An: In thanks of everyone that has left a review as well as reaching two hundred reviews already I've posted the next installment of my story today instead of next week. So again thank you everyone that reviews they really do help keep me motivated on hitting the deadlines I set for myself. Your humble author S.o.t.A
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I'm doing this for fun not profit.
Chapter 13: I should have studied
Five days had come and went a lot faster than Sakura had ever thought possible. Ever since her talk with Ronin she had put a lot of thought into what it was she truly wanted in life. Although she still hadn't come to a definitive answer she decided to participate in the exams, maybe she would learn something from the experience. Arriving at Team Seven's usual spot she found that Kiba and Sasuke were already waiting.
Spotting her arrival Kiba began waving, "Hey, alright you plan to take the exam after all."
Smiling she said, "Was there any doubt?"
"Well not on my part," Kiba replied then sent a sour look Sasuke's way.
Getting what Kiba was implying Sakura couldn't keep the hurt from her face that Sasuke had doubted her even if he had been almost right. She sent a silent thank you Ronin's way for giving her the pep talk that convinced her to go through with the exam.
Sasuke though just pushed off from the railing he was leaning against and said, "Whatever can we just get going."
Kiba said, "Relax, we got plenty of time to get to the academy."
They made it with at least forty-five minutes to spare, upon entering a wave of nostalgia washed over Sakura as she thought about all the memories associated with the building. While they weren't all good at least back then everything seemed simpler. Following on auto pilot she stopped with them on the second floor where a bunch of genin had stopped and were being blocked from entering a room.
She was still lost in thought when Sasuke asked her something. Quickly focusing on what he said she immediately noticed the genjutsu on the sign and dispelled it. She then became aware of a green clad genin who was invading her personal space.
Pulling back a little she asked, "Can I help you?"
"Yes you can," the boy said, "I, Rock Lee, am total smitten by your beauty and would like to know if you would like to accompany me on a date?"
"No," was all Sakura said, she then proceed to watch as he leaned against the wall to sulk.
"Enough of you foolishness Lee, let's go," said a boy who Sakura recognized as a Hyuuga.
Lee joined him as well as a girl with two buns in her hair, as they proceeded towards the stairs to the next level. However before they got too far away Sasuke said, "Hold up a minute," and remembering what the one boy in the mask told him about asking for a name said, "I'm Sasuke Uchiha. Who are you?"
"I'm Neji Hyuuga," Neji replied, "My cousin said you are a good fighter, although if you lost to a weakling like her I have my doubts."
Sasuke grounded his teeth but otherwise kept his cool, however Neji was able to read him like an open book and he said, "That bothers you does it. You must have considered her a rival to someday surpass, but I assure you if you and I are fated to meet in these exams you will find out that compared to me she is quite weak."
Kiba though quickly leaped to Hinata's defense, "You talk big, but if you met up with Hinata she'd wipe the floor with your arrogant ass."
"Humph, there is no point in arguing with a weakling such as yourself," Neji scoffed before turning away.
Kiba looked about ready to charge but was stopped by Sakura who said, "Let it go Kiba. There'll be plenty of time to fight during the exams I'm sure. We can settle this then."
Looking over his shoulder Neji said, "At least one of you is capable of reason. Tenten, Lee let's go."
"I hope we meet up with those jerks and show them whose boss," Kiba stated.
"For once I'm in agreement with you," Sasuke said.
Sakura however thought, "I don't want to go anywhere near those guys. That Neji is so cold and mean he is the complete opposite of Hinata. Is he really stronger then her?"
However she said, "We can worry about it later, it's almost time we had better hurry."
Reaching room 301 they were met by Kakashi who said, "Ah, you made it and all three of you to boot."
"What do you mean sensei why does it matter if all three of us are here?" Sakura asked.
"Well Sakura if one of you didn't show then I would have turned away the other two as well," Kakashi answered.
"What, but you implied that it was a personal decision," Kiba said confused.
"Oh it is, however it was a decision that had consequence for the others," Kakashi said, "But that doesn't matter all three of you are here so let me wish you guys luck. You'll definitely need it."
"You could sound like you believe in us a little," Kiba said crossing his arms.
"Oh I do," Kakashi said giving an eye smile, "But these Exams will be unlike anything you have experienced up till now, work together and you'll do just fine."
With that said he opened the door and allowed them entry into the room. Immediately upon entering they noticed their fellow rookies hanging out in the back. Moving towards them Sasuke was surprised when Ino suddenly latched onto his back as he passed Team Ten.
Sakura quickly tried to pull her off saying, "Get off Ino-pig. Leave him alone."
"Aw, what's a matter Sakura, jealous?" Ino said, "I don't see Sasuke trying to shake me loose."
"You're making a scene," was how Sakura replied. She was jealous of course although Sasuke didn't look to be enjoying having Ino hugging him he wasn't complaining either.
Ino didn't care if she was making a scene as she looked at the other participants the more people that knew Sasuke was hers the better. As she was scanning the crowd though she spotted a genin that looked familiar, and promptly all life drained from her limbs, as Sakura found out when Ino allowed Sakura to pull her off.
Shikamaru noticing Ino's sudden dread asked, "What is it Ino?"
"It's him," was all the blonde girl could say in response.
As the rest of the rookies gathered round her she looked at Shikamaru and said, "The Wave mission the blonde that beat us is here."
Shikamaru looked shocked as he quickly scanned the room spotting the blonde boy next to two other ones. The one in the mask he had never seen before but he remembered the description that Tazuna had given. The only difference was that the mask had the Konoha Leaf symbol surrounded by two asterisks on it instead of Kiri's. The other he had no clue about and didn't know if he had even been a part of the mission.
Kiba broke him out of his thought when he asked, "What's the big deal? There's lots of genin here from all over the place."
Ino quickly responded saying, "Yeah, well how many of them are traveling with a former Seven Swordsmen of Mist? Not to mention he single handedly took down my whole team and made enough shadow clones to keep our sensei occupied."
Shikamaru recognizing the symbol on his headband said, "Relax Ino," she looked at him like that was the last thing she wanted to do so he continued, "see that symbol on his headband, it means he's been sponsored to join the leaf village. I don't think we'll have to worry about him trying to finish the job he started in Wave, at least not right now."
Hearing that Ino visibly calmed herself, Sasuke more intrigued then ever said, "Tell me what happened. It was the mission that Kakashi refused wasn't it? How strong is he?"
Ino glad to finally have a chance to really talk to Sasuke quickly began filling him in on all the details. However, Hinata had tuned her out. As soon as Ino had pointed the blonde-boy out, Hinata had been staring at the boy. For some reason she felt drawn to the mysterious boy, as if sensing her staring at him he looked at her and his expressive blue eyes seemed to light up. Hinata had the distinct impression that he was fighting the temptation to wave at her. As his gaze rested upon her she found her cheeks began to heat up and she found herself performing her old nervous habit of pointing her fingers together. However the spell his gaze had on her was broken when the boy in the white and red mask whispered something to him and the blonde looked at him to respond.
Finally able to think coherently Hinata asked herself, "What was that? Was it a result of what Ino said about how strong he is? I don't think so; it felt almost like I wanted him to look at me but at the same time didn't know what to do once he did. I haven't felt like that since…"
"His name is Ronin," a voice she recognized as Sakura's said.
Sakura had seen Hinata looking at the boy and recognized the signs that she had been both nervous and intrigued by the boy. She decided since she had met the boy and talked to him to use it as a means of trying to repair her and Hinata's friendship.
"Y-you talked to him?" Hinata asked a little upset that her nervousness showed in her voice.
"Yeah he's really nice, and he's helped me out a few times already," Sakura replied happy that Hinata wasn't as distant as she had been in the past.
"How has he helped you?" Hinata asked now looking at the pink-haired girl.
Sakura gave her the details about her run in with the Sand Shinobi as well as how the blonde boy had helped her decide to take the exams. When she was finished Hinata said with a small smile, "You're still sensitive about your forehead, huh?"
Sakura was about to reply when Ino screeched, "It did to, happen like that."
Having Sasuke's undivided attention Ino decided to embellish her role in the Wave mission a little. They way she told it Shikamaru and Chouji had been quickly defeated and she had battled viciously to protect them only to fall in the end. Shikamaru pointed out that wasn't how she claimed it went down to the Hokage during the mission debriefing at which point she had let out her yell.
"Hey now, you shouldn't be carrying on like little kids on a playground," came the voice of a leaf shinobi dressed in purple and wearing glasses from behind them.
Sasuke stepped up and said, "Who are you?"
"Forgive me, my name is Kabuto and what I mean is you should take a look behind you," he replied with a small smirk.
Doing as instructed the rookies could all see everyone glaring at them, well almost everyone as the blond boy looked as happy as ever. Seeing the rookies realized that everyone's attention was on them Kabuto said, "You see, everyone is nervous and you should calm down before you catch their ire. Trust me as this isn't my first time through."
Shikamaru interested in gaining a little insight said, "How many times have you taken the exams?"
"This will be my seventh." The spectacled boy answered.
"Man you must suck," was Kiba's comment on that.
Sakura and Hinata quickly shushed him with a, "Kiba," and "That isn't nice Kiba."
Waving it off Kabuto said, "That's all right it easy to see where he could get that opinion, but it isn't all bad I've managed to get a lot of information about the exam over the years."
"Like what?" Shikamaru asked.
Pulling a deck of cards from his pouch he said, "Well like this for instance." Channeling his chakra into the card he showed a map with all the participating villages on it and the genin they sent.
Looking at the map Kiba said, "Hey this might be a stupid question but why aren't there any ninja from Kiri, Kumo, or Iwa in these exams."
"That's easy," Kabuto replied, "they aren't part of the Ninja Alliance that was signed at the end of the Third Great Shinobi War. Therefore only Rain, Waterfall, Grass, and Sand compete with us in the Chunin exams. The other three great ninja counties have their own types of chunin selection process although they aren't as well known as ours."
"You forgot Sound," Sakura said.
"Well they only recently joined and are still a relatively minor village," Kabuto said, "So they are easy to overlook."
Somewhere in the pack of chunin hopefuls three sound genin took exception at that description. "You hear that Dosu?" Zaku said, "We're from a minor village easily overlooked."
"I guess we should educate him then Zaku, that only a fool would overlook our village," Dosu replied.
"Let's do it." Zaku said preparing to move.
Unaware of the three Sound genin getting ready to make their move Sasuke asked, "Do your cards have information on any of the participants?"
"They do. Who, would you like to know about," Kabuto inquired.
"Neji Hyuuga and Ronin," Sasuke said. "Also he didn't give his name but he has red hair and wears a gourd on his back. He is also from the Sand Village.
"It's no fun if you already know most of their names let's see." Pulling out three cards he put them face up on the ground. "First up, Neji Hyuuga, he is a member of the Hyuuga Branch family he was last year's Rookie of the Year. He has completed twenty D-ranked assignments and twelve C-ranked ones. His teammates are Rock Lee and Tenten. He is extremely proficient in the Hyuuga's Gentle Fist style with many claiming him to be a true prodigy. "
Moving on to the next card a picture of the red headed kid Sasuke described appeared, "Next Gaara of the Desert no D-ranked and eight C-ranked missions and wow a B-ranked as a Genin and that's not all it says he's completed everyone of them without so much as a scratch."
At this the rookies all gulped, "Finally Ronin, no missions officially listed."
"Wait hold on," Shikamaru said, "I thought you needed a set number of missions to even enter into these exams.
"Well for sponsored–nin the stakes are different, for them the very chance to become a part of the village sponsoring them is on the line. Also, since most of them come from fallen villages or clans they don't usually participate in officially recognized missions so the requirements on missions accomplished are waved. Although as a side-note it does say him and his team defeated Team Ten in battle and that it was recognized as an A-ranked one so they have the chops to be here I guess," Kabuto said then added after reading the card closer, "Wow, the person sponsoring him is none other than the Hokage. As far as I know the Hokage has never sponsored anybody before."
The Sound Trio deciding to make their move began dashing through the various exam participants on their way to the back of the room. Naruto sensing this waited until one of them passed in front of him before sticking his foot out at the last second.
"It sent Zaku crashing into several Rain-nin. Regaining his footing Zaku said angrily, "Who did that? Who's the fool who wants to die?"
It was made easily apparent who when the blonde-haired boy stuck his hands in his pockets and began whistling innocently. Zaku marching up to the joker followed by his teammates who had abandoned their attack on Kabuto and said, "So you are going to diss the Village Hidden in the Sound too?"
Still acting innocent said, "What!? You tripped over my foot. It's not my fault you're clumsy."
"That's it punk you're going down!" Zaku shouted.
Only for him to be stopped by the arrival of Ibiki who said, "Alright everyone settle down any fighting without my explicit permission will be punished by failing the exam right now. Understand!"
Seeing nobody didn't he said, "Good, now I want each of you to take one of these numbers and sit accordingly. Once everyone is seated we'll be passing out the test."
Sakura though giddily, "A written test this will be easier than I thought."
Naruto on the other hand thought, "SHIT!!!!!"
Once he approached the chunin with the numbers he found his seat only to see he was sitting next to Hinata. Getting annoyed that Kami appeared to be screwing with him he thought, "What, again? What is it with me and running into people that might recognize me. Kami you would think the Old Man would tell this guy don't sit me next to the pink or blue-haired girl wouldn't you."
Happy that she was sitting next to the mysterious boy Hinata said, "H-hello, I hope you do well."
Slightly panicking Naruto turned towards her quickly and said, "Um… yeah you too," then turned away, causing Hinata to wonder if she said something wrong.
Haku was also feeling a small bit of anxiety, not over the test or his sitting partner but he recognized the girl that had been with the boy that Naruto tripped. She had been in Orochimaru's grass base, but here she was wearing a Sound headband. What did it mean? Was she a spy for Orochimaru or worse was Orochimaru somehow tied to the Sound village? Whatever the case he was just glad that whenever he appeared in public he had been wearing his mask that meant they probably didn't have any idea they had been made. He would have to tell Naruto when the opportunity presented itself.
Sai wasn't feeling anything other than a slight curiosity about what the upcoming test entailed after all his Root training included all the necessary skills he may be called upon including test taking. So to pass the time he asked the person who had a small dog on his head he was sitting next to, "Hi, I'm Sai would it offend you if I referred to you affectionately as Dickless."
"What did you say, you asshole?" the boy roared grabbing him by the shirt.
"Hey number seventy-six do you want to fail," one of the chunin protectors said.
Letting go of his shirt the boy simply said, "Don't talk to me."
Sai merely sighed, apparently asking politely if they found the nickname offensive didn't help. Well maybe he would just do what the other book said which was continue to refer to them by the name until it grew on them.
After everyone was seated Ibiki said, "Alright, before you begin here are some rules. Rule number one everyone will start off with a perfect score of ten points. You'll lose a point for every wrong answer you give. Rule number two you'll either pass or fail as a team. Rule number three, if you are caught cheating you'll lose two points for each offense. Those pathetic enough to get caught cheating will end up destroying their chances of being chunin. Finally anybody who during the course of this test whose score reaches zero due to cheating will be removed along with his two teammates."
Pausing to let the rules sink in he then said, "You may begin, you have one hour."
At once almost everyone flipped over their test papers, the first round of the Chunin Exams had begun.
At the Jounin Station a lot of the senseis were currently sitting waiting for news of their students. Zabuza had been gently encouraged to go there by the Hokage and by gently it was just one step shy of being an order. Thus far he was thoroughly convinced that the Leaf had some of the most eccentric shinobi in the entire ninja world. He was off by himself observing the other jounin; the famous Sharingan Kakashi was sitting their reading his porn, next to him was the chain smoking Asuma, while behind the couch they were sitting on a man that claimed to be the famous Maito Guy was doing push-ups while spouting crap about youth. Across from the two sitting men was a women called Kurenai Yuuhi, he had heard about her and was surprised to know she was a jounin now.
Asuma leaning forward a little said conspiratorially, "I found out who the proctor for the first exam is."
Kurenai highly interested in who was testing her genin said, "Who?"
"Ibiki Morino," Asuma said.
"Great," Kakashi said.
Although he didn't want to admit listening in even he couldn't help but whistle. Kurenai on the other hand had no idea who Asuma was talking about said, "Who's that."
Kakashi said, "Why don't you tell her Zabuza. Since I'm surprised you've heard of him when one of our own jounin hasn't."
Kurenai blushed, a little in embarrassment at the small joke at her expense. Zabuza said, "I'm not surprised she's never heard of him but he's a type of boogieman for missing-nin and any other shinobi that have had the misfortune of meeting him. I met a shinobi once who had a session with him, he said the bastard never once touched him but by the end of it he was spilling his guts to the guy."
"What," Kurenai said surprised, "why?"
"The guy is the head of the Interrogation and Torture Department and a real piece of work. He feels physical torture is beneath him, he targets the mind," Zabuza informed her.
"You must be pretty worried about your genin then Zabuza," Asuma said.
"Why's that?" Zabuza asked.
"Well I hear he gives some sort of test that encourages cheating, that blonde haired kid of yours doesn't strike me as the subtle type," Asuma said smugly still a little sore at the defeat of him and his team.
"I wouldn't count him out. He might be about as subtle as a hammer, but the plan that took your team out at Wave was his doing. He'll find a way to pull through."
"I have no idea what the fuck I'm going to do," Naruto thought with rising anxiety.
He had tried to look over the questions to see if he might have known one of them. All he needed he figured was to get one right that way if Haku and Sai did well enough they would still pass. Unfortunately unless the still unknown question was something easy like, what does two plus two equal, he was screwed. That left him with one recourse, and that was to cheat, but unfortunately he couldn't think of a way to do it without being caught.
Next to the slightly agitated blonde boy, Hinata was debating a course of action herself. That action was whether or not to use her Kekkei Genkai to peak underneath the boy's face wraps. She had already figured out the true purpose of the test and even though she felt this test was unfair to people who unlike her didn't have blood inherited skills, she had still used her gift to easily blow by this test. It had helped that the person sitting next to Ronin was a plant that had all the right answers on his test. So with thirty five minutes till the last question would be asked she waged an internal battle of whether or not to peak. She was curious about why she seemed so drawn to the boy. She supposed that he reminded her of Naruto. He after all had the same colored eyes and hair. But, the Hokage had declared him dead would he have done such a thing if there was a chance Naruto was still alive? On the other hand Ronin was the student of Zabuza Momochi a famous missing-nin and had fought against Leaf shinobi. However, the Hokage sponsored Ronin for these exams; she had after all paid attention when Kabuto was talking about the boy. Maybe the Hokage had been keeping Naruto in hiding for some reason. But why make him cover his face and go by a false name if he was Naruto. Putting her hands to her temples she began rubbing them to ease the headache she felt coming from her mind going around in circles.
Deciding for the sake of her sanity that she had to do it, she once more activated the Byakugan. Easily able to see Ronin chakra network she tried to focus in on his face while pulling back on the Byakugan's ability to see through objects, but much to her annoyance his face still appeared covered except it was covered by shadow. Sending her gaze deeper she could see the chakra network in his face again but when she tried to see the fine details of his face that the wraps covered she saw nothing but a fuzzy blackness.
"Darn it," she thought while also cursing the inventor of the combat wraps.
The rest of the test takers where doing their best to cheat without being caught some managed others did not. Kiba for the most part was doing quite well since him and Akamaru had often cheated on the written tests in the Academy. The dog would call out the answers while he jotted them down, he had wondered why he had been given an ink pen to do the test while everyone else had been given pencils but figured it must have been an accident. He was still a little pissed at the freak next to him. What kind of nut job asked if it was okay to call somebody else, dickless?
"Oh well," he figured, "just the tenth question to go and then we're done with this exam." But, to his horror the answers he and Akamaru had so diligently scrounged from the other participants began to disappear from his paper. Had he not been so caught up in his own troubles, he would have noticed that all the answers appeared on the boy's next to him. Throwing the pen away and finding a pencil on the floor Kiba went to work redoing the test.
Sasuke was having a hard time with the test as well as he thought, "If only I had the Sharingan I could just copy the movements of the pencils."
He had managed to copy three of the answers when the boy in front of him had argued about being caught cheating, and had then been removed. But whether he had been smooth enough to avoid detection had been the real question. It would have to do though; even if he had a low opinion of Sakura he did recognize that she probably was smart enough to answer the questions on this test without cheating. Also, from the small 'arfs' he had occasionally heard he could assume Kiba was doing alright as well. He would just have to hope that he could find a few more opportunities between now and the final question.
Haku had been able to get the answers by creating a small Ice Mirror on the ceiling it hadn't been easy doing so with being caught but the ability to do one-handed hand signs had once again proven useful. Now though with twenty minutes to the final question he wondered how Naruto was doing, he knew that a written test was probably the worst possible challenge for Naruto. Especially since Zabuza had never emphasized book knowledge. He had little doubt that Naruto would find away though, he always had a knack for thinking outside the box.
Naruto was panicking now since he hadn't answered a single question. He knew he needed to cheat but how was the question. He had thought about using the Hidden Mist Jutsu to cover his tracks but that plan had two flaws one he wouldn't be able to see anything either and two he was in Konoha there was no guarantee one of the proctors wouldn't be able to tell what he was doing regardless. Hell one of them had his eyes covered for Kami sake and he had thus far caught the most cheaters. So Naruto asked himself the question he always did in these situations.
W.W.Z.D or What would Zabuza do?
So to answer that his mind pictured a chibi version of Zabuza taking the test in his place, his imagination showed Zabuza sitting at the desk trying to write answers to the test getting increasingly frustrated before pulling his sword and chopping everything within range to pieces. Shaking his head he rejected that plan. So his mind spun a new scenario for him this time Zabuza used the Hidden Mist Jutsu to try and steal someone else's paper only to be caught several times by the proctors. The chibi Zabuza then pulled his sword hacking everything within range to pieces. Again arriving to that conclusion Naruto began to lose hope until his mind spit up one last possibility, this time since the chibi Zabuza knew he was going to be caught he was brazen about it taking the test from one of the other genin in one fell swoop.
Could it really be that simple? Thinking it over he realized technically he already had all ten points, so even if they caught him cheating as long as he got all the answers in one shot he would still have eight points. Now the question was who would he target? Unfortunately, there were only two candidates the boy to his right and Hinata who was sitting on his left. Of course that meant he had only one choice since his plan would involve roughing up his target since he doubted he would just hand over his test and there was no way he would ever hurt Hinata. So taking the boy in, he noticed that although he hadn't written anything on his paper he had all the answers. Had he somehow gotten the answers before hand? Also the answers didn't look to be written in but printed on the paper like it was some kind of master sheet. Understanding dawning on him he smiled underneath his wraps the guy was a plant so all the genin would have the right answers as they cheated. That made him feel, slightly better as he didn't really want to crush the hopes of an aspiring genin if he didn't have to.
Hinata was getting worried they only had fifteen minutes left before the final question but Ronin hadn't wrote down a single answer. If he failed here she might never uncover what it was she wanted to know about him. She was just about to discreetly let him know he could copy off of her when Ronin grabbed the boy she had marked as a secret proctor by the back of the head and slammed it against the desk several times before taking his paper with all the right answers after the man was unconscious.
Needless to say everyone in the room was shocked accept perhaps Haku. Ibiki getting over his surprise said bearing down on the young man, "Number fourteen you have better have a very good explanation for what you just did."
Naruto wasn't intimidated in the least he had survived Zabuza's anger he would be fine against this guy, so he said; "This test is bullshit for someone like me."
"Really you think you're better than everyone else here and should for some reason be except from my test," Ibiki snarled.
"That's not what I mean. What I'm trying to say is I'm not geared towards it and this test doesn't take that into account."
Crossing his arms Ibiki said, "Really enlighten me."
"This test is about trying to discreetly gather information I get that. So say it's a mission I would be able to go about it several different ways, however I wouldn't be able to do any of them quietly with a room full of people who know what my objective is. Hell, even a henged shadow clone would give off enough smoke to alert one the proctors."
"You know the Shadow Clone Jutsu?" Ibiki asked impressed.
"Yeah, and I could use it to gather the answers to this test but I would need a chance to get ready. Your test doesn't allow that."
"You have to recognize you won't always be given the chance to prepare," Ibiki said.
"For a mission whose sole purpose is to gather information, I'm pretty sure unless I stumbled over a courier there will always be time to come up with something. Hell the time it would take to travel to my objective would be enough," Naruto countered. "However that really isn't my point the point is I know in this situation I couldn't get the answers without getting caught so I decided to do it in such a way that I may have gotten caught but it doesn't matter the most you can dock me is two points so unless I miss the tenth question I still have eight left."
Still glaring at the genin he said, "And what about my announcement against fighting?"
"You didn't say it wasn't allowed only we needed your permission. So do I have it?" Naruto said.
"Generally people ask for permission before they start a fight, but… I'll allow it." He said before turning his stare to the rest of the genin, "However if anyone one else assaults a participant for the answers they will fail."
"What makes him so special?" a genin called out.
"The mere fact that he thought of it first, also it is a tactic that would only work once seeing as how everyone is now on guard against such a thing," Ibiki said.
Temari asked, "But he admitted that the test was about discreetly gathering information there was nothing discreet about his tactic."
"True," Ibiki conceded, "However unlike the rest of the failures who have been eliminated he recognized that he didn't posses the necessary skills and came up with a plan that worked within the rules he was given. The only thing that would have held him up was the rule against fighting, but now that he has my permission there isn't a problem."
"But he never asked," another genin argued.
"Surely you have heard of the old saying it's easier to ask forgiveness then permission especially if asking permission would have put his target on alert," Ibiki said then looking at the clock added, "Also, I'd stop whining if I were you according to the clock the rest of you have seven minutes to finish."
As the rest of the genin went back to their tests, Ibiki had his unconscious proctor removed from the room. It was a clever if unorthodox tactic the kid had used, nobody had ever thought of purposely getting caught before. It was a brazen approach that only some of the most fool hardy ninjas he knew would have come up with, but they were all exceptional shinobi. While he probably should have eliminated the kid due to his inability to cheat, he viewed the ability to recognize the weaknesses within yourself as a strength. After all the kid had risked it all on one brash idea and the confidence he could sell it. It was a far better choice then cheating poorly and getting caught especially since then you would have no idea if the information retrieved was accurate, and while even with the boy's tactic the enemy would be able to change its plans even that could serve a valuable purpose. After all chances are the new plan would not be as meticulously crafted as the old one would have been. He was beginning to see why the Hokage had an interest in the boy. But how would he handle the tenth question. That was what he felt laid at the heart of this test. How did a man react when he knew everything was on the line it was a decision that ultimately separated a genin from a chunin.
Sasuke had been glaring at Ronin ever since he had explained himself to the head proctor. Sasuke hadn't been able to get anymore answers to the test after all he never practiced espionage skills like most ninja considering them a waste of time due to his destiny as an avenger. Yet the blonde-haired boy who didn't even come from a proper village managed to not only get all the answers, but Sasuke was sure he had impressed the proctor to boot. Whoever he was Sasuke was sure he was one of the guys to beat in this competition.
Gaara was smiling in anticipation. The blonde-haired boy was proving to be more and more exciting, he wish he had asked for his name. Gaara had no doubt that the boy would help him prove his existence. As the voice within him began screaming for blood he thought, "Shh, soon mother. Soon you'll have all the blood you want, and I promise whoever that boy is his blood will be the sweetest."
As the clock struck the appointed time Ibiki said, "Alright, time for the tenth question. However before I give it there are two more conditions that apply solely to it. The first condition is you can choose whether or not you even want to take the question."
"What? Then what's the catch?" Temari yelled.
Chuckling darkly Ibiki said, "If you choose not to take then you automatically fail as do your teammates." Ibiki paused listening to the rumblings of the genin for a few moments. As expected most were saying they would of course take the last question then so he hit them with the next bombshell, "The other condition is, for those of you who take the tenth question and get it wrong you will be barred from ever taking the Chunin Exams again."
"What that's bullshit," yelled Kiba, "there are people here who have taken the exam multiple times."
Laughing at the genin's outburst Ibiki said, "Then it is really unfortunate for you that this year you are playing by my rules. For those of you who do not want to take the question raise your hands and your number will be recorded and you are free to go."
For a moment nothing happened and then suddenly one of the kids next to Hinata raised his hand to leave while apologizing to his teammates. This sets off a chain of events that caused more and more shinobi to withdraw.
Hinata was on the verge of doing so herself as she thought, "If I get the tenth question wrong then I'll be stuck as a genin forever. I don't want to cost Shino or Ami there shots, but how would I become Hokage if I could never advance to the next rank." Closing her eyes she asked herself, "What would you do Naruto?"
"Well how about number fourteen, what are you going to do?" the voice of the head proctor said addressing Ronin. Opening her eyes she saw that the boy was sitting back in his chair with his arms crossed defiantly in front of him.
His gaze hardening at the show of defiance Ibiki said, "Well how about it? After all the stakes for this question are much higher for you, while for the rest of these genin their careers would stall at this level you would be forbidden from ever being allowed to join the leaf village again."
"Pfft whatever," Naruto replied unimpressed by the threat and then added, "Apparently you aren't aware that I've been an apprentice to a missing-nin for years. You'll have to do better than this to rattle me. I'm aware that even simple missions can turn impossible at a moment's notice. There are no guarantees in this line of work, but one thing is certain if you aren't willing to put it all on the line when your name is called then you don't deserve to call yourself a shinobi."
Taking a moment to look around the room Ibiki said, "Are you sure? Your whole future is on the line here."
"I never go back on my word. That is my nindo. So do your worst."
Smirking Ibiki thought as he watched the other genin straighten a little, "No wonder the Hokage sponsored the boy. His words straightened the spines of those who were on the fence about remaining. The boy definitely has what it takes to be a leader, but does he have the skills to back up that mouth of his."
Seeing that there were still seventy-eight genin remaining he thought, "Still this many. Damn Anko will probably never let me here the end of it. To think I only asked the boy so he could get a few more points towards joining the village if he didn't make it through the next exam. Oh well, stretching things out won't serve any purpose at this point."
His mood shifting one-eighty Ibiki announced, "Well to those of you remaining congratulations you pass."
Of course many of the genin were shocked and wanted to know what happened to the tenth question but catching a flying object heading towards him he stepped back as the object crashed through the window. Spinning around the kunoichi at the center of the bundle threw a couple of kunai into the ceiling unfurling a banner that said, 'The proctor for the second exam is the sexy and single Anko Mitarashi.'
Looking at all the stunned faces Anko said, "Alright everyone are you ready for the next exam follow me to training area forty-four."
A blonde-haired boy with his faced wrapped yelled, "What, don't we even get time go get something to eat? I'm starving."
Anko decided to have a little fun with the genin and threw a kunai at him half-heartedly, but still plenty fast for a genin to handle, however she was surprised when the genin caught it and threw it back at her even faster. Having to dodge to avoid it, her eyes narrowed at the blonde as he said, "I guess the reason your still single has to do with more than your fondness for breaking windows then huh?"
Forgetting that she was suppose to be escorting these genin to their next exam she said, "Your dead you little twerp." As she then took off after the blonde who had begun running up the desks and out of the room.
Sighing at the pair Ibiki said, "I'll escort you all to the training area and answer your questions about what the truth behind the tenth question was."
Rising from their seats the genin began to follow Ibiki out of the room. Haku noticed Sai approaching him and said, "Well that was interesting. Wasn't it Sai?"
"Yes Ugly," Sai responded, to which Haku just sighed hearing the nickname he had been saddled with by the socially inept boy.
Commenting on their teammate's hasty exit Sai said, "Dickless certainly has a unique way with people."
Haku just thought, "Your one to talk," but trying to be nice said, "It is part of his charm, before you know it they'll probably be friends believe it or not. He has a way of growing on people."
"I see," Sai said although he really didn't. "Are friends important?"
Smiling under his mask Haku said, "Perhaps, one day you'll be able to answer that question yourself."
Sai didn't know how to respond to that so he just remained quite as they headed to the site of the second exam.