Chapter 5: The Exams Begin! The Mysterious Tenth Question!
Alright, I'm sorry I last weekend's update was a bit short, but it was either that, or The Day of The Doctor, soo…..
Sorry about that.
- x - x - x -
The Jonin were, again, sitting in the Jonin lounge, watching their students through webcams.
Zabuza, the newly appointed Jonin of Konoha, laid his massive sword against the couch, sat down, and propped his feet up on the coffee table.
"Ah, the conditions here are much better than Kiri," he sighed through his bandage-mask.
"Yeah, but here, we wear shirts," muttered Asuma.
"Except him," said Kakashi, gesturing to Gai.
The four sat in silence for a bit.
"So….your apprentice made Chunin, hm?"
"Actually, he made Tokubetsu! With expertise in medicine and assassination," said the shirtless nin, taking a sip from his coffee mug.
Which was soon knocked out of his hand by a tan blur, heading out the door with a banner behind her.
"...The fuck was that!?"
"That...would be Anko. She's probably heading over to the exam room to prepare for the Second Phase."
"Doesn't that start in 2 hours though?" he asked, trying to dry the hot liquid on his pants.
"Yes, but she usually sets up early; she's pretty eccentric. Kinda' like someone else we know…"
"Yosh! Anko-san's Flames of Youth burn as bright as the sun!" yelled the spandex-clad shinobi.
"Is..he always like this?" whispered Zabuza.
"You don't know the half of it," said Kakashi, shivering and pulling out his book.
- x - x - x -
Meanwhile, Naruto was zooming through the test with ease. It was incredibly simple!
For once in his life, he was thankful for his mother's constant badgering about studying physics and stuff!
Wait...what?
Another image crossed his mind, this time being that of a beautiful young woman with an orange scarf and a purple yukata.
He shook his head with his eyes clenched shut, trying to force the image away.
The picture faded and the pain subsided.
'What the hell! Why does this keep happening!?'
He looked around to see if anyone noticed.
It seemed as if no one had, and he returned his attention back to his paper.
But some did. Among them were the proctor, Ibiki, Gaara, and another girl in the crowd who'd looked up at the sudden increase of power.
And it faded as quickly as it had come.
- x - 50 Minutes Later - x -
He put his pencil down, content with his answers, and turned his paper over.
He scanned the crowd before him. Most of the Rookie 9 seemed to be nearly done. Shino was using his bugs, Kiba used Akamaru to transmit answers, and the two Hyuuga used their Doujutsu, as well as Sasuke.
Sakura had answered all the questions on her own, but Ino went into her mind and memorized the answers before copying them down onto her own paper. She later transmitted the answers to her teammates using the same technique.
The bun-haired kunoichi on Gai's team used wires to manipulate mirrors on the ceiling and copied down answers from there. As planned, Lee put his Hitai-ate on his forehead, confirming the transmittance of the material.
His eyes drifted over to the red-haired boy from Suna. He had a lot of chakra, he could just tell. The boy was constantly radiating K.I.
A low buzzing snapped him out of his thoughts. His eyes snapped to the source of the noise to see a small beetle land on the shoulder of a random shinobi at the other side of the room before flying away.
'Well aren't I jumpy….wait, how in the hell did I hear that!?'
"ALRIGHT MAGGOTS PENCILS DOWN!"
Naruto's head shot up so fast, the nin next to him thought he'd broken his neck.
"Now! If you don't take the next question, you're disqualified!"
"Well, why the hell wouldn't we take it then!?" shouted Kiba.
"Because if you miss the next question," he announced, "YOU WILL NEVER BE ALLOWED TO TAKE THE CHUUNIN EXAMS AGAIN!"
Cries of outrage erupted throughout the room.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP YA' SHITSTAINS!" he shouted, getting immediate silence.
"Now," he said, calm again, "Who'd like to give up now and get another chance next year?"
Silence reigned for another minute, before a hand rose.
Ibiki turned to the Genin.
"Examinees #54, #305, and #69, you're disqualified!"
The nin, identified as #54 nervously turned and faced his squadmates.
"Sorry guys, I just cracked," he said, scratching the back of his head.
"It's not your fault Jin," said #69.
"Please continue your flirting outside please," Ibiki said, inspecting his glove.
The three shuffled out.
"Anybody else?"
Hands all across the room went up almost simultaneously, genin leaving the room by the hundreds.
Soon there were only over 100 people left. Among them were the Rookie 9, Gai's team, Kabuto's team, the earlier team from Oto, Gaara's team, a Team from Taki, some from Ame, Kumo, and Iwa, and one Kusa team.
"Anyone else?"
His question was met with silence.
"Very well, you all pass!"
(*Cue more cries of outrage*)
"LISTEN UP! As a Chuunin, you'll have to make tough decisions. You can decline a mission and live, or take them mission and run the risk of death," he smirked, "A parallel situation, isn't it?"
"Chuunin are generally squad leaders, so they must have leadership qualitites, the Will of Fire. And each of you have displayed that quality here today. You were willing to sacrifice your "life" for your comrades, and put it all on the line."
"You have all passed the first exam, the "heaven" stage. The next stage will test your "earth" abilities. And speaking of the next exam…" he finished, backing away from the window as he did so.
A loud crash echoed around the room as a banner with a kunai on it broke through the glass window, unraveling as it went. A purple haired woman shortly followed.
The banner opened to reveal the words:
"The beautiful, sexy, and currently single Anko Mitarashi!"
"Alright! The name's Anko Mitarashi! Be at Training Ground 44 in 2 hours, or you'll be disqualified!" she shouted, before disappearing in a plume of smoke.
The near 100 genin made a mad scramble for the door, trampling each other in the process.
As the doorway clogged up, Naruto jumped out the already broken window, Sasuke and a screaming Sakura in tow.
Naruto landed on his feet. Sasuke landed in a crouch. Sakura landed flat on her face.
"Naruto-baka! Don't just go jumping out broken windows! Shannaro!" she screeched, standing up, and brushing off her dress.
"Would you rather have gone through that crowd?" he asked.
He received no response.
"Yep, didn't think so."
"C'mon. Let's grab some lunch and stock up on supplies," he said, running off. Sasuke followed. Sakura wandered off to shower and eat a salad.
- x - x - x -
Strangely enough, not many of the shinobi participating in the exams were shopping at Higurashi Weapons, much to Tenten's disappointment.
'They're probably going to that small store near the Training Ground,' she figured.
Only her team, and the one team from Takigakure were present, so she was happy when she heard the familiar jingling of the bell over the door.
In walked Naruto, in the "Future" set. Sasuke followed a few seconds later, looking slightly winded.
"Dammit dobe,"he said between breaths, "Why'd you have to run so fast? And why the hell are we all the way on the other side of town?"
"I ran fast because I wanted to save time; it was your fault you couldn't keep up. Second, we're here because the weapons shop next to the Training Ground is probably packed right now."
Sasuke grunted, and began examining their ninja-wire.
Naruto walked over to the weapons section, subconsciously scanning the shinobi in the aisle.
First was Rock Lee, whom he'd met earlier, examining the training weights and gravity seals. He instinctively checked his own; 40 pounds a limb wasn't a bad start.
Further down the aisle was the team from Taki. Two of the members were conversing with each other.
One of them wore a light blue Hitai-ate over her short blonde hair. She wore a light-green battle dress that looked a lot like Sakura's.
The other member looked more like a samurai than a ninja. He wore the traditional robes and armor, as well as the sheathed katana at his side, but it was clear from his behavior the he did not abide by the Bushido Code.
His eyes made their way over to their third member…
And when they did his jaw hit the floor.
It wasn't that she exuded the same aura of power associated with Jinchuuriki that shocked him.
It was that she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen in his life.
She wore a two piece, pure white battle dress like Ino's with the distinct lack of bandages, exposing the flawless, unscarred caramel skin underneath. She wore her Hitai-ate on her arm, signifying her allegiance to her home village. She had enormous red cylinder on her back, suspended by two crimson straps. She had a distinct mint-green hair, with the bangs held out of her face by a lone orange hair clip. It really brought out her amazing orange eyes…
That were staring right back at him.
Well, shit.
- x - x - x -
Hiruzen sighed, inhaling another puff of tobacco from his pipe.
Kakashi'd given him the mission report from the A-rank to Nami no Kuni, and he'd found certain bits of it….unsettling.
Such facts being Naruto's transformation, tail, and newfound ability to catch S-ranked assassination justu in his hand.
He let out another tobacco-laced sigh.
He really was getting too old for this shit.
- x - x - x -
Team 7 met up at Training Ground 44 at 1:55; 5 minutes ahead of schedule.
The other 4 teams from Konoha had already arrived, as well as the Kusa, Kumo, Oto, Suna, and Ame teams.
About 2 minutes later, the two Taki teams arrived. He saw the girl from earlier (Fuu, as he'd learned from talking with her) talking to her only friend on the other team, a blue haired girl with a sky blue yukata.
The other teams followed.
The proctor appeared in a puff of smoke 2 minutes later.
"Alright maggots! I need you to sign these forms!" she yelled, handing said forms out.
Kiba caught one.
"The hell is this?"
"Release forms. If you die, your countries can't sue," she said, smiling.
"Now! Behind me is the Forest of Death! Each of you must reach the tower in the center within 5 days, or you will be disqualified!"
"Pfft! Forest of Death? Doesn't look too menacing to me!"
The poor genin, who'd happened to have already signed his release form, got a kunai to the face.
"Oops," she said, licking the bloody knife, "My arm slipped."
"Any more questions?"
No one dared raise their hand.
"Good. In the tents you see behind me, you'll get a scroll, with the Kanji for Earth or Heaven. You'll be required to obtain the scroll with the other character before the deadline."
"And how do we do that?"
"By killing each other of course!"
"Alright! Now get in those tents! You have ten minutes 'till the exams begin!"
Our two heroes rushed into the tent, with Sakura following.
- x - x - x -
"Alright, so which scroll did we get?"
"Heaven," said Sasuke holding it up.
There were three minutes left.
"Who should hold it?" asked Naruto.
"Obviously Sasuke! He's the strongest on the team!"
"Then Naruto should hold it. He'd be the least expected to hold onto it," said Sasuke, tossing it to him.
"Hm, I don't know whether to be appreciative or insulted."
Before either could retort, the buzzer sounded, and the three set out into the darkness.
- x - x - x -
I think this is a good place to stop.
Explanations are dated to occur in Chapter 7!
'Till then!
- Objection234 (Akane Sasu Sora on YouTube)