A few days later while waiting for Kakashi, Naruto was swinging his katana for practice. Maemi told the blonde that doing so helped acclimatize his muscles towards using the weapon, informing him that if he kept using swords sized for adults while he was young then he might be able to use massive swords like the one Zabuza used when he was older.
Sakura was in a foul mood, she'd woken up late and couldn't blow dry her hair. So waiting for Kakashi while Maemi had such perfect hair was almost more than the kunoichi could bare, if anyone could hear their thoughts they'd call her needlessly vain however.
"Morning!" Kakashi greeted as he landed on a nearby torii.
"Can you at least pretend to be sorry for being late!?" Sakura snapped angrily.
Kakashi ignored that and hopped down as Naruto sheathed his katana and slipped the scabbard into his purple sash, "This may come as a surprise, but I've nominated all three of you for the Chunin Selection Examinations." he began, enjoying the surprised disbelief for a moment before pulling out the applications, "You have to fill these out." he continued.
"Kakashi-sensei I love you!" Naruto declared, jumping on the jonin and wrapping his arms around the neck of the older man shamelessly.
"Get off," Kakashi demanded even though he'd let it happen, "you're embarrassing me!" he added, surprised that the blonde actually did let go until he realized the boy just wanted the application. The jonin handed them to his other two genin without nearly as much ceremony, well at least Naruto made him feel appreciated, "If any of you don't think you're up to compete that's fine, it's voluntary." he explained, not wanting any of them to think it was mandated, "If you do choose to compete hand in those forms and report to room three-oh-one by four in the afternoon at the academy tomorrow." he instructed, "That's all." he finished before disappearing with shunshin.
Naruto grinned manically as he looked at the application, "A competition! This is great! I can prove how awesome I am! I can show everyone the power of Slaanesh-kaasama!" he laughed happily. Sasuke was far less vocal but the idea of fighting Gaara made him shiver with excitement and he smirked.
Sakura frowned, far less certain as the two left to go home and fill out the forms. The girl frowned, her confidence had been hit hard lately and she wasn't sure if she would even be able to compete.
The next day Naruto was the last of team seven to show up with Maemi in tow, wearing the same orange battle kimono with his sheathed katana held in the purple sash, the white haori with the Kajo kanji on the back, and the gloves with the metal backings on his hands. Sasuke noticed the tanto wasn't visible, but what caught his attention more than the hyperactive blonde was his other teammate.
Sakura didn't seem like she actually wanted to be there, Sasuke could tell the kunoichi had lost some confidence and remembered what he'd said to the girl. He hadn't been lying or wrong in his words, but he still felt a little guilty that the pink haired girl was so despondent.
The three entered the academy, noticing many other shinobi from both their own village and abroad milling about. On the second floor, in front of a room labeled 301, a boy with a bowl cut, bushy eyebrows, a green jumpsuit, bandages around his arms, and thick orange leg warmers was getting kicked around by another pair of boys, all three older than the rookie genin with hitai-ate indicating they were all local Konoha ninja.
"Is someone as talentless as you really planning to take the Chunin Selection Exams?" One of the boys asked the bowl cut boy, the one speaking had spiky black hair and three compresses on his face, one on his chin and the other two on either cheek, as well as a pair of massively oversized kunai on his back, "Why bother?" he continued, "Bunch of wet behind the ears snot-noses." he finished with a snort.
"You said it!" The other one blocking the entrance to the room agreed with a cruel smirk, his black hair a bit straighter, a black jumpsuit under his clothes stretching up over his neck to his chin.
"Please," A girl began, her black hair up in twin buns, wearing a pink sleeveless qipao-style blouse with red sleeve trimmings and yellow button fastenings, "we're begging you, let us in." she pleaded, attempting to walk past. The boy with the oversized kunai strapped to his back did not acquiesce and backhanded the girl to knock her back.
"That's just cruel." Another Konoha genin spoke up with a frown.
The boy who had backhanded turned on the genin who spoke, "What did you say?" he asked rhetorically with a frown of his own, "You misunderstand! We're just trying to spare you." he began to explain, "The Chunin Exams are difficult, and we should know, we failed them three times so far. There are some who made it, then gave up on being shinobi immediately after, others who ended up crippled, some even reduced to vegetables, we've seen it all!" as he spoke the surrounding genin seemed to lose confidence, "Besides that, chunin are cell commanders, expected to lead their units. The responsibilities for failed missions and dead shinobi rest firmly on their shoulders. You little punks really have the nerve to apply?" he continued with a snort, "We're saving a step by weeding out the obvious losers beforehand."
Sasuke was about to point out the obvious flaw when Naruto stepped up, "Well I've already been acknowledged as a real ninja by someone way scarier than you chumps!" the blonde declared boisterously, "Kajo no Ninso and future Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki coming through!" he announced, walking forward to get backhanded himself.
Sasuke was surprised that the blonde had actually been hit, it seems Naruto was surprised as well, "Loud mouth brats like you definitely don't have what it takes." the same boy who backhanded him spoke with a snort.
Naruto grinned suddenly, "Wow you're stronger than you look!" he praised, "Nice arm muscles." he added with a nod, "What's up with the lack of malicious intent though?" he asked, still smiling. His attitude and words confusing the other genin.
"Naruto quit playing around," Sasuke spoke up as he stepped forward, "their idea sounds nice in theory, but we're going through. Drop the genjutsu while you're at it." he continued, directing his words at the two older boys blocking the door, "I have business on the third floor."
Now it was Sasuke's words that confused the onlookers, "What's he talking about?" one of the other genin wondered.
The boy with the black jumpsuit going up to his chin chuckled, "So you noticed that, huh?" he questioned with a smirk.
Sasuke returned it with a smirk of his own, "It was easy, right Sakura?" he spoke, surprising his female teammate, "You're the most analytical and best in our cell at understanding the art of illusions." he praised, recognizing the girl needed a confidence boost.
Sakura blushed, feeling grateful for the words, "Of course I noticed, we're still on the second floor." she said in a matter of fact tone. Those who hadn't noticed were just embarrassed or pretended they'd known, like Naruto did.
"Hey not bad," The boy with the oversized kunai praised, "but just seeing through it isn't-" he spoke calmly before bursting into motion, "enough!" he finished as he swung his right leg at Sasuke, the Uchiha responding with his own round kick with his right leg.
Suddenly the bowl cut boy who had been getting kicked around stepped between them and grabbed their legs, surprising everyone with his speed and strength. The two who performed the kicks stepped back, Sasuke noticing something strange about the boy in the green jumpsuit who had blocked his kick with one hand as he sighed.
"Hey," Another genin spoke up, with long black hair tied in a loose ponytail, featureless white eyes, his hitai-ate indicative of Konoha, dressed in a beige shirt, dark brown pants, his shuriken holster strapped to his right leg, and bandages wrapped around his right leg and right arm, "that's not what we agreed!" he scolded the boy in the green jumpsuit, "You're the one who insisted we should avoid drawing attention to ourselves!" he finished.
"B-but..." The bushy eyebrows boy stammered, blushing as he glanced at Sakura, revealing to his teammates why he'd done it.
"Here we go again..." The girl with the twin hair buns muttered, shaking her head in exasperation as the boy with the white eyes looked embarrassed about what was going to happen next.
The blushing boy in the green jumpsuit seemed to resolve himself for something and approached the pink haired kunoichi of team seven, "Hi, my name is Rock Lee." he introduced politely, "You're Sakura, aren't you?" he questioned the slightly younger girl, "Would you like to go out with me? I will protect you with my life!" he requested and declared in short succession, giving a thumbs up and a wink.
"No way," Sakura responded in a flat tone, "you are way out of hand." she added, the boy slumping in defeat as Naruto chuckled at his misfortune. Maemi decided to keep a low profile, staying close behind Naruto for now but she noticed a few people were curious about her.
"Hey you," The white eyed boy addressed Sasuke, "what's your name?" he demanded to know with a smirk.
Before Sasuke could give a witty retort, his blonde teammate spoke up, "Why does everyone want to date my teammates!?" he complained loudly, startling the white eyed boy, "You guys should stick to people your own age." he added, making a dismissive shooing motion at the boy who glared at him.
"You're rookies aren't you?" The boy questioned, "How old?" he added.
"None of your business, pervert." Naruto responded with a cheeky grin, the expression and tone giving away to Sasuke that the blonde knew exactly what he was doing. The white eyed boy turned away to leave, mostly to hide how his eye was twitching with annoyance.
Sakura had a new skip in her step as she grabbed her teammates to drag them up to the third floor, her confidence and mood boosted by Sasuke so much she didn't even mind Naruto being weird.
Closer to the stairs they were interrupted again, "Hey you with the scowl, wait up!" Rock Lee called out from the stairs above, startling Sakura who thought she was now being stalked.
Sasuke could tell he was being addressed but only scowled further, "What now?" he asked, he just wanted to get to the room and hand in their applications already.
"You and me," Rock Lee began, "here and now, wanna fight?" he asked seriously.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "You want to fight now?" he wondered, curious about the intentions of the green jumpsuit wearing boy.
"Yes!" Rock Lee confirmed before leaping down, "I, Rock Lee, wish to test my jutsu against the last surviving Uchiha, Sasuke." he declared as he got into a fighting stance.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes, "So you guys knew it was me all along." he realized.
"I am calling you out!" Rock Lee continued, "Foremost because I want to test my jutsu against the surviving member of the legendary Uchiha clan," he declared before blushing a little, "but also..." he trailed off, looking at Sakura before giving a wink.
The kunoichi of team seven recoiled in horror, "No way!" she denied without even needing to hear the boy out, "Those eyes creep me out! Not to mention the geeky hairdo, or the caterpillar eyebrows." she insulted while trembling. Maemi found it a bit hypocritical considering how self conscious the girl was about her own appearances, but even the Muse thought the affections of the older Konoha genin were torment enough.
"You're a Tenshi!" Rock Lee told the pink haired kunoichi, unconcerned by the insults as he blew a kiss her way.
Sakura recoiled so hard she smacked the back of her head to the floor while still standing in an impressive display, dodging what the girl perceived as an incredibly deadly attack, "You, keep your weird kisses to yourself, creep!" she snapped as she snapped back up to an upright position, "I could have died dodging that!" she added dramatically.
"Aw don't be like that." Rock Lee whined, even with his unwavering optimism the overly dramatic pink haired girl was getting to him.
"So," Sasuke interrupted the side show, "you're challenging me, even knowing my lineage?" he questioned, "In other words, you're a fool." he guessed, "So, bushy-brow," he continued as his expression hardened into a glare, "you really want to know the power of the Uchiha?" he questioned, truthfully curious himself to test out his recently awakened Sharingan.
"Absolutely!" Rock Lee confirmed, not intimidated as he returned to a fighting stance, ready to go.
"Hold it." Naruto interrupted, unable to handle not having any attention on himself for such an extended period, "I want to fight bushy-brows, he seems strong." the blonde declared, stepping forward with an excited grin on his lips.
"I apologize, Uzumaki-chan," Rock Lee said, his choice of honorific revealing a slight confusion regarding the blonde, "I am only interested in fighting the Uchiha right now." he insisted.
"Too bad," Naruto retorted as he charged, "because as unsavory as your appearance is I'm interested in fighting you!" he announced, opening the fight by sweeping his right leg forward with his left foot held forward, not twisting his upper body or following through.
Lee raised a large eyebrow at the odd feint, pulling his own front leg, the right one, back into a cat stance as he kept his right arm up and ready to guard in a knife hand with his left hand held at his hip in a fist. Suddenly Naruto pulled his right leg back and twisted his body forward to deliver a swift side kick with the same right leg without his right foot touching the ground.
With the kimono on his kick flipped the lower half of the kimono open to reveal he'd started wearing blue shorts underneath, likely because of the incident where he'd flashed his boxers. Sakura was glad her teammate wasn't completely shameless, she'd take small victories where she could at this point.
Lee shifted his right hand to his left before knocking the side kick off to his right, exposing Naruto's back to him by doing so. The blonde suddenly hopped up, his left leg lashing out in a back round kick as he landed on his right foot in an impressive display of agility.
The heel of Naruto's left foot was caught by Lee's right palm, the older genin noticing with some surprise that the blonde actually had more powerful kicks than the Uchiha. Naruto stepped down on his left foot and continued to spin, using the momentum to swing his right shin at the head of his opponent with another round kick.
Lee ducked under it, spinning in the opposite direction and sweeping his opponents left leg with his own, "Konoha Reppu!" the boy named his taijutsu, the force of his sweep knocking Naruto to the ground and sending the recently feminized boy rolling into a wall.
"Woah!" Naruto wasn't intimidated or winded and jumped back to his feet with an even wider green, "Despite your appearance, that's some seriously beautiful taijutsu!" he praised, his compliment surprising the older genin as he charged again.
Sasuke and Sakura could both tell that Rock Lee must actually be amazing at taijutsu, knowing that Naruto could only actually be hit like that when overwhelmed due to the strange song only he could hear. Sasuke was curious about the jutsu of the green jumpsuit wearing genin, wondering how he was doing it.
"Uzumaki-chan I do not wish to cause you undue harm." Lee tried to reason calmly, truthfully he was impressed that Naruto had gotten up so quickly.
"You won't beat me if you can't!" Naruto declared with a laugh, performing a reckless jumping side kick, swinging his right foot at the head of his opponent. Lee leaned backwards and lifted his own right leg to hook the back of his ankle behind Naruto's right knee, sending the younger genin flipping through the air with a simple flick of his leg.
Naruto laughed cheerfully as he flipped through the air, landing in a handstand before spinning down into a crouch, "Awesome!" he gushed, "That taijutsu is amazing! You're body is so strong too!" he praised and Lee blushed a bit with a stunned expression on his face, "But," Naruto continued, his smile dropping into a frown, "you've got no malicious intent, you're too nice." he scolded.
Lee coughed into his hand to clear his throat, "As I stated, I have no desire to harm you, Uzumaki-chan." he repeated himself.
"It's fine it's fine!" Naruto waved off his concern as he stood up, "I'm a big tough and manly guy myself!" he bragged, placing his hand on his chest for emphasis, but his feminine appearance didn't really match those words, "I actually really enjoy fighting," he continued, ignoring the shocked expression of his opponent, "a strong opponent like you really makes my heart pound," he added with a smile and Lee blushed again, the older genin becoming increasingly confused, "but when you've got no blood thirst directed at me it kind of takes the edge off." he complained with a pout.
Lee bowed, "I am terribly sorry, Uzumaki-ch-I mean Uzumaki-san!" he said suddenly, "I mistook you for a young maiden!" he confessed.
Naruto was taken aback by that, "Oh yeah, I guess I am a bit of a hottie." he agreed without a hint of shame, "I guess you're weak against cute things? I can relate." he mused with a sagely nod, crossing his arms as he considered this, "Your taijutsu might be great," he continued with a smirk, "but your mind is weak." he taunted.
Sakura wondered if Naruto was the kind of person who should be saying that, then the blonde charged again while making the ram seal. Lee went on his guard, wondering what kind of ninjutsu the younger genin would use.
With a flare of bright purple chakra and a puff of smoke, Naruto obscured his form, what came out was a far more buxom blonde with much longer hair in pig tails. Sakura noticed with some annoyance that the blonde didn't even need to change his face for that jutsu anymore, the sight of it being used making her blood boil regardless.
"Lee-senpai!" Naruto crooned in a sultry voice and the boy froze up in shock, a bit of blood starting to drip from his nose as his face flushed and he stared at the sight before him in wide eyed shock. Suddenly, without dropping his Oiroke no Jutsu, the blonde twisted to deliver a spinning back kick with his right leg, landing a solid blow to the chin of the bowl cut boy.
Rock Lee flew through the air, hitting the ground shoulders first and swiftly spinning to a crouched position, "T-that was dirty!" he complained, flustered by the underhanded tactic.
Naruto simply laughed haughtily, covering his mouth with the back of his hand as he did and dropping the jutsu mid laugh, "We're shinobi, fighting dirty is what we do, remember? Lee-senpai?" he asked with a smug expression, drawing out the name of the older genin with the same sultry tone he used with his Oiroke no Jutsu.
"Damn it, Naruto!" Sakura screeched, "You pervert! Stop using that weird jutsu! It's seriously messed up!" she scolded angrily.
Naruto pouted, "But it works..." he complained, "Nobody expects an erotic attack like that, my Hentai-ryu: Erokenho is unbeatable!" he insisted, narrowly dodging the kunai Sakura threw at him for the words.
"I see..." Lee said, standing up and rubbing his sore chin, although his pride was far more wounded, "I had heard Sasuke Uchiha was the strongest genin," the bowl cut boy continued with a serious expression, "I had no idea there was such a terrifying genin among the rookies." he finished, annoying Sakura further by taking the blonde seriously.
Sasuke sighed, "This is ridiculous..." he complained, massaging the bridge of his nose as he felt a headache coming on, "You had your fun, Naruto," he continued, stepping forward and flowing chakra to his eyes, revealing a two tomoe Sharingan in each eye, "but he challenged me." he pointed out, "I have to admit, I'm curious about his jutsu." he said with a confident smirk.
"That's quite enough." A new voice interrupted, "Your youthful exuberance is splendid!" the voice praised, turning all attention to a man above on the stairs that was dressed exactly like Rock Lee but with a flak vest that was open, even the same hair cut, and even bushier eyebrows.
"That same dorky hairdo..." Sakura spoke, eye twitching as she felt her sanity slipping away.
"Super bushy eyebrows..." Naruto added, disgusted by the appearance, "I've never seen anything like them." he added.
"H-hey! Don't try to make fun of Gai-sensei!" Lee snapped angrily, Maemi was pretty sure they didn't need to try.
"Lee!" Gai interrupted as he hopped down next to the boy, getting the attention of the identically dressed genin, "You idiot!" he scolded, slugging the boy in the face with a right straight that took the watching genin of team seven by surprise, "You-you..." he stammered suddenly, tears springing from his eyes as he noticed his student looking up at him with tears in his own eyes.
"Sensei, I..." Lee began but the older man wrapped him up in a hug.
"That's enough, Lee! Not one more word!" Gai cried as the two embraced, Sakura making a retching noise as Sasuke's eye twitched. Maemi wondered if there was something wrong with Konoha's drinking water, "I understand, it's because you're young!" the man with even bushier eyebrows than his student said as he held the crying boy.
Naruto smiled, "Aw, that really gives a warm and fuzzy feeling." he said sincerely, both of his teammates ignoring his weird tastes at this point.
"It's okay, Lee, mistakes and youth go hand in hand." Gai acknowledged sagely, "However, for picking fights right before the exams, almost showing off your jutsu to potential rivals, you will be punished after the Chunin Exams." he said sternly, "Five hundred laps around Konoha should do it!" he finished exuberantly.
"What a dip..." Sakura muttered, her dark haired teammate silently agreeing with her. Her words caught the attention of the man, who looked over the genin of team seven.
"By the way," Gai began to address them, "how is Kakashi?" he questioned, startling them.
"You know our sensei?" Sasuke asked with a raised eyebrow, he supposed they were both Konoha jonin in charge of their own genin cell.
"Know him?" Gai asked with a chuckle and a smirk before disappearing and getting behind the three genin, "I should say so! We're rivals!" he declared, the three genin stumbling in shock at the display of speed, Maemi flinching that even she hadn't seen anything as she ducked behind Naruto, "The score stands at fifty to forty-nine, in my favor." the green jumpsuit wearing jonin bragged.
"As you can see, Gai-sensei is amazing!" Lee praised, clearly proud to be the student of the man, although that was obvious from how he copied the style of the man.
"I know Lee started this fight," Gai continued to speak, "but take pity on his sensei." the man gestured to himself, "Please forgive him, for the sake of my self-respect." he requested.
"I wanted to fight him some more though!" Naruto spoke up eagerly, interrupting any further discussion.
Gai narrowed his eyes, "Ah, I see." he said, "So you're saying forgiveness isn't required, a most youthful attitude." he acknowledged, surprising the blonde that the man wasn't treating him poorly, "However, you kids should hurry up and get a move on." he said, "The Chunin Exams begin soon!" he pointed out, "Best of luck, Lee! Later!" he said as a farewell, leaping away.
"Thank you, sensei!" Lee said gratefully before turning back to team seven, "Truthfully, I was blowing smoke before." he told them, "I was merely trying to prove my own strength. Further, the strongest genin, he's actually on my team, defeating him is my reason for entering these exams." he explained, "However, I also wish to defeat the two of you now as well." he told Sasuke and Naruto, "See you in the exams!" he finished before leaping away as well.
Naruto grinned, "These exams sure seem like they'll be fun!" he said cheerfully, continuing to the room they were told to arrive at.
In short order, team seven was soon outside of room 301, to their surprise Kakashi was waiting for them, "Ah good, you made it, Sakura-chan." he said, surprising the girl, "This way, you all qualify to apply for the exams." he told them with an approving nod.
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked with a confused expression and tone.
"The way the test is set up, it can only be attempted by three person cells." Kakashi answered plainly, now that the three of them were here there was no need for deception. Maemi was surprised the man had slipped that past her, she thought about what he said the day before.
Naruto was equally confused, "You said it was voluntary, Kakashi-sensei did you lie?" he asked, pouting at the man.
Kakashi shook his head, "I said what needed to be said to stop your team from pressuring you." he explained and Maemi realized it had been a lie of omission, the kind of lie that was hardest to detect besides a lie from someone who didn't know they were lying, "Even if you had no interest in coming, one word from Sasuke-kun and you'd be here going through the motions without having your heart in it." the silver haired jonin pointed out.
"So, if I hadn't shown up with them?" Sakura questioned curiously.
"I'd have sent them home. None of you would have made it past this point without both of the others." Kakashi explained, "However, all of you are here and I'm proud of all of you." he praised, enjoying the way his genin smiled under the praise, "Now get in there!" he finished, stepping aside to let them enter the room.
As soon as they were inside the atmosphere inside the room immediately soured Sakura's mood, the girl looking at all the older ninja here to take the exams nervously. Sasuke turned serious as well, noticing the amount of foreign ninja staring at them. Naruto however just grinned wider, the oppressive atmosphere just making his heart race with excitement. Maemi kept hiding behind Naruto's leg, keeping quiet for now since getting dispelled was not on her list of priorities.
"Sasuke-kun!" A female voice broke the atmosphere with a cheery tone as the owner of the voice jumped on the Uchiha, "Where have you been, cutie?" the light green eyed girl asked, long blonde hair pulled back in a high ponytail with some bangs hanging to the right of her face, dressed in a purple outfit consisting of a high-collared blouse and matching apron skirt, with white arm warmers similar to Sasuke's own, her hitai-ate worn as a belt, bandages wrapping her torso and upper legs, and small hoop earings.
"Ino, you pig!" Sakura snapped at the girl for hanging onto Sasuke, "Get your hooves off my Sasuke-kun!" the pink haired girl demanded angrily.
"Hello to you too, Sakura." Ino responded in a more flat tone, "Still hoping the giant mutant forehead look will come into fashion? How sweet." she mocked the other girl. Maemi got the impression there was history between the two and decided she didn't care about the two girls having a cat fight over the dark haired Uchiha.
"Why don't you save yourselves the embarrassment of flunking this test." Another voice piped up, attracting attention to the two teammates of the blonde girl, a brown eyed boy with his hair tied up in a spiky ponytail the one to speak as the other, a lighter brown haired boy with his hitai-ate causing it to stick up in two tufts that made Maemi think he was wearing underwear on his head for moment and red swirls on his chubby cheeks, shoveled potato chips into his mouth, "Go die, okay?" the darker haired and slimmer boy requested.
Naruto knew these genin from the academy, the rounder boy was named Choji Akamichi, dressed in a dark green haori over a lighter green shirt with the kanji for food emblazoned on the front, along with a white scarf, bandages wrapped around his forearms and lower legs, and black shorts. The slimmer boy was Shikamaru Nara, wearing a short-sleeved grey jacket with green-edged sleeves with the symbol of his clan on the back of it, a mesh armor shirt underneath that, dark brown pants, his hitai-ate tied around his left arm, and a small pair of hoop earings of his own.
The blonde girl, Ino, was from the Yamanaka clan. Naruto didn't know much about their clans, he'd skipped those lessons. Maemi meanwhile was just wondering if she should get Naruto to pierce his own ears, such adornments would look rather pretty in her opinion, "Well, if it isn't the three stooges." Naruto greeted rudely.
"Stop calling us that," Shikamaru began but his frown turned confused as he took in the appearance of who spoke, "Naruto?" his demand became a question of confusion.
"Sasuke-kun must have absorbed what little masculinity he had." Ino decided simply, although raising an eyebrow at the appearance of the blonde.
Naruto's eye twitched, "I'll have you know I got called really super manly by an shinobi that even Sasuke couldn't beat on our first C rank!" he snapped, causing the Uchiha's eye to twitch at the reminder of Haku.
"That guy was even more girly than you are now," Sasuke retorted, unable to deny that he'd lost to the other boy, "and he was definitely just seducing you, dumbass." he added, not wanting to reveal any further details in front of so many witnesses.
Ino blinked owlishly, confused by the discussion. She determined that Sasuke was just being humble by not denying the part about being able to beat the boy, confident in that assessment. The Yamanaka girl was still confused by the knowledge that a girly boy shinobi had tried to seduce Naruto, but she supposed there was no accounting for taste.
"Furthermore!" Naruto continued boisterously, "My amazingly attractive appearance is because I drank the Eiyu no Mizu!" he declared, all conversation in the room suddenly coming to a halt to turn the full attention of every shinobi in the room on him. Even foreign shinobi with no ties to Takigakure no Sato had heard of that legendary water, all of them wondering how a genin had managed to get even a sip.
"Hey!" Another new voice called out, "There you guys are!" another young male genin announced, "I didn't even recognize Naruto at first, I was wondering why Sasuke had two girls on his team." the boy mocked, flanked by another two genin.
Naruto recognized them as well, the boy who spoke was Kiba Inuzuka, a wild looking boy with brown hair, and slit pupils in his brown eyes, as well as pronounced canines, and red fang markings on his cheeks. The Inuzuka wore his hitai-ate on his forehead, had dark grey pants, and a lighter grey hoodie with black fur linings. His dog, Akamaru, was riding around on his head.
Shino Aburame was the other boy on Kiba's team, wearing round sunglasses over his eyes, a sea-green jacket with a high, upturned collar, his hitai-ate also on his forehead, and dark brown pants. Naruto didn't get this boy, the Aburame wasn't his kind of guy though.
Hinata Hyuga was the female member of their team, a very shy girl that refused to make eye contact with Naruto, something that bothered the attention hungry blonde. The girl had featureless white eyes, dark blue hair in a hime cut so short it was almost reminiscent of a bowl cut, her hitai-ate hanging loosely from her neck, dressed in navy blue pants, and a cream colored jacket with fire symbols on the upper arms and white fur around the cuffs and hem.
"Looks like the gang's all here." Kiba said with a smirk, hands in the pockets of his hoodie.
"Including you, unfortunately." Shikamaru shot back, giving the Inuzuka a lazy glare.
Kiba ignored that, "So, all three of the rookie genin cells applied for this exams?" he pondered out loud, "I wonder how far we'll all get." he continued, "What do you think, Sasuke?" he asked with his confident smirk still in place.
"Trying to psych us out by acting cool, Kiba?" Sasuke retorted with a confident smirk of his own.
"Who's acting?" Kiba asked rhetorically, "With the way we've trained you guys don't stand a chance!" he bragged with a confident chuckle.
"Oh yeah?" Naruto asked, flashing a grin that bared his own recently more enlarged canines, "How many kills you got?" he asked, making the Inuzuka waver a bit at the site of what seemed to be an additional set of canines next to the already existing top pair in the mouth of the blonde braggart.
"I-I'm sorry, Naruto-kun." Hinata spoke up nervously, fidgeting with her fingers and Maemi's eyes widened as she got a feel for the girls emotions, "Kiba-kun didn't mean that the way it sounded." she apologized, still not able to make eye contact with the blonde. Maemi grinned, wondering if it would be worth her efforts to break the girl out of her shell.
"Would you guys do us all a favor and just shut up?" Another new voice said, this one Naruto didn't recognize and the nine rookie genin turned to see an older genin, his hitai-ate indicating allegiance to Konohagakure no Sato on his forehead. The older boy, practically a young man, had onyx eyes, with his ash-grey hair pulled back into a ponytail, wearing black rimmed circular glasses, a dark purple shirt with a high collar, a white under-shirt, dark purple fingerless gloves with armoured plates on the back of the hand, and dark purple pants with a white cloth waistband.
"Why?" Naruto asked innocently, doing the old eyelash fluttering trick at the older genin. Ino wondered if Naruto had secretly observed the kunoichi only seduction lessons.
"You three gangs of would-be hotshots are all rookie genin fresh out of the local academy, right?" The grey haired young man asked, "You're all wet behind the ears and runny nosed!" he added, annoying the rookie genin with his words, "This isn't a school field trip you know." he lectured.
"Who the heck do you think you are?" Ino asked, irritated by the attitude of the older genin already.
The glasses wearing shinobi smirked, "Name's Kabuto, so what?" he introduced, "You kids need to be more observant." he added, gesturing to the room behind them.
"Why?" Sakura asked as she turned, only to see exactly why, now that her attention was back on the rest of the room she noticed the glares and malicious intent directed at them with a shiver, "Oh." she realized, some of her fellow rookies sharing in her sudden nervousness.
"Those guys directly behind you are from Amegakure no Sato," Kabuto explained, "seems like they're on short fuses." he continued, "Everyone is on edge, waiting to take the exam. I figured I'd be a good senpai and give you the heads up before someone in the room snapped and beat you all up." he finished with a smirk.
Maemi frowned as she detected a lie but was unsure what to make of it, she assumed the older genin must be intending on taking advantage of the rookie genin by acting nice. She shuffled a bit closer to Naruto, keeping herself subtle to avoid attracting attention.
Naruto had no such qualms about attention, "Who cares?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, "I killed a bunch of chunin who defected from Amegakure on our last C rank." he pointed out, despite his words his tone was not bragging.
The oppressive atmosphere became heavier, "You shouldn't tell bluffs like that," Kabuto warned, "you'll just piss them off. No way a rookie genin could kill multiple chunin, and you shouldn't be running into enemy ninja on C rank missions anyway so at least try to make your lies believable." he scolded.
"Surprisingly, he's not bluffing." Sasuke spoke up, startling the other rookies, "We've had two C ranks and both went off the rails entirely, jonin level enemies showed up both times." he explained, although he didn't want to brag too much and start a fight just yet he wasn't intimidated by the older genin either.
Kabuto narrowed his eyes at the two boys of team seven, noticing that their confidence was not a facade, "Well isn't that interesting..." he pondered, taking a mental note that the blonde especially actually seemed to enjoy having blood lust directed at him, "I guess it can't be helped, I can't stop kids running their mouths." he sighed, "I can provide you kids with some vital intelligence, I've taken this test a few times myself and gathered plenty of intel." he offered, surprising Maemi that he'd offer it so readily.
"How many times have you attempted this, Kabuto-san?" Sakura asked politely, curious about how much experience the older genin had with the exams.
"Ah, this would be my seventh attempt, two attempts a year for the past four years I think." Kabuto answered as he pulled out a deck of cards with the kanji for shinobi printed on the back of them, "These are my Ninshiki Kado, a type of tool you can burn information into with chakra." he explained, "They're keyed to the chakra used to burn the information into them, so only the person who made them can pull out the information. Like so." he finished, pulling one card from the deck and showing a blank card until he flowed chakra into it.
Maemi stared at the information being presented, the card Kabuto was showing off had details on the number of teams each nation had sent to the exams. Eighty-seven for Konohagakure indicated twenty-nine teams being the most, which made sense considering Konoha were the hosts. It seemed of the Shinobi Godaikoku only Konoha and Suna sent teams, ten teams from Suna for a total of thirty genin, with the rest all coming from minor villages like Amegakure sending twenty-one shinobi for seven teams, with Kusagakure and Takigakure tied next at two teams each or six genin, and finally somewhere called Otogakure no Sato for a single team of three genin. A grand total of one-hundred and fifty-three genin in fifty-one teams.
The name of the village who sent only one team peaked Maemi's curiosity, sonic attacks and music being associated with Slaanesh in many worlds. The Daemon wondered how a village could be hidden by sound, wondering if the name was a metaphor or somehow literal.
"Do you also have information on individual shinobi in those cards?" Sasuke asked, his own curiosity peaked for different reasons.
Kabuto smirked, "Why? Someone caught your attention?" he asked rhetorically, "I'll admit it's not going to be quite as complete, but I've gathered what information I could on the current pool of applicants." he answered, flipping the card he'd been showing back into the deck and shuffling them, "Your own teams are in here too, so give me any details and I'll see what I can do." he agreed.
Maemi was suspicious, wondering why this older genin was helping the rookies. She didn't bother considering that his kindness was why he failed so many times, a Daemon of Slaanesh wasn't fooled so easily.
"Gaara from Sunagakure, and Rock Lee of Konoha." Sasuke answered plainly, more interested in satisfying his curiosity than worrying about the oddly generous older genin.
"You know their names? Too easy then." Kabuto said, pulling a pair of cards from the deck, "First up, Rock Lee," he began, flowing chakra into the card, "a year older than you rookies, twenty D rank missions and 11 C rank missions under his belt. The jonin in command of his team is Maito Gai, and while his taijutsu skills have skyrocketed in the past year he has no other talents to speak of. This is his first attempt at the exams, like you rookies, and his teammates are Neji Hyuga and Tenten." the glasses genin finished.
Kabuto continued by putting another card down on top of the first, "Next, Suna no Gaara, otherwise known as Sabaku no Gaara." he continued, his chakra flowing into the card to reveal a lack of information compared to the first two cards he'd shown, "Eight C rank missions, and a B rank too! It's rare for a genin to be on a B rank, even more rare than the threat level being escalated in the middle of a mission." the young man said with a meaningful smirk at team seven, "He's from way out in the desert so I have less information on him, but apparently he's come back from every mission without a scratch." he finished.
"No scratch?" Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Where's the fun in that?" he asked, confusing the other rookies besides his own team.
Kabuto raised an eyebrow at the remark of the purple eyed Uzumaki, but didn't comment, "Well, this year, every hidden village has sent their best." he began to explain as he stood up and put his cards away, "I don't have as much intelligence on Otogakure no Sato, they're a small new village in a newly formed nation, so information is lacking." he added idly, "Every other village is well respected though, home to some powerful shinobi." he explained in the same lecturing tone.
Hinata frowned, "Anyone besides me suddenly feeling outclassed?" she asked quietly, nervous about what they were just told.
"So," Sakura spoke up, "what you're saying, everyone here is-?" she began to ask hesitantly.
"Oh yeah," Kabuto interrupted, "everyone in this room is pretty much like Lee or Gaara, the elite among the genin of their village." he explained.
Naruto seemed to realize something, "Ah! Two teams from Takigakure are here!" he exclaimed suddenly, turning to the crowd of older genin with a grin, "Hey! You guys are welcome for my killing Suien and protecting your Eiyu no Mizu!" he declared loudly, "Tell your village leader Shibuki that the awesome Naruto Uzumaki, Kajo no Ninso and future Hokage, said no hard feelings for leaving you lot in the dust!" he continued, "None of the rest of you are gonna beat me either!" he finished with a confident laugh.
"What the hell is his problem!?" Ino snapped, turning a glare on Sakura for not keeping better control of her teammate. Sakura just sighed, convinced the blonde was too stupid to be scared.
Naruto meanwhile just kept grinning, as far as he was concerned the malicious intent leveled on him from most of the other genin in the room was enjoyable. As soon as the Takigakure genin realized what incident the blonde was talking about however, those six lost a lot of their nerve.
Suien had been a strong jonin, and he had indeed been killed by a blonde Konoha genin who had drank of the sacred Eiyu no Mizu. To the knowledge of the Taki shinobi, Naruto was technically a hero who had saved their village when Shibuki had been defeated by Suien depite having had some of the Eiyu no Mizu himself.
Meanwhile, a Kusagakure kunoichi with red hair frowned at the name of the boisterous blonde, wondering how he could dare use that clan name.
Kiba snorted, covering his mouth with one hand as all the malicious intent was directed away from the other rookies to focus on Naruto, "The nerve of that kid." he chuckled, amused by the bluster of his former classmate.
Shikamaru just stared at the kimono wearing blonde like he'd grown a second head, "That idiot just turned a room full of strangers into a room full of enemies in one speech." he pointed out, baffled that anyone could be so stupid.
"What are you blathering about!?" Sakura snapped, attempting to grab the slightly shorter boy in a headlock from behind but he ducked out of the way.
"But it's the truth!" Naruto shot back, left hand resting on the scabbard of his sword peaking out of his purple sash as he rubbed the back of his head with his right.
Sakura noticed the attention of the room come onto her as well now and swallowed a lump in her throat, "Please pay no attention to my idiot teammate!" she requested, "He's, uh, a special education ninja?" she tried, not wanting to use words that may offend any further in case someone actually did finally snap, "What were you thinking?" she added in a hiss as she turned a glare to the blonde who didn't look even slightly sorry, the boy still crouched down in a squat from avoiding the ire of his teammate.
"That wrath of yours is really not cute, Sakura-chan." Naruto said instead of answering, blocking her enraged punch with his right palm. Maemi stifled a giggle, although she wished the blonde would take the stealth aspect of being a ninja more seriously there was a deception to being highly visible as well.
Kabuto sighed with a shrug, figuring he'd done what he could to help the rookies but there was no helping some people. His attention was suddenly brought to the malicious intent directed at himself, noticing movement in the crowd.
Suddenly from the crowd of aspiring chunin one of the Oto genin, a boy with spiky black hair, dark eyes, wearing a beige shirt with two black stripes along with the kanji for death printed down the front thrice, black sleeves going down his arms from under the shirt, a snake pattern scarf his neck matching his snake pattern camo pants, and his hitai-ate having an attached happuri leaped high in the air and threw a pair of kunai, the holes for attaching wire or other tools being in the blade instead of the pommel like usual, at Kabuto.
The glasses wearing genin stepped back to evade the thrown blades, letting them stab into the ground where he had been. Then another Oto genin was in front of him, this one with bandages covering most of his face, leaving only his left eye and eyebrow uncovered. He also wore a large poncho with long sleeves, a snake patterned scarf around his neck, and a straw raincoat protruding from the back of his scarf. The bandaged faced genin was making the seal of confrontation with his left hand as he swung his right arm at Kabuto in a wide right hook.
Again, the glasses wearing young man stepped back to dodge it. However his glasses suddenly cracked, startling him and causing his expression to become furious for a moment. Naruto frowned in confusion, looking around as he rubbed the inside of his right ear with his right pinky.
"What happened?" Sasuke asked, narrowing his eyes, "He dodged, so what broke his glasses?" the Uchiha asked, wishing he'd used his Sharingan to see it for certain.
"His nose probably got grazed," Shikamaru guessed, "serves him right for acting all superior." he pointed out without concern for the older boy. What was cause for concern was Kabuto suddenly falling to his knees and throwing up his lunch on the floor.
"Kabuto-san?" Sakura asked, surprised by that, getting his nose grazed did not explain suddenly emptying the contents of his stomach. The female Oto genin stepped up next to her two teammates, adding her own malicious intent to theirs, the girl had fair skin, black eyes with very long black hair, almost reaching down to the ground, tied by a violet ribbon right near the end, wearing her hitai-ate on her forehead, a pale green vest somewhat similar to a flak jacket, snake patterned pants with a snake patterned skirt over it, and a snake patterned scarf around her neck, much like her teammates.
Naruto suddenly grinned, "Hey!" he greeted the Oto genin, "What was that beautifully piercing noise I heard from you?" he asked, pointing at the boy with the straw raincoat. His words startled all three Oto genin, who were immediately on their guard since not even a shinobi hound should have been able to detect that noise.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes, recalling that Naruto apparently had enhanced senses and the way the three from Otogakure reacted confirmed what the blonde had said. Sakura ignored this as she was more worried about the older Konoha genin, "Kabuto-san, are you alright?" she asked politely.
"...Yeah, I'm fine..." Kabuto said, wiping his lips and looking up, he'd heard what Naruto said and was curious as to how the boy could have heard anything either, even he hadn't heard whatever hit him. Kiba was similarly confused since neither himself or Akamaru had heard anything.
"Hey!" Naruto said again with a pout, "Don't just stand there looking dumb," he told the Oto genin who glared at him, "you all know my name, tell me yours," he demanded petulantly, "and I want to hear that sound again." he added, his left thumb pressing against the guard of his katana to slide it from its scabbard enough that it would be easier to draw.
The words and actions of Naruto had the three Oto genin on guard, "Dosu Kinuta, futue chunin." the one with the bandaged face and straw raincoat answered arrogantly.
"Zaku Abumi, you wanna die girly boy?" The other male Oto genin asked, his hand itching to reach for more kunai.
"Kin Tsuchi." The Oto kunoichi said plainly, looking just as ready to fight as her teammates.
Before anyone could do anything further a new voice interrupted, "Would you all just shut up!?" the deep male voice demanded angrily as a smoke bomb went off at the front of the room, directing all attention to the arrival of the proctors.
As well as a large number of Konoha chunin in beige uniforms, there was a large, imposing man, with a rugged face marred by scars, his hitai-ate acting as a cover for the entirely of the top of his head, wearing a much darker uniform with a black trench coat on top. Most genin in the room shivering from the malevolent auras the proctors gave off.
"Sorry to have kept you punks waiting." The scarred man said with a smirk that indicated he was far from apologetic, "My name is Ibiki Morino, I'm proctor and chief examiner for the first phase of this exam." he introduced before pointing to the Oto genin, "You, the brats from Otogakure no Sato!" he singled them out, "You can't carry on any way you please when the exams are about the start!" he scolded, "Or are trying to get disqualified?" he asked, the question sounding like a threat.
Dosu answered for his team, "Sorry sir," he apologized, "it's our first time taking this exam, so I guess we got carried away." he explained, not wanting to apologize but not wanting to risk disqualification by angering the proctor.
Naruto pouted, his left thumb slipping his sword back into it's scabbard fully, "Don't think I didn't notice you start to take out your katana either, Uzumaki!" Ibiki added sternly to avoid seeming like he was showing favoritism, "It seems I need to lay down some ground rules for those of you with a little bit more bloodlust than the others." he continued with a smirk, "From this point forward, there will be no fighting without the express permission of the examining officer." he explained, "Any of you little piglets break that rule are out, you're disqualified, no second chances. Got that?" he finished with a steely glare across the room.
Naruto continued to pout, "Uh, proctor-san?" a genin from Suna spoke up, "What is that thing? Hiding behind the leg of that Uzumaki kid with the sword?" he asked. Maemi figured someone would notice her eventually, now all the attention was on her. She preferred when it was on Naruto.
"Good question." Ibiki said as he considered how to answer that, "Honestly, we have no idea for certain." he confessed, surprising the assembled genin at that admission, "That being said, it calls itself a Daemon or a Muse. As far as I've been informed it's a humanoid creature called by Naruto Uzumaki's Kuchiyose no Jutsu," he informed, "apparently they have something of a unique bond akin to Inuzuka with their hounds." he added with a shrug.
Maemi's eye twitching at being compared to a pet again, "The bond is deeper than that..." she grumbled under her breath.
"In any event, any action taken by the Muse takes will be reflected on the master," Ibiki continued, "effectively an extension of that brat with the sword so fighting with it will be considered fighting with applicant Naruto Uzumaki." he explained, "Now then, the first part of the Chunin Selection Examination is about to begin, hand in your applications and you will be assigned a seat then you are to report directly to your assigned seat." he continued, not wanting any further interruptions, "Once you're all properly seated my assistant proctors will hand out the written part of the exams." he finished.
Naruto took a moment to process those words, then his eyes snapped wide open in panic at the prospect of having to do a paper test. Maemi slumped as well, in practice the blonde was incredibly dangerous but he was still a knucklehead. The Muse took a moment to curse the avian lord of fate, this was right up his alley.
It took a little bit of time, but soon everyone was in their assigned seats with the piece of paper for the first part of the exam face down in front of them along with a simple graphite pencil each. Naruto had Maemi in his lap and was repeating the mantra, "Set aside despair, set aside despair," over and over under his breath.
"Um, Naruto-kun?" Hinata spoke up from beside the blonde to get his attention, interrupting his mantra.
Naruto looked up in surprise at the shy girl blushing next to him, "Oh, I didn't even see you, Hinata-chan." he confessed, praising her stealth abilities.
"Let's do our best!" Hinata said quietly with a bit of a stutter, proud of herself for managing to speak to the blonde with only a blush and a stammer. Maemi noticed the girl didn't like her, she could tell why too as she could feel the jealousy of the genin regarding her current position.
As soon as the Muse was sure Naruto wasn't looking she gave the Hyuga girl a smug smirk, the bashful young kunoichi quickly turning away with a frown. Maemi knew she'd have to do far more than needle at the shy girl to break her out of her shell, but at least tormenting her would be fun while it lasted.
"Keep your papers face down until I give the signal." Ibiki ordered from the front of the room, picking up a piece of chalk as he approached the black board, "Now then, I'll explain the rules as I write them, and pay attention because I'm only going to say this once and I'm not answering any questions." he began, his words confusing many genin especially Sakura, "Rule number one! Each one of you starts with ten points. This test has ten questions, each worth one point. For every question you get wrong, you lose a point." he continued as he wrote on the black board, "Rule number two! This written portion of the exam is still a team event, so passing or failling is determined by the sum total of the points of each three members of each genin cell. The object is for each team to have as few deductions from their joint thirty point total." the scarred man continued.
Sakura understandably slammed her head into the desk in front of her because she had Naruto on her team, "W-wait a second!" she interrupted, hopping up and raising her hand, "The whole concept of starting points and deductions is complicated enough, but what's this team total you're talking about?" she questioned desperately, hoping she misheard.
Ibiki turned a glare on the pink haired kunoichi, "Did you not hear the part about no question? We have our reasons, now shut up and listen. You might learn something." he scolded the genin coldly, "This next bit is crucial. Rule number three! If, during the course of this exam, any proctor catches anyone doing anything suspicious, in other words anything that leads a proctor to so much as suspect you of cheating, then two points will be deducted from each member of that persons team." he explained with a cruel smirk, noticing a few genin picking up on certain details, "In all probability, some of you will burn through all of your points before the test is over, should that happen you and your team will be asked to leave."
"I'll be watching over your shoulder when you least expect it." One of the assistant proctors added, holding a clipboard and pencil of his own.
"If you let the proctors catch you cheating, you'll let your entire team down." Ibiki continued, smirking as he enjoyed mentally tormenting the room of genin, "If you aspire to become chunin, if you want to be the best shinobi you can be, then you'd better start acting like you already are!" he lectured and something about those words resonated with Naruto, "Another thing, if any of you loses all ten points, then your entire cell will be failed!" he declared.
Naruto could feel Sakura and Sasuke's intent to kill him already as he frowned, the boy having hoped to rely on those two getting enough answers right that he'd be fine.
"You all have one hour," Ibiki began, "starting," he paused to wait for the clock to hit the turn of the next minute, "now!" he declared and every genin turned over their papers to begin. Sakura mentally begged Naruto hold onto at least one point.
Maemi knew something was up immediately, she may only be an Imp but she was a Muse, a Daemon of Slaanesh. The Chaos Familiar had some innate empathic abilities, and had been tasked with assisting her blonde master so she had knowledge of certain abilities that were alien to this land along with knowledge of how to engineer them to the use of Naruto's warp-touched chakra.
All that aside she knew this would be Naruto's greatest challenge yet, the boy really was an absolute dunce when it came to written tests. The blonde could barely read when it came to kanji, but even without that the questions she saw on his paper were well above even her own knowledge.
The Muse wondered where her master got the idea a test could smell fear but she couldn't fault his current strategy of trying to find an answer he could actually answer and just doing that one while leaving the rest, the issue was he was incapable of doing any of then and the tenth question was blank.
Maemi came to the obvious conclusion, the whole test was a trick question. The Muse was impressed, if she couldn't feel the emotions of the chief examiner while he'd been explaining she never would have figured it out. Of course this meant Naruto had no chance of figuring it out and was likely to panic, that was no good since that was likely intentional.
The Daemon focused, she had a trump card for situations like this but she had to be careful. She focused on the bond between her chakra and Naruto's, lowering her head to hide her eyes from the proctors.
Naruto snapped to attention suddenly, certain he'd heard something, 'Don't look around! Naruto-sama it is I, your adorable Familiar, Maemi-chan!' that just made him want to look around more but he resisted and glanced down at the Muse in his lap, 'Do not panic, the entire quiz is a trick to make you panic. Simply wait for the tenth question, I promise you will pass as long as you remain calm. Remember; set aside your despair.'
Naruto frowned but nodded, putting his pencil down as he took a deep breath to try calming down. He was still incredibly nervous but he trusted Maemi, the Daemon hadn't steered him wrong yet as far as he was concerned. Having to sit still and wait for a full forty-five minutes would be excruciating for the blonde but it was still far too early for something like the drugs which helped him focus.
So Naruto Uzumaki picked something else to help him focus and started a staring competition with Ibiki, the chief examiner raising an eyebrow at the open challenge from the boy. Technically speaking staring him down wasn't suspicious enough to take points off, although he was tempted to do so just for the look in the boys eyes. Ibiki wondered what the youngest blonde in the room was up to, everyone else in the room either figuring out some method to cheat without getting caught, somehow answering the questions because they were a massive nerd, or getting kicked out as the minutes ticked by.
"Naruto-kun..." Hinata whispered from next to the blonde, worried about the boy who was currently in a staring contest with Ibiki. She wanted to help him but the full attention of the chief examiner was on the boy due to their current staring contest, she couldn't risk offering to let him see her answers like this.
Eventually, the test was soon coming to a close as the forty-five minute mark finally hit, "All right!" Ibiki spoke up, silently he was impressed that Naruto had kept up the staring contest for so long although he wasn't sure why, "Here it comes. Get ready for the tenth question." he told the room to get all the genin to pay attention, noticing one of the genin of Suna returning from the bathroom, "Ah, looks like you're in luck. You got back just in time for the tenth question, so your time playing with dolls wasn't wasted." he told the boy, Kankuro, who winced at the phrasing of that.
Kakashi was in a bar called Jinsei Iroiro with the other jonin commanders of the rookie genin cells, "With our subordinates tied up, we've got some free time." he said lazily, it wasn't like they could go training or on missions either since they might need to be on call if something happened.
"Don't worry," Asuma spoke up, breathing out a lungfull of cigarette smoke, "we'll be busy again before you know it." he said idly, showing very little faith in the rookie genin.
"Why?" Kakashi asked, correctly assuming the other jonin knew something he didn't.
"Word is, they got Ibiki Morino as the chief examiner of the first phase of the exams." Asuma answered, taking another drag of his cigarette.
Kakashi was surprised at that, then he realized that Naruto was in a room with Ibiki and felt years of his lifespan slipping away, "Oh, oh no." he said, massaging the bridge of his nose in a futile attempt to stave off the headache he could feel forming.
"That bad?" Kurenai asked, not recognizing the name.
"You're still new to being an elite jonin," Asuma spoke again, "so you don't know him. He's the leader of the Torture and Interrogation Corps." the man explained.
Kurenai was stunned, "Torture?" she questioned, concerned for the health of her students now, "A bit much for an exam." she complained, hoping they were playing a joke on her.
"Relax, he's not going to physically hurt them." Asuma assured, "He won't need to, the man is a specialist at psychological warfare." he explained, amused by the situation, "Ibiki understands the human heart completely. It's what makes him so terrifying. He uses his insight to mercilessly manipulate his foes, to bring to the surface their worst insecurities, their human weaknesses, and uses those weaknesses to make them crack. Trickery is no defense against his skills as an interrogator." he finished, he had some admiration for the talents of the man.
Kakashi groaned, "I really feel bad for him..." he muttered, wondering if it was too early in the day to order a stronger drink.
"Which one?" Asuma questioned, "Naruto?" he assumed, it was a fair guess from what he knew of team seven.
Kakashi's laugh startled both the other jonin, mostly because the man sounded hysterical, "Ahem, sorry, but no." he said, trying to compose himself, "I feel bad for Ibiki." he explained, surprising Asuma.
Kurenai raised an eyebrow, "Why? Asuma-san was just talking up his abilities at psychology." she questioned, confused by the conflicting attitudes of the other two senior jonin.
"Well..." Kakashi thought of the best way to word this, "Naruto-kun is a bad match up for Ibiki," he began, prompting surprised looks from both jonin, "that boy is completely immune to psychology. I don't think he'd break under physical torture either though." he explained, much to the confused alarm of the other two jonin, "I just hope Naruto-kun doesn't get himself disqualified by doing something particularly boneheaded." he finished with a sigh.
"You can't be serious," Kurenai was baffled, "immune to psychology? At his age?" she asked, figuring the older jonin was pulling her leg.
Kakashi frowned under his mask, "On their first C rank mission, Naruto Uzumaki slaughtered a group of thugs to get to and kill their boss with a smile on his face." he informed the two, startling both of them, "Ever since the Mizuki incident his mental state has been a cause for concern, something about that boy changed that night." he explained quietly so as not to be overheard, his serious tone letting Asuma know he was being honest, "No one knows for sure what happened when he used Kuchiyose no Jutsu without a contract, you could say he had an epiphany in the land of those Daemons he made a contract with if you were being generous, whatever the truth of the situation one thing is certain;" he continued, steeping his hands in front of his face.
"What?" Kurenai asked impatiently, curious and concerned about the mental state of the boy who contained the dreaded Kyubi no Yoko.
"Naruto Uzumaki is a shinobi without fear." Kakashi finished.
"Before I give out the tenth question, I have a final rule for you all." Ibiki began, startling the remaining genin, "This rule is absolute." he warned, "First, you must choose whether or not to take the tenth question." he explained.
Temari spoke up in surprise, "Choose!?" she asked, stunned by that, "What happens if we choose not to take it?" she asked, wondering what the point of that would even be.
Ibiki focused a hard glare on the entire room, making most of the remaining genin shiver with fear, "If you choose to reject the tenth question, without even trying to answer it, you'll lose all your points and fail." he informed them sternly.
"Say what!?" One genin yelped in surprise.
"Why would anyone choose to reject it then!?" Another genin snapped, alarmed by a rule like that even being in place.
"Because of the other rule..." Ibiki continued, "If you try to attempt the question, but fail, you will never be permitted to take these exams again. Not ever." he declared, his announcement causing alarm and some panic among the genin. The torture specialist kept his expression neutral as he enjoyed watching them squirm.
Kiba shot up suddenly, "That's a load of crap!" he snapped, "There are genin here who have taken these exams multiple times! You can't fool us with that!" he exclaimed loudly, pointing accusingly at the man he was calling out, but his nervousness was obvious to the proctors.
Ibiki chuckled cruelly in response, "Just your rotten luck I suppose, I wasn't in charge of the rules the previous years. I am this time." he said with a smirk, "Your villages already agreed to my terms," he bluffed, Maemi couldn't help but smile as she detected the lie, "so if any of you have doubts you'd be wise to back down now." the chief examiner continued, "If any of you want to quit, raise your hand, and your team will be escorted out." he finished.
Slowly, a few genin started to quit, apologizing to their teammates as the nerves got to them. Maemi was surprised to notice Sakura directing concern at Naruto, she was less bothered by Hinata next to them losing her nerves but if Sakura quit for Naruto's sake then her master would fail.
The Muse tried to think of a way to stop the girl, but she wasn't powerful enough to direct telepathy at the pink haired kunoichi, she could only do it with Naruto due to their close proximity and the chakra bond, 'Naruto-sama! Sakura Haruno, your teammate is wavering! I can't do anything about her, you have to inspire her somehow, distract her!' the Daemon desperately warned.
Naruto frowned, wondering how he should do this. From the desperation from his Muse he could tell he didn't have much time so he swiftly stood up, figuring he'd just wing it as he picked up his Familiar in his arms as he stood. The sight of him standing caused those who knew the blonde boy to stare in shock.
"Giving up, Uzumaki?" Ibiki questioned, "I said to raise your hand, but standing to leave is acceptable if your arms are too shaky to raise." he mocked.
"No way!" Naruto laughed suddenly, surprising the proctors now with his carefree tone, his voice wasn't even shaky, "My butt is getting numb from sitting here waiting for you to get on with it is all, so I needed to stretch my legs y'know." he said with a cheeky grin, it wasn't technically a lie, "Besides, you seem like you're full of shit anyway," he added and Ibiki's eye twitched, "you said yourself didn't you? We should start acting like chunin already?" he asked and the chief examiner nodded, wondering what the boy was getting up to, "Well then, what kind of chunin would back down now?" he asked with a smirk, "I'm the future Hokage y'know! I have to hand it to you, great job weeding out the genin who don't deserve a promotion, but I'm not intimidated!" he finished with a manic grin. Maemi gave a little applause, clapping her hands for the performances, both Ibiki's for scaring off so many genin, and Naruto for inspiring those who remained.
Ibiki noticed the change in the atmosphere, it hadn't been subtle but the boy had completely wiped away the oppressive atmosphere he built up, "I'll ask one last time." he spoke coldly, impressive or not he had a job to do, "This is a decision that could affect the rest of your life. If you're not going to quit while you still have a chance then sit down and await the tenth question." he intoned, attempting to put back at least some of the intimidation to catch a few more genin.
Naruto sat back down with a scoff, "As if I'll ever give up," he said with levity that ruined Ibiki's attempt, "I'm not bitch made." he finished with confidence.
Ibiki glanced over the room, noting that there were still a whole seventy-eight applicants left. As annoying as the blonde boy in the orange kimono was, he'd completely dispelled the doubts of genin with years of experience on him and that was impressive.
At the nodding from the assistant proctors confirming no one else was wavering, Ibiki decided there was no point dragging it out any longer, "Good call." he acknowledged, "So, for everyone still here, congratulations on passing the first phase of the exams." he praised.
"What?" Sakura asked, stunned, "What about the tenth question?" she questioned, too confused for relief and suspecting a trick still.
Ibiki grinned, "The tenth question, was whether or not you would accept or reject the tenth question." he revealed.
"Then what the hell was the point of the other nine questions!?" Temari snapped, "Were those just a waste of time?" she asked.
"No waste," Ibiki shook his head, "they had a purpose, and they served that purpose." he began to explain, "They were designed to test your ability at spying!" he declared with a smile, seeming like a completely different person now that the test was over, "The test was designed to encourage you to cheat, with the rules allowing it and the questions too hard for any normal genin to answer." he explained, Sakura smiled since that made her some kind of genius, "To ensure you had somewhere to get the answers we had a some plants among the applicants, chunin who already knew the answers to the questions." he continued as the plants he spoke of grinned and waved to the rest of the genin.
Naruto blinked owlishly, he'd had no idea. Sakura was aware that technically she hadn't figured out the true purpose of the test, she decided that Sasuke must never know that she'd simply answered the questions without ever figuring out the secret meaning behind the test.
Sasuke was just relieved his team had somehow passed, despite Naruto being a fool they'd pulled through. He wondered idly if Sakura had figured it out, but she hadn't flaked on the tenth question so he decided it didn't matter.
"Of course," Ibiki continued again, reaching up for his hitai-ate to begin untying it, "anyone who cheated in a clumy or obvious way failed." he reminded as he pulled down the cloth covering the top of his head, revealing even more scars, burn marks, and even puncture marks where screws had been used, "Because there may be circumstances where being caught in the act of espionage can cost more than just your life." he warned, using his own scars as a grisly example, "You pay in ways that can be taken from you little by little, time and time again, when many lives hang in the balance." he explained.
This display had mixed reactions, mostly disgust and fear, some like the Oto genin with the bandaged face thought it looked cool and that the man deserved it for getting caught. Maemi just thought the scars looked like the work of an amateur, knowing that head trauma could be damaging to the information you're trying to get if you don't have the abilities to pluck information directly from the brain or soul of the target like some Greater Daemons could.
Naruto on the other hand, "Woah! That's badass!" he praised, finding the fortitude of the man who withstood those scars to be impressive. Hinata cast a worried glance at the blonde boy next to her, elsewhere in the room his two teammates sighed.
Ibiki stared at Naruto for a moment before he started putting his hitai-ate back where it was, "You really are kind of messed up, aren't you?" he asked rhetorically, "Ahem, the information you obtain can't be trusted if the enemy is aware of your attempts at espionage." he continued without waiting for an answer, "Learn that and learn it well, if you bring back information from a suspect source or a compromised operations, you could put the lives of your allies at risk by doing the job of your enemy for them. That is why we maneuvered you into cheating, to weed out those who didn't yet have the skills required." he finished.
Temari frowned, "Okay, but what about the tenth question?" she asked.
Ibiki smirked as he finished tying his hitai-ate back up over his scars, "Ah! The tenth question was the first real test on the exam." he answered, "It was a nasty, unfair, no-win situation where you were given two options, either fail by choice and come back another year, or go forward with the uncertainty of ever trying again." he began yet another explanation, "To make a long explanation short, and to quote a certain fearless brat; what kind of chunin would back down?"
Naruto grinned proudly as the other genin still present looked at the effeminite looking blonde in surprise.
AN: This chapter ended up much longer than I intended, it's really hard to do much interesting or new with the first phase of the exams, everyone knows the twists and turns right now, so I hope I didn't drag it out too much. That being said the next chapter might be pretty long too so look forward to that.
Translation: Hentai-ryu: Erokenho - Pervert Style: Erotic Fist Art