And…I'm back!
As I said before (or did I? I don't think I did) I went through a phase after I posted a 3rd chapter along with a lot of writer's block, so I apologize for that. I'll be updating a lot sooner from now on. The Wrong World is currently my main focus, so you won't be disappointed. On another note, the Chūnin Exams will veer off from Canon.
Without further ado, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Naruto began to pant as he leapt from building to building without pausing to rest, "Where the hell is this building?"
An accompanying clone shrugged, "It should be right around the area, boss, according to the card."
"Well then why haven't we found it yet?" Naruto shot back, choosing to veer off left.
"I think we've found them," the clone indicated a building to the right of them, where a girl was currently screaming her head off.
"WHAT THE HELL, NARUTO!" The pink-haired girl from yesterday was roaring, "YOU'RE LATE!"
"Couldn't help it," Naruto replied nonchalantly as he landed with his clone, which dispelled with a grin. "And please, no hitting."
"Wha-no-I wasn't going to hit you, baka!" Sakura lowered her fist, which she had been unconsciously cocking back.
"Right," Naruto replied, unconvinced, "so…uh…Sasuke," he plucked the name out of his new memories, "let's get moving, eh?"
The emo-boy grunted as he got up from his position leaning on a wall, "What's with the change of attire?"
Naruto shrugged, "I felt like changing my attire. What, got a problem?" From his memories, Naruto didn't exactly like this guy.
Sasuke snorted as he began to walk towards the entrance, "Just hurry it up, blondie; we're late already."
Naruto glared at his retreating figure before following: I really don't like that guy.
The trio found themselves in a long hall after a short trip up the stairs, where groups of genin were clustered around at the end. There seemed to be some commotion, with the occasional bang.
"What's going on here?" Naruto muttered as he slid in the crowd to get a better view. "Why is everyone just standing here?"
"Look up there, kid," a bystander whispered, pointing up to the front. "Those guys aren't letting us in."
Naruto looked up just in time to see one of two genin kicking another, sending him sprawling to the ground. The victim, who turned out to be a boy with a bowl cut and a green jumpsuit, leapt to his feet indignantly.
"Please, just let us through," this time it was a girl who spoke up. "We don't want any trouble."
"Trouble?" One of the genin laughed, crossing his arms. "You should've thought of that before you decided to try out for the Chunin Exams."
"Hey, Kotetsu," the other genin, with a bandana strung over his head, laughed, "look at these little runts. Trying out for the Chunin Exams, and we didn't make it."
The one called Kotetsu smirked, surveying the crowd. "You can't even get past us; what makes you think you can make the cut?"
Naruto grimaced as he began to take all of this in; Shit. This isn't good; how are we supposed to get through? I'm not sure if I can take them, but the crowd might help out-
"Do us a favor and drop the act," a cocky voice interrupted his thoughts. "We know what you're trying to pull."
"Eh eh eh?" Kotetsu found Sasuke to be the speaker, and smirked. "you wanna have a go, kid?"
Sasuke shook his head with a smirk, "I'll pass on that, thank you very much; now, please, get out of the way. We all know this isn't even the floor we're supposed to be on."
The other genin cocked an eyebrow, "can you not read, kid? Look at the sign and tell me what it says."
"It's a genjutsu," Sasuke said confidently, "those tricks don't work on us. This is actually the 2nd floor, not the 3rd. Say, Sakura; didn't you notice it right when we came in?"
Sakura blushed furiously as this, interpreting it as more of a compliment than it was, "y-yes. Drop the illusion, and let us get to the next floor." The illusion dispelled, and the bystanders were surprised to see the numbers on the sign fade and become 203 instead of 303.
"Oh?" Kotetsu grinned, "confident little genin thinks he's hot shit because he can see through a simple trick?" He lashed out suddenly, aiming a kick at Sasuke's midsection, and Sasuke copied his movements. The two prepared for an impact as their kicks flew, but both were somewhat surprised and disappointed to see the bowl-cut boy in between them, holding their legs.
He's fast…I didn't even see him move! The two thought simultaneously.
"Please, sirs…enough with the fighting," the boy forced their feet down with his hands, despite the obvious strain.
"What the hell, Lee?!" the girl from before screamed, hitting him on the head and prompting him to drop their feet, "what was that for? It was your idea to make it look like we're weak…"
"I'm sorry, my body moved by itself…" the boy sniffed, rubbing his head in pain.
"Heh…" Kotetsu snorted, "whatever. Let's leave these losers, Izumo." The other genin nodded before disappearing.
The crowd began to break up, murmuring and rumors aflutter with the confrontation, mostly directed at the parties involved. Sasuke and Sakura remained standing, the latter mostly blushing and looking away from the former.
Naruto made his way over, looking resentful: "What the hell was that for, emo-boy? You can't resist a chance to show off, neh?"
"A dead-last like you wouldn't understand," Sasuke dismissed his concerns, "we should get moving."
"How about we try laying low, you asshole?" Naruto retorted, "You think what you did was smart, drawing all that attention to yourself?"
"Yeah?" Sasuke growled back, "Then how come you didn't give us instructions so we could follow them, oh-mighty-lord?"
"I didn't think even you could be that stupid!"
"We got past them, so it worked.
"Only in the short run!"
"Well, if you're so smart, why don't you solve it in the 'long run'?"
"Am I interrupting something?"
The two were broken out of their argument to stare at the intruder, who turned out to be the bowl-cut boy from before.
"No, you're not," Sasuke replied smoothly, turning away from the fuming blond. "What do you want?"
"Aha!" The boy gave him a thumbs-up and a blinding grin
As the conversation went on, Naruto took the chance to observe the newcomer. His outfit and overall appearance was comically obvious, with the bright green jumpsuit, legwarmers, etc. His eyebrows also seemed superhumanly large, not to mention the characteristic grin he was always giving off. How the hell was he so fast? Naruto thought perplexedly. Looks like I'll be able to see the caliber of the soldiers in this world through these exams…
The blonde hadn't been paying attention to the conversation, so he was definitely surprised when Sasuke and Lee both took up fighting stances facing each other.
"What's going on?" He asked Sakura, who was watching the scene with great interest.
"They're fighting, can't you see? Now shut up and let me watch!"
Naruto sighed in annoyance; he goes and accepts a public battle right after I told him to keep it low. Whatever; I'll take the chance to assess the abilities of the opponent and see if I'm up to par.
It was going to be a quick fight, Naruto could see; it was obvious that Sasuke was outmatched from the beginning. Lee had managed to overpower him through sheer speed and strength, and now that Sasuke was in the air, there was no way he could win the fight.
At this point, Naruto noticed something peculiar; Lee's bandages, which had been wrapped around his arms, were unwrapping. For something to happen at a time like this; Sasuke may take back the fight after all-no, why doesn't Lee look panicked? He looks like this is supposed to happen…
Suddenly, the bandages began to float towards Sasuke, as if they were going to wrap him up and-
and this was all interrupted by a sudden explosion of smoke, with a man emerging out of it on a…
turtle?
"LEE!" the man roared, shocking Lee and causing both to land on the ground without the technique being completed. "How dare you use that technique!"
"G-Gai-sensei?" Lee stuttered, as if he were a child caught in the despicable act of taking cookies. "I-I"
"Enough with that!" Gai shouted, his voice booming across the hall. "What you just did was very unyouthful, Lee!"
"I am very sorry Gai-sensei!" Lee got to his knees, "I will do 100 laps around Konoha as punishment!"
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
The two spandex-clad men embraced each other in a tear filled hug, and Naruto averted his eyes as to maintain his sanity. "What the hell?! Get a room, you people!"
It didn't seem like the two heard him, or they simply ignored the comment, but they finally broke out of the hug and stood opposite each other.
"So…now that this is over…who are you?" Naruto asked, as he took notice of the man's similarity in both appearance and personality to Lee.
"Aha!" The man struck a pose on his turtle, which had lumbered over. "I am Maito Gai, the Green Beast of Konoha and eternal rival of Kakashi Hatake!"
"Kakashi's rival…is this guy?" Naruto sweatdropped at the absurdity of it all.
"Indeed!" The man roared enthusiastically, "and currently I have the advantage in terms of wins-losses! With an advantage of…1! Who are your youthful new friends, Lee?"
"Hai Gai-sensei!" Lee bowed, eyes shining at the opportunity. "My youthful new friends, why don't you introduce yourselves?"
"…"
"Hey, where'd they go?"
The trio began to pant as they finally reached the exam room, exhaling in relief. "My god, I thought we were going to die there," Naruto panted out as he got up to enter the room.
"Agreed," Naruto shot his Uchiha teammate a look of surprise at his reply, who in turn shot back a glare. The blond shrugged as he held open the door for his teammates, who quickly filed through with an apprehensive glance at the corridor behind them.
The room turned out to be spacious, around the size of a small hall, with two person desks arranged in three vertical rows. Despite its size, it was still crowded due to the massive bulk of the chunin hopefuls.
"Hey! Look what we have here!" A brown-haired boy with facial tattoos and a dog on his head grinned, pointing at the newly arrived trio. His name was Kiba, according to Naruto's memories. "I didn't think you and your team would make it, Naruto!"
Naruto gave him a cocky smirk in reply, "I think that honor should be bestowed upon you, Kiba. After all, I don't see any A-rank missions on your roster."
Kiba flushed, "yeah? Well that was just a lucky fluke, dead-last!"
"Whatever," Naruto cruised past, not even sparing him a second glance. His eyes came to rest on a black-haired girl with pupiless eyes, who was glancing at Naruto nervously.
"Hello, Hinata," Naruto greeted amiably; based on his memories, the girl was one of the only ones who had treated him kindly, albeit she seemed to be quite shy. "How's it going?"
The poor girl flushed a brilliant tomato red at this simple greeting, and looked as if she were on the verge of fainting. "Hey, you all right Hinata? You look sick."
"G-good luck, Naruto-san," Hinata stuttered before collapsing into a dead faint. Her nearby teammate Shino caught her before she could fall, and looked up at Naruto.
"Hey, what's up with her? Why did she participate if she's sick?" Naruto asked, concerned. "She shouldn't have come."
"…" Shino stared at him unflinchingly, somewhat surprised by his inability to sense the situation.
"Whatever, tell her I said thanks," Naruto shot over his shoulder as he walked off, leaving Shino sigh uncharacteristically.
The blond, choosing to ditch all further attempts at fitting in, sat down to observe his competitors. His fellow ninja were all sorts of strange, with one basically being a mummy with only one eye showing, another with a huge brown gourd on his back, and another boy with bleached white hair that was constantly sucking a lollipop.
Naruto's eyes narrowed as he noticed their respective forehead protectors; despite the outward design looking the same, the symbols etched upon them were quite different. So there are multiple countries, here, eh? The blond scanned his memories for supplementary info, based on the info so far, Sunagakure, Village of Sand, Kumogakure, Village of the Clouds, I think I see an Iwagakure, and the last one I have no clue. They all look pretty dangerous-well, with the exception of the lollipop-sucker. He just looks worried.
And the Sharingan…what the hell is that? Naruto thought, thinking back to Sasuke's fight with Lee. Sure, it makes his eyes red. But why did they make such a big deal out of it? It didn't seem to do anything-but I do remember them calling it the Copy-Wheel eye?
Naruto sighed, rubbing his temples worriedly as he laid back against his chair. "So…annoying. I don't get paid enough to save the world. Screw that, I don't get paid at all. But it's a welcome change from my old place, I guess."
"What was that?" The blonde looked up, startled, to find a black-haired boy with his hair done up in a pineapple shape. "Still daydreaming, Naruto?"
The blond cracked a grin at quite possibly the only ninja in here whose intelligence could match his own. "Maybe, Shikamaru. But now I know how you feel."
"About time someone knows," Shikamaru sat down beside him as he also sighed, "if I had my way I'd be sleeping at home."
"I wish I could," Naruto nodded his head in agreement, "and I just survived being-" He cut off, knowing that he should keep his little secret to himself.
"Survived being what?" Shikamaru shot him a suspicious look, wondering what Naruto could possibly not want him to know.
"It's nothing," Naruto dismissed it casually, trying to appear nonchalant. "Just a little dangerous hobby of mine."
Shikamaru glared at him a little longer, before shrugging in defeat. "Whatever."
Naruto smiled at the one constant characteristic of his friend, "you never can.
"Sit yourselves down!" A man at the head of the room roared, startling the blond teen. "And you in the back, no fighting yet!"
The genin assembled around the various sections of the room hastily found themselves seats. Sasuke and Sakura, Naruto noticed, had been part of a group in the back that had been crowding around a silver-haired man with circular glasses. The silver-haired man, who had a deck of cards in his hands, seemed to be at the mercy of the bandaged mummy whom Naruto had noticed before.
Suddenly, a window had popped up as soon as the man finished speaking:
New Quest: Pass the Chūnin Exams
Pass the Chūnin Exams and rank up! Should be easy…right?
Objectives:
Pass the First Exam.
Pass the Second Exam.
?
Pass the Third Exam.
?
Rewards: ?
Failure: ?
Quest Accepted.
Naruto scanned over the window quickly before closing it discreetly when Shikamaru wasn't looking, as to not make him even more suspicious.
"Alright, now, listen up!" The man's voice boomed across the room despite no visible effort. His face seemed to be scarred, and he wore a black trench coat. "I am Ibiki Morino, your proctor for the first exam! Your first exam will consist of ten questions. They are being handed to you right now," he nodded at men who were distributing papers, "and it is your job to answer them to the best of your ability. If you're caught cheating more than 5 times, you and your team will be disqualified. I repeat, if you are caught cheating more than 5 times, your team will be disqualified. You have an hour to complete the test."
As soon as Naruto received the test, he scanned over the single sheet of paper quickly. He only noticed 9 questions, so he flipped the paper over, but it was blank.
"I'm sure you've all noticed by this point," the man pulled them out of their speculations, "that there are only 9 questions on this test. That's because the 10th question is the hardest, and the question that will quite possibly determine your fate in this test. At the end of 45 minutes, you will take the 10th question. Now…begin!"
The jinchuuriki nodded, picking up his pencil as he read the first question. After reading it, he quickly scanned over the first question.
What the hell? Naruto almost cursed aloud as he sifted through his memories, unable to find anything remotely resembling an answer in his brain. He scanned the other questions furiously, all with the same result. Dang…what the hell is this? How should I know the theory and history of some obscure ninja technique? I don't even belong to this world, dammit!
The blonde take a glance around the room, and many of his fellow genin were looking similarly puzzled. However, several select members were scribbling answers down furiously. Judging by the expressions on their faces, they don't know this either…so either this is supposed to find out who memorized the whole goddamn textbook-Sakura looks like she did, based on how she's writing down these answers-or it's supposed to test something else. Naruto let out a huge sneeze, using it as a cover to glance at Shikamaru's test. Shikamaru hadn't written anything yet; but he had put his head on the table as if thinking, and Naruto noticed he had discreetly formed a handseal under the table as to avoid discovery.
So what, he's using a technique to cheat? But…I can't see anything happening…Naruto then realized that Shikamaru's shadow was actually connected to another's (the person in question was scribbling away), and that Shikamaru was mirroring his movements now. So a technique that allows someone to be copied or controlled? Naruto took another glance around the room discreetly, and this time he noticed Sasuke was also writing answers down. Well, that settles it; they want us to cheat. The smart ones seem to have also caught on. But how am I supposed to cheat?
The blonde spun his pencil in his hand as he caught one of the proctors looking at him suspiciously. Crap. They're on to me. Any more suspicious movements and I'm screwed.
At this point, the proctors began to call out names/team numbers as they disqualified members. Disheartened genin filed past, and 45 minutes were now only 20. In my position, looking anywhere else would be fishy. The only way to cheat is to…create a diversion.
Naruto allowed himself a smirk before quickly hiding it when a proctor scanned over his section of the room. The blonde quickly made a show of scribbling down an answer, and the chunin proctor looked as if he were satisfied. The blonde decided to put his plan into action at this point; he pretended to think for a second before dropping his pencil on the floor. He gave everyone who had turned a sheepish expression while mouthing "sorry".
Naruto quickly bent down to the side of the desk while making a show of looking for his pencil. Naruto knew he had around 7 seconds in here before he would begin to be suspected, but the proctor who had been suspicious of him couldn't see his actions in this position.
The blonde grimaced as he groped around his desk; ignoring both the glare Shikamaru was sending him and the dust collecting on his fingers. He used his other hand to slide a shuriken out of his weapons pouch, and reached his arm across to saw a little off the chair of the person in front of him. Naruto made a show of finding his pencil while making as much sound as possible, and held it up when the proctor glared at him; the whiskered ninja got back to his seat before quickly pretending to copy down answers again. Now, all that was left was to wait.
He didn't have to wait long; the shuriken had sawed around halfway through the chair leg, and within five minutes the chair was creaking. The genin sitting in front of Naruto looked down and yelped when the chair crashed to the floor, sending his butt crashing to the floor. "What the hell?!"
Two proctors rushed over, helping the unfortunate boy to his feet. Everyone's attention was now directed at the boy, so while they relocated him, Naruto took the chance to glance at the boy's answers. It wasn't long before he had finished the test; and just in time, too. He had just penned the last answer when the scarred man slammed his hands on a table, "alright, pencils down! 45 minutes are up!"
There was a chorus of groans and protests as the genin put their pencils down, which the man dismissed with a wave. "It's time for the tenth question. Now, the tenth question will not be done on paper; but before we proceed, there are some conditions."
"The conditions are as followed: The tenth question is a question that overrides all other questions on this test. If you get the tenth question correct, then you can proceed to the second exam regardless of the other nine. However, there are serious repercussions if you answer incorrectly." The man paused before answering: "The conditions to take the tenth question are that in the case that you answer incorrectly, both you and your team must withdraw. Furthermore, if you answer incorrectly, you and your team may never partake in a Chūnin Exams ever again, and will instead be forced to live out your life as a genin."
The man let this all sink in, and there was a moment of silence before the genin began to protest. He raised his hand for silence, and continued: "If you choose to, you may withdraw from the exam and choose to try your luck at the exams again, but next year."
This time, there were no protests; instead, silence reigned. The minds of the young genin began to whirr, as they weighed the pro against the cons.
"I forfeit." The first one to withdraw was a nervous looking boy who couldn't be much older than Naruto himself; he looked relieved when his teammates all nodded in assent.
The first forfeit acted like a firing pin; the wall had been broken and now it had set off a chain. However, Naruto only kept his eyes on a certain pink-haired kunoichi's hand, knowing full well what she might do.
Naruto decided to play it safe and tapped Shikamaru on the shoulder, indicating Sakura to him "Hey, Shikamaru, I need a favor."
"What is it?"
Can you capture Sakura with your shadow when I tell you to? Hopefully, I never will. But better safe than sorry, I guess."
Shikamaru pinched the bridge of his nose; "Troublesome…but whatever. Just this time though. You owe me…"
Naruto nodded with a murmur of 'thanks, sure', when he turned back to observe his teammate
Another team forfeited, and the count was now down at 26, and Naruto's suspicions were rewarded when Sakura glanced around wildly and raised a trembling hand.
"Now, Shikamaru!" Naruto whispered urgently, his partner letting out a sigh as his shadow elongated. The pinkette's hand froze in mid-air before lowering slowly, albeit with obvious effort.
"Any more takers?" The man asked, as there had been a pause in forfeits. "No? Then I assume all of you remaining have chosen to take the tenth question."
"Now…you all pass."
Again, silence reigned as his words sunk in. All Naruto could manage was one not very intelligible word: "Eh?"
"You must all be very confused. You see, the first nine questions were formulated such that genin of your level would find it extremely difficult to answer them. As of such, no one could expect you to answer them of your own ability, albeit some did. The exam was designed to test your ability to cheat; our agents, who had answers, were planted in your midst just for this purpose. This simulated the espionage a capable ninja had to carry out in enemy territory."
"You may all still be wondering about the tenth question; the truth is, a ninja's mission may be daunting and life threatening. However, no matter the stakes, it is required to be able to proceed calmly and not give in to scare tactics or difficult conditions-"
There was a shatter, and a blur of purple propelled itself through one of the side windows and landed in front of the scarred man while unfurling a scroll, all in one fluid motion. It read:
"ANKO MITARASHI, YOUR SEXY SECOND EXAM PROCTOR"
"Hahaha! Surprised?! I bet you are! After all, I am none other than your amazing Anko Mitarashi!" The blur had revealed itself to be a curvaceous purple-haired woman, who was shouting enthusiastically.
"Anko…your timing was off…" The man rubbed his forehead tiredly, as if this wasn't the first time.
"Ehehehe, was it?" The woman grinned sheepishly, "no matter! I'll cut your 20 remaining teams down by half! Now, follow me!" She proceeded to again jump out of the window, much to the surprise of her students.
"Sh-should we follow her?" Naruto gestured at the disappearing woman.
"…"
"Just take the stairs."
Annnnndd..CUT!
Well, that was a pain in the ass to write. Whatever. Next chapter the good stuff starts, and so does the long stuff; it'll be more than twice as long as this one. It should be out by around next week, so there's something to look forward to.
From here on out, you can expect longer chapters. I would've made this longer but its mood and tone is so different from the next chapter it really didn't fit.
See ya next chapter, and please review!