"What's taking you so long?" Kiyomi looked back at Meiko who continued to tinker on her knees with occasional flashes of light emanating from a scroll she had rolled out on the ground.
"It's not like you're in any rush…" Ibiki tapped his foot on the ground with the back of his bottom pressed against a little steel table. "Take your time."
"There, all done!" Meiko gave her team an ecstatic smile with a thumb-up after standing up and attaching the brown scroll she held on a pouch underneath her tracksuit and on her belt.
"You're taking that thing with, you know?" Naruto wondered.
"I don't make useless stuff. It's gonna come in handy eventually and, even if it doesn't, I'll improve on it eventually." Meiko shrugged. "You don't just invent a semi-decent weapon with a chakra channeling seal attached to it and then toss it out into the garbage bin."
"Well, we're gonna go up against a bunch of genin so something like that will still stay relevant, I guess." Kiyomi shrugged. From what she saw of the fireball that Meiko's gadget produced, it was more of a hindrance or a repellant than a fright-inducing weapon. Then again, it was invented in around ten minutes.
The three rushed on ahead to a remote, white-tile clad wall that carried the same general vibe as the whole rest of the room – that of an abandoned bathroom in the warehouse that some psycho used to dispose of a body. If the Team Hokage bolted then and there, they would not be getting out of that revolting room as fast as they'd have liked.
The next room was far different. Almost immediately the change in lighting jabbed at Kiyomi's eyes, inviting an opportunity for her lingering migraine to surface in its requiem impulses that were a far cry from what they were like a good half an hour ago. While her body still felt a bit numb and tired and her head felt buzzing like a busy beehive, Kiyomi felt ready to assist her team proper again. She knew that her two favorite dolts could have been trusted to take the reins for a little while and they did their best.
Whether it was because of pure luck, like with Meiko, or because of impeccable skill in the specific area, like with Naruto, her team pulled through. As a leader, Kiyomi couldn't have felt more proud. Something about this roster just felt inherently right…
"Welcome, Team Hokage, I thought you'd never come." Ibiki turned to Team Hokage, standing in a white dogi in the middle of a dojo. A black headband donned his bald head that looked as if he was a burn victim while hanging upside down and someone decided to rake at his wounds in a sick attempt to bleed the burns out.
"Really?" Meiko turned to Naruto with a muffled squeal.
"Yeah, he's pretty hardcore, you know…" Naruto shrugged. Clearly he had been introduced to the condition of Ibiki's upper head and the reason why the chief interrogator of his universe's version of Konoha adopted the bandana as a signature fashion statement.
"Actually," an undergrown, bespectacled boy with eyes of coal and chin-length hair just as black, resting in a traditional-style knot at the top of his head. "It was no time at all, for within this curious dimension, space is warped and time is bendable!"
"They know, Denki, it's meant to be a joke!" an overgrown, compared to the rest of his team, young man a tanned complexion, stern, brown eyes and a red cap so massive that it appeared as a blanket tied over his head with rubber bands as if the youth walked around in a perpetual state of after-shower.
"Huh, Bushy Brows!?" Naruto pointed at a short boy in a familiar green jumpsuit hanging beside the rest of the boys. Now that Naruto mentioned it, Kiyomi recalled seeing a similar boy but of somewhat advanced age all the way back in the audience during the quiz show. The familiarity of the way in which Naruto addressed the boy with an offensive nickname suggested that the two might have been chummy.
"Eh? Lord Seventh!?" the deep, black eyes of the boy in the green jumpsuit blanked out into total whites while his mouth began twisting and swirling as if gripped by a case of nasty nausea.
"Lord Seventh?" the overgrown genin amongst the opponents of Team Hokage in the upcoming challenge smirked. "Interesting… Name's Iwabee, these are my teammates: Metal and Denki."
"Metal?! Your actual name is Metal!?" Meiko pointed at the shy and frightened boy in the green jumpsuit before erupting into a mad fit of laughter. "That's metal as shit!"
"Yeah, you would think that…" Kiyomi sighed, clearly, less impressed by the name of the young man in question. If anything, the massive social insecurities and discomforts more struck her cords when the peculiar name of the young boy came to mind. She couldn't help but wonder what sort of imbecile would name their child that way and doom them to such difficulty in their social life.
"Huh? Metal? I don't get it, you know…" Naruto scratched his head.
"You must be referring to Metal's father, Lord Seventh…" Denki explained. "The two do share more than a few similarities."
"Oh, I see… Don't call me Lord Seventh though. I haven't yet earned the right to be called by that title, you know." Naruto asked in a non-confrontational tone, well, about as much so as he found possible given his fiery character though Denki found it rather confrontational as he shuffled his feet behind his teammates and almost shoved his entire fist down his own throat.
"Don't sweat about it, these two can look like pansies but they're all fine ninja, they're gonna be great one day, you'd better believe it!" Iwabee grinned at Naruto.
"Yeah, I bet they will, you know!" Naruto smirked back at the young man who appeared to be of similar ages, given their apparent similarity in sizes and builds. The two young men shared a bump of fists and turned back to their teams, giving Ibiki a chance to speak his mind for once.
"Now that you're done… We can begin your next challenge, Team Hokage from Konoha and Team 5 of Konoha." Ibiki declared.
"Team Hokage?" Iwabee found the name somewhat odd.
"Yeah, those two were trained by an actual Hokage of this universe and I am going to one day be the greatest Hokage, seems kind of right, when you think about it, you know!" Naruto couldn't contain a dumb grin while he kept incessantly fixing his headband despite there being nothing that wrong in the way it hung on his head.
"This is your penultimate challenge, so you better not half-ass it, or all that tough work's going down the drain, you hear me?" Ibiki gave the two teams a cold shower of stares that sent chills down the spines of just about everybody.
Kiyomi's nervous eyes raced back at the rest of her team, Meiko didn't look that affected by Ibiki's words whereas Naruto was. Not in the way that they were intended though, Naruto looked more fired up than at any point though the words did seem to make him more self-reflective as he stood with both his eyes closed and just contemplated on something with a stern face which was not something that one could often scout out in Naruto's behavior.
Team 5 looked like an utter mess though. Metal Lee grabbed his gut and began rubbing his belly as if he had just been stabbed fifty times and struggled to keep his guts on the inside, his mouth still twisted and churned in the shape of a spiral and his eyes beamed with nervous whites while his bushy eyebrows contrasted his paled out skin and went as high up as to almost disappear into his forehead and mold into his dark hair completely.
Denki sweat a great deal and grit his teeth, Kiyomi noticed a tremble in the fists of the frail boy and the nervous tick of fixing his glasses but, unlike Naruto from a second earlier, Denki's spectacles truly did threaten the boy to just slip off of his face and shatter on the floor. Whenever Denki's fingers weren't wrapping over his glasses, they burrowed underneath the collar of his jumpsuit to pull and twist it around so to let more air in and cool his nerves off somewhat. Judging from the appearance of the nervous wreck of a boy, it was a fruitless venture.
"Your next challenge will be a spelling bee." Ibiki pointed out with a smug expression that could have only meant that there would be more that the proctor left out. Denki's spirits began burning back up, returning the chances of Team 5 competing adequately on the board. He must have been quite proficient in spelling bees. Even Metal Lee settled down somewhat with human features returning to his frightened face.
"A ninja spelling bee!" Ibiki added, killing any semblances of returning spirits in the more cowardly duo of Team 5 but inviting some more self-confidence in the only delinquent of said team.
"That's hokey, you know…" Naruto leaned back on his crossed arms. "The old pen and paper exams were better."
Ibiki proceeded to ignore what Naruto said and stepped out in front, taking the center stage of the dojo's mat. It was only now that the man approached the two teams closer that they noticed the fact that Ibiki was not wearing any shoes or sandals and was completely bare-footed.
Everyone but Naruto and Iwabee wriggled their feet with discomfort, feeling the comfortable and cozy insides of their sandals but boiling in the stigma of standing atop of a dojo mat with full footwear.
Ibiki threw a pair of textbook punches performed from a position of a wide, low guard and flawless balance before transitioning into a pair of jumping kicks and airborne elbow strikes. The ninja present observed their proctor, some of them looked a tad confused as to why he was suddenly stretching out, Iwabee looked impressed with Ibiki's form and Denki nearly stumbled and fell on his butt, intimidated that the man would strike him by accident.
"I will call one representative of each team and then perform a combo of moves. You will have to recount the exact combination of moves that I have performed without any mistakes or missed moves. Given that I am not all too impressed by your taijutsu knowledge, as observed and weighed throughout the exam, I will not demand the precise names for each strike and kick, as put together in Rock Lee's Excellent Taijutsu Compilation. Terms like "right punch", "backhand punch" or "elbow strike" will be accepted." Ibiki explained his showy behavior.
"They're judging our perception. Be careful, guys, there's no doubt that Ibiki will attempt to hide some moves from plain view. This is no martial artist exam, it's an exam for ninja, after all." Kiyomi warned her teammates over the mental link.
"Hmmm… I only I could use my Sage Mode, I'd be able to tell every move he's making precisely, you know…" Naruto sighed. "But I tried once and, apparently, it's banned in the Chuunin Exams by some ancient edict or something…"
"It's okay, we're tough cookies, we should handle it. We've all experienced a bunch out there on the field where the cost of such mistake wasn't elimination, it was death. We should be able to handle it!" Meiko, as always, provided ample encouragement for the team.
"Very well, for the first test, Iwabee Yuino, please approach," Ibiki asked and the young man followed.
The proctor let out a battle cry and then performed a combination of strikes and kicks. Kiyomi kept on turning and bending her head.
"Could you follow it?" Meiko asked on the link.
"Yeah but…" Kiyomi replied.
"I didn't notice any trickery, you know. A fairly simple combo…" Naruto voiced what everyone on the link was feeling.
"Uhm… Sidestep punch, standing uppercut, jumping spin kick, right cross, body shot, jumping spin kick…" Iwabee recounted.
"Not bad, young man, however, my first move was not a sidestep backhand punch, it was a step-in guard. It was a block, meant to displace an opponent's attempt to punish my advancement with a right punch. You've failed. Now, may Naruto Uzumaki from Team Hokage step-up." Ibiki cut the poor boy down like a shaky willow before turning to Naruto.
Naruto gulped something heavy down and stepped up for his turn. His was the chance to get ahead early. If Ibiki's assessment of Iwabee's performance could have been counted on, he did not perform any trickery in the first combo, which meant that Naruto had an easy chance to gain points before it got really difficult.
Ibiki performed a very similar combination of moves, likely to throw Naruto off his game, mixing it up somewhat but providing more than enough similarities to confuse someone who was observing his previous combo and taking records.
"Let's see… Step-in guard, body shot, standing thrust kick, right jab, sweep, jumping spin kick." Naruto recounted.
"Incorrect. This time my step-in guard was actually a sidestep backhand punch." Ibiki shook his head. "Denki from Team 5, please come up here."
Denki nodded and ran up to Ibiki with an unfamiliar gleam of determination in his eyes. Naruto rubbed the back of his head with disappointment but then ended up just laughing his failure off in front of his team, expressing that it was more difficult than it seemed.
"What's so funny, pipsqueak?" Ibiki wondered.
"Well… If Lord Seventh himself tripped up, my failures in this exam no longer seem so jarring. I no longer feel like I don't deserve to be here because this is a challenging test to all of us. Meaning that I do deserve to be here and I must root myself and do my best!" Denki declared.
"Great… You've inspired the nerd too…" Kiyomi shook her head.
"Heh heh, sorry, sorry, you know…" Naruto smirked.
Ibiki performed the combination for Denki to recount but this time he moved differently. His speed was out of this world entirely. Kiyomi had to blink a couple of times in confusion. Her heart raced as she recounted every move she saw, just to feel calmer about the fact that she very nearly might have missed something and thusly there was still a decent chance of her own failure.
"I… I'm not quite sure…" Denki got worked up. Sweat glistened on his forehead again while the boy bit his lip. "Well… I didn't see it for certain so there's no use in guesswork. I failed." He bowed in front of Ibiki and ran back to his teammates.
"You should have at least guessed…" Iwabee shrugged. "The only way to be a hundred percent sure to fail is to not try to do it at all…"
"I disagree. When doing something one must know what it is that they are taking up. That is the only one-hundred-percent chance guarantee to be successful and any lesser chance for success is not one worth pursuing." Denki objected.
"I see… Wakizashi Meiko from Team Hokage, it's now your turn." Ibiki called Meiko up. Meiko ran up and performed a handful of stretching and warm-up exercises before taking up a fighting stance herself as if she was about to spar with Ibiki. This did throw the proctor off for a moment but then he executed his string flawlessly and at matching, breakneck speed.
"Sidestep backhand punch, leg sweep, two-handed palm thrust, Tiger hand seal, dashing backhand punch, right uppercut, left uppercut, dominant leg switch, left thrust kick, right uppercut." Meiko recounted, counting the moves on her fingers like a Ninja Academy student doing basic arithmetic problems.
"That is… Correct. Impressive." Ibiki nodded.
"We got lucky that all Ibiki tried to fool Meiko with was speed. It takes a little bit more than that, it's unlikely this visitor can produce the type of speed Meiko cannot follow but a simple misdirection might have thrown her off…" Kiyomi thought to herself.
"Give us a tie-breaker, will you, Metal?" Iwabee turned to Metal Lee who was warming up himself for a good while before approaching Ibiki for his turn.
"It's all down to me. When the odds are this great, I cannot fail, my youth must blaze with red-hot passion!" Metal declared with a cool fist gesture right before his skin paled out and he bent over and belched, had he had something in his stomach to throw up, it would have ended up right on the mat then and there.
"He's got performance issues, stage-fright… Good…" Kiyomi nodded.
"Step-in guard, left uppercut, jumping spin kick, right uppercut, left uppercut, while you were performing that, your right hand was in one-handed Ram hand seal position, dashing elbow strike, left cross, high kick, Tiger hand seal, spinning jump kick, two-handed palm thrust." Metal Lee read out like fine poetry. The moment he was done speaking, the young man collapsed on the ground and began hyperventilating with his eyes wider than they've ever been up to that point and sweat pouring down his face.
"A-Amazing, Metal!" Iwabee cheered on his teammate who just turned back at his team and let out a weak and innocent smirk.
"Correct, young man, it appears your one-of-a-kind talent for taijutsu is greater than your social anxiety." Ibiki complimented the young man. "You even saw my one-handed seal which I've made sure to conceal. Not many would examine the combatant's entire body like that when confronted with such speed, most would merely focus on the obvious, the immediate attack and not what they're hiding under their sleeves…"
"C-Crap!" Kiyomi cursed to herself. "Those guys might actually pull off a tie-breaker! I don't think I'm as good as that little shrimp!"
Meiko's pat returned color to Kiyomi's cheeks. "If there's anyone who can notice those pesky concealed details, it's you, don't let this rake-forehead guy trick you." She encouraged the team leader.
"M-Meiko…" Kiyomi muttered before nodding and approaching the mat with an emboldened step. She needed that. That reminder of what she carried deep down, that which was useful for this challenge but also that which stood behind her and supported her. There was a lot of counting on this challenge and Kiyomi would rather die than embody another disappointment in the Chuunin Exams for those that stood behind her and supported her all this way up to here, the penultimate challenge.
After Ibiki's combination, Kiyomi pondered for a short while. "Rat hand seal…" she mumbled.
"Is that all you saw?" Ibiki wondered. He didn't need to, he saw the answer and he knew why it was that Kiyomi was wavering. What a bastard, he left the best trick for last…
Kiyomi clapped her hands together and focused all of her chakra into a forceful, accelerated lap of its usual circulation, forcing it out her pores like racing water in a cup, splashing all over the place. "Dispel!" she yelled out, making the environment around her ripple a bit and settle down in an identical state but an illusion was dispelled, of that Kiyomi had no doubts.
"Genjutsu: False Surroundings Jutsu, left step-in backhand punch, right cross, left cross, high kick, Seal of Confrontation, jumping spin kick, Seal of Reconciliation." Kiyomi completed her answer.
"Hoh, you've seen through my misdirection, I see…" Ibiki smirked.
"It's a nasty trick. You've placed an illusion that messes with my understanding of surroundings and I was unable to dispel the illusion until you were done with your combo, meaning there may have been all sorts of tricks you might have done under the guise of illusion but… What most tend to forget because I was teamed up with one of the most prodigious illusionists of our generation, that I am more than just a decent illusionist myself. Your illusion, I know it. It would not have concealed any movements because that's not what it does. That's why it confused me, in the beginning, why use something so pointless, just to throw me off? No… You used it to switch directions. By flipping over our perception of the room we were in and each of our positions with each other, you tried confusing me by using your left side whereas your right side is your dominant one. To one who would not have noticed the switcheroo, nothing would appear out of the ordinary as you've been using your right side all along…" Kiyomi explained the motivation that led to her solution.
"Heh, I see that there will be no tie-breaker… Team Hokage wins this challenge." Ibiki admitted looking both a bit impressed that a young ninja managed to read a move he held in such high esteem and disappointed that such a switcheroo didn't work.
Author's Note: Sorry 'bout lack of activity last week. I was pretty sick all throughout so I decided to take it easy while I recovered. Got back to writing today and, hopefully, I can pick the pace back up.