Chapter XXI
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
A/N: Just hang in there, guys. This chapter starts out a bit slow, but it gets infinitely better. Trust in the AI, for she has the Log's ear… in a jar… on the mantelpiece…
There's the room, Naruto thought.
301? So soon? But you only went up one flight of stairs, Shujin pointed out. Naruto ignored him. If it said 301 on the sign, he was going into that room. Just then, he noticed a disturbance outside of the door. He, along with the other members of his team, pushed through the crowd to see what was happening. A boy sat on the floor, having just been pushed down by the two older genin guarding the door. They were sneering as the boy wiped blood from the corner of his mouth.
"No way. If you can't so much as get past us, you have no place in the Chunin exams," The boy on the left said roughly.
"Yeah, we've failed the test three times in a row. This is for your own good. We're just taking out the ones who won't make it, anyway," The boy on the right said, folding his arms.
While Naruto stepped forward, fists clenched with fury, Sakura hung back, quickly spotting Ino in the queue and drawing her aside. Like her, Ino was frowning at the sign above the door. "What's with the genjutsu?" Ino asked.
Sakura had noticed something wrong with the sign as well, but had not quite known what it was. "I'm not sure," she admitted. She watched as a girl with her hair done up in two buns stepped forward to defend her friend and was knocked to the floor. "What those two are doing is wrong," Sakura said.
Ino nodded. "In more ways than one," she agreed.
Meanwhile, Naruto, who had made his way to the front of the crowd, faced the two boys who were guarding the door. He did not look at those two genin whom the boys had knocked to the floor. "We all know the risks of this test, and those who don't will soon find out," Naruto growled. "It's not your place to add to our challenges. Everyone here has proven himself or herself one way or another."
Sasuke, who had forced his way through the crowd after his blonde teammate, put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, though his touch was a gesture of support rather than restraint. He activated his Sharingan, hoping by that demonstration to show the two boys who they would have to deal with if they picked a fight with Naruto. However, as soon as the tomoe settled into place in his red irises, Sasuke gave a tight smile. "It's okay, Naruto." To the boys, he said, "By all means, keep up your vigil on this door. I'm sure the sensei it belongs to will thank you. Now, if you don't mind, I'll be taking my team and these people up to the third floor and the real room 301."
The boys exchanged a look before the number above the door behind them rippled and blurred, the numbers distorting until they settled down, forming the number 201. The boy on the left smirked. "Impressive. You saw through our genjutsu. But you'll need more than that before we let you move on." Without warning, the boy crouched and his leg shot up, aiming a high kick at Sasuke.
He had reckoned without one thing, however: Sasuke's still-activated Sharingan. Almost before the other boy had begun to move, Sasuke released Naruto's shoulder, accidentally shoving him away and throwing off his balance. Sasuke ducked under the kick and his hand snaked out to jab the boy in the chest and push him backwards. Before he could complete the move, however, there was a blur of green right in front of Sasuke's face. A split-second later he found his wrist and his aggressor's foot held in a surprisingly strong grip.
The boy who had first been knocked to the floor by Sasuke's aggressor had managed to insert himself between the two combatants and stop their movements dead before they could reach each other. Sasuke was surprised, but he recovered quickly, shaking the boy's hand loose and stepping back. The green-clad genin released the other boy's foot rather harder than necessary.
Another boy pushed his way through to the open space in the crowd. He had pale eyes and two straps hung down from his hitai-ate. "What happened to not showing off?" He asked the green-clad boy. The latter bowed his head in submission. The boy with pale eyes sighed in exasperation before turning to Sasuke. It was only then that the Uchiha thought to deactivate his Sharingan.
"What's your name?" The pale-eyed boy asked.
Sasuke threw up his hands in disgust. "It seems like everyone wants to know that lately. I don't know you, so why should I tell you my name?" The pale-eyed boy shot him a look of scornful derision before he pushed past Sasuke to get to the stairs that led to the next floor.
Sakura dived forward. "Come on," She said, grabbing Sasuke and Naruto's hands and pulling them toward the stairs. Oscar hastily followed, having finally extricated himself from the crowd. When they had gained the foot of the stairs, there came a shout from above them.
"Hey! You with the name!" Sasuke looked up, confused and annoyed. In an instant, someone had vaulted over the edge of the balcony from the floor above. It was the green-clad genin who had stopped Sasuke's attack. As he got to his feet, the members of team seven surveyed him. His black hair was shaped into a smooth bowl-cut which did not hide his thick eyebrows. He was wearing orange legwarmers and there were long strips of bandage wound around his hands. "I am Rock Lee," he said solemnly. "Now you know my name. What's yours?"
Sasuke looked at this challenger critically, though, for just a moment, a spasm of scared recognition flitted across his face, not noticing Naruto stirring beside him. "Sasuke Uchiha," the dark-haired boy said reluctantly.
Lee raised a stiff hand in front of him, palm-in, to chin-height, the other hand curled into a fist and pressed to his lower back. "Fight me, Sasuke Uchiha." Out of his line of sight, Sasuke could hear the agitated whispers of Naruto and Oscar. He felt a warning touch on his arm, though from whom, he could not tell.
Sasuke stuffed his hands into his pockets, considering, weighing his options. "No thanks," he said eventually. He registered the whispers of his teammates cut off abruptly as they fell into a shocked silence.
Lee tilted his head curiously. "Why?"
"Because if I beat you in a fair fight, I want to do in in the presence of the judges of this exam so I get credit. Also, just in case I lose… well, that would be really embarrassing. I wouldn't want to lose right in front of my team."
Lee frowned, his eyes betraying his warring emotions. "No," he suddenly snapped. Without another word, he dashed forward, drawing his fist back. Sasuke only had time to fall back a step before there was a flash of metal and a thump and Lee jerked to a stop. Everyone's heads automatically turned to the stairs, seeing the bun-haired girl and pale-eyed boy from before. The girl held another shuriken at the ready. It was then that the members of team seven saw what had stopped Lee. The bandages that swaddled his right hand had come unraveled and the end was pinned to the floor by a shuriken.
"Lee," the bun-haired girl said sternly, "The boy said no."
Lee made a slight bow in the direction of his teammates. "My apologies, Tenten, Neji. That was most unyouthful of me." Lee bent and tugged the shuriken that held him immobilized out of the floor. With a toss, he sent it spinning back at Tenten, who deftly caught it and carefully stowed it away. Lee then turned and inclined his smooth head to Sasuke. "I apologize to you, too, Sasuke Uchiha. I have acted wrongly."
Tenten and the boy with pale eyes, Neji, descended to the level of the other genin. Their eyes passed over the rookies without recognition or even interest. After several long moments of silence, Naruto stepped forward and cleared his throat. "Hey, guys," he said.
The members of team Gai surveyed him coolly. "Who exactly are you?" Neji asked.
"Naruto." They looked at him with uncomprehending, with And-That-Means-What-To-Me? looks on their faces. "You know, Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto said desperately. When they still did not seem to understand, he sighed. Then he screamed, "I will become Hokage one day!"
"Oh!" Lee and Tenten said, while Neji just looked scornful.
"Naruto!" Lee said. "You've changed!"
"So have you," Naruto said, eyeing Lee's attire.
"Hang on," Oscar said, "Am I missing something? Do you know these kids, Naruto?"
"In a manner of speaking," Neji said stiffly. To the Hyuuga boy's surprise, Naruto gave him a dirty look. Naruto and he had never seen eye-to-eye when they had been in the same class in the academy, but Naruto had never been downright unpleasant to him before.
"Yeah, I didn't know them very well, but we were all in Iruka's class together the year before I graduated. Tenten, Lee, these are Sasuke, Oscar, and Sakura, my teammates."
"A four-man team?" Neji asked. Naruto did not deign to respond.
"So, you think you're ready to be a chunin already, Naruto?" Tenten asked. "Rookies hardly ever pass, you know."
"We're not just any rookies," Naruto said grinning.
"Oh yeah? What makes you so special?" Neji asked. Naruto ignored him again, but it didn't matter as Lee answered for him anyway.
"The flames of their youth make them strong!" He declared. The members of Kakashi's team could not help but notice Tenten and Neji's resigned looks at that.
Oscar, however, got a gleam in his eye. To Lee he exclaimed, "Oh! You're a pyromani-" With the ease of long practice, Sasuke and Sakura each slapped a hand over Oscar's mouth. He struggled for a moment before good-naturedly accepting defeat.
Sakura glanced at a clock hanging on the wall. "We have ten minutes left to get to this meeting we're supposed to be attending. Shall we?"
Team Gai had gone on ahead as team seven had dawdled, so they were already inside the room by the time Naruto, Sakura, Oscar, and Sasuke reached the door to the real room 301. Naruto pushed open the door and then stood, paralyzed by what he saw. Sakura and Sasuke craned over his shoulders to see beyond the doorway and Oscar ducked under his arm. It was an amazing sight. Nearly three hundred genin were crowded into the enormous lecture. They varied in ages and descriptions almost as much as they varied in origin, sporting hitai-ates from all over the Elemental Nations.
Finally, Sakura gave Naruto a dig in the back and the four of them moved into the room, allowing the door to swing closed behind Sasuke, who was last.
"Hey," Naruto said brightly, looking around, "Who knows, this could be fun!"
"Or deadly," Sakura muttered.
"Or both!" Oscar said, thoughtfully.
"Hey, you rookies," came an unfamiliar voice. A tall, pony-tailed boy stood before them. His mid-length hair was silver and he wore round glasses and a hitai-ate with the familiar leaf symbol of Konoha.
"Who are you?" Sakura asked.
"Kabuto Yakushi, but that doesn't make a difference at the moment. Turn around. See those guys behind you?" The rookie genin turned to see several nasty-looking genin, each with four vertical lines on their hitai-ates and all with aggressive expressions. "Those genin are from Amegakure. They, along with everyone else here, are a little tense, what with the imminent threat of dishonor or death, so you may want to keep your voices down a bit. It wouldn't take much to set them off."
"What about you?" Sasuke asked. "You seem pretty composed."
"I'm not a rookie like you guys, am I?" Kabuto smirked.
"Oh yeah?" Oscar said, "Just how many times have you taken this test already? Twice? Three times?"
"Six times," Kabuto said, without a hint of embarrassment or shame. "This test is held biannually, so this is my fourth year."
"So you already know a lot about the people here?" Sasuke queried.
"Some of them, although I don't know anything about those ninjas from Otogakure." Kabuto pointed out a passing team of genin, each of whom wore a hitai-ate bearing a simple musical note. "They're new. I hadn't even heard of that village of theirs until today."
Naruto had been watching the sound-nin in question. As Kabuto spoke, Naruto saw them stiffen and stop in their tracks. The one in the middle, who wore bandages wound all around his head, was turning his face from one of his teammates to the other as though conversing, though Naruto could not make out the words. "Hey, Kabuto, I think they heard you," he said. Almost before he finished speaking, the sound-nin seemed to reach some decision. The one in the middle nodded and the one on the left turned, leaping high into the air and whipping several kunai down at where Kabuto was standing. The silver-haired boy dodged back so that the kunai fell short. Practically before he had stopped moving, the boy with bandages all around is head dashed up to him and, while Kabuto was still off-balance from his slide, threw a punch at him. To the admiration to the rookie genin watching, Kabuto was able to lean back in time and avoid the blow completely. He stood up straight again, a satisfied smirk playing around his lips.
Then, suddenly, the lenses of his round glasses shattered. Puzzled, Kabuto raised a hand to remove the frames, but his hand suddenly froze in mid-motion, a look of shock on his face. A thin trickle of blood dripped steadily from his nose. He had just time to exchange baffled looks with the rookie genin before he fell to his hands and knees and retched, vomiting with a sickening noise.
"Whoa," Oscar said, "That guy from Oto didn't even touch him. Cool."
"Don't get any ideas, Oscar. I bet he used a special technique," Sasuke said, sweatdropping at Oscar's look of disappointment.
"Aw," he whined, "I want to be able to make people throw up."
"You already do," Sasuke muttered, eliciting an unintentional giggle from Sakura.
Just then a booming voice filled the hall, silencing all of the chatting genin. "Shut up and listen, you pathetic brats!" There was a loud 'poof' and the front of the hall was suddenly wreathed in the smoke of a mass Shunshin. The smoke quickly thinned and vanished, revealing an entire group of Konoha shinobi, each one dressed in the uniform of an exam proctor. The man who was standing ahead of all of the others, the one with the painful-looking scar ridges across his face and the black trench coat over his uniform, spoke. "Thanks for coming. I am Ibiki Morino. If you want to pass this first test, you're going to have to impress me as well as my fellow examiners. No fighting until we give you the go ahead, and even then, no killing. That means you, guys from Otogakure. You pull a stunt like the one you just did, and you'll automatically fail and be disqualified."
The genin from Hidden Sound growled their apologies. Ibiki continued, "Alright, you've all sweated enough, so let's get right into it. Come up here and collect one of these numbered tiles. You will sit in the seat that corresponds to the number you receive. There will be no switching seats, boys and girls. You aren't academy students anymore. When you've all been seated, we'll give you the tests." Ibiki held up a thick sheaf of papers.
Naruto stared at the papers in disbelief; and he wasn't the only one. You're kidding me. We're taking a written test?
So it appears, Shujin said disapprovingly. I must say, it seems an odd concept.
I'm with you there, buddy, Naruto thought grimly, going up to receive a tile printed with the number fifty-three. He took his seat, carefully matching up the number tag on the desk and the number on his tile. One row in front of him and two seats over, he saw Oscar take a seat. Cool, they seated us really close. Just then someone edged past behind him and sat down in seat fifty-four, right next to him. He turned to look at who it was, just in case it was someone else he knew. "Hinata!"
She smiled at his obvious delight. "Hello, Naruto-kun."
"This is cool!" Naruto said, but before he could expand on that statement, Ibiki called for silence from the front of the room, getting everyone's attention by grabbing a new piece of chalk and setting it to the board at the front of the room and slowly dragging it down the board so that is squeaked and screeched.
"Listen up, brats. Before you turn over your tests and start, I need to go over the rules of this test." There was a ripple of surprise. "What, you children didn't think this was going to be easy, did you? Of course there are rules! Now shut up, because I'm only saying this once and there will be no questions. First of all, this test has a point system, regulated by myself and the other proctors. You each start out with ten points. The test consists of ten questions. For every question you get wrong or leave blank, you lose one point. If we catch any of you little bastards cheating, you lose two points. Another thing- this is a team test, even though you take the actual tests individually. At the end, the scores of all of your teammates will be added together and the sum of them will be what determines if you move on, or are dropped out." There was an outpouring of outrage and disbelief at this. Ibiki turned to the Chunin closest to him in said in a voice that was not seemingly excessively loud, but that everyone in the room heard perfectly, "I guess all of us proctors can go home. No one's passing this year." Everyone quieted immediately to hear what the scarred man had to say. "Just one last thing." Ibiki looked around slowly, lazily, making eye contact with the genin watching him. "If any of you should lose all of your points, not only will you be kicked out, but so will your team and all of you will fail. Better luck next time. You have one hour. You may… begin!"
Naruto flipped over his paper and wrote his name on it. He turned his eyes to the questions. Question number one… Naruto read the question through. Once. Twice. Three times. Each time it seemed to make less and less sense to him. Okay, skip that and come back to it. Naruto scanned the second question, but it made no more sense to him than the first. He could feel a cold sweat beginning to prickle on his scalp and the back of his neck. His eyes skimmed over the other questions, his dismay deepening with every word his bemused and beleaguered mind registered. Shit! I don't even understand this, let alone know the answers!
What's wrong? Whispered a voice in Naruto's head. Naruto's eyes widened slightly in surprise. Of course! Shujin! How could he have forgotten the fox-boy, tucked away in a corner of his mindscape?
What's wrong is that I don't get this test at all!
Why don't you cheat off of someone?
Weren't you listening? If I'm caught cheating, I'll lose two points!
Only if you're caught…
Shujin! I'm not cheating off of someone else!
Fine, fine, whatever. There was a considering sort of pause. Let me take a look, at least, Shujin thought. Naruto couldn't feel what Shujin was doing, but he assumed he was taking a look through Naruto's eyes. The blonde boy made haste to drop his gaze to the paper. After a minute or so, Shujin began to mumble. Hm. Interesting. What if- no wait, I forgot humans have no tails. Well what if… nah, the judges would never go for that. Hang on, what's that question? Uh, nope. Don't know that one. That one, either. I don't even know what that one's asking. These seem awfully advanced…
Finally, after almost ten minutes, Naruto risked asking, Well, can you help me?
Perhaps. Can you take a closer look at that last question? Naruto stared at question ten. 'This question will be revealed forty-five minutes after the test begins. Listen to the examiner closely before answering.' Hey! I think I know that answer to that one! Shujin said excitedly.
It's not even asking anything! Naruto stopped himself from screaming.
Oh. Shujin sounded disappointed.
Naruto smacked his forehead on the desk. Ow. Okay, new idea. Get the mindscape to send you some reference material. There was a stunned silence. What?
That's actually… a brilliant idea. Just hang on a few minutes. As Naruto waited, he closed his eyes so that the judges wouldn't think he was cheating, allowing his enhanced hearing to explore to large hall. He could here rustles and whispers and the scratching of pencils. Somewhere above and behind him, he could hear Kiba's voice whispering, 'Yosh! What's the next answer?'
After several minutes of internal silence, Naruto asked, Shujin-kun?
Yes?
Do you have what you need?
Wait a moment… yeah, here it is, Shujin said.
What do you have? Naruto asked curiously, opening his eyes and picking up his pencil.
A copy of your academy textbook from Iruka's class, Shujin said.
Great! Hurry and look up the answer to number one!
All right, just a sec. Naruto heard the creak of a new book spine and the rustle of pages turning, then a pause. He almost jumped when a loud clap resonated through his head. Captain, we may have a problem.
What is it?
Didn't you ever read your textbook back in the academy?
Well, no, not really, why?
There's nothing in this copy. It's just nine hundred blank pages in a book cover.
Shit! I guess my mindscape can't recreate information I've never seen before. Naruto lowered his pencil. What should I do?
Just then, Hinata, who had been watching Naruto struggle from out of the corner of her eye, noticed that he hadn't written anything on his paper except for his name. I can't just let him fail! She thought, Not after he stuck up for me that time when we kissed…
"Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered. She kept her eyes on her own paper but from her peripheral vision she saw his glance at her before dropping his eyes to his own paper.
"Yes, Hinata-chan?"
"You can cheat off of me."
Naruto's head twisted around in surprise, but a warning note from Shujin made him look away again. He caught the eye of one of the proctors at the front of the room. The man was tapping a pencil against the edge of the clipboard he was holding, and every now and then he would mark something down.
What should I do?
Do not mess this up! She wants you to cheat off of her. It would be a shame to disappoint her.
But if I cheat, we'll get in trouble!
No, Naruto, listen to me. Do not- but Naruto stopped paying attention to Shujin. Hinata drew a question mark on the side of her paper. Naruto sighed a bit. Whatever he said to Shujin, it was a waste.
"No Hinata-chan. If I cheat, both of us will get kicked out. It's not worth it. I know you're smart enough to pass, and you're just going to have to trust me to get through this, too."
Hinata hesitated, then gave a tiny nod. Good, now that's settled, what do I do?
Cheat!
Besides that!
Well, the only other thing that has the remotest chance of working is if you just try to bluff your way through it. Make it all up. Use complicated terms. Restate the questions but add words so it looks like you wrote more than you did. Draw diagrams even if you're just showing exactly what the question already tells you. Use variables. Just be sure you have something down for every question.
You know what, Naruto thought dismally, I'm just desperate enough that I'll do it. Here goes nothing.
Literally.
Naruto once again took pencil in hand, automatically glancing at the clock as he did so. A good twenty-five minutes had already passed. He got down to work.
Ten minutes later, Naruto was staring at question number nine. I don't even know how to begin to bullshit this answer, he thought.
What will you do? Shujin asked. Naruto thought for a few moments, pencil poised. Finally, he put tip to paper and drew a smiley-face.
You're kidding, Shujin said.
I'm telling you, it'll work!
Uh, no, it won't, Shujin said.
Then I guess we agree to disagree.
I'm sorry, but I don't think I can even agree to that after the sheer stupidity of what you just did. Are you even paying attention to me?
No. I wonder what Oscar's doing. On the pretext of lifting his paper up to check his answers, Naruto glanced down to where his teammate was seated. Just as he looked, Oscar turned his paper over. Face up. He hasn't even started yet? No! Oscar! We need your ten points! Wait, what's he doing?
I believe he is doodling in the boxes where the answers are supposed to go. Shujin sounded slightly stunned. Wow, someone who's actually worse at this than you are.
This is bad… How long do I have until the tenth question? He had ten minutes.
Look over your answers again, Shujin urged Naruto.
It won't make any difference. What's done is done. Naruto turned his paper face down. Beside him, Hinata did the same. When the lavender-eyed girl saw the gloom that had settled over Naruto, she instinctively put her arms around him. Without thinking, Naruto returned the gesture, and they sat there hugging and not speaking for a good minute or two. Eventually, there was a throat-clearing noise behind them. Naruto looked up to see Sasuke seated in the row behind, only a few seats down.
"What are you doing, dobe?" Sasuke hissed.
Naruto grinned. It was too good an opportunity to miss, particularly after the way everyone had been treating Sasuke as the leader of their team of late.
"Oh yeah," Naruto said, not troubling to keep his voice down, "I forgot that you're a virgin, Sasuke." Naruto rubbed Hinata's back, hoping she would forgive him for what he was about to say next. "Well, this kind of like foreplay. After we both pass this test, we're going to head back to her place-"
"No, your place," Hinata insisted. From what Naruto could see of her, she was blushing furiously, but her expression was cool and collected, detached even, as if she had disconnected her emotions from the situation. Apparently she had decided to just go with it.
"Fine, we'll head back to my place, where I will proceed to ravish her over and over until-"
"Okay," Sasuke said hastily, "I really don't want to know anymore."
The judges continued to make tick marks on their papers, occasionally asking someone to stand up, gather their team and leave. Sometimes the genin who they had called out would become violent, but mostly they would just leave, apologizing to their team.
Finally, forty-five minutes after the test had begun, Ibiki cleared his throat loudly. "Listen up, brats, it's time for the long-awaited tenth question." The scribbling of pencils and the rustling of paper all but stopped. "Now, before we tell you the actual question, I'd like to tell you the special rules for this last question. First and foremost, before you hear what the question is, you must decide whether or not to take it. If you choose not to, you will be failed and you, along with your teammates, must leave and try again in six months. However, pick wisely because if you choose to take it and answer wrongly, you will never be able to take this exam again. Not this year, not ever. You will remain a genin until you die."
There were outbursts all over, shouts of protest. Team members exchanged agonized looks. Hinata and Naruto broke apart as Hinata looked for her teammates. Naruto felt a sinking sensation of impending doom. Of course he would take the question. Of course he would get it wrong. His team would fail and none of them, Sasuke, Oscar, Sakura, would ever progress beyond genin. And it would be his, Naruto's, fault. How would he become Hokage if he were still a genin?
Hinata put a hand on Naruto's shoulder and he covered it with one of his own. "We will now begin the tenth question," Ibiki announced. "All those wishing to leave now and try again next time, please stand up. Once we confirm you, take your team and get out of here." There was a worried silence. Finally it was broken as a boy stood, shaking, on the verge of tears. One of the examiners called out his number as well as his teammates' numbers and the three of them left, cursing and muttering to each other.
Slowly, one by one, genin began standing up all over the room. They were quickly dismissed from the hall along with their teams. Naruto noticed that each one of them wore a look of hopelessness and betrayal, as one condemned to death would look if his head was being put in the noose and he finally accepted that no one was coming to save him. They kept glancing back, searching in vain for another way, another option.
What about you? Shujin asked.
I don't know! Help me! Naruto thought desperately.
Even if you take the chance and guess wrong, it won't change very much about you, Shujin pointed out.
What do you mean? Naruto asked, not daring to see a glimmer of hope.
Whether you're acknowledged as a Chunin or not doesn't make a difference to how strong you can become.
But no one would ever make a genin Hokage!
Why not? It's strength that matters, right? Not titles. Naruto watched another group allow themselves to be disqualified and leave. That look of hopelessness, shoulders hunched, eyes dull and head hanging really got to him. As if they were already dead. Take a risk. That's what separates shinobi like you from civilians.
Naruto banged his fist on the desk in frustration. He could tell he was leaking KI and made an effort to draw it back it. More than a few people were looking at Naruto. It took him a moment to identify the look in their faces. It was hope. They were waiting for him to say something, to make sense of a senseless situation. To comfort them.
Galvanized, Naruto jumped up. He placed his hands on the desk and leaned forward over it, glaring Ibiki straight in the eye from across the room. "You can't get rid of me that easily! I am strong enough to be a chunin whether you know it or not and I will always continue to get stronger, no matter what! I don't need a chunin vest to know that I'm a good shinobi! Shinobi take risks; that's what separates us from the civilians we fight to protect! No matter what decision you make today regarding my future, just know that you came in too late! My future is decided! I will become Hokage despite everything you throw at me!"
"You talk tough, but do you mean it? You might just be throwing away your career and your life." Ibiki spoke quietly, but he was clearly audible in the hush Naruto's words had created.
Naruto smirked, adjusting his hitai-ate. "I will never regret this decision and I will always act according to what I have said today. Because that is my ninja way."
After a moment in which his eyes flitted from face to face, a smile creased Ibiki's scarred face for the first time. "I see that this boy speaks for everyone. Very well. Now, to the twenty-six teams remaining in this room… you officially pass the first test. Congratulations." With satisfaction, Ibiki registered shock on every face.
"Wait," blurted a boy in the second row, raising his hand, "You mean there's no tenth question?"
"Oh, there was a tenth question; to stay or not to stay. And you all chose rightly."
"What about the first nine questions? What was the point?" a girl shouted.
"The point was to test if you could gather information without being caught and to do well because your team was depending on you. The test was purposely designed to be too difficult for genin to answer in order to encourage you to cheat. To that end, we planted a couple of Chunin among you guys who knew the answers. But those who were caught, who did not understand how to conceal their efforts, were failed."
Ibiki reached up and untied the bandana covering his head, pulling it off to reveal craters from screws, ridges, scars, burns in the mutilated flesh of his scalp. Beside him, Naruto felt Hinata clutch his arm in alarm. Gasps rippled through genin and, looking around, Naruto saw that several looked sick. "Information is power in the midst of war," Ibiki remarked, "And people will go to great lengths to attain it. The first part of the test was to disqualify those who did not have skills that are basic to a shinobi should any of you be captured." Ibiki slowly retied his bandana.
"Of course, the second part of the test was even more important. It tested your ability to make decisions, take risks and trust your teammates with your life. If you are ever offered a dangerous mission and you accept, could you die? Of course! You have to have faith in your abilities and the strengths of your teammates. You guys, who made it through both parts of this first test, have many of the qualities necessary to become a great shinobi. I'm proud of you."
Suddenly there was a huge smashing, shattering noise and a large something came crashing through the large windows down one wall. Two shuriken, each attached to the corner of a large banner shot out, lodging in the ceiling. The banner unfurled, revealing the words 'You Have Arrived,' written in three-foot-high letters. In front of it stood a familiar, purple-haired woman wearing a long trench coat and not much else to speak of.
"Don't feel so smug, brats! You've only just begun! My name is Anko Mitarashi and you'll be answering to me for the next test!"
Naruto raised his hand and waved energetically. "Hi, Anko!"
"Naruto? You passed?" Anko looked nonplussed for a moment before rounding on Ibiki. "I told you this test was too damn easy! Ah well, makes it more interesting when I get to fail half of them. Yo! Brats! Meet me here tomorrow at two o'clock sharp! Should give you enough time to write your wills… dismissed!"
"I have to leave, Naruto-kun. Come and find me later," Hinata said. Before she could stand up, Naruto kissed her. They weren't touching save for that single point of contact. She closed her eyes, lingering for a moment before breaking the contact and standing up. "Congratulations," she said. Then she left, edging out of the row until she reached the aisle, where Kiba and Shino hailed her. Naruto watched her go.
Sasuke vaulted over the desk before him, landing heavily beside Naruto and flopping down onto the bench next to him. Sakura joined them, sidling down the row and taking Hinata's vacated seat. Naruto hopped up and sat on the desk with his feet resting on the bench so that he could see both of them at once, temporarily forgetting Oscar, still seated in the next row.
"So, how'd you guys cheat?" Naruto asked, a smile forming on his face.
"Used my sharingan to copy the movements of one guy's pencil," Sasuke said casually, "how about you, Sakura?"
"You know how the questions were supposed to be too hard for genin to know the answers?"
"Don't tell me," Sasuke said.
"Well, I didn't cheat…"
"You are such a nerd, Sakura," Naruto said.
"Oh yeah, what about you, dobe," Sakura shot back.
Naruto waved a hand airily. "Shujin helped me."
"What, the Kyuubi knew all of the answers?"
"Well, not exactly, but he helped me…"
"Hey Oscar! How about you? How did you get the answers?" Sasuke called down to where the dark boy sat, hunched over his paper.
Oscar looked up, a glazed and slightly disoriented look on his face. "What do you mean? Wait, where is everyone?" Oscar looked down at his test paper. "Damn! I'll need to ask for a new paper; I drew in all of the boxes!"
Sakura gave Oscar a funny look. "The test is over already."
"What? Oh geez, do you think they'll let me take it again?" Oscar asked.
"Why do you want to take it again? It's over; you passed."
"But I didn't write anything!"
"Doesn't make a difference."
Oscar tilted his head to one side in confusion. "Can you fill me in on what just happened?"
"As long as you can listen while we walk," Naruto said.
"Why, where are you going?" Sakura asked.
"I though maybe we could go to Ichiraku's to celebrate."
Sakura and Sasuke exchanged looks. "Who's paying? Not it."
"Not it."
"Not it.
"Not it- shit."
After team seven had finally left, Ibiki and Kotetsu Hagane, one of the Chunin proctors, went around collecting the tests. Ibiki paused when he reached seat number fifty-three and picked up the test paper there. Naruto Uzumaki. "Hey Kotetsu, look at this. You know that kid who made the speech during the tenth question? Well, this is his test."
Kotetsu, who was in the row in front of Ibiki, craned over the desk to take a look at Naruto's test. "None of those answers make any sense! He didn't really answer a single question. I wonder if anyone tried to copy off of him. Hey, what's that he wrote for question nine?"
Ibiki took back the paper. "I don't believe it. That kid's got nerve. He just drew a smiley face for question nine! I like this guy."
"Hey, you think that's something, you should see this one," Kotetsu said, holding out a paper he had just picked up. The back was entirely covered in little ninja stick figures, some in more classical poses, some in decidedly odd ones. One stick figure was playing a board game with another, who was cursing; one was encased in a fireball and was surrounded by little sparkles. One figure controlled a puppet while another seemed to be trying to possess the same puppet. One was being chased by a mob of stick-women wielding fans while another was being chased by a mob of stick-demons. Kotetsu turned the paper and exclaimed. "This kid even filled all the answer boxes with pointless doodles! He must have spent the whole hour doing this! He didn't even write his name on the paper!"
"I wonder what lesson he took away from this," Ibiki mused.
A/N: And so the first test draws to a close! The events didn't exactly follow those of canon, but it was close. Just a few notices...
-The point Naruto made about drawing a smiley face and getting credit for it... this is based off of a true story. A boy in my math class recently got back a quiz on which he got an unusually good grade. He showed it to me and I noticed that under the extra credit question, he had drawn a smiley face and had written nothing at all. The teacher drew a question mark there and gave the kid three extra points.
-Please do not ask who ended up having to pay for the ramen... the point is that it doesn't matter.
-I hope you appreciated Shujin's part in this chapter.
-Naruto is cold-shouldering Neji because he is angry at him on Hinata's behalf.
-For any who forgot, Kotetsu Hagane was one of the chunin who was pretending to be a genin and guarding room 201, which had a genjutsu on it at the time so it looked like room 301
-The scene where Hinata participated in Naruto's banter-well, it is possible, I know for a fact, to do something so mortifying that you can detach yourself from the situation and feel nothing, no emotions or opinions about it, at the time. Hopefully this satisfies you.
-Please take note that I have begun my fic based on a challenge by dracohalo117 entitled Perfection is in the Eyes of the Beholder. For all those who read/ favorited/reviewed for that fic already (or this fic), thank you very much. I appreciate it. The next time I update, it will be to add another chapter to Perfection. (I'm alternating chapters between this fic and that one).
-Before you leave this site, please spare a moment to leave me a review. Thank you!