I do not own Naruto. That should be obvious. Why would I be writing fanfiction if I did?
Instructions to get character art on profile if curious!
The room slowly started to fill with occupants, all intending to take the Chunin exam. The only team I had yet to see was team seven. I had looked into their team after the confrontation with the sand ninja. The team was composed of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno and were genin under Kakashi-sensei*.
From what I could pull up on Kakashi Hatake, I could see he was habitually late. Usually making up strange or implausible excuses as to why he isn't on time. Hopefully the Jonin's habits won't rub off on his students.
Moriko-sensei would frown upon three more ninja never arriving on time. She was the kind of person to arrive an hour early to training or a mission. A habit she has instilled in my team.
I glance over to see the watchful eyes of the sand ninja, unimpressed looks on their faces. Of course they aren't impressed. Kuro was hyperactivity and constantly shifting his attention to different things. Shiro looked about as threatening and a newborn. His short stature and small build had that affect. Even the fact he was handsome lowered his intimidation level. I myself was well a girl and even shorter than Shiro, likely because I was the youngest. However since we are not intimidating teams are likely to underestimate us, leaving us with a chance to surprise them in a fight.
Aki hissed at the sand nin from Kuro's shoulder, both their tails twitching in agitation at being watched. Shiro raised his hand in a lazy half wave. I, well I gave them a blood thirsty grin. Showing I'll hold up to my promise if they cause any trouble.
I would have continued to stare at them, however an orange blob demanded my attention. That could only be one person of course. Naruto Uzumaki.
Almost everyone in the room was staring at him, except for Gaara and Shiro. The both of which could probably care less about his antics. I slowly started to walk up to him while he talked to a silver hair boy, who seemed to be instructing him to not make any enemies, causing them to quickly look at the disgruntled crowd of people.
Kasumi growled, a dangerous sound. "Snake." I knew if I was to ask her what she meant she wouldn't answer. I would have to go off the assumption I am to not trust the boy.
"See those guys from the rain village? Very touchy, they all are." The silver snake informed the group of rookies, not that my team weren't rookies. "The exams make everyone tense and you don't want to rub them the wrong way right now, you're just rookies. You remind me of myself awhile back."
"Kabuto, is that your name?" Sakura, the pink haired girl, asked. I made a quick mental note, don't trust Kabuto.
"Yea."
"This isn't your first time you've taken the exam?"
"No, this is my seventh. Well they're held twice a year so this will be my fourth year." Kabuto explained.
"You should be wary. Some of us don't play games and aim to kill." I speak up from behind Naruto. The blond ninja jumps away in surprise. "Especially my team." With the warning in place I move back to my place, barely paying any attention to the rest of the room. However my curiosity is peaked when I hear Sasuke state in quick succession, "Gaara of the Desert, Rock Lee of the Leaf amd Akuma of the Black Sand."
"Man that's no fun, you even know their names." Kabuto pulls three cards from his deck. "Here they are. Okay first up is Rock Lee. Looks like he is about a year older than you guys. Mission experience, Eleven c-ranks and twenty d-ranks. His squad leader is Might Gai and the last twelve months his tai-jutsu radically improved, but his other skills are pretty shaky. Lat year he got a lot of attention as a genin but for some reason he chose not to participate in the chunin exams. This will be his first time as a candidate, same as you guys. His teammates are Tenten and Neji Hyuuga."
"Okay now for Gaara of the Desert. Mission experience, eight c-ranks and get this one b-rank as a genin. There is not a lot of information on this guy. He was a rookie from another land originally but there is this. He survived every mission without getting a scratch on him."
Kabuto pushes his glass back up with his fingers. "Last but not least Akuma, Demon of the Black Sand. She appears to be the same age as you and for her mission experience she has no d-ranks, fifteen c-ranks and a single b-rank. Her and her squad receiving few injuries. As her name suggests she is a demon in battle and fights by using her own black sand. Get this. It is not uncommon for her opponents to be found dead after having sand forced down their throats and then outwards. The corpses are said to have been identified by their dental records. Genjutsu is shaky but her ninjutsu is quite high. Her tai-jutsu s average, likely to cover a weakness. Her squad leader is Moriko Sarutobi and her teammates are Shiro Karasu and Kuro."
"If you don't want to be killed I'll give you some friendly advice. If you see me or my team, run." I give them a simple crazed grin before I saunter back to my teammates.
"How's the competition Akuma-chan, nya?" Kuro asks, happy I'm come back to save him from the strange and curious stares at his cat features. "Is there anyone we should worry about?"
"Of course not Kuro." Shiro says with a laugh, his smile directed at his taller companion. "Few genin could outclass us, my speed, Akuma's defense and your sensing abilities? You'll have figured out a hundred and one ways to take them down before they ever reach us."
Before I can reply a man's voice yells out, "All right you baby-faced degenerates pipe down and listen up! It's time to begin. I'm Ibiki Morino, your proctor and from this moment your worst enemy." I sweep my gaze up over his body. From his posture I'd have to say torture specialist. The way he speaks only confirms it. "First, you candidates from the village hidden in the sound knock it off. Who told you, you can fight? You want to be failed before we've even begun?"
"Sorry, it's our first time. Guess we're a little jumpy." A boy responds, his face covered in bandages, leaving only one eye exposed.
"I'll say this once so listen up. There will be no combat between candidates, no attacking each other without the permission of your proctor and even then the use of fatal force is strictly prohibited. Anyone who thinks of messing with me will be disqualified immediately. Got it?"
"Hmph. No fatal force, that's no fun." The teammate of the bandage guy states disappointed. I can't help but agree with him.
"Now if we're ready we'll proceed to the first stage of the chunin exam. Hand over your paperwork, in return you'll each be given a number. This number determines where you will sit. We'll start the written test once you're all seated."
Naruto starts to freak out from his place at the back of the classroom, likely unprepared for a written exam. I receive my number and look at it. One hundred and one. Quickly and with ease I find my seat. I could give the blond a million guesses and he'd never guess I would be seated next to Gaara. As I sit down Kasumi stirs again before she finally wakes up. "Shukaku." She whispers the name like it is poison in her mouth.
'Shukaku? Who?' I ask her mentally. 'Another demon?' Kasumi doesn't answer me. She doesn't speak with me, her low and worthless container. She would only warn me should something place me in danger, as my death would result in her own. However before I can ponder more on the subject, Ibiki starts to speak once more.
"Everyone eyes front. There are a few rules you need to be aware of, and I won't answer any questions. So you better pay attention the first time around. Alright rule number one is this, the written part of the exam is conducted on a point reduction system. Contraire to what some of you may be used to, you all begin the test with a perfect score of ten points. One point will be deducted for each answer you get wrong. So if you miss three, your final score will be seven. Rule number two. Teams will pass or fail based on the total scores of all three members." Sakura started to shout something, likely about it being unfair with Naruto as her teammate, she was quickly silenced by Ibiki.
"Silence! I have my reasons. So shut up and listen. Rule number three. The sentinels positioned around the room are there to watch you carefully for any signs of cheating and for every incident they spot they will subtract two points from the culprit's score. Be warned, their eyes are extremely sharp and if they catch you five times you'll be dismissed before the tests are even scored. Anyone fool enough to be caught cheating by the sentinels doesn't deserve to be here. If you want to be considered shinobi then show us what exceptional shinobi you can be. One more thing! If any candidate should get a zero and fail the test, then entire team fails. The final question won't be given out until fifteen minutes before the end of the testing periods. You'll have one hour total. Begin!"
I flip my paper over and slowly read through each and every question, careful not to miss any details. There is no way a genin would be able to solve any of these questions. What doesn't make sense is why there is only a two point deduction for cheating. In any other exam you'll fail immediately for cheating but why not here? A ninja could just easily glance to the side, gather the nine answers and write them down, giving them a score of seven before the final question. Unless…Of course! They want us to cheat. Ninjas must be masters of deception and info gathering so this must be what this is about!
Since we must gather the information from somewhere, there must be at least two people sitting among us who have the answers, one in the front and the other in the back. Now to find out who has the answers. I look at my paper, silently observing the ninja around me. Within a few minutes I see a ninja finish answering the sheet before restarting. He must be a plant.
My sand slips out of my scroll with ease before it flows on top of the man's pencil. From the movement of my sand I start to carefully record each and every answer. I look up at the clock, astonished to see I figured it out and found an insert within twenty minutes. Not too bad. Now to help Shiro and Kuro. I allow my sand to slither over to their positions and write each kanji on their desks.
Thirty minutes go by, Kuro and Shiro have both completed the copy, when I am knocked out of my boredom by a chunin calling my number, stating I was caught cheating five times.
I stand up calmly and speak in a dangerous monotone. "Amazing to think I was cheating within the last ten minutes when I finished over twenty minutes ago." My sand swirls around my wrists in agitation. The man quickly flushes in embarrassment. He quickly amends his mistake with the call of number one hundred and two. The boy had looked at my paper prior to my number being called.
I passed the time by cleaning dirt from under my fingernails with a kunai knife. It wasn't too long after that before Ibiki started to speak once more.
"Alright listen up! Here's the tenth and final question…" He stops and takes a pause. "But before I give you the question, there are some more rules that you need to be aware of." Kankuro at that exact moment returned from the bathroom and Ibiki gave him a knowing look. "Ah made it just in time. I hope you found your trip to the bathroom enlightening. Well? Take your seat. These rules are unique to question ten. Listen carefully and try to not let them frighten you. Very well then. Rule number one. Each of you is free to choose now not to be given the final question. It's your decision. If you choose not to take the tenth question, regardless of your answers to the other nine, you'll get a zero. In other words you fail and that means of course both of your teammates fail as well. Not so fast." He states when the murmurs of why anyone in their right minds would choose to fail start to circulate.
"You didn't let me finish. If you do accept the question and answer it incorrectly you will not only fail but you will be barred from taking the chunin exam ever again!" Many outraged cries break out, some from the rookies, others from seasoned exam takers. Ibiki lets out a malicious chuckle, similar to my own at times. "I guess you're just unlucky. I wasn't making the rules before but I am now. Of course if you don't want to take it, you don't have to. If you're not feeling confident then by all means skip it. You can come back and try again next year." He starts to chuckle once more. I think I like this guy. He really knows how to mess with people, I guess it comes with being the head of the interrogation unit. I remembered where I heard his name when I was waiting for this question.
"Now then if you're ready for the tenth and final question. Those of you who don't want to take it raise your hand. Your number will be recorded then you're free to go."
Hands start to slowly raise throughout the room, the owners muttering apologies to their teammates. My team and I should be able to handle this question. Even if we fail we will be alright. We don't do d-ranks anyways.
Surprisingly Naruto slowly raises his hand. What is he doing? He never quits so… That train of though is quickly cut short as Naruto slams his hand down on the table with a resounding boom. "Don't underestimate me! I don't quit and I don't run! You can act tough all you want but you guys aren't going to scare me off! No way! I don't care if I do get stuck as a genin for the rest of my life." He shouts, standing up. "I'll still be hokage someday!"
Seconds tick by yet no one leaves the room. Naruto's speech managed to strengthen the resolves of the remaining ninjas.
"This decision is one that can change your life. If for any reason you would rather quit now for this is your last chance."
"No way. I never go back on my word. That's the way of the ninja." Still no one gets up. It appears the little moronic ball of sunshine has a gift. A gift to change people and inspire people to make a better decision for them and their comrades.
"Well then I admire you determination, nothing else. For those of you remaining there is only one thing left to do and that is for me to tell you, that you all pass the first exam."
"Whoa! Hold on! What just happened? What do you mean we passed? Where's the tenth question?" Sakura yelled out.
A grin crosses Ibiki's features and he starts to laugh. "There never was one. Not a written one at least. Actually your decision to stay was the answer to the tenth question."
"Wait a second. So the other nine questions you gave us were just a waste of time, is that what your saying!?" The blonde sand genin yells out in frustration.
"Oh no. Not at all. Quite the opposite. The first nine questions had an important overriding purpose. To test your ability to strategically gather intelligence under the most adverse circumstances."
"Oh well that clears up everything." The girls speaks again, however with a sarcastic tone. 'Temari-Onee.' A little girl's voice says in my head with a childish giggle.
"Let me explain. You see my objective was to test you not only as individuals but as a team and on how well you functioned as part of that team. That's why the test was scored on a team bases. So that you would know that everything you did or failed to do would directly effect your teammates. I wanted to see how you would handle the pressure."
"The first nine questions on the test were difficult. In fact as you may have realized too difficult for any genin to be expected to solve. I imagine that most of you quickly came to that conclusion. That you would have to cheat if you would have any chance of passing. The fact is this test was designed to encourage cheating, it almost demanded it. Of course it would have done you little good unless you had someone to cheat from. So I disguised two chunin who already knew the answers and had them sit in with you. Those who were caught cheating were failed. Better not to cheat than to cheat clumsily. Information can be the most valuable weapon in battle. How well you gather intelligence can determine whether a mission is a failure or a success. There will be times where you have to risk your like to get it."
He pulls his bandana off to reveal holes, burn marks and scars across his scalp. Gaara sits completely undisturbed by the mess, same as I. I have created ones bigger after all. Ibiki starts to speak again before he replaces it. "Of course you must always consider the source of your information. Intelligence gathered from an enemy is not necessarily accurate. Always bear this in mind. Disinformation can be worse than no information at all. It can lead to the death of your comrades or the lost of a village. That's why I put you in the position where you had to gather accurate intelligence. Cheat in order to survives and that's why those who aren't good enough at it were weeded out. Leaving the rest of you."
"Okay but I'm still not getting what the tenth question thing is all about." Temaru tells him.
"Your not? The tenth question was the whole exam. Surely you see that?"
Ibiki's lecture starts to bore me so I tone it out. Is it that hard to believe at times you must risk your neck to gather intelligence? Suddenly a black bag comes flying in through the window, quickly followed by a woman.
"Heads up boys and girls. This is no time to be celebrating. I'll be your next proctor, Anko Mitarashi." The woman states, well yells.
*Kakashi-sensei - While not their teacher, they would use the sensei honorific.
Well here's chapter 2. Hope you like. Comment/Review/Send me hate.