"Talking"
'Thinking'
Jutsu/ Bijuu/ Summons
Flashbacks, Letters, and Setting
I don't own Naruto
Chapter 43: The Written Exam
In Room 302, the Stage for the First Portion of the Chunin Exams
"I'm Morino Ibiki, the Examiner of the first portion of the Chunin Exams."
The three belligerent Sound Genin immediately piped down when they realized who they were speaking to.
Ibiki smirked when he saw the Sound Genin realize who he was. Looked like they knew who was in charge. Good.
"Now, I suggest you Sound Genin stop doing as you please, or I'll disqualify all three of you before the Exams even begin. Am I understood?"
The three Sound Genin nodded. "Apologies. This is our first time taking the Exams. We must have gotten carried away."
"I might as well use this opportunity to address everyone." Ibiki began, turning to the rest of the Genin present. "Fighting is prohibited, unless specifically permitted by the examiner."
He scanned the crowd, looking for anyone who dared to disagree with his rules. "And as far as you are all concerned, I am the law here. Anyone who dares to disobey me will be disqualified immediately."
Many of the Genin gulped nervously at the intimidating aura exuding off of Ibiki. He could smell the fear on them, and it made him smile a sadistic smile.
In the Jonin Lounge
"Sheesh, they got that sadist as the examiner?" Kakashi commented as he walked into the lounge, where many of the Jonin sensei had gathered while they waited for their Genin to finish the first part of the exams.
"Kakashi! My rival!" Gai shouted out, alerting the other Jonin sensei when he saw his friend. "What are you doing here?"
Kakashi shrugged as he pulled out the book he always kept on hand. "I'm a part-time sensei for Team 7. Wanted to see how those rascals would do in the Exams."
"Sadist?" Kurenai asked in concern, bringing back the topic brought up by Kakashi, not being familiar with Ibiki or his reputation.
"Ah, right. I keep forgetting you've only become a Jonin recently." Asuma said as he smacked his forehead.
"You see, Ibiki is the commanding officer of the Torture and Interrogation Force in Konoha." Asuma told Kurenai.
Her ruby eyes widened when she heard that. "Torture and Interrogation?" What the hell was Konoha doing putting such a man in charge of the Chunin Exams?
"He's a consummate expert in the T&I department." Asuma explained. "One of the best to ever take the position. He's no Yamanaka, but he can play with your mind like a toy. He's famous for specializing in breaking people down without even hurting them."
"At least physically." Kakashi added as he flipped a page. "The sick bastard thoroughly enjoys the process of methodically breaking people down too. You know what they say, no one's better than a man who loves his work."
"His methods are most unyouthful, but I must admit his diligence and devotion to his work is commendable." Gai added.
Kurenai couldn't help but feel concerned for her Genin. She hoped Sakura wouldn't get psyched out, or Kiba wouldn't fall into some trap.
"Heh, sounds like my type of guy." Zabuza commented as he walked over to the small group accompanied by Naruto.
Naruto shrugged. "Eh. I doubt you'd like him so much if you met him in the T&I dungeons."
The other Jonin put their guards up when they saw a foreign former A-ranked missing-nin amongst them.
"Momochi Zabuza." Asuma called out, remembering Zabuza from his bingo book entry. "What are you doing here?"
"I saw him outside by himself, so I invited him in, Asuma-san." Naruto replied instead. "He's… a friend of mine."
"You have friends?" Kakashi asked in what sounded like genuine shock.
Zabuza started to crack up in laughter as Naruto glared at Kakashi.
"Kakashi-san!" Kurenai shouted out in a scolding tone, which Kakashi shrugged off as he turned back to his book to avoid Naruto's glare. She gave Naruto and Zabuza a warm smile.
"Are you a Jonin sensei for one of the Genin teams as well?" She asked Zabuza.
Zabuza nodded as he quickly eyed the beautiful woman up and down.
Asuma noticed and was internally furious at his gawking, even though he didn't say anything.
"Please feel welcome to sit with us." Kurenai said in invitation to Zabuza and Naruto.
"Don't mind if I do." Zabuza replied as he sat down, though away from Kurenai as Asuma subtly cut off the route to the seat next to Kurenai.
"Can't wait to watch my Genin tear through this Exam. Too bad for your Genin, but the winner of these Exams will be from Kiri. You'll see they're a cut above your average Konoha Genin." Zabuza said with a smirk.
Naruto rolled his eyes, before he turned his thoughts to his team. He was curious to see how his Genin would handle Ibiki.
Back in Room 302
"We will now begin the first test of the Chunin Exams. Take a tab from one of the Chunin proctors, and you will sit according to the number on the tab. When everyone is seated in their proper seats, we'll hand out the test sheets." Ibiki informed the Genin.
"EH? A WRITTEN EXAM?" Narumi gasped out as she began to pale.
"That's right. If you have a problem, you can leave now, Genin." Ibiki told Narumi.
"S-sorry…" Narumi replied as she deflated in her seat.
Ibiki knew who this was. The famous, or infamous, Narumi. Known as the sister of Naruto, or the Kyuubi bitch by some. He'd see what she was like and what she was made of before he decided what to think of her. He'd keep a close eye on her for now.
Hinata and Sasuke traded looks as they had one of their mental conversations through their facial expressions and body language.
'A written exam? This is the worst possible thing for that idiot!' Sasuke expressed to Hinata as he looked at Narumi then at Hinata.
'I know! And we're all separated too…' Hinata expressed back. She hoped Narumi would be able to get through this section alright.
When all of the Genin were finally seated, the tests were handed out, with the questions turned over so the blank sides were on top.
"Now before you turn the tests over, there are some rules to this test. I'll explain this only once, and I won't be taking any questions, so listen carefully." Ibiki told the Genin.
"Here's the first rule. You will all start with 10 points. The test has a total of 10 questions, and each one is worth a point. If you get all of them correct, you keep your 10 points, but you will get a point subtracted for every question you get wrong."
Narumi started to chew on her nails nervously. She hoped she could keep at least 5 points by the end.
"Here's the second rule. This test is a team test. This means whether you pass or fail the test is based on the combined score of your teammates."
Sasuke's face paled when he heard that. It was hard to be confident for a written team exam when Narumi, who was notoriously bad at written tests, was on your team.
"Here's the third and most important rule. Anyone caught cheating will have 2 points deducted for each offense. The Chunin proctors will keep an eye out to catch any cheaters. There will be people who will be asked to leave during the test. I guarantee it. Any pathetic scum who gets caught cheating will be destroying themselves and their team."
'Crap!' Narumi thought. Now she couldn't even think about cheating anymore!
"Here's the fourth and final rule. Anyone who loses all of their points will fail." Ibiki paused to look at the reactions of the nervous Genin. He smirked at the fear on their faces. "…along with their two teammates."
The Genin began to grumble and complain. "Hey! That's not fair!"
"SILENCE!" Ibiki shouted out with authority, instantly silencing the room. "You scum have no right to ask any questions or complain about my rules. If you don't like them, you can leave."
The grumbling and complaints died down at his command.
He looked around at the unhappy, nervous, and fearful expressions on the Genin. He savored their misery.
Narumi looked like she had the life sucked out of her. She was nervous for the test already, but now knowing that she could be responsible for their team failing, she was absolutely dismayed.
Haku, sitting in one of the rows in the back saw Narumi with her head down on the desk in despair when she heard the rule. She frowned at seeing her usually bright and cheery friend looking so down.
"Alright. I hope you all paid attention to the rules because I won't be repeating them. You have 1 hour to take the test. You may start… now." Ibiki told the Genin, officially beginning the first portion of the Chunin Exams.
Narumi flipped the paper over and picked up her pen.
'Alright, let's see what we got here…'
Question 1: An enemy on a branch 20 meters directly above you is unaware of your presence. You throw a kunai at the enemy, and it reaches him in .8 seconds. Given that the Kunai weighs 200 grams, how much momentum does the kunai carry? If the enemy is wearing a standard flak jacket, is it enough to penetrate deep enough to incapacitate the enemy? If not, how much faster do you have to throw the kunai to incapacitate the enemy? Assume you, the thrower, is 175 cm in height.
Narumi looked like she saw a ghost.
'W-w-what? What is this? We never learned this in the Academy! Or did we? Shoot! Where do I even start? This is like 3 different questions in one!'
Narumi fought the urge to tear all of her hair out and took a deep breath instead like Naruto told her to when faced with a difficult problem.
'Alright Narumi, calm down girl. What did nii-chan say… Oh yeah, if you can't solve one question, move on to the next one…'
Question 2: A boulder weighing 300 kg rests on a dirt surface, 10 meters from a ledge. You decide to push it without lifting it.
a. How much force must be applied to get the boulder moving?
b. After a bit of time, the boulder begins to roll. How fast is the boulder moving after rolling under the same force you calculated in part a. for half a second?
c. When can you stop pushing before the momentum of the boulder carries it off of the ledge?
Narumi's jaw dropped. 'I don't know?! Just push it really hard?! Don't stop pushing until it falls off? What kind of question is this? How does anyone know how hard they're pushing in the first place?'
When she looked at the rest of the questions, she found that following 7 questions were just as hard.
'More math? What is this next question? A cryptogram? What the heck? We never even covered this! Ugh!'
In gloom and absolute hopelessness, she reached the bottom of the last sheet on her test, without solving a single question.
Question 10: The question will be revealed 45 minutes after the test begins. Listen to the examiner carefully before answering.
'What the… is it like a listening section? Maybe I can solve that one? That way, I can at least have 1 point… CRAP! 1 point? If I get that wrong, Hinata and Sasuke fail too! I can't let that happen! I need to answer at least 1 other question… but how?"
While Narumi was banging her head on the table trying to come up with solutions, the others came to the conclusion that this test was not meant to be solvable by Genins.
Some of the sharper Genin also caught on to the fact that there were several Chunin plants amongst them in the Exams that had all of the answers. This led them to the true purpose of the rules. You were meant to cheat. This was not a test on your knowledge, but a test on your information gathering skills instead.
Narumi suddenly had an epiphany, something the others had already caught on to earlier. 'Maybe I could copy somebody's answers? Yeah… maybe a tiny little peek won't hurt…'
Right when Narumi gathered the courage to copy from the paper of the Genin next to her, a kunai pierced his test sheet.
"You. You've been caught cheating 5 times. Get out. Take your two teammates with you." Ibiki sternly told the Genin, in a tone that left no room for arguments.
The Genin sighed and walked out with slumped shoulders, accompanied by two other Genin who looked just as miserable.
Narumi watched several more Genin be disqualified for cheating, some even carried out by force, and her intent to cheat slowly waned.
Meanwhile, her teammates and friends were using creative ways to copy answers. Sasuke used his Sharingan to copy the hand movements of the Chunin plants to get the answers, while Hinata used her Byakugan to see their answers directly.
In the sea of cheaters, with Genin getting caught left and right by the Chunin proctors, only two Genin took a different approach. Shikamaru and Sakura just solved the problems themselves.
Haku had been seated next to Shikamaru, who completed the first 9 questions in less than 15 minutes and was taking a nap, and saw his unprotected test sheet. She pretended to drink some water but let some water spill intentionally, something that went unnoticed by the proctors.
With some one-handed seals under the table, she used the spilt water to form a small, almost unnoticeable mist, which gathered at the ceiling, which she then used to make a small mirror of ice.
She put her hands behind her head and leaned back, pretending to be deep in thought, while she looked at the answers on Shikamaru's test reflected on her ice mirror.
She smiled as she jotted down the answers.
A few minutes later, she had all of the questions answered, except for question 10.
While she was waiting for the remaining time to pass until question 10, she looked around and saw Narumi who was still banging her head on the table.
It hurt Haku to see her friend so hopeless, so she decided to help her out. It was the least she could do for her friend and her former captain's sister.
'What do I do, what do I do, what do I do…' Narumi was repeating to herself when her forehead suddenly hit something cold.
'What the… Why is there ice on my table all of a sudden?' She wondered, as she looked at the thin layer of ice that formed on her table out of nowhere.
As she was staring at the ice, an image began to materialize inside the ice.
'Huh? What's this?' She wondered until she realized what it was. It was a copy of the test with all of the answers written on it.
'Wha… did my head banging open up a portal or something? Did Kami-sama hear my distress?' She wondered until she saw a name written on the Exam: Yuki Haku.
'Right! Haku-chan can control ice! I don't know how she did this, but this is awesome!'
She wanted to turn around and thank Haku right away with a hug, but she had a test to copy discretely. She'd definitely thank her after the Exams were over.
Haku watched Narumi furiously jotting down answers on her paper and smiled. Looked like she found a good way to use her Makyo Hyosho (Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals) to help someone instead of hurting people.
A few minutes later, Ibiki looked at his watch. 45 minutes had passed since the start of the written test.
"45 minutes have elapsed. We will now be starting the 10th question."
All of the Genin laid down their pens to pay close attention to Ibiki.
"Before I ask anything else, you must decide whether you will take the question or not."
"What? Choose? What happens if we choose not to take it?" Temari asked.
"Then you will lose all your points and fail immediately." Ibiki replied.
"What? Then why would anyone not take it?" Narumi asked.
"And that brings us to the next rule." Ibiki began with a smirk. "If you choose to take the 10th question and get it wrong, you will be banned from ever taking the Chunin Exams again."
The remaining Genin were incredulous when they heard that. That was ridiculous!
"There's no way that's true! You have no right to ban us from taking it in another village!" A different Genin called out.
"You are correct." Ibiki replied, causing a ripple of murmurs to break through the Genin.
"You will be free to take the Exams in other villages. Just not any village Konoha is allied to. The Chunin Exams are a joint project from Konoha and her allies, and the rules set by the examiners are upheld by all of them."
That was basically the same thing as not being able to take the Chunin Exams ever again, since they never sent teams to the Chunin Exams held in Iwa or Kumo.
"What kind of stupid rule is that! There are Genin here who have taken the Exams numerous times before!" Kiba pointed out.
"Well, I guess you lot are just unlucky to have me as the examiner this year then. This year, it's my rules." Ibiki replied.
That silenced everyone.
"But I'm still giving you a way out. Those of you who aren't confident can choose not to take the last question and try again next year."
When Ibiki saw that everyone had heard and understood the gravity of his words, he began talking once more.
"Now, getting back to the 10th question. Do you wish to take it or not? Those of you who wish to not take the question, raise your hand. Once we confirm who you are, you may leave the room."
Many of the Genin began to internally debate on what to do. If they chose to take the question and failed, they'd practically become eternal Genin, or just a run of the mill shinobi who would probably peak as a Chunin.
However, if they quit, then both of their teammates would be forced to quit as well. In a position of not being able to communicate and discuss with your teammates, it was a tough choice to make, a choice that would affect your whole team.
Nobody wanted to make the first move, and nobody wanted to be the sole Genin quitting. Silence fell upon the room as Genin nervously eyed each other to see how others would choose, hoping that someone else would take the pressure off of them.
Ibiki smirked as he watched the pressure and mental strain he put on the Genin begin to wear them down. He was curious to see who the first pathetic quitter would be.
After a long and very uncomfortable silence filled with tension, someone raised their hand and broke the inactivity.
"I-I quit."
The first Genin to quit convinced others to quit as well in a demonstration of the bandwagon effect. It was tough to be the first to admit you didn't want to go through with something, but once people started to leave and make it seem normal, others didn't feel as guilty or weak for quitting.
From the 51 teams that were present at the start of the exams, nearly 20 had either been caught cheating or quit on the 10th question, with more continuing to choose to give up.
There were only 26 teams left when Ibiki decided to prod Narumi to test her mettle.
"So, how about you, Red? You think you got what it takes to answer the 10th question? I saw you banging your head on the table earlier. You think you got enough brain cells left to answer the 10th question correctly? Remember, if YOU fail to answer the question correctly, your whole team will fail."
Sasuke and Haku glared at Ibiki for his dig at Narumi. Sasuke felt angry especially, as only he was allowed to make fun of that mountain gorilla for being stupid.
Everyone's attention was now on Narumi's response. Would she quit now in an effort to protect her team from the fate of being banned from future Chunin Exams?
Narumi glared at Ibiki for a while for insulting her before responding.
"If you're trying to make me quit, then I'm gonna tell you right now to stop wasting your time! I'll never quit! It's true that I'm not good at written tests, but I won't back down! We entered the Exams knowing we could potentially even die. I won't let some stupid test scare me! If we try our best and still fail and get banned from the Chunin Exams, so be it, but I won't fail because I was too scared to even try! If I did, I wouldn't be fit to be a Chunin anyway. My team believes in me to try my best, and I won't let them down!"
After her words rang out throughout Room 302, there was a moment of silence as her speech was processed by everyone.
Hinata and Sasuke smiled at Narumi's response. Now THERE was their teammate who never gave up. Sure, she wasn't the brains of the team, no, definitely not, but she was certainly the heart and soul of their team.
Her other friends also smiled at her response, and gained courage from her words, resolving to see the test through.
Though the others didn't really care about Narumi, they too gained courage from her words. She did have a point after all.
Ibiki looked over the room and saw the effect Narumi's words had on them. The look of doubt and uncertainty that had been present on their faces had been replaced by a look of determination and resolve. It looked like no other team would be dropping out now.
What a shame. He had them dropping like flies earlier too.
Ibiki chuckled briefly before he gave the remaining Genin, but Narumi especially, a genuine, non-sadistic smile.
"I see. Well then in that case, to all of you remaining, I say… congratulations."
The Genin looked on at him in confusion. Congratulations for what?
"Well done on passing the first stage of the Chunin Exams."
"Wha-what? But what about the 10th question?" Narumi asked.
"There was no 10th question. Rather, the choice to take the 10th question WAS the 10th question."
"So, you're saying the other questions were all a waste of time?" An annoyed Temari asked.
Ibiki shook his head. "Hardly. The rest of the questions served to gauge your information gathering skills."
"Say what now?" Narumi wondered out loud.
"These questions were obviously beyond the level that any Genin are expected to be able to answer." Ibiki explained.
Narumi felt relieved, knowing that she wasn't an idiot for not knowing the answers to the questions. She wasn't MEANT to know! Duh! OBVIOUSLY!
Sakura tried her best not to look too pleased with herself for being able to answer the questions on her own, but was not having much success.
Shikamaru snored, having failed to wake up for the 10th question in the first place.
"That's why we planted several Chunin who had all of the answers amongst you. You were meant to show your information gathering skills by copying off of them. Basically, cheating was the premise of the test."
"Huh? There were Chunin here with us this whole time?" Narumi asked herself quietly in confusion. She hadn't noticed, too busy with stressing over the Exam.
"However, we couldn't let those with shoddy cheating skills pass. In the field, intel can sometimes be more valuable than lives, and will be guarded accordingly. If you get caught in the process of gathering intel, there will be consequences." Ibiki explained as he untied the bandana covering his head revealing a head marred with scars from torture, drawing gasps from the Genin in front of him.
"Then what about the 10th question?" Kiba asked.
"The 10th question is the most important question. You were presented with a difficult choice to make. Risk being barred from entering the Chunin Exams ever again to pass this round, or quit, hoping for better luck next time. In our careers, we will be presented with similar difficult choices. Say you're given a mission to collect information from a location that is guarded by an unknown number of forces in unknown ways. You could possibly die on this mission, but the information is crucial. Do you still choose to take it, or refuse to take the mission, and hope someone else will take the mission while you wait for an easier mission next time?" Ibiki asked rhetorically as he explained.
"If you're not willing to do what the village needs in concern for your own safety, you're not worthy of being a Chunin. This is what the 10th question was meant to determine. Those who chose to take the 10th question, answered the 10th question correctly. Unlike the pathetic scum who gave up, you all have the right mindset befitting of a Chunin. Well done. You all pass the first stage of the Chunin Exams."
"Heh. I knew I'd at least get the 10th question right on my own!" Narumi cheered as she did a little dance in her seat.
Ibiki chuckled at her antics. 'Interesting girl. She didn't even realize the purpose of the test and failed to realize the existence of the Chunin plants. She's even oblivious to the fact that she gave the others around her the courage to continue and ruined my intimidation tactic, giving herself more competition. And yet, she was the only one who really got the true meaning of the 10th question, even if she didn't know that she did. She definitely has the heart and mindset to be a Chunin. We'll see soon if she has the skills to back that up…'
He was distracted from his thoughts when a brown blur broke through the windows.
The blur threw 2 kunai into the ceiling, which held up a banner that revealed this message:
The Examiner of the Second Stage: The Sexy and Somewhat Single Mitarashi Anko (Keep your hands off of Kakashi-chan)!
Sasuke's face began to drain of all color when he realized who it was.
"Dango-nee!" Narumi squealed out in glee.
Anko gave her a smirk and a wink.
"Hey there squirt. Didn't expect to see me here, did ya?"
She then turned to the rest of the Genin.
"This is no time to be celebrating! I am the examiner for the second test! Mitarashi Anko! Now follow me!"
Ibiki emerged from behind her banner. "Bad timing, Anko."
Her cheeks reddened slightly at her mistimed entrance, but she wasn't about to admit that.
"Whatever. Any time I choose to enter is good timing, Ibiki."
She then looked around the Genin, and took a quick count, hoping to shift the topic quickly so she didn't look bad in front of the Genin she was meant to intimidate.
"78? You let 26 teams remain? You made the test too easy! You're losing your touch, Ibiki." Anko chastised.
Ibiki shrugged. "What can I say? There were a lot of outstanding teams this time."
"Bah. You're getting soft. I'll cut these numbers by at least half in the next stage." Anko replied.
Sakura and Hinata started to get worried at her statement. More than half of them would be cut in the next stage? Just how many would make it to the final stage then?
Anko looked around and saw the fear and confusion on the faces of the Genin. Lovely. It was hard not to get excited. She had to fight the urge to lick her lips.
"Alright now. I'll explain the rules for the next stage when we get to the location. Follow me."
In front of the location of the Second Stage of the Exams: Training Ground 44
The Genin subconsciously huddled in their teams when they saw the ominous and imposing stage of the second portion of the Chunin Exams.
A tall wire fence with signs stating: "DANGER: DO NOT ENTER" hanging in intervals, stretched out for kilometers upon kilometers, surrounding a huge forest that was made up of massive trees that were unmatched in size by trees from anywhere else in the world. Their twisting branches and dense canopy created a dark and creepy atmosphere inside the forest which appeared to hold an untold number of dangers. Some of the Genin could swear that they saw the glint of eyes staring at them from the darkness of the forest.
Narumi turned her head when she heard the whimpering of a dog.
"What was that, Akamaru? Huh? You sense something really dangerous? What do you mean? Where?" Kiba asked his whimpering dog.
Narumi turned her gaze back to the forest and gulped. Sure, she was confident in her abilities, but she had to admit, at least to herself, that she hated dark creepy places.
"Welcome to my favorite place to unwind in this village! Training Ground 44! Or as some like to call it: The Forest of Death!" Anko announced with a huge smile. A slightly unhinged smile, but a smile nonetheless.
"F-Forest of Death?" Sakura asked.
Anko gave her a smirk. "Hehe, don't worry, you'll find out why they call it that in just a moment."
Sasuke scoffed. "The place fits her to a T. A creepy crazy forest for a creepy crazy woman." He whispered to Narumi, who snickered.
Sasuke had to jerk his face back when a kunai went flying by his face.
Even though he had been able to dodge the kunai, it still grazed his face and left a tiny scratch on his cheek, which was enough to draw a bit of blood.
"You crazy bitch! That could have killed-"
Sasuke was surprised to see her gone from where she was standing, and even more surprised when he felt something round and squishy brush over his cut.
"Mmmm… this is the most delicious glaze for my dango!" Anko stated as she ate her dango dipped in Sasuke's blood.
All of the Genin present were flabbergasted at her insane actions, but Sasuke was visibly shaken. His lips were trembling, and his hands were cold and clammy.
It was clear this woman was insane. And nobody wanted to mess with insane.
Only Chouji, who was scared stiff as well, was curious about the most important question of all that everyone seemed to miss. Where had the dango even appeared from? He didn't dare ask though.
"Sheesh, these Konoha shinobi are fucking insane…" Suigetsu muttered to himself.
"Don't start your own conversations when this "creepy crazy woman" is speaking, alright?" Anko warned the crowd as she asked Sasuke, and everybody nodded in absolute fear.
"Good. Now let me get back to explaining." Anko stated before she turned her attention to the rest of the Genin.
"Now before we start the second test, there's something I need to hand out."
Narumi's eyes widened and sweat began pouring down her face when she saw Anko pull out a stack of papers.
"No… no… Not another written test!"
"What? Written test?" Anko asked in confusion.
"No no, these, my sweet dear child, are agreement forms." She explained.
"You see, there WILL be deaths in this stage of the Exam. It'll probably be the stage with the highest mortality rates. If I don't have you sign these and if you little cuties croak in this round, it'll all be MY responsibility." Anko explained with a bright and innocent smile which contrasted heavily with the content of her words.
She handed the papers to Team 7. "Be a dear and hand these out will ya?"
As Team 7 handed out the papers, Anko continued to speak.
"Now before you guys sign these forms, let me explain what the second test will be. After you hear my explanation, you can head to the that booth behind me, and check yourselves in." Anko stated as she began her explanation.
"Simply put, you all will be taking part in the ultimate survival test. Let's start this by describing the stage. Training Ground 44 is, as you can see, a massive forest, teeming with wonderfully dangerous wildlife. It covers a circular area with a radius of 10km, with a tower at the center, and a river bisecting the forest. During your survival in this forest, you will be tasked with one simple task. Use your many weapons and jutsu to compete in a no-holds-barred scroll battle."
Anko showed the Genin two scrolls. One black, the other white.
"As you can see, one of them has the kanji for earth written on it, and the other has the kanji for heaven written on it. You will be fighting for these scrolls. Seeing as there are 26 teams here, 13 will get the heaven scroll, while the other 13 teams will get the earth scroll. To complete this test, you must collect both scrolls, and make it to the tower at the center of the forest."
"I see… so she wasn't kidding when she said only half would make it through…" Neji commented quietly.
"But there's a time limit. You will have 120 hours, or 5 days, to make it through. You will not be able to leave once the time begins." Anko announced.
"F-FIVE DAYS?" Chouji sputtered out. "But what about our food?"
Anko shrugged. "Find your own. The forest is teeming with wildlife. Just avoid the giant, man-eating beasts, and the poisonous plants and animals."
Chouji's face fell at that. It would be a very long 5 days.
"Let me warn you though, I don't expect 13 teams to pass. As the days go on and you get closer to the tower, the number of enemies you'll face will increase, while time to rest will decrease. So not only will 13 teams definitely fail by having their scrolls taken from them, but some will also die from the harshness of the course." Anko warned.
"Now, let me explain the grounds of disqualification."
Outside the Academy
Ibiki was walking out after grading the papers when he noticed Naruto leaning on the wall beside the door with his arms crossed, waiting for him.
"Ah, Naruto-san. It's been a while." Ibiki said in greeting. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Hello Ibiki-san." Naruto replied. "I was just wondering how my Genin performed."
Ibiki smirked. He had guessed this was what Naruto wanted to talk to him about the moment he saw him.
"Heh. Quite the interesting bunch you got there."
Naruto just raised his eyebrows, nonverbally asking Ibiki to explain.
Ibiki looked through the papers he held as he spoke. "So, you've got Itachi's little brother, the Hyuuga heiress, and your sister on your team. Quite the team."
"Right. Sasuke, Hinata, and Narumi." Naruto replied, subtly emphasizing his preference of using their names instead of who they were related to.
"Yes, them. Anyway, it seems Sasuke is indeed a prodigy, like his brother and father before him. I mean, a Genin with the Sharingan? Impressive. And it seems he has quite the mastery over it as well, seeing that he's able to copy what people are writing, simply by observing the movement of their hands."
"He's indeed gifted, but don't chalk up his skills to him simply being a prodigy. He's put in the work to earn it." Naruto told Ibiki.
Ibiki nodded approvingly in response. "Good to see that there are still those from the younger generations that understand the value of hard work. I'm looking forward to see more from him."
Naruto nodded in agreement.
"Now, Hinata. She's sharp and observant, and clearly has a good head on her shoulders. However, I haven't seen anything that makes her stand out. Her kekkei genkai gives her an advantage in the information gathering, so I wasn't able to gather much about her potential or what she's really capable of."
"I see. She'll show you what she's made of in the later stages of the Exam. She's got a lot more talent and skill than what meets the eye at first glance." Naruto replied.
"I hope so." Ibiki replied. "But the most interesting one of the bunch? That position goes to your sister, Narumi. She's not really the brightest. She spent most of her time banging her head on the table, instead of gathering information like the others. In fact, she seemed to not catch many of the underlying purposes of the test, or the things going on around her."
Naruto was not happy to hear that.
"However, she seems to have some intangible traits about her that seems to work in her favor. I observed she has friends who care deeply about her, something I noticed when Sasuke and a Yuki kunoichi gave me death glares for questioning her intelligence. She seems to also be able to inspire a sense of loyalty and a desire to help her from others, which was especially evident when a foreign kunoichi risked getting caught cheating to help her. It's quite an interesting trait I'd say." Ibiki went on to explain.
"She was also the only one to catch the hidden meaning of my last question, though she didn't even know it. It was as if she instinctively knew that the hidden meaning of my last question was that you can't back down from missions or challenges just because they seem daunting. Or maybe she just has that quality in her naturally. Overall, I'd say she isn't the most… intellectual, but she has a strong spirit, and a sort of intuition. An interesting combination. I'm very interested to see how she'll perform in the rest of the Exams." Ibiki told Naruto.
Naruto smirked. That sounded like Narumi alright. "Why don't we have a wager on how my team performs?"
Ibiki returned the grin. "What do you have in mind?"
Back at Training Ground 44
"Alright, here are some rules and the ways you can get disqualified." Anko put up her closed hand as she began to explain.
"First, you will be disqualified if you don't make it to the tower with both scrolls within the time limit." She told the crowd as she straightened her thumb.
"Second, you'll be disqualified if you lose a teammate, or if a teammate is killed." Anko held up her thumb and index finger before she put her hand back in her pocket.
"Also, you must not look inside the scrolls until you make it to the tower." Anko explained.
"What happens if we do look?" Narumi asked.
Anko gave her a smirk that told her that it was a bad idea. "If you're so curious, you can open your scroll and find a nice surprise waiting for you."
She then turned to the rest of the Genin crowd. "As Chunin, you will be expected to handle classified information. This is to see how reliable you are. If you can't be trusted to handle that, then you don't deserve to be Chunin."
The Genin nodded in understanding.
"Good. Now that's all for the explanations. Hand in your forms to get your scroll, then choose a gate to start at, and head on over." Anko told the Genin who began to head towards the registration booth.
Anko looked at the backs of the Genin as they eagerly headed towards the booth to hand in their agreement forms. She frowned slightly at their naïve eagerness. Despite her warnings, some of these Genin would not be leaving this forest alive. They just didn't know it yet.
"One last word of advice!" Anko called out, causing many of the Genin, including Team 7, to turn around.
"Don't die."
They turned back around, rolling their eyes at such an obvious and useless word of advice.
Sure, it wasn't helpful, but it was really just Anko's wishes for them. Contrary to how she portrayed herself to the Genin, she wasn't a huge fan of young kids dying. She really hoped Team 7 in particular would be alright. She had grown quite attached to them.
As Anko tried to hide a concerned look for Team 7, someone else was observing her, unbeknownst to her.
'Kukuku… so… little Anko is all grown up now eh?'
The Kusa Kunoichi watching Anko turned her eyes to the backs of Team 7.
'So… you're concerned about their well-being, eh? Kukuku… Why don't we see what these kids are all about…'
Anko suddenly had a bad feeling crawling up her back and on the side of her neck.
"Shit! This old thing is acting up again!" She mumbled to herself as she clutched the side of her neck.
Anko felt someone observing her, so she turned around to look in the direction she felt the presence.
No one.
The dull pain quickly subsided as quick as it came.
She was relieved the pain went away, but she couldn't help but feel unsettled. That mark hadn't acted up in years. Nothing good ever came with those pains.
She hoped everything would be alright.
*Author's Notes*
And that's it for this chapter! What did you guys think?
This is one of those chapters that covers a part of the Exam that doesn't change too much, and might not be the most exciting, but it wasn't a chapter I could just skip over though. I still tried to add some changes to keep it interesting though!
I'm really excited to write next few chapters though! It's a great opportunity to show some differences from canon, and to show what Team 7 is capable of now!
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter too!
Thanks for reading, and I hope you guys all stay safe and have a great day!
Until next time!