Recap:
"Oh yeah," I said, stopping and looking over my shoulder. "This is for calling me weak." I turned abruptly and threw an icicle at the guy with the black hoodie on. The boy looked shocked as the icicle hit the center of his forehead protector, embedding itself in the smooth metal.
"Oh, and next time," I said. "I won't miss." And I disappeared in a swirl of water.
'Hmm…this girl seems interesting,' Gaara thought, as he watched me disappear.
It was finally the day of the exam. I quickly got ready, changing into my ninja outfit and strapping my twin katanas at my side. I packed extra shurikens, kunais, and packed some extra food that would last me a week, just in case. I grabbed my quiver of arrows and my bow, and headed out.
While I was walking toward the place where the exams would be held, I met Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura, who were also heading toward the exams. We walked up to the room where the exams were supposed to be held, room 301, and were surprised to see a large group of genin at the door, with two mean-looking shinobi at the door.
Tenten was saying something to one of the ninjas, but I narrowed my eyes as I saw him slap her. 'Ouch,' I thought.
"Hey guys," I said with a wave. Neji, Tenten, and Lee looked over in my direction. "Why are you still here?"
Tenten and Lee looked confused. "What are you talking about, Mina?" Tenten asked, puzzled. "We're supposed to go to room 301, this room, but these two other ninjas aren't letting us through!"
Now it was my turn to be confused. "Tenten, you're not at room 301, let alone the third floor. Can't you see that it's room 201? You've only walked up two flights of stairs!"
While I was talking to Tenten, Sasuke was telling everyone else that the sign was under a genjutsu.
"Hn," one of the men smirked. "You might have been able to see through the genjutsu, but you won't be able to dodge this!" The man was about to kick Sasuke, and Sasuke was about to kick him as well, but I saw Lee run to block both of their attacks. I also saw that both Sasuke's and the man's legs were encased in ice, holding them down to the ground.
It took me a moment to figure out that I had commanded the water to freeze around both their feet without realizing it, and that I had self-consciously activated my Tsukiki.
"Gomen, Sasuke," I said, and I commanded the ice to melt and evaporate into water vapor. Lee let go of both of their legs, and smiled when he caught sight of Sakura. Tenten shook her head in disapproval as Lee strode over to where Sakura was standing.
"Hello! You must be Sakura!" Lee said, smiling brightly. "My name is Rock Lee!"
I saw Sakura look at him with a well-concealed disgusted expression.
"Will you go out with me? I'll protect you with my life!" Lee said, giving her a thumbs-up and a very shiny smile. I sweatdropped. 'No way is Sakura going to say yes,' I thought to myself.
"Not on your life," Sakura said monotonously. She grabbed Sasuke and Naruto's wrists and said, "Let's go Sasuke, Naruto!" and she skipped away, dragging her two teammates behind her.
Lee looked sullen, and I placed a hand on his shoulder. "C'mon Lee. Let's go."
"No," Lee replied. "You guys go on ahead. I have something I need to deal with." And with that, he sped off in the direction Team 7 had gone. Sighing, I walked back to where Tenten and Neji were waiting.
"Lee said to go on without him. He'll meet us in the exam room," I told them. Tenten shifted nervously.
"Um, Mina, could you deactivate your Tsukiki?" Tenten asked, squirming uncomfortably.
"Oh!" I said, deactivating my bloodline limit. "Sorry, it kind of has a habit of activating on it's own."
"That's okay," Tenten said, sighing in relief. "Let's head to the examination room. We can wait there."
I nodded, and along with Tenten and Neji, we walked off to room 301.
We met up with Lee in the REAL room 301, and I just patiently waited, while reading a medical scroll. Soon, Naruto's team entered the room.
"Sasuke-kun! You're late!" I heard a very annoying and familiar voice screech.
"Oh, dear Kami, it's Ino," I muttered under my breath. Tenten looked at me confusedly.
"Who's Ino?" she whispered curiously.
"I'll explain. Okay, Naruto Uzumaki, the really loud blonde is the one in the orange jumpsuit. Sakura Haruno has the pink hair and wears the red dress, and is one of Sasuke's fan girls. Sasuke Uchiha, that guy from before, is the one in the high-collared blue shirt with the hair that looks like a chicken's butt," I explained.
Tenten nodded. "I see them," she said. "You know, that guy's hair does look like a chicken's butt." She giggled quietly.
I laughed softly.
"Next, there's Ino Yamanaka. She's another one of Sasuke's fan girls, and is the blonde who is clutching to Sasuke like a magnet," I continued. "On her team is Shikamaru Nara, the one with the black hair that looks like a pineapple, and Chouji Akimichi, the one who is stuffing his face in chips. Shikamaru is really lazy, but has an IQ of 200. Don't call Chouji fat or else he'll probably beat you up. They're the two who are behind Ino."
Tenten nodded, encouraging me to go on.
"Okay, and finally, there's the final three, behind Shikamaru and Chouji. Kiba Inuzuka, the one with the red triangles on his cheeks, can be wilder and louder than Naruto at times, and his partner is Akamaru, that little white puppy that's sticking out of his jacket. Hinata Hyuuga is Neji's cousin, and you can probably pinpoint her because of her eyes. She's really shy and quiet, but also nice, and has a really obvious crush on Naruto, but he's too thickheaded to figure it out. Finally, Shino Aburame is the last one there, with the sunglasses and the really high collared jacket. Add me in and you have the Rookie 10 Genin," I finished. "I'm going over to say hi, 'kay?"
Tenten gave me a small smile. "Okay, but don't go for too long."
"I won't," I promised, and walked over to where Sasuke was talking to a gray-haired, glasses-wearing Kohona ninja. I overheard him talk about a stack of cards in his hand, which had information on many different topics, including countries, certain shinobis, and other things.
"Do you have anyone or anything you would like to check?" the ninja asked.
"Gaara of the Desert and Rock Lee," Sasuke said, and paused. "And Mina Mikura."
My eyes narrowed as I heard my name.
As the gray-haired shinobi talked to Sasuke about Gaara and Lee, I made my way toward them.
"…And finally, Mina Mikura. An interesting choice, if I must say so myself. Let's see, she came to Kohona from Kira, the village hidden in the mist, and her teammates are Rock Lee, Neji Hyuuga, and Tenten. Her sensei is Gai Maito, and…" the ninja trailed off.
"Well?" Sasuke asked impatiently.
"…It says here that she has completed 37 D-ranked missions, 31 C-ranked, 24 B-ranked, 12 A-ranked, and 8 S-ranked missions. Her abilities in ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu are all extremely high, and are all on the same level. She must have been a very, very high-ranked ninja to go on 8 S-ranked missions," the teen continued slowly, looking up at Sasuke through his glasses.
My eyes narrowed. I had no idea what else he had on that card about me, but nobody else was going to find out. Walking up to the group of ten ninjas, I focused my eyes on the specific card about me, subconsciously activating my Tsukiki. "Hell's Eternal Fire," I whispered, and smirked in satisfaction as I saw my card burn up into ashes. I sensed the shocked stares of the ten ninjas around me. Staring into the shocked ninja's eyes through his glasses, I said, "You're extremely lucky that was not you."
Turning on my heel, I walked back to my team, ignoring the stares of the other rookie genin. When I reached my teammates, Tenten looked at me curiously.
"Was all of that stuff that other ninja say true, Mina?" Tenten inquired. Neji and Lee turned toward me, also eager to hear my answer.
"Unfortunately, yes," I growled in a barely audible voice, and plopped down in my seat, paying no attention to the curious stares Tenten and Lee sent me or the odd looks that Neji wore when he glanced at me occasionally.
I sat up when the examiner, Morino Ibiki, appeared, and I sat down in my seat, which was, coincidentally, to the right of Ino. I mentally groaned, and sat down, inching my chair away from Ino's being as far as I could. I didn't pay any attention to the rules, since I had already taken the exams before, and when the examiner, Ibiki, said to start, I looked over the test, smirking as I saw I knew all the answers.
I knew the objective of the written test, so I secretly set up a cheating-barrier jutsu, which blocked any kind of jutsu, effect from a bloodline limit, or any other way of cheating. Smiling slightly, I began to write quickly and confidently, finishing the first nine answers. I turned the paper over and leaned back in my chair. I decided not to take down my cheater-prevention jutsu, just in case.
It was lucky I did, since no more than two minutes after I had finished my exam, I saw Ino try to do her Mind Substitution Technique on me, after seeing that I was done. I smirked at the confused and frustrated look on her face as she tried the jutsu again and again, and failed each time. After who knows how many tries, she sent me a glare, and did her jutsu on Sakura instead.
I got bored after awhile, and I put my arms and head on the desk, deciding to take a quick nap.
I woke up to the dull thud of a kunai hitting a desk behind me. Sitting up and rubbing my eyes, I checked the clock, and saw that there were only five minutes left. I turned to Tenten, who smiled and nodded. I smiled back at her, relieved that my other teammates had gotten all the answers.
"I am now going to announce the tenth question," Ibiki declared, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. "But first, you must choose whether to take the question or not to."
"What?!" a cloud ninja exclaimed. "What kind of stupid question is that?!"
"Shut up and sit down," Ibiki barked at the genin who had spoken. "There's a catch. If you choose to take the tenth question, and answer it wrong, you may never enroll in the Chunnin exams ever again."
I heard a collective gasp. "What?!"
"You heard me," Ibiki said. "You will remain a genin forever. If you choose not to take the final question, you can always come back next year."
There was a deadly silence in the room. In a few seconds, multiple hands were raised.
"I quit!"
"Sorry, guys."
"I just can't take this!"
"I can't go on, guys."
As the quitting teams left the room, I saw that the original number of ninjas in the room had been reduced to only 26 teams, about 79 people.
I looked toward Naruto, who, to my surprise, was shaking uncontrollably. To my shock, I saw him slowly raise his hand.
I saw Ibiki smirk. Suddenly, Naruto slammed his hand down on the table.
"I'm never going to give up! I'm gonna pass the Chunnin exams, and then I'll become Hokage! Believe it!" Naruto shouted. He leaned back on his chair, crossed his arms, and set his face into a frown.
'I think that little outburst made everyone stay,' Ibiki thought to himself. 'I guess I'll have to pass all of these genin.'
"Congratulations!" Ibiki announced. "You all have passed the first part of the Chunnin exams!" Many people looked shocked, including that girl from Gaara's team and Sakura.
"What?" the girl exclaimed. "How?"
"Yeah?" Sakura added in a confused voice. "And why give us the first part of the test anyways?"
Ibiki chuckled. "The purpose of the test was to test your information gathering skills. Many of the questions asked on the test were questions that probably no genin could answer. The rules that were set, as well as the difficulty of the questions, forced you to cheat. However, you had to cheat in a way so that the Chunnin observers didn't catch you. If you were too obvious, then you were caught. The ones whose data collecting skills weren't high enough got weeded out. There were also three actual Chunnin among you, taking the test with you. They were the primary cheating targets, since they knew all of the answers."
At this, three male ninjas stood up, one of which was on my right. Ibiki nodded at them, and continued to talk. "Once again, congratulations on passing the first part of the—"
He was interrupted by a black blur crashing through the window, and two kunais with a cloth attached were thrown into the ceiling. A banner unraveled, and I saw the words, "Anko Mitarashi: Second Examiner of the Chunnin Exams!" written on the black material with white paint. There was a woman with blackish-purple hair standing in front of the cloth, and she looked kinda fierce.
"Listen up, maggots!" the woman barked. "My name is Anko Mitarashi, and I'm gonna be your second examiner!" Ibiki emerged from behind the cloth, looking fairly annoyed and slightly amused.
"Early again, Anko," he growled in annoyance.
Anko rolled her eyes, and quickly scanned the room. "This many?" she questioned. "Wow, Ibiki. It seems that you're getting soft."
Ibiki scoffed. "Well, it seems that we have an exceptional group of them this time."
"Well, when I'm through with them, there'll be less than half of them," Anko said smugly, grinning.
"Okay, listen up, you maggots," Anko barked. Everyone was at a forest that was enclosed by a high fence, with a wooden booth and a flagpole near the main entrance. "The second portion of the exams is a survival test. You have five days to complete a pair of scrolls. Each team will get either a Heaven or an Earth scroll, and you have to find its opposite. To do so, you have to fight and defeat other teams." She held up two scrolls with the word 'heaven' on one and 'earth' on the other.
"When you get a pair of scrolls, you have to get to the tower that is located in the center of this forest. Oh, and welcome to Area 76, also known as the Forest of Death," Anko grinned sadistically. I sweatdropped. 'What a nice name…' I thought sarcastically.
"Before you enter, you have to fill out these forms. These say that you are accepting the terms of this portion of the exam, including the chance that you might die. If you don't, then I'm to blame, and we wouldn't want that, now would we?" Anko asked sweetly. "Get your forms at the booth, fill them out, and then return them back to the two Chunnin there."
Everyone quickly took the forms, filled them out, and then returned them. Each team was assigned a gate in which to enter the "Forest of Death." My team got gate 12, Naruto's team got gate 39, and Gaara's team got gate 24.
There was a Chunnin at the gate, who was unlocking the gate and taking off the chains from the metal doors. The Chunnin checked his pocket watch, and put it away. "Listen up, you maggots," Anko's voice yelled. "The second part of the exams begins…NOW!"
When Anko yelled, "NOW," the gates flung open, and every single team sprinted into the forest.