Chapter 9

Victor-Ko: Yeah, I looked back at the beginning of Chapter8 and agreed with you. I rewrote the scene so that it was a little longer and better, in my opinion.

It was the last day before registration. Kiba, Hinata, and I had agreed to meet at Field 8 to discuss our choice. I was early, as usual. After discovering my new increased chakra I found that I could use a good half dozen more jutsus that I had been unsuccessfully trying to use. And Naruto had helped me with my speed by having me run the Uzumaki Naruto Gauntlet. Nothing really special, he just made twenty clones of himself and put me in a circle of them and had me dodge as they swung big sticks at me. I couldn't dodge everyone, but a few more weeks of practice with that and I should be pretty good. I turned around to see Kiba and Hinata approach.
"Early as usual I see."
"You know me Kiba. So, how's Akamaru doing?"
"Great! We've finally mastered the new Piercing Fang."
"Really, that's great! I'll have to see how I do against it after the exam."
"Be prepared to get rocked, Janus."
"So, Hinata, how's your week been?"
"Umm, pretty good, Janus-kun. I've trained some and I'm a little more confident, I think."
"That's great, Hinata. So, what's the decision?"
"You better believe that I'm in."
"I believe that it will help me."
"Well, that settles it. We're all going to be taking the Chuunin Exam together. Lets here it for Team 8!" I put him hand out in front of me, Kiba and Hinata placed theirs on mine. Akamaru jumped and landed on our hands and barked. "Here's to victory." We all grinned.
"Well done, guys. I'm impressed." We all turned to see Kurenai step out of a tree. "It's good that the three of you all decided take the exam because if you didn't you wouldn't be able to take it."
"Why's that, Kurenai-sensei?" Hinata asked, taking her hand back.
"Even though the last exam is an individual competition, the first two are team based. It's to help show that an individual is only good if his team is good. So, do you guys want to have one more day of training before tomorrow?"
"Yes, sensei!" We all shouted in unison.
"Good, now then. Kiba, you and Akamaru will spar with me and Hinata, I want you to spar with Janus."
"But, Kurenai-sensei, I've never spared with Janus before!"
"Exactly Hinata. You will be going up against the best genin teams from every country. Not even Janus knows what most of them will be capable of. Besides, Kiba needs to practice some moves with Akamaru and neither of you are quite good enough to spar with them. Fight, maybe, but not spar."
"Ok Hinata, come at me. Let's see what your 'Gentle Fist' can do." I said, taking a stance on the other side of the field from Kiba and Kurenai.
"Janus-kun, are you sure?"
"No but you never are. Come on, let's see what you got?"
"Ok. Byakugan!" With that Hinata charged...

I limped up to the academy. Because of it I was about fifteen minutes later than I wanted to be. I wasn't really injured, it's just the chakra flow to my left leg hadn't fully restored yet. Hinata really got a good hit off in practice yesterday. We agreed that I won due to the fact that I managed to restrain both her hands. I'm not saying it was easy but it wasn't like fighting Naruto. I saw Hinata and Kiba on the steps waiting for me. I waved as I approached.
"So, room 301. Shall we?" They nodded as we started walking up the stairs. There appeared to be a large commotion on the second floor or something, but we ignored it and continued to the third. We approached the room and opened the door. It was mostly full. I looked around to see the competition. I saw Temari, who had a shocked look on her face when she saw me come in. It soon changed into a look of annoyance. She's going to make me tell her everything from now on. I looked to the back corner of the room and I saw Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji. Shikamaru was trying to impersonate a statue but Ino would have none of it. Chouji was casually eating, chuckling to himself as to Shikamaru's misfortune.
"So, shall we bug the 'Happy Couple'?" I asked Kiba and Hinata, loud enough for Shikamaru and Ino to hear it. Kiba, Ino, and Chouji laughed, Hinata giggled, and Shikamaru gave me a glare of death. I smiled to myself as I heard the door open behind me. Then, walking into the room was Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto.
"Sasuke-kun!" I turned just in time to dodge Ino on her way to glomp Sasuke. I looked back at Shikamaru who almost had a sad look on his face. It was mostly a look of relief, though. Sakura and Ino started spouting insults at each other.
"You guys taking this stupid test too? Don't die..." I saw Shikamaru stand up and come over.
"Look, it's the idiot trio." Naruto said in response.
"Naruto, drop it, ok?" I said, approaching him.
"Janus, how come you didn't tell me you were taking the exam too?"
"Did it ever occur to you to ask?"
"Looks like everyone's here," Kiba said approaching. "All of Konoha's rookies are taking the Chuunin Exam this year. I wonder how far we will get, Sasuke."
"Kiba, you seem pretty confident in yourself," Sasuke responded. Naruto started arguing with Kiba and I kind of tuned it out as I was assessing the rest of the room. I noticed that most of the genin here were between the ages of fourteen through seventeen. It was quite obvious that the nine of us were the youngest teams here.
"Hey you guys," an older guy said approaching. His forehead protector announced him to be from leaf. "You should be quieter. You guys are rookies just out of the academy, right? You're screaming like school girls here."
"Just who do you think you are," Ino asked, quite annoyed.
"I'm Kabuto. But instead of that, look behind you." Everyone turned around, even me. Rain Nins! "They have short tempers. Look, everyone is nervous about the exam so just calm down before somebody gets hurt. Not that I really blame you, clueless rookies. But I was one a few years ago so I don't blame you."
"Kabuto-san, right?" Sakura asked. "So, is this your second time?"
"Nope, it's my seventh." I opened my eyes. Who takes the chuunin exam seven times and doesn't pass?
"So, you know a lot about the exam then." Sakura replied.
"Impressive..." Naruto said in awe. I silently cursed. He's never been in awe on some of the things I know. Kabuto chuckled.
"You know, I think I'll just share with you some info with you with these Nin-Info Cards..." That perked my attention. He then went on to describe the use of info cards and I started to zone back out. Don't my fellow genin know anything? I looked and saw Shikamaru had the same idea.
"Do you have info cards on individuals?" Sasuke asked. Ah, the good stuff.
"I do, but the info isn't perfect. If you say something about the guys you worry about, then I'll see what I can do."
"I want to know about Gaara of the Sand and Rock Lee." Rock Lee, who was that? I stood next to Naruto who looked totally lost.
"Well then, if you know their names it should be easy." He took his card stack in his hands and quickly swiped his hand over it. He showed the two cards he picked out.
"Show me." Sasuke said I looked at the scene with interest. He revealed the two cards. Rock Lee turned out to be a taijutsu specialist with Gai as his sensei. No wonder Sasuke was interested in him. Gaara's card turned out to be a great disappointment. The only interesting thing is that he had returned from all his missions without even a scratch.
"The rest of the genin are similar to them. They are all the most talented genin from their respective countries. Kinda makes you lose the confidence in yourself, doesn't it?" He was right, it did. If I don't know what I'm up against, I might as well be swatting flies with a kunai. This isn't good.
I looked over at Naruto. He was shaking. Uh, this can't bode well. Naruto, afraid? I saw Sakura walk over and try to comfort him but...
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto!" He shouted, pointing at all the genin assembled here. "I won't lose to you bastards! You got that!" A large grin appeared on his face. All the genin were staring at him. I tackled him and tried to pin him to the ground.
"Naruto!" I yelled, grappling him.
"Hey, hey, get off me will ya!" I looked up, hearing the other genin start talking about his announcement. I also saw the look of death in Sakura's eyes.
"Umm, here!" I squeaked out, handing him over to her. She immediately started choking him while apologizing to everyone for him being stupid. I glanced over at Kabuto and saw him turned to look at something. Uh oh. I quickly took out one of my newly designed movement seal notes just incase something happened. Suddenly, a nin threw two kunais where Kabuto was a second before. Suddenly, another nin appeared in front of him. Crap! I threw my note aimed for his nearest leg just as he swung at Kabuto. The note fastened and I quickly made a ram seal to activate it. It instantly started glowing. I looked over at Kabuto and saw that he had dodged the punch. Good. Now to see if my note worked... Suddenly, Kabuto's glasses cracked. What? He dodged the attack!
"What happened to his glasses, he dodged the attack?" Sasuke said curiously. Kabuto's eyes suddenly went wide and bent over and started to throw up. Everyone looked on, either worried or curious. I glanced over at the genin who attacked him. Sound! I glanced at my seal. Hmm, it appears to have worked, but he has to move for me to be sure. Naruto and Sakura rushed over to help him.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He replied, wobbling a little.
"How pathetic, especially because you're a fourth year veteran." The one the one who attacked him said. He was covered with bandages from head to toe with a strange furry back.
"Write this down on those cards you treasure so much. The Sound nins are definite future chuunins." His male companion stated.
"No, how about how much the Sound Nins need to shave their backs!" I spat back, attracting their attention. Before they were able to respond, a large puff of smoke appeared in the front of the room.
"Quiet down, you worthless bastards!" A voice from the cloud said. All attention was directed towards the voice. The smoke cleared to reveal two dozen ninjas in examiner's uniforms. Uh oh, we're in trouble.
"Thanks for waiting," A tall man at the front said. "I am Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the Chuunin Exam's first test." Ibiki, where had I heard that name before... "Hidden Sound, do you want to be disqualified before the first test even starts?" The Sound Nins apologized slightly, but it was obvious that they didn't mean it. "Because of this, I would like to tell you that without permission for your examiner, all fighting during the exam is not tolerated. Even if permission is given you are not to kill your opponent. Any pig who wants to challenge me with will be failed immediately. DO I make myself clear?" Gulps were heard around the room. This guy really knows how to work a crowd.
"We will now start the first test of the exam. Instead of your current seating arrangement, you will come up to the front and pick out one of these numbers." He held up a piece of paper with a '1' on it. "After you have all been seated, we will hand out the exams."
"What!?! A paper test!!!" Naruto shouted. Uh oh. Naruto sucks at these. What kind exam is this? Everyone started to move to the front of the room. I heard somebody hit the ground and turned around. The leader of the Sound Nins was on his hands, his right foot stuck to the spot. Everyone, even the examiners looked back curiously. He looked at his leg and took off my note. He brought it put to look at it but it turned to dust immediately. I started whistling, attracting attention. I reached and picked another one out of my pouch.
"So, want another?" I threw it up in the air and it vanished. I casually waked down and picked up the first seat note, smiling and still whistling.

I looked around. Everyone was seated. No one was really close to anyone else, save Hinata had picked the seat to Naruto's right. She must be loving it. Come on now; tell use we can start this thing out so we can move on to the second stage of the exam.
"Do not turn your tests over." Ibiki said. "Listen closely to what I'm about to say. There are many important rules to this first test." Rules? "I'll write it on the board while I explain, but questions will not be allowed, so listen carefully.
"The first rule, all you guys start out with ten points. The test is made up with ten questions and each question is worth ten points. This test uses the subtraction system. Basically, if you answer all the questions correctly, you keep your ten points. But lets say, you missed three questions...you would lose three points and have seven.
"The second rule...This is a team test. Whether you pass or not will be determined by the combined score of your teammates. So each team will compete to see how many points they can hold on to from the initial team total of thirty."
"Wait a second!" Sakura shouted, interrupting Ibiki. "I don't understand this initial points system either, but why is it a team test?"
"Shut up, you don't have right to question me. There is a reason for this so listen. Now, for the most important rule. If anyone is caught cheating by the test examiners their team will lose two points for every offense." I opened my eyes. There is only one reason for a rule like that. The test is too hard for most if not everyone in this room to take. What's the point in that? "So there are those of you who will lose all your points during this test and be asked to leave." I heard worried gasps from around the room. "Realize that the pathetic ones that get caught will only be destroying themselves. As shinobis trying to achieve the level of chuunin, be proud ninjas." I looked at Ibiki curiously. That was cryptic. What does he mean by that?
"The final rule is that if anyone who loses all their points during this test and those that don't answer any questions correctly will be failed along with their two teammates." Uh oh, if this test goes the way I think it might, I might be an only child after this. I looked down at Naruto to see Hinata trying to comfort him. This can't be good. "The last question will be handed out with only 15 minutes are left, so begin!"
I heard every paper in this room rustle as they got turned over. I slowly and gently turned mine over. Let's see what this test has. A cryptogram, a complex story problem... I looked at the rest of the nine questions. I looked up at Ibiki. Suddenly I remembered where I had seen him before. He was one of the jounin that flanked when I entered the Hokage's office. He looked over and glared at me. But there was something else there, behind the glare. I couldn't put my finger on it.
I heard pencils start to write. I looked to my left just in time to see one of the examiners make a mark on his clipboard. Somebody just got caught. I looked back at my paper. I remember seeing these questions on a sample jounin exam I saw a few years ago. Do they expect us to know these? And the tenth question... I started coping down the answers. I'm so glad they had the answer sheet with the sample test. Suddenly I heard someone nearby start to write. I stopped. He stopped. I began again. He began again. People were cheating off of me! Hehehehe. I finished the problem I was writing and moved my pencil off the answer blocks I started to write again and the not four people started writing. Let's give them a shock. Time to write something to make them shit their pants.

I know you are cheating off of me. If I caught you, the examiner caught you. Have a pleasant week, alright?

I continued to do this for a while. Answering a question, making fun of the people copying off me. I was getting used to hear the sounds of the examiners making checks because of what I've been doing. This is the thing I like doing, and it's what I'm good at.
Suddenly, a kunai slammed into the test of the guy on the behind Naruto. I looked up. An examiner said he failed and was to leave now. He tried to argue it, but they just wouldn't listen. I looked at Naruto. I could see his test blank. Uh oh, Hinata don't offer him to look at your test! Be a man, Naruto, be a man! Oh, good. He declined. Good job Naruto. Other teams started failing. I looked around the room. Almost a third of the teams had failed. This test was brutal, and scores haven't even been handed out. I pushed my finished test away from me. Heh, this was fun. Cheat away, my friends.
Suddenly, I felt my eyes start to get itchy, like something was in them. I quickly closed them. What was going on? I covered my right eye and just barely opened it. There was a floating eyeball. I had to close my eyes again quickly. Whatever's going on, it's intense and I can't see. Soon, the pain vanished. I opened my eyes again and saw the eyeball gone. I looked around. What was that? More time passed. Soon, after half the genin were gone Ibiki spoke out.
"Ok, now its time to start the tenth question." Ok, here it comes. Let's do this. I looked around. I saw that Temari was looking worried. Oh yeah, her Kankuro asked to go use the restroom. Probably to give her the answers. I hope she does well.
"Now, before I give out the last question, its time to tell you the rules for it." There are more rules for the last question? At that moment, Kankuro entered the room. "Enjoy playing with your doll." Doll? I looked at him. Oh, an examiner doll. Pretty well done if you ask me. "Now I will explain the Rules of Desperation.
"First, you must decide whether or not you want to take it."
"Chose?" Temari shouted. "What happens if we choose not to?"
"You and your team will be failed and will be required to leave." People started shouting that they will chose to take the test. Who wouldn't if you fail if you said no.
"The other rule, though, if you choose to answer the question and answer it incorrectly, that person will lose the right to take the Chuunin Exam ever again." Ouch. I can handle it. It can't be that hard now. Kiba and a few others started complain. "I know people who are here have taken the exam before, but this year it's my rules. But I did give you a way out, so don't feel too bad. If you wish to quit now, raise you hand so we can confirm your number then go." After a slight pause, people started raising their hands, quitting. I watched ten more teams fail when I saw Naruto raise his hand. Brother... I knew all rookies were looking at him. Come on, brother, come on! After pausing for a second he slammed his hand onto the desk.
"Don't underestimate me!" Naruto yelled, attracting everyone's attention. "I will not run! I'll take it! Even if I'm a genin forever. I will become the Hokage anyways, so I don't care! I am not afraid!" I looked at Naruto. I think I'm starting to see what Hinata sees in my goofball of a brother. I just hope...
"I'll ask you again, it's your life on the line do you want to quit?"
"I never go back on my word," Naruto replied. "That's my Nindo." I smiled. So he does have guts. I looked around. Nearly everyone was grinning. They were all prepared for what was to come. I agree, Naruto. Let's do this.
"Good decision. Everyone remaining, I would like to be the first to congratulate you for passing the first test." What?! That was it? Ibiki started into a long spiel explaining the background on the test. Quite ingenious you could say. Then he removed his forehead protector. Everyone gasped. His skull was covered in torture marks. I couldn't imagine the pain he must have been in t get those wounds. He continued on about the importance of information. I nodded. I remembered my oath with the Hokage.
"But...I don't understand the final question." I looked back at Temari. If she had only waited I could have explained it, but that's ok.
"The tenth question is the true purpose of this test. The take it or not question...is a true leap of faith. Let's say you're a chuunin leading a team of genins. Your job is to go in and acquire a very important document from the enemy. However, the defenses are completely unknown to you. Can you avoid the mission because you don't want yourself or your comrades hurt? The answer is no. No matter what the danger, there are some missions you can't avoid. The ability to risk everything, survive anything, and complete every mission is what is needed to become a chuunin captain. Anyone who can not do this doesn't have the right to become a chuunin. I wish you guys luck on the second exam." Naruto started jumping up and down for joy, I was about to jump down there to stop him when something crashed through the window. Suddenly a woman stood before us, flanked by a huge cloth sigh.
"I am Mitarashi Anko, the examiner for the second test. Follow me!" Ibiki came around the sign. She complained to him about the large number of teams which passed. She mentioned something like cutting them in half at least.
"Ahh, now I'm getting excited. Come with me, I'll explain everything once we've changed places." We all filed out of the room and followed her to a fenced of forest.
"Well come to Area 44, the stage for the second test. It is also know as "The Forest of Death!"