Chapter 27
Kuraigu marched forwards, dressed in a thick brown cloak. Despite the sun slowly rising upwards as the afternoon got closer he was not warm. He found himself deeply excited. His brother had entrusted him with an important task. He was nervous at all; he was deeply looking forward to the upcoming spilling of blood. Harima had failed and had also lost his life. Kuraigu had no intention of either happening to him.
The group of men marched behind him. He may have been the most important person there, but he insisted on leading from the front. Several of the larger men carried large wooden crates. Kuraigu was deeply excited about using the equipment secured in the crates…he was certain it would be very fun to use these new toys. He brought the group to a halt, standing on a hill overlooking the village. Thick foliage helped keep them from view. He called for his second in command who promptly arrived by his side. Named Arai, the man was by far the thinnest (in terms of both torso and arms) of the group.
"Arai, is the cargo all intact?" asked Kuraigu.
"Yes it is Kuraigu" replied Arai. He was the only member allowed to refer to Kuraigu purely by name. The two had been friends for several years. "All of the items are intact, and in perfect working order."
"Very good. Get the scouts ready. We'll survey the area for a few days before launching the attack."
"Yes Kuraigu!" said Arai.
Arai left, leaving the leader to overlook the village. There were several skilled ninja living in the village. They were very good- but his men were better. Kuraigu was certain of that. Behind him the men gently placed the crates down on the floor and prepared to set up camp. The men continued to work, as all the time Kuraigu stood looking at the village he was preparing to attack. He hoped that she was there.
"Hey Tomo, good luck with the exam" said Yomi, finding herself and Tomo part of a group bundling their way towards the entrance. She thought it would be best to say something now, as she didn't know how long the exam would last. Besides Tomo would need all the luck she could get…
"Luck? Ha! Who needs good luck when I have my brains?" asked Tomo boisterously.
"Hey Tomo…I hope you have exceptional luck" replied Yomi not missing a beat. Tomo was able to produce a truly scornful look before the group funnelled into a hallway. A series of gruff, glum or a combination of both guards stood waiting on either side of the hallway. They were present to stop any talking or potential teaching.
"In here" said a man pointing with a beefy finger. Tomo just about managed to hold in the jibe she wanted to make about the friendly service on offer. She bit down and moved by the man, entering the room.
She was very disappointed. Following all the hype she was hoping for something a bit interesting…instead she was faced with a perfectly normal looking classroom, with desks, a few windows and a slightly worn chalkboard. Not even the walls were inspired, being coated in a layer of dull grey paint. She made her way through the room, sitting down in a chair across from a window. At the very least, if she had no idea what to do she could still enjoy the view outside. Or she could look in the window reflection to see other people's papers.
Yukari stood with an annoyed look, holding a large pile of paper that must have been the exam strips. Tomo smirked slightly, finding it amusing that Yukari had gone from teacher to someone handing out exams. She glanced down at her desk to see someone had scratched I am screwed into the wood with a knife of some kind. She gulped nervously. Why had she decided to sit on this seat, there were three other chairs located close to the windows!
While Tomo fidgeted nervously, thinking over whether to quickly get up and choose another seat, the rest of the examinees entered the room, almost everyone attempting to avoid getting a seat along the front row of desks. Seemed you could extract the ninja from the student, but you'd also extract part of the student as well. Osaka slowly made her way to the front of the room, sat down, and then stared along at the empty row in confusion. Tomo made a mental note of the fact Yomi had decided to sit further back in the room then Tomo had herself. She was certain she'd be able to twist that into something to annoy Yomi with after this was over.
"Chao, is everyone present?" asked the scarred man, seemingly the lead examiner. Having been lost in daydreams Tomo was startled by the man suddenly speaking, and jumped slightly in her chair. She heard a muffled comment from behind her, and lowered her head slightly, feeling a bit foolish. Not my fault.
"Yes sir, all of the students are accounted for" replied the man (now known as Chao).
"Very good. Students!" said the man in a loud voice, catching everyone's attention. "Welcome to the first stage of the Chunin exams. As you are all probably aware of by now, this is a written test. Marks are given for correct answers, but are removed for incorrect answers. You will find eleven questions on the paper- I have seen people get minus eleven before."
Tomo gulped slightly. Yukari, who had moved to stand by the windows, waiting to hand out the papers, saw Tomo's nervous look and smirked slightly. She didn't wish any harm to Tomo, but it would be nice to say told you so to Kimura. She turned away as Tomo looked up and saw her staring.
"However there is a final twelfth question that you will have to answer in the last fifteen minutes of the examination. However details about that will be provided at the time. And I must inform you of this. This is about individual performance- but if you fail, your whole team will fail this examination. You'll find yourselves retaking the test in this room in a years time…if you haven't given up."
Tomo gulped again. She was just glad Sakaki and Osaka were on her team- not so much for the academic prowess. But she was certain that neither Osaka or Sakaki would be the type to inflict bodily harm upon her, should they all fail because of her. At that moment she was truly glad for the existence of introvert personalities as well as odd non violent people like Osaka. Then again, there was Yukari to deal with.
"Miss Yukari, would you hand out the papers please?" asked the man.
"I'd love to" replied Yukari with a slightly evil, faux friendly tone.
"And you may begin" stated the man after Yukari and another helper handed out the papers.
The test was hard for Tomo. Filled with numerous pitfalls as she began to doubt she could do it, the writer attempting to make the audience believe she might fail…despite the fact that would contradict the story and so be incorrect. It would also send the tale back to square one. For the sake of story development she tried hard, managing to answer zero of the questions present…and in an attempt to avoid merely adlibbing a whole act of the series, Tomo found herself in the final fifteen minutes, where the trick question was revealed and she passed with several of the groups, her confidence in blagging a single question pulling her through…
"Congratulations, for your bravery in accepting this final question, those of you present pass. The true test was to see what level of courage and determination you possessed."
"What about the exam we just took?" asked Yomi, sticking up her hand.
"Doesn't count for anything" replied the man.
"Lolwut?" asked one of the unimportant examinees who wouldn't get another scene in the story. One of his teammates looked at him enviously, annoyed that they didn't get any lines.
"Well very good" said the man, "You are free to leave for now. In an hour the next instructor will meet up with you to conduct the second part of the examination procedure." He was quiet for a moment. "Good luck all of you with the second phase of the examination."
With that he dismissed them, the remaining students quickly filing out of the room. Soon all the students had left, save for one. Yukari walked across to Osaka who had fallen asleep, thereby missing the time when she was informed about leaving the exam, or having to answer the last (non existent) question- where an incorrect answer would lead to them being dismissed as ninja forever. Yukari shook her head and prodded the girl who awoke.
"Cheese cake?" she asked.
"Nope, you've passed the exam, you're supposed to leave now" explained Yukari.
"Oh ok" said Osaka rubbing her eyes. "That was an easy exam" she muttered.
For you thought Yukari. Osaka had managed to miss all of the pressure of the "final question" simply by falling asleep. Yukari grinned…Osaka had always been prone to falling asleep. She never thought it would actually help one day.
Osaka nodded and stood up, walking into her chair before leaving the room. Yukari slowly began to walk around the room, collecting up the answer papers. Finally she found herself by Tomo's paper. She looked down at it…completely unmarked, save for a doodle just below where Tomo had wrote her name. Not a single question had an attempt at an answer.
"Unbelievable" said Yukari picking it up. She said that even louder when she picked up Chiyo's paper, all with the correct answers. The questions were supposed to have been too difficult, to force cheating- testing the ability to gather information without being noticed. However Chiyo had simply just answered them.
Kagura had simply written 'I'm screwed' about twenty times on her paper. The person who had been sitting next to her must have seen that, having written 'me too'. Yukari grinned as she finished collecting the rest of the papers. Inflicting this type of test on the students was so much fun.