A Change of Roles
Chapter 3: Chunin Exam Starts
Gaara and the rest of his team were standing outside the Hokage tower waiting for Kurenai. For the first time since they had known her she was late. Not excessively late, but still late.
Roughly ten minutes after the hour they watched Kurenai exit the building. She walked up to them and without saying a word handed them each a small set of documents.
"What are these?" questioned Hinata.
"These are your entrance papers for the Chunin exam. I have nominated you three for the Chunin exam. It will be held in one week. Use that week to prepare. There will be no missions from now till then. I will see you guys later. All your instructions are in there."
And with that she made a seal and vanished in a puff of smoke. Normally this cause the statement, 'how do they do that?', but this time they were to busy reading through the paperwork. With a quick discussion they all agreed that they would enter. And that they would meet the next day for team practice. At the moment though each had places to go, so they said their goodbyes.
Gaara had promised Konohamaru that he would help them work on their Kawarimi no Jutsu. So he had to meet up with them soon. He walked towards Ichiraku where he usually met them, but half way there he heard the noise of running kids and figured he had found them. He turned a corner just in time to see Konohamaru run right into a guy wearing a black bodysuit with a hood. A guy who seemed to be familiar. When he saw the girl next to him he put it together.
The guy was still staring at the cowering Konohamaru.
"Oh stop quivering kid, I ain't gonna hurt you."
"Yo..yo..your not?"
"Nah, ain't worth my time."
The guy was about to walk away when Gaara called out to you.
"Hey you."
The dark garbed guy turned back as did the girl.
"Yeah?"
"Aren't you members of that guy Baki's team. We met a few weeks ago. At the borders of our countries."
"Oh yeah, I remember you. You were with Kurenai, the leaf nin that Baki is always mentioning."
"Yeah. I'm guessing your here for the Chunin exam."
"Yeah, just waiting for our third teammate to show up. He said he was gonna find something to eat. Then meet us here."
"Well you can stop waiting, cause he is right over there." Gaara pointed towards a tree. And sure enough standing on the very top of it staring at the faces on the cliff stood the blonde haired sand nin.
The black garbed one looked at him and shouted.
"Hey Naruto, we gotta meet up with Baki. We don't want to be late."
The blonde looked down towards.
"Oh. Okay."
With that, he leaped to the ground and landed next to his teammates.
"What is with you lately?"
"I don't know, something about this place."
"Hey you three." Called Gaara, hoping to get there attention.
"Yeah?"
"I am Yamanaka Gaara. I was hoping to get your names."
Black suit turned to Naruto, who nodded.
"I am Kankuro, she is Temari, and he is Naruto."
"I thank you. Good luck in the exam."
"Same to you."
Gaara smiled as he watched them walk away. He knew that this exam was going to be fun.
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Gaara and his team met outside of the exam building and went to the room where they were supposed to register. They walked up to an area that they saw was filled with people. Just in time to see a girl Gaara recognized as Neiji's teammate Tenten catch her other team mate Lee as he was knocked backwards. Gaara had seen Lee train so he knew that Lee had let himself be knocked back. He then saw Kiba walk up with his teammates Sakura and Sasuke. Kiba was dressed as normal with his hooded jacket. He was walking several steps behind his other two teammates giving them both nervous glances. Sakura looked to the two guys blocking the doors.
"Hey you two idiots, why don't you get out of the way and let us go to the third floor."
Several of the other students looked at her in shock.
"What are you talking about?" Asked one of the two blocking the door.
"Maybe, this. RELEASE." She made a seal and eyes seemed to flash, and suddenly the world seemed to shift until the sign above the door read 201. Sakura smirked at her handy work as the others Genin looked around at the now changed hallway.
"Not bad girl. You broke my illusion. You have some skill. Try this." The one with the bandage across his nose dashed forward with a spinning kick. At the same time Sasuke who had stood obediently next to Sakura up to then shot forward with his own kick. Which sent the bandaged boy flying backwards.
Gaara sat watching this exchange. He had noticed Lee tense to move, and had tapped him in the chest with his staff to get his attention. Lee stopped and turned to see Gaara shake his head. And by the time he turned back Sasuke's kick had already landed.
"You will not touch her." The deranged look that came across Sasuke's face when he said this caused those closest to back up a few paces. The two who had been blocking the door. Looked to each other, then made a hand seal and vanished in a puff of smoke.
Sakura nodded to Sasuke, and then glared at Kiba.
"Let's go."
Kiba looked to his friends and shrugged before following after.
Those remaining soon followed after. Hinata walked the rest of the way chatting with her cousin Neji. When they reached the exam room they went their separate ways.
"Hey so you guys are here too?"
Gaara turned to see Shikamaru and his time walk up. Shikamaru looked like his normal dour self, though that might be enhanced by the fact that Ino was rapped around his arm. After Sakura had gotten Sasuke, she had turned her attention to the lazy Genin. And now he couldn't get rid of her. Chouji was following close behind while munching on a bag of chips.
"Hey guys." Replied Gaara. "So you are in this too huh? I guess with Kiba and his group that means all the Rookies are in it this time."
"So it would seem."
At this point Kiba walked over.
"Hey. Finally a reason to get away from those two psychos."
"Are they really that bad?" asked Shikamaru.
"That bad? That boy will do anything she tells him too. And I am still not too sure why. That and they are both nuts. From what Kakashi told me it started just after his family was killed and one of the Hyuga was able to take down his brother that he apparently snapped. Well Sakura's mother works in the Hospital and while he was recovering she got to see him at the hospital. And since then, he's done whatever she asked. She's even gotten access to the Uchiha library thanks to him. And that girl is scary smart. Through in his insane power and its just scary. Particularly now that he has activated his sharingan. He was already nuts, but with her, I figure her control of him sent her over the deep end too."
Shikamaru glanced towards the two teens in and just shook his head, with a muttered "troublesome."
It was at this point that a white haired leaf nin with glasses and a ponytail approached.
"Hey you kids should learn to be quieter. There are many temperamental people in here. Emotions are running high and your shouting isn't making it any better."
"Well sorry." Replied Kiba.
"It's okay, you are just rookies so no one should expect you to know the rules yet. But most of the people in here have been here several times. I myself have failed this test seven times."
"Well I guess you must really suck."
"No, the test is just that hard. But since you guys are rookies I guess I could help you out a bit. In my time hear I have been gathering information on these Nin info cards. Is there anyone in particular you want to hear about."
It was Gaara's turn to speak up.
"Yeah, I want to hear about the team from the Sand. I believe they said their names were Kankuro, Temari, and Naruto."
"Ah so you know their names, huh. That makes it easy. Lets see here. Not much info unfortunately. Like you this is their first time taking the exam. Mission record, 12 C rank and… wow a B rank mission. No information on techniques because I have never seen them before. Though what I have heard is that they are making quite a stir as a team because so far they have suffered barely a scratch in their missions."
He then pulled out another card. This one with a map of the countries that possessed Shinobi.
"These are the numbers for which villages have the most Genin in this exam. Of course the leaf has the most. All the way down to the sand and sound who only sent one team each. The sound team is probably not much to worry about since the sound village is fairly new."
The conversation would have continued if not for the interruption. Which consisted of Kabuto pushing the closest out of the way and dodging backwards from the punch that flew past his head. Those watching were sure he had dodged. Until his glasses broke and then he clutched his ear as it began to bleed.
Gaara saw this and set himself to attack the sound nin but was stopped when a loud bang erupted and Chunin appeared around the room. At the head of the room stood a man at least a foot taller than all the other wearing a long trench coat.
"Hey you back there. Trying to get kicked out already."
The one who attacked Kabuto looked to the instructor.
"Forgive us sir, we were just a little excited."
"Whatever. Everyone find the seat with your name on it. Then we will hand out the test."
Once every one was seated he explained the rules of the test. Several people around the room made comments but he told them to shut up.(A/N: if you don't know the rules of the test, you really need to go watch the show instead of reading my writings.)
Gaara scanned the room. It hadn't taken him long to figure out what was meant, particularly after he watched several people cheat.
'Perfect. This is a chance to test out my new Jutsu.'
Gaara had felt a little bad when he found out that both Shino and Hinata had skills that would be highly useful when scouting. Which is why he developed this technique.
He started by placing a handover his staff and a small cloud of sand seemed to float off of the staff. He held the sand in the palm of his hand as he shut one eye and focused intently on the sand which slowly began to take a circular shape. And slowly his vision changed and he saw himself through the eye in his hand. He returned it to sand form and sent it towards Hinata, for he knew that she had both finished her copying and would not stop him from copying hers.
Hinata watched as the sand seemed to come together on her desk. Guessing that this was Gaara's doing she placed her hand on top of the sand as it formed back into its spherical shape. It stared intently at her paper for about a minute and then returned to dust which she wiped to the floor where it made its way back to Gaara's staff.
Others around the room made various other attempts to cheat. Some successful, some not and slowly the room began to empty. Till they were down to roughly 35-40 teams.
"Alright it's time for the 10th question. So listen up, cause there are a few extra rules to go with this."
Gaara listened as the rules were explained. And at first he was shocked, but then something occurred to him. Even if this Ibiki guy was here for the next test in the Leaf, all the tests weren't held in the Leaf. How could he possibly stop any of those from taking it. The only ones he might be able to stop were the ones from Leaf itself. And even then, he wasn't their instructor so he really didn't have a say.
Soon Gaara Realized, 'This is another test.'
Gaara watched as several more teams got up and left. And finally it seemed like all those who were leaving had gone. Gaara counted and saw that there were still 26 teams left in the room.
Once the doors at the back of the room closed Ibiki got this strange smile on his face. His entire physical demeanor seemed to change.
"Congratulations, you have all passed the first test."
Shouts rang out around the room. Though Gaara ignored those shouts listening to Ibiki explain what he had partially guessed
"Now then, each of you …"
The far window of the room burst open and a dark shape flew through. Two Kunai suddenly exploded into the ceiling opening a large sign. On the sign was written. Mitarashi Anko, Second Examiner.
"Greetings everyone, I am the examiner for the second test."
"As usual Anko your timing sucks."
"Whats up with this Ibiki. 26 teams. 78 people. How could you leave this many?"
"What can I say, there were many exceptional ones."
"Well it doesn't matter. I will cut these numbers by at least half. Now everyone follow me."
And with those ominous words she lead them out the doors and away from the first test.
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AN:I know I glossed over Ibiki's little speeches, but I have watched most of the series, and read dozens of fics where those speeches are left in there. And it really ain't that important.
Next Chapter the forest of death. Not quite what they were expecting.