Aylana was able to get the answers to eight of the nine questions. Sairana used her genjutsu to quickly pass it on between her and Menma. As well as record answers for herself as well. Aylana looks uses her jutsu to scan the room again looking for someone who answered the 9th question. She finally finds one towards the front of the class. She quickly memorizes it and Sairana gets the information from her. She then passes it on to Menma.
"Only five minutes left" said Sairana
"Yeah and we managed to get all the questions" said Menma.
"All but the 10th" said Aylana. "I wonder if our strategy will work for that"
"It has too we just need to make sure we coordinate ourselves" said Menma.
"Alright then get ready" said Sairana. "We'll make sure to get this right"
