Chapter 17: Chūnin exam, Ibiki's Late!
When Team 8 entered the large classroom where the written exam was scheduled to take place, they didn't imagine to see over two hundred genins already inside the same room.
A large percentage of the genins were Leaf ninjas. Still, their postures and expressions made them appear unfriendly. The age diversity was also astonishing. The range fell probably between the ages of twelve and forty.
Kiba whistled to himself. "Whoa, that's a lot of rivals." He said under his breath. He was on his way to follow Shino, but felt a tug on his sleeve. He paused and looked towards his captor.
"Hinata, what's up?" Kiba asked Hinata. The girl let go and merely motioned towards the crowd of menacing-looking genins. "Ah, them. Don't mind. My mom already warned me about the punks that show up each year. Sure, they look threatening but this is a written exam. So relax, many are bound to fail."
"I concur. My father showed me a statistic of the number of genins that got promoted last year. A total of only ten genins became Chūnins. And that's counting both of the exams which takes place semi-annually. So the average promotion was five genins per exam." Shino said.
"But Shino…you just proved how our chances of winning are slim." Hinata said in horror.
"Please calm down, your anxiety is making Akamaru feel nervous." Kiba said softly to Hinata. He picked up his puppy from his head and held him in his arms. Akamaru curled into a white puff of fur as he whined. Kiba had a look of exasperation as he turned to Shino. "And you, would you stop saying those kinds of things? You know me by now. I'm not one to give a damn about statistics, and it's not because I'm a proud Inuzuka. I just wanna believe that we will make it against the odds!"
"I can see how my information might distort someone's hope. But that wasn't my intention." Shino said. They guessed that was his way of apologizing. "I feel like pointing out that the idea of this written exam is to weed out the under-qualified." Shino explained, hinting that he felt that his team were qualified. His comment was a little reassuring which is why Hinata forced a smile.
"I-I see your point…" Hinata said. Though it was hard to feel at ease when she felt the whole room following them with their eyes. But the staring stopped once her teammates sat down on an empty row at the front of the classroom.
When Shikamaru Nara entered the room, he paused to look around. His teammates froze right behind him upon seeing the room filled with delinquent-looking genins. There were males close to the age of forty who still hadn't progressed in rank. It made them wonder if these individuals wasted their youth in prison and were recently released.
Shikamaru's eyes were naturally narrowed; he was born like that. His high ponytail, pierced ears, slouched posture, and look of disinterest gave off a certain vibe of 'I don't give a fuck' so many of the older genins didn't feel an interest in trying to mess with his team.
After taking the first five steps, Shikamaru immediately singled her out of the crowd. She was sitting at the front row of the large classroom. It was as though Hinata was the bonfire while everyone and everything else became ashes scattered on the ground around her flame.
He strolled by many genins in a chill pace, with Ino and Chouji close by him. Chouji never stopped stuffing his face with chips, and Ino walked with more grace and confidence than she normally did. It all added to the illusion of 'you can't mess with us just because we look like rookies.' Though that was just on the exterior. They felt nervous inside.
Upon getting closer to the front row, Ino and Chouji finally spotted all the members of team 8. Their nerves were pushed aside once they saw familiar faces turned and acknowledged them. Hinata and Kiba smiled, while Akamaru barked. Shino merely nodded a silent greeting.
"Hi-na-ta!" Ino rushed past her teammates as her long blonde hair that was styled into a ponytail floated behind her. She squeezed herself between Kiba and Hinata. She then reached for a hug. Chouji walked behind Hinata, Ino, and Kiba. And took a seat next to Shino.
The Nara sighed, as he found the attention they were getting-due to Ino's high pitched voice-troublesome.
"Hey would you look at that, it's team Asuma!" Kiba said as he grinned. He didn't resent Ino too much for pushing him aside. He remembered similar situations back at the academy, thus Kiba was used to Ino being forceful in her ways. Kiba's eyes shifted to Shikamaru, who was currently slaying his surrounding with his glare. The Inuzuka chuckled while petting Akamaru on the head. "I'm surprised they are letting someone like you take the exam, Slacker. Bet you're gonna give up half way and take a nap somewhere."
Shikamaru blinked.
He wasn't particularly close to Kiba. Hence why he felt astonishment for half a second over being spoken to in such a friendly manner as though the two were chums; Kiba usually spoke more to Ino and Chouji. Nevertheless, they shared a smug but friendly look.
"Heh, It's not like you have any right to criticize. All I remember is how short-tempered and impulsive you were back at the academy. But I won't be surprise if Kurenai-sensei tamed you, even if just a little." Shikamaru said. He then leaned against the edge of a desk, the same desk for which Hinata sat behind.
Kiba shook his head. His chuckle subsided until he was just grinning.
"Those retarded moments of my past only happened during Mizuki-sensei's Taijutsu class!" Kiba said while feeling amused by the fond memories he recalled with Naruto challenging him to some impossible task. But Kiba always took the challenge. "I'm not always short-tempered and impulsive, right Hinata?"
"Mhm…" Hinata hummed in agreement, but Kiba could tell her attention was focused on the conversation Ino was having with her.
"Don't 'mhm' me when you're not even listening to me!" Kiba complained while reaching over Ino's body and gently tugging Hinata's hair. Ino giggled next to them.
"Ow. Sorry Kiba." Hinata said. Her hand moved to run her fingers through the strands of her inky blue hair. Hinata did this out of habit to make sure that her strands weren't standing up. This hadn't been the first time Kiba had playfully pull her hair. He used to do it back at the academy.
She then lifted her gaze. By that point, Shikamaru was sitting over her desk, with his body half turned to face them. It escaped her notice that he had placed himself in front of her so that her field of vision would be filled with a view of him.
The small tilt of her lips. Her wandering eyes-as she looked towards everyone before shifting her eyes back to meet Shikamaru's brown ones-was enough to awaken a fluttering feeling on his insides. Her smile was peppered with amusement over-what he could guess was-Kiba's words or actions.
Shikamaru returned the smile, along with a knowing look of his own. The magical moment quickly passed once he peeled his eyes away before 'I like you Hinata' could flow from his heart to fill his brown eyes.
Ino, at the time, was the more sensitive one with a sharper affinity to noticing the slight shift in Shikamaru's behavior. She only acquired this new awareness because she saw something interesting about a week ago as she was headed to the flower shop. Ino decided to cut through the park. And while leaping through trees, Ino paused when she spotted Shikamaru on a date with Hinata. The blonde had yet to confront either of them about their secrecy, thinking that they wanted to keep it to themselves for now.
Ino's smile only widened while she pretended not to notice how her lazy teammate appeared more awake. The room doesn't seem to hold nothing of interest to him, except for Hinata. His smiles were less stiff and more frequent. He wasn't slouching much and his voice sounded slightly deeper.
Ino shifted her focus back to the idled words which continued to float back and forth between the two teams. At some point, Shikamaru finally started voicing complaints.
"What a drag, it's almost time for the exam and the proctors aren't even here yet." Shikamaru said.
"I know, it sucks." Ino mumbled as she released a yawn. "What the hell, why am I sleepy even though I drank coffee?" Ino then glared towards Shikamaru. "Shika, you should've stopped me from drinking that before coming here-I'm having crazy jitters right now." Ino said as she lifted her shaky hands and showed it to both groups. "This feeling is robbing me of my confidence, I mean just look around!" Ino motioned to her surroundings.
"Are you trying to drag Akamaru down with you, Ino?" Kiba asked, annoyed.
"Troublesome, if someone like you starts doubting themselves, how do you think that's gonna affect the rest of us?" Shikamaru said to Ino. His eyes briefly flickered downward, towards Hinata, who looked like a petrified bunny in her place. Ino noticed it right away.
"Oh no Hinata! Hang in there! I take everything I said back!" Ino said, trying to shake her out of her trance. "We can do it, I believe in us!"
Hinata didn't look completely convinced. Nevertheless, the situation earned a chuckle out of Kiba.
Shino and Chouji could be heard conversing in the background.
"I have a question for you, reasonably ordinary in my opinion," Shino said to Chouji. "How can you still have your appetite even though you're evidently nervous?" Shino asked.
"It's a clan thing. We eat even more when we're nervous." Chouji explained while shrugging his shoulder. "But we lose our appetite when we're super scared."
Shino seemed to be playing with a small bug that was crawling about on the tip of his fingers. The chubby boy wondered what bugs taste like.
"Aa." Shino replied.
Idled words resumed in a similar fashion, until the door opened. Shikamaru looked up towards the new comers, while murmuring words of complaints under his breath. Ino, curious as to the reason why Shikamaru looked upset, turned her body half way to look towards the door.
Team Kakashi had arrived.
"Oh my gosh Sasuke's here!" She squealed in delight before turning to Hinata. "Hinata, is my hair okay?" She asked her friend.
"Yes Ino." Hinata replied.
"Perfect!" Ino said as she grabbed Chouji and dragged him along for moral support.
Ino made her way towards team seven-whom appeared to be overwhelmed by their surroundings-before throwing herself onto Sasuke Uchiha. It provoked a much anticipated verbal fight between Ino and Sakura. Sasuke stood there like a statue. And his mind pictured himself being somewhere different from there.
"I-I should go over there and say hello to Naruto and Sakura…" Hinata said, while her body was already in the motion of standing up. Shino and Kiba made a movement to follow behind in the event any genin tried to mess with their female teammate.
Shikamaru threw his head back and groaned. He felt too lazy to move. But he did so out of obligation, since Sakura had been his sparring partner in the past, and aided him in his Taijutsu; even though it was only for a week.
A male adult in his twenties with silver hair and glasses walked up to the genins. He introduced himself as Kabuto. He was obviously a Leaf Ninja based on the forehead protector which he wore. He claimed to have taken the exam seven times, and failed each time.
This fact alone scared the genins because of what it hinted. It implied that the exam was going to be difficult.
But what made Kabuto strange were his Chūnin level skills which he openly portrayed. He had collected information on every contestant, which was an amazing feat on its own.
Shikamaru had been revising and polishing his critical thinking skills by means of rereading books-so that he could have something to talk about with Hinata. Thus, this Kabuto guy set off an alarm inside Shikamaru's head. The Nara had turned from a passive listener, into a skeptic.
Shikamaru pulled Ino away from Sasuke's side, and motioned Chouji to follow him. Once out of range, he made eye contact with Hinata, and with a chin shrug he motioned her to come. Shikamaru's eyes also danced towards Shino and Kiba as he pointed towards them. The silent exchange was somehow understood by her.
'Oi, Hinata, come here. Bring Shino and Kiba.' Is how Hinata decided to interpret it.
Hinata tugged Shino and Kiba by the sleeve as if asking them to follow her. They gathered around Shikamaru as Kabuto continued to speak to team seven in the background.
"Beware of that Kabuto guy." Shikamaru said. "Something about his story of struggle doesn't add up. No mere genin would go through such lengths without a motive. And it has to make you wonder how exactly he got such personalized Intel of everyone's stats. In theory, he should've pass the exam ages ago with his collection of Intel cards. Yet he failed seven times."
"Shika, aren't you over-analyzing this a little?" Ino asked him seriously while Chouji momentarily paused his snack consumption.
"Perhaps. I don't know." Shikamaru said because it was hard to explain to someone the gut feeling he was feeling. It made him a little nervous when he thought he could be right about Kabuto.
"We'll take precaution." Shino said.
Kiba didn't say a word at the time. Which probably meant that he was taking Shikamaru's claim seriously. After all, he heard from his mother during her drunken rants that the Naras were known for their intelligence, and also their laziness. So it was safe for him to assume that Shikamaru wasn't all he presented himself to be. He might be lazy, but probably not stupid.
Akamaru shared a similar look as though the puppy could understand the weight of the situation.
Moments later, they turned back to Kabuto and team seven. Sasuke had been asking Kabuto about someone named Gaara from the sand, and Lee from the Hidden Leaf Village. Both seemed formidable opponents, but very little was known about Gaara other than he completed all his mission without as much of a scratch. Such feat meant that Gaara was no ordinary genin.
When asked about the abilities of the ninjas from the Sound Village, Kabuto implied that he didn't collect information about them because they were a new village which he deemed unworthy for his Intel cards. The team known as Team Dosu of the Sound Village overheard this, and felt insulted by Kabuto.
The leader known as Dosu didn't mind having a little bit of violent fun. Dosu stood, his back was hunched. He had bandages covering most of his body since he was hiding severe burn scars. He wore a purple yukata of some sort, with a scarf and pants that match that of his teammates. For some reason, he also had a straw raincoat on his back. He was tall for his age; he was fourteen.
He moved at extraordinarily speed. Many genins had a hard time following his movements with their eyes. His speed was definitely on par with that of a Chūnin rank. But Kabuto dodged his assaults effortlessly while never getting touched by the Sound ninja.
However, Kabuto's glasses shattered without any contact. He immediately bent over and fell to his knees, before emptying out the content inside his stomach. Naruto and Sakura, being good Samaritans, aided him in standing back on his feet.
Shikamaru frowned as he analyzed Dosu's attack.
'Kabuto dodged but he still got hurt internally. The side effects from the invisible attack were dizziness and nauseous. And his glasses shattered. How many variables are able to shatter glass?' Shikamaru asked himself. 'This Dosu guy is really bad news. He probably uses something that emits strong sounds and vibrations, what a pain." He pocketed this information in the event he had to face such opponents in the future. 'I'm sure repeated attacks of such kind would lead to permanent internal damage to the body. This is all going to be such a drag. I hope they don't pass the written exam.'
A loud sound was heard at the front of the classroom. Everyone turned to see smoke clearing. After the smoke cleared, Ibiki Morino, the proctor for the exam, along with twelve other proctors were seen.
The tall man, Ibiki, grinned sadistically. He stood in the middle while five Chūnins and one Jounin stood at each of his side. The rest of the proctors had a similar smile as Ibiki.
Hinata, Kiba and Shino immediately recognized Kotetsu and Izumo as one of the proctors. Their regular ninja uniform with the flak was replaced by a new one which matched Ibiki's. It was suppose to show their Jounins rank. Everyone else wore the same uniform but in a different color, to show their rank as Chūnins. It was a shock to see that the rumors were true.
Kotetsu and Izumo were always seen together.
The classroom of genins heard Ibiki apologize for his tardiness as he addressed all the genins as 'degenerates' which obviously implied he wasn't sorry for being late at all. They were all instructed to turn in their application for the Chūnin exams. In return, they received a number and were instructed to find the seat matching the number they received.
"The written exam is going to be distributed around after you're all settled." Ibiki explained.
Kotetsu grinned criminally, like a sadist, as he paraded the stack of said exam papers in his hands which drew a reaction out of Naruto.
Everyone found their assigned seats, only to find themselves scattered away from their teammates. Naruto noticed Hinata sitting next to him.
"Hinata, let's do our best!" Naruto said. But his confidence deflated once he said those words.
"A-Ah, yeah." Hinata replied.
Ibiki stood tall and proud before the class full of what he called degenerates.
"I will take no questions." Ibiki said. "So listen carefully you maggots. Rule number 1, you all start with 10 points. And the exams has 10 questions. On point will be deducted per problem you do wrong." He allowed for that to sink in. "Rule number 2, if one of your teammate fails, you all fail!"
"WHAT!" Sakura said, clearly angry that she was stuck with Naruto on the team.
"Shut up!" Ibiki yelled back at her. "Ruler number 3, if you're caught cheating unnecessarily, two points will be deducted. Awkward cheating is not allowed. To become a Chūnin you must act like a model shinobi. You all got one good hour, so get started you degenerates!"
'Kiba, Shino, I hope you guys do alright!' Hinata thought to herself before lifting the exam to her face to read the questions over. 'W-What is this? This type of question wasn't taught at the academy. And Kurenai never taught us this as well, this is beyond my comprehension.'
Hinata stared at several super complicated hypothetical situations.
Question number one asked her to calculate how fast she would have to throw a weapon, while standing on a mountain with a wind blowing at 20 miles per hour, while the target was moving at 50 miles per hour. There was a picture to go along with the scenario.
Part two of the question asked her to explain which angle one has to hold the weapon so that it would stab the moving target on his forehead to kill him instantly, while hanging upside down on a tree.
Part three of the question asked her to estimate the time it would take for the target's head to decompose once you remove it from the body and travel back with it for four days straight until you reach destination.
And for the first time, Hinata lifted her head to look around the classroom. The majority of the genins inside the classroom shared the same panic as she did, this also included Sakura.
Hinata kept looking around until she noticed a few genins who jogged down the answers as though they had it memorized.
'Wait, are they cheating?' Hinata asked herself. She glanced towards the proctors sitting to the side with large notepads and pens in hands. She bit her bottom lip and looked down at her paper. She cradled her face in her hands and sighed. The proctors didn't seem to be doing anything yet.
'What's the real purpose behind this exam? I mean technically this test is useless in real life practice. So something else is being tested. Proctor Ibiki, I bet he picked his words carefully before coming here. The clue is in what he said. He said not to get caught cheating awkwardly…or clumsily, or gracelessly. Otherwise, cheating is allowed as long as you go about it discretely…' Hinata concluded.
She was overcome with a resolution of confidence as she figured out what she had to do. She moved her hands under the table and hid it out of sight. She discreetly performed the sign to activate the Byakugan. She leaned her head forward so that her bangs and hair hid her face, including her eyes.
Hinata counted a total of five genins. They wrote away the answer as though they knew it by heart. They simply filled the pages with the answer while they spent no time on calculation.
Hinata filled up her sheet with answers she copied off the genins whom seemed to know them. She smiled when she noticed that Akamaru was on Kiba's head, peering around and barking the answer silently to Kiba. Shino had his bug scattered about, searching for the answers to the exam. And Shikamaru and Chouji seemed too calm; no doubt Ino was going around possessing people's body in order to get the answer.
Naruto, however, was still frozen solid with fear of failing. She tried to get his attention in any way she could. She nudged him with her elbow and hinted that he could copy off her. When he suspiciously asked her about her intentions or motive, she was shocked.
"We're the rookie nine, I-I want to see us make it far." She whispered to Naruto.
But just as she moved her exam closer so that Naruto may copy off her, Ibiki chose that moment to throw a kunai, which flew past Naruto and landed on a genin's desk located behind Hinata. Said ninja whose desk was marked by Ibiki's kunai got taken out of the exam along with his teammates.
"You can't prove that I fucking cheated! That's fucking bullshit!" The angered genin yelled at the top of his lungs as he got carried away by two Jounins.
The scene had placed an invisible pressure on Naruto as he swore not to cheat. Hinata sighed and hoped for the best.
Harrison's wool: When I posted the last chapter (Chapter 16) I began to have doubts of the progression of the story. That's why I had asked what you guys thought of the story so far. To my guest reviewers and everyone else that left a review on chapter 16, thank you.
As for the the purpose of this chapter...it was mainly to satisfy my wish to have team 8 and team 10 interacting without their sensei around.