*Chapter 14*: Chapter Twelve: Paper Tiger
Correction Note: Added the proper question three from my story notes (There was a mix up when I compared my questions to the few flashes of test sheets seen in the manga) so the question repeat between question 3 and 8 has been fixed. Many thanks to Wruth for finding this goof!
Previously: Team Seven returns to Konoha. Naruto, walking along thereafter, encounters three Sunagakure ninja, one of whom is bullying an Academy student. After terrorizing two and nearly getting into an explosive showdown with the third, the altercation is broken up by Kakashi and ANBU. Later, Team Seven is redesignated as team Akachi (Blood red) and granted a temporary fourth member, none other than Haku. Thus reinforced, team Akachi begins its way to the Academy to enter the chuunin exam, while one of the Suna nin begins spying on Naruto, trying to understand his motivations for replacing her weapon that he destroyed the day before...
Chapter Twelve: Paper Tiger
The halls were crowded with hopefuls. The four members of team Akachi walked up another set of stairs, only to see a group of genin surrounding the entrance to an auditorium style room. In front of the door, two dark haired genin in Konohai hitai-ate were staring down at a third, wearing green spandex, a bowl cut hairdo, and the largest, bushiest eyebrows Naruto had ever seen.
"Is someone as weak as you planning to take the Chuunin exams?" said the taller of the two. "Why bother?"
"Man, what a stupid little brat," commented his wild haired friend. "Hiroto, we can't let this kid past us. It'd be like killing him ourselves."
Naruto looked at the sign above the two obstructive genin from his position on the stairs. "Hey, Sasuke?" he asked.
Sasuke was watching the display of bullying with irritation. Are these guys really strong enough to slap Lee around like that? he wondered. Out loud, he responded, "We're gonna be late at this rate. Make it fast, dobe."
Naruto ignored the name calling. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but... haven't we only gone up one flight of stairs?" Sasuke snorted, "Yeah."
"So why does that sign over there say 301?" inquired Naruto.
Shikamaru and Haku looked at one another, then at the other two. "We came up two flights, guys," Shikamaru said.
Naruto and Sasuke exchanged a look of their own, before looking at the stairs behind them. Naruto covered his face with a hand. Sasuke sighed, and then put a hand on each of Haku and Shikamaru's foreheads, before charging a little chakra into their systems. "Kai!"
Shikamaru and Haku staggered slightly, before Shika looked behind himself at the stairs. "Genjutsu…" he muttered, "Kami, I feel like a rookie."
"Why didn't it affect us?" Naruto asked.
"If I had a guess," Sasuke said, "I'd say it has something to do with our sharingan. After all, wasn't a particularly powerful genjutsu. I'm betting somehow the sharingan protected us, even if it wasn't active."
The four of them noticed an awkward hush had fallen over the hallway, as first the Konoha genin, then the rest of the genin present, began to stare at Team Akachi.
As inconspicuously as they could, considering they were the focus of everyone's gaze, Team Akachi attempted to walk past the crowd and the two genin blocking the way to the room labeled '301'. Naruto felt a hand grab his collar, and his temper rise, drowning out his ethical reason.
"Where do you think you're going?" asked Hiroto. "Kaga, look at this little pipsqueak trying to sneak past us with his rookie buddies."
Sasuke looked at the hand gripping Naruto's new jacket, saw the expression on his comrade's face, and said firmly, "Naruto, he's Konoha, even if he is an idiot. No killing." He reached down and helped Lee to his feet.
"Killing?" snorted Kaga. "He couldn't kill a cockroach with gallon of insecticide."
The two Konoha bullies froze, rooted to the spot as Naruto began hitting them with killing intent. "This jacket is new. Please don't make me get your blood on it," he said.
The tall one paused, before shaking off the effects of Naruto's rage. "Big words, you little blond shrimp," he snapped.
"Three and one," Naruto replied, locking eyes with Hiroto. Hiroto found himself pinned in place, unable to move. "W-what?" he asked. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Naruto smiled. "The number of chuunin and jonin I've killed. Three and one." Naruto paused. "I haven't kept count on the genin." Naruto looked away from Hiroto, down the hallway to a door that stood slightly ajar. "I see you, you know. I'd suggest you don't touch me again." A wave of slight shivers passed through the crowd that heard the menace in his voice.
Something in his voice apparently made a connection; the two obstructive genin stepped back. Naruto and his companions continued walking, the crowd of hopefuls parting to let them pass. Behind them, Lee looked over at his teammates. "Neji, Tenten, I'll be right back."
"Where are you going?" asked Tenten.
"I want to check something out," Lee replied.
Neji scowled. "You're the one who wanted to keep a low profile. Did you forget?" "I know, but I'm going after Naruto!" Lee called over his shoulder.
"Lee!" Neji called after him. "Don't forget what Gai-sensei said about Uzumaki!"
"So that's Team Seven," commented Hiroto.
"Team Akachi now, by the report I read this morning," said Kaga. "Interesting group, especially that Naruto kid. Even if he's full of hot air, at least he has the intimidation factor." Kaga ran a hand through his wild hair, helping absolutely nothing at all. "…'Three and one'… nice line."
"It wasn't an exaggeration," returned the taller proctor. "He's telling the truth exactly as he knows it."
The wild haired Kaga blinked before looking over at his comrade in surprise. "Seriously? Three chuunin and a jonin?"
"As far as he knows," Hiroto said. "And we shouldn't be surprised. We were warned by Kakashi not to mess with him. He told us the kid was tough and touchy, and the others were every bit as mean, in their own way."
Kaga shook his head. "In all fairness, we couldn't have saved face if we'd just ignored them."
Hiroto laughed. "We didn't exactly save face the way things went anyhow, did we?" Naruto stopped suddenly. "Sasuke. We're being followed by your spandex-wearing friend."
"Rock Lee," Sasuke commented.
"Think he's gonna start something?" asked Shikamaru. Haku waited, listening intently.
"Probably," Sasuke confirmed. "He had this huge inferiority complex, determined he was going to beat Neji. He's actually pretty strong, considering."
"Considering what?" asked Haku suddenly.
"Considering he's only got taijutsu. No genjutsu, ninjutsu... Nothing. Just physical attacks and tools," Sasuke clarified.
"So," said a voice from behind them, "you decided to wait for me." Team Akachi turned casually to face the spandex-clad genin.
"Hello, Lee," Sasuke muttered with a half lidded gaze. "Again."
"My comrade in arms!" exclaimed Lee, snapping to a perfect taijutsu stance. "I'm not here to challenge you!"
Haku stepped forward. "Naruto-sama, please. Allow me to fight on your behalf!"
Naruto looked over at Haku for a moment, before shrugging. "Uh... sure, if you want. But he's Konoha, so don't kill him, or hurt him so bad he can't take the test."
Shikamaru gave Naruto a long suffering look that screamed, "Not everyone is for killing if you fight them," but Naruto seemed singly unaffected. Haku stepped forward, senbon poised and ready. With a sudden burst of speed, he darted forward and threw, looking to paralyze Lee's leg, but the green clad genin snatched the senbon out of the air. "You are fast," Lee noted. "But..."
Lee's after image faded. Haku felt a hard impact in the middle of his chest. As he tumbled backwards, gasping for breath, he vaguely registered through his disorientation Lee standing from a crouching position where Haku had been standing. Lee slowly retracted his elbow. "…you are no match for me," Lee finished, reassuming his ready stance.
Haku flipped to his feet, eyes narrowed, before pulling out a water bottle. "Then prepare yourself," he hissed angrily.
Naruto put a hand on Haku's shoulder. Haku froze, saw Naruto's hand, and looked back at him, a small blush growing. "Haku, that's enough. I've seen what I needed to see." Naruto's eyes were engaged in the Kamigan. "You're not strong enough to take him."
"How can you-" Haku began, but Naruto cut him off.
"He's wearing ankle weights; massive enough and dense enough that I can't see through them," Naruto replied. "He's completely out of your league."
Sasuke's eyes widened. "How much weight, Lee?"
Lee smiled. "Fifteen hundred pounds!"
"Seven hundred-fifty per leg?" Shikamaru exclaimed with a look of incredulity.
"Oh no. That was per leg. Three thousand total," Lee said proudly.
Naruto gave a low whistle. A genin literally walking around wearing a ton and a half of weight, moving like that. A kick from him would literally be like getting hit dead on by a charging bull. A kick with that kind of weight behind it would kill most people on a glancing blow.
Naruto began assessing what he knew of his own speed, with Kyuubi enhancing him, compared to the kind of speed he'd be up against should the green clad genin take those weights off. There's no way he'd be able to take him down in a nonlethal fashion.
"Uzumaki Naruto. Fight me! I wish to test myself against you!" Lee demanded, his face becoming serious. "Come! Now!" Naruto smiled. "Nah. You win."
Lee's face darkened in confusion. "What? We haven't even fought yet!"
Naruto turned around and started walking. "And we're not going to fight." He said over his shoulder. "I couldn't fight you and win without killing you, and I'm not really keen on killing Konoha nin if I can avoid it."
Lee stood there watching helplessly as the four members of Team Akachi went on their way. Did he really mean... that he'd kill me? he thought to himself in bewilderment, with a small trace of fear. Am I really so weak compared to him?
Room 301 — the real one — was big. Three dozen wide tables, enough to seat six people per side, sat in two rows. Each table was accompanied by a long, low backed bench, facing the front of the room, and either side of the room was lined with chairs. People of all sizes and sorts were spread out about the room, clustering in groups or just milling about, waiting for someone to tell them what to do next. About a third of them had their forms out and ready; the rest presumably had them put away.
Naruto ignored Sasuke's encounter with several of his fangirls, Ino and Sakura. The latter... Naruto had once been smitten by her. But now, he found himself looking at her with an emptiness bordering on indifference. An emptiness that somehow ached. It seemed so long ago that he'd been enamored of the brainy, funny, pretty girl. So long ago he'd wished she'd stop looking at Sasuke and look at him, instead.
Before... Iruka.
Iruka-sensei. When Naruto had come back, he'd been the first to try and get Naruto instated as a genin. He'd pushed for it with the Hokage, fought to get Naruto into the shinobi ranks. Then...
Then he'd been sent to kill Naruto. An image flashed in his mind, a fuma shuriken impaling a tall, lanky body, embedded into concrete...
Naruto pulled a small flask out of his new jacket, flipped open the lid, took a quick swig. It burned, going down. It was cheap stuff, but Anko had been right. It helped forget. For a little while, at least. He thumbed the lid closed and put it back into his jacket, and after a minute, when the buzz hit, he began to feel normal again. Or, at least, okay.
And as his mind was starting to relax, Naruto was distracted. With more than one hundred fifty people in the room to keep track of, without the aid of the Kamigan. And suddenly, with no idea who or how, a pair of slim, strong arms slipped around him, hugging him from behind.
Naruto engaged the Kamigan, preparing to ram an elbow into his assailant, reaching for a kunai with the other hand, when he checked his impulse. It was... Hinata?
Looking confused, Naruto stood uncomfortably, alarm just starting to register on people's faces, as he slowly relaxed his stance and released the Kamigan. "Hello... Hyuuga-san," he said slowly.
The other genin seemed uncertain how to react to this. As far as Shikamaru and Sasuke had seen, Naruto had checked his attack before he'd even properly begun it. Usually, anyone this close to Naruto was bleeding profusely. Even they had only tried catching him unawares once, and had each come uncomfortably close to his kunai in the process.
Kiba seemed to be the first to resolve his confusion. "Hey!" he snapped, fixing Naruto with a glare. "Stop hanging all over Hinata!"
Noticing Naruto's reaction, Hinata blushed, then released him quickly, before giving a short bow.
Shikamaru snapped out of his bewilderment, instead fixing Kiba with a look of irritation. "So you're blind and stupid?" inquired Shikamaru impatiently. "In case you weren't watching, she hugged him."
Kiba settled for giving Shikamaru the finger.
"Can you guys shut up?" said a pony-tailed genin in a Konoha hitai-ite. "You guys are all rookies, right? First year genin, still wet behind the ears, fresh out of the Academy and certain you're all the best thing to happen to the shinobi world. This isn't a school field trip, you know."
"And you would be?" asked Sasuke, clearly unimpressed.
"Name's Kabuto," he answered. "And you guys need to start looking over your shoulders."
The cluster of rookie Konoha genin looked behind them to see a trio of ninja wearing the hitai-ite of Amagakure. The three were maintaining a gaze filled with the promise of violence in the direction of the Rookie Ten.
"Watch out for Amagakure nin," Kabuto said. "They tend to use chemicals to increase their shinobi's strength and aggression. Ama nin are notorious for having short fuses and violent tempers. You should remember everyone here is stressed out and on edge; it's best to keep a low profile or someone's gonna snap and beat the crap out of you."
Naruto was only paying cursory attention, as he'd noticed Haku leveling a cold, angry stare at Hinata, who at first was puzzled, but then looked back at Naruto, blushed again, and was now returning it in spades. What's going on between those two? Naruto wondered. Kyuubi didn't bother to answer.
"…Seventh."
Naruto blinked as he realized he'd missed something. Kabuto continued, "Twice a year for... going on four years, now."
"Wow!" said Sakura, who by this time had joined the conversation. "So you've got a lot of experience with what we can expect!"
Kabuto smirked slightly. "You could say that."
"In that case, this calls for an alliance," said Naruto levelly. "Where we can, we help one another. You by providing us with intelligence, and us by providing you with backup if we get the chance later on."
Kabuto favored Naruto with a searching look, extending to Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Haku. After a moment, his expression gave way to one of grudging respect. "All right, then. Consider this my down payment for your help in the second phase of the test. That's where I'll need your help."
Kabuto pulled out a stack of cards. "These are shinobi skill cards. They contain information about the skills we use, among other things. This deck represents the efforts of four years of research. There's almost two hundred cards."
"What if someone steals them?" asked Shikamaru.
"Wouldn't do them any good," Kabuto said with a grin. "The cards key themselves to the chakra of the person who codes them." He held one up, where the other genin could see it was apparently blank.
Naruto gave a small smile of his own, watching the card intently. He had the Kamigan up again. Kabuto, focused on the cards, didn't notice. Sasuke, however, did. Naruto, what are you doing? he thought to himself.
Naruto filtered out most of the room, focusing on what his eyes were telling him about the cards in Kabuto's hands.
They were almost indistinguishable from cardboard to the naked eye, but embedded in their construction were thousands of tiny, chakra reactive threads. By focusing on the card with a specific image in mind, the card absorbed the image through the chakra pathways in the user's hands. Thereafter, dependant on charging the card with the correct pattern, the card would create a tiny force field genjutsu in three dimensions until the chakra it had been charged with leaked away.
The interesting part of it all was that a card could apparently store multiple layers of information accessible only by the application of the proper chakra pattern. And a number of those cards in Kabuto's deck had multiple patterns stored in them. The question was, did Kabuto know this?
Naruto watched carefully, memorizing the flow of chakra Kabuto used. After Kabuto finished charging up the card, Naruto released the Kamigan. Hey, Bii-san... You think we can do that?
Which part? Embedding an image or calling up one stored by someone else?
Both.
I am certain that we can embed an image; it's a trivial exercise in chakra management. Calling up another's usage would be… tricky. But I believe we could do it, given enough study of the pattern beforehand.
"Hey, what are all those little bars?" Naruto asked aloud.
The bars in question were stacked over a map of the local countries, with a legend on the bottom detailing each bar, and the nation and village associated with it.
"It shows how many applicants from each shinobi nation are being sent to the exams this season," Kabuto answered.
"You called them shinobi skill cards. That map, while interesting, doesn't seem to have much to do with anybody's skill other than your own for storing information," Sasuke commented. "I assume you have dossier cards as well? For each individual applicant?"
Kabuto chuckled. "You looking for someone in particular?" he asked. "I'll admit the set is far from complete, but I've burned a set of dossier cards for most of the current pool of applicants... including your team."
"Hedging your bets in a search for allies?" asked Kiba in a moment of astute deduction — something so out of character for him that eight of the other Rookie Ten looked at him in surprise. Kiba was a dedicated genin and a solidly dependable individual, but he was a tad less than an ace detective.
"Yes, you could say that," replied Kabuto. "With the information I've gathered for this try, I might even succeed this year. I'll take whatever advantage I can get."
Sasuke looked at Kabuto with narrowed eyes. "Alright, then. What do you have for Subaku no Gaara from Sunagakure, and Uzumaki Naruto from Konoha?"
Naruto shot a look first at Sasuke, then Shikamaru. Has Shikamaru been reporting on me to Sasuke?
"Hmmm. Interesting set of choices," Kabuto said, pulling two cards out of the stack after a moment. Charging them with chakra, he set them down on the ground.
Naruto's card described him as a Wind chakra oriented ninja. "Uzumaki Naruto. Known prankster, settled down greatly after attaining genin status. Age 14. Hmm…" said Kabuto, glancing between the two cards with a look clearly indicating he was impressed. "Four C-rank and one B-rank. Impressive! Most genin never even see a B-rank mission. Hmm. Considered the most volatile genin in Konoha."
Turning his attention to Gaara's card, he said, "Subaku no Gaara. Interesting... He's also a wind type. Now he's from way out in the desert so I don't have as much on him, but he's got 8 C-rank and also has a B-rank." Kabuto's eyes flicked from card to card. "It would seem the two of you have a lot in common... Except..."
"Except..?" prompted Naruto.
"Except he's apparently returned from every mission he's been assigned completely unscathed. Not even a scratch."
Naruto thought back to his shredded jacket, his second fight with Zabuza. Both had been pretty rough. He'd not been severely injured in either fight, but to have completed a B-rank mission unscathed...
Naruto grinned. He'd be fun to fight.
Sakura blinked nervously. "Is everyone in the exam...?"
Kabuto chuckled. "Oh, yeah. There are standouts, of course, as in anything. But everyone in this exam is special; elite, hand-picked shinobi, the best talent in the world. And they have to be. This test is pitiless. Injury, maiming, death, they happen every time, to multiple entrants."
Naruto looked back at the map card. "It says there's only three here from Otogakure. What do you have on them?"
Kabuto frowned. "Not much. There really isn't anything to have on them. They're a new village; until recently, their country didn't really have the resources to train shinobi for this kind of ordeal."
The three sound nin, unbeknownst to the Rookie Ten, were listening from their seats near the front of the room.
"So," Zaku said with a resentful sneer. "According to this dossier of his, Otogakure is an unknown village in a backwater country."
"Mortifying, isn't it?" responded Dosu.
"Want to have some fun with them?" asked Kin, fingering some of her senbon.
"Heh. Sounds good," said Dosu, flexing his wrist. "Let's give him a little intel for his dossier: that treating we who hide in Sound as some kind of afterthought is... an un-sound strategy."
Kabuto had shown Naruto the basic technique of how to store information on a card. Naruto had proceeded to make a mock card of Shikamaru, with a pineapple for a head. This set off a round of laughter amongst the genin, until Shikamaru did one of Naruto in a bright orange jacket, with a button reading 'Dobe!' in large, crayon style letters, wearing a hitai-ite in the shape of a dunce cap. Sasuke laughed the hardest, until Naruto did a mock-up of Sasuke with his shirt collar up over his face and a thought bubble reading, "Oh, no! Even MY eyes can't help me now!" Kabuto laughed so hard his glasses fell off.
He almost missed the kunai as they flew in. Almost on instinct, he skipped back, his cards scattering as two of them were pinned to the ground. A fist came in at eye level; Kabuto rocked back on his heels. For a moment, he was fine. Then, something warm and wet splashed his face as the blurriness in front of him suddenly got worse.
Kabuto had no time to consider any of this; everything had gone silent on his left side, and his inner ear was telling him the room was in a blender. He lurched forward and vomited violently. Dimly he registered several screams, some muted impacts and scuffling. He groped, found his glasses, and put them on. Looking up and wiping his mouth, he saw Naruto's team standing in a half circle around him facing outward, with multiple higher-level ninja surrounding them.
"What the hell is going on here?" demanded a heavily scarred jonin in a black leather trench coat.
Kabuto's eyes then registered a number of things: the massive sword in Naruto's hands, the blood still dripping from the blade, the headless body on the floor in a growing pool of blood.
Blood dripping down his own face, Naruto was speaking. "The Otogakure genin attacked Kabuto," he said emotionlessly. "He was using a wrist-born sound amplification device. It incapacitated him. Anyone who attacks a citizen of Konoha in my presence… their life is forfeit."
Kabuto was stunned. He didn't register much else. For the next several minutes he repaired his ruptured eardrum, while the proctors questioned the other genin in the room, before nodding and taking up positions in the sides of the room.
The scarred jonin's words to someone else nearby were the next thing he remember as his inner ear settled down. "Then you acted in defense of a comrade. But you made a mess in the back of my classroom. I expect that to be cleaned up, or
I'll charge you with littering."
The scarred jonin turned to face the other two Otogakure genin, who were standing shivering, staring numbly at the corpse of their teammate, still cooling in his drying pool of blood. "As for you two, this exam is open solely to those who have the maturity to follow mission parameters, and to curb the reckless impulses of members of their cell who don't otherwise control themselves. Since only a complete cell can enter the exam, and since your teammate unwisely got himself butchered, the rest of his cell is disqualified with him. A dead body can't become a chuunin; although," he added with a cold, thin smile, "a chuunin certainly can become a dead body."
Naruto shrugged, creating several Kage Bunshin to begin cleaning up the mess. The proctors and Team Akachi alike otherwise ignored it, something that chilled the other genin even more. The scarred jonin said, "I am Morino Ibiki. I'm the proctor and chief examiner for this first part of the chuunin exams. The... incident earlier underlines the need to lay down a few ground rules for the rest of this exam. First, from this point forward, there will be no fighting without the express permission of the examining officer. Any of you piglets who break this rule are out. No second chances. Not to mention taking your life into your own hands, as we've already seen."
He continued, "Now, when you hand in your application up here at the desk, you will take a seating arrangement card, and report directly to the seat indicated. When everyone is seated, we will hand out the written portion of the test."
Hinata felt the same sense of possessiveness over Naruto as she had when Kurenai had informed her that her mission was being retracted. At first, she had been stunned by the idea that the boy on Naruto's team might have feelings for him. True, he was a pretty faced boy, but contrary to popular belief, not ALL pretty boys were into other guys. But then, when he had glared at her so hard after she'd hugged Naruto, slowly she began to think that there might be something there after all.
As she handed in her application, and received her number, she looked over at the body suited, new Konoha nin. She'd wished very much she could have seen his dossier card; if she had to fight him for Naruto she wanted to know everything about him that she could.
She realized suddenly as she approached her seat that she was next to him. One hundred fifty seats in this room and I get the one next to him!
She thought to herself. Her heart pounded as she sat down next to him, where he sat lost in thought. Biting her lip, she resolved she wasn't going to let this opportunity slip by. I won't do it! I won't give up Naruto to HIM without a fight!
We've all been separated, Naruto thought to himself irritably. I hate tests.
"Naruto."
Naruto gave a little start. Hinata was sitting next to him. Again, he'd somehow not noticed her approaching. This was starting to bother him. "Hinata! I... didn't see you there."
Hinata bit her lip, then, almost hesitantly, reached out her hand and placed it in Naruto's. His shock was complete.
"Hinata! Wh-what-"
Hinata's eyes closed and she sighed, as a small smile graced her lips. "You won't fail this test, Naruto-kun." She squeezed his hand gently.
Naruto looked at Hinata blankly, at a complete loss. He realized he'd curled his hand around hers, and it was... sort of pleasant. Naruto closed his eyes.
The Sound nin's head rolled off his shoulders again, blood spattering Kabuto, Sasuke, Sakura. Sakura freezing in horror and screaming; Sasuke absently wiping the blood off his arm with a look of annoyance.
Naruto shuddered, and almost cried. Taking his hand from Hinata's, he reached inside his jacket and pulled out the flask again.
"Naruto, what are you..." blurted Hinata, before her eyes told her the story of a terrible grief, a self loathing. The smell of alcohol hit her as Naruto took several hard swallows and wiped away the tear on his cheek. He wheezed a second, took one more swallow, and recapped the flask, before muttering, "Shed it like an old skin and forget about it."
"Papers face down until I give the word." Ibiki snapped from the front of the room as the proctors handed out the papers. "Now, listen up. There's a few big rules that pertain to this first test."
Ibiki's fingers held a piece of chalk, which he began writing on the black board with. "I'll write them down and explain them all, but I'm NOT taking questions, so listen carefully. I will say this once and only once."
No questions? Naruto wondered, feeling the buzz hit him again, a little harder this time.
"Rule number one! Each team starts with thirty points. The test has ten questions, each worth one point. Rule number two! This test remains a team event. For each question you answer incorrectly, we deduct a point from your team total. Thus, if each member of the team misses one question, their team has lost a total of three points. The object of this exam is to lose as few points as possible."
"Hey, wait a second!" Naruto said, the buzz still intensifying and wondering if this was a particularly good idea, not that he let it stop him. "What about us, we got four people on our team."
Ibiki growled, "Did you not hear the part about no questions? We have our reasons. Your team receives no extra points simply because you have an extra member. Shut up and listen; you might learn something."
Naruto rocked back in his seat.
Ibiki continued, "The next part is crucial. Rule number three: If, during the course of the exam, a candidate does anything unusual, anything that leads the proctors to believe he or she is cheating, we subtract two points from each member of the cheaters team. Yes, that applies to every team."
Naruto grimaced. This keeps getting better and better.
"In all probability, some of you will run through your entire allotment of points. If you do, you'll be failed along with your team and... asked... to leave."
"I'll be looking over your shoulder when you least expect it," commented Hiroto from the side of the room, where he sat with a clipboard, grinning at Naruto.
"If you let the proctors catch you cheating, you'll bring down yourselves and your friends!" said Ibiki.
LET them catch you? Naruto thought. What does he mean, 'Let'?
"And one more thing," Ibiki continued. "If any person loses ten points, between failed answers and cheating, that person's entire team fails, regardless of how the others do."
Sasuke and Shikamaru's eyes darted immediately to Naruto, where he sat looking relaxed, perhaps even a little drunk.
This was going to be trouble.
"You all strive to be chuunin, to be the best ninja you can be. So act like it!" Ibiki finished. "The first stage of the exam begins... Now!"
Question 1: Decode the following one hundred twenty eight digit message. Define the cipher concept and summarize its meaning.
Naruto has bombed every written test he's ever taken, thought Shikamaru.
What's he gonna do?
Shikamaru's eyes narrowed as he turned over his page and looked at the questions. This stuff isn't the sort of thing any of us have been taught. They can't possibly expect us to-
Shikamaru suddenly smiled. Of course.
Shikamaru's shadow reached out in small threads to contact those of his three teammates. He put their heads lower, bringing their hands into view, before quickly using hand signals.
-Test not for knowledge. Test our ability gather information. Do not get caught.-
Shikamaru released the jutsu and popped his neck, looking at the proctors. None of them seemed to have noticed. Naruto smiled. Too easy. Kamigan!
Question 2: The parabola marked B represents the greatest effective distance the enemy shinobi, A, could throw a shuriken from the top of a 23.3 foot tall tree. Calculate the range of the shuriken's effectiveness, assuming a throwing speed of ninety miles per hour, for shinobi A's assault on any enemy shinobi operating within the area the flight of that shuriken describes. Show your work.
There was a scraping noise as a Suna nin stood up and said, "You know... the one thing I keep wondering, is how many of the top ranking teams they intend to pass."
Beside her Sakura looked first at the Suna nin, then expectantly at Ibiki.
Ibiki began laughing. "I don't see how knowing that is going to help you. Unless you want to fail but make it look like you tried?"
As the sand nin sat down, Sakura bit her lip and looked over at Kiba.
Question 3: The following is a relief map. Based on the positions of Shinobi A, Shinobi B, and Shinobi C, in conjunction with the positions of shurikens D through J, calculate the agressor, the defender, and the target. Deduce the likeliest winner(s) of this scenario. Show your work.
A short stir of restlessness, like a slight ripple in the group, presaged the general epiphany of the purpose of this portion of the exam. Bit by bit, each of the genin began using their extraordinary talents to discover the answers to the test.
Question 4: In one hundred words or less, describe how the promulgation of peace between the Fire country and the Rock country accelerated the Second Shinobi War when fighting finally broke out.
Neji activated his Byakugan, searching the room for the shinobi, whomever it might be, who was the ringer. His search was interrupted as his awareness touched on Naruto.
Neji was the most talented user of the Byakugan and Jyuuken in all the Hyuuga clan, whether main family or branch. He recognized the dojutsu Naruto was using was indeed a Byakugan; or rather, the Byakugan was a part of it. But where the Byakugan was a torch of chakra activity in a place where most could barely claim a candle, Naruto's chakra infused mind shone like a bonfire. Moreover, Naruto had more chakra in him than any ten people Neji had ever met. He can't possibly be a lost one. Naruto was born a year before I was, and the lost ones left the Hyuuga clan just before I was born.
Neji pondered this for a while. Could he be the result of an... indiscretion by a member of the Hyuuga clan? If so, it would explain why the Hokage has spent so much time protecting him and keeping his family lineage secret. It would have been a terrible blow against the reputation of the Hokage if it were public knowledge that he'd used a Hyuuga to seal the Kyuubi, even an illegitimate one.
Neji shook off that theory also. No. Hyuuga blood is dominant; in any bloodline where the Byakugan awakens, the eyes are the same. Nobody can hide a Hyuuga's eyes, but Naruto's eyes are blue. For all that he bears something similar to the Byakugan, he doesn't have Hyuuga eyes.
Neji broke off his examination and began searching for the ringer. Need to keep my priorities straight. First things first.
Question 5: A team of shinobi are forced by injury to halt for several days. Between the three of them, they have sixty yards of wire. Assuming that their gear kit does not include any variant of the general purpose ninjato, and their terrain includes at least four old growth conifers within ten yards, what is the best set up for their encampment on the first, second, and third days of recuperation?
Naruto found a total of eight genin in the exam who were independantly solving the second question: Five from Konoha, and one each from Takigakure, Sunagakure, and Kusagakure. Everyone else was copying from one of them. By comparing their answers simultaneously, Naruto learned more about trigonometric and applied motion physics than he'd learned in his entire time at the academy- But then, he hadn't had the immense calculation power of the Kamigan then, either.
Naruto, for the first time in his life was enjoying the feeling of book learning. By the time they were ten minutes into the test, he'd finished six answers- and he'd recalculated question two entirely on his own.
Naruto was steadily increasing the flow of chakra to his Kamigan as the test wore on, adding virtual nerves constantly, reshaping dendritic connections, altering the very flow of chemistry in his brain. Part of his mind was monitoring all the papers around him, including those on the proctor's clipboards. Another part was eagerly cataloguing everything he was learning about each subject on the test. Another part was cataloguing everything he was learning about the other participants in the exam, and how they were cheating. One of the more interesting ones was someone from Takigakure, who was extending his chakra senses to encompass the room, then increasing the humidity around one of the Konoha nin who was answering the questions on his own. His senses were reacting to the motions of the Konoha nin's pencil, and relaying the information on pencil strokes back to him.
Of all the information he was learning, the knowledge about the other participants was the most had no doubt that at some point in the future the Genin teams were likely to be pitted against one another in a very physical sense. Anything he could learn might be vital.
HEY, KID. AT THIS RATE YOU'RE GOING TO BURN THROUGH ALL OF YOUR CHAKRA.
Then give me some of yours. Naruto replied absently with another portion of his mind that he split off to talk with Kyuubii.
Naruto felt a change come over him- more chakra pumped into his system, his nails started growing, and he felt his eyes... changing somehow. He had no means of knowing it but he'd activated the Mangekyou in the middle of the Kamigan- a first for him. His altered form noted several of the proctors starting to turn their heads in his direction- in a panic, his mind reacted, anything to buy time to hide-
Naruto's chakra pulsed. His eyes throbbed in sync with the single pulse; a sharp pain stabbed through his head, and for a moment, everything seemed to blur slightly, before clearing up almost immediately.
Everything stopped. Naruto felt... drained, as though he'd expended an enormous amount of chakra all at once.
KID... WHAT DID YOU DO?
Naruto didn't answer, instead gazing around at the stillness of everything around him. He could see one of Shino's bugs, its wings moving at a crawl as it went through the motion of its wing beat. It's... still moving... What's holding it up in the air?
AT A GUESS... I'D SAY ITS LAST WING BEAT. Replied Kyuubii. SOMEHOW, KID, YOU MANAGED TO... SLOW TIME DOWN?
TIME! Naruto thought. Of course! I needed time, and... it... happened? But... How?
THE KAMIGAN, AS YOU CALL IT. SOMEHOW, WHEN YOU ACTIVATED THE MANGEKYOU JUST NOW, YOU LEARNED HOW TO DO SOMETHING WITH IT.
Naruto replayed the series of events in his mind. He ran his actions, his chakra flow, through again in his mind. Yeah... I could do that again, too... I seem to be able to move around normally...
KID, YOU NEEDED TIME. YOU GOT IT. BUT YOU BETTER DO SOMETHING WITH IT, CAUSE IT'S APPARENTLY RUNNING OUT AGAIN.
Naruto realized Kyuubii was right. The bug was finishing its wing beat, and started another one, moving faster. Naruto didn't hesitate, using a quick henge, replacing his current appearance with that of his normal, everyday appearance. The bug's wings were beating, faster and faster, and suddenly, everything went back to normal. Naruto sagged a little. Bii san... I'm gonna need that chakra, kinda quick here.
The proctors were looking at him, puzzled, then around at the rest of the room. Naruto ignored it, toning down the feed of chakra and letting the Mangekyou drop away to more normal levels of sharingan. The infusion of chakra from the kyuubii helped him swallow his discomfort and refocus on his page.
IMPRESSIVE, KID. YOU'VE MANAGED TO DO SOMETHING WITH THE SHARINGAN THAT EVEN UCHIHA MADERA NEVER DREAMED.
Question 6: Choose one of the following: Henge no Jutsu(Ninjutsu), Kawarimi no Jutsu(Taijutsu), or Bunshin no Jutsu(Genjutsu).
In one hundred words or less, explain why your choice is taught to genin of all nations, and why it is intrinsically superior to other jutsus taught of its school at all later levels of the arts practiced by shinobi. Exceeding one hundred words in this explanation is an automatic miss for this question, regardless of the answer's validity.
Slowly, but in ever increasing numbers, the applicant teams were whittled down. The test had gone on for half an hour now; already twelve teams had been eliminated.
Next to Naruto, Hinata murmured softly, "You did something earlier, when the proctors were all looking around... didn't you? I could almost see it... except... it was strange." Naruto replied just as quietly. "What if I did?"
Hinata smiled, still not looking at him- except, he could see she had her byakugan up. Yet she seemed suddenly nervous. She bit her lower lip, unsure of herself, then said, "N-naruto..."
Naruto wrinkled his brow a little. "Uh... what?"
Hinata gulped slightly. "Kurenai sensei... sh-she gave me a m-mission..." She began to blush again. "A mission... that I wanted... a-and... then sh-she took it away f-from m-me."
Naruto was suddenly very uncomfortable, and he couldn't even say why.
Hinata's expression softened as she seemed to collect herself, and she started again. "She said that you were under a terrible strain... that you were becoming dangerous to yourself. She said your stress n-needed to b-be relieved..." Hinata's cheeks reddened further. "She gave m-me a mission to s-seduce y-you."
Naruto's eyes widened. You mean... that whole thing was to... try to get me to let my guard down? But if not to kill me, then why?
SOUNDS MORE LIKE IT WAS TO HELP YOU RELAX. Kyuubii replied. TO BE FAIR, HER TEACHER HAS A
POINT. YOU HAVEN'T SLEPT A FULL NIGHT IN MONTHS, HAVEN'T SLEPT MORE THAN A TOTAL OF AN
HOUR IN ANY NIGHT IN THE LAST TWO WEEKS... EVER SINCE YOUR FIRST DELIBERATE KILL, AGAINST
ZABUZA AND GATO. YOU HARDLY EVEN EAT, ANYMORE- WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU HAD RAMEN?
Naruto felt a quease in his stomach at the thought of what had been his favorite food. Someone... something like me... doesn't have the right to enjoy something like that. I'm a killer... a monster... and when I do it I love it, love fighting, even love the killing... what kind of a protector does that make me? That I can enjoy something like that, it's WRONG, I can't,
I-
"Naruto..." Hinata said, closing her eyes. "Kurenai sensei said it was too risky, after the mission, said to do it for the mission would risk our friendship... that I would have to make up my own decision... I would have to pursue my own agenda..." Hinata took a deep breath, then opened her eyes and looked at him, directly in the face. In a conversational volume but filled with determination, she said, "I have made my decision... You are mine, Uzumaki Naruto... and I mean to have you, whatever that takes."
Naruto's mental prowess, enhanced heavily by the Kamigan, ground to a complete halt, and he spoke back to her the undercurrent that had subconsciously driven him since Iruka's conversation with Mizuki: "I am not worth having- and I belong only to Konoha, to be used until I am broken. Then... I will be no more."
Hinata looked at him in disbelief. "You can't believe that- I won't let this-"
The entirety of all activity in the exam halted, as Ibiki and the other proctors stared at the two. "Two points from each of you. And if either of you disrupt my exam again I'll fail both your teams." Ibiki said.
As the test resumed, only those in the room with Byakugan noticed the glare of hate that Haku was directing at Hyuuga Hinata.
Question 7: Define the strategic uses of a theoretical poison with the properties listed below. Postulate the necessary dosage and side effects of the most likely hypothetical antidote, based on there attributes.
There was a short interuption as a candidate protested his disqualification from cheating. The proctor assigned to him slammed him into a wall and verbally put him in his place. By this point, Naruto had finished the other nine questions, and all but expended utterly his available chakra. As he napped, the kyuubii funneled chakra into him, recharging the blond as best he could, but was forced to take it slow lest he alert the proctors to his activity.
Question 8: A shinobi is sent to infiltrate a three story building without knowledge of the building's interior. Devise an algorithm by which the shinobi can deduce the separate locations of both the armory and the personal chamber of the building's VIP based on guard density and patrol routes.
Forty minutes in. Sasuke flipped over his paper. Done, now. He stretch and popped his neck, looked around the room at various people. Ninety one applicants still here. Either they're smnart, or they're slick. Sasuke thought. He shot a look over at Naruto, who was asleep and drooling on his test sheet. Well, most of them, anyway. He amended mentally.
Question 9: Reassess question number 5. This time, the team in question has a total of only twenty four yards of wire, and all of the members are carrying the model 6 general purpose ninjato. Readjust your strategy to account for this change in equipment. Does this gear swap increase or decrease that team's chances for survival on the first, second, and third days?
Naruto woke up feeling... dirty, somehow. Or perhaps, slightly contaminated. Blinking at the clock, he realized it had only been about six or seven minutes since he'd fallen asleep. Not enough time to dream, thankfully. With a sudden deep breath that was more than a sigh but less than a yawn, he looked over his shoulder at the clock on the wall. Seventeen minutes to go. That meant...
He looked back at question 10 on the sheet.
Question 10: Forty five minutes into the exam, the chief proctor will present the final question. At that time, answer the proctor's question to the best of your ability. This question is subject to special rules.
What the heck do they mean by special rules? Naruto wondered.
Ibiki's cold eyes flicked across the room. "All right. The time has come. You all have fifteen minutes left in the exam. It's time for me to give the final question... But before we get to the question itse;f, there is one additional rule that applies." He stopped as the door in the back of the class opened- that sand nin Kankuro walked in. Ibiki felt a moment of amusement as the "Proctor" walked in with him. Very slick on his part. "You're just in time. Looks like all the time you spent playing with dolls has paid off." Kankuro hesitated, looking uncertain. Ibiki waved him off. "Nevermind. Just sit down."
Ibiki could feel the tension mount. "The rule I am about to relate is ABSOLUTE." He had the undivided attention of the entire assembly of genin. "First, you must choose whether to accept the question or reject it." He allowed the genin a few seconds to let this sink in.
Subaku no Temari broke the silence. "Choose? What happens if someone doesn't accept the question?"
Ibiki's eyes were cold and deadly focused; the eyes of a shark long since accustomed to the game of stalk and kill; the eyes of a tiger eyeing meat that was still moving. "If you reject the question, and don't even try to answer it, you lose all your points immediately and fail. And your team mates fail right along with you."
A takigakure nin exploded, "Why would anyone reject it?"
Ibiki's presence was terrifying, commanding. His voice rang like the bell of doom. "If you choose to try to answer the question, and you get it wrong, you will never be permitted to apply for the chuunin exams again. Not ever."
There was an explosion of protests, most along the lines of applicants who'd already sat the chuunin exams in previous years. Ibiki cut them off with a laugh. "I wasn't making the rules in past years. I am now."
Ibiki surveyed the cowed genin with satisfaction. "I've been up front with you. You can take a failing grade now, and try again later. If you have doubts, you'd be smart to try again next year."
Several of the genin were outright shaking, now. Ibiki gauged their panic, then decided it was now probably the best time do it. "Ready, they? If you choose not to accept, raise your hand. Once your number is confirmed, you and your team will leave the room."
Naruto broke out into a cold sweat. This was something he couldn't cheat his way out of. Something he couldn't bull force his way through. Something no amount of jutsu could overcome.
There was a minute of silence, before a konoha nin broke. His hand shot into the air. "I- I quit! I'm sorry, Kenohi, Surimi, I just... Can't!"
"Twenty six, you're out. Eighty five, one twelve, you're out with him." Ibiki said.
After that, it was ugly. Before five more minutes had passed, the room held only fifty eight people. Ibiki felt like waiting a little longer- the Kyuubii kid looked like he was ready to break. It WAS interesting, though. Of the seven Konoha teams remaining, all three of the rookie teams were still here. Too new to know they should be scared? Or are they really as good as their jonin instructors think they are? Ibiki pondered.
Suddenly, Naruto laughed. His alarm showed in his face, as he clapped his hand across his mouth, remembered what Ibiki had said before about interrupting. And if Ibiki hadn't discussed team Akachi earlier with the Council, and their decision to have him run across Subaku no Gaara in the exam rather than in the village, he might have been tempted. But no. His laughter seemed to have broken the spell Ibiki had woven over the room. There weren't going to be any more leavers.
"Very well, then. The tenth question..." Ibiki looked around the room expectantly, then said, "You have just answered. Everyone still in this room, you have passed the first portion of the Chuunin exams."
"A confidence game." Said Neji.
"Moreso than you can possibly know." Ibiki replied. "That is the measure of confidence you must know, must HAVE, to be chuunin. To be cel leaders, strategists, you must be willing to step foot into the unknown without all the information you want. No briefing is ever as detailed as you will want, and no map perfectly described. Some of each are very sketchy indeed... so what do you do? Do you reject the mission in favor of one whose conditions you know better, or do you take the mission because it is your duty? You cannot be a chuunin taking the safe route. There are no two ways about it- you must still step into the unknown, ready to face what awaits you- or you will cower behind your door for fear of what you will see when you walk out of it. That fortitude is the essence of what is needed to be a chuunin."
"As to the other nine questions, as most of you have guessed by now, the purpose was to test your skills at gathering information. To aid you in this purpose, we deliberately created a test too hard for a genin to be expected to know- many of those questions are jonin or ANBU level, and are standard on written exams for these respective promotions. Thus, we planted a team of chuunin posing as genin with the answers, who have already left the room, a 'failed' team, so to speak." "Ya, it took me forever to figure out who had the answers." Commented one suna nin.
"Hmph. It was pretty simple for me- I just copied that guy." One of the Taki nin responded, pointing at Naruto. "I wasn't sure at first, he seemed kinda lost in the beginning, but by the end I was glad I did."
Nearly all the rookies were stunned by this, Naruto most especially. "Him?" Shouted Kiba. "He's the dumbest one in the graduating class! the dead last!"
Sakura shook her head. "I would have left my page blank first." She added in agreement.
Ino frowned. "Well, he was always a fighter, not a thinker..."
Naruto shook a moment. A shinobi from another village was willing to recognize me for who I am now before people who knew me. I really must be...
"Nobody remains the same... people can change!" Hinata said, chastising them.
"Nobody can change their destiny." Neji said, fixing Hinata with a cold, satisfying stare. "There are only the winners... and the losers."
Naruto hung his head. Is... is it even worth it any more?
A figure suddenly began extruding itself from the wooden floor; within a second, it had grown arms, legs, and facial features- a ninja with completely expressionless features. In a straight faced, completely uninterested monotone, he said,"Hello. My name is Yamato, and I am the proctor for the second exam."
End Chapter Twelve AN: That's that.
I do admit that I am not very good at keeping character reactions consistent all the time. I have difficulty keeping in character and situation simultaneously. If you spot one, email me the section and I'll look it over and try to see if I can't fix it. And make a suggestion for a fix as well, so I can get your take on how to maintain their character properly. I'm no professional writer, I'll be the first to admit. On the other hand, I don't guarantee I'll make the change you suggestsometimes I have a good reason for what I'm writing. Odd, true, but it COULD happen. If I don't, I'll try to email you a clarification of what's going on so that you understand better where the decision came from.
So, for those of you who freshly remember the second portion of the chuunin exams from canon, be prepared: there's going to be some really ugly things happening. And expect a main character death.
My prereader got back in contact with me! And if I'd thought to wait one more hour, I could have presented my chapter in a more refined fashion, rather than the rough copy you guys were subjected to for about 50 minutes. So here it is. Thanks again Mrs W.C.!
Read and Review if u pls; I feed off of it and it helps me to write. Thanks again- I've hit just under 19k hits, and that's more readership than I ever expected to get.
Ja mata.
-AXENOME