Before truly getting started, Ibiki explained the rules of the first stage. The ten questions system, the degressive points, nothing here was new to Hitomi. And yet, it was fascinating to watch the subtle way he applied more and more pressure on the Genin in the room, and the effects of each of his words on them. He was a master at his craft; if psychological torture had been an art, this scene would have been called a masterpiece.
Then, Ibiki started explaining the team point system. Hitomi saw Naruto shift nervously on his chair so, her hands under the desk as to not be seen, she formed the Rat Hand Seal and took his shadow in her for a few seconds, just enough time to let him know he wasn't alone, she planned on helping him. This was a complex field to navigate, with all the other shadows to dodge without even seeing them sometimes, but she was a genius, wasn't she? Between her sixth sense and sight, she managed. She just had to be careful and progress slowly.
Then the proctor went over the rules about cheating. The clues the man was scattering in his words were a bit obvious, but it was true that most contestants had been in school not so long ago and had learned there that cheating was bad. Hitomi couldn't help but smile as the anxiety climbed around her, a vicious and satisfied little rictus that only her Konohajin neighbour saw, and that made him go sickly pale.
Finally, Ibiki informed them that, if someone lost all their points, either forr bad answers or clumsy cheating, their whole team would be disqualified. In reaction, the tension in the room intensified once more. Perfectly serene, Hitomi watched that unfold as if nothing could get to her: during this stage, it would be close enough to the truth. She met Ibiki's eyes and beamed at him. She almost missed the way her sunny smile threw him off-balance for less than a second, but was glad she saw it.
When he gave the signal to start, she read each question carefully and made sure she could answer all of them without cheating. Her hands still hidden under the desk, she formed the Rat Hand Seal once more and touched Naruto and Temari's shadows. They were the only ones in the alliance to have no way of cheating safely. One of the planted Chūnin was in front of Ino, who had noticed and was waiting for him to be done writing his answers before possessing him to steal them. As for Team Eight, Sasuke, Gaara and Kankurō, they all had means to collect the answers without being noticed.
Still calm as a cloudless sky, she picked up a pen, making her allies mimic her movements. They weren't resisting her manipulations at all, which meant the cost in chakra for the technique was very light. Despite that, she wanted to be done quickly. The first question gave her a text to decipher, absurdly easy with her Library full of codes far above her grade, which she had learned thanks to Ensui. He didn't believe in holding back information, to his young apprentice's greatest delight.
The second question was about trajectory calculation. For that one, Hitomi wrote her process down, took the time to reread her work so she wouldn't miss a writing error. The third required contestants to describe the circumstances surrounding the creation of a new shinobi clan in the Land of Fire, something she had studied with her grandfather, Yūhi Shinku. The questions continued on, one after the other, far more challenging that what was expected of a Genin. If Hitomi hadn't been such a bookworm, she wouldn't have been able to answer half of them.
Once she was done with the ninth question about ancient laws, Hitomi put her pen down and let go of Temari and Naruto, watching them slightly relax. She had been quick, barely ten minutes, and yet other students had started working on their cheating. Gaara had awakened his sand, while Akamaru, perched on Kiba's head, was seeking answers for his master. A vibration in the air informed her that two pairs of Byakugan had been activated, then another one told her that Sasuke's Sharingan was working too. Other students used a variety of stratagems, more or less subtle. A first Genin was disqualified for repeated cheating, sending a wave of anxiety through the room.
Hitomi started gently drumming her fingers on the desk, the rhythm reminiscent of morse code. She had taught her teammates to use it but, this time, the sound was so small because only Hai needed to hear it. Maybe Dosu of Otogakure could as well, but it would be gibberish to him. 'Begin,' she ordered the tiny cat who was somewhere in the fourth row. Silence floated and stretched… until a scream of terror tore away the apparent calm of the room. And Hitomi stayed there watching, perfectly still and impassive, as two monitors were forced to drag Hai's poor victim out of the room, his teammates in tow.
A few minutes later, a girl started to laugh hysterically and was disqualified as well, then an old man broke into desperate tears. Hoshihi hadn't lied: Hai was redoubtable and merciless. With the slightest brush of her fur against someone's skin – so easy to reach with those stupid open boots all shinobi seemed so fond of – she was able to trap her victim in any illusion she fancied. It was maybe even more subtle: she picked the emotion she wanted to impose on her target, and their brain did the work for her, creating their deepest fear, a scene they couldn't help but laugh at, something that made them cry… The possibilities were as endless as the range of human emotion.
Those illusions were very hard to break, since they were based on touch. Except for taste, touch was the least exploited sense in Genjutsu – and thus the one most people didn't even learn how to defend. Kurenai would have been able to defeat those imposed emotions, but Hitomi couldn't say the same of any other shinobi she knew. During the next thirty minutes, Hai put six other teams out of commission, bringing the total number of her victims to twenty-seven. She was clever enough to always wait a few minutes between two attacks, which made her that much harder to spot – or perhaps the monitors had decided to indulge her, deciding she was discreet enough. Finally, Hitomi rasped her foot against the ground to make Hai understand it was time to stop: Ibiki would soon announce the tenth question.
Kankurō went back from the toilet just in time. He got chewed by Ibiki, but the man told him this only counted as one botched cheating attempt. Hitomi sighed with relief and relaxed on her chair, unknotting muscles she hadn't realised were tense. A faint smile even played on her lips as she met the proctor's eyes once more, slowly raising an eyebrow as if to make him understand she had been the origin of the disturbance in his classroom during the whole stage. She thought she saw the shadow of an approving smirk on his lips, but it was hard to tell. Anyway, she'd be happy enough with that.
"Well! Time to go to the tenth question. But before telling you what it is, I have to warn you of a new rule."
A perfect silence settled over them. Hitomi felt Hai freeze; the she-cat probably feared the brush of her paws against the floor would make her noticeable in this absolute absence of noise apart from faint breathing. Her summoner approved: the mix of bravery and quick thinking the apprentice was showing was very promising. She had to tell that to Hoshihi as soon as she could, and they still had to take the time for her to keep the kitten in the physical world for six moons without interruption to teach her the shinobi ways.
"It's a rather upsetting rule, let me tell you. Well, first, I'm gonna ask you to decide: which ones amongst you want to continue and try to answer that question, and which ones want to refrain?"
"Before we can choose, you'd have to explain what's happening if we decide to refrain!" Temari snapped.
Ibiki closed his eyes for a moment, unmistakable gravity taking place on his features like a mask he'd just put on. Oh, he was good, so fucking good. When he opened his eyes again, his will was so intensely visible it almost seemed to materialise, not exactly killing intent but intent nonetheless, crystalised enough to make chills run through the ranks of Genin. His voice took on ominous accents when he continued. "It's very simple: if you refrain, your point total goes down to zero, and you and your team are disqualified."
"Well, who's even gonna want that?" a Kusajin ninja in the first row asked.
"Ah, yes, you'd think that, but you haven't heard about the new rule." Ibiki smiled amiably then, and it was bloody terrifying, as far from the cute beam he kept for special occasions as possible. "The ones who decide to continue but can't answer the tenth question correctly will be banned from the Chūnin exam forever!"
Stupefaction froze the whole room. Utterly fascinated, Hitomi watched the way the proctor toyed with his prey, his whole presence so intense and crushing it was almost an entity of its own. At one moment, the impression was so confusing the girl casted a quick Kai to dissipate any eventual genjutsu implied: there was none. He was just that good. And terrifying, but mostly good, because she kinda knew him – he was the man who had lost a bet to her mother and had had to babysit her, but he was also the Torture and Intelligence Department's director.
"Where does this rule come from?" Kiba asked. "Many here have attempted the exam more than once!"
"Ah, yes. Unfortunately for you, this year, I make the rules. But don't complain, you still have the possibility to save your careers."
"Oh, really?" an Amejin drawled.
"The ones who don't feel they are good enough to continue can still decide to quit here and now, and take the exam again in six months. It's as simple as that." And it really sounded like it was when he put it into such short words. If Hitomi hadn't been aware of the manipulation, she would be in the same emotional state as the others – a mess, really. Would she have been able to take it, or would she have chosen to quit? "If everyone understands, let's get started. Those who don't want to take the tenth question, raise your hand, and give me your seat number before leaving the room."
Slowly, people trickled out. One after the other, contestants raised their hand, taking their team along their fall. They all looked mentally raw and exhausted, undoubtedly sensitive to Ibiki's manipulations. Hitomi, while she observed the whole thing, couldn't help the relief that washed along her spine: those weren't going to go through the second stage, which meant she didn't have to fight them.
If only she could have done anything to comfort Naruto… He raised a trembling hand then slammed it on his desk with a crash that made Hinata and several of the remaining contestants jump, making her understand that no, her brother wasn't breaking down under the pressure. "I'm not a coward!" he yelled. "I won't quit, I won't back down! Go on, ask your fucking question, and I don't give one fuck if I'm to stay a Genin my whole life, I'll still become Hokage with my Will of Fire, believe it!" Torture master and jinchūriki stared down at each other for a tense moment as Hitomi lightheadedly realised it was the first time she heard her brother swear, Ibiki dignified and impassive, Naruto almost mocking, fuming with scorching determination.
"Think about it," the man attempted. "It's your life you're bargaining here. After that, you won't be able to retreat anymore, it's now or never."
"I never take back my word," Naruto growled. "It's how I see my nindō!"
People in the room started smiling, suddenly relaxing, as if the anguish they had felt just a moment before was just a bad dream, and just like that Hitomi knew Naruto had won. Against Ibiki fucking Morino.
"You're brave," the proctor sighed. "Very well… I thereby announce that everyone in this room passes the first stage of the Chūnin exam!"
Stupor came back to the room. Even Hitomi's friends looked dumbfounded at best, so much so that she plastered an air of faint surprise on her features. The only unfazed one was Shikamaru, napping on his desk like nothing could reach him – sometimes she thought it was the case, then she remembered she couldn't have been farther from the truth.
"What about the tenth question?" a Takijin girl asked.
"There never was a tenth question! Or, rather, let's say that the alternative I presented you with was the tenth question."
"And what about the first nine, then? Were they meaningless?"
"No, not at all. They were a way for us to judge how you handled collecting intel and communicating without getting caught. Despite the immense pressure on your shoulders with the point system, you had to not only spot the Chūnin amongst you, but manage to cheat on them or on someone who had cheated, without getting caught by the monitors who had eyes on you at all times."
When they heard this, several Genin let out relieved laughs, bragging about how hard it had been – and how well they had managed. As for Hitomi, she stared at the examiners. She didn't doubt for a moment that every cheating attempt had been noticed, including her own, and that the monitors had just decided it was good enough for the grade they were hoping to get promoted to.
"Anyway… Some weren't good enough, which means they were disqualified." Slowly, Ibiki's gloved hands untied his forehead protector, which he had been wearing as a bandana. He stood there, his back perfectly straight, allowing the Genin to observe what happened when one got caught outside, in real life. His scalp was scarred and burned, the skin so damaged no hair could grow there anymore. Hitomi could only imagine the pain he had had to feel between his torturer's hands.
"Intelligence can sometimes be of the utmost importance," he continued in a surprisingly soft tone. "During a mission or battle, you sometimes have to risk your life to pull it out of the enemy. If you get busted doing so, by the enemy or anyone, really, even a civilian, the intel you risked your life for might not be accurate anymore. Remember this! Having fake data is placing your teammates' lives, or even your whole village, in jeopardy. That's why we decided to make you find a way to cheat to know the answers. It was the best way to decide who has what it takes."
"Still," Temari said, "I don't understand what the tenth question was about."
Ibiki smiled, and this time it was the sunny, sincere expression that made Hitomi relax just like when she was a child, because she knew it was genuine. "The tenth question was the most important of the whole stage. You had a choice: continue or quit. A very hard choice to make, isn't it? The ones who prefer to quit take their team down with them, but the ones who don't answer the question correctly lose the right to ever become a Chūnin. How can one react to such a dilemma?"
Only silence answered his question. The contestants were all reliving their moments of doubts and anguish in front of said dilemma, like an echo of what they had truly felt at that moment, in the loving care of Konoha's best torturer – which most of them were unaware of.
"Let's put it in other terms, shall we? Let's suppose you're all Chūnin. Your war chief assigns you a mission, demands that you steal a secret scroll. You don't know anything about the ninjas guarding it: their numbers, the techniques and weapons they use, their level… You know nothing. And you can't know either if they have laid traps for you, of course. What would you do then, accept the mission or refuse it? Do you think you could slip away just because you're afraid for your or your teammates' lives? No matter the risks, there are missions you can't get away from."
Hitomi's mind drifted off to the Land of Waves. The mission had been one of those, stuffed with unknown parameters and dangerous opponents. And yet, not even once had she thought she'd better quit, run away, and she knew Naruto and Sasuke hadn't either. Going on had been the obvious choice, the only one they could even conceive.
"Giving your companions courage and being able to overcome adversity are some of the main qualities we look for in a Chūnin. The ones who are afraid to risk their lives, the ones who back down in front of uncertainty, the ones who quit before trying… Those weaklings don't deserve to become Chūnin."
All the Genin still in the room straightened as they heard those words, Hitomi amongst them. She felt proud of herself and her teammates, and her friends as well, proud of the way they had resisted and fought with their very own weapons. She wasn't sure she was good enough to become a Chūnin yet, but that criteria at least she could say without blushing or lying that she was meeting it.
"But you have decided to continue. For me, that means you have successfully answered the tenth question. I believe you are ready to face the numerous difficulties that will await you in the following stages of the exam. You just went through the first door. The first stage of the Chūnin exam is over! The only thing left for me is to wish you good luck."
"Great!" Naruto beamed. "You can count on me!"
A little laugh full of affection formed between Hitomi's lips, soft and comforting like a thick blanket in the middle of a storm. Such was the effect of Naruto's optimism and sheer will on people. One day, that sunny influence would make him an awesome Hokage. She hoped she would be there to see it.
Suddenly, a window exploded, making the monitor who was standing next to it jump out of the way. A rain of glass washed over the ground, some of the shards even embedding themselves in Ibiki's boots – and yet he didn't even bat an eye. A big, black banner unfolded, suspended to the blackboard by two kunai. The holes they left would probably make the teacher fume with anger during the week. In front of the banner stood a surprisingly tall woman, her violet hair tied in a high ponytail that was kind of similar to a Nara hairdo. Her coat was the coolest Hitomi had ever seen, and there was something very intimidating in her clothing, between the steel fishnet jumpsuit and the very short leather skirt she was wearing over it. She was beautiful, like toxic flowers were.
"Don't cheer just yet, brats! I'm Mitarashi Anko, and I'm gonna be your proctor for the second stage of the Chūnin exam. No time to lose, follow me!"
A sceptic silence answered her order. Hitomi couldn't suppress a smile but hid it behind her hand – she really didn't want to make Orochimaru's former student her enemy, thank you very much. She loved her life in Konoha; ending her life diced to feed a serpent wasn't her favourite plan.
"Ibiki, you passed twenty teams?" the woman snapped. "Sixty contestants, really? Your stage was too fucking easy if that many passed!"
"I'd rather say that there were a lot of good contestants this time around," the proctor said.
"Pff, doesn't matter. With what I prepared for them, half of them will be thrown out before my stage is done, at the very least. Oh, just thinking about it makes me shiver in excitement… All of you! Come with me. I'll explain what the test is once we're there."
Docile, the students left their seats and started to come down towards the door. Hitomi, as she walked near the place where Hai was hiding, gestured for her to jump on her shoulder. The little cat obeyed, her hop formidable for her stature, and sunk her claws in her summoner's leather kimono to stabilise her landing. "Thank you for your help, Hai-chan. You can go back to the spiritual world. Tell Hoshihi I'll report to him as soon as I have a bit of quiet around, if you don't mind."
"Gotcha, Lady Summoner! See you soon!" the she-cat chirped before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
A smile on her lips, the girl went to join her adopted brothers, who were mingling in the crowd of remaining contestants. They seemed to be talking about the first stage, what they had learned and gotten from it.
"Ah, Hitomi! You saw what happened during the test? People were doing weird stuff all the time."
"I know, Naruto. I asked Hai-chan to put several teams out with her genjutsu. I have to say she handled herself remarkably well, I didn't expect her to be that good already."
"That was you? But why did you ask her to do that?"
"Because a lot of those people would have been against us during the next stages. The more people I disqualified, the better our chances became. It's everything that matters to me."
"But it's cheating!"
"Ninjas cheat, dumbass," Sasuke drawled. "It was even the goal of that test. Weren't you relieved when Hitomi-nee cheated and gave you the answers?"
"Yeah, I was, but…"
"No buts. You'll have to do far worse than what she did during missions you'll be assigned once you get promoted to Chūnin. Steal, bully, kill. We have to prepare to act that way, both of us. Think about this and leave Hitomi alone."
"O-okay, Sasuke."
Hitomi had to admit she was relieved by the way the young Uchiha had stepped in. She knew her moral code wasn't the neatest or the strongest, but she didn't like the idea of Naruto disapproving of her actions. She loved him enough to want to stay on his good side. To be defended felt good, gave her a feeling of legitimacy she really needed. Brushing her shoulder against Sasuke's, she picked up the pace just enough to be ahead of them and hide her face to them. She didn't know if it was the dust or the sun, but her eyes… They were stinging a little.
It took them almost twenty minutes, at a civilian pace, to arrive at training ground number forty-four, nicknamed the Forest of Death. The Genin weren't allowed inside usually – Hitomi had tried, in the hope she could get a feel for the place and map it, and why not put a few traps in there. The ANBU on watch had dived on her like birds of prey on a poor little mouse and had made her leave. One didn't cross the ANBU, anyway. Since they had had to take on part of the Uchiha police duty six years ago, they were all various degrees of pissed all the time. Poor babies.
The trees in the Forest of Death were a sub-breed of the Hashirama Oaks, the ones that were born from Hokage the First's Mokuton and had reproduced. Dozens of years of careful picking and crossing later, they were recognisable by their very pale bark, almost caramel in colour, and by the abundance of leaves on their branches, perfect hiding spots for a ninja in need of one. Konohajin shinobi would have an advantage in such a setting. Those trees were endemic to the Land of Fire, and this was also the only country with such thick forests.
"Here we are!" Anko announced. "The second stage of the Chūnin exam will happen here, on training ground number forty-four, also known as the Forest of Death. You will quickly understand why, trust me."
When Naruto started mimicking the proctor in a mocking manner, probably still high on his success in the first stage, Hitomi groaned. She stepped forwards, a hand on the guard of her tantō, ready to step in, but Sasuke stopped her by taking her arm, his eyes grave. "Stop. You'd risk being disqualified. Leave Naruto to face the consequences of his actions for once, he has to learn eventually."
Reluctantly, she relaxed next to him, a frown creasing her brow. She watched Anko throw a kunai with incredible aim, just enough to cut Naruto's cheek, then use the Shunshin to find herself at his back, hugging him from behind to lick his wound. When he was sure she wouldn't move, Sasuke let go of Hitomi, but she stayed next to him, seeking comfort in his body heat and familiar chakra.
Suddenly, a member from one of the two Kusajin teams, who had gone through Ibiki's test without a hitch, stood behind Anko, his thick, unending tongue wrapped around the kunai she had just thrown. Immediately, Hitomi's pulse went wild and her killing intent was back. She perfectly remembered the way events turned in the canon starting from this point. She knew who was hiding under this face. This team had been at the back of the crowd, she had walked ahead of them with Sasuke. Orochimaru could have killed them at any time. Probably with laughable ease.
How could Anko not recognise her former mentor? The Yūhi girl knew the hatred the woman had for the traitor and how much she wished she was able to drag his disgusting ass back to Konoha. She should have… She should have been obsessed, shuddering with anger each time someone had even one feature in common with her former shishou, being as dangerous and unstable as the canon had painted her to be. Not standing there without saying anything as her tormentor handed her a kunai slick with his saliva, his face hidden under the features of his latest victim.
"For future reference, I'd recommend that you don't approach me from behind with such strong killing intent. Unless you have a death wish?"
"I'm sorry. I lose control when I see blood… And I got carried away because your kunai cut one of my precious hair." The voice of the shinobi that was hiding Orochimaru's identity was soft and suave at first glance, like an expensive liquor, but poison and perversity dripped in the way he savoured each of his words, and it made Hitomi want to disappear, to flee like prey in front of a predator. She had to curl her hands into fists to stay where she was, face her fears until the feeling dissipated. She could take it. She had a plan.
And prayed that it was good enough.