Chapter Eleven - Chuunin Exam II

Kabuto made the mistake of looking over when he heard the blonde laughing suddenly, almost thinking he knew what was happening but that thought quickly scattered when he had to dodge a few kunai. Almost immediately after, he had to duck under the hunchback's punch before crossing his arms over his chest to block the next one. He is not holding back the foreign shinobi, who applied as much pressure as he could to force him back.

He smirked tauntingly. "As I said. Upstarts."

There was a scowl under the man's bandages before he chuckled and flicked a finger into his forearm brace. It had numerous small holes inside, which didn't threaten the durability of it surprisingly, and a light sound came from it.

Kabuto raised an eyebrow before he felt it. Nausea and a high-pitched ringing that caused him pain that trumps any migraine he has ever had. He staggered back and fell on his ass, grabbing his ears to try to ease the pain but gagged at the nausea he still felt. It is horrible.

"What's wrong, Konoha-kin," the hunched man taunted as his teammates approached with their own smirks. "I didn't hurt you too bad, did I?"

The rookie Genin just stared in surprise, but it was Sakura who said, "I thought he blocked the attack? What happened?"

Hm, Naruto hummed to himself in thought before looking at the Oto trio. "You're from the Hidden Sound Village?"

"Yeah, and you better stay out of our way," the spiky-haired teammate of the hunchback threatened cockily.

"So that's the trick then," Naruto chuckled, getting looks from quite a few people, especially his fellow rookies. "Sound. While I don't know if it's all of them, Hunchback over there used a sound-based attack and that's why Kabuto was hurt."

Quite a few onlookers either already deduced the same thing or seemed to gain a thoughtful look. Naruto, however, turned to the trio and shook his head. "Y'know, if this is how you act and show the inner workings of your attacks then you won't get far in the exams. That was a very good trump card for later, but now everyone knows and will make adjustments to properly counter your jutsu."

Before the three Sound ninja could retort, a smoke explosion sounded from the opposite side of the room interrupting them. Everyone tensed as the smoke slowly disappeared to reveal thirty Chunin proctors in gray jumpsuits with varying smirks and grins on their faces. The man in front of them is Ibiki Morino, who looked over the group even sending a glare at Naruto and the blonde suddenly felt targeted.

Knowing the man, he will be exceptionally tough on him as his on-and-off mentor. "Alright, you shits better listen well! My name is Ibiki Morino, Jonin of Konohagakure, and until this exam is over your asses are mine!"

The room is dead quiet as the man shouted, bringing everyone into swift attention at the commanding presence he gave. "I want each of you to find a seat but, Sage as my witness, if I see any of you little brats next to your friends from the same village I will have you thrown out this window before you can cry 'mommy' you got it!"

Naruto chuckled softly as the room slowly spread out so they were not next to each other but at least in the row in front or behind an allied ninja. When Ibiki was satisfied, making seat placement adjustments as he felt necessary, he motioned to his proctor assistants to hand out the sheets of paper they held. As they did so, he began explaining the exam.

"This exam will test your knowledge. I'm sure a bunch of you hotheads think all it takes to be a great shinobi is power and jutsu but the truth is that to command cells takes intelligence and wisdom. You need to know strategy, geography, traditions, customs, and everything it takes to blend into wherever your missions take you. I won't pass a single one of you if you can't tell the difference between a kunai from Iwa and a shuriken from Kumo!"

"The packet handed to you is three double-sided pages split into two parts. The first part is ten questions on geography and location names, the second part is five general knowledge questions, and the third part is two questions about a random country that you must give a two-paragraph response to."

"Hey, what's with this blank page!"

"Did I say you can speak, mutt!" Naruto laughed at the sour look on Kiba's face from being yelled at. "Another outburst like that and your entire team is disqualified, do you understand that you dogbreath shitstain!"

At the boy's shaky nod, he gave a last sneer before returning to his explanation. "The final page is blank because, after an hour of answering the three parts, we will give you the final answer. However, in anticipation for some of you resourceful brats, we have some rules laid out for you. If you are caught cheating you are deducted two points. If you are seen communicating with anyone near you, you are deducted one point. Everyone individually starts with five points, and if you reach zero you and your team fail even if they were not seen cheating."

Ignoring the soft chatter of disbelief, he continued on. "The proctors with me will be watching each of you for any cheating. They will not let you know when or if you lose a point but only tell you when you are disqualified."

At this, everyone glanced to the sides where the proctors were sitting with smirks on their faces. There was some jeering coming from them to the Genin but Ibiki held up a hand to silence them before pulling out a timer from his coat. He cranked it to 60 before setting it down. "Start."

Knowing Ibiki, his rules are blatantly clear. Upon looking at his paper he understood why the man said 'if' they were caught cheating. He expects us to cheat. These questions are too difficult for the average Genin to answer.

Question one: Demons Country is a nation from a different continent. It is bordered by what other nation given below?
A: Sky
B: Bear
C: Marsh
D: Iron

Considering Naruto learned about the locations of many lands, especially Demon because of the Greyrats, he knows the correct answer is Marsh. Although Sky might trip many people up because it is on the same continent across the Kaizoku Sea, it is closer to Moon than Demons. Good question, though.

Question two: What two islands are known for it's Great Shrine Race?
A: Negi and Kiko
B: Jiro and Uzu
C: Uzu and O'uzu
D: Negi and O'uzu

Knowing two and three are wrong since his island did not have a shrine race, it left one and four. Kiko is nowhere near Negi, unlike O'uzu, so he deduced it was option four.

Question three: Which major Hidden Village has the largest population?
A: Kirigakure
B: Konohagakure
C: Iwagakure
D: Kumogakure

That depends. Are civilians included?

Naruto raised an eyebrow. How so?

Konoha has a large civilian population, making it larger than any other Hidden Village. But in terms of shinobi, I believe Iwa or Kumo have the larger shinobi populations. My unsealing and resealing crippled Konoha and only just made up the shinobi they lost while the others have been able to bolster without such issues.

Naruto tapped his chin with his pencil in thought, understanding the fox's reasoning. We should leave that one blank then. If we have to, we will just pick Konoha under the reasoning they didn't specify.

Question four: What country was unable to be conquered by Fire or Earth countries during the Second Ninja War?
A: Grass
B: Waterfall
C: Rivers
D: None of the above

This should be easily answered by both Konoha and Iwa shinobi alike. Not only is it during this war that the Sannin were given their name, but it gave smaller villages the confidence to oppose the larger villages as Hanzo had defeated an entire platoon of Konoha shinobi alone. And the fact even Iwa were decimated, it made countries like Grass and Waterfall become the battleground for the two countries.

Naruto nodded his head, knowing this from his personal studying for the wars with the help of Ginrei, who survived the Second Ninja War and the Uzushio massacre.

"Genin number four-five-B, you are disqualified. You and your team leave."

A Kiri man jumped in his seat and his head whipped around to find who caught him cheating. "I wasn't cheating! Bullshit!"

"Leave now," the proctor to the far right repeated.

Three Chunin stood to their feet this time, each one staring at the man in case he decided to fight them on this. The man grit his teeth before storming through his row and towards the door, his two teammates soon following soon after when they noticed Ibiki and a few proctors looking right at them. This opened some kind of floodgate as seat locations were starting to be called one after the other, and most grumbled or cried about unfairness but in the end, they left without any incidents. After a while, things quieted down but everything remained tense as no one knew if they were going to be called next or not.

Kakashi is sitting in the teacher's lounge in the academy, mostly reading his book but he is also listening to the television that is monitoring the examination classroom. So far, his team is not disqualified but there is still half an hour for them to make a mistake. Considering these Chunin are the most observant of their rank that has been gathered by Ibiki to monitor the Genin, he is silently thinking that one of his students would be caught and failed in the first part.

Deep down, he just reminded himself that his team had varying strengths that, if used correctly, will get them through the written portion of the exam. Sakura is probably the most intelligent of the trio since she studies the most over physical training which makes her likely to benefit from some type of medical training. Sasuke has his Sharingan Dojutsu which can copy movements, a base attribute of the legendary eye that even in the current infancy he currently had will still be enough for him to copy the answers from someone else. Naruto, on the other hand, is every bit both his father and his mother and should have no problems figuring out how to cheat like his mother or outright get the answers like his father.

"How is it so far," Asuma asked as he entered the room from his smoke break with Kurenai trailing behind him.

Even as a Jonin, they had to follow the no smoking inside rule or else the superintendent will get mad and that was a woman who no one had the balls to mess with. There is a reason she is known as the "Demon Instructor" of Konoha.

"Your teams are still in," Kakashi answered while flipping a page and giggling perversely. Oh, Sora, you sly dog.

"That's good, how's your team," Kurenai asked as she sat down next to Asuma.

"Doing well, they haven't been disqualified yet," Kakashi shrugged as more people were dismissed over the television. "Ibiki is sure not going easy."

"Damn, I can't believe he agreed to be the overseer of the first part of the exam," Asuma breathed out while looking at the television with worry.

"I'm sorry, Ibiki?"

Kakashi and Asuma looked at Kurenai's confused expression and realized that she didn't know.

"Ibiki Morino is a Jonin in the Interrogation Division directly under the Hokage," Asuma told her, motioning to the man who stood at the front of the room. "He is damn good at his job. During the Third Shinobi War, he had single-handedly secured vital intelligence of ambushes and operations that our enemies were going to go through. He saved many lives, and he did so without a drop of blood."

"Without a drop of blood," Kurenai repeated with a narrowed gaze of thought.

"He does not physically torture his prisoners," Kakashi answered this time, still reading the book. "His specialty is psychological warfare. He is so good with the mind that even Inoichi Yamanaka is scared of the workings in his head. The fact that he is the overseer, it means that the twelve teams already disqualified is just the start."

Kurenai nodded her head slowly. "Didn't your student, Naruto, do a brief apprenticeship under him?"

"He still does occasionally," Kakashi shrugged in response. "He does it when he can, and I see no problem as I think it will be a good skill to have in the future."

Naruto just continued the paper without a care as he had been able to answer all of the questions, even the ones dealing with mathematics involving circumference, weight, and trajectory. His father also aced the Chunin and Jonin written exams while he went through them, so it seems that his father's intellect somehow passed on to him despite having his mother's stubborn and impatient nature. However, he had to say that he got annoyed when he was asked what year the Great Oak religion started in Forest country as, if not for Retsu's lessons on history inside and outside the main shinobi continent he would have surely failed that question. It's not like he believed in that religion. He, like many other ninja, followed the Sage as he is thought to be the progenitor of all chakra. Considering the reasoning that Uzumaki found the number ten as both taboo and an omen of good or bad is because of the Great Sage, as it held significance of the tenth and mysterious Biju.

Sighing, Naruto just flipped his packet over when he was finished and put his head down on the desk so he can't be accused of cheating.

"Seat one-three-F, keep your head up for the duration of the examinations or you will be disqualified."

Naruto slowly lifted his head and looked at the man that called out his seat and saw the slightly sickly man looking at him. "How about you propose to that girlfriend of yours then I will."

There were a few chuckles from a few Konoha nin, even a few foreign ninja who thought the comment was funny, but it didn't reach that high of a decibel to warrant the proctors calling out. The man, Hayate Gekko, blushed a bit and fought the smirk that was threatening to tug at his lips. "Why don't you worry about your own love life before you speak on someone else's, mister Uzumaki."

Naruto nodded his head with a proud smirk. He can't even be mad at that comment, and the chuckles of more people seemed to agree with that sentiment. "You know what, fair enough, sir, I'll sit up now."

"Good," Hayate chuckled in triumph before returning to monitoring the Genin.

Brrrrrrring! Brrrrrrrring!

Ibiki turned off the alarm. "Alright, pencils down now. I will now reveal the last question, but first I will explain some new rules." When he saw no one about to jump up and question his statement, he continued. "Before you take this question, you must decide whether to stay and take it or not."

"What!"

A few shouts could be heard from the remaining Genin.

"You heard me."

"W-what happens if we decide not to," Temari shouted from her seat.

"Points will automatically be reduced to zero, and you will be failed from the Chunin Exams along with your teammates."

"What, how is that fair!"

"If that's the case then why would we not take it?!"

At the Genin's shouts, Ibiki just continued on. "The other rule is that if you decide to stay and take the final question, the stipulation is that if you get it wrong you will be barred from taking the Exams ever again. In other words, you will forfeit all right to ever move on to the rank of Chunin!"

"What kind of stupid fucking rule is that!" Kiba stood and slammed his hands on the desk. "What about the people who've taken the exams before! That Karuko guy took the exam seven times already!"

Naruto began laughing as Kiba pointed at Kabuto while completely fucking up is name, and the boy looked really livid at that.

"They were lucky they didn't get me before," Ibiki looked at the Inuzuka boy with disdain. "You, however, are unfortunate to have gotten me for the first time."

It's quiet as people looked around uneasily. The looks on the assistant proctors did not help as they looked on in amusement with smirks and grins on their faces.

"I-I can't. I'm sorry guys, I won't stay a Genin forever."

"I'm out."

"Fuck this."

"Next time."

More and more people began leaving. Nearly half the teams that were remaining from before the tenth question has dropped out, but there were still a few hesitant people. Naruto looked over at Hinata to see her looking on with wary disinterest, and she glanced at him when she felt his eyes on her before blowing a kiss at him with a smirk. Later, she mouthed with clear intent that sent an excited shiver up his spine.

Awoooga.

Awoooga, indeed. Kyuubi laughed at the boy's spike in lust and desire.

"No more," Ibiki asked with one more glance out of the room. "Then you all passed."

The atmosphere exploded from the sudden break of tension and there were multiple shouts of "WHAT?!"

"Calm down!" Ibiki barked out and looked around at the Genin.

"What do you mean we pass?"

"What about the last question?!"

"That was the final question, you dolts!" Naruto rolled his eyes when multiple people looked at him in offense and question. "The final question was whether you will see your objective through to the end. It's easy to see if you were paying attention."

Everyone began talking amongst themselves but most looked unsure of the blonde's reasoning. Ibiki nodded his head, however. "Thank you, Uzumaki-san, I'm glad at least some of you came to the correct conclusion. He's correct, the whole point of the written exam is not only to test your no owledge but to also see how well you can gather intelligence. Hence, why we had you cheat."

"You said not to," Kiba pointed out in frustration.

"No, I said you will be deducted points for if you were caught. This gave you chances to cheat successfully while being monitored, and we penalized you if you weren't subtle about it."

"That's unfair," a Genin from Sunagakure shouted before pointing at Hinata behind him. "Your village has people who cheat easily! What kind of bullahit is that?!"

"Then evolve a Kekkei Genkai, loser," Naruto taunted with a smirk, a chuckle shared with Hinata who was unbothered by the clan.

"What did you say, bastard?!"

"Calm down before I disqualify you," Ibiki warned the Suna-nin. "It is true some have the ability to cheat better than others, that's just their luck and why they will likely specialize in intelligence and reconnaissance. However, not everyone who has been successful intel-gatherers has a Kekkei Genkai."

Ibiki grabbed his bandana and pulled it off his head, revealing the scars he got when he was caught in Amegakure when trying to capture a rogue shinobi. It was the first lesson he gave Naruto when he was taken under his wing. The repercussions for being caught or careless, whether it's you or your allies.

"This is what happens when you get caught trying to cheat in the line of duty. You and those with you get tortured, and when they are done they will dispose of you. I was the lucky one of my detachment."

It was quiet as everyone reflected on the man's words. A few, mostly the rookie of Konoha and those of other villages, are realizing just how dangerous their line of duty is.

Crash! Fwunk-fwunk!

Naruto felt something tackle him to the floor as the window to his left exploded in a shower of glass, scaring the proctor who threw himself to the floor in a fright. As he looked up after getting rid of the nausea from the sudden movement, he found Anko grinning like a Cheshire Cat down at him. "Hiya, Foxy-kun!"

"Get off unless you're gonna ride me," Naruto bluntly told the woman, earning wide-eyed stares from surrounding Genin.

"Hiya, Hina-chan!"

Hinata laughed at the woman as she jumped to her feet and looked at the remaining Genin teams with her fists on her hips. "Ibiki! You're losing your touch! There's too many teams!"

"Shut it, lecherous brat!"

No A/N Im just a little late. Assignments took longer than expected.