Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any properties in this work that I did not make myself.
Harold of Konoha
Chapter thirty-two: Ibiki imperiled (AKA Hidden Tests of Character say more about those who give them, rather than those who take them)
In a meeting room in the Hokage office building in Konohagakure, there was a table at which Naruto Uzumaki, the sixth Hokage, sat. On Naruto's left was his advisor Shino Aburame, and on Naruto's right was his second advisor Sasuke Uchiha. Naruto's third advisor, Shikamaru Nara, stood off to the far right of the room (if you're standing in front of and facing Naruto). On the side of the room opposite of where Shikamaru stood, however, was a scene that one would have to admit was somewhat out-of-place in an otherwise entirely serious environment.
Three ninjas in their early sixties were sitting in chairs, as if they were waiting for a show to start. Those ninjas were Harold Fisher, Inoichi Yamanaka and Tsume Inuzuka; Kuromaru, the Ninkin of Tsume, laid on the floor on Tsume's left (Harold sat between Inoichi and Tsume). To make the scene even weirder, Inoichi was eating from a small bucket that popcorn is served in at movie theaters, even though he wasn't eating popcorn.
Noticing the smell of food coming from where the seniors sat, Naruto turned his gaze to see them without actually turning his head. "…Dad," Naruto began slowly, "What are you eating?"
"Oh, I figured that since there's going to be a show, that I should get something to snack on while I watch," Inoichi explained, "Hence this small bucket of popcorn shrimp."
"Popcorn…" Shikamaru began in a dumbfounded tone, "…Shrimp."
"Popcorn shrimp," the Yamanaka patriarch repeated in a confirming tone.
Sighing, Naruto simply said, "So long as you and your friends don't distract from what's about to happen, there shouldn't be any harm in letting the four of you stay to watch. Just do me a favor and remain quiet so I can chew someone out for his astronomic stupidity, alright?"
"Wait a minute, Naruto," Kuromaru began in a mildly curious tone, "You're going to chew someone out for their astronomic stupidity, and it's not going to be either Harold, Inoichi or Tsume? I have a hard time believing that, unless it's that Ko fellow from your wife's clan."
"No, it's not Ko," Naruto replied with something of a long-suffering sigh, "Because despite having less of a brain than…pretty much anyone else that I can think of, Ko at least has the virtue of listening to orders that he's given."
"Oh, so you're going to chew someone out because they disobeyed orders you gave them?" Harold asked, his interest piqued.
"Naruto has given the man in question the same exact order multiple times in the past, only for that man ignore said order every time," Shikamaru explained, "The latest incident of disobeying Naruto's order occurred during the first portion of the chunnin exams that started earlier today."
"Oh yeah, I heard about that," Inoichi remarked, "I heard that it was the first chunnin exams in five years in which genin from multiple villages would take part."
"Yeah, Mr. Yamanaka," Shino confirmed with a nod, "The exams, which Konoha was hosting, had genin from Konoha, Suna and Iwa taking part."
"Does all of this have to do with the fact that Sakaki was having a total freak out earlier?" Kuromaru asked.
"Unfortunately, yes," Sasuke replied, "You see, Kuromaru, the-"
The Uchiha patriarch was cut off midsentence when the door that led into the room opened. Two Konoha shinobi dressed in the usual Konoha shinobi outfit escorted a third Konoha shinobi into the room. The third shinobi was dressed in the usual garb of a member of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Force, although it included the addition of a light-colored trench coat. This man also wore a bandana-style Konoha headband, and had two diagonal scars across his face.
"Ibiki Morino," Naruto said to the escorted individual, "I suppose you would like to know why I've called you in." The cool tone being used by the lord sixth did not go unnoticed by the seniors. Right away Harold and his group were tipped off that Ibiki was the person that Naruto wanted to give a royal chewing out to.
"I assume that this is about the incident during the first portion of the chunnin exams, Lord Sixth?" Ibiki replied calmly, a kind of calm that one who has it assumes that nothing is wrong.
"Ibiki, let me ask you something," Naruto said. Taking a quick breath, Naruto continued, "What the hell is wrong with you?"
A mildly confused look on his face, Ibiki replied in a confused tone, "Sir?"
"This was the first multi-village chunnin exam in five years, Ibiki," Naruto said, "In five years. And yet over the course of a single afternoon, you managed to turn it into the single biggest incident involving multiple villages since Kumo attacked Suna which, need I remind you, kickstarted the Fifth Great Ninja War." Rolling his shoulders around a bit, Naruto continued, "Ibiki, let me ask you another question. Do you have a problem with following orders?"
"Of course not, sir," Ibiki replied in a respectful tone, "Whatever gave you that idea?"
"Every chunnin exam since Naruto became the Hokage," Shikamaru began to explain, "You were told to eighty-six the secret test of character aspect of the exam's first part. And yet every time you were given this order, not only did you disobey it, you made the secret test of character aspect of every exam's first portion more potent than the last."
"Oh, that," Ibiki replied, "Well, I assumed that whenever I was given that order, that you guys were wanting to see if I would stick to my guns or not." Puffing his chest out slightly, Ibiki said with his fists on his hips, "I am glad to say that I am always one to stick to my convictions!"
"No, Ibiki," Naruto replied as he face-palmed somewhat, "Just no. When I told you that I wanted you to not use the secret test of character aspect of the exam's first part, I wasn't giving you a secret test of character myself. I actually wanted you to stop it with the secret tests of character."
"…Oh," Ibiki said, a dumbfounded look on his scarred face.
"I got a question, my boy," Inoichi said while turning to face Naruto, "What exactly happened during the chunnin exam's first part?"
"It was a written test portion, as per usual," Sasuke began to explain in Naruto's place, "And Ibiki, being the genius that he is, decides to carry out his favorite pastime of administering secret tests of character. As a result, practically every genin in the classroom had major freak outs."
"That doesn't sound good," Kuromaru remarked in a worried tone, his one visible eye widening with worry.
Nodding in agreement, Shino said, "You can certainly say that again. From what I heard, chairs were thrown across the room, multiple brawls broke out, and five of the genin were so freaked that they ran to the windows to jump out of them, crashing through the ones that were closed and falling at least two stories, resulting in severe injuries to all five genin in the process."
"Wait a minute," Harold interrupted. Pointing to Ibiki, Harold said while facing Naruto and the others, "This guy freaked the genin out so badly that a riot broke out, resulting in five of the genin attempting to commit suicide?!"
"We have yet to receive word about the condition those genin are in, as well as what villages those genin are from, but it has been confirmed that there is at least one genin from each of the three villages that took part in this latest chunnin exams among the number that tried to kill themselves," Naruto said, "Naturally, Gaara and Kurotsuchi are steamed."
"Dude," Inoichi said in a shocked tone when he turned to face Ibiki, "That's no es bueno." (1)
"Due to the nature of what happened during the exam's first portion," Naruto continued, "Most of the genin that were in the exam room required treatment at Konoha General, especially those who attempted suicide. It goes without saying that the chunnin exams had to be canceled." Giving the scarred special jonin a glaring look, Naruto said, "Normally Ibiki, because of the stunt that happened due to you consistently disobeying my order to nix the secret test of character aspect of the chunnin exam's first portion, not to mention you disobeying me in and of itself, I'd have you decommissioned and thrown into jail. However, because of your past record in serving Konoha, as well as the fact that your work in the Torture and Interrogation Force is invaluable, I'm resolving to forcibly retire you from serving in running the chunnin exams."
"But sir," Ibiki said as he seemed mildly distressed, "Surely you can give me another chance!"
"Due to your past record of refusing to obey an order that Naruto has given you multiple times, I highly doubt that he should afford you that courtesy," Sasuke remarked. Ibiki was about to argue, but one of the two Konoha shinobi who escorted Ibiki to the room came back in, carrying a small scroll in his hand.
"Sorry for the interruption, Lord Hokage, but I come with a report concerning the five genin who were so freaked by Ibiki's work during the first portion of the chunnin exams that they attempted to commit suicide." Sighing in a resigned tone, the Konoha shinobi said, "Permission to give my opinion, Lord Hokage?"
"Granted," Naruto replied.
"Lord Kazekage is going to be completely and utterly pissed when he hears this news," the Konoha shinobi replied, "The five genin who attempted suicide are two boys from Iwa, a boy from Suna, a kunoichi from Suna, and a kunoichi from Konoha."
"…What?" Naruto said, his eyes widening with shock.
"Well two genin from Suna attempting suicide because Ibiki wouldn't let up would catch Gaara's attention," Shikamaru said, "But I fail to see how he would be so outright mad about it."
"The Suna kunoichi who took the exam is Lord Kazekage's twelve-year-old daughter," the Konoha shinobi explained, "You know, Ayumu?" (2)
"Wait a minute," Shikamaru interrupted, "What?! Gaara's daughter took part in the chunnin exams?! Gaara has a daughter?!"
"Yeah, Gaara had a daughter with his wife Homika," Sasuke explained, "Sakura and I met Homika the last time we went to Iwa for some social event that Kurotsuchi was holding to celebrate the alliance between Konoha, Iwa and Suna." Closing his eyes thus giving himself a look of being deep in thought, the Uchiha patriarch continued, "If I recall correctly, Homika and Gaara said that their daughter has some very mild form of autism."
"Ibiki, seriously," Harold said, "If I were you, I'd put my head between my legs and kiss my bum good-bye."
"Lord Hokage?" the Konoha shinobi said to Naruto in a concerned tone, "You've been awfully quiet. Is something the matter?"
"…The only genin kunoichi from Konoha who took part in the chunnin exams is my daughter Natsu," Naruto replied, a look of shock and heartbreak creeping into his eyes.
Turning to face Ibiki without missing a beat, Harold said, "Well Ibiki, you better get bending and get kissing."
Later, Harold and company were walking to their favorite bar to hang out. "…Can you believe it that Haru was the only genin who didn't freak out?" Harold remarked, "Although it probably helped him that Sakura and Sasuke warned him about what usually goes down during the first portion of the chunnin exams."
"So, what do you dudes think will become of Ibiki?" Inoichi asked.
"I'm thinking that to avoid causing an incident between Konoha and Suna, Lord Sixth will offer to allow Lord Kazekage to use Imploding Sand Funeral (3) on Ibiki's coin purse," Harold said, "I mean, it's only logical."
"Sounds legit to me," the Yamanaka patriarch replied with a shrug.
"Or," Kuromaru said as he and the humans reached the bar, "We can ask Ibiki himself. I can smell his scent coming from the bar right where I'm standing." Curious, the three humans walked into the bar. Sure enough, Harold, Inoichi and Tsume saw Ibiki sitting at the bar, holding a highball glass that was about half-full. The special jonin seemed like he felt that his life was crashing down around him.
Seeing Ibiki in such a state, Harold and the others all walked over to join him at the counter; Harold sat on Ibiki's right, Inoichi on Ibiki's left, Tsume on Inoichi's left, and Kuromaru on the floor between Tsume and Inoichi. "Hey buddy," Harold said in a friendly yet mildly concerned tone, "You doing okay, man?"
"My career is over," Ibiki said before downing the rest of the contents of his highball glass. Slamming the glass on the counter, Ibiki said, "What is with the village these days? I was once one of the finest proctors for the chunnin exams that Konoha had to offer."
"I wouldn't say that your career is entirely over," Kuromaru remarked, "I mean, you're still a solid member of the Torture and Interrogation Force."
"But it's being a proctor for the chunnin exams where I feel that I truly shine," Ibiki said, his tone making it clear that he's had more than one highball glass of alcohol to drink. "But no," the slightly drunk special jonin went on, "People nowadays think that I'm too hard on the genin! To make matters worse, Lord Hokage's advisors are throwing me to the wolves, simply because some jackass that's apparently really important thinks that I was way too hard on his precious little princess!"
"Ibiki, with all due respect, Naruto has a point," Inoichi said as he gave Ibiki a gentle clap on the back. When the special jonin turned to face him, Inoichi continued, "Your skills and expertise, while great in the Torture and Interrogation Force, are pretty much overkill when administering the first portion of the chunnin exams, or any portion of the chunnin exams for that matter."
"Yeah dude," Harold said to Ibiki, "You gotta keep in mind the fact that, despite all of the genin taking the exams are ninjas, most of them are still just kids, some of which haven't even reached puberty yet."
"But what can I do, though?" Ibiki asked, "How can I prove to Lord Hokage that I can still be trusted to work as an exam proctor for the chunnin exams? It's my life's calling, and to be denied the chance to do it is nothing short of torture!" Flumping over so that he laid face-down on the counter of the bar, the special jonin continued, "I just don't know what to do."
"Have you tried not using secret tests of character?" Kuromaru suggested.
Instantly sitting back up, Ibiki turned to see Kuromaru propping himself up at the bar, his paws on the counter between where Tsume and Inoichi sat. "What do you mean?" Ibiki asked.
"Look, this whole thing started because Lord Sixth is pissed that you wouldn't cut it out with the secret test of character bullcrap that so many Konoha parents have been complaining about," the Inuzuka Ninkin explained, "From what I figure, I'm guessing that if you can prove that you've stopped using secret tests of character like Lord Sixth has been asking you to do pretty much since he became the Hokage, then you might be given a second chance. It's certainly your best shot anyway."
"But I…" Ibiki replied slowly, "…I'm not sure if I can do it."
"Don't worry about it, dude," Harold said as he patted Ibiki on the back, "The bros and I will help you."
"Hells yeah," Inoichi said in a tone of agreement, "Your insistence of using secret tests of character is nothing more than an addiction, and we can help to break you of that addiction."
"Wow, you'd really go that far for me?" the special jonin asked, looking touched.
"Hey, we're helping Tenten lose weight via the power of dance," Harold replied, "Who's to say that we can't help break you of your addiction of using secret tests of character?"
Harold then held his hand out palm-down. Inoichi laid his hand over Harold's hand, Tsume laid her hand over Inoichi's, and Kuromaru walked over to look. "I can't throw a hand into this physically, but I'd like to think that I'm doing so in spirit," Kuromaru said as he wagged his tail.
"Totally," Harold said as he, Inoichi, Tsume and Ibiki all threw their hands up, signifying the start of a new personal mission.
The next day, Harold, Inoichi, Tsume and Kuromaru were standing out in a public training grounds, with Ibiki standing in front of them. "Alright, dude," Harold began, "Today begins your training to break you of your addiction! Are you ready to get clean and keep yourself that way?"
With a mildly unsure shrug, Ibiki replied, "As I'll ever be."
"Good," Harold replied with a confidant smile, "But before we begin, Tsume?" At that prompting, the Inuzuka matriarch took out something from the ninja weapons pouch on the back of her belt and tossed that object to Ibiki, who caught it. Taking a look at what he caught, Ibiki saw that it was a can of Pape Konoha's Brand Lager.
"…You're giving me a beer?" Ibiki asked, mildly confused.
"Oh, hells yeah," Harold replied, "All serious training starts with knocking back a cold one. And what better cold one to knock back with than Pape Konoha's?"
With a mildly unsure look on his face, Ibiki nonetheless opened the can of beer and drank it. However, when he was about halfway done, Inoichi walked up and knocked the can of beer out of Ibiki's hand. "Sir, what the hell?" Ibiki asked.
"You just failed the first part of your training, Ibiki," Inoichi informed the special jonin, "Even the bros and I know better than to drink beer before starting something serious, and yet you went and drank a beer right as we began some serious training."
"But you guys said that-" Ibiki tried to object, but Harold cut him off.
"I told you that because the bros and I were testing you to see if you could tell the difference between being serious and hanging out with bros," Harold informed the special jonin. Gently shaking his head in disappointment, the Fisher patriarch said, "It seems to me that we've got quite a lot of work ahead of us."
"This is ridiculous!" Ibiki exclaimed as he threw his arms up into the air.
"Oh?" Inoichi replied in a clam tone, "Care to elaborate on how you feel right now, Ibiki?"
"Care to elaborate?" Ibiki replied in a mildly sarcastic tone, "Oh, I'll elaborate! Do you think it's all fun and games to mess with someone like that? To tell them to do something a certain way, only to fail that person when they do as you said because you were testing them to see if they had some hidden quality you were looking for?! It's bullcrap! Complete and total bullcrap!"
"Can I assume that you don't appreciate being jerked around like that?" Harold asked.
"You bet your ass I don't like it!" Ibiki nearly exclaimed while pointing at the older ninjas.
"Now let me ask you this," Harold continued, "Do you think that other people like being jerked around like that?"
A look of mild surprise suddenly appeared on his face. "…What are you talking about?" the special jonin asked, a hint of suspicion in his tone.
"We weren't really testing you just now," Harold explained, "…Well, it kind of is a sort of test, if you think about it, but that's only because the first part of your training to break you of your addiction was to make you feel empathy."
"That's right," Inoichi remarked with a nod, "We figured that a good way to help kickstart your training to break you of your addiction was to make you see and feel things from the point of view of those who you administered secret tests of character to. Now that you know how it feels to be on the receiving end, rather than the dealing end, we hope that you'll think twice before you carry out another secret test of character."
"…Huh," Ibiki remarked in a seemingly enlightened tone, "I never really thought about it like before, Inoichi."
"Now that you have empathy for those who are given secret tests of character, breaking you of your addiction should be easier," Harold remarked. Reaching into his ninja weapons pouch on the back of his belt, Harold pulled out another can of Pape Konoha's Brand Lager. Walking over to Ibiki, Harold handed him the can of beer while saying, "To celebrate you acquiring empathy, have a beer. And relax, this is for reals."
Somewhat nervously, Ibiki accepted the offered beer, popped the can open, and proceeded to drink. When he did, Harold, Inoichi and Tsume opened their own cans of beer to chug down, enjoying the company of their impromptu drinking partner.
Later, Harold, Inoichi, Tsume and Kuromaru were in Harold's garage over at his place with Ibiki for the next part of his training. Joining the four adult ninjas (4) and Kuromaru at Harold's garage was Haru Uchiha, Harold's grandnephew and the only genin who took the first portion of the canceled chunnin exams but did not freak out in any way.
"Hey Uncle Harold," Haru began, "Isn't this the proctor man who freaked out all of the other genin who took the chunnin exams with me?"
"Yes Haru," Harold replied, "My friends and I are training Ibiki to break away from his addiction of administering secret tests of character so that he can re-earn Lord Sixth's trust so that he can be allowed to be a chunnin exam proctor again."
"And you called me over because you want me to help?" the young Uchiha asked.
"Indeed, my boy," Harold said. Turning to face Ibiki, the Fisher patriarch said, "Ibiki, for the next part of your training, the bros and I will have you go through a simulation of administering an exam, with my grandnephew Haru playing the role of a student who is taking said exam." Pointing to Ibiki, Harold said, "For this part of your training, you must be able to give an exam while withholding the urge to slip a secret test of character into the exam. Think you can do it?"
"I…I can certainly try," Ibiki replied.
"Do, or do not," Inoichi replied, "There is no try." (5)
"I don't really understand what that means, but whatever," Ibiki replied as he turned to face the set-up that Harold had in his garage; there was a wheeled-in chalkboard, a large but simple desk with a chair behind it, and a student's desk a few feet in front of the large desk. Ibiki went to the large desk while Haru sat in the student's desk. Seeing the test packet laying on the large desk, Ibiki looked at the cover sheet, which said 'test for Haru'. Ibiki walked over to Haru, handed him the test, then walked back to the large desk to sit down in the chair.
With a mildly unsure look on his face, Ibiki turned to face the older ninjas and said, "Umm, how much of a time limit does this test have?"
"You're the teacher in this scenario," Harold replied, "You set the time limit."
"Well," Ibiki replied, "If that's the case, then I figured that forty-five minutes should do it."
With a shrug, Inoichi replied, "Sounds good to me." Harold and Tsume both gave thumbs-up to show that they approved as well.
Nodding once to the older ninjas, Ibiki then turned to face Haru and said, "Alright, young man. You have forty-five minutes to take and complete this test."
"Right," Haru replied with a nod as he flipped the test's cover page over so he could begin taking his test. Ibiki expected Haru to start answering some questions right away, but after a minute of Haru doing nothing, Ibiki became a bit concerned.
It wasn't until twenty-two minutes and thirty seconds passed without Haru answering any of the questions that Ibiki decided to speak up. "You know, young man," Ibiki remarked as he caught Haru's attention, "If a question has you stumped, you can leave it for now and return to it later."
"That isn't why I haven't answered any of the questions yet," the Uchiha boy replied.
"Then what's the reason?" Ibiki asked.
"I don't have a pencil," Haru said.
"What?!" Ibiki nearly exclaimed, "What do you mean you don't have a pencil?!"
"I didn't come here with one because I didn't assume I'd be needing one," Haru explained.
"Well why didn't you say anything?" Ibiki asked.
"I assumed that I wasn't allowed to talk while taking the test," Haru answered. The special jonin could not help but face-palm in response to Haru's explanation. After collecting his nerves, Ibiki proceeded to check all of the drawers in the desk he sat at for a pencil, only to come up empty-handed.
"Hey Harold," Ibiki said, "I don't suppose either you or the others with you has a pencil you can let us use for this, do you?"
"…Damn it, I knew I was forgetting something," Harold remarked as he snapped his fingers. Ibiki then sighed in a resigned tone, wondering how this could get any worse.
…
Luckily, Harold's wife Sophia was able to provide a mechanical pencil for Haru to use in order to take the test. Even with roughly half the allotted time burned up because of a lack of foresight, Haru was still able to answer every question of the sixty-question test within the allotted time, with at least ten minutes to spare. Seeing that Haru finished the test, Ibiki took it and proceeded to go over the raven-haired youth's answers. All sixty questions were multiple choice, but Ibiki couldn't make heads or tails of the questions.
"Keep in mind that the purpose of this part of your training was to see if you could resist the urge to slip a secret test of character into the test or not," Inoichi pointed out when Ibiki asked about the questions in the test, "And I am glad to say that you passed with flying colors, Ibiki."
"Haru got a perfect score, in case you were wondering," Harold added.
"Well that's a relief," Ibiki said as he sighed, "So what now?"
"Now we go on to the final part of your training," Harold replied, "Now keep in mind that this last part is where you really have to pull out all the stops, given all of the favors that Inoichi and I had to call in."
"What is it?" Ibiki asked.
"We convinced my adopted son the Hokage to give you a second chance in being a proctor for real," Inoichi explained, "Konoha is going to be holding a make-up chunnin exams, but only for its own genin. Iwa and Suna will be holding separate exams for their own genin."
"You will, once again, be the proctor for the first portion of the exams, which will be a written test section," Harold said, "In order for you to truly break away from your addiction of administering secret tests of character, you have to be thrusted into a real scenario that's going on in the field. If you can carry out your job without throwing in a secret test of character, then you will be rehabilitated, and Lord Sixth will trust you again."
"You guys think I'm ready for this?" Ibiki asked.
"We don't think you're ready," Inoichi replied, "We know you're ready." Giving the special jonin an encouraging clap on the back, the Yamanaka patriarch said, "Go get 'em, tiger." Smiling, Ibiki took his leave to get ready for his second chance at being a chunnin exams proctor. Wiping a tear from his eye, Inoichi said, "It's finally happened, Harold. Our boy has become a man."
"I thought Mr. Morino was already a man," Haru said.
At the building where the make-up chunnin exams were taking part, there were two ambulances and a police car parked outside. Multiple Konoha genin were being treated for injuries, and Ibiki was being given a royal chewing out by Naruto. Harold and his friends stood nearby, looking on with looks of concern.
"He relapsed," Harold said in a tone of mild disappointment as he shook his head, "After all of that training, all of that effort, he relapsed."
"It is clear that Ibiki is in need of help greater than what we can provide," Inoichi said, "I only hope that my son is willing to send Ibiki to rehab."
"Maybe throwing Ibiki directly into the field so soon was something of a mistake," Harold remarked, "It's clear now that he needed more training, more therapy to help break him of his addiction." Shaking his head gently to convey shame, the Fisher patriarch said, "We have failed him, dudes."
"What's going to happen to Ibiki now?" Kuromaru asked.
"I don't know," Inoichi replied with a gentle shake of his head, "Best case scenario is that he'll be forcibly retired from serving as a chunnin exam proctor. Worst case scenario is that he'll be decommissioned and thrown into jail."
Looking over to where Ibiki was being loaded into a police car, Kuromaru sighed and said, "With all that's been going on as of late, I wonder if there will be a silver lining to this."
…
"In both the actual chunnin exam and the make-up one," Naruto said to someone who stood in front of his desk at the Hokage office building, "You were the only one who didn't lose their cool. Furthermore, your quick thinking and acting in the make-up exam proved to be invaluable in keeping damage to a minimum, thus preventing any families from going through anguish like that of the families that have seen their children hospitalized due to the chaos that broke out during the first exams this month. You have proven that not only can you keep a cool head, but have the interests of your fellow ninja first and foremost in your mind. Therefore, it has been decided that you shall be promoted to chunnin. Assuming that you'll accept the promotion, of course."
Turning to see who Naruto was talking to, you could see that it was Haru who was standing in front of Naruto's desk. "Yes sir," Haru replied, "I accept."
END, CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Author's notes:
1. 'No es bueno' roughly translates to 'not good' or 'no good'.
2. …You can probably guess one of the mangas that I like.
3. Otherwise known as Sand Waterfall Funeral.
4. If you're generous enough to count Harold, Inoichi and Tsume as adults.
5. One, you can't do something without trying to do it, and two, since this sounds like an absolute, does that mean that Inoichi is a Sith?
Well there's chapter thirty-two done and over with. In case I didn't make it all that clear, I'm not particularly fond of the 'secret test of character' element in stories. Anywho, the next chapter will feature the Well of Time again.