Three days later, many ninja filed into the Academy as the time for the first part of the exam drew close. Three particulars ran up (well, two ran; one walked lazily) and joined each other at the doorway. "Hey, you're participating too, Shika?" Naruto asked.
"Do you have to ask?" Shikamaru retorted, then said, "Even if Mom hadn't strongly suggested that I do so, I couldn't just leave you two hanging. We're a team; we're in all things together."
"Right! Let's get a move-on!" Naruto declared as they walked into the building and, after dropping their paperwork off, made their way to the room where they were told the exam would take place.
When they got there, they heard people shouting "Hey, let us in!" and "Move out of the way!", among other such things. Naruto was about to say something, but Shikamaru stopped him and whispered "Genjutsu." Understanding what he meant, Naruto nodded and walked with him and Hinata to the next floor. There, in silence, Shikamaru continued softly. "That first stairway was a genjutsu; we'd never left the first floor. We're in the right place now."
"Why not dispel the genjutsu, then?" Naruto asked.
Shikamaru sighed and replied, "And have all those teams to compete against? No; far too trouble- er, it would improve our chances of being promoted if we had fewer teams to contend with." As he said this, he saw several teams come up the stairs behind them. Sound, Grass, Leaf, and Cloud teams eventually made their way up, though only half of the teams had figured out what Shikamaru had realized.
"That was annoying," Ino muttered as Team Seven, the last team to make the time limit, made their way to the real classroom. "I can't believe we didn't figure it out. Good thing you had your Sharingan, Sasuke."
"Yeah. I wonder how many other teams made it up here," Sasuke said as they entered the room. "It's a good thing that Lee guy had the decency to not shout it out to everyone."
"He would have, were it not for Chouji restraining him by covering his mouth," Shino said as he entered with Ino and Sasuke. The only difference he now showed was a slight slowness caused by his new weapon: a broadsword that was strapped to his back. He had obviously been training with it, because despite its size being smaller than a normal broadsword he carried it as if he'd been carrying it for years. His physique had also changed, though because of his bulky coat he did not look much different.
Most of the foreign teams did not notice the new team as they conversed with each other. The only ones who did were the Sound team, who were standing in the corner. One Kin Tsuchi, the female of the group, eyed Shino and his broadsword and made a mental note to investigate the new swordsman. 'Mist is known for swordsmanship, but according to the information our leader gave us the Leaf did not have such credentials. I must find out what changed... or if we weren't given all the information to begin with.'
Little did she know that Shino had already placed a kikai bug on her and everyone else to gather intelligence. 'Hm... the girl seems harmless enough, though if I know anything about women it's that they cannot be underestimated. I wonder why she's staring at me...' His eyes scanned the room as he received signals from all of his planted bugs. 'The rest of the Sound team could be formidable, though the one with the gauntlets would make an easy target for me. The Grass team is easy prey, overall, though the female is hiding something. I don't recognize that one Leaf team, especially the guy with the glasses... I must find out about them. The Sand team looks to be the strongest of the group, especially considering the fact that my kikai bug wouldn't even approach the red-haired kid. The Cloud and Rock teams probably won't make it past the first part of this exam; must be saving their best for when it's their turn to host.'
As the Rookie Nine huddled together, the unfamiliar Leaf team approached. "I thought as much. New to the Exam, right? The name's Kabuto." The man with the glasses held out his hand and shook the hands of some of the other Leaf teams.
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Nice to meet you!" Naruto responded. "I don't remember seeing you around much during the training times."
"My sensei loves to take long missions outside the village," Kabuto said, waving his hand as if it was nothing. "I'll tell you what, though. I've been doing this for awhile, and the best weapon for this is intelligence."
"'A while'?" Sasuke asked. "This isn't your first attempt at the Chunin Exam?"
Kabuto chuckled sheepishly and said, "Yeah, this is actually my seventh attempt, and to be honest given the contenders I don't see myself moving on this time either."
'Seventh? Man, this guy is weak!' Sasuke thought, though he wisely said nothing. "What do you mean about the contenders?"
"Well, I specialize in information gathering. Want to see?" Without waiting for a response, Kabuto pulled out a deck of cards. "By reading my chakra signature, these cards can tell me everything I've seen or read."
Shikamaru's internal red-flag went off immediately. "Alright, please tell me about Gaara of the Sand, Neji Hyuuga, and Sasuke Uchiha."
"Aw, I was going to pull out some names at random to impress you; it's no fun if you already know the names," Kabuto pouted as he pulled out three cards. "First: Gaara of the Sand. Wow, this guy's intense. It says he's been on 30 D-rank missions, 10 C-rank, and even an A-rank mission!" Everyone's eyes opened wide at this. "Also, apparently he's accomplished every mission without even getting a scratch! I wonder how he pulled that off."
"Yeah, he doesn't seem to be the type to move around a lot," Naruto commented. "Still, not to get a single wound?"
"Yup. Next up: Neji Hyuuga. 50 D-rank missions, 50 C-rank missions. Apparently the prodigy of the Hyuuga Clan and the strongest genin to come out of the Academy since Uchiha Itachi," Kabuto recited. "His knowledge of the Gentle Fist is unmatched in his family, except perhaps the clan head..." Looking up, he noticed Hinata frowning and said, "No offense to present company meant, of course."
"None taken," Hinata replied, though Naruto and Shikamaru knew that it was still a somewhat sore subject with her.
"Lastly," Kabuto continued, "we have Uchiha Sasuke. 41 D-rank missions, 12 C-rank missions, and... wait, 1 C-turned-A-rank mission?! Man, if that doesn't solidify your talent as a ninja, nothing will! Anyway, apparently it was a mission to retrieve documents from an old outpost, but his team ran afoul of a rogue Mist ninja and his employer, the former Mr. Gato of Gato Shipping Co., who'd been using the outpost as a base of operations in Wave Country."
Shikamaru's eyes narrowed, knowing that the Wave mission was never filed as a C-rank, and its details were secret. "Okay, any serious contenders from the other foreign teams, aside from Sand?"
"Well, Rock and Cloud are always solid," Kabuto replied, not noticing Shikamaru's suspicious attitude. "Grass is an unknown, but Sound is a new village. I wouldn't expect much from any of their teams for awhile."
Shikamaru noticed that the gauntlet-wearing genin from Sound glaring at Kabuto and starting to make his way forward, so he said, "That's an unfair assessment. The unknown is ALWAYS the greatest threat; you should know that if you've really been through this seven times." Kabuto found himself in Shikamaru's shadow and unable to move under his own power. Sasuke took his cue from Shikamaru and took the cards out of Kabuto's hands, then pulled out a lighter and used a tiny amount of his chakra to expand the flame and torch the cards.
"No! What did you do to my cards?!" Kabuto asked in surprise.
"You should worry about what would've happened to you if I hadn't intervened, or did you not notice the man from Sound ready to knock your block off!?" Shikamaru replied.
"Yeah, and why should we trust you for anything?" Naruto asked; despite being slightly behind still, he realized through Shikamaru's actions that Kabuto could not be trusted. "No one offers intelligence without reaping benefits of their own! What do you gain from showing us those cards?"
"W-what don't you gain from knowing more about your enemies?" Kabuto retorted.
Shikamaru leaned in close and said, "Who are you working for? Tell me before I crush your windpipe."
"Y-You wouldn't! You'd be kicked out of the Exam, or even killed for attacking a fellow Leaf ninja!" Kabuto responded.
It was then that Naruto noticed something shiny sticking out of Kabuto's pocket. He pulled it out and looked at it, shocked to see a musical note on the metal plate instead of the leaf. "This is all the proof we need. Hinata, go get the proctor; if I know him at all, he'll LOVE to know that we have a spy or, worse, a traitor here." The girl ran off as they continued to stare Kabuto down. His teammates would have jumped in to help, but Haku and Sai were restraining them at kunai-point.
A minute later, a huge man burst into the room and stormed to where Kabuto was standing. Two ANBU appeared and grabbed the bespectacled genin. "Take him and his team to T&I. Anko will have some fun with this one, I think." They quickly knocked Kabuto out and took them away, then the man nodded once at Shikamaru and Naruto before moving to the front of the room. "Sit down, maggots!" Quickly everyone scrambled to a seat. "Rule number one: there is to be NO fighting during this part of the test without my say-so. If anyone tries to so much as reach for their kunai pouch or make a hand sign will be kicked out immediately! Now, this first part of the test is a written examination. Don't expect it to be easy like in school; you will be tested on everything you should have learned up until this point. You'll start out with 100 points. For each question wrong, you will lose ten points. If you lose more than fifty, you will fail the test. Nine questions will be on the paper, and the tenth will be given at the end of the exam." By this point everyone had received their test sheets and were waiting. "You have one hour. Begin!" Immediately everyone's heads went down as they began to read over the first question and attempt to answer it.
By the time 45 minutes had passed, Naruto knew he was doomed. He mentally banged his head against the desk, remembering every time in the Academy that he'd had a test outside of Iruka's class and he'd been given tests that were far harder than what everyone else had (he knew because he'd once taken a glance at Shikamaru's paper). During that time he noticed some people being kicked out for some reason, but it wasn't until afterward that he'd learned what was going on: they had been caught cheating. In addition, there was some rank odor that he couldn't place but was making him sick, though it didn't seem to be affecting anyone else.
"Naruto..." Hinata whispered (though it was in the volume she always used to use), "you can copy my answers if you want."
"No, thank you. I know you want me to pass, but it wouldn't be honorable to cheat off of you," Naruto whispered back. "Thank you for being concerned about me." He then turned back to his test, not seeing Hinata light up again.
At the 55-minute mark, the giant man shouted "Alright, stop! It's time for the last question!" All heads looked up as the man spoke. "Here's the rules for this: you can choose whether you want to take this last question or not. If you do not, you automatically fail and will have to wait until next time to retry. However, if you decide to take the question and get it wrong, you will be permanently banned from the Chunin Exam and thus making you a permanent genin for the rest of your career. Whoever is unwilling to answer the last question, simply raise your hand and the assistants will escort you out." A couple of hands went up and their owners left the room. "Anyone else?"
Naruto looked over and noticed Hinata's right hand trembling with fear. Inch by inch it slowly crawled its way up and before he knew it, he'd jumped to his feet and shouted "Bring it on! I'm not afraid of some silly test question!"
The large man's eyes locked right onto Naruto's. "Are you sure, boy? Are you willing to risk being a genin for the rest of your career?"
"You betcha! I'm going to be Hokage someday, so I'm not going to let something so silly as a simple test question scare me into hiding from whatever comes next! If I fail, then I'll simply be the first genin to become the Hokage, believe it!" Naruto retorted.
The man looked around the room and smiled to himself as he saw the fear that had previously hung in the air completely gone from everyone else who'd stayed in the room. "Alright. You all pass."
"..." At first stunned silence filled the room, but Naruto (again) was the first to speak up. "Wait, what? You didn't even give us the last question, let alone grade the tests."
"The first part was to measure your information-gathering skills, but even that is of secondary importance to the lesson of the last question: strength in the face of uncertainty." He removed the headband and skull-cap he was wearing and showed the myriad of scars on his bald head. "Many times you will be unable to find the information you're looking for and be caught. Anyone who is unwilling to face possible torture is unworthy of being a ninja; anyone who lets fear control his decisions is unfit to live. So congratulations to everyone here." The bell went off right then and there and he reached over to stop it. "My name is Ibiki Morino. I learned many lessons of being a ninja the hard way, as you can clearly see, but I have held strong to my convictions. I am glad to see so many people who are willing to face what I've faced without losing courage." He turned and, after fastening his headband and skull-cap back on, he stepped out of the room.
"Man, nice work, Naruto!" Kiba said as he came up. "I was freaking out when he started talking about the last question. I didn't think that it was all a trick!"
"I felt like he was being a bully, so I simply called him out on it," Naruto replied. "By the way, you didn't fart or something, did you? I smell something weird..."
"Wow, I thought it was just me, but it's not a fart. It's a snake... a strong one, too, if I know anything about animals," Kiba replied.
"A snake? Why would snakes be in here?" Naruto asked.
Shikamaru came up and said, "Because Kabuto wasn't the only spy, I imagine..." Just then a tall man wearing a mask came in and whistled sharply.
"Let's get going! The second part of the exam is about to begin!" Zabuza shouted before turning to leave.
Before he did, one Mist ninja shouted, "Hey, why's there a traitor among the Leaf!?" He was about to say more, but he didn't get a chance as Zabuza's sword came flying at him, cutting all of his hair off and planting itself in the wall just behind him.
"Let's get one thing straight, boy," Zabuza replied as he approached the Mist genin, "I am not a ninja of the Mist, nor have I ever been a follower of someone of the likes of the current Mizukage. My services and loyalty are to a leader who has proven time and again his faithfulness and reliability; NEVER call my loyalty into question, or the next hit will be lower." Having walked up, he yanked the sword out and held it against the genin's neck. "Are we clear, boy?"
"Y-Y-Yes, sir!" the boy choked out.
"Good." Putting the sword back against him, Zabuza led the teens out of the building, making a note to send for repairmen to take care of the giant hole in the wall.
…
"Lord Hokage, we have a problem," Ibiki said as he entered the older man's office.
"Yes, Ibiki?" the Hokage asked, looking up from his paperwork.
Ibiki bowed and began, saying "There was a team from Sound posing to be one of our own teams. In addition to that, the same students who ferreted out the spies also made mention of a particular scent in the testing hall. 'We smell snakes, and I remember from history that snakes have never been a good thing for the Leaf' is what it said. The handwriting was of the Nara kid and the paper was Uzumaki's, but the best nose in that group belongs to the Inuzuka."
"Orochimaru... he's moving faster than expected. What does he want?" the Hokage muttered to himself as he thought. It didn't take very long to realize what was going on. "Sasuke! He's going after Sasuke... and the next portion of the test is in the Forest of Death." Suppressing a mouthful of curses, he looked up at Ibiki. "Pull Team Seven out of the exam. Come up with any sort of explanation that you can."
"They've already entered the forest, sir. Plus, remember that Master Jiraiya set up traps that only Orochimaru could set off. I'll assemble several squads to enter in pursuit, though, if that would set your mind at ease, sir," Ibiki responded.
The Hokage nodded. "Alert Jiraiya as well; you'll need all the help you can get."
"Yes, sir!" Ibiki saluted, then disappeared.
Sarutobi turned and looked outside, pushing aside the urge to go after his wayward student himself. "I thought he'd just be after me... but how did he slip in unnoticed?"
…
Indeed, it had already been an hour since they had begun the second portion of the Chunin Exam. In Training Field #44 was a forest that no one usually entered, aside from those who were skilled enough to brave the danger. The forest was a relic from the era before ninja were known, crawling with giant bugs and other such monsters. In the middle was a tower that served as a lookout during the old wars, and to reach it was the first requirement of this test. The second was to reach it within a week; a jonin could reach it in a day and a half, less if in a hurry, but a genin team could reach it in five days if they went straight. The problem with this was two-fold: one, the forest was so thick that it was easy to lose one's way; two, there were thirteen other teams gunning for the same spot, and one of them had a particular item that was needed at the tower. Half of the teams were given a 'heaven' scroll, and the other an 'earth' scroll. The object was to make it to the tower with one 'heaven' and one 'earth' scroll. This automatically cut the number of teams making it to the tower in half, so a genin team would have to dodge assaults from other teams day-in and day-out and make attacks of their own.
Thus Team Ten was not very far in when they were suddenly approached by the team from Rock that had passed. "You think you're clever to find those spies, huh?" one of them asked. "I'll bet you all staged that so you could make yourselves look better. Guess what? We're not falling for it! Earth-style: Mud Bomb jutsu!" He began to make seals as he spoke, but quickly found himself unable to move. His teammates quickly split up and went after Shikamaru's teammates. Reflexively, Naruto made several Shadow Clones and quickly overwhelmed his opponent. The other Rock team member fell swiftly to Hinata's precise Gentle Fist strikes, and soon the speaker was all alone as Shikamaru's shadow quickly retreated. "Hey, not fair! We should have had the advantage; we jumped you first!"
"There is no 'fair' in this profession," Shikamaru replied. "Now, give us your scroll and we'll let all of you live." Unsheathing his swords, he added, "But if you don't, we'll kill you. We'll be fast since we don't have time, but don't think of us as weak."
"Grr..." Uttering several curses, he threw his scroll at them, grabbed his teammates, and made his way back to the edge of the forest.
After they were out of earshot, one of Naruto's Shadow Clones went over and picked up the scroll, at Shikamaru's request. Making sure it wasn't a trap, it came back and muttered "They had the same scroll-type that we have."
"Good," Shikamaru replied. "If we run into any of our Leaf teammates that need an earth scroll, we'll give it to them; in return they have to help us get a heaven scroll and get to the tower."
"That's a good plan, Shika," Naruto replied. "Hinata, nice work! I think that was a new record."
"Thank you, Naruto... I've been practicing really hard," Hinata replied shyly.
Shikamaru looked around. "Naruto, send your Shadow Clones to scout ahead, to the right, and to the left. Make sure there's no people around... or any of those giant spiders, ether." He shivered involuntarily as he remembered the spider they'd avoided ten minutes after entering the forest.
Naruto nodded to his clones; they nodded back and leaped off to scout around.
"Hinata, what do you see?" Shikamaru asked.
"I don't see anything- wait, further in. Looks like someone is fighting another team," Hinata replied. "It's odd, though; it's a one-on-three, but the one is clearly dominating the match."
"Let's scout it out," Shikamaru said. "Regardless of what he was, Kabuto was right about intelligence being very valuable." They nodded and went off to see who was fighting.
Just far enough out to see yet also remain unseen, the team watched as a Grass ninja expertly weaved her way around the attacks from a Cloud team and, after playing with them for several minutes, dispatched them with one hit each. Surprisingly, the girl shook her head in disgust and left for another section of the forest without checking any of the bodies for a scroll.
"This is weird..." Shikamaru muttered. "Hinata, is there anything nearby?"
"No, there's a whole bunch of dead bugs and human bodies, but that's it," Hinata replied.
"I'll go get the scroll, then, and come right back," Shikamaru decided. "If it's a trap, then you two come in and help the best you can. Try and fight so that we can figure out a way to escape." With that, he cautiously crept forward. Once he hit the bodies, he deftly searched the bodies until he found the scroll. He quickly ran back to where Naruto and Hinata were sitting and said, "Okay, we're set. Let's get out of here, and fast; I don't like this one bit."
…
Several hours later, they ran into Team Seven, but found themselves in a predicament. The same Grass ninja that they had run into some time ago had just shown up. "Come on, Sasuke, let's go!" Naruto said. Unfortunately, Sasuke was frozen where he stood.
"Yesss, Sssasssuke," the girl said, "You should lisssten to your friend. He knows how dangerous I am. After all, he sssaw me wipe out that Cloud team."
'Oh no, she knew... but how? And why?' Shikamaru thought to himself. "Naruto, get Sasuke and the others out of here. Shino and I will hold... it... off." Going through the hand signs, he muttered 'Shadow Possession jutsu,' and his shadow lanced out at the Grass ninja. Naruto, who had finally shaken Sasuke out of his stupor, managed to get him out while Ino and Hinata provided cover. Shino drew his sword, but this was a ruse as he also began sending his kikai bugs out to drain the intruder's chakra.
The Grass ninja chuckled as she deftly evaded the shadow. "It's a nice attempt, and I have to admit that I'm impressed that the old man hasn't let you all go down the drain in this 'peaceful' time. Too bad you have no idea who you're dealing with."
"Oh no..." Shino muttered. "My bugs are dying from his chakra; I can't drain him. Shikamaru, we must retreat immediately."
"I know... I'm just buying time, but given the difficulty we're having it's going to be t- difficult to do even that. Go; I'll continue to buy time," Shikamaru said. Shino nodded and went the same way that the others had gone, having already recalled the kikai bugs he'd sent.
"Sssacrifice... sssuch a noble tasssk," the girl said. "Better hurry, or elssse I might think twice about not killing you. You've given them enough time, though I assure you it isss all for nothing." As she said this, a giant snake appeared behind her.
Shikamaru knew that this snake was summoned and quickly canceled the jutsu before leaving as quickly as he could, putting as much distance as he could between him and the snake. "Why does this happen to me?" he wondered as he ran. He somehow managed to catch up to the rest of the group, but he quickly found out why: the snake had cut them off, as had the girl who'd summoned it.
"Who are you, and what do you want with Sasuke?!" Naruto shouted.
"Kukuku... sssurely you know who I am..." As 'she' said this, her skin began to peel off. Behind the Grass facade was a pale man with golden eyes, jet-black hair, and the longest tongue one could ever imagine anyone having.
"Orochimaru..." Ino whispered. "He's Anko-sensei's old teacher... and was one of the Hokage's students; he's one of the Sannin. We can't take him..."
"Yes, we can!" Naruto objected. "Shikamaru, do you have a plan?"
"... I don't even know what he can do, aside from apparently summoning snakes; I've got nothing..." Shikamaru replied.
"Kukuku... yes, just stand still and accept your- AUGH!" A field of energy appeared around Orochimaru, who had begun to summon chakra to use a jutsu. He was quickly brought to his knees as he struggled against it. "Jiiiiraiiiiyaaaaa...!"
"Got an idea now," Shikamaru whispered, then followed it up with his plan. Everyone nodded, then began quickly making their way to the tower. After several minutes, the trap's power finally wore out and the old man stood up shakily, not noticing that his snake had disappeared. Being in a state of disorientation, he staggered in one direction for several minutes before it finally wore off and he got his bearings. Seeing a mess of footprints heading in one direction, he turned and headed in the opposite direction, thinking to catch up with the kids.