14

The First Test

"That's a helluva lot of people..." I muttered, looking around the room and surveying my surroundings. As we proceeded to walk further in, I spotted the other Konoha genin teams as well: Team 8 and Team 10.

"How many do you think will fail the first written part?" Sakura asked as she too tried to gauge the strength of our competitors.

"Hmm... From what we know, I think most of them should fail this part," Naruto replied to her while I decided to keep quiet with an emotionless expression. It was never a good idea to show your emotions to strangers.

"Sasuke-kun!" I suddenly heard and turned my head, only to see Ino coming towards me with a wide smile on her face while Shikamaru and Choji followed her looking bored and exasperated.

"Ino, Shikamaru, Choji," I greeted Team 10 with a nod.

"You guys are taking this dumb test too, huh? Don't die..." Shikamaru said the exact line he had said in canon with a bored look on his face.

"Yo! Found you guys!" another person shouted at us and just from the boisterous voice, I could tell it was Kiba.

"Kiba, Shino, Hinata," I greeted them as well. I suppressed my smile as I saw Hinata blush heavily when looking at Naruto.

"Well, it looks like everyone's assembled here," Kiba said in a challenging voice.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Choji asked while munching on his packet of chips. Damn, I wanted one now. Those things looked delicious.

"It means, we'll beat you all and be the champions of this competition!" Kiba announced with overconfidence.

As we chatted and made small talk, the dipshit traitor I was waiting for appeared.

"You guys should try being a little quieter, y'know," the long silver-haired bastard spoke as he approached us.

"Who are you?" I asked right away.

"Kabuto Yakushi," he replied, pushing his glasses up as if he was some kind of a shoujo manga protagonist. "You guys are rookies, right? You remind me of how I used to be. Screaming and yelling like schoolgirls. Jeez," he said with a condescending tone.

Naruto and Sakura stayed quiet, opting to only observe the suspicious person talking to us, but Ino wasn't so reserved.

"Hah!? Who the hell do you think you are?" the blonde yelled angrily, but before she could say anymore, Kabuto interrupted her.

"Before that, why don't you look behind you," he simply replied and everyone except for Team 7 turned around to look. There was no way we were going to take our eyes off of this snake shit stain. "Do you understand now?" he continued. "Everyone here is nervous about the exams and they all have short tempers. You do not want to irritate them more than they already are."

"Oh... So, this is your second time?" Ino asked as she turned around.

"More like seventh. This is my fourth year," Kabuto said.

"Whoa, so you must know a lot!" she said, impressed by his 'experience'.

"That's right. And I'll share some information with my juniors, I guess," he said as he shrugged and pulled out a deck of cards. "These are my nin-info cards. They're specialized cards that store information on them in the form of chakra!" he explained as he took out one card. "For example, here," he said and quickly slapped a blank card on the floor. Then, with his finger, he injected some chakra into it and some information became visible. "Here is the card of Naruto Uzumaki," he said.

"EH!?" Naruto exclaimed, losing his composure.

"Naruto? Why would anyone want to see anything about this loser?" Kiba said as he sneered.

"You little—," Naruto was about to say, but I interrupted him with a snap of my fingers.

"Pay attention," I said and Naruto turned away from Kiba with a 'hmph!'

As everyone leaned in, Kabuto recited some information. "Naruto Uzumaki, 12 years old, Genin. Strengths are stamina and hand-to-hand combat. Weaknesses are impatience, and bad chakra control," he said.

The other genin snickered as they looked at him but surprising all of them, Naruto wasn't bothered at all. The reason was that the weaknesses that Kabuto spoke of no longer existed. We had trained extremely hard specifically to eliminate those weaknesses.

But as Kabuto continued, the jaws of everyone around us dropped. "Wait... This isn't right. 55 D-rank missions, 29 C-rank ones, and 11 B-rank!?" he spoke out loud.

"HUH!?" almost all the rookies yelled out in surprise as they heard Kabuto.

"No way! There has to be something wrong with that. I have only done one C-rank and 24 D-rank missions until now!" Naruto lied skillfully.

In fact, Kabuto's information was completely accurate. But I had drilled it into Naruto and Sakura's heads from the beginning: The more your enemy underestimates you, the greater your advantage.

Although Kabuto's confused state didn't last long. He quickly changed the subject and started talking about other things.

"Quiet down, maggots!" suddenly a loud booming voice projected across the room as a poof of smoke appeared in front of the class. As it dissipated, the figures of multiple shinobi came into view. "Thank you for waiting," the scar-faced man in the front with a black bandana spoke. "My name is Ibiki Morino, and I will be the examiner for the first test of the chunin exams."

As he stared at the examinees, his eyes seemed to pierce through your very soul.

"Now, everyone to your seats. There will be no fighting without the examiner's permission," he commanded and all the genin scrambled towards their pre-assigned seats. As everyone found their seats, the proctors behind him started handing out the written tests. As they finished, he spoke once again. "Now let's lay out some rules. Anyone who disobeys will be disqualified instantly." He went on to write out all the rules on the blackboard and explained them while he wrote.

They were the exact same as in canon. Everyone started out with ten points and the proctors deducted two points for every time they found you cheating. And finally, you pass or fail the test as a team.

"The test will last one hour. Begin!" he said once he saw that all of us understood his instructions.

I looked at my test and frowned as I saw the questions on it. Had it been on Earth, this would've been just a normal final exam type of test for grade 8 students. The questions ranged from probability, statistics, basic trigonometry, and geometry, to history, general knowledge, and critical thinking type word problems.

This stuff wasn't too difficult for me at all, but I doubted that this world knew what standard deviation, Pythagoras theorem, or the formula for the volume of a sphere was. This was why I decided to leave it all blank. I didn't care either way. It wasn't really a written test anyway. And thankfully, I had conveyed that to Naruto and Sakura as well, so I wasn't worried on that front either.

...

Midway through the exam, I raised my hand.

"What is it?" one of the proctors came over and asked me.

"I need to take a dump," I said, making him sigh.

"Alright, get up," he said as he slapped a pair of cuffs on me. "As per policy, I'll have to follow you."

"That's fine," I replied, stepping out of the classroom. Halfway to the washroom, I stopped. "I need to talk to my sensei, Kakashi," I said to him.

"That's not allowed," he replied instantly.

"This is a matter of Konoha's security. Not only Kakashi, but any jonin or ANBU will be fine. Hell, get the Hokage here if you have to. I need to speak with someone," I said with urgency.

"Konoha's security?" the chunin asked incredulously. "What could possibly be that important!?" he sounded irritated.

I sighed. "I need to talk with someone," I repeated.

"You can tell me and I will convey your message to your sensei," the chunin said to which I shook my head.

"No, I need to speak directly!" I said, emphasizing my point.

"Listen, kid. You either tell me what you have to say, or else your entire teaming and you are getting disqualified!" he said angrily.

But just as I was about to say something, a familiar voice spoke up from behind. "Sasuke? What are you doing?"

I looked behind and had never been happier to see Yugao in my life. "Lynx!" I said, relieved.

"What's happening?" she asked. "Aren't you doing your first test right now?"

"Yes, but something happened. I need to tell you something, but you need to promise not to ask how I got the information," I said to her as she walked up to us.

"M-ma'am?" the chunin asked as he looked unsure of what was going on.

"It's okay, chunin," she said with authority as she pointed at the ANBU tattoo on her shoulder. "ANBU captain Lynx," she identified herself. "Sasuke, what do you need to tell me?" she asked.

"Promise first," I said.

Yugao went quiet for a second before she nodded. "Fine, I won't ask how you got your information."

I nodded back. "I think one of the Kusa genin in there isn't really a genin. I think it's Orochimaru," I said.

"Sasuke... You know this is a rather dangerous claim to make," Yugao said as the chunin could do nothing but stare at us.

"I'm ninety percent sure of it," I replied. "You need to go get Kakashi right now."

Yugao contemplated her options for a while before she said, "Both of you, wait here. I'll be back," and flickered away.

The chunin and I waited in silence for about five minutes before Yugao, Kakashi, Asuma, and almost seven other ANBU flickered into the hallway at once.

"Sasuke, are you sure about what you're saying?" Kakashi asked me in a serious tone.

"Sensei! If I'm wrong, I'm ready to accept any punishment whatsoever, but I cannot leave this up to chance," I said immediately.

I expected him to hesitate a little bit, but instead, Kakashi acted instantly. "Uma and Asuma, Go inform the Hokage about this," he said, pointing at one of the ANBU, who flickered away instantly with Asuma. He turned to Yugao. "Lynx, I want you all on a constant perimeter lookout around the Kusa genins, but make sure to make it look like just a normal security lookout," he commanded.

"Yes, captain," Yugao said immediately and all the ANBU flickered away.

"You," Kakashi pointed at the chunin. "You'll go in there and act as if nothing happened. Don't look at any of the Kusa genin, don't think about them, don't talk about them, don't behave unusually in any way possible. Do you understand?"

"Y-yessir!" the chunin said.

"Sasuke?" he called out to me. "I'm assuming you can take care of Naruto, Sakura, and yourself," he said worriedly.

I stayed quiet for a moment before speaking. "I think he'll come after us," I said.

Kakashi looked taken aback. "Why do you say that?" he asked.

"Naruto," I answered. "What better way to take out Konoha's trump card than taking out Naruto?" I said. I didn't like it, but in times of emergency, it was necessary to put yourself in the enemy's shoes and think like the enemy... At least, that's what I had Kakashi believe.

"I got it. We'll keep an eye on you guys as well," Kakashi said with a nod.

With that, he flickered away as well, and the chunin and I made our way back to the examination room.

...

After forty-five minutes had passed, Ibiki spoke up once more. "Alright. It's time for the final question," he said. Everyone's attention was on him. "Before we start, though, there are some additional rules for this question."

"What kind of additional rules?" someone asked.

"Firstly, you will have to decide whether or not to take it," he said and murmurs started spreading through the class.

"What happens if we decide not to take it?" someone asked and I recognized that someone as Temari. Now that I looked around, I also saw Kankuro and Gaara in the room.

"If you choose not to, you and your team will fail," Ibiki said.

"What the hell? Then obviously we would take it!" some random Ame genin said.

"That leads us to the other rule," Ibiki continued. "If you choose to take it and get it wrong, you will lose the privilege to take the chunin exams for the next five years, and your name will be displayed on a billboard in your respective village, naming you as a failure," he said.

The entire room clamoured at once, yet Team 7 stayed quiet. Even though the rules were a little different than I expected, I still knew the original reason behind them. All that was needed was for Naruto or Sakura to not quit.

"SHUT IT!" Ibiki yelled and the room went quiet. "Those who do not wish to take the tenth question, raise your hand. Once we record your number, you are free to leave," he said to the anxious examinees.

A heavy silence followed Ibiki's words as everyone looked at each other nervously.

Finally, the first person gave in. "Sorry guys, I can't do this," he said as he stood up. And after that, it was just a constant drain of nervous genin giving in to pressure one after another. Once most of them had given up, fewer and fewer people started to leave until no one in the room was willing to budge.

"I see," Ibiki said, looking at the forty-five genin left. "Looks like all of you are confident in your abilities," he said, and after a short pause, he smiled. "Congratulations. You all pass!"

...

And once more, as I expected, Anko came crashing through the window just as Ibiki's speech finished.

"No time for celebration, maggots!" Anko yelled as the banner she brought unfurled behind her. "Eh? Only fifteen teams left this time? You sure went hard on them, Ibiki," she said as she laid her eyes upon us.

"This year's bunch was particularly weak," Ibiki replied nonchalantly.

"Is that so?" Anko said thoughtfully before smiling deviously. "Alright then! Everyone, follow me!" she yelled and shot out the window that she had come from. As one, all the remaining examinees in the classroom stood and scrambled to follow her.

...

"Oh, god, that looks creepy," I heard a female voice say as we landed behind Anko.

"Welcome to the stage for the second test," Anko said as she turned around to look at us. "This is training area 44, also known as," she paused for effect. "The Forest of Death."

Whispers and murmurs went around the group of genin as everyone looked at the behemoth-like forest in front of them.

"But before we start anything, everyone needs to sign these," Anko said, holding up a bunch of papers.

"What's that?" I heard Temari ask.

"These are waivers. They basically say that if you die in there, it's not my responsibility," Anko replied simply and that's when I saw the shoulders of the other genin tense.

I guess it was finally sinking in for everyone that this was the real world. Death was a very real possibility here.

Anko quickly explained the procedure for the waivers and within minutes, each team had signed and handed in the forms and had either a heaven scroll or earth scroll with them that were handed to us from the check-in booth. Everyone was now waiting for further instructions.

"This will be a survival test," Anko began, making sure everyone was listening carefully. "Each team either has an earth scroll or a heaven scroll. You are not to open the scroll at any time during the test. There is a tower in the middle of the forest and locked gates around the edges of the forest. The distance between the tower and gates is ten kilometres. To pass this test, you must obtain one heaven scroll, and one earth scroll using any and all means necessary and present yourself at the tower. The time limit for this test is five days." Anko paused and looked at us to make sure we were understanding the instructions. "There are three things that can disqualify you from this test," she said and held up one finger. "One: not making it to the tower within the allotted time or without both the scrolls." Another finger went up. "Not reaching the towers with all of your teammates." The third finger went up. "Looking inside the scroll. Any questions?" she asked.

While everyone around us was thinking about the rules, we made plans

"Same spot?" Sakura asked, implying that we should camp out in that one perfect spot that we had found during our stay here.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Naruto said, agreeing with her. "We know that place best, so we would probably be able to defend ourselves best there."

"But we'll also have to make sure to get a scroll," I said, reminding them. "I think we should camp out closer to the tower and then pick off whatever teams get there," I suggested.

"That's also a good idea. That way, not only will they be more tired than us, but even if we don't fully defeat them, we can just sneakily grab a scroll and run," Sakura said, almost as if she was reading my mind.

"Alright, then. Let's do that!" Naruto said, palming his fist.

"Everyone follow an instructor and go to your gates!" Anko yelled out as no one asked any questions.

...

BZZZT!

A loud ring sounded as our gates swung open.

Kicking up a cloud of dust, we instantly set off straight towards the tower.

This was it.

Orochimaru was near us somewhere and we were going to be attacked at any moment. I didn't like it one bit, but I had to trust Kakashi and the ANBU. There was no other way we would survive.

The chapter after this will probably be my last update for a long while... So yeah.

Get ready for some disappointment.