The doors seemed unnecessarily loud as the three Genin entered the room full of waiting applicants.
Those already there stopped as the door opened, assessing the newest competition.
Upon seeing the trio of kids walk into the room most lost interest immediately turning back to their team mates or their fellow Villagers.
The three of them scanned the room before them; there were Shinobi form every province under the sun;
Kiri
Kumo
Suna
Iwa,
Plenty of Konoha
Ame
Kusa
Ishi
And Taki
Akari couldn't help but smile as she noticed another set of headbands that she had seen once before on another mission, belonging to the very Ninja she had met.
Yoru.
She smiled to herself and made a b-line straight for them, an action which got more than a few teams staring. Taki called out to her but she wasn't paying attention.
The one facing her noticed her approached and a quizzical look came over her face as she tried to remember where she had seen the blond before.
"Well, well, well, hardly expected to see the three of you here." She said with a grin as she reached them.
Makabi and Yin turned to look at her, a similar expression forming on their faces.
"I'm sorry, have we met?" Makabi asked.
Akari assumed a hurt expression and frowned at them. "What all it takes is a month and you three forget all about the Land of Planes?" She asked.
Understanding dawned in their eyes and they all smiled. "You're the girl that was protecting the Daimyō." Yin said.
Akari nodded, her team mates came up shortly after Taki watching the banter with interest while Azuko glared daggers at her, "Akari what are you doing?" The boy asked angrily.
Akari offered him a blank look. "Catching up with some acquaintances," She said in a matter-of-fact voice.
Azuko growled at her under his breath, "You shouldn't, they're the competition." He told her. "We're competing against them remember." He said.
"Give it a rest," She said dryly. "The exam hasn't begun yet."
Azuko's eyes narrowed and he was about to say something more when Taki stepped in. "Both of you shut up." She said in an almost irritated voice. "It's like you think the idea of teamwork doesn't apply to you, Naruto told us we pass and fail as a team so if you two keep bickering like this we might as well give up now." She said.
Azuko gave a short 'humph' and folded his arms while Akari sighed. She was right after all. She turned back to the trio of Yoru Nin and offered a smile. "Catch ya," She said as she walked off with her team mates.
They sat there for another half an hour as more and more teas arrived in the room, momentarily halting the other teams as they assessed the new arrivals.
Akari pulled out one of her windmill shuriken and began inspecting the edges as the three of them sat there in total silence. Like the other Shinobi there she noticed a few other teams that like her own didn't seem to look at the new arrivals. They just sat where ever they found themselves to be and waited.
She counted three Kumo teams, a Kiri team, four Suna teams and a two Iwa teams as well as six Yoru teams that didn't seem overly concerned about the Exam. Most of the other team looked edgy and more than a few came close to fighting after a few quick verbal exchanges, though luckily nothing resulted in a fist fight.
Her eyes for the most part never left Yin and his team on the other side of the room. She didn't like seeing them there and at the same time she did.
They were well and truly above and beyond the Chūnin level, she knew that much from how they had handled themselves in the Land of Planes. The fact that they were still only Genin gave her pause for thought, more so was the fact that, like their fellow Yoru Nin none of them seemed overly fazed about the exam. It was clear that everyone was on edge right now, and yet a handful of them acted like they didn't care. It was clear to her that they would be the most dangerous opponents, most of the other teams seemed to on edge.
She looked at the shuriken blades and spun the ninja tool in her hand lazily before bringing each edge into the table she was sitting on. Each blade cut into the table with a slight 'thump' and left a deep gout in the hard wood surface.
Some of the more jumpy teams practically spun on their heels at the sound.
"Do you have to keep drawing attention to us?" Azuko asked pointedly, clearly annoyed.
Akari sighed. "It's not like we need to worry about them," She retorted to him, getting more than a few glares back from the surrounding teams.
Azuko and Taki raised an eyebrow at the statement and to explain Akari discreetly gestured to the teams she already noticed. "They're the trouble." She told them in a hushed voice, "Unlike the other teams here, they're not on edge, they're calm, they're collected, their heads are in the game, everyone else is just too jumpy to be too much of a threat. The ones we need to watch out for are the ones that don't glare at us for the slightest thing. I don't think any of the other teams are too much of a threat if they can't keep it together in a waiting room."
She said the last sentence louder than the others so it could be heard by the other teams. Like she had expected, most teams turned to glare daggers at the Konoha trio, meanwhile those teams she had pinned as dangerous merely offered the team an amused grin.
Almost as if they though the same thing.
Taki and Azuko noticed this too, and despite everything, had to agree with the blonds assessment, those teams that couldn't handle the pressure would be more prone to mistakes and leave themselves open at a critical juncture, those teams that were calm would be able to get through the exam with less trouble due to their ability to think calmly.
Taki and Azuko saw something behind their team mate ad their eyes widened as they went for their weapons. Akari heard the fait 'tack-tack' of fast moving sandals on wood. The faint 'woosh' and the shadow cast by her would be attacker signalled the optimal time to strike.
"You cocky bitch," He growled at her.
Without a second though Akari flipped back on the table bringing her knee into the other Ninja's face, the impact staggered the man, as his two team mates came in at her, the next thing they knew Taki and Azuko laid them out flat.
The room's occupants stopped dead as the first punch was thrown. In the following silence Akari felt like she could hear the heart beats of everyone in the room. She flipped over onto her feet as she looked at the team that had attacked her. Their headbands showing that they were from Ame.
The one that had gone for her, a guy probably three years older than here with greasy black hair, glared at her as blood ran freely from his broken nose. He went to speak but Akari cut him off before he'd even started.
"Look if someone like me saying you're not cut out for this is enough to set you off then you're only proving my point." She barked at him. "I doubt any real Chūnin would be so easily provoked like this, so do yourself a favour and cool it or you might as well walk out the door."
The tension in the room seemed to ease off somewhat as some of the other teams realised the truth to her statement; however there were still plenty of other teams on edge right now even more so than before.
Azuko glared at her and went to speak before the sound of clapping came from above them. The room paused and looked up to see a young woman standing on the room looking down at them.
The woman stopped channelling her Chakra into her feet and dropped to the floor, landing next to Taki.
"Well said kiddo." She said with a smile.
The entire room stopped to look at this woman that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. None of them had even felt her arrive, or seen her before she started clapping. She clearly wasn't here to take the exam, everything about her screamed confidence and control. She reached behind her head and undid her bun, letting her long oak brown hair fall to the middle of her back.
She stared at the Amegakure Nin and his team mates.
"Pick yourselves up," She said dryly as she walked to the front of the room. "Well kiddily-winks," She said in a sing-song voice as she turned to look at them. The room became even tenser at the condescending tone the woman used, treating all of them like children.
"My name is Fujikiri Tokoni and I am your proctor for the first part of the Chūnin Exams." She said giving them a bright smile. At her call the doors behind her opened and a dozen more Shinobi walked into the room, all of them dressed in the same Grey-white fatigues as Tokoni.
"Also before we begin, anyone else who feels like starting a fight will be failed immediately. Okay?"
Akari raised an eyebrow at the woman; she acted completely different to how she felt. Akari's first impression of the woman was that she was not someone to mess with, perfectly assured and strong. Completely at ease.
And yet she stood before them like a kid in a candy store with a giant smile on her face. It put the Exam applicants off to say the least.
"Anyway," She said after a pause, drawing out the vowels. "Form up and take a number," She told them as the other proctors pulled out several stacks off small number cards. "That number indicates where you will sit. Once we're all good I'll hand out the written exam." She told them.
The room buzzed with conversation for a second before one of the dumber applicants spoke up. "What do you mean written exam?" A Kumo ninja asked. "Why the hell are we taking a test?"
Tokoni turned to look at the young Kumo Nin and his team. "Either shut up or get out, I have no intention of catering to the needs of dunces like yourself." She said in the same happy voice, which somehow seemed to drip with venom.
The same off putting vibe went out through the room just like before. After a pause the Exam applicants lined up and began taking number cards and sitting in their assigned places.
The seating was completely randomised but even so no two ninja from the same team were sitting adjacent to each other.
The prospective Chūnin filled the room in an odd silence as tried to work out the situation. Nothing about her seemed to make any sense to the young ninja.
As the last person took their seat Tokoni began writing on the black board at the front of the room.
"Okay, now before we begin there are a few rules that must be followed until this exams is concluded;
"First and for-most: No questions.
"Second: Any instances of cheating will be an automatic deduction of 3 points." She told them. "Each applicant will start out with fifteen points, for every question you answer incorrectly you lose one point."
The Genin in the room looked at her curiously, but none of them asked a question.
Tokoni continued. "If any member of your team reaches 0 points you are automatically disqualified, the three of you.
"Finally all three of your team mates must have the same answer for you to retain your points for a correct answer." She told them. "The main focused for you and your team mates is to have as many points as you can to gain a passing grade." She told them.
"And how many points is that?" Someone up the back asked.
Tokoni sent the speaker a smile. "Tell me, what was the first rule?" She asked.
The young Nin stuttered for a moment before speaking. "No questions." They said eventually.
Tokoni nodded. "And at what point did you seem to think you were exempt from the rules of this exam?" She asked them.
They said nothing and Tokoni nodded, "I thought so, for the record the next person to break that first rule is disqualified." She said with that same irritating smile.
"Okay well you may begin; you have 90 minutes to complete your exam." She said taking a seat at a desk in front of everyone.
There was a soft rustle as everyone turned their exam papers over and began writing. Azuko, looked about himself briefly before he looked at the questions presented.
He paused.
What the hell am I looking at? He asked himself as he read the first question. It was asking something about an advanced Fūinjutsu. He sighed and moved onto the next question and was just as stumped as before.
He looked about the room; he was conveniently placed in the far back right corner so seeing the whole room was easy for him. He saw five people in the room writing easily, a further six writing at a slower pace but noticeably better than the rest of the applicants.
He sighed to himself as he went through the remaining 13 questions. He had a faint idea of how to answer question 10 but other than that he had nothing.
He looked over at Taki sitting a few sets a head of his own looking intently at the paper before her, he could faintly make out the movement of her arms. At least she was getting somewhere.
His gaze inevitably narrowed as he looked over at Akari sitting somewhere near the front of the room.
She was leaning back in her chair, feet on the desk as she looked out of the window.
What the hell are you doing Akari!? Azuko shouted internally as he looked at his team mate. Are you trying to fail us!?
It took him several minutes to calm himself down to the point where he could think steadily. He looked at the clock on the wall. The Exam had started at 4:30 and it was 4:45 now, he had until 6:00pm to find all of the answers, he hoped his team mates could do the same. Taki he had faith in, but Akari was still just sitting there. Every time he looked at her he felt his blood boil.
Forcing himself calm Azuko focused his Chakra and made a Doton sign.
Doton: Shindō kanchi.
He filled his hand with Chakra and seeped it gently into the desk heightening himself to the vibrations within it caused by the other people writing. Four spaces down from his own he linked the Chakra under the paper of the other person. He was already half way through the third question. Azuko took a breath as he began to write out what the other person was writing.
If he was lucky his team mates would be able to find the answers out somehow.
Taki was sitting near the middle of the room. She had been looking at her sheet for a few minutes now working through the questions one at a time. She sighed to herself as she looked at Tokoni sitting at the front of the room, book in hand, she frowned and looked at the other proctors sitting either side of the room.
Her eyes locked with one of them before they wrote something down on their clip board.
She popped her neck and sighed.
She looked at Akari, smirking as she saw her sitting with her feet up near the front of the room. If she had to guess Azuko was probably seething with rage looking at her from where he sat. He had seemed completely obsessed with the Exam on the few occasions she had bumped into him on the weekend, and even in the waiting room she could tell he was tense, it wasn't nervousness' – though he was still a bit apprehensive about the exam – it was something else.
She shook her head and looked back at her sheet. She had a fair idea of how to answer all of the questions on her sheet, though she wondered why they were so complicated. She shook off the feeling of unease that was settling in and began writing out her answers aware that at least eight other shinobi were watching her every move like a hawk.
Yin looked at the question sheet and smiled to himself. He looked at Tokoni and even managed to catch her eye.
The glance only lasted a second but it was all Yin needed. As their eyes met the iris of his left eye changed and Tokoni froze in place.
A moment later his eyes were normal and she had this vague feeling she was missing something. She looked at the clock and sure enough, she was five minutes behind. She risked a glance back at the Yoru Nin she had looked at a few minutes ago. She knew he had done something, a Genjutsu definitely but the problem was that she couldn't remember any of it. She hadn't even blinked. She looked at one of the other proctors and he nodded at her but other than that there was nothing she could do about it.
After all they were supposed to cheat in this exam she reasoned.
Akari had looked at the question sheet she had been given and given up almost immediately. While she was definitely lethargic she was by no means stupid, she knew that all of these questions were out of her liege.
She sighed to herself and put her feet up. Seeing as she was at the far end right in front of the proctors she didn't have to worry about annoying the person next to her. She let out a deep breath and stared out the window, half watching the Jōnin proctors next to her, half watching the sky.
It was odd to her that something like the Chūnin exam allowed cheating. Hell it probably even encouraged it. Considering the difficulty of the questions it was definitely within the realm of possibility. In any other case the notion of cheating was an automatic fail, not a deduction of points.
She rolled her head back and looked at the other Exam applicants. Some were writing quietly, somewhere looking about themselves and some – just like herself – were doing nothing. She rolled her head back and looked at the nearest proctor wondering about what the point of the written exam was.
Nothing seemed to add up right here.
She sighed to herself and looked at Tokoni. While it looked like the woman was simply reading her book she was keeping constant watch over the applicants, looking at them, assessing them for whatever the true purpose of the exam was.
She popped her neck left and right before looking out over the exam room. Her eyes fell on Yin as he looked down at his sheet. She frowned as she looked at his eyes.
She could have sworn something had been different about them a second ago, but it was an odd feeling on the edge of her senses, it felt like the more she thought about it the more it seemed like she had just thought it up.
She shook her head and looked at him as he began writing on his sheet. Whatever he had done it seemed like he knew what he was doing as he began filling out his sheet quickly.
Her lips pressed together in a thoughtful expression as she returned her eyes to the front of the room, just in time to see Tokoni exchange glances with one of the proctors.
Interesting set up. She thought to herself.
Time ticked by, the seconds adding up to minutes and the minutes piling together until there was only twenty-five minutes left of the exam.
Taki looked at her question sheet, going over it again and again. She was sure that she had answered each question correctly, not the only thing left to do was to figure out how to get it to Akari and Azuko.
She looked at the proctors again and sighed to herself. Something that was bugging her was the lack of information they had been given.
The biggest question she had was; how many points did the teams need to pass this stage of the exam? It had been weighing on her mind since the start of the exam.
She looked down at the sheet and to the fifthteenth question.
Why the hell are they handing that one out last? She asked herself as she looked at the sheet of paper.
It didn't make sense to her, just like the rest of the exam. She looked over at Akari and groaned inwardly. She had barely moved since the start of the Exam a little over an hour ago. It stressed her out to no end.
They all had to have the same answer to retain a point. If she didn't have anything written down then they would all fail. She hopped Akari wasn't just trying to pin all her hopes on the last question.
A proctor called out another failed applicant making the 23rd cell to fail since the exam had started.
She briefly wondered if Azuko had had any points take off for cheating. She sighed to herself and took a deep breath in an attempt to shake off her growing nervousness.
Azuko had all but the first three questions answered by now, and even if the proctors had caught him cheating, he did it all in one go, so even then he still had eight points. And he could count of Taki to have the right answer.
He growled in his throat as he looked at Akari. She still hadn't done anything. She had been sting there for the whole time. If she failed him here he would never forgive her.
It was at that moment that he felt a finger tracing across his back. He froze immediately and looked behind him, but he couldn't see anyone.
The person finished the first word and he stiffened even further.
Akari!
He shot a look back at Akari who was still sitting in her spot with her feet up and his brow knotted in confusion.
What the hell is going on? He asked himself. It was then that the tracing on his back began again.
Answer 1.
It was at the forty five minute mark that Akari decided to get into motion. She brought her hands together as she leant back in her chair apparently stretching as she brought her hands together to form seals.
Senko: Aruku fantomu.
She made a mental note to properly thank Naruto for the Ninjutsu scroll he had given her a few weeks ago, once this exam was over.
The notes had been extensive and easy to follow and Akari had practically perfected the jutsu within the week, not only that but her other jutsu were coming long even faster as she read more and more of the scroll.
The fourth Hokage really did deserve the title of genius, his notes covered every possible aspect of jutsu, even ones Akari hadn't even considered, other's she hadn't known about in the first place. She stood up, completely invisible to everyone else in the room while a copy of herself stayed in the chair, unmoving.
She moved over towards Yin. He had written down all fourteen available questions by now and had already managed to pass them on to both of his team mates. She half hopped, half guessed that they were right before she memorised all of them.
Shortly after she went back to her own seat. The phantom of her stayed in place until she moved to pick up the pencil, using the phantom to conceal herself as she wrote out all the answers she got from Yin.
It took her fifteen minutes to get down all of the answers right, making two trips to double check the answers, after that she stood up again, and, employing everything about steal that Naruto had taught her in the last three month she made her way over to Taki. Once there she began writing the answers across the girls back with a finger.
She smiled to herself as Taki jumped.
Next up was Azuko.
Tokoni looked about the room as the timer reached the half way mark. She saw a proctor fail another team for sloppy work and as the three Shinobi left she looked at the teams that were all but done. Several Kumo and Suna teams were all but done as well as a few Kiri and Kusa teams.
As she had expected all of the Yoru teams were done. Ever since they had started joining in the Chūnin exams five years ago their Shinobi always performed exceptionally well.
Her eyes were drawn to the blond girl sitting at the front of the room as she stretched out. She made out something that could have been a hand sign, before she felt the girls Chakra spike.
Several proctors were already looking at her, though only one was taking any notes. Tokoni felt her Chakra signature move about the room, while she stayed perfectly seated at the same time.
Not bad. Tokoni complimented. Not bad at all.
Time finally ticked over and Tokoni stood up and looked at the prospective Chūnin in the room. Only a few were still writing.
Of the 89 teams that had entered the exam 42 of them had not been failed by the proctors.
"All righty boys and girls it's time to reveal the final question." She said. Every single eye turned to her as she spoke. The apprehension in the room grew to new heights as she deliberately drew out the pause just to add the pressure.
"Okay now, before we begin there will be a few more rules added to this question." She felt the demeanour of the Genin in the room shift again at this new piece of information.
"Firstly if you so choose, you do not have to take this question." She told them.
"How very interesting," A Kiri Nin said allowed from the middle of the room. Tokoni looked at the girl and offered her a smile. "What did I say about questions?" She asked her.
The Kiri Nin shrugged. "That wasn't a question." She replied blandly.
Tokoni nodded, she had a point.
She looked at the other applicants and her smile grew as she moved on. "Let it also be known that if for whatever reason you fail this question, then both you and your squad will forfeit the exam." She said.
"Then it would seem that there is no point in refusing this question." A Suna Nin muttered just loud enough to be heard, following the Kiri kunoichis tactic of stating a 'fact' not asking a question.
"Oh trust me there is a point." Tokoni purred. A few Shinobi shifted in their seats as she spoke so seductively to them. It didn't feel right to any of them. "If any of you get this question wrong, then you will be barred from taking this exam ever again." She said in a devilish voice.
There was a noticeable ripple across the remaining teams as this news came about and many of them looked to their team mates.
"Remember that if any one of you gets it wrong, all three of you fail, and none of you can take the exam again." She said.
It was at that point that everything ticked over for the brightest Shinobi in the room. The reason everything had felt so off. Tokoni was just loving that tense and uneasy atmosphere, like she was feeding off it, and it gave her a sense of glee that made everyone else feel just that little bit more uneasy.
She was playing with them, adding to their already tense nerves. Making them mess up.
Though not all of the Shinobi in the room noticed this.
Seeing that many squads were teetering on the edge off giving up Tokoni gave another push.
"If you really aren't one-hundred percent positive then you best give up on this year." She said to them.
"This is bull shit!" One of the applicants said standing up. "I've take this exam five time's now and we've never had this kind of situation!" He shouted.
Tokoni gave the boy a sweet smile. "Well I wasn't the one making the rules before today. If you're so nervous then you should just give up and spare yourself the humiliation of being a Genin till your fifties." She said.
It was enough for a few of the squads as one by one, those with the weaker minds began raising their hands admitting defeat.
Tokoni watched with a slight tingling feeling as over the next minute 12 squads were fails, all due to one of them cracking under pressure. The sheer amount of failed squads got to even more of the Shinobi in the room and Tokoni felt that one final push was necessary to break the least worthy candidates.
She opened her mouth to speak again, everything about her just so sickeningly joyful as she looked at the room filled with nervous Genin.
There was a sharp 'thack' as Akari brought her heels down on the desk sharply, drawing every ones attention to her.
She looked at Tokoni with hard eyes and for a moment nothing was said.
"So are you quite done with these little mind games of yours?" She asked.
Tokoni smiled at her. "I can fail you for asking a question you know." She said.
"But you won't." Akari shot back. "So you going to give us this question or not?" She asked.
"Are you sure you want to risk it?" Tokoni asked. "Only 10% of people can answer it correctly." She said. "You'll fail for sure."
"Then give me the question." Akari replied evenly.
It was something about the way the blond Genin had managed to wrestle control of the conversation away from Tokoni that bolstered the nerves of the other Genin present.
They way that Tokoni avoided giving the question had led to her ultimate defeat in this particular situation.
She looked around at the remaining Genin and smiled at them. "So none of you are going to give up?" She asked them again.
None of them so much as batted an eye at her. Tokoni dipped her head to those present. "Then congratulations, you've passed the first exam." She told them.
She was glade that all bar three Yoru Nin started at her wide eyed as they heard the news.
"What do you mean we pass?" One of the Kumo Nin asked her.
"What other meaning for 'you pass' are there?" She asked him. "You all passed this first exam." She said.
"Why?" The Kiri kunoichi from before asked. "How?"
"Let me ask you something." Tokoni said sitting on her desk. "If you were to be given a top secret mission on which the lives of your fellow Villages and friends depended on its success, would any Kage give a mission to a Shinobi that couldn't handle the pressure?"
No one answered her and she moved on. "As Chūnin Ninja you duty to your Village and your friends is to accept those dangerous missions, where your live are on the line and success is not a certainty. You have to be willing to take that risk, to go out on a limb and take a mission that may very well end your advancement or your life. If you can't take those risk then you aren't worthy of being a Chūnin." Tokoni told them. "While not every exam deals with this in this manner all of them do at some point. You have to be willing to die, not only for your village but for family."
"The what was the point of all these questions?" Azuko asked her.
Tokoni smiled at him. A much less eerie and true smile to the one that had been on her lips before.
"To test your ability to gather and share information without being caught." She answered. "As a Chūnin you will also be put on missions that require you to gather information discreetly without being caught. If you are caught, then not only is your mission jeopardies, but also your life as well as those of your team. The questions were to weed out those that were too sloppy at what they did to be trusted with such missions.
"As you have undoubtedly noticed these questions were above and beyond most of your abilities, yet there were those among you that either already knew the answers or could figure it out for themselves. So you needed to be able to get the information and then pass it on to the other members of your team without being caught, otherwise you would have failed your mission."
The remaining 90 Genin all nodded.
"So with everything said and done, congratulations on passing the first state of the exam, I wish you the best of luck in the second stage." She said. She pulled down a map of the village and indicated to a large grove of trees outside of the village. "This is where the second stage of the exam will be held. You have thirty minutes to get there." She told them.
The remaining Genin looked about each other in confusion before Tokoni spoke again. "Starting now."
The room practically emptied in a heartbeat, save Akari who got up at a normal pace. "See ya." She said before walking out the door.
Tokoni couldn't help but laugh to herself as Akari walked away, her teams mates waiting – rather impatiently – at the door.
She liked her.
Sup Friendlies?
Ermergred, chapter done, (Blegh.) I'm not sure where I stand on this chapter, weather I like it or not. I kind of don't, it didn't really capture the tension or unease that the original Chunin exam created, but I tried to the worst you can do is rage at me over the internet. Oh noes :P.
Still the next few chapters - all taking placed in the forest of death (By god I'm original, not one but TWO whole exam stages that are a basic copy past of the original manga. by god I'm such a genius with a creative mind.) - will be hopefully better and more interesting, full of blood and organs, all the good stuff.
Jutsu used were.
"Doton: Shindō kanchi. = Earth style: tremorsense"
"Senko: Akaru Fantomu = Flash: Phantoms walk."
That all from me.
Until next time I wish you all the best.
Yours truly.
Nicolai Grey.