CH 23

a) Chunin Exam – Phase I

Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old

Ibiki looked over the group of Genin prepared to take the exams. "Those of you from outside villages hand in your applications and take a seating assignment block from the box being passed around," he looked to the Konoha Genin and said. "Konoha piglets… we have your applications, so just take a block and sit down. Once everyone's seated, we'll pass out the written part of this exam."

Kiba was the one that exclaimed, "A paper test. I thought we got rid of those after we made Genin."

"Troublesome," Shikarmaru said about the loud Inuzuka boy and about the fact that the first test was written.

"Rats," Naruto said. "I hate written exams."

"You did fine on the one that Suna gave," Risa said. "You had to have done well because I know that me and Akiko were not confident in the answers we'd written."

"Luck," Sasuke told him and then went to seat at the seat number that he'd pulled from the box.

"You too," Naruto said to the both of them and then he sought out his seat from the number that he'd been given.

"A..are you ..nervous?" The shy Hyuga asked him.

"Maybe a little," Naruto said. "You just do your best and the rest will work out. You'll see. Luck!"

The poor girl blushed at being cheered up.

Ibiki snorted at that and then clacked the chalk against the board to get the attention of the Genin, not that they wouldn't be paying attention to someone that looked like him. "There are a few rules in relation to this test, so listen up because I'm not one to answer any questions posed by any who don't pay attention. I'll write the rules on the board and explain everything only once. So pay attention."

"Rule number one: Everyone starts off with ten points," the large man wrote on the board. "The test has ten questions and each question has a one point value. For each question you get wrong, we subtract one point from you."

"So, if you miraculously get ten points on your test you retain the original ten points given at the beginning. However if you get three wrong answers, you lose from the original ten and you're stuck with seven points."

He then wrote RULE 2, on the board and continued his explanation of the test, "Rule number two: The test must be passed as a team, this is a team exam. That means that passing or failing is based on the sum total of all three members of a cell. Therefore the object is for each team to have as few deductions as possible from the joint thirty point total you've been graciously blessed with."

Some crazy Genin then shouted, "Wait a second. The whole concept of the starting point and the deductions is hard enough to follow…But what is this 'Team Total' that you're talking about?"

"Did you not understand the part of NO questions, will be answered?" The man growled out in a tone that everyone understood that he was barely tolerating the protest. "We have our reasons, so SHUT UP and LISTEN. You might eventually learn something."

"Next part is important," he was grinning evilly at the board. "Rule number three: If at any point during this exam, any candidate does anything out of the ordinary…" He paused loving the fact that he could almost hear their confusion. "In other words, if any candidate does anything that leads these honourable Proctors to believe that he or she has cheated, we'll subtract TWO POINTS from each member of the cheater's team." He paused and said, "Get it now!"

The Genins all looked at the Proctors that lined the walls on either side of the rows of students. A Chunin Proctor leaned back in his chair loudly, knowing he had some of their attention, "I'll be looking over your shoulders when you least expect it."

A few of the Genins were now beginning to sweat and they'd only been sitting down waiting to write their test, not exercising or training.

Ibiki, consummate actor, whirled around after having written that last rule and continued his explanation. "If you let the Proctors catch you cheating, you'll bring yourself and your friends down. If you aspire to be Chunin… If you want to be the best Shinobi that you can be…Then you'd better start acting like you already are!"

He was about to tell them to begin, but paused and said, "Oh…One last thing, if any individual loses all ten of his or her points, then that person's ENTIRE cell, regardless of how the other members do, will be disqualified! No points, no pass!"

Ibiki looked at many of the Genin's expressions. 'They are so easy to read,' he thought, then he noted that there were a couple of kids that were not paying attention to him. 'Now that pisses me off.'

"You have two hours," the Chief Examiner said. "Starting NOW!"

Everyone flipped over the exams papers and most noted that there was only nine actual questions and the last spot where the question was, there was an explanation instead that read: Question 10: This question will only be provided after forty-five minutes of the exam time has passed. Please do you best to answer the Proctor's question to the best of your ability!

Many looked at that and groaned. Naruto looked at the first question and shook his head. He took his time to look worried and look around the room, wiggle his leg and then slowly he scratched out his answers. 'It's a good thing that I had been Hokage twice,' he thought. 'There had been times that during the lulls of office duty that I'd finally memorized base cryptograms, which this is one of the first, keh…too easy.'

Sasuke was a little worried, but then he remembered that he could activate his Sharingan without any noticeable chakra use. They'd practiced this a couple of times to be sure because it was something that he'd have to eventually know, if he wanted to keep it hidden from any enemy that can detect chakra use.

'Thank Kami for Naruto's bound Henge,' he thought. 'Let's do this!'

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and then opened his eyes facing his exam sheet. He looked up slowly and found someone that didn't seem to be worried about his answers and also noticed that this person wasn't part of a cell because he could see that others were looking at their partners with worry. He smirked and began to write the answers that he could see. His only thought was, 'Lucky, on the first try!'

A short kunai flew passed Naruto's cheek, but he only leaned to the left in order to avoid it and continued to answer the questions in front of him. The Proctor was Spiky and he was surprised that the blond hadn't even reacted to the weapon flying in his general direction, other than to move out of the way. Of course the Proctor was just eliminating the guy behind him that had been cheating badly.

Teams were being eliminated quickly now for their poor execution of their information gathering skills. Hinata looked at him with a blush and thought, 'He's so cool. He didn't even flinch.'

Risa was doing fine too. Her pup wasn't doing anything so obvious at Kiba's. In fact hers was asleep in the pouch, saving his energy. Knowing the purpose of the test they'd made an agreement to answer all questions the same. They had a Fujin seal sending codes to the palms of their hands to alert each other and the seals were a part of the team's nearly fingerless gloves. She was able to answer two of the questions with confidence.

Sasuke copied them, as she wrote them. Then he was the first to find one of the ringers in the room. He signalled this to his teammates and answered two questions with her copying as he copied the person in front of him.

Naruto followed along and answered too, so that it would look like all their answers came from the same source. He then asked if they need a couple of answers and they both did. He pretended to copy someone nearby, but even the Proctor didn't who he'd been was following. Three more answers were place on the test.

Sasuke asked then for the first one and Risa asked for the eighth. The blond signalled 'wait' and then he overwrote his first answer and then his eighth answer. They each left one question unanswered on the test, having already selected which one. It would be a different one that they'd be leaving blank. The choice was made during the test explanation and rules. They did this in order to tease the Proctors that were going to be stuck correcting them. That is if they corrected them at all.

The Proctor sitting near Naruto was the same one that flinched when he'd whistled that infernal tune. So the blond started slowly to hum under his breath that same tune. A couple more Proctors and even the Chief Examiner heard the tune. The large, scarred man marched up to the blond, creating a shadow on the boy's paper and stating, "This is not an auditorium."

Naruto looked up and said, "Sorry, was I doing something?"

Morino Ibiki, head of Torture and Interrogation twitched, as he heard the tune coming from outside the windows. He looked at one of the Proctors with a toss of his head telling them to seek out the source of the annoyance. Then he looked at the clock and returned to the front of the room.

Four more teams were eliminated in quick succession, but most notable was a complainer from Suna. "Cheated five times? Me? What proof do you have? How can you even watch so many students at once?"

The Proctor who responded, was an interesting one, as he had bandages wrapped completely around his head, including his ears and eyes. His Shinobi identifier, the Hitai-ate, was wrapped at the level of his eyes, as though to blind him. However he moved with a speed that Naruto and Sasuke envied. He pinned a kid up on the wall to his level, leaving the boy's legs dangling.

"Listen you puling brat," the Proctor said. "Listen up and listen up good the rest of you too. We Proctors are Elite, even in a group as skilled as the one gathered here today. We are far above and beyond the best. WE MISS NOTHING!" He leaned closer adding more strength and said, "You feel that? Well I'm as skilled as I am powerful, now get out."

Ibiki observed some very interesting techniques occur in order to get the answers and he was impressed that some didn't even bat an eyelash at the thought of cheating. He looked at those he knew to belong to a few of some of his favourite Jounin, but there was nothing with them. The Proctors even signalled at him to indicate that they couldn't detect any cheating and couldn't take away any points.

The Chief Examiner looked at the clock and then said, "All right. Time for the tenth question…But before we get to the question, there's one last rule that you need to know about."

He looked at many of them and then told them, "This last rule is absolute."

"First… you must choose…" Ibiki began. "Whether or not to accept or reject this tenth question!"

Temari of Sand was upset, she'd had to wait for her baby brother before even attempting a Chunin exam and now this, "Ch..Choose? What happens if someone doesn't accept the question?"

"If you reject the question and don't even try to answer it. You'll lose all your points, immediately," the Chief Examiner said. "You'll fail and both of your teammates will fail right along with you."

Naturally there were some protests and a very important question, "Then why would anyone choose to reject it?"

"Because of the rule linked to it," Ibiki told them. He looked up and said, "If you try to answer the question and you get it wrong... You will NEVER be permitted to apply for the Journeyman Ninja exams again. I'm talking about for the rest of your life."

Kiba shouted out loud, "You can't be serious, that's ridiculous! There are Ninja here who've sat for the Chunin exams more than one time! We know there are!"

"Heh, heh," the man in the black trench coat at the front of the room laughed. " Heh, heh, then that's just your rotten luck. I wasn't making the rules in the past years. I AM in charge now. I've been up front with all of you. You can take a failing grade now and try again later."

"Huh," one of the Genin noised.

"Anyone who has doubts then they'd be smart to reject the tenth question right now," Ibiki told them. "Come back and reapply the next year, and the year after that. Now then let's begin. Those who choose not to accept should raise their hands. Once their number has been confirmed, they will leave the room."

Naruto waited until the numbers were down to near around the same as before. 'It should be fair to keep the numbers fairly the same,' he thought. A quick look around the room and he knew that he more stubborn of the bunch was there, but not too Konoha heavy.

"Bring it on," Naruto said slamming his hand onto his desk. "I'm not afraid of your stupid question. NEVER underestimate me! I don't quit and I definitely won't run. I'll accept your stupid question, even if I risk ending up a Rookie for the rest of my life. I'm still going to be the Hokage of Konoha, even if it's only by pure stubbornness, I don't care!" He pointed at the man at the front of the room and said, "I'm not afraid of you."

A couple of the Shinobi in the room felt a dzing from that statement. They heard it and couldn't help, but believe it, as Naruto subconsciously tapped into his Nen Jutsu and use the mysterious 'In' ability to state a truth that was felt by those sensitive to chakra or aura use.

"I'll ask you one last time," Ibiki said staring at the blond kid, who just glared back at him. "This is a decision that could affect you for the rest of your life. Quit now, while you still have the chance."

Naruto snorted and continued his glaring contest without blinking, "I never go back on my word. That's my Nindo…My Shinobi way!"

The Proctors looked at the remaining Genins in the room and noticed that every one of them had been affected by the kid's words. They looked more determined now then they had a moment ago. Ibiki was still glaring at him and then looked around.

'Heh,' he thought. 'Seventy-eight of them are still here. Hmm…an interesting and entertaining kid, with that comment he dispelled everyone else's doubts and perhaps his own. The number is more than I expected, but…' He looked at his Proctors and every one of them gave a nod to indicate that no more would quit.

"Good call," the man told the remaining students in the room. "So everyone who is still here… You've just passed the first exam!"

Ibiki loved the shocked expressions on all of the faces in the room. "The seventy-eight of you still in the room, you've just passed. Congratulations!"

Ino leaned forward and asked, "What do you mean we passed? What about the tenth question?"

"There is no tenth question…" Ibiki grinned widely. "Not beyond the whole 'Accept' or 'Reject' thing."

"What?"

"Huh?"

"Hey! Then why did we have to suffer through the other nine questions?" Temari yelled at him. "That was a total waste of our time!"

"There is no such thing as wasted time," Ibiki told them. "Those questions had a purpose, which they've already served."

"Huh?" Temari blinked and asked, "Such as?"

"Our goals were to test your skills at spying," the man explained.

'He seems like he's completely different,' Ino thought. She then asked, "Our skills at spying?"

"Remember the rules at the beginning? You pass or fail as part of a three-man cell," he said and received a few nods. "That rule pressured you with the fear that anything you did wrong, you would bring your teammates down with you."

"Seemed obvious at the beginning," Sasuke said out loud.

"However…the questions on the paper are beyond the level that any Genin Ninja could be expected to handle," Ibiki continued. "So most of you reached the same conclusion and had only one way of retaining your points…which was by cheating."

Risa sighed, put her elbow on the table, leaned her head in her hand and said, "They set us up."

"That's right," Ibiki confirmed. "To ensure there would be suitable targets for you to cheat from we snuck in a pair of ringers… There were two Journeymen Ninja who already knew all of the answers."

"It took me forever to figure out who they were," one Genin said.

Another replied with, "I know what you mean."

Several others, said, "Me too!"

The Genins' attention was once again drawn to the front of the room as the Chief Examiner removed his head-covering bandana. "Of course anyone that cheated in a clumsy or obvious way…" he paused, as head gear was fully removed. "Failed!"

The man in front of them was the best example of failing. He had multiple scars that had more than a few Genins wondering what happened and why. Others thought it best not to speculate about the level of failure that resulted in something like that.

"You see there may be circumstances where being caught in an act of espionage can cost you more than just your life," he leaned forward in a way that exposed more of his scars. "You pay in ways that can be taken from you little by little, time and time again, when many lives are in your hands there's a precious balance of what you know versus what you give away."

Several Genin gulped at this information.

'Burn scars, punctures from where screws were used,' Sasuke thought. 'Long slash marks, not just on his face…He's been tortured.'

'Cool…I bet that his hands are even worse!' One of the Genin from Oto (Sound) thought, 'But that's what he gets for being dumb enough to get captured. It'll never happen to me!'

"The information you get can't be trusted…" Ibiki explained to them as he put his head-protector back on. "If you can't keep your presence a secret from the enemy. Learn that and learn it well. If you bring back intelligence from a suspect source or a compromised operation, you'll only be doing the enemies' work for them and putting those you serve in danger."

"That is why we manoeuvred you into using your espionage skills to cheat at this test," he continued. "It was the quickest way of weeding out the students whose skill aren't up to snuff, yet."

"Fine then," Temari was still put out. "Then what was the deal with the tenth question?"

"Ah! That tenth question was the first real test on the exam," he told them.

"…" Ino then asked. "What on Earth do you mean?"

"Let me explain the tenth question," the Chief examiner told them. "The tenth question was a choice between two real life options. Both are difficult and dangerous. Those who chose to refuse to answer were to fail and this included their friends. Those who chose to accept and couldn't answer the question would have lost any chance of ever trying again. Both were unfair, nasty and in reality 'no-winner' for either choice."

There were the expressive faces again and he answered their unspoken questions, "So why did I even bother to present them? Well, let's suppose that you earn the Chunin rank that you're fighting for. You're assigned to steal a vital enemy document, knowing nothing about the enemy's skills, deployment or even military preparedness. You may have to cross into a foreign territory that may or may not be heavily mined or trapped. Now…do you accept your mission or do you reject it?"

"Can any of you make the decision to place your lives or that of your companions in such an unknown jeopardy?" He asked them pointedly. "Can any Chunin get away with taking only 'safe' jobs?"

He paused. "Of course not! No matter how dangerous the risk there will always be missions that you cannot decline. A ninja must show valour and something that will inspire those around him to overcome their fears."

"This is the talent that we most value in the Commander of a Chunin cell." He looked at all of them, trying to judge how his words were affecting them. "Those who can't gamble with their own fate…Who would willingly trade today's certain risk for tomorrow's uncertain future are weak and are the kind who only make weak decisions. They don't belong in the ranks of Chunin, in my opinion. By choosing to accept, you answered the almost insolvable tenth question correctly."

He smiled at them genuinely and continued, "If you keep that spirit, you can probably conquer many of the doubts or difficulties you'll be facing. You've all passed the first hurdle. So part one of this Chunin selection exam is concluded. I'll pray that you fight the good fight."

"YATTA!" Naruto shouted and pumped his fist in the air. This had several laughing at his exuberance. The Chief Examiner chuckled too and then stopped immediately, as his attention was riveted to the window outside.

"Ugh," Naruto muttered, banging his head against the desk he was sitting at. He said this in a muttered tone and tapped in out in coded form on his Fujin paper so that his teammates heard him too. "Another one fond of the 'Dynamic Entry' technique. Who the hell is teaching this shit?"

Risa giggled and Sasuke snorted, but had to agree that entries like this were not quite the proper thing for Ninjas to be doing especially after a lecture on the need for stealth.

At the front of the room, the first examiner disappeared behind a wall of black cloth, as a woman uncurled from her ball like position and said to them, "Listen up maggots, none of you are in any position to celebrate. I'm the second Chief Examining Officer, Mitarashi Anko! Time's a-wastin' people, let's go now, FOLLOW ME!"

She held up her arm air, expecting…'Well this wasn't what I was expecting,' she thought. 'No reaction and here I'm standing with my arm up like a fool.'

"Anko," Ibiki said from behind the cloth. "Can't you sense the mood in here?"

The poor woman blushed slightly and then quickly counted the number students. Then she dropped her arm, placed her hands on her hips and said, "Seventy-eight, have you gone soft? Ibiki that's like… twenty-six teams?"

"This year we seem to have some exceptional applicants," Ibiki told her.

"Yeah right," Anko sneered. "I'll cut them down by half before the next test is done. Ooh, I'm getting charged just thinking about it." She faced the room. Her whole body was nearly shaking with excitement and her grin was dark, as she said. "I'll just explain things in detail as soon as we move to our next location…so follow me, NOW!"

Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old

The group of Genins that had been pumped at knowing that they'd passed the first exam, now looked slightly leery of the place that they'd been lead to. There were a lot of huge trees behind a metallic mesh fence two stories high. Some of the root sizes from the trees beyond, well those that they could see beyond the fence, were almost as tall as it.

Of course the number of chained locks, the huge 'NO TRESPASSING' sign and the evil grin that their second Chief Examiner gave them, didn't ease them any. She turned to look at them and said, "This is Training Ground: Forty-Four, it's also know as the Forest of Death."

Naruto looked up into the trees and then he looked at Risa, saying, "At least this time the walls won't be moving."

Akoba scented something and yipped something at his bond mate. "There is that," Risa said. "But the Palace was dead, this place is very much alive and with life…" She shrugged and looked at both her teammates saying, "It's always survival of the fittest in places like this."

"Hm," Naruto said, turning his attention back to the examiner. 'Orochimaru is in this crowd,' he thought. 'I'd recognize that chakra signature anywhere. Please Kami, guide me in the protection of my friends and let me kill him during this exam, if I can.'

The crazy lady in front of them then said, "You're about to find out first hand why it's called the Forest of Death."

Naruto glanced at Sasuke and asked in a stage whisper, "Is it me or are they trying to psych us out at every stage of this exam?"

Anko developed a notably angry look and said, "Cocky little shit, aren't you?"

She threw a kunai at him. He quickly dodged it, caught it in his hand and had it pointed at her neck before she could even lay hands on him, as she'd thought he'd been cut and was about to taste it.

'No way is she cutting me this time around,' he thought. 'Or licking my face either, disgusting woman.'

"Oooo, you're quick little boy," she said with her eyes blazing at the feel of the pinprick of her own sharpened kunai at her throat. "I'm looking forward to testing you."

"Hmph," Naruto said. "Take your blade and continue on with the instructions Crazy Examiner Lady. I'm looking forward to a stroll in that quaint little park of yours."

"Heh," Anko said taking her kunai back. "Brat! Well it looks like we have a couple of fools this time around. Should be a lot of fun. Before we begin the second exam, there's something that must be dealt with here and now."

She held up a stack of forms that everyone could clearly see said, "CONSENT FORM" at the top. She huffed at many of the confused looks and then explained, "They're consent forms that everyone has to sign. We want to clear up any detail and be covered before any death occurs. You need to sign the form before you go in, so we can't be held liable. You wouldn't want to get me in trouble, would you?"

"Before you sign, let me explain the second exam to you," Anko said. "Each three man team must sign the forms and turn them in at the hut behind me, as a team. Got that?"

The forms were being passed around and she continued to explain about the second phase of the Chunin exam, "Now about the exam…To put it simply it's a no-holds-barred survival test."

Shikamaru took the form and then thought, 'Survival, eh? It's just another pain-in-neck exam, ugh!'

"Let's start with the topography of this particular training ground," Anko said, unrolling a map. "Training Ground Forty-Four is bordered by a circular perimeter of iron fence, with a total of forty-four locked gates at equal intervals. There are forested sections, a river and in the centre there is a tower which is about ten kilometres away from all the gates."

She looked around to gauge the reactions of the students. "Within the confines of this beautifully secure area, is where you'll undergo the your second test, using every means at your disposal to survive. This means your ninja arts, weapons or what ever else you may have up your sneaky sleeves. Think of this as an 'Extreme' version of 'Capture the Flag' or in this case 'Capture the Scroll'."

"Scroll?"

"That's right," Anko said. She held out two scrolls of different colours and with a different word on each. "There's an Earth scroll and a Heaven scroll. The object of this is to finish with one of each, which means that your team has to acquire a second scroll."

"Since there are twenty-six three man teams, this means that thirteen of you will begin with a Heaven scroll and the other half will begin with an Earth scroll," the crazy lady explained. "Your objective is to hold onto your own scroll, get your hands on one of the other kind and bring them both to the centre tower in the middle."

"That means only half will pass," Ino said with a sigh.

"That's right," the examiner said. "There's also a time limit…I'm giving you all one hundred and twenty hours, in which to complete this exam. That's exactly five days."

"Five days," Ino said and then thought. 'My hair will be totally ruined.'

"What are we supposed to do for food?" Choji asked loudly, his stomach was already starting to rumble.

"Hmph," the woman said. "That's your problem. The forest's full of nature's bounty. Of course it's also full of man-eating animals, deadly insects and many poisonous plants."

"There's no way that thirteen teams will pass this part of it," Risa said. "Not under those conditions."

Anko just grinned and said, "Also as the time shortens, the trials will become harder, as you get more desperate. You'll have less time to deal with mistakes, recover from any accidents or injuries. You'll be surrounded by enemies at all times, so you'll have to sleep with one eye open."

"Now, in addition to those who die in attempts to defend or capture a scroll…" she paused much too cheerfully. "Some of you are bound to succumb to exhaustion, exposure, starvation and dehydration. So, let's talk about the rules…and what offences you can be disqualified for!"

She held up one finger and said, "Obviously, the teams that fail to reach the tower…in time…as a three man cell…not carrying both Heaven and Earth scrolls…are out. That includes any team that loses a member to death or due to severe injuries."

"Under NO circumstance can any of you leave the forest before the time is up," she told them. "No recess! No time-outs!" She paused, somewhat dramatically and then added, "Oh, also, you're forbidden from looking at the contents of the scrolls until you're inside the tower."

Someone had to ask, "What'll happen if you sneak a peek?"

"That's for those who look, to know," Anko replied with a dark grin. "If any of you make it to the Chunin level, there will be times when you'll be entrusted with top-secret documents, so consider this a test of your trustworthiness. That's all the explanations you're getting from me. Trade your team's three consent forms for a scroll. When you've gotten your scroll, choose a gate. Everyone will begin at the same time."

A Proctor stood up from the booth and pulled a curtain, saying, "It's almost time to distribute the scrolls."

"One final piece of advice," Anko told them all. "Stay alive in there."

Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old

TBC…

(…i…) Several conversations have been taken from the manga or animé depending, which is cooler – starting Vol. 5, pg. 78.