Disclaimer: This is getting old fast, I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 17 – The Chunin Exams, Begin!
Last time:
The three just smiled or grinned at him and Naruto said what the other two were thinking. "Don't worry sensei, we won't let you down dattebayo!"
The three then walked in to the exam room.
This Chapter:
When the three entered, they were met with glares from the other applicants. Naruto happily glared back at the ninja as he crossed his arms with a grin on his face. 'I just wish I could activate the fox eye to scare them some more.' He thought as looked over each genin. He noticed a large portion of the participants were leaf nin.
Sakura wasn't as happy as Naruto with the glares. 'If the first test is about being scary then they got me beat there.' She thought a little scared of some of the genin.
'This is getting interesting.' Sasuke thought as he looked over the genin.
Naruto was still looking over the other participants when he felt it, someone was coming towards him from behind. He checked the chakra signature, it was a familiar one. He contemplated embarrassing his assailant. 'Nah, that would make me out to be an asshole.' He thought, vetoing the idea. He just stood and waited for it to come, he had a plan for just before they hit.
The assailant skimmed a little closer to Naruto. They were just stepping carefully along the wall until they got within striking distance. Waiting for the right moment they pounced, aiming for Naruto's back and neck. The assailant would have made it too had he not turned around quickly and wrapped his arms around her instead. "Naruto-kun!" The assailant called out.
"Hey Ino, please, don't try and sneak up on me again." He said as he lowered the girl to the floor. Ino's hair was the same as in the academy, one long ponytail along with a bang covering one side of her face. She was wearing the same outfit she usually wore in the academy. A purple, sleeveless top, along with some arm warmers that looked like Sasuke's. She had her hitai-ite around her waist as a belt along with some bandages covering her stomach. She had a skirt made of the same purple material as her top with bandages covering her thighs and the usual blue sandals most ninja wore.
"Awwwh!" She groaned in disappointment as he let her go. "You don't have to let go of me Naruto-kun!" Ino said in what she thought was a seductive voice while pressing against Naruto.
Naruto started to get a slight blush as he felt Ino pressing against him. "Hey Ino-Pig! Get your mits off my Naruto-senpai!" Sakura said as she grabbed the blonde female genin and pulled her off Naruto unceremoniously.
"Your Naruto-senapi!? I don't see your name on him Forehead-girl! Besides don't you have that pale-skinned emo to go to?" Ino retorted.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the emo barb. "Sasuke is not emo!" Sakura shouted at Ino.
Ino was about to retort when a hand went over her mouth, the same happened to Sakura. "Please be quiet you two! You're drawing a lot of attention and it's not the good kind." Naruto hissed to the two as he kept them quiet. "Sakura-chan, I expected better from you!"
He pulled his hands from their mouths slowly as they looked at all the glares that were leveled at them. Sakura spoke in a low tone. "Gomen, Naruto-senpai."
"Damn, you guys are so troublesome, I swear it's like your trying to get them all to hate us." A familiar lazy genius' voice rang out to their left.
"What are you talking about Shikamaru, everything's troublesome for you." Naruto replied to the Nara. Shikamaru was still wearing his hair to make his head look like a pineapple. He still wore the jacket with his hitai-ite on the sleeve and a mesh shirt underneath. His pants were the usual dark colour and he had a kunai holster on one leg. "So your team is here too huh? Anyone else we know?"
"Yeah, Kiba and his team are around here somewhere too." Chouji replied, from Shikamaru's side. 'And Akamaru's looking good to eat' He thought to himself drooling slightly. The 'big boned' genin was wearing his hitai-ite in a way that made it look like a pair of underwear was on his head. He had a muffler around his neck, bandages covering his arms and shins and the same blue ninja sandals. He was wearing a green jacket with an off white tee underneath that had some kanji written on it, along with brown shorts and a kunai holster on one leg.
"So the whole gang is here, this will be interesting." Naruto told the Akimichi. He looked back at Ino and Sakura who were rooted to the spot from all the glares. "Come here you two." He said as he dragged them to where he and the other members of team 7 and 10 were standing. "Don't let the stares get to you Sakura-chan." He whispered to her.
Ino had been silent since finding out about everyone staring at her but hearing Naruto talking with Sakura like that snapped her out of it. "Hey, how come your calling Forehead-girl that and not me?" She asked in a whisper and a pout.
"Tough luck Ino-pig! He just likes me more!" Sakura told the pouting girl.
"Sakura-chan don't lie. It was because you won a bet with me." Naruto scolded his teammate come apprentice. "Although it is because I have some pride in knowing most of the stuff you know comes from me." He added with a grin.
"Naruto-kun!" Sakura whined slightly. This of course got a giggle from Ino.
"Would you talk to me like that if I won the same bet Naruto-kun?" Ino asked the blonde genin, suggestively.
"I guess so but first I'd have to teach you about medical jutsu." He replied, putting his hands behind his head.
"What are you ranting about now, Naruto-baka!" A familiar obnoxious voice called out. Kiba was wearing his grey jacket with dark fur lining with the hood down, some dark pants with a kunai holster on a thigh and the usual blue sandals. He also had Akamaru, his puppy plopped on the top of his head. Akamaru had white fur all over his body and brown fur on his ears.
"Oh, hey Kiba, Shino, Hinata." He replied nodding to each as he greeted the three from team 8.
"A-ano, hello, Naruto-kun." Hinata greeted him shyly, poking her index fingers together with a blush on her face. She was wearing her hitai-ite around her neck and her hair was in the same style as always, a few bangs framing her face while the back was cut short. She wore her oversized beige jacket, long dark blue pants with a kunai holster on her thigh and the usual blue ninja sandals.
Shino just nodded back to him. He was wearing his usual dark glasses and his hitai-ite was around his head. He was wearing a large and heavy looking, light green, coat along with long brown pants with a kunai holster on his thigh and the same blue sandals.
"I was just explaining to Ino why I use -chan with Sakura-chan's name." Naruto told the three.
Flash Back Start
It was about two weeks before the chunin exams. Sakura and Naruto were training in their usual training grounds next to a river. The frustrated growls of Sakura could be heard from next to the stream. She had some broken bones and what looked like ground up chalk. "I don't get it! How am I supposed to do this?!"
Naruto was also next to the stream getting water for his canteen and dunking his head in to cool off. "Just keep working on it Sakura and you'll get it eventually." Naruto told her when he resurfaced, he then started walking away to practice with the zanbatō again.
At Naruto's words she carried on working for near a full hour. She was holding two bones that fit together perfectly were they had been broken. Her hands had a green glow to them as she was holding the area were the break was, over the chalk and pulling some of the powder over the break with her chakra. The crack seemed to disappear after a few seconds, she pulled the bone away and the green glow died away. She stopped applying pressure to either end, which had been keeping the bone together when it was broken. She took one hand away slowly, checking if the bone could hold together, as soon as her hand left it though, the crack reappeared and the bone broke in to two pieces again. She let out another frustrated growl. "I can't waste my time on this, I'm going no where with the jutsu." Sakura yelled as she got up, leaving the scroll on the floor as she started walking away.
She didn't go far as Naruto appeared in front of her after a few steps holding the scroll. "Sakura I figured you to be a lot of things but a quitter wasn't one of them. Do you think Sasuke would quit that easily?" At her downcast expression he tried a different approach. "Is there anything that could help motivate you to learn this?" He asked her little concerned.
"What do you mean Naruto-senpai?" Sakura asked a little confused.
"I mean, why are you trying to get stronger? Why do you want to learn these jutsu?" Naruto asked again. Seeing that she was still unsure of what he meant he decided to speak again. "Listen Sakura, have you ever wondered why I carry on training? Why I carry on trying to get stronger? The answer to those questions Sakura, is pretty simple to me. I do this so I can protect you, Sasuke, Kakashi and everyone else in the village, I'm doing this, so I can be the Hokage and ensure that I protect everyone. So Sakura, I'll ask again, why are you doing this?" He asked, a determined look in his eye.
Sakura thought about it for a few seconds, her thoughts going to impressing Sasuke, getting his respect and becoming his girlfriend. Her thoughts also went to something else though, something she didn't really expect, she wanted to make Naruto proud and impress him as well. "I'm doing it so I can impress Sasuke and he'll notice me." She paused for a second and then carried on. "I want to impress you too Naruto-kun and make you proud of me." She finished.
Her last sentence surprised Naruto slightly but he didn't let it faze him. "Okay, Sakura-chan." She looked surprised for a second. "If you can get the jutsu to work by 12am tonight, I'll keep calling you Sakura-chan."
Sakura's eyes were filled with happiness and a new determination as she grabbed the scroll Naruto offered her and she ran back to the stream. She turned back for a moment to ask something to Naruto. "Naruto-senpai, why are you doing this?"
"Because Sakura, you can't get what you want all at once. For example, I have to rise up the ranks as a ninja before I can be Hokage, going up in rank is a step closer to my goal. You have to get what you want in a similar way as well, you have to go in steps. This is one of those steps, you get that jutsu down and I'll call you Sakura-chan as a sign of my pride in you. Deal?" Naruto asked, looking at her with a smile.
She smiled back and replied with a silent nod.
Flash Back End
"That's why I would have to teach you the basics of medical jutsu before you would have a chance Ino." He explained to everyone in the teams.
Ino was about to say something when a guy wearing a Konoha hitai-ite and some circular glasses came over to them. "Hey you may want to be a lot more quiet than that. All of you have the attention of the whole room now!" He told the nine rookie genin. They looked over and saw it was true, every pair of eyes was looking at them.
"Let 'em look!" Naruto almost yelled as he looked at the new genin. He had silver hair like Kakashi which was kept in a ponytail. He was wearing a purple shirt and pants, with a gray T-shirt underneath. He also wore a pair of fingerless gloves with plates that went up his forearms slightly and a sash over his waist.
'Naru-kun you baka! Don't piss them off!' Ten-ten thought nervously as she watched the blonde boy.
"Looks like he has a lot of spunk." Neji stated. "I don't think you intimidated him enough Lee." He told the green clad genin.
"He is still acting very youthful and the Uchiha seems to have recovered." Lee told his teammates. 'Naruto-kun, you were not affected by the display of my flames of youth or my sensei's. You will be my next target, after the Uchiha.' He thought to himself.
"I wouldn't say that. You're the rookies aren't you? Fresh out of the academy? I wouldn't go making a spectacle of yourselves. You've already made an impression and not a very good one." He told the nine.
They all looked again and saw a lot of the ninja smirking at them. Naruto of course sent a glare to some of them until they turned away. His eyes landed on some rain nin as did everyone else. The rain nins were looking at them like they were ready for a fight. "Hm, I don't like how they're looking at us." Sasuke stated simply.
"They're rain nin, they get very edgy during these exams. I'd watch myself around them." The silver haired genin told him.
"Okay the way everyone else is looking at us is suspicious but what about you. You're pretty suspicious as well, helping us like this." Naruto told the genin. 'What is that weird smell coming from this guy. He's got the normal human smell but there's something else as well.' Naruto thought to himself as he cocked an eyebrow at the genin.
"Relax, I'm just trying to help my fellow Leaf nin with some insider info. I'm Yakushi Kabuto, by the way." He told the nine.
"So, this isn't the first time you've been in the exams?" Sasuke stated more than asked.
"No, this is my seventh time in the exams." His answer got some surprised looks and non verbal sounds from some in the group. "Well, they are held twice a year so this would be my fourth year." He told the nine.
"Woah, you're a veteran. You must really be an expert by now?!" Ino asked excitedly.
"I guess you could say that." He replied simply.
"Some expert, he's never passed!" Shikamaru exclaimed with as much energy as he would muster before it would be too 'troublesome'.
"Hey, seventh time's the charm, that's what they say y'know?" Kabuto replied rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
"So, all the rumors about the exam being tough are true then?" Naruto asked with his arms still crossed.
"Hey, maybe I can make it easier on you, with these info cards of mine." Kabuto announced taking out a deck of cards.
"How are those supposed to help us?" Sakura asked, a little skeptical.
"These cards contain information I've gathered over the last four years. They've been chakra encoded so only I can show the information on them." He explained to the nine as he showed a blank card to them. "I have over two hundred of these cards, so you see I haven't been completely wasting my time." He told them as he took the card he had shown them and started spinning it on the ground after a few rotations there was a small billow of smoke and there was a picture on the card now.
"What good is a map!?" Kiba asked loudly, looking at the small card.
"This map shows the number of ninja that have come to take the exam. What villages they come from and how many from each village. Why do you think they all come here to take the exam at the same time?" He asked as he looked at their staring faces.
"I remember reading about these exams and their reason at one time. Wasn't it to create friendship between the nations or something like that?" Naruto asked Kabuto.
"To foster friendship Naruto-kun." Sakura corrected him.
"Exactly, international brotherhood and all that. It's true enough as far as it goes." Kabuto replied.
"But there's another reason, isn't there?" Sasuke asked in his uncaring tone of voice.
"Yes, you see this way they can carefully regulate the total number of shinobi in each village. Thereby maintaining the balance of power. If this balance isn't maintained then one village may wind up with a lot more shinobi than the others and be tempted to attack and conquer them." He explained to the nine.
"In other words these exams are to try and maintain the status quo." Shikamaru finished for him in a lazy tone.
"Yeah, makes some sense, I guess." Kabuto agreed.
"Do those cards hold info on individual ninja, like their skill levels and their sensei?" Sasuke asked the spectacled genin while glancing quickly at Naruto.
"They might, got someone special in mind?" Kabuto asked, intrigued.
"Maybe." Sasuke replied simply.
"Well I can't promise my information is complete or perfect, but I've got something on just about everyone." Kabuto told the Uchiha as he coded the card with the map and put it back in the deck. "Including you guys of course! So which one is it? Tell me anything you know about them, a description, where they're from, whatever. Anything at all." Kabuto said as picked another card from the deck.
"I want info on three, Sabaku no Gaara of Suna, Rock Lee of Konoha and him." Sasuke finished, pointing at Naruto.
"Me? You've been my teammate all this time Sasuke and yet you still don't know much about me? I'm hurt, well and truly!" Naruto said in a sarcastic voice with a mock pout.
"That's no fun you already know their names and wanting to know about your teammate? That's a little strange. This is too easy." Kabuto said before replacing the card he was holding back in the deck and swiping his hand over the top of it. When he returned his hand he was holding three cards. "Here they are."
"Show them to me." Sasuke demanded in a cold voice.
Naruto along with Sakura and everyone else were watching Kabuto intently now. "Okay, first up is Rock Lee." Kabuto announced as he spun the card the same as before. After a few rotations there was a billow of smoke and information on Lee appeared. It contained the number of missions, levels of skill in different areas and other things. "Looks like he's about a year older than you guys. Mission experience, eleven C-ranks and twenty D-ranks. His squad leader is Maito Gai, in the last year his taijutsu skills have radically improved. His other skills are pretty shaky though. He got a lot of attention as a genin last year but for some reason he chose not to participate in the chunin exam. This is his first time round, same as you guys. His teammates are Ten-ten and Hyuuga Neji."
Hinata looked nervously at the picture of her cousin. "Someone you know, Hinata?" Naruto suddenly asked her.
She looked over as a blush formed on her face from Naruto staring at her, she looked away slightly and started playing with her index fingers again and replied. "A-ano, he's my c-cousin."
'She's actually a little cute when she does that.' Naruto thought quickly, grinning at her. "Good to know, thanks Hinata!" He turned back to Kabuto. "I don't get how most of that info helped us though, we knew more than half of it already."
"Hey this is just general info, stuff most shinobi can know if they ask the right people. Anyway, next up we have Sabaku no Gaara." Kabuto announced as he spun the card, the info showing up after a few rotations again. "Alright, mission experience, eight C-ranks and... get this, one B-rank as a genin. There's not a lot of info on this guy but get this. He survived every mission without getting a scratch on him!"
"The dude's done a B-rank as a genin and has never even been injured!?" Shikamaru said, shocked at the facts laid before him.
'Not one injury, huh? Does that have something to do with the weird chakra signature he has?' Naruto thought as he stole a quick look at the aforementioned genin.
"Now the last one, Uzumaki Naruto I believe." Kabuto announced as he started spinning the card. Ino and Hinata stepped a little closer to see if they could learn anything good. "Mission experience- hey!" Kabuto shouted as Naruto snatched the card away.
"Oh, man! Couldn't you have used a more recent picture! I'm still wearing the jumpsuit here." Naruto announced as he looked at the card. "You know there's actually nothing real useful here Teme. You already know my mission experience and it's got next nothing about my skills." Naruto said as he turned the card around to show it to everyone. It was true, there were question marks over his taijutsu and ninjutsu skill levels, the genjutsu showed a low level of skill. It showed he had a lot of stamina and he knew kenjutsu, everyone knew this already though so it wasn't new. The mission experience showed he had done over fifty D-ranks and a couple of C-ranks.
There was one thing that brought a collective gasp from teams 8 and 10 though. That was the fact that Naruto's mission experience showed he had done an A-rank. "There's no way you did an A-rank, Baka. The info's gotta be messed up or something!" Kiba argued.
"No, it's true. Our first C-rank got bumped up to A-rank because we had to face off a jounin level nukenin. We all received injuries but we survived and the mission was a success." Sasuke informed the unbelieving teams.
"Yep, Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme did pretty good their first time round against a nukenin. I wasn't so lucky I got stabbed in the back a bit." Naruto told the two teams. 'Difference is, I got stabbed while taking down a small army of thugs.' He added to himself.
"Are you okay Naruto-kun! Want me to kiss it better?" Ino immediately said in a seductive way. Nobody saw the small frown and then disappointed look on Hinata's face as her hand had been reaching for a small black container she had in her utility pouch.
"That was a while back Ino and a friend of mine healed them for me the day after anyway. Thanks for the offer though." Naruto replied with a smile. This of course caused Ino and Hinata to smile.
"It says you've got an alias, The Demon of the Leaf? How the hell do you already have an alias and how'd you get it?" Kiba yelled as he looked at the card again.
"Hm?" Naruto turned the card around again and looked at the info. "I don't know, this is the first I've heard of it even." Naruto replied. 'How the hell did this guy find out about that!? Only Haku, Kakashi and Jii-san know about that and only the guys back in wave called me that.' He thought to himself, handing the card back to Kabuto.
"According to my info, you got it during a mission and your sensei requested it be added to your alias list." Kabuto said looking over the card.
'That does it, this guy is too well informed!' Naruto thought as he narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. "I have a request Kabuto, do you have any info on the ninjas from the new village, Oto, I think it's called." Naruto asked with a small grin.
"Afraid not, Oto just appeared recently, it's pretty small and no one knows anything about it or its ninja, they're a mystery." Kabuto told Naruto.
"Ya hear that? He said we were small, a mystery." Zaku asked his two teammates.
"I heard." Dosu replied, dragging the sentence out in his raspy voice.
"I say, we teach this guy some manners." Kin stated in a calm tone.
"Yeah, clear some of the mystery for him, update his information, let him know that if you insult the Oto shinobi, you better be ready for the consequences!" Dosu announced in his raspy voice.
"I wouldn't worry about just them though. From the looks of things Konoha, Suna, Ame, Kusa, Taki and Oto have all sent exceptionally skilled candidates to the exam this time around." Kabuto explained as he replaced the card in the deck. "You get it? The competition is gonna be intense this year."
"So it would seem, it's almost enough to make you lose your confidence." Hinata stated in a low voice.
"What are you talkin' about Hinata? All you gotta do, is give it your all! I'm sure you're more than capable, all of us are." Naruto announced as he looked over the eight other genin. His words of encouragement eliciting a blush from Hinata.
"Ya got that right!" Kiba shouted all over the room, pumping his fist in the air, causing the whole room to look their way again.
"You ready?" Dosu asked his teammates.
"Let's do it!" Zaku replied. At that, the three vanished in a blur, heading for a certain genin.
Naruto just shook his head at the new attention. "And you call me a baka, you Baka." He then noticed the blurs heading towards the group, weaving in between the other participants. 'What are they up to? It can't be anything good but I can't risk attacking first.' He thought as he just waited for them to make their move.
Kankuro also saw the three from Oto making a move and went to take the strange package off his back. He stopped short because of a hand held up by Gaara. He looked at his teammate and instantly put the package back, knowing not to get on Gaara's bad side.
Kiba was bopped on the head for his outburst by the nearest kunoichi, namely Ino. "You Baka! We don't need anymore attention!" She yelled.
"Are you trying to get us killed, Dog-boy?" Shikamaru asked incredulously.
"G-gomen, Kiba-kun can be a l-little over enthusiastic." Hinata apologized on Kiba's behalf.
Naruto was still watching the blurs get closer. Something bothered him though, he saw Kabuto look at the incoming blurs as well. He didn't understand why Kabuto wasn't even getting a kunai ready, he already had one of his hands on the hilt of a broadsword to defend if they attacked but Kabuto was doing nothing.
"You should keep him on a leash Hinata!" Ino told the shy Hyuuga, earning a scowl from Kiba in the process.
"You should think before you act Kiba! Honestly, think about the rest of us!" Sakura told the Inuzuka.
"Hey, I can't help it if I got all pumped up from what Naruto-baka said." Kiba returned to the pink haired kunoichi with a shrug. With that, the blurs arrived, the first one jumped up into the air, turning out to be Zaku. He produced two kunai in his left hand and threw them at Kabuto! Seeing the kunai headed his way Kabuto hopped back, skidding to a stop. When he stopped, a second blur came right up in front of him and revealed itself to be Dosu, uncovering his right arm ready to attack. There seemed to be some sort of gauntlet on his arm with severla holes in it.
'What's up with these guys!' Naruto thought as he watched the attack.
'They're from Oto!' Kabuto thought as he saw the incoming attack. Dosu threw a swift right hook which passed right in front of Kabuto. 'That was close!' He thought as he looked the Oto nin in the eye.
"He's fast!" Ino exclaimed in a whisper.
'Not as fast as me but still impressive.' Naruto thought to himself, a frown decorating his face. 'But something's not right.'
'He's almost as fast as me.' Sasuke thought with a smirk.
Kabuto straightened up and smiled with a confident look in his eye at the Oto nin, until his glasses broke. "Oh, I see, it was that kind of attack." Kabuto stated taking his glasses off his face calmly.
'What the hell!!' Naruto thought in surprise. 'There wasn't any contact, so what the hell happened!'
"No way! I saw him dodge the attack. How did that happen?" Sasuke asked out loud.
"Must have come closer than it looked." Shikamaru stated lazily. "Cht! Look at him act like it was nothing, real tough guy!"
"No, there was something else there, there has to be, and it doesn't end with broken glasses." Naruto stated calmly, narrowing his eyes. After a couple more seconds, it happened, Kabuto suddenly doubled over, shivering and shaking as he fell, throwing up on the floor.
"Kabuto what's wrong? What is it?" Asked Sakura as she went over to him and started running a glowing hand over him. Everyone in the room was now looking at the silver haired genin throw up.
Naruto walked over slowly and placed a hand on Kabuto's shoulder. 'He may be acting suspicious but he's still a shinobi of Konoha!' He thought as he looked at Kabuto shiver slightly. "What's up with him Sakura?" He asked, looking up at her expectantly.
"I'm not sure, it's like his body just felt disorientated or something and reacted to it." She replied with a worried look.
"I'll be fine." Kabuto gasped as he got over the effects of the attack.
'Disorientation? How could they have done that? Does it have something to do with the gauntlet?' Naruto thought quickly, going over the attack in his mind.
"Not such a tough guy after all, I guess that's why he was on his seventh try." Dosu stated as he looked down on the three.
"Write this on your little card punk! The genin from Oto are gonna be chunin when this is all over guaranteed!" Zaku spat at Kabuto.
Naruto glared back at the three from Oto. "You know it's bad luck to attack a shinobi in his home village. You never know when their friends might come along to defend them." Naruto stated calmly as he narrowed his eyes at the three.
"Is that a threat, Chibi?" Zaku asked Naruto in a mocking tone.
The chibi remark caused a small vein to throb on Naruto's temple. "You should also learn not to mock the shinobi of Konoha. Right now, the only thing keeping me from attacking you is the chance of my team being disqualified. So, watch your back when we get to the fighting part because you're gonna be my target!" Naruto Exclaimed as he glared at the Oto nin.
"Big words for a small ninja. Don't let that stop you, come on, attack me." Zaku taunted as he pulled out another couple of kunai.
Naruto was on the verge of attacking now, his hand was tightened in a fist and he was about to take a step forward when Ino and Sakura grabbed his arms and shoulders. The looks he got from them forced him to calm down. "Fine, I won't attack him... yet." Naruto said so the two would let go of him.
"Hn. You let a couple of kunoichi stop you? What are they your fan club or something?" Zaku taunted again.
Naruto chuckled. "At least I look good enough to have a fan club. You don't look like you could attract a dog with a steak!"
Zaku had murder in his eyes when Naruto finished his insult. "You little punk!" He hurled his kunai at Naruto and it looked like they were going to hit but when they landed, they were no where near Naruto. Everyone heard the kunai hit something but they couldn't see the weapons.
Everyone was looking around the room trying to find the kunai. Naruto chuckled lightly as he saw everyone look around. He pointed to a spot directly above his head. Everyone followed his gesture and saw the two kunai lodged directly above his head. "Next time, your gonna have to do better than that." Naruto told Zaku.
"What went on with that attack and what did that blonde genin do?" Neji asked to his teammates.
"There was more to it than speed alone, some kind of trick." Lee stated as he kept his eyes on the three Oto nin. "Naruto-kun on the other hand, was pure speed."
"Naruto-kun always was unpredictable." Ten-ten told her teammates.
A large explosion with a lot of smoke occurred at the front of the classroom as Zaku addressed Naruto. "I'll make you pay for that in the fights"
"Lookin' forward to it." Naruto replied, he then turned to the front of the classroom to see what was happening.
"ALRIGHT YOU SNOT-NOSED PUNKS! SHUT UP AND LISTEN UP!" A deep, gravelly voice sounded from the front of the room. The smoke cleared showing a tall, hard looking man surrounded by Konoha shinobi. All of them were wearing the same uniform. Even though they all wore the same uniform, Naruto still found Haku in the group, he was about to wave when the man spoke up again. "It's time to start the first exam and I'll be your first proctor, Morino Ibiki. Also known as, your worst nightmare!" The man known as Ibiki announced from the front of the room.
He had a couple of scars going down his face and wore his hitai-ite as a bandana over his head. He had a large black trench coat which reached down to his ankles and a grey uniform underneath along with blue gloves with metal plates on them.
"First off! You candidates from Oto, knock it off! Who told you, you could fight? You wanna fail before we've even begun?" Ibiki shouted at the Oto nin.
Dosu looked back at Ibiki, not showing any emotion as he replied. "Gomen, it's our first time, guess we're a bit jumpy... sir."
Ibiki smirked at the Oto nin's reply and then looked back at the crowd. "I'll say this only once, so listen up, there will be no fighting between candidates, no attacking each other without permission from your proctor and even then the use of fatal force is strictly prohibited. Anyone who even thinks of messing with me will be disqualified immediately, got it!" Ibiki told the crowd in a commanding tone.
One of the Oto nins, Zaku, scoffed at Ibiki's rules. "No fatal force? That's no fun." He said out loud.
This produced some chuckles from the proctors around Ibiki. "Now, if we're ready, we'll proceed with the first part of the exam. Hand in your paperwork, in return you'll each be given a number which corresponds to where you're sitting. We'll start the written test when you're all seated." Ibiki informed the candidates.
"A written test?" Naruto asked out loud. This caused a proctor to smirk as he brought up a pile of the test papers. "Awh, kuso! Written tests are so BORING!" Naruto yelled.
Naruto had turned in his paperwork with Sakura and Sasuke and then headed toward Haku who had sat down in a chair at the edge of the room. "Hey there Haku! How have things been going?" He asked in his usual happy way.
"I've been good, arigatou, Naruto. You were right, I made some friends during my missions as a chunin. I have to thank you again for giving me this chance to restart my life here." Haku told Naruto in a slightly chipper voice, smiling at his first friend.
"Glad to hear it. Made any girlfriends?" Naruto asked in a teasing way, jabbing Haku in the ribs slightly. Haku suddenly got a light blush on his face at Naruto's question. Naruto chuckled lightly at Haku's reaction. "I knew you'd like the girls here in Konoha, so who's the girl, do I know her?" Naruto asked excitedly.
"Uh, um. Probably not Naruto, she's a chunin I worked with on a couple of missions, her name is Kimura Kiku. She's quite... nice." Haku replied sheepishly.
"Have you... asked her out yet?" Naruto asked mischievously, causing Haku to blush a deeper red.
"N-not yet but I plan to, soon." Haku answered turning away trying to hide his blush.
'So he really likes her.' Naruto thought as he smiled one of his confident and serious smiles. "Go for it, Haku. You never know, she may be the one for you and you may end up marrying her." Naruto said, placing a hand on Haku's shoulder, trying to imbue confidence in his friend.
Haku turned back with a smile. "Arigatou, Naruto. Good luck to you in the test, you're going to need it if you're sitting in my row." Haku told the blonde genin with a grin.
"Big words Haku but I'm gonna ace this test. I'll see ya round, I need to get to my seat before I hold the whole test up. Try and get rid of as many teams as possible to make it easier for me could ya?" Naruto replied with a confident grin before walking quickly to his seat.
Everyone had taken their seats in the classroom now. Naruto had gotten number 53, he was sitting between Hinata and some other Konoha genin he didn't know. He'd had to remove the swords and place them on the bench in between him and Hinata to be comfortable. He glanced quickly around the room and saw all the proctors around the room. They all had a clipboard and a pencil and they all had a confident look in their eyes. Naruto's attention was quickly directed to his right as Hinata addressed him. "A-ano, Naruto-kun?" She asked shyly.
"Hai, Hinata?" Naruto asked back, turning to look at her with a smile.
"I-I wanted to w-wish you, g-good luck in the test." Hinata stuttered back her reply, a slight blush adorning her cheeks.
"Arigatou, Hinata, good luck to you too!" Naruto said as he nodded to her and then turned back to face front.
Ibiki tapped the blackboard with a stick of chalk. "Alright, everyone, eyes front! There are a few rules you need to be aware of and I won't answer any questions. So you better pay attention the first time around!" He told the whole class.
'No questions? What's up with that?' Sakura thought as she watched the examiner write something out on the blackboard.
"Alright, rule number one is this! Contrary to what some of you are used to, you all start off with a perfect score of ten points. The written test is ten questions long with each question worth one point. For every question you get wrong one point will be deducted from your score." Ibiki looked over the candidates quickly once he finished writing. "For example, if you answer all but three questions correctly you will have a final score of seven."
'Yeah and if I answer none correctly, my final score will be zero!' Naruto thought sarcastically as he leaned his head on his right hand, his elbow resting on the desk in front of him.
"Rule number two, wether you pass or fail depends on the total score of all three members of your team." Ibiki informed the whole class of candidates.
Everyone got a serious look at that bit of information. 'Back in the academy I might have been worried about Naruto-kun in this test but he and Sasuke-kun should be okay.' Sakura thought to herself as she looked at Naruto, sitting a few rows in front of her.
"Rule number three, the sentinels positioned around the room are there to watch closely for any signs of cheating. And every time they catch you cheating, two points will be subtracted from your score.
There were a few 'What?'s and 'Huh?'s from around the room after Ibiki said that. Once they were quiet again he spoke up.
"I have a word of warning for all of you, the sentinels eyes are extremely sharp. Also, if they spot you cheating five times, you'll be disqualified before the tests are even scored." Ibiki warned everyone in the room.
'Only two points? What's up with that? Back at the academy we'd be failed on the spot for being caught cheating.' Naruto thought as he glanced at the sentinel watching over the row he was in.
"Anyone stupid enough to be caught cheating by the sentinels doesn't deserve to be here." Ibiki told everyone.
One of the sentinels decided to spook the candidates a little. "I've got my eye on you guys." He told the first two in his row, getting a flinch out of the two.
"If you want to be chunin, then show us what excellent ninja you can be." Ibiki announced to the whole class. "One more thing before you begin, if any candidate should get a zero and fail the test..." Ibiki broke into a sadistic grin. "Then the entire team fails." He finished on a dark tone.
'No problem, as long as the Dobe gets one question right we'll be fine. He should be capable enough of doing that.' Sasuke thought as he confidently stared at Ibiki.
"The tenth question will not be given out until 45 minutes after the start of the exam. You'll have one hour total." Ibiki waited a couple of seconds for the clock to read exactly 3:30 and... "BEGIN!" He shouted the command to all the genin.
There was a flurry of sound as almost everyone turned the papers over quickly. Naruto on the other hand turned his paper over slowly, his head still resting on his hand. 'Let's see what kind of boring things we have to answer.' He looked over the paper slowly and he realized something about the questions.
'Each of these questions is harder than the last! These are integrated problems based on principles of uncertainty and requiring complex mechanical energy analyses, incredibly advanced stuff! Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun don't have a hope in hell of solving any of these.' Sakura looked up at Naruto's back again. 'To be honest, there can't be more than a handful of people besides me who even understand it!' She thought a little panicked.
'Something's up with these questions, the code breaker I could do in my sleep but the rest are all gibberish. They all need some sort of math to work out and I hate math, I only learned the basics!' Naruto's eyes were darting from one question to the next. 'There's no way a genin could answer most of these, Sakura's got a brain on her but something tells me even she would have trouble with some of these things.'
Naruto put the paper down and did the first question quickly, a simple code breaker question. The hidden message was something to do with how the Yondime helped in the third great ninja war. 'That's kinda ironic but I don't have time to think about that. The thing is, is one point good enough to pass? I can't risk it I've gotta try and find out the other answers but how?' Naruto thought frustratingly, he tried not to show his frustration as he kept his head leaning in his hand.
'Remember the ninja saying, Kit, look underneath the underneath.' Kyuubi mused as he watched the whole proceeding through Naruto's eyes.
'That's interesting, I can't begin to understand a single one of these problems.' Sasuke thought grudgingly.
'Underneath the underneath? What are you talki- Wait a minute!' Naruto suddenly sat bolt upright his eyes wide. 'Could it really be that simple?
'I need a high score to get through but these questions are so hard! I'm almost tempted to... No! I can't do that! It's almost like they're trying to get us to cheat.' Sakura looked up from her paper. 'I just hope Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun don't fall for it. No, they would never do that. They're both good ninja they can do it.' She thought confidently as she returned to the questions.
'It would make sense, they're focusing more about cheating than about the test itself.' Naruto thought as he looked at the sentinels again. 'The sentinels are trying to catch our every move, trying to catch us cheating.'
Sasuke was also looking at a sentinel as he was writing something down. 'Someone just got caught.' Sasuke turned back to his paper. 'That's also bothering me, why do they only deduct two points? We failed on the spot if we were caught cheating back at the academy. It just doesn't make sense.' Sasuke thought, just then it hit him, just as it hit Naruto.
They were both going over the same thing in their head, what the proctor, Ibiki, had said before the exam started. They both saw his face clearly as he had said those things.
View Of Minds Eye
"Anyone stupid enough to be caught cheating by the sentinels doesn't deserve to be here." Ibiki told everyone.
The image then sped forward a little to something else Ibiki had said.
"If you want to be chunin, then show us what excellent ninja you can be." Ibiki announced to the whole class.
End View Of Minds Eye
'That's it!' They both thought in unison. 'It's about more than the written exam! It's to test our ability to gather information. Only exceptional shinobi could do that under these conditions.' At this point Sasuke's thought branched away from Naruto's.
'It explains everything, the eagle eyed sentinels, the difficult questions, the fact that only two points are lost if you're found cheating. Very clever, he's not only expecting us to cheat he's daring us to.' Sasuke thought as he looked around the room quickly again. 'The next question is... who has all the answers?' Thought the young Uchiha.
'It makes complete sense, after all, if they were really all that adamant about us not cheating they would have brought in some Hyuuga with the Byakugan. They would have been better than these guys at spotting cheaters.' Naruto looked about and noticed almost everyone he could see without looking behind him, had caught on to this little fact and were cheating to their hearts content. Some were obviously more discreet than others, now that he tried to sense it, he could feel some candidates using their chakra for techniques of some kind.
'Okay, so how do I find these answers now?' Naruto thought as he went through everything he knew that may or may not be useful for this purpose. He almost grabbed his head in frustration at one point because of the things he knew. 'Dammit! I'm a ninja trained for combat not book smarts and info gathering like this!'Everybody who couldn't figure out the answers on their own were now cheating in some way or form. Sasuke was staring at the candidate in front of him as he was writing out answers. 'Sharingan!' He thought clearly in his mind as his sharingan appeared. 'I'll try and imitate the movements of his pen and copy his answers.' Sasuke started copying the candidates every hand movement. 'I hit the jackpot with this guy. Gotta hand it to Naruto, training with his clones has made it a lot easier to control my Sharingan.' He thought as he continued writing the answers.
Neji was also staring at the candidate in front of him. 'BYAKUGAN!' He thought as clearly as possible, activating his Kekkei Genkai without the help of the usual hand seals. His vision became infinitely clearer and he was now looking through the person in front of him as he started copying down the answers.
Kiba had Akamaru on his head, looking over the heads of the other candidates to find the answers for his master. Akamaru barked lightly as he tried to relay the answer he had found as clearly as possible. "Good boy! That'll do it. Okay now for number four." Kiba whispered to his canine companion. Akamaru gave a bark of acknowledgement and went back to looking for answers.
Dosu, one of the nin from Oto was currently listening in on the candidate behind him. 'Judging from the rhythm, the duration and the frequency of the strokes, yes I see.' He thought in content as he had figured out the answer from the candidate behind him.
A bug was one candidates desk as he wrote his answer. The candidate noticed it and batted it away, the fly flew straight for Shino's outstretched finger after the attempted batting. 'Well, show me.' Shino asked the insect through his mind. It flew off Shino's finger and started flying about in a figure of eight just over Shino's paper. 'Eight, of course.' Shino thought as he wrote the answer down.
Ten-ten had placed some wire on adjustable mirrors on the ceiling to read the answers of the other genin. She stopped her writing momentarily as she flexed her hand, in effect, moving the mirror's position. 'Lee when you can see the answers adjust your hitai-ite.' She thought to herself, waiting for her teammates signal. Lee, who was a few seats in front of her, noticed the mirror's movement and quickly tightened the hitai-ite around his head when he could see the person's answers clearly.
Ino looked at the back of her former friend as she was writing the answers. 'Look at her she's cranking through this thing! I'll admit you've got a brain to match that forehead of yours. Now to put it to work for me!' Ino brought her hands up in a seal. 'You oughta be flattered girl, I don't use my Shintenshin no Jutsu on just anyone.' Ino thought as she formed a final seal and aimed her jutsu at Sakura. Ino's body slumped as the jutsu took effect.
'Looks like Ino is finally making some use of her jutsu.' Shikamaru thought lazily as he felt his teammates chakra spike.
Her mind now woke up in Sakura's body. 'Thanks Sakura, for letting me hang out in your soul for a while, even if it is a little cramped.' Ino thought as she picked up Sakura's test paper. 'Now to memorize these answers so I can pass them on to Chouji and Shikamaru.
'Look at this one, cool as a cucumber, not bad, for a novice.' Ibiki thought as he looked at Gaara, who was doing something with his sand. It was gathering under his hand as he held one eyelid closed.
He lifted his hand to reveal an eyeball made of sand. 'Daisan no Me, a third eye, invisibly linked to the optic nerve.' He crushed the sand eyeball in his hand and it scattered the sand, going into the eyes of some candidates, forcing them to close their eyes. The eyeball reformed and looked over that candidates paper.
'Looks like Gaara has figured it out, well, Crow, I'm counting on you now.' Kankuro thought as he watched his teammate. Kankuro did something a bit more classic as a way to cheat, he asked to use the bathroom. He was lead away by one of the sentinels who had tied his hands to guide him. 'These sentinels aren't all that eagle eyed if they didn't notice that there was one extra of them.' He thought gleefully as he was lead away.
'So what have I got? Shadow clones, I could send them off to find out the answers and give em back to me through dispelling them, if I can be sure of where they'll appear. It would be the safest by far, since there wouldn't be any evidence in the room.' Naruto thought as he looked around. 'I could try the Kitsune Boushi no Jutsu and use the clearer peripheral vision to copy the answers from Hinata or this other guy next to me, then again the sentinels would see me using hand seals and look closely at me. I can't activate them with Kyu-sensei's chakra either, that would draw a lot of attention from the sheer force of the chakra. Even a little bit of Kyu-sensei's youki can easily be sensed. Seals, I might be able to use a seal to copy what Hinata and these other two are writing through the feel of it on the table, like the seal on my door that lets me 'feel' when somebody is knocking on it if I'm at the compound. If I choose that, then I'll have to do it quickly before they finish. Whatever I do, I've gotta act fast!' Naruto thought hurriedly.
He was brought from his thoughts as Hinata addressed him. "Ano, Naruto-kun? If you want I could show you my answers?" She explained in a whisper so as not to alert those around her.
Naruto looked at her incredulously. 'She's willing to chance getting caught to help me? Could be a trap to give me the wrong answers. No, Hinata isn't the kind of person to do that, she's too kind hearted. Unless that's a mask but maybe I'm going to deep into it with that. Maybe I should just ask her for her reasons? Might as well give it a try.' He thought quickly as he looked at her. "Ne, Hinata, why would you do that for me?" He whispered to her.
Hinata wasn't sure how to answer and it showed in the way she started playing around with her pencil and the blush that decorated her cheeks. "Well, um, it's just I don't want you to leave." Naruto just looked at her expectantly which caused her blush to deepen as she realized how it sounded. "I mean, I thought it would be good if we all got through this, you know all nine of us. Being rookies puts us at a disadvantage." She whispered back.
'Sounds just like her but I can't risk it, she may get caught if I she tries to help me. I'll need to find another way.' He looked at Hinata. "Thanks for the offer Hinata but I can't risk both of us getting caught, neither of us would get to go on if if we're both caught. I couldn't go on with this if I knew you were at risk." Naruto whispered back.
'He cares!' Hinata thought wide eye'd. "You're right it was a stupid idea, I'm sorry I even thought of it." Hinata mumbled back her reply.
"Don't say that Hinata, it's not a stupid idea, it's just not the best right now." Naruto whispered back, he grinned at her. "Don't worry, I'll find a way." He assured her, he received a nod from Hinata. As he turned back to his paper, he saw a kunai headed in his general direction but resisted the urge to catch it. His choice was the right one as the kunai flew past his face and embedded itself in the desk behind him, he also heard the surprised yelp of the candidate behind him. He allowed a frown to decorate his face as he looked at the sentinel that had thrown the weapon.
The candidate behind him got up and addressed the sentinel. "What was that all about?!" He asked nervously.
"Five strikes and you're out. You just failed the test." The sentinel informed him calmly.
"What!? That can't be!" The candidate whimpered loudly.
The sentinel ignored his whimper. "You and your teammates will leave the room immediately." The sentinel ordered, while pointing a finger at the candidate. Two other genin got up reluctantly and started walking out, the candidate from behind Naruto soon followed. That team was the first of many to be disqualified for cheating in the test.
Naruto watched as the team left. 'Okay, if I wanna pass I have to go through with one of my plans and it has to be now! I've already wasted enough time.' He started memorizing the questions as he settled on his plan. 'Guess this is the best chance I have right now, I just have to take my time in acting the plan out and it should go without a hitch.' He stopped memorizing and got ready to put the plan into action. 'Now or never, all or nothing, I guess. I just hope I don't screw this up.'
Author's Note:
Well, hope you guys like this chapter. I got a nice review from a reader a little while before I finished this chapter and I'd just like to say thank you!
I also just want to say something about this story. I'm writing this story as if it's a person who has never seen the Naruto anime or manga that's reading it. That's why I'm putting in the descriptions of characters most of you already know. Plus, it's pretty good practice for descriptive writing.