Chapter 16: The right way to cheat
The atmosphere of the classroom certainly fit with the warning Kakashi-sensei had just given them; tension and impatience thick in the air.
Idly, Kagome let her eyes wander around the room; the two responsible for the genjutsu were missing. So either they were still on the second floor, or they never meant to enter this room as participants in the first place. Her gaze stopped on a small group near the back; the long silver hair of one of them caught her eye now as it had been doing for the last couple of weeks. A quick check confirmed the other two had also been conveniently around the places of the village they frequented; the boy in the monk robes smiled at her when their eyes met. The carving on their metal protectors had been the first thing she had noticed the first time she saw them on a corner of their usual path towards their regular training ground. She didn't get the feeling of panic that tended to accompany any dangerous presence, though. Well, at least things were promising to be interesting.
"Sasuke-kun! Where have you been, darling?"
A shiver ran down her spine, her form tensing at the sight of a blond girl clinging to Sasuke's neck. Great, after encountering Haruno, she had done her best to avoid thinking about how many more of her former classmates were nominated. After all, rookies taking part in the exam wasn't exactly a common occurrence. Though perhaps it shouldn't have been so surprising, both of her teammates were older. And for them to be able to apply, a third name was needed...even if just for the sake of filling the proper paperwork. Any other exceptions like that were highly unlikely.
Clearly, she'd made a mistake.
"Get off..." Sasuke's hands flew to his neck, immediately pulling on the blonde's arms in an attempt to get her away from him.
Anger rose through her, nails biting her palms as she tried to keep a calm facade. Sasuke was not really a physical person, had never really been, especially in public. That's why she tried to keep her affectionate gestures light, just holding hands, maybe holding his arm. But then here Yamanaka Ino was, trying to hang herself off of him, uncaring about his preferences. She didn't see him; not one of them ever bothered to see him, to see any of them. Not their pain, not their suffering, not their tears.
"Ino, you pig! Get your hooves off of Sasuke!" The unavoidably loud screech came from behind them.
Maybe letting this exam pass would've been the smarter choice here; she was already struggling to keep her calm as it was. Having to deal with two of Sasuke's most vocal fans was fraying her patience art an alarming rate. Her regular dislike was rapidly morphing into something more poisonous, and her hands were itching to rip the clinging blonde off herself. Barely, she managed to hide a satisfied smile when the Uchiha finally pushed the other girl aside with a grimace.
"Hello to you too, Sakura," The blonde began before Kagome interrupted.
"Ino-san, it's been a while." Years of being in the same classroom made it easy for her to tell when the screaming would start. "But I don't think we have much more time to chat."
"Ah, Kagome-chan." Ino smiled, tense, and forcefully friendly "You look as lively as always."
What was that supposed to mean?
"Ah, Sakura-chan, there you are!" Akitoki Hojo said, panting. Apparently, the other girl had just run off without waiting for her teammates; because obviously, they couldn't just silently make their ways to a sit. "Oh, Higurashi-san, that was great back there."
"It was nothing special." Manners were important, especially now that they were in public. If she couldn't keep her calm here, there was no way she could manage to get her hands on the information they wanted.
"Say, Sakura..." A redhead with a frown was standing near Hojo. It would seem like their missing teammate had finally arrived. "I get it, you wanted to run away, but running on your own shouldn't be your first idea."
"Ah...Enju-san."
"Why don't you save yourselves the embarrassment of failing the test; just leave, okay?"
Azure eyes went to a bored-looking Shikamaru. It seemed his previous assessment of who was going to end up being teamed with him had been right, judging by the chubby teen still munching on snacks behind him.
"Shikamaru-kun, Chouji-kun, it's been a while." This time, her smile was a little less forced. If only because those two were ones of the few to not outright bully Naruto.
"Hey, Kagome," Shikamaru sighed. "This is such a drag."
Idly, Kagome wondered if the boy had any aspirations for becoming a shinobi, or if he'd be just as happy handling some civilian job. Honestly, she was almost sure the boy was simply going through the motions out of laziness.
"Hey, there you are!"
A loud voice from within the crowd revealed more of their class graduates; had all the new genin teachers recommended their subordinates? It had to be the biggest rookie turnout in years. Still, she smiled at Hinata-chan as she followed behind her other teammates. "Uhmmm...h-hi."
"Loos like the gang's all here." Loud as always, Inuzuka Kiba sauntered into their growing group, the admittedly cute Akamaru perched on top of his head, as always.
It didn't take too much to know who'd taken leadership of their team, considering Hinata's shyness and Aburame Shino's silent personality, there wasn't even a contest.
"Including you, unfortunately." Shikamaru sighed once more.
"So, I guess all of this year's genins decided to apply, huh?" The roguish boy grinned at her before glancing at the Uchiha frowning at her side. "I wonder how far we'll all get."
"Think that acting all tough is going to get you far?" Sasuke snapped back, a bit too fast.
"Who's acting? With the way we've trained, there's no way you can beat us."
Somehow, Kagome doubted that, for all of their supposed training, she had it in a good account that Kakashi-sensei had made them do double the amount of usual missions. His behavior was also completely unchanged; she was sure that none of whatever assignments they'd done had gotten as out of control as theirs had.
"Oh, shut up! You guys won't even beat me, much less Sasuke!" At last, Naruto lost his cool.
"S-sorry, Naruto-kun..." The Hyuuga heiress was looking down, an embarrassed flush on her cheeks. "Kiba didn't mean it the way it sounded."
"Huh, mah, Hinata-chan, it's not you who has to apologize." The blond smiled at him.
Taking advantage of the chaos, the girl let her eyes wander once again. It felt..odd, being surrounded by her former classmates. A month ago, she probably wouldn't have given it much thought; now, however, the weight of the secrets they'd uncover made her feel like leaving the room looking for fresh air.
None of these people knew a single thing, not about the sacrifice Naruto was forced to become, not about the ugliness hidden behind the Uchiha name, nor the cruelty of their leaders. They had nothing to do with the decisions that were taken; they were innocents ... and yet, they lived every day giving back nothing but insults and dirty looks. They cared not on whose sacrifice they were stepping on top of.
How many of them would recoil if the truth about Naruto was revealed? If they thought they could win, how many would fight for the honor of killing such a renowned traitor as Itachi?
"Would you guys..." A voice she failed recognize brought her back from her reverie. "do us all a favor; and shut up?"
Crap, she could feel the atmosphere of the room become tenser, the hostility aimed straight at them. She should've taken control of the conversation and gotten them all to a seat long ago. This was why she never thought about heavy topics during the day; she always got lost inside her thoughts. Easily losing track of what was happening around her.
"You're all rookies, right? Kids barely out of the academy?" The newcomer also sported a Konoha symbol on his forehead protector; she didn't like him. "All naive and foolish, this is a school trip, you know."
"Who the heck do you think you are." For once, Kagome agreed with Ino.
"Name's Kabuto, so what? You kids need to open your eyes." The older genin scoffed.
"Why?"
For the first time, all the others seemed to realize just how much their nonchalant attitude was affecting the others. Kagome bit her tongue; she'd rather pass unnoticed, trying to defuse something so big was only going to attract attention to herself.
"Watch out for the group behind you; they're Amegakure, and they've got very short fuses. Everyone's on edge waiting to take the exam. I wanted to give you a heads up; before someone snaps and beats the crap out of you." Yeah, Kagome didn't believe him, there was something else, but she couldn't tell what it was yet. "Oh, well, it's probably unavoidable, like all rookies, you think you already know everything, I remember what that was like."
"Kabuto-san, are you saying this is the second time you've applied?" Haruno asked.
"Not the second, the seventh, twice a year, going for about four years now."
"Wow, then you have a lot of experience with what we can expect." That was certainly one way to put it, unlike her former classmate though Kagome wasn't so sure it was something to boast about; still, she forced her words back.
"So, how about I give you, small babies, some vital intelligence on what you're in for...with these shinobi skill cards." That sentence was enough to stop her in her as she reached for Sasuke.
"Oh, that's not something I'd heard before?" At last, Kagome joined the conversation, a polite but mostly disinterested expression on her face.
"Hmm, they have information about the skills we use transformed into code and burned into the cards using chakra. It took me four years to collect all the intelligence here. "He raised a considerable pack of cards, and the girl could feel another shiver run down her spine. That was far too much information. "They look blank, don't they? The only way you can read them is by using my own chakra." In other words... they were quite useless for anyone other than him. "Each card is linked to its possessor. For example, this one; shows how many applicants each shinobi nation is sending to the Chuunin Selection Exams."
"Do you also have dossier cards? Cards for each individual applicant?"
Kagome forced herself to keep her expression blank; the meaning hidden behind Sasuke's question was an unsettling one...did this guy have data on them?
"Haha, why?" Someone you have a particular interest in?" Kabuto laughed, a condescending tone that she knew had to be grinding on the Uchiha's nerves. "I'll admit these are far from complete, but I've burned a set of dossier cards for the current pool of applicants...including your team. If you share any data you have on this person, I'll be happy to look them up and let you know what I have so far."
These things relied on chakra to be of any use, right? Kagome eyed the set of cards with concealed distaste, well, good for her. A slight brush with reiki was all she needed to make them unusable. Considering the small amount of chakra they required to appear, she could probably destroy them with him none the wiser. No way in hell was she going to allow someone like him to hoard information on them.
"Gaara, from Suna; and Rock Lee, from Konoha," Sasuke answered, playing along with the narrative.
"You know their names, no sweat then."
She struggled to retain a polite expression as she heard the man list details that were way too specific for this to be just a general overview. Where would a genin like him have access to the quantity and rank of the missions Lee had gone on, let alone that Gaara had come back even from the B-ranked mission without a scratch? If she had any doubts about how careful she needed to be around this guy before, there were none now. His eyes were way too sharp.
"Konoha, Suna, Ame, Kusa, Taki, Oto...even the Taisho clan sent someone, this year every important group has sent outstanding genins here to compete."
"A clan?" Unsurprisingly, Naruto's expression remained unguarded; the boy was too trusting.
"We studied them a little, back at the academy, remember?" the Higurashi heiress hurried to add before Haruno could open her mouth, the girl had the annoying habit of trying to show off.
"Ah, the Taisho clan is not affiliated with any one nation. After the Hidden Villages were established, they refused to settle down, and to this day, keep going from one end of the Elemental Continets to the other." Clearly, the pinkette wasn't the only one with the need to look smart. "Of course, there are a variety of conditions and treaties between them and the other villages; that allows them to continue to live this way. Their reputation says there's no better shinobi to hire for the riskiest missions, no shinobi pricier either. Well, since they don't follow the other villages' way of life, they usually don't bother sending anyone to the exams. Their name alone is enough to guarantee their quality."
Right, there had been no sight of a Taisho in an exam for generations. She remembered being curious about them and asking Itachi about them. A clan of shinobis so fierce that even after every village settled in, no one dared to kick them from their newly defined territories. And it was them who'd conveniently been close to their usual shops for the last week.
"They're one of the only two places I've got close to no data about."
"Two?" The question escaped her before she noticed.
"Oto is the other one, it's part of a new small nation, so intelligence on it is lacking. Well, apart from them, every competing village, plus the Taishos, is well respected. Home to some formidably powerful shinobi."
"A-anybody besides me suddenly feeling outclassed?" Hinata-chan managed to stammer out.
"Wait, what you're trying to tell us is..." There was hesitation in Haruno's voice. "Everyone here..."
"Oh yeah, they're all like Lee and Gaara. Elite handpicked shinobi, the best genin in the world."
Well, yes, that was the whole point of the exam. The only thing any of the non-hosting villages would achieve by sending anything but their best would be public humiliation and a hit to their reputation. This was all a predictable political game. So why were so many of her ex-classmates reacting like this was new?
"They have to be," the older genin continued. "This test is pitiless."
She glanced at her team; they'd known pitless, survived through bleak scenarios more than once. They would succeed.
Was this guy trying to help the rookies or discourage them? A quick glance at her teammate gave absolutely nothing, not that Sango really expected to be able to gain anything from the teen. Once his mask was on, there were very few able to see through him. Again, she looked at the little heiress they were ordered to watch.
Oddly enough, the girl had said very little apart from polite greetings. With her small frame and delicate features, it would be easy to confuse her for someone as shy as the small Hyuuga hiding behind her. Not that Sango would buy that little facade, sure, she wasn't as good as Miroku when it came to figuring people out. But via being a teammate of a member of the main family, they'd both been privileged enough to meet everyone important within the clan. The smile the blue-eyed heiress gave to the blond that tried to flirt with the Uchiha had been eerily reminiscent to the one she'd seen the Taisho matriarch give a visiting noble who thought himself important enough to be able to roam through the gardens without permission. A political smile.
One used to hide any emotion that could be the slightest bit useful to a potential threat.
"I didn't expect her team to be recommended; they're rookies, arent they?" Sango asked, making sure her voice was just loud enough to reach her teammates.
"The lovely lady at the dango shop may have commented seeing a hint of some bandages on her arms after a long absence. Apparently, it's not a common sight." Trust Miroku to flirt his way to gain information, weapon specialist huffed, whatever worked best, she figured. It wasn't like the fake monk would ever cross the line.
Regardless of the dubious methods used to get that info, it still meant they'd probably come back from a higher C, or maybe even B-rank.
"Keh, they're not the only ones, their whole class was recommended; wanna bet their teachers are just too damn proud, so they just pushed them forward? I mean, they are hosting."
Inuyasha had a point; it was incredibly easy to see the overabundance of Konoha symbols on the people in the room. And yet...
"No, I think Miroku is right, out of all the rookies, there's something about those three that's a bit...different."
"Oh, please tell me you're not buying this bullshit." the noble heir scoffed.
"Hush, Inuyasha."
Blinking at Miroku's dry tone, Sango turned her attention back to the rookie group.
Oh, so that was it, they were talking about Oto. Come to think of it, even their clan didn't have much information about them, did they? Their information specialist was probably trying to grasp something new. Not that it looked like anyone had much to say about that particular hidden village. Then again, it was only recently founded, without any particular reason, no big conflict or separation from another, they just settled in an empty territory and claimed their position.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto!" It was like an explosion had detonated at the short blond's declaration. "And none of you are gonna beat me! You got that!"
Sango couldn't help it; a small laugh left her lips at the scene. The image of a short-tempered albino challenging their whole class during their first lesson overlapping with the present. "Say, Inuyasha, does he remind you of anyone?"
"The hell does that mean?!"
"Now, now Inuyasha, there's nothing wrong with being passionate when you express yourself, there's nothing to be ashamed..." Miroku's next words faltered as his gaze caught a hint of something. "Oh, she's got a good eye."
With that, the girl looked back to the crowd. The little heiress had moved from the front and was trying to push her teammates back with her. The action looked completely natural, meaning there was no way it was...Sango couldn't really see anything out of place within the group though; so then...
Two pairs of eyes scanned the rest of the room in search of whatever it was their teammate had seen. If Miroku said there was something going on, then there was something going on.
Fast blurs were moving across the room.
So that's what it was, someone was probably going to retaliate against the 7-times-failed genin's remarks. The blue-eyed kunoichi was probably trying to get her team away from the incoming conflict, and it seemed to be working. With a small touch, the Uchiha had turned, and the blond only required a couple of words and a light tug. Out of the three of them, the Higurashi heiress was the easiest to overlook, but Sango had to agree with Miroku; it was the young girl who moved the team, not out of fear or respect, but out of affection.
"Someone's feelings got hurt," Inuyasha scoffed as one of the Sound nin finally crossed the room, jumping into the air, two kunais aimed at the veteran genin.
They seemed to have decent coordination at least, a second Oto ninja launched at him the instant the blades touched the ground. Still, the older genin managed to dodge both blows...or so she thought.
Leaning forward on her desk, Sango could see the shards of the guy's glasses falling to the floor; whatever ninjutsu was used, clearly didn't need them to land the hit. And it was highly effective considering the Konoha genin was now hurling his breakfast onto the floor.
"Better add this to your cards, the three applicants from Otogakure will all make chuunin this year!"
"Could any of you tell what it was?" she whispered to her teammates.
"Not taijutsu, that's for sure." Inuyasha's mocking tone had turned into something more serious. "That guy wasn't touched."
"Pure air pressure wouldn't have had that side effect either." Unlike them, the fake monk's tone remained airy and light. "It seems like not only will we be able to complete our objective, but we'll also gain some decent info on Oto."
"Would everybody shut up!"
Along with the voice, an explosion covered the front of the room with smoke. Over a dozen shinobi wearing Konoha's symbol stared them down, so it seemed like the next part of the exam was finally starting.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, my name's Morino Ibiki. I'm the proctor and main examiner for the first part of the exam." At once, the looks of most people in the room changed. Sango would admit it; the man knew how to be imposing. That said, he had nothing on a passively irritated Sesshoumaru...or a smiling enraged Lady Kimi. "You, kids from Otogakure! You can't carry on any way you please when the test's about to start! Or do you want to be disqualified?"
"Sorry, sir, this is our first exam, and we got a little carried away," the bandaged one answered, nonplussed.
"is that so?" The man's glower intensified. "Then it's time someone laid down a few ground rules. From this point forward, there will be no more fighting without the express permission of the examining officer. And even if that permission is granted, anything that endangers another applicant's life is strictly forbidden.
"Any of you little piglets who break that rule are out. Disqualified. No second chances, got that?"
"So this is a test for little girly men?" the other guy from Sound scoffed.
Like a wave, smirks and sneers made their way into the examiners' faces. Still, the Oto nin seemed unmoved, awfully cocky for someone from a newly created village. The Taisho clan may disregard the practices of the rest of the hidden villages; however, they had a long history and high-quality warriors to validate them; these kids couldn't have had any real clue on the other nations' levels.
"As you wish, the first part of the exam is about to commence. Turn in your written applications, take one of these seat assignments, and report directly to the seat indicated. When everyone's seated, we'll pass out the written part of the test."
It took a full second for the room to understand what it meant, disbelief and annoyance spreading like wildfire to a good portion of the applicants. Even to her own team, if Inuyasha's grumbles were anything to go by, regardless, they were here now, so they had to keep up with the exam. At least their supervisor was not allowed within the premises of the exam.
With her back to the wall, Sango considered herself lucky in her new seat, no eyes to worry about behind her, and she had a decent view of the Higurashi heiress who looked entirely relaxed in her chair. Miroku was, unluckily enough, ahead of the girl, observation duty would fall mostly on her (not that the teen wouldn't spy on the Uchiha seated a couple of seats to his right). All in all, his position wasn't that bad for ending up in the middle rows. As for Inuyasha, well, her poor teammate had always had bad luck chasing after him. She doubted anyone could deny that after seeing him sitting literally right in front of the main examiner...things could get...annoying.
"Papers down until I give the signal. Now listen well," The man paused, probably for dramatic effect. "There are a few important rules; I'll write them on the blackboard and explain them all, but I'm not taking questions, so listen carefully. I will say this only once.
"One, each one of you starts with ten points; the test has ten questions, each worth one point, for each wrong answer, we subtract a point from you, get all ten right, and you retain all your points.
"Two, this written test is still a team event. Passing or failing will be determined by the sum of the points held by all three members. The object is for each team to have as few deductions as possible from its joint 30 points total."
"Rule number three, if during the course of the exam, a candidate does anything out of the ordinary..." again, the man trailed off. "In other words, anything that leads the proctors to determine that he or she cheated...we subtract two points from each member of the cheater's team."
That was an...interesting way to punish cheating; with how harsh they were being, Sango would've expected them to resort to disqualification immediately. So, there was probably something more in there.
"Probably, some of you will run through your entire allowance of points during the test. If so, you'll be forced to leave. One more thing, if an individual loses all ten of their points, that person's entire team will be...disqualified.
"You have one hour, starting now."
Oh, wow.
These were really high-level questions, Sango wasn't sure she could answer even half of these, and her team was all well above genin level; they hadn't had to deal with D-ranked missions for years now. Other than when their commander's patience snapped and sent them all to help to garden Izayoi-sama's plants (who knew so many decorative plants were so poisonous, and apparently not even shinobis could avoid getting rashes when working with them).
A quick glance back to the blackboard was all she needed for the realization to dawn on her. Maybe, this exam wasn't as useless as they thought; this was a good way to push them to cheat and get rid of those who failed to understand the real purpose of the test. Taking a deep breath, the weapon specialist prepared herself for a long hour of waiting. Trying to answer this on her own would risk some of their points, so instead, she would just have to wait. Miroku could probably answer the thing on his own (though knowing the con-artist, he'd probably cheat anyway just to show off) and pass the answers to them. It would be a bit of a boring hour, but at least she didn't have to try and figure out how to cheat right in front of the proctor. Inuyasha had a good head on his shoulders, but there was no way in hell he could answer this test on his own; the kunoichi stifled a laugh at the sight of a very tense; and very annoyed Inuaysha, all the way in the front and center of the room. Bad luck just loved chasing him around.
Well, well, I don't know how to answer a single one of these questions.
Kagome would maybe be able to handle a couple of them, but that was it. Most of the people here had to be in the same situation; he was fairly certain even some jounin would get stuck with it. There was a big difference between being able to think and act strategically while on a mission and solving exceedingly complex mathematical problems.
Cheating didn't lead to disqualification, only getting caught enough times did.
The proctors were sitting along the wall, their eyes fixed on them. They had to know the questions were too difficult, that cheating would be the only way for most applicants to pass...and then, there was the last question.
Question number 10
This question will not be provided until forty-five minutes into the exam. At that time, please answer the proctor's question to the best of your abilities.
Not that worrying about this one would be of no use right now; he'd deal with that one once he had the answers for the remaining nine.
"You know..." one of the Suna nin started. "The one thing I keep wondering is, how many top-ranking teams they intend to pass?"
"Knowing that isn't going to help you, is it?" The main proctor's voice was dry as he answered. "Unless you're hoping to fail."
That was about what he expected as an answer. And it was useless information, even with a fixed number, it didn't change the fact that there was no way to figure out what the other teams' combined total was. Feeling overconfident just because you managed to get a good number of points would end in failure.
One of the examiners moved, pencil scratching at the paper as he noted down a seat number. Someone had already been caught. Only one time though...
Understanding made its way into his head, thinking back on the carefully worded instructions, it was the only thing that made sense. If they truly wanted to get rid of cheaters, then why let them continue with the test. Oh, this was an intelligence test alright, one centered around information gathering; they wanted them to cheat without getting caught.
Shinobi were supposed to see underneath the underneath.
The phrase was bittersweet as he looked around the room, just by looking at the set up for this test made it evident. The real warning wasn't about stopping them from cheating, but to let them know they had four tries before facing failure. No, not only to cheat, this thing was still a team test; they had to cheat for the right answers, and then find a way to pass the information to the rest of their teams.
Lowering his head, Sasuke felt the slight rush of chakra as crimson overtook onyx; he wasn't sure how strict they were going to be when dealing with eye techniques, but this way he could provide some cover to his eyes as he scanned the room. For now, he'd focus on getting the right answers; if this was an information-gathering test, then they had to have planted someone who had all the right answers. Someone's movement caught his attention; the boy was writing with too much confidence, not the slightest hint of hesitation in his movements. Now it was just a question of mimicking his every move.
It was still a bit odd, letting his body move without giving it any real conscious orders. And yet, his body moved, the answers flowed out of his pencil, filling the test in minutes. Making a fast decision, the Uchiha turned his wrist, as if trying to loosen the muscle. They really should see about upgrading their little code; the only thing he could reliably pass along like this was that he was ready. Kagome would still be able to get it, but the less left to interpretation, the better.
It was all up to the girl now, this wasn't something they'd practice yet, but he had a feeling he knew exactly what she'd do as soon as there was a distraction long enough for her to make a move.
A kunai flew right by Naruto (who was holding his head in his hand, in a very obvious show of desperation, and the Uchiha wasn't sure if he should be surprised, annoyed, or just laugh). The thud of it piercing the wooden desk loud in the previously silent room.
"W-what was that for?!"
"That's five strikes." It was soft, almost imperceptible, but Sasuke had lived so long near the source of energy that it was impossible not to catch the slight burst of energy near him. "And, you're out."
With the attention of most of the room focused on the short confrontation, he could see the small black ladybug morph into a piece of paper. They hadn't had any real chance to practice it; however, Sasuke had spent the last couple of weeks watching over Kagome's personal training. Itachi had been right, while she wouldn't be able to compare to the general mastery the Uchiha prodigy boasted; the girl was very much prodigious when controlling her own bloodline's techniques. For all her grumbling about how much more complex it was to make a smaller, but still intelligent shikigami, it seemed she'd pulled it off. If he were to turn the paper, he knew he'd see the special seals that made it work. Without bothering to check the sheet under it, the Uchiha began copying the results.
This would have them both in the clear; once he finished with this, the girl only had to wait for another distraction and order the shikigami back.
Repeating their simplistic signal, Sasuke allowed his eyes to travel across the room and had to suppress a groan.
Naruto was very much still panicked.
It didn't take someone with great knowledge about body language to know the boy was on the edge of a panic attack. The blond was probably so focused on the academic part of the exam that he failed to realize the objective of the whole thing was to cheat. Irritation came over him; did the moron truly expected them to just ignore him and let him fail?
When doing so would affect all of them?
A soft surge of energy and another disqualified team let him know Kagome had seen her chance. The problem now was hot to get Naruto to realize what they were planning to do. Worst case scenario, the boy (flustered as he was) would either make a scandal seeing the sheet with the answers on it, or distrust them and ignore them altogether.
Even the Hyuuga girl seated next to him was starting to look fidgety, despite the fact that Sasuke was sure she'd already gotten the right answers. He wanted to groan; the prankster was not hopelessly stupid when he had time to think, but putting pressure onto him was always enough to have him act stupid. Kagome had to deal with timing the delivery of the paper, for her to somehow also pass a message would be complicated. Which left him to try and find a way to reach the blond.
More and more teams were being failed, but after the first one they all went rather quietly, using that as a distraction to send a message would be useless; and, while they'd shared their code with him after Naruto convinced them to help with some of his pranks, the boy never took to it. His seat was also ahead of his own; asking to go to the bathroom and taking the opportunity to speak with him wouldn't work either.
His train of thoughts faltered as he saw the Hyuuga girl whispering to his teammate.
Right, Kagome had once mentioned the other heiress was smitten with the blond but was too shy to actually approach him (that was one of the reasons she'd tried to bring her into their little group during the academy; before the massacre occurred, of course). Was she trying to help Naruto cheat?
...
That..was an incredibly obvious way to do it.
If he talked out loud it would snap the blond's attention for sure, but there was no guarantee he'd get a coded message from him, on the other hand though...
They had four chances to get caught at cheating.
Even if the attempt was rather pathetic, if Naruto managed to copy even a single correct answer, they should still be fine with 21 points. He may be flustered, but the prankster should still be able to keep track of that and know he had at least a couple of tries before being in trouble. And then, he wouldn't have to worry about how to signal the blind. Resting his head on his folded hands, Sasuke waited; Naruto was whispering too much; did he really believed no one had noticed?
Plus, this was taking too long; how much did they plan on chatting? The Hyuuga girl was offering help; it shouldn't be too hard for him to realize he needed it and take it...unless he planned on refusing to cheat...
No, Sasuke reassured himself, even Naruto had to know going for the tenth question without having anything else was too risky...
Right?
A/N: To be honest, while I really like the Chuunin exam arc, this par of the exam bugs me a little, out of all the parts of the exam the written part is really the one that focuses on teamwork and yet no one in team 7 actually thinks of the others, the only moment any of them really tries to think of their other teammates was Sakura almost raising her hand to give up...
As always, thank you so much for reading any review, comment, criticism is greatly appreciated, I upload on Sunday nights, that said I do have exams coming up next week so next chapter may be a little late, but it sill come.
To the guest reviewer(in spanish) : I'm glad that you enjoy their personalities, I did try to keep their core personalities intact. Naruto is optimistic, Sasuke is broody, Kagome is open minded with a temper; but they all have had different experiences. About her relationship with Sasuke, I still think it's a form of unconditional love, but it's certainly less unfair to her than it was with Inuyasha comparing her to his past lover...she's also learned to be way less forgiving .