(A/N) First exam, possibly some of the second! Do any of you particularly care about seeing the Uzushio genin's pov in the second round? Stuff is happening with them, although not technically necessary to see, it'd likely be a bit more exciting than just explaining what happened later.
"That's a genjutsu," Shikamaru whispered into Naruto's ear.
Naruto eyed the sign in question, then the 'guards'. Huh, they looked like those two gate guards. Kotetsu and Izumo. 'I think I recognize the two guards, they're the ones always at the gate.'
'You're right,' Sasuke realized. 'I recognize them too.'
Naruto watched an Uzushio genin look out a window doubtfully, then start snickering quietly. 'Maybe we don't even need to realize that's a genjutsu, just know that we've only gone up one set of stairs.'
Shikamaru sighed, heading for the stairwell. "Come on, let's go. We have a test to get to."
'Yeah, we'll have to see who makes it past,' Sasuke agreed, not bothering to look back at the idiots crowded around the genjutsu.
Naruto shrugged, following his teammates up to the actual third floor, and into the room for the first test.
The other two teams from their class were there already, as was team Gai, which were easily recognizable from the multiple times Kakashi had pointed them out running around the village. Plus the bright green was hard to miss.
Shino noticed them first, and nodded congenially to them as he walked over, his teammates not seeming to notice his disappearance, arguing quietly.
'Hey Shino!' Naruto signed, smiling.
Shino inclined his head. "Greetings to you as well. I trust you have been well?"
"Shino," Shikamaru yawned. "You saw us yesterday."
A barely noticeable smirk crossed Shino's face. "Indeed."
"Listen up maggots!" Ibiki bellowed from the front of the room. "Sit your butts down in the seats assigned to you and shut up!"
Naruto grinned cheekily, signing as he made his way to the seat he saw with his name on it. 'I'm already shut up! Can't stop me now!'
Ibiki glared at him, and Naruto just grinned. Ibiki couldn't do a thing!
He pretended he could hum as he sat down in his seat, eyeing the paper test apprehensively. He would regret this Chuunin Exams soon, wouldn't he.
"You have 10 points at the beginning of this! Anytime you're caught cheating will take two points off."
Oh so he could cheat, he could work with that. This would be fun. Both to cheat himself, and to see what others would get away with.
Naruto flipped over the test on the signal, and scanned the paper. Oh look, a question on Uzushiogakure, Naruto bet that every Uzushio genin in here could answer it.
The question? 'What is Uzushio's primary defense mechanism?'
There were three different correct answers to the question. First, It's jounin and fleets, was a perfectly fine answer, given that their jounin and their fleets were the primary line of defense in case of an attack.
The second answer was it's looping seals. An intricate set of seals that made a scrolling effect, so if you didn't have the proper authorization, you walked into the set of seals, space and time bended, and you walked out on the other side, completely unaware you had just walked right past Uzushio. Also a valid answer, considering it was one of the best ways that Uzushio hid itself. It was better hidden than all of the four great nations. Or were there five? Naruto honestly couldn't remember.
The third answer was something that only the Uzushio genin would probably know. Plus a few Konoha genin. The set of seals that let Uzushio sink into the ocean enough so it's tallest building, the kage's towers and mission center, was a good four feet under water. As far as Naruto knew, it had been used once, and that was when Uzushio was attacked.
Suddenly he wondered which answer was on the thingies they were supposed to cheat from?
Well, he clearly had to figure it out. Naruto scribbled a cloaking seal onto a corner of his paper, tore it off sneakily, and made the hand seal to make a clone under the table.
He deliberately slowed the making of the clone under the table long enough to shove the corner of paper into its forming body. Once the clone was complete, it was completely camouflaged. It snuck away to view other papers, and Naruto pretended to be struggling over the paper.
Well, he was, kinda. Mostly struggling over which answer to put for the Uzushio question. And wondering about the other questions which were mostly like, weird math problems that made no sense. Shikamaru could probably solve them, but he could solve everything.
His clone popped halfway through the test, and Naruto got his answer. The first answer was the only one on any papers, although they each had a note in the corner about there being multiple answers. Not giving anything away while giving the people who know about the other two answers a chance to show that.
So he just wrote down all of the answers, squishing it all in to make sure it fit.
Ten minutes from the end, Ibiki started shouting again, startling most of the kids in the room. "The tenth and final question will be given out now! You may decide whether to take it or not, and if you choose not to, you will immediately be removed from the exam. You will be able to take it next year, however."
The classroom erupted in outrage, and Shikamaru sat back and smirked. Ibiki was playing at something. He was planning something, likely a test to get a good section of people in here out of the exam.
"However," Ibiki said, pausing dramatically. "If you get the question wrong, you will be banned from ever taking the exam again."
More outrage, and Ibiki slammed his hand down on the table to silence them.
Shikamaru merely watched on in interest, as the special jounin took off his headband to show off the myriad of scars covering his bald head. Not unreasonable, given his specialty, torture and interrogation, although perhaps a bit excessive to scare a bunch of genin.
Even if it was clear his team and the Uzushio genin weren't affected by it. The other genin in their class looked mildly disturbed at the most, and Shikamaru took that to mean they wouldn't back out.
People started dropping like flies, proverbially, of course, leaving the room in droves. Huh, he hadn't thought the threat was that scary, after all, Ibiki couldn't stop a direct promotion. Or any other Kage from promoting their genin.
It was probably good all those people were weeded out anyway, they weren't fit to be chuunin, where they'd be faced with far harder issues.
...And there was Anko, presumably for the second test. Was she supposed to intimidate them? Or maybe creep them out? That seemed more likely.
Shikamaru eyed a genin who was eyeing his teammate. He had silver hair, and wasn't even paying attention. Which, frankly, was probably his problem, not Shikamaru's. Although to be fair, Shikamaru wasn't paying all that much attention himself. He got the gist anyway. Two scrolls, you have one, and you want to collect the others.
While Anko prattled on, attempting(and succeeding in a few cases) to intimidate or scare the genin, Shikamaru watched the competition.
It wasn't too much, a few Kiri teams which Shikamaru made a mental note to keep an eye on, they looked a bit too old to just be genin, especially in the so called Bloody Mist.
There was a sound team, who didn't look too intimidating, standing with slouched posture and terrible stances.
The Uzushio teams were mostly teenagers, the oldest being maybe three years older than Shikamaru.
Shikamaru caught one of the older Kiri teams eyeing one of the Uzushio teams, and frowned. There was something off here.
He edged towards where Yunikon was standing, and mumbled under his breath to the other teen. "Partner with our team? I don't trust the Kiri."
Yunikon glanced at him, then nodded once, whispering something to Eidoko, who wandered off to the other two teams they'd talked to before the exam. "Alright. We'll stay with you. Don't be too slow."
Shikamaru scoffed quietly, moving back to where his team was standing.
'We're pairing up with Shisui's team,' he signed with his back to almost everyone else. 'I don't trust the Kiri, they're too old, and eyeing the Uzushio teams weirdly.'
'We can't warn everyone,' Naruto fretted.
'This is an exam,' Shikamaru replied ruthlessly. 'Less unfriendly competition to deal with the better.'
'I guess,' Naruto signed, frowning.
"Ready?!" Anko shouted, having apparently finished her shouting. "Begin!"
And thus began the second round of the Chuunin exams.
(A/N) Right! So do you want to see what the heck I'm doing with Kiri and the Uzushio teams? It's important, of course, although can be told through less interesting means. Most of the Uzu genin cheated through judicious use of seals, FYI.