Disclaimer: I've said it seventeen times and I'll say it again, I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 18 – The Forest of Death?
Last time:
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.'
This Chapter:
"It's amazing just how boring things are without the genin around." Kakashi thought out loud as he leaned back into the couch and looked at the ceiling.
"Chances are you'll be seeing them again soon, so I wouldn't get too comfortable." A man with a beard, smoking a cigarette told him, across from where he was sitting.
"Why are you saying that, Asuma?" Kakashi asked lazily not taking his eyes off the ceiling. The man known as Asuma was a hardy looking man, obviously built for heavy hand to hand combat from his size. He wore his hitai-ite around his head, as most ninja do, the hitai-ite in turn held his dark hair out of his eyes, forcing it back. For the most part he wore almost exactly the same thing Kakashi wore, blue pants, blue sweater with a red swirl on each shoulder and a jounin vest over it, along with the usual blue sandals. The differences were pretty minor, he did not wear gloves like Kakashi, he kept his hands bear, he had a bracelet around one wrist and bandages around each bicep area, he also had a piece of light blue cloth with a kanji for fire on it held from his waist.
"It's because of their first examiner, Morino Ibiki." Asuma replied, dragging out Ibiki's name.
'Ibiki huh? I doubt he'll have much of an effect on Naruto or Sasuke from what they've been through. Sakura on the other hand, she hasn't had the kind of life those two have had. She might crack under the pressure.' Kakashi thought to himself, worried. "Great. Sticking them with that sadist, right off the bat no less." Kakashi said sarcastically.
"What sadist?" A feminine voice asked the the two.
Asuma chuckled lightly. "I forgot you're a new jounin, Kurenai. Otherwise, you wouldn't have to ask that." He told the jounin kunoichi. She was a beautiful woman, with enchanting red eyes, she had dark, long hair with a few strands curling out of the normal flow here and there. She, like Asuma, had her hitai-ite around her head. Unlike the other two shinobi in the room, her uniform was out of the norm, she wore some sort of dress that appeared to be made out lengths of fabric that had simply bee draped over her. It could be seen that she wore a steel mesh shirt underneath the 'wrappings' and she had a sleeve of red fabric covering her right arm. Both of her knuckles and forearms were wrapped in bandages as were the tops of her thighs, she also wore a pair of black ninja sandals.
"So I'm ignorant, who is he?" Kurenai asked without missing a beat.
"He's what you might call... a specialist." Kakashi answered shadily.
"Oh yeah? In what?" She asked after a small pause.
Asuma took a drag of his cigarette before answering. He turned to her with a mischievous look in his eye. "Interrogation, torture." He said simply as her eyes widened slightly and her mouth opened slightly in a 'huh?' gesture. "Oh, of course he won't be using physical torture during the test, he won't need to. That's not his thing anyway. He works on peoples minds not their bodies, he's famous for it. Everyone knows about the head of the ANBU torture and interrogation core for Konoha, Morino Ibiki." Asuma finished.
Kurenai looked away for a moment. 'Will Hinata-chan be able to stand that kind of thing? She's never been very confident since her mother died. I just hope there's something other than the mental torture she can focus on.' Kurenai thought as she looked out the window of the jounin lounge she, Asuma and Kakashi were currently in. Little did Kurenai know, Hinata had the perfect thing to focus on in the exam.
The genin slid to the floor when the chunin took his forearm away from the genin's throat. He apparently thought the sentinel's were just picking people at random. He left without a word when he picked himself up from the floor. His teammates soon followed. Several more candidates were sent from the room. He heard his henged clone calling out, in Haku's voice, a few numbers among the other sentinels voices. Naruto didn't care much about the teams that were failing. If they weren't good enough to not get caught that was their problem.
'Come on, come on!' Naruto thought hurriedly. A half hour had been since the start of the exam now. Naruto was still sitting patiently in his seat, only one question answered on his paper. 'COME ON! Where are the answers! How long does it take to figure out the calculations when there's at least three of me working on it with notes to help. What about the other guys? How long does it take to henge then use kawarimi over and over again?! It doesn't even have to be all ten an-' His thoughts were stopped abruptly as new information appeared in his mind.
A few moments ago Naruto had decided on his plan, deciding it would gain the most answers at the least risk. He had memorized the questions and kept them at the front of his mind as he had formed the hand seal under the desk and summoned some shadow clones in the room directly below the one the exam was in. When he thought of some though, it was more along the lines of thirty, three or four for each question.
As for why he'd summoned them in the room directly below the exam room. He'd done that because that was the closest place in regards to distance, where better than right under your feet? He'd planned on using some to answer the questions by themselves and then relay the answer to him through dispelling themselves. While he had others stay in the room underneath and then henge into a sentinel and use kawarimi to swap places with said sentinel. Sadly, the only sentinel he knew he could henge perfectly was Haku. This meant his clones had to knock out Haku as soon as the kawarimi was used.
Once a clone was in position it would memorize an answer it could see and perform the kawarimi again with another henged clone. Once it was back in the room underneath the exam it would dispel itself which would send the memorized answer back to Naruto. One problem that Naruto hadn't figured out was how to get Haku back into the exam room without anyone noticing his unconscious state.
Naruto copied down the answer quickly and waited for the next one. 'Finally, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get any more answers done there.' Another answer came a few minutes later from another one of the henged clones. Next he got an answer from one of the clones that had been figuring out the answer for the simpler calculations. Another ten minutes of receiving the answers and Naruto had answered all of the questions on the paper, he still had one last question about his tactics, though.
'I just need to wait for the tenth question. What about Haku? I can't just leave him downstairs and I can't leave a henged clone in his seat.' Naruto put his pencil down for a moment as he thought of what to do. 'Okay, I got it.' Naruto formed the hand seal again under the desk as he summoned a clone with the plan he had thought up in the room below them.
The clone shimmered into existence among a group of more clones that were watching over an unconscious Haku. "Hey, the real one has a plan to put Haku back in place. Once it's done we have to dispel ourselves." He informed the group, to which he received a nod from all. "Okay, since I have the most chakra I'm gonna be acting out the plan."
The clone walked over to Haku as a purple glow emanated from both of it's hands. He gently placed one hand on Haku's throat and another at the back of Haku's neck, it almost seemed like he was strangling the ice user. The symbols flowing over his hands moved quickly onto Haku's skin glowed for a few seconds and then disappeared. The glow on his hands soon died down as well and he removed them from Haku, who now had both eyes open. "Haku, I know you can hear me. Don't try to speak, I've used a silencing and a petrification seal on you. You won't be able to move but your posture can be changed. I'm gonna put you back in your seat in the exam room now and I'll release you when the exam is over. Hope you don't mind me using you to get the answers." Naruto asked with a grin.
The new clone turned to an older clone. "You, henge into Haku and kawarimi with the current clone up top. As soon as you've done that, kawarimi with the real Haku and then we'll all dispel ourselves got it?" The clone nodded and did as the new clone ordered.
Ibiki was staring intently at who he thought was Haku, as were a few of the other sentinels. They had all felt the chakra spikes that were coming from his position. What they didn't understand was who was causing it. There had been a total of six chakra spikes so far and none of the sentinels could understand what was going on. All they could see was Haku staring at the candidates in his row, which weren't many thanks to his sharp eyes.
'What the hell is going on here? Why are there chakra spikes coming from him? Is he helping someone in the test?' Ibiki's thoughts paused momentarily as two more chakra spikes came from Haku's spot. 'There it goes again. Doesn't matter, I can't do anything about it now. Now that most of the hopeless cases are gone, it's time for the main event!' Ibiki thought, almost gleefully.
'Alright, Haku has been taken care of. All that's left is the tenth question. Seeing as their holding it off until the last fifteen minutes, it can only mean one thing. It's gonna be an incredibly difficult and strange question.' Naruto thought as he looked about the room. Not many of the candidates were left, at least a third of the original number was gone. From Hinata being next to him and Shikamaru being a few rows in front of him, he knew the whole of the rookie nine were still in the exam. Now he was wondering how Sasuke and Sakura had done, if he was right they had probably done fine.
"Alright, listen up! The forty-five minutes are done. I will now give out the tenth and final question." Ibiki announced to the whole room.
'Finally, this test is almost over.' Naruto thought as he settled his gaze on Ibiki.
'Just give it to us already.' Sasuke thought as he just stared at the examiner.
'Okay, the final obstacle.' Sakura thought as she furrowed her brow in anticipation.
There was one other stray thought from a certain kunoichi. 'Hurry up Kankuro! Their about to give out the tenth question and your cheat sheet isn't gonna do much good if you miss it.' Temari thought as she looked nervously at Ibiki.
"Before I give you the question, there are a few more rules that come in to play at this point." Ibiki informed the candidates. At that moment the door opened and Kankuro walked in, closely followed by the sentinel that had escorted him.
Kankuro looked over the room. "Huh?" He went dumbly.
"Lucky you, you made it just in time. I hope playing with dolls was worth your time away?" Ibiki asked the suna nin.
'Kuso! He's seen through Crow's disguise! He's on to us!' Kankuro thought, panicking slightly.
"Well? Take your seat!" Ibiki said forcefully, so he could carry on with the rules. Kankuro walked quickly to his seat. As he passed Temari's seating position he dropped a miniscule paper capsule, which, no doubt were the rolled up cheat sheets.
As soon as Kankuro sat down, Ibiki addressed the crowd again. "These rules are unique to the tenth question. Listen carefully and try not to let them frighten you." He said as he walked over to face a window and gave the candidates a side-long look.
'Could they really be that scary?' Sakura thought disbelievingly.
'I doubt they can be much scarier than what I've seen!' Both Naruto and Sasuke thought at the same time.
"Very well, rule number one, each of you is free to choose not to be given the tenth question. It's your decision." Ibiki informed them.
This revelation brought a few wide-eyed looks. 'Free...' Naruto started thinking.
'...to choose?' Sasuke finished.
"Woah, wait a second! What if we decide not to take this question? What happens then?" Temari asked loudly.
"Yeah, what happens to our points?" Sakura asked as well.
"If you choose not to take the tenth question, then you lose all the points. Regardless of the answers to the other nine. In other words, not taking the tenth question ends in failure and in effect, both of your teammates' failure as well." Ibiki said with a small grin.
The room erupted in whispers, things such as, 'Who would choose to fail?' and 'Some choice!'. Hearing all of these whispers, Ibiki lowered his head, trying to block out the annoying sound.
"Not so fast. You didn't let me finish." Ibiki informed them calmly as his eyelids were closed.
'Come on! More rules!? What are you? A rule making machine? Enough of it already!' Sakura thought angrily.
"If you do accept the question but answer it incorrectly. Not only do you fail this test but... YOU WILL BE BARRED FROM TAKING THE CHUNIN EXAMS EVER AGAIN!" Ibiki yelled as he got his desired reaction. Wide-eyed stares that contained fear, panic and indecisiveness.
"THAT'S BULL! RIDICULOUS! WHAT KIND OF BULLSHIT RULE IS THAT!? There are lots of people here who have taken the test before!" Kiba shouted with a few barks of agreement from Akamaru.
Ibiki chuckled lightly. "Too bad for you. I wasn't making the rules before, but now I am. Of course, if you don't want to take the question... you don't have to." That proclamation caused Kiba to fidget a bit. "If you don't feel confident... then skip it! You could come back and try again next year." Ibiki informed the teams as he started laughing wholeheartedly.
'So, we either give up and try another time, or we face it head on and IF we screw up we never get another chance. Sounds like a challenge to me but I wonder if Sakura is up to it?' Naruto thought as he looked back at his teammate. He then turned back to Ibiki with a glare. 'A cruel decision from a cruel person.'
'We choose not to take it and we fail. Accept it and if anyone of us screws up in this, then we don't get another chance. This stinks! This is such an unfair choice! Why couldn't this just be a normal test?' Sakura thought as she tried to figure out what to do.
"This is it, your final chance! Those who do not wish to take the final question, raise your hand! Your number will be recorded and then you can go free." Ibiki leveled a serious gaze at all the candidates.
'This is a challenge for the whole team! There's no way we're backing down! Our team never gives up!' Naruto thought confidently as he tightened his fists.
'We're getting through this. Sakura can answer just about any question and Naruto may be a dobe but he's a reliable dobe.' Sasuke thought sternly as he stared at Ibiki.
'Naruto-kun wouldn't want me to give up, but what if I can't do it, what if I screw up? Or what if Sasuke-kun gets it wrong or Naruto-kun? Then he won't be able to take the exams ever again and he won't ever get a step closer to being Hokage. I can't take that away from him. Please Naruto-senpai, think about yourself this once, put your hand up. Don't risk your chance at becoming Hokage.' Sakura thought desperately as she stared at Naruto's back. He had his hands balled up into fists on the desk in front of him.
Her prayers were near answered when the genin next to Naruto put his hand up and muttered apologies to his teammates. Their numbers were called out by one of the sentinels and they were told to leave the room. He left along with his teammates, shoulders hunched as they went through the doors. After this initial choice of failure, many more hands shot up from the candidates. Their numbers were dwindling down to about half the original amount now.
Naruto watched as the teams quit, left, right and center. 'This sucks! Their all giving up so easily! What is up with these guys!' He thought angrily as his fists started shaking from the anger. 'If they're willing to give up this easily on a simple test like this they have no right to be chunin anyway! I'm not going anywhere! Me, Sakura and Sasuke will pass this test!' He thought with a strong resolve.
'Naruto-senpai, you're not going to raise your hand are you? You don't want to let Kakashi-sensei down by quitting and you don't want us to lose our chances either. You really don't give up do you? You want to be Hokage so badly don't you?' Sakura thought as she looked Naruto's way. 'I can't let you lose your chance at getting a step closer to your dream Naruto-senpai. If any one of us fails then you'll lose your chance to go up a step. Sorry senpai, but I'm doing this so you don't lose your chance.' Sakura thought as she started to raise her hand meekly but stopped at what she saw a few rows in front of her.
Naruto had, had it, he'd seen two more hands about to go up when he did what he did. One hand belonged to a genin a few rows ahead of him. While the second hand belonged to the genin next to him, Hinata. He'd seen her hand twitching, ready to go up. That just sent him over the edge, he had raised his hand.
Back at the lounge were Asuma, Kakashi and Kurenai were sitting, Asuma was explaining Ibiki's torture methods. "You see, he's a master of psychological torture. He knows how the human mind works, he knows just where to probe to get your weaknesses. He doesn't use physical torture for the simple fact that, he doesn't need to. He messes up your head so badly, you end up torturing yourself." Asuma finished as he brought his cigarette back to his mouth.
Naruto's other hand was still tightened into a fist on the desk, most of his body shaking slightly and his eyes closed. After a moment his eyes snapped open and his raised hand balled up into a fist. He brought his fist down hard onto the desk a small crater of splinters rising around his fist and a loud 'CRACK' sounding through the room. "DON'T UNDERESTIMATE US!" Naruto shouted to the ANBU head. He rose to his feet. "Me and my friends don't quit! We don't back down! It doesn't matter if me and my team ever become chunin. That just means that we'll become the strongest genin ever. It doesn't matter if I'll be stuck as a genin I'll still be Hokage someday, no matter what!" Naruto sat back down with a determined frown on his face.
'I thought as much, he doesn't know the meaning of the word quit.' Sasuke thought as he looked quickly at the back of Naruto's head.
Sakura lowered her hand quickly on to the desk as she too, took on a determined frown. 'Naruto-senpai has faith in me. I can't let that faith be misplaced. If Sasuke-kun or Naruto-senpai believed I couldn't do this then they would have quit already!' Sakura finished her thought as she awaited the final question from Ibiki.
Naruto got the result he wanted. The genin in front of him had lowered his hand again and he saw that Hinata's hand had stopped twitching. 'That should keep them in this thing.'
"You do realize this is a life changing decision? If you want to quit for any reason, now is your last chance." Ibiki informed the blonde genin as he had a stare down with him.
"No chance, I never go back on my word, that's my nindo. You're not getting rid of me that easily!" Naruto replied confidently. Naruto's announcement brought some grins from the people that knew him, including a few that had just met him.
'Interesting, his little speech spurred everyone else into staying. He's given them all a little backbone.' Ibiki took a few steps forward. 'Seventy-two left, more than I expected. None of them are wavering. That's it.' He turned to his sentinels and received acknowledging nods from all of them, except Haku. He nodded back before giving his announcement. "I suppose there's only one thing I have to tell you before continuing. I am now able to inform those of you remaining that... you have all passed the first exam!"
Naruto's fist tightened so much in surprise that he snapped the pencil he had been holding, his eyes also snapped wide in surprise. "What just happened here?" Naruto asked out loud.
"What do you mean we passed?" Sasuke asked right after him.
"Yeah! Where's the tenth question?" Sakura finished.
Ibiki chuckled with a maniacal grin on his face. "There never was one! Not a written one at least! Your decision to stay is technically the answer to the final question." Ibiki informed them all.
"So, you're telling us that the other nine questions were just a waste of time!?" Temari shouted from the back.
"No, not at all, quite the opposite. The first nine questions had an important overriding purpose. To test your ability to surreptitiously gather strategic information under the most adverse circumstances." Ibiki informed her.
"Well that clears up everything." Temari replied sarcastically.
'He had me up till 'ability to', after that it was all gibberish.' Naruto thought to himself.
Kyuubi sighed heavily. 'You've read all those books and yet you didn't understand any of that?' Kyuubi sighed again. 'He meant he was testing your abilities to get info about your enemy when you were being watched by them. How well you could 'cheat' in a way .' Kyuubi explained.
'Oh, well why didn't he just say that in the first place? And why are you listening in on my private thoughts!?' Naruto thought a little annoyed.
'Pay attention , Kit. Looks like he's got more to say.' Kyuubi told his blonde student, trying to avoid the question.
"Let me explain. I wanted to test you not only as individuals but as a team. I also wanted to see how well you functioned as a part of that team. That's why the test was scored on a team basis. That way you knew that whatever you did or failed to do would affect your teammates as well. I needed to see how well you could handle the pressure of that responsibility." Ibiki told everyone.
"Just like a chunin's responsibility to his squad." Sasuke stated.
"Exactly." Ibiki agreed with a nod. "The first nine questions were difficult. In fact, they were too difficult for a genin to be able to answer them, as some of you may have noticed."
"You can say that again." Naruto muttered.
"Because of that, I imagine most of you came to the conclusion that you would have to cheat to have any chance of passing. In fact, the test was designed to encourage cheating, even demanding it." Ibiki paused for a moment. "Then again, it would have done you little good unless you had someone to cheat from. So I had three chunin, who already knew the answers, sit in the test for you cheat off of them."
The person in front of Naruto just turned and smirked to everyone. 'Dammit! The answers were right in front of me the whole time! I should have tried to get the answers there, instead of the whole thing with my shadow clones!' Naruto thought, frustrated.
"Those who were caught at it, failed. Better not to cheat, than to cheat clumsily." Ibiki told all of them as he removed his head band. The sight of his bare head got some open mouthed stares and fearful gazes. "Information. How well you gather information about your target determines wether the mission is a failure or a success." His head was covered in scars from being tortured by the looks of things. "There are times when you'll have to risk your life to get information."
'Nasty! Wonder what kind of info he got when he received those!?' Were the thoughts of Naruto as he looked over the examiners wounds.
"What a mess! Scars and puncture wounds, burn marks! What he must have endured." Sasuke mused quietly as he also analyzed the wounds.
Ibiki rewrapped his head in his bandana and continued with his speech. "Of course, you must always consider the source of your information. Information gathered from the enemy isn't always correct. Dis-information can be worse than no information at all. It can lead to the death of a comrade or the loss of the village. That's why I put you in a position where you had to gather accurate information. Cheat, in order to survive and that's why the ones that weren't good enough at it were weeded out. Leaving the rest of you." He finished.
"I still don't get the tenth question thing." Temari argued from the back.
"You don't? The tenth question was the main point of the whole exam. One of the genin here even pointed it out." Ibiki said playfully.
It hit Naruto and Sakura at that point. "The tenth question put us in a no-win situation. The kind of situations chunin have to face almost everyday on missions. They have the option to accept or decline a missions given to them. If they're given a dangerous mission that seems suicidal, then they can opt out and live to fight another day." Naruto pointed out.
"But do chunin take this option? The answer, is no! The mission may seem suicidal if you think about it but you do not think about it! You think only of completing the mission given to you. Achieving it through courage and discipline. You do not try and second guess your squad members, you put your faith in them from the moment you accepted the mission. Those who falter in the face of adversity, those who worry about their own lives while their friends are in jeopardy, those who save their own necks at the sake of their honor. I will never allow a ninja like this to call themselves chunin, at least as long as I'm here!" Ibiki told them all with a glare. "As for those of you still here, you have successfully answered the ten questions I gave you. You have earned your place in the next step, you have passed through the gate. I hereby declare this part of the chunin exams officially over. There is nothing more for me to say except good luck in the rest of the exams." Ibiki informed the whole classroom.
There were several tense seconds as the room remained silent. The silence was broken by loud shouts of celebration from a certain blonde. "YATTA! I knew we could do it!" Naruto shouted as he jumped from his seat while holding his swords. He stood on his seat as he turned quickly to see his teammates.
"Naruto-senpai..." Sakura mumbled in embarrassment while hiding her face.
"Dobe..." Sasuke muttered as he looked away.
'He's a strange one. One moment he's all serious and now he acts just like a little kid.' Ibiki thought as he watched Naruto's actions.
Naruto just grinned at their reactions and dropped back down into his seat. "Ne, Hinata." He asked mischievously.
"H-hai, Naruto-kun?" She replied shyly, another blush forming from him addressing her.
His look suddenly got stern. "I meant what I said. Don't underestimate yourself again. I saw that you wanted to put your hand up, right before I shouted. It's the reason why I shouted, you're right, the nine of us should get through this together." He said as he smiled.
She smiled back with her blush from his encouraging words and the fact that he called her a friend. 'I'm getting closer.' She thought happily.
Naruto, Ibiki's and most of the other good ninja's heads snapped to look at the window next the examiner. They all watched as a cannonball of cloth smashed through the window and unfurled itself. The four corners of the bundle were quickly held up by kunai thrown at the ceiling and floor showing a huge message that read, SECOND EXAMINER, MITARASHI ANKO! "Alright guys and gals, don't celebrate just yet! I'm your next examiner, Mitarashi Anko!" A purple haired, purple eyed woman announced from in front of the sign. "You ready for the second test? GOOD! Now, follow me!" She ordered everyone as she pumped a fist in the air.
Naruto just stared with wide eyes at the kunoichi thanks to her impromptu entrance. He sheathed the broadsword he had been drawing to get ready for a fight, but kept one hand on the hilt, just in case. Another reason for his wide eyes was the woman's fashion sense. She appeared to be wearing nothing but mesh clothing along with a very short orange mini skirt and to top it off she was wearing a tan trench coat over it. She had her hitai-ite around her head, some shin guards that were attached to her sandals and a strange pendant around her neck. Ibiki walked around the banner and addressed Anko. "You're early, again."
Anko blushed from embarrassment at Ibiki's statement and got an awkward look in her eyes. Naruto hadn't been the only one to reach for a weapon. Sasuke had pulled out a kunai, Ten-ten had pulled out a handful of shuriken, Sakura had pulled out a handful of senbon and several other unknown ninja had reached for their respective weapons, mostly kunai. Anko's entrance had put them all on high alert. 'She act's like Naruto-senpai when he's not fighting an enemy or training.' Sakura thought, surprised by the kunoichi's antics, as she put away the senbon.
The rest of the of the candidates did the same, seeing that the new arrival wasn't there to fight. "High strung aren't we?" Anko stated as she looked out over all the left over candidates. "How many of you guys are there? Ibiki! You're getting soft! The test was too easy!" She exclaimed to the ANBU head.
Ibiki put on a small smirk. "Or it could be a stronger batch of candidates this year." He retorted in his gravelly voice.
Anko looked back over the candidates. "They sure don't look it. Trust me, when I'm done with them, more than half will be eliminated." She said with a maniacal grin.
This statement caused some of the candidates to frown at the new examiner. 'More than half, huh? That means this next one is gonna be difficult.' Naruto thought with slight bit of worry, mixed with a slight bit of glee.
"This is gonna be fun!" Anko told herself with a small smile. Her features turned serious a split second later as she addressed the crowd. "Alright, you maggots have had it easy so far! But that's gonna change tomorrow morning! I'll let your jounin sensei know where you're to meet me. Dismissed." She finished in a quiet taunting tone.
With Anko's announcement over, most of the chunin hopefuls stood up and started filing out of the room. Some used a shunshin style from their village, including Gaara who once again used his sand shunshin. Naruto had also stood up and reattached his weapons but he wasn't going to leave just yet. He met up with Sasuke and Sakura whom were waiting by the door that lead out of the room. "Hey, guys wait for me outside the academy okay? I have something to finish up with in here before I can leave, I'll be out in about ten minutes."
"Hai, Naruto-senpai." Sakura replied with a nod. Sasuke simply 'hn'd in his usual fashion and they both went out of the room.
Eventually the only people left were the sentinels, Ibiki, Anko and Naruto. Naruto was walking over to Haku, when Anko spoke up. "What are you doing here? I said you were dismissed Gaki!" She shouted to Naruto.
"I just need to get rid of the results of my cheating." Naruto replied as he stopped in front of Haku, who was still holding his clipboard out in front of him, with the pen resting slightly on the paper. "If I don't get rid of it now Haku will have to wait about five maybe seven hours before he can talk and move again." He informed all present as he activated his Kaiseki Boushi. He made sure his back was to all of them so they wouldn't see his eyes. He was very glad that Haku was watching the back row right now, otherwise he'd have to reveal his Kekkei Genkai to more people.
"So, it was you who was causing those chakra spikes coming from Haku?" A sentinel directly behind Naruto stated more than asked.
"Yeah, that was me." Naruto replied simply as he destroyed the seals, the silencing one first and then the petrification one.
Haku dropped the clipboard and pen and quickly got up and stretched, several pops were heard as his joints got moving again and a slight creaking of his muscles were heard. "I'll forgive you this time for doing that Naruto-sama but do that again and I'll put you in a near-death state so you can know how it feels not being able to move. Don't worry I'll make sure to make my tea extra strong and in effect making it more bitter to help you recover faster." Haku stated coldly with a small smirk.
Naruto paled slightly at the threat, he had gotten a very detailed description of the medicinal tea's flavour from Sasuke. Plus, he really didn't want to be put in a near-death state in case his fan-girls found out and did something while he was unable to move. "No problemo, Haku. I doubt I'll have to do it again anytime soon anyway!" Naruto replied quickly, waving his hands in front of him in a defensive manner. Haku's smirk turned into a smile and he started snickering. "What are you laughing about?" Naruto asked, his suspicion peaked.
"Just your reaction to my empty threat Naruto-sama." Haku replied, holding in a full out laugh.
Naruto sighed deeply at the mention of an 'empty threat'. "Dammit! Don't scare me like that Haku! I thought you were really serious there!" Naruto told him with a relieved look.
"Sorry, Naruto-sama but I couldn't help myself!" Haku replied with a grin.
"I rubbed off on you to much. Wait a second, your using -sama with my name again. Do you really have to do that?" Naruto asked, suddenly noticing the use of the honorific.
"Of course Naruto-sama. We are in the presence of my superiors after all." Haku replied nodding toward Ibiki and Anko, who had been watching the two throughout the conversation.
Naruto turned his head slightly to look at the two, in doing so he noticed that the sentinels around them were talking amongst themselves. When he finally laid his eyes on Ibiki and Anko, he almost gasped in surprise. He'd forgotten to deactivate his Kaiseki Boushi and what he saw coming off Anko was new to him but if he could see it, it meant one thing. She had a seal on her, it was a big one covering her whole body and there seemed to be a large cluster of symbols over her left shoulder. He deactivated his Kaiseki Boushi and quickly turned away. 'What the hell was that!? I didn't get anything from the symbols but I know that wasn't any kind of weight seal! The symbols were weird too, every other time I've analyzed a seal, the symbols have shown up in blue. Why were these symbols purple and why did it give me a bad feeling when I saw them? And what was up with the pattern they made!? It looked like the face of a demon or something else evil!' Naruto was broken from these thoughts abruptly as Haku addressed him.
"Naruto-sama? Are you alright?" Haku asked, slightly worried for his friend.
"Wuh? Oh! Yeah, I'm fine Haku, don't worry about it." Naruto replied, less energetic than usual.
Anko saw the way he looked at her and then turned away quickly. 'What was that all about? He couldn't know about my being trained by Orochimaru. He's too young to know anything about that.' She thought confused and slightly pissed. "Hey, Gaki!You gonna introduce yourself or what?" Anko shouted to Naruto.
Naruto turned around quickly and stared at Anko defiantly. "Yeah, yeah, I'm-"
"Uzumaki Naruto-sama." Haku finished for him.
"Haku what's with you finishing my introduction?" Naruto asked in a confused manner.
"As your assistant it is a part of my duty to you." Haku replied simply, still looking at his superiors.
"You mean to tell me, this is the kid that beat your old sensei, Haku!?" One of the sentinels asked incredulously. "He's the kid that finished off Zabuza?"
"Yeah, I did that. It wasn't in combat, he had received a fatal blow and I just granted him a quick death as the new owner of his zanbatō." Naruto answered in a respectful tone as he always did when talking of those he respected.
"No Way!" Another sentinel exclaimed. "You don't even look like you could lift Zabuza's Kubikiri Hōchō, let alone get Zabuza to respect you enough to name you his heir."
This exclamation caused the air temperature to drop from Haku's glare at the chunin sentinel. "Do not dare talk of Naruto-sama in that way. He is a strong ninja and an honorable fighter." Haku spat to the sentinel.
"Easy Haku, I have a way to make him eat his words." Naruto stated as he laid one hand on Haku's shoulder and the other went for the first scroll in his holsters. "Guess I'll just have to give you the proof." Naruto stated as he opened up the scroll to show the first seal in a long catalog of seals. He placed the scroll on the ground and put his hand in a half-ram hand seal and a large billow of smoke appeared over the seal. When the smoke cleared, Naruto was shown leaning the sword over his shoulders. "This enough proof for ya?" He asked sarcastically to the sentinel.
All the sentinels were staring wide-eyed at the way Naruto was just supporting the blade on his body like it was nothing. "Uh-huh! That's proof enough for me!" The sentinel that doubted Naruto replied dumbly.
"Good." Naruto said sharply. He knelt down and held the zanbatō over the storage seal and sealed it, once more. "Well, I'm outta here my teammates are waiting for me, so I'll see 'round okay Haku!" Naruto announced as he turned for the door and left.
"Haku, what exactly did he do to cheat?" Ibiki asked in an authoritative voice.
"He created clones in the room beneath this one, one of them used kawarimi on me and took my place. When I arrived in the room below, I was knocked unconscious. When I came to, a clone of Naruto-sama had placed seals on me to keep me silent and from moving. A clone that had taken my place then used kawarimi with me again and I was replaced in the room. I do not know what happened when I was unconscious." Haku replied in as much detail as possible.
"Interesting, he used the shadow clone jutsu to gather information as it had originally been created for but also took a hostage while using it. Even going so far as to replace the hostage instead of leaving the clone. He covered his tracks pretty well but he's pretty strange, knowing the kage bunshin at his age." Ibiki thought out loud.
Anko was still looking at the door Naruto had left through. 'He's good but what was with that look he gave me?' She grinned slightly. "Uzumaki Naruto, huh? I'm gonna have fun messing with him in the test tomorrow." She said mischievously.
"Woah! This is training area 44?" Naruto exclaimed as he stepped up with Sakura and Sasuke. He had been looking at the giant trees for a few minutes when he felt a presence behind him and looked back to find a box camouflaged to look like a rock. "You know Konohamaru, your stelth may have gotten better but your camo still sucks." Naruto told the box as he squatted down in front of it.
"So you saw through it again, you're good Nii-san! Just what I'd expect from my rival." Konohamaru announced from inside the box.
Naruto knew what was coming next from their earlier performance. "Oh no you don't! No explosions this time!" He announced as he pulled the box off of them and swiped the explosives away in one swift motion. He pocketed the explosives and turned back to the three. "Alright, so what are the three of you doing here, I'm kinda in the middle of the chunin exams right now." He asked the three.
"We're here to do some interviews for the academy newsletter!" Konohamaru announced happily.
"Uh-huh, well good luck with that!" Naruto said as he turned away to listen to any instructions.
"Hey wait a second Nii-san! You're one of the people we're interviewing!" Konohamaru shouted as he grabbed Naruto's leg.
"Hey watch it! Whoa!" Naruto shouted as he toppled over from the unexpected imbalance.
"Hey what's going on over here! What are you kids doing here?" Anko asked as she walked over to the three academy students and Naruto.
"We're here to do an interview!" Moegi shouted from beside Udon who quickly agreed with an 'Uh-huh' and vigorously nodding his head.
"Interview? Oh yeah the Hokage did say something about that!" Anko exclaimed with a sheepish grin. She turned around to face all the candidates. "All right everyone, we're taking a short break so the students from the academy can interview a few of us. Please be courteous and kind to them!" She shouted as she walked off to get the test ready.
"Nii-san, you're up first!" Konohamaru announced as he leapt to his feet. "We'd like your name and some info about your teammates!" Konohamaru asked him quickly.
Naruto sighed deeply and did as he was asked. "Fine... You all ready know my name so..." And the next couple of minutes were spent answering a few questions. Once they were done, Konohamaru's group walked off to find Sakura and started asking her the same questions. Naruto decided a little bit of a rest was in order so he just found a tree to lie next to.
"So, what can you tell us about Naruto-nii-san's jutsus?" Moegi asked excitedly to Sakura.
"Well... I don't really know about every jutsu he knows but I know a few. I'm afraid Naruto asked me to never reveal them though." Sakura answered with a small smile.
"Awww, come on, please?" Konohamaru begged.
"Well, I guess I could tell you about his Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, he uses that a lot. There's also his Doton: Daichi Hei no Jutsu, that he also taught me, it can be pretty useful in a bind. Those are the only two I'm telling you about." Sakura announced as she stuck out her tongue.
"So you don't know about Nii-san's Oiroke no Jutsu?" Konohamaru asked loudly. At Sakura's questioning look, he carried on. "He made it and used it on my closet pervert of a sensei, it was really strong!" Konohamaru explained.
Naruto had heard Konohamaru shouting about the useless jutsu he had created and rushed over to try and get him not to show it. He arrived behind Sakura and started gesturing with his hands to shut Konohamaru up. He was waving his hands in a crossing motion then running a finger across his throat and finally just put his arms together to make a large X shape.
Seeing Sakura just frown and disregarding his Nii-san's gesturing, Konohamaru decided an example was needed. "I'll show you!" He brought his hands into a hand seal and shouted "Oiroke no Jutsu!" A plume of smoke enveloped him and then dissipated to reveal a well proportioned brunette in very alluring pose. The sight caused several male ninja to produce nose-bleed, others with just blushes while others just ignored it.
Sakura got a dark look on her face when she saw this supposed jutsu that Naruto had created. "Naruto-senpai?" She asked in a sickly sweet voice as she turned around, cracking her knuckles.
"Uh, let me explain Sakura-chan!" Naruto whimpered as he started sweating and backing up only to be met with a wave of killing intent directed toward him. He turned his head slowly to see a large group of kunoichi staring, not daggers but full blown swords at him. "H-hello ladies, about that jutsu, I-I don't really use it... really!" He tried to convince them. He was... unsuccessful to say the least. A severe beating followed by Konohamaru and his friends finishing their interviews a few minutes later and they were back to standing in front of Anko. Naruto with a few bumps protruding from his head and some bruises decorating his face.
'I told you that making that jutsu up would be a bad idea.' Kyuubi announced in Naruto's head.
'Shut up Kyu-sensei.' Was Naruto's curt reply, which only made Kyuubi chuckle more. Naruto just blocked him out and looked back at the forest.
"That forest kinda gives me the creeps." Sakura announced quietly, trying not to shiver at the sight of the dark forest.
"It should, they call it the forest of death for a reason ya know!" Anko announced with a grin.
All the teams that had passed the first exam the day before were now standing together outside a fenced off area which was overgrown with vegetation, mostly giant trees. There was a small shack with three of the sentinels from the day before sitting behind a desk. While Anko was standing in front of the fenced off area, facing all the candidates. "I bet!" Naruto stated in awe.
'He actually looks like he's looking forward to going in there. Weird kid, I like that.' Anko thought as she looked over the candidates, luckily she hadn't been a part of the group that beat up Naruto, otherwise he'd be dead already. "Before we begin the test, I have to hand out these consent forms." Anko announced as she pulled out a bundle of papers. "Before the test all of you have to read over this form and sign it. From this point on there's a chance you could die. So, I need your consent otherwise I'd be held responsible for your deaths." Anko informed them all with a chuckle.
Naruto stepped forward to be level with Kabuto's team. There was a ripple of whispers at Anko's announcement but Naruto wasn't paying attention to that. 'There's that weird smell again. I know it's coming off Kabuto but it's like it's coming off his teammate, the examiner, inside the forest and someone else out here as well. What the hell is it!?' He thought in frustration.
"Now, as to what you'll be doing in the test." Anko looked at Naruto and offered the forms. "Here pass these out." She looked back toward the crowd once Naruto had taken the forms and passed them on when he took one. "First of all you should now that this test is gonna test your survival skills to the max."
'Survival skills? How troublesome.' Shikamaru thought with a yawn as he received the forms and passed them on.
"Now to give you a quick idea of the landscape." Anko announced as she pulled out a scroll and it unraveled to show a small map. "Alright, around the training area there are forty-four entrance gates. Inside is mostly forest with a couple of rivers. Right at the center there's a locked tower, which is situated about ten kilometers from each gate, that's your final destination. It's inside this enclosed area that you'll undertake the survival test." She wrapped the scroll up and replaced it in her trench coat and brought out a couple of scrolls in it's place. "The main part of the test is... a no holds barred battle to get your mits on these scrolls." She announced as she held out the two, one white with the kanji for heaven and a dark one with the kanji for earth.
"We have to get both of them?" Sasuke asked.
"Yep. You need to fight to get both of them to pass. A heaven scroll and an earth scroll. Altogether there are twenty-four teams taking the test, which means, half of the teams will be going for an earth scroll while the other half will be chasing a heaven scroll." She held the scrolls in front of her face as she carried on. "I'll be giving one kind of scroll to each team for your consent forms and that's what you'll be vying for."
"And to pass the test?" Naruto asked, not looking up from his consent form.
"The entire squad needs to bring both a heaven and earth scroll to the tower." Anko answered, informing the whole crowd.
"Which means, at best, only half the teams will make it through this test. Less, if they can't get both the scrolls." Sakura voiced, worried.
"No one ever said it would be easy. Oh, by the way there's also a time limit." Anko announced as she replaced the two scrolls in her trench coat. "You have to bring both the scrolls to the tower within five days." This little bit of information caused an uproar from Ino and Chouji. One being worried about staying there for that long and the other about how to get food. "Easy, the forest is full of stuff to eat. You just have to look around. There should be enough to feed all of you."
"Yeah, but the forest has other stuff to offer. There are man-eating animals and poisonous plants, in there too." Kabuto informed everyone.
This information brought a disgruntled sigh from Chouji. "Quiet down, this is why they call it survival after all." Ino announced.
"Under these kinds of circumstances there's no way that half the teams will make it through this test." Neji stated stoically.
"With the days getting longer, the nights are getting shorter so we will have less time to sleep an less time to recover. It is a challenge indeed!" Lee announced with a blinding smile.
"Completely surrounded by enemies, there won't be time to rest we'll have to keep a constant watch. Or Naruto will at least, with his clones." Sasuke announced smirking slightly.
"Hey! Don't expect me to do all the dirty work just cause I'm like a one man army." Naruto quietly hissed to Sasuke.
"Right!" Anko announced loudly to interupt their conversation. "This test also measures endurance behind enemy lines. This is designed to be gruelling test and I'm sure some of you won't be up to the challenge." She finished a little sinisterly.
Shikamaru raised his hand quietly and then spoke up. "So, lets say mid-exam. Can we quit?"
"Of course not! You can't just put your hand up in the middle of a battle and say, 'Sorry, I quit'. Well, I guess you could but you'd probably be killed!" She answered with a grin.
Shikamaru just crossed his arms and lowered his head. "Just great, this is so troublesome."
Anko ignored his comment and carried on in a bored tone this time. "There are also a few ways you can be disqualified. First off, if your whole team can't make it to the tower with both scrolls after five days. Second, if your team loses a member or a member of your team is incapacitated and can't continue. Finally, this is the most important one, none of you, absolutely none of you may open the scrolls and look at their contents until you reach the tower." Anko informed them all in a serious tone of voice. From the questioning looks Anko got from the rookies she carried on. "There are times when ninja are required to carry secret documents, the scroll rule is to test your integrity. And that's a wrap, each team can now turn in your consent forms over there for your scrolls." Anko announced as she pointed to the shack. "Once you get your scroll pick a gate and get ready to start. Oh, and one last piece of advice, JUST DON'T DIE!" She shouted getting a flinch from some and a determined look from others.
After Anko's little speech Naruto had decided to find somewhere to relax for now since Sakura and Sasuke had gone off by themselves. He also wanted to get a clear line of sight of the examiner, Anko, so he could check out the seals again. He found a good place eventually, the hill that Sasuke was leaning against, instead of leaning against the opposite side he just went to the top and sat down. 'Now to take another look at that seal the examiner has.' He thought as he activated his Kaiseki Boushi and covered them with his goggles so no one would see them.
Sasuke was watching the booth where they were supposed to get their scroll and wasn't surprised to see them pulling a curtain over the front to hide the desk. 'So, we don't get know what scroll every team has and we don't know which team member is carrying the scroll. As Ibiki said, everyone is equally determined to pass and all of them are our enemies.' Sasuke thought as he looked around at all the talking teams.
Anko saw the Uchiha sitting by himself and could practically see the cogs turning in his head. 'Looks like they're starting to understand what's involved in this test.' She tore her look off him and looked about. 'Now where's that blonde kid from yesterday? I still haven't had a chance to mess with him yet!' She thought maniacally as she looked for Naruto. She soon felt someone looking at her and turned her head to see Naruto right there a few feet from Sasuke. 'How'd I miss him there and how long has he been looking at me? Doesn't matter, now then, let the fun begin!' She thought gleefully as a kunai dropped into her hand from her sleeve.
Author Note;
So what did you think of that? Tell me if you feel like it. If not, then carry on enjoying the fanfic silently, either way is good to me!