I decided to have a little fun with the written test and use a method I've never seen before…

Chapter 7: Written Exam

Naruto sighed as he made his way through Konoha. 'What was that last night?' Before he could dwell on his rather strange relationship with his sensei, he saw the front of the academy with Karui and Omoi pacing in front of it.

"About damn time Na… G!" Naruto just gave Karui a slight shrug. "Me and Yugito passed out, we didn't wake up until about 10 minutes ago."

The other two nodded in understanding and they made their way up the stairs and through the empty hallways. They were each focusing on what was to come. Eventually they found the room; 301. "Ready?" Karui and Omoi gave their teammate a nod as he shoved the door open.

*Inside Room 301

"My name is Kabuto, and you guys really should be quiet, you're drawing an awful lot of attention to yourselves."

The genin rookies look over and notice every other genin sending them a scathing glare. Sakura, Ino and Hinata can't help but shudder slightly. Kiba, however, found no problem with it. "Oh yeah! Well we're going to kick all th-"

BANG!

The door behind them flew open and smashed into the back Kiba's head, causing him to drop to the ground. "Wow, the exams haven't even started and I already got one. That's got to be a record." Everyone looked over and saw three genin from Kumo. It seemed that the ninja from Konoha couldn't decide between glaring at them and giving them a nod. However, Sasuke and Sakura sent the entire team an angry glare while Hinata looked visibly uncomfortable.

With a shrug, Naruto and his team stepped over Kiba as they made their way into the room. They made it all the way to the other side and they waited for the exams to start.

The Konoha rookies were still talking loudly. "As you may or may not know, information is key and I have information on every single ninja here." Before the silver haired boy could continue, Sasuke stepped forward. "I want all the info you have on Rock Lee of Konoha and him, the boy from Kumo." The bespectacled shinobi looked intrigued. "You don't know his name? This will be fun. Let's start with the easy one. Rock Lee of Konoha, he is 13 years old and got zero marks in ninjutsu and genjutsu throughout the academy and average skill in taijutsu. However, while his ninjutsu and genjutsu is still nonexistent, for the last two years he has been training under Might Gai, Konoha's taijutsu master and his taijutsu has jumped leaps and bounds. He's done 55 D-ranks and 7 C-ranks… Now then, let's see, Kumo… Kumo… Kumo… Aha! He's a rookie like you guys, graduated 4 months ago. His name is G… Strange name, age 12, he is the part-time apprentice of the Yondaime Raikage and is skilled in ninjutsu and taijutsu, he has done 127 D-ranks and 3 C-ranks."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "If he only graduated 4 months ago, there's no way he did 127 missions…" Kabuto nodded. "That's true in Konoha, but you see, in Kumo, they take care of team assignments and D-rank missions at the beginning of their 3rd year so that they can get right in to C-ranks after graduation."

Before he could continue, the room was flooded with KI, the source was a large man in a black leather jacket at the front of the room. "Shut the hell up, I sure hope you don't think that being here now means anything! I'm Ibiki Morino and for right now, your worst nightmare."

The genin quickly quieted down, backing away from the man, if only slightly. Ibiki sent them a smirk that sent a chill down all of their spines. "Allow me to introduce my execution squad…" Suddenly, in a large cloud of smoke, 24 people arrived, each giving off the aura of an experienced ninja. "Everyone come here and turn in your paperwork, in exchange, you'll receive a seat number, you will sit down without another word. Anyone who speaks is gone…"

The proctor let his words hang, tempting anyone to speak… However, they apparently believed him since they all lined up without making a noise.

After ten minutes, Naruto finally got his seat, he was unfortunately, on the very end of one of the rows, two feet away from an examiner with spiky black hair with a goatee and a piece of white tape crossing his nose. The chunin sent him a smirk. Next to him was a Konoha ninja wearing a brown long sleeve shirt and black pants, his hair was covered by a brown bandana with his forehead protector. He looked around and found Karui and Omoi, they were both in the very last row, but were towards opposite ends.

Ibiki stepped forward, getting everyone's attention. "I'm going to pass out a test, you will not begin until I say so. If you do, you will be removed from the rest of the exams… Along with your entire team." After a few minutes, everyone had a test… "Now then, here's how it's going to happen. You're going to start out with 10 points, one missed answer is minus one point. There will be no cheating, the ninja around the room are there with the sole purpose of catching you cheating. If you are caught cheating, you lose two points. If you get to zero, you're gone… Then, the tenth question is a beast of its own. It will be given verbally in 45 minutes. Begin."

Naruto flipped his test over and looked at the first question. Your target is 46 meters away at a height of 4 meters above your position. You have allies 2 meters in front of you at a height of 2 meters to their head. What angle of throw will be required if you throw at 194 fps with a downward wind speed of 11 mph?

Naruto read the question again, and then again… 'What the fuck is this!? There's no way a chunin would need to know this! Wait a minute… Two points for cheating…' It only took the boy a few minutes to realize… 'Cheat! But how? I'm not really an information gathering ninja…'

Karui looked at the paper in front of her like it grew a second head. AI EVI RMRNE SJ XLI RMKLX ZERMWL MRXS XLI HEVORIWW AMXLSYX E WMKLX AI WLEPP WPEC SYV IRIQMIW AMXLSYX JVMKLX ERH FVMRK SYV ZMPPEKI MRXS XLI PMKLX 'It's obviously a code, but I don't even know what half this shit means! Me and Naruto are fucked! Omoi should be alright, he's always been good at shit like this…'

Omoi looked at the code with a smirk. 'I do love puzzles…' He read through the code a dozen times before his smirk grew. 'It's a basic cipher code!'

After a few moments, Naruto realized that the ninja next to him was easily and quickly writing each and every answer down, much faster than should be possible. 'Unless he already knows the answers! They placed plants so we could cheat off them!' A smirk crossed Naruto's face as he began to work his plan. Naruto was sure to keep his face blank the entire time. With slow movements, Naruto pulled one of his kunai from his pouch, giving a mental smirk. 'I never thought I'd be using it already. Good thing his pouch is on his left side.' He discretely slipped the kunai into the man's pouch and he was none the wiser.

He raised his hand and got one of the chunin's attention. "Hey, chunin guy, can I use the bathroom? I think the test is getting to me…" The chunin stared at the boy for a minute before standing up. "Fine, let's go." When they got to the back of the room, the chunin latched wrist and ankle cuffs around him. "We don't need you trying anything funny…" Naruto gave the man a smile and the two left the room. Naruto looked around as they walked down the hallway. "So, I never got your name, I'm G…You were the gate guard that was passed out when we showed up." The chunin gave a slight chuckle at that. "Yeah, I'm Kotetsu." Naruto nodded as he seemed to be thinking. "I think I've heard of you before, what's your last name?" Kotetsu looked shocked at that. "Kotetsu Hagane…" Naruto was silent for a second before he shook his head. "Sorry, it doesn't ring any bells." The chunin shrugged. "Not a big deal, I'm more of the laze around and sleep type than the get famous type." Naruto nodded and the chunin never noticed his smirk.

Naruto sighed as he relieved himself. "That test sure is something else; I've never seen questions like that before in my life." Kotetsu sighed. "Kid, don't bother, I'm not giving you any answers." Naruto sighed as he went to wash his hands. "That's a shame, it would have been easier that way. Not to mention less painful…" The chunin's eyes widened when he saw Naruto's hands in a seal. "Black Lightning: Electromagnetic Murder!" Kotetsu's eyes widened when the black lightning traveled through the cable he held attached to the cuffs. The amount of voltage that surged through the chunin's body cut off any vocal response or attempt at retaliation.

For nearly an entire minute, Naruto pushed on, forcing more and more black lightning into the man's body until he was sure it had done its job. With a sigh, he released his jutsu and the chunin dropped to the ground. He walked over and felt the man's neck, pleased when he found the man was still alive.

While still cuffed, Naruto formed a cross with his fingers. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" In a cloud of smoke, a second Naruto appeared and searched the chunin until he found the key. The clone quickly unlocked him and they went to work, tying the chunin up with some ninja wire before gagging him. They hid the chunin in the last stall, partially hidden behind the toilet. 'There are no good spots in here and I don't want to risk dragging him to a classroom… I know.' Naruto jumped up and broke the light bulb hanging over the stall, bathing the stall in darkness and shadow. He easily readjusted the man's body and began tying up his clone with the cuffs. Now, a shadow clone was held captive as Naruto went through three quick hand seals. "Transformation Jutsu!" In the place of Naruto, was Kotetsu Hagane… "Idiot actually thought I just wanted his name… It'd be bad if someone was calling me and I didn't know who I was…"

Just as he opened the bathroom door, someone else did too, shocking Naruto. He was surprised to see another ninja from the exams. It was a kid from Suna wearing an all-black suit with cat ears. 'Kotetsu' and the other chunin merely exchanged a nod as they walked by each other. A soon as the bathroom door closed, both Naruto and Kankuro let out a breath of relief.

*Exam Room

Sasuke Uchiha frowned as he looked around the room. 'With these questions and the point system, the fact that they want us to cheat is obvious. I just don't know how…'

His eyes found the back of Sakura's head as he desperately looked around the room. That was when he saw it and a smirk crossed his face. 'What do you know, Sakura, you are good for something.' Sakura leaned just off to the side, revealing her test to him.

Sakura crossed her fingers as she leaned slightly to the side, looking down at her test. 'I made my answers extra dark so that maybe he could see them… I hope so…'

Sasuke started writing down the answers he could easily make out. He only needed a few to pass anyways. Most ninja would never be able to make out what was written, but he was no ordinary ninja. The eyes of the Uchiha clan, even without the legendary Sharingan are superior to any eyes but the Byakugan, allowing him to read the letters from almost ten feet away.

*With Karui

She looked around the room with a glare. 'Damn it! What the hell do I do!? I'm running out of time and from the looks of it, Omoi is still working on the code problem…'

After a few seconds, her eyes locked onto Naruto's empty seat. 'And where the hell did he run off to!?'

*Jonin Lounge; Academy

Huddled around the TVwere 6 jonin, they were Kakashi Hatake, Kurenai Yuuhi, Asuma Sarutobi, Might Guy, Yugito Nii, and Darui.

Kakashi gave an eye smile as he looked over his shoulder to Yugito. "Seems like all our students had a sure fire way of getting the answers! Your ninja is still in the bathroom while your kunoichi hasn't done anything. At least the boy is good at codes, but he seems stumped on the others."

Yugito just sent the man a smirk as she remained quiet. However, inside, she was quite nervous. 'How are you going to do this, Naruto? Karui and Omoi are looking to you for leadership, don't let them down…'

*Exam Room

In the back of the room, Kotetsu and Naruto walked in, causing the chunin near the door to look at them in suspicion. "About damn time, Kotetsu, I was about to send a rescue squad…" 'Kotetsu' gave a light scoff. "Damn kid didn't say anything about having the Hershey squirts…" A bunch of the chunin started laughing as Naruto blushed in embarrassment.

"Go sit down kid, you only have about 20 minutes left…" Naruto was making his way to his seat when suddenly…

"GGGGGGAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

The man in the seat next to his started having a seizure, he was shaking, pale and his eyes were rolled into the back of his head, it only lasted a few seconds, but there wasn't a single person that wasn't watching the events. Naruto didn't know what to do… "Get out of the way, kid!" 'Kotetsu' pushed 'Naruto' onto the desk before he grabbed the man with the seizure by the shoulders and pulled him out of the row. He looked over to the chunin that sat next to him. "Can you take him to medical?" The young chunin nodded quickly and picked the man up.

'Kotetsu' walked over to the man's desk and picked up the sheet that was on it. He mentally smirked when he saw that it was blank.

After a few minutes he stood up, walking until he stood right in front of 'Naruto'. "You had something to do with that, didn't you!?" 'Naruto's' eyes went wide and he quickly shook his head.

BANG! 'Naruto' jumped when 'Kotetsu' slammed his hands on his desk. "If I had any proof, I would have you disqualified for attacking a Konoha shinobi!" Without another word, Kotetsu walked away, he was pacing, staring at Naruto. Karui was looking at him with amusement and she muttered something under her breath. In an instant, 'Kotetsu' was behind her. "I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you…" Karui sent the man a slight glare. "I said, only G, could get a man, that mad…" 'Kotetsu's' glare was fierce as he stared at her.

"I hope you haven't been cheating… Two points!" Kotetsu looked at that row's chunin with interest. "Sorry Kotetsu, that's only her second strike, she still has 6 points." As 'Kotetsu' stormed away, a nearly microscopic piece of paper fell from his hand, landing on Karui's desk. She opened it discretely and was shocked when she saw the answers to the test. 'Naruto! I knew you would come up with something!'

As he walked by, Omoi noticed the chunin drop a piece of paper on his desk, confused, he opened it up… 'Damn, I was getting nervous for a second there…' Omoi began copying all the other answers down onto his own sheet, giving a slight smirk when he noticed he had the code right.

*Jonin Lounge

Kakashi sent Yugito an eye smile. "Man, your genin must have really pissed Kotetsu off while he was in the bathroom, I've never seen him with this much energy before. I must add that placing the lightning kunai was genius though, even watching for it, I almost missed it. Too bad Kotetsu got the paper before your student could."

Yugito shrugged and continued to watch the screen. "I have faith in my genin…"

Exam Room

It was only five minutes later that the test ended and Ibiki called pencils down.

"Now then, are you all ready for the tenth question?" Everyone must have thought that it was rhetorical because nobody answered. "If you wish to take the tenth question remain seated, otherwise make your way from the room."

Now the genin were confused and Kiba stood up, glaring at the man. "Why the hell would we come here if we're just going to walk away!?" The cold look Ibiki sent the Inuzuka boy had everyone shuddering slightly. "Because, if you fail this test, you die…" Every genin in the room's eyes went wide. "WHAT!?" Ibiki's smirk grew even darker. "You didn't mishear. Ever since you entered this room, you've been breathing in large doses of arsenic. If you walk away right now, you will be given the antidote and be on your way. However, if you stay and fail, we will try and get your corpse home in a timely manner…" Ibiki let his words hang, sending chills down each of their spines.

From the sides, Kotetsu's eyes were wide for just a moment before he took a deep breath and calmed his nerves. He locked eyes with Karui and Omoi and they shared a slight nod. 'No sacrifice, no victory… Ninja of Kumo never fail their mission!'

While the Kumo ninja took it well, the others weren't so willing.

Temari of Suna stood up with a glare. "You can't do this! Our villages are allies!" Ibiki's smirk never changed. "You think we're only going to kill you? Don't count on it. If their jonin-sensei overestimated their abilities, then our ninja will be lying next to you at the end of the day."

One of the Ame ninja spoke, his voice shaky as he mustered the courage to even open his mouth. "What about our village leaders, if they find out about this, you're facing war…"

"HA! Yeah right! When your leaders sent you here, they did so knowing that six out of ten don't survive!"

The room was dead silent for nearly an entire minute when finally a man stood. He was an older genin from Konoha with a goatee. "I can't do this! I'm not ready to die!"

Kotetsu's eyes widened as he realized that he was in his row. With a quick glance at his clipboard, he mentally began to freak out. 'How the fuck can this guy read this!? 5? No 58? No... Oh!' "Number 50 you fail, along with 101 and 134… Pack your stuff and leave."

Before 'Kotetsu' could finish his sentence, another ninja stood, this one was the boy from Ame. "Sorry you guys…" Naruto chuckled as he realized that the floodgates were open. Soon, dozens of hands went in the air. Before long, only the more steely eyed ninja remained.

Ibiki's eyes scanned the crowd for any hint of fear he could use, but found none. "Last chance for survival, if you wish to leave, raise your hand now." After a few seconds, nobody even made a move, prompting Ibiki to give a slightly smile. "Well then, congratulations on passing …" It took the ninja a second to process what the man said.

"Pass?" It was Omoi who spoke, his voice laced with confusion. Ibiki's creepy smile crossed his face again. "Yep, you have nothing to worry about, there was never any poison." However, Kiba was less than satisfied. "If that's all we had to do, than what was the point of the rest of the test!?" Ibiki's smile hardly changed. "Information is the most important asset a shinobi can have. As most, if not all of you realized, this test was too hard for the average chunin to pass. However, we placed several chunin around the room to give you someone to copy from." Slowly, Ibiki began unraveling his bandana. "Information isn't enough, you need to make sure it is accurate information. This is what can happen if you base your mission around false information." Suddenly, the entire room gasped slightly at the sight of Ibiki's scarred head. Burns and cuts covered the man's skull.

The large man was about to continue but his eyes darted towards the window, only to see a black ball smashing right into it, sending glass flying as a black banner was stuck into the roof with kunai.

*Jonin Lounge

Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai sighed. "There sure is no lack of sadism in this exam…" Yugito looked confused as she watched a woman unfurl herself from her banner, revealing herself to be an attractive woman around the same age with very generous curves that weren't hidden by the mesh bodysuit she wore.

Yugito raised an eyebrow at the woman's appearance. "Who is that?" Kurenai looked slightly embarrassed. "She's my best friend and Ibiki's apprentice in the art of torture."

Yugito looked at the Konoha shinobi with confusion. "What's with Konoha using the Torture and Interrogation Squad for something like the chunin exams?" Kakashi could only shrug and give her an eye smile. "It's how we roll…"

*Exam Room

"I'm the second exam proctor! The incredibly sexy Anko Miturashi! I hope you're ready to die!" The woman held her pose for a minute before Ibiki peeked around the banner. "You're early again, Anko." The purple haired woman's face went red when Ibiki called her out. However, she caught sight of how many genin were left. "Wow, still 17 teams, are you going soft on me, Ibiki?" Ibiki didn't respond to his assistant and Anko started looking at each of the potential chunin, mentally judging on their ability. However, she stopped when she came across Naruto. 'Hmm, focused but not overconfident, well-toned signifying a lot of physical training, not to mention his chakra levels aren't half bad either. He's probably going to make chunin, I'm just curious.'

Anko shocked the clone when she sent a kunai, straight for his face. He was unable to dodge in time, but brought his arm up to protect his face, causing the kunai to imbed itself deep into the boy's forearm. "Gah, you crazy bi…"

Poof

Anko, Ibiki, and all the chunin were shocked when the boy went up in a cloud of smoke. Anko turned to Ibiki with an incredulous look on her face. "You let a shadow clone take your test?" Ibiki's eyes were narrowed on where the clone had been. "I suppose since he isn't here, he fails his test, Number 48, 132 and 111, you fail…"

"You're a real bitch you know that!" Everyone looked over, shocked at Kotetsu as he stood, glaring at the special jonin in the front of the room. Anko narrowed her eyes at the man. "Excuse me? Did you just ask me to kill you?"

Kotetsu just scoffed as he stared defiantly at the woman. "No, I said you fucked up a perfectly good plan because you're impulsive, brash and immature." Anko's eyes narrowed as she gripped a kunai, ready to kill the stupid chunin.

Poof

Everyone was surprised when Kotetsu was surrounded by a cloud of smoke. 'Transformation?' After a few seconds the smoke cleared, revealing Naruto. "Your chunin is in the last stall of the bathroom, bound and gagged." Everyone in the room had wide eyes. 'He beat Kotetsu and didn't even give off enough chakra for us to sense it!?'

*Jonin Lounge

Kakashi, Kurenai, Gai and Asuma each had their jaws dropped while Yugito and Darui chuckled. "Things are never boring with G around, are they?" The Konoha jonin still couldn't believe what they saw.

*Exam Room

After a minute of shock, Ibiki spoke again. "Impressive, I guess you pass after all." Naruto did not look happy as he took his old seat. 'Damn it! I was hoping for some inside information by posing as Kotetsu…'

Anko however, was staring at the boy with interest. "Your squad leaders know where and when you need to meet tomorrow, don't be late."

*Following Morning

The remaining genin gathered outside a large fence, it was lined with signs warning people away. Omoi couldn't help himself. "Well, this looks charming…" Naruto smirked as he looked around.

In a cloud of smoke, Anko appeared, standing on the fence. "Welcome, genin to what will probably be your last days among the living. This here is Training Ground 44, more commonly known as the Forest of Death."

Towards the back of the group, Sakura gulped slightly as an ominous feeling washed over her. She looked towards her teammates and saw sweat falling from Sasuke's forehead and Hinata shivered slightly.

"Each team will receive either a heaven or earth scroll. Your goal, is to acquire the other one before arriving at the tower in the middle of the forest. Anything goes…"

*20 Minutes Later

Naruto stretched out his back as they arrived at their gate. "Man, am I the only one that didn't sleep well last night?"

Karui couldn't help it as she rolled her eyes. "That's because you were missing your funbag twins." Naruto looked at his teammate in confusion. "What…?" Karui chuckled as she started groping her chest. "Sensei's…" Naruto's face went beet red after that. Eager to change the subject, Naruto brought up their situation. "Ok, we have a Heaven scroll and need an Earth."

Omoi nodded as he got involved. "Yeah, I figure we have two possible options here, we can either run around the end of the forest and hope we find someone, or we can head straight to the tower and try to ambush anyone that makes it there." The other two Kumo ninja thought for a moment before Karui spoke. "Why not both? We can do a chevron movement pattern towards the tower and cover more ground on our way to the tower. If we don't get the other scroll by then, we can set up an ambush…" Naruto and Omoi nodded, slightly shocked and their faces displayed said shock. Karui looked at the two in confusion. "What's wrong?" That snapped them out as they seemed embarrassed now. "Well, that's actually a really good idea…" Karui's eyes narrowed at where they were going. "So?" Omoi placed a hand on her shoulder. "Well, you're not exactly the 'good idea' type…" Before Omoi could move, her right fist swung around, catching his jaw. "SHUT THE HELL UP, OMOI!"

As they were discussing, a chunin landed next to them. "The exam starts in two minutes, at the sound of the bell, you may enter the forest."

BING!

Suddenly, over 60 battle ready genin shot over the fence, ready for a fight to the death.

That's it! I can't believe I devoted an entire chapter just to the Written Exams… Let me know what you thought, I'm curious. Now, you might notice Sasuke doesn't have his Sharingan yet, he doesn't have it because they never went to Wave. The only reason they got their first C-rank is because Naruto complained…