Chapter 13: Fortune Favors The Bold
The only member of Team Four walked into the examination room and found himself greeted by the sight of hundreds of genin. The enormous crop of genin hailed from different villages, varied in ages, and differed in appearances. And yet, nearly all eyeballs in this intimidating group locked onto him. Killer intent oozed all throughout the room, the tension between villages palpable in the air.
"Bring it on!" Goku exclaimed, his voice full of excitement and energy.
On the other hand, Team Seven sans Sakura oozed confidence despite a decent portion of the killer intent being unleashed upon them.
'Mother wants their blood,' Gaara mused, a small, sadistic, and crazed smile coming to his face.
His eyes glanced from Naruto and Sasuke to one Son Goku, imagining their brutally satisfying deaths.
"SASUKE-KUN!" shouted a blonde haired kunoichi as she raced towards him, hopping onto his back. "I missed you so much. I know you must have missed me to, after all, you were stuck with forehead on your team!"
Sakura growled with jealousy a bit but then decided to ignore Ino.
"…Troublesome," Shikamaru grumbled, walking up without his team. "Hey Naruto how's it going?"
The blonde grinned. "Good. We're stronger than ever now, we're gonna win this."
Shikamaru smirked, reading the room. "I don't know about that, there's a guy named Son Goku."
Naruto laughed, not willing to admit he had a point. "You guys sure had it rough didn't you?"
"As if you didn't, your team had three people who couldn't work together if their lives depended on it," Shikamaru responded in kind.
The dobe maintained his grin, shaking his head. "We're a solid unit now. You guys would have to work together flawlessly to even stand a chance, I'm sure of it."
Shikamaru agreed. "You're probably right, beating you guys would be too troublesome."
"So you guys came too huh," shouted a voice.
Naruto, Sakura, and Shikamaru turned around and saw three guys approaching them: Kiba with Akamaru on his head, Choji holding a bag of chips, and Shino.
"Hey there Naruto!" Choji cheerfully greeted as he continued snacking on chips.
"Choji!" Naruto cheered, rushing up to his friend and gave him a high five. "Great to see you again."
He then turned to the other two guys. "You too Shino, Kiba."
"What's up Naruto? Been awhile," Kiba noted. Akamaru barked in agreement.
"Naruto!" Another, familiar voice cried out from a short distance away from everyone.
The Saiyan entered the fray with the female Hyuga next to him.
"Heh, can't say I'm surprised to see you here, Goku." Naruto smirked, giving him a pronounced fist bump. "Good to see you too Hinata!"
"Same here Naruto-san," Hinata smiled back as Goku and Naruto's fists pulled apart.
And as they greeted everyone else, Shikamaru noticed that Kiba didn't greet Goku.
'He's likely still pissed at Goku embarrassing him in the academy.' The Nara shrugged before trotting over to Choji to talk to him.
"How long has Ino-san been on Sasuke-san?" Hinata asked innocently.
"Three minutes and thirty nine seconds," Shino answered without hesitation.
While the group of eight talked, Sasuke was watching and progressively getting more annoyed. With the mindset of escaping Ino at all costs, Sasuke shoved Ino off his arms and appeared next to the other eight rookie genin in haste.
"Look who got away!" Kiba laughed. "You alright?"
"Hn." Sasuke snorted, before locking eyes with the palm-tree haired genin. "Goku."
"Long time no see," Goku said, a smirk ever present on his face. "Hope you've been training hard since last time."
The Uchiha returned the smirk. "Even the dobe can wipe the floor with you."
"What's that s'posed to mean teme?" The "dobe" in question asked. "As far as I'm concerned I've surpassed you!"
"Will you guys keep it down?"
Everyone, even Ino who had just walked over to the group, turned to face the new voice. The teen had a pair of black rimmed circular glasses. He had onyx eyes and ash-grey hair, which was kept in a ponytail that extended to his upper back, with his bangs framing either side of his forehead. He wore a dark purple shirt with a high collar, a white under-shirt, and dark purple finger-less gloves with armored plates on the back of the hand, a white cloth waistband worn at an angle, dark purple pants, blue sandals, and a shuriken holster on his right leg. He wore a blue Konohagakure forehead protector.
The ten narrowed their eyes, looking around to see a few more people who seemed to radiate power glaring at them. Naruto and Sasuke didn't seem bothered by them though, and the same was with Shikamaru although his was for a different reason. To Naruto and Sasuke there were only a few noticeable ones in the field.
Gaara, both Hyuga, themselves, Son Goku, and a group of Ame ninja.
Oh, and that guy who just talked to them.
"Hey everybody!" Naruto yelled, prompting the room to turn to him. "I hope you know you should just quit now! If you don't, I'll just have to kick all of your asses!"
Sakura bonked Naruto on the head. "Naruto!"
Sasuke just smirked once more. "Sakura its fine. We want the competition so we can measure ourselves."
"Yosh, he has bright flames of youth!" Lee said exuberantly.
"That's a term for it," Tenten commented.
"It matters not. Fate will prove him wrong. He cannot hope to beat me," Neji said arrogantly. His teammates frowned.
"You're rookies aren't you? You're making a lot of noise and drawing a lot of attention. I'd try and be a little quiet if I were you," The glasses-wearing shinobi recommended. "Some of the other genin, like the ones from Ame, are a little bit antsy and are looking for a reason to get in a fight."
"And you are?" Sasuke asked the stranger harshly.
"I'm Yakushi Kabuto!" He greeted, a smile on his face.
"Kabuto-san, you seem to know a lot about the exams." Sakura noted. "Is this your second time taking them?"
"Actually it's my seventh." Kabuto answered, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
"Seventh? That says a lot," Goku stated bluntly.
The glasses-wearing shinobi was able to hear the Saiyans comment, causing him to frown. "Don't say that. These exams are tough! Most people don't pass their first few times, and a few of them actually die! The exams, as well as the competition, are pretty overwhelming."
"S-Seriously?" Choji gulped.
"Yeah. The exams are tough. But hey, maybe I can help you guys out a little," Kabuto said as he pulled out a set of orange cards from a pocket. "With my ninja info cards."
"What are those supposed to be?" Hinata asked.
"Ninja info cards," Kabuto chuckled. "They're chakra encoded and hold all the data I've acquired from my past exams. They have everything, from information on the exams to the number of genin from each village to information on the other genin."
The eyes of the rookies widened as they gave Kabuto their full attention.
'Suspicious or not it's a good way to get information,' Sasuke resolved. He turned to Sakura who nodded to him, expressing her thoughts. They were on the same page.
"Sabaku no Gaara of Sunagakure, Neji Hyuga of Konohagakure, Rock Lee of Konohagakure, Son Goku of Konohagakure and," Sasuke turned to Naruto, a smirk on his face. "Naruto Uzumaki of Konohagakure."
Naruto laughed. "I don't know why you're asking for information on me! You probably know more about me than he does."
Sakura blanched, as Sasuke wanted to do but held it in.
'That's the point you idiot! Don't you realize that Kabuto is suspicious?' Sakura looked at Naruto her eye twitching, but as Kabuto looked down he winked at Sakura.
She already wanted bad things to happen to him.
"You know their names though, so you made it less fun," Kabuto said as he looked up. "Anyways, Sabaku no Gaara, otherwise known as Gaara of the Sand. His exact techniques are hidden, with the only knowledge being that he uses sand. He has taken several A and B-ranked missions, with few C or D-ranks. However, it is known that after every mission, including the A and B-ranks, he has come back without a scratch, unlike his two teammates and family, Temari Sabaku, Kankuro Sabaku."
Kabuto was about to continue but Sasuke snapped his head towards Gaara so fast you could of sworn he got whiplash. The Uchiha didn't know why but he felt like the teen was watching him, assessing him, finding out his weaknesses so he could savor the moment when he killed him.
No one had unnerved him that much, except for Itachi.
"Go on," Sasuke said as he looked back over to Kabuto.
Kabuto nodded. "Neji Hyuuga, a branch member of the Hyuuga Clan."
Hinata frowned.
"He is considered a prodigy of the Hyuuga Clan despite being a Branch Household member. His dojutsu surpasses even that of Main Household members, such as Hinata Hyuga," Kabuto said glancing at her.
The aforementioned girl pretended to ignore the quip and Goku growled instinctively. Kabuto instantly continued, not wanting a further reaction from the Saiyan.
"He was last years Rookie of the Year and he is stellar in taijutsu. He knows rather few ninjutsu and genjutsu, preferring to get up-close-and-personal when fighting. His teammates are Rock Lee and Tenten. Next up we have Rock Lee. He is an expert in taijutsu, although he was last year's class dobe. Further more, he has no talent for ninjutsu or genjutsu, which is pretty pathetic for a ninja."
Goku clenched his teeth again to repress another growl, as he could tell how hard Lee worked by appearance alone. Just like himself, Lee lacked the benefit of chakra manipulation, which led to the both of them prioritizing taijutsu over everything else.
Kabuto again decided to stray from dangerous territory. "His sensei is Might Guy, a high A-rank shinobi, bordering S-class. His teammates are Neji Hyuga and Tenten."
"Next on the list is Son Goku. He only attended the academy for two months before becoming an average genin placed on a team without teammates. Just like Rock Lee, he has no talent for ninjutsu or genjutsu, and he excels at taijutsu. The interesting fact about him however is that he possesses a source of energy called ki instead of chakra, which allows him to perform a different set pf techniques that you're probably accustomed to seeing. His sensei is Yugao Uzuki, a B to borderline A-rank shinobi who was formerly a full ANBU Black Op."
This last fact confirmed it for Goku, there was something off about Kabuto. ANBU knowledge is concealed for a reason. "He has completed twenty four D-rank missions, nine C-rank missions, and an A to borderline S-rank mission to date."
Goku crossed his arms, unnerved by the amount of information Kabuto had on him. If knowledge is truly power, that would make the suspicious genin aspirant one of the strongest people there — someone to definitely look out for.
"Naruto Uzumaki," Kabuto said louder than he needed to. Many people in the room turned, eager to gain some information on the kid who had so brazenly said he was going to kick their ass. Kabuto snickered to himself lightly, but Naruto paid him no mind, a confident smirk on his face.
"He was this year's dobe due to this academy test scores. He is proficient in Futon ninjutsu. He and Sasuke Uchiha are personally trained by Kakashi Hatake, otherwise known as 'Sharingan no Kakashi.' He is an S-rank shinobi, with Hatake being on the genin team of the Fourth Hokage," Team 7's eyes widened at that information. He had never told them that. "He is close with the Third Hokage on a personal level, and is an orphan. He assisted Kakashi Hatake and Sasuke Uchiha in defeating Zabuza Momochi. He has above Kage level chakra reserves, and when going all out his eyes turn crimson."
"Above Kage level?!" Kankuro whispered vehemently. "The only other person I know who has that is Gaara..."
"What is he?" Temari whispered in response.
Gaara looked at Naruto with a hungry look in his eyes.
Naruto's eyes narrowed. Even if some facts were outdated, the fact of the matter is Kabuto was suspicious, he knew way too much about him compared to the other four Sasuke had asked for. There was now an invisible bounty on Yakushi Kabuto's head.
A puff of smoke in the front of the room drew the attention of the competitors.
"Shut the fuck up and sit down!" roared a man.
The man had a large, imposing figure which he complemented with a rugged head and face covered with old wounds and scars. He had a black bandanna covering his head. He wore a black trench coat, black shinobi pants, a mesh shirt under a black armored shirt and black shinobi sandals.
"Now that you maggots are seated, I would like to say congratulations, you have all begun the chunin Exams otherwise known as hell. Give yourselves a good pat on the back, because for the rest of the first exam, I, Ibiki Morino, the proctor of the first exam, am your worst enemy."
Ibiki leaked the barest amount of killing intent, although it was so well refined that many chunin hopefuls passed out then and there.
"Those who passed out fail, remove them, and that includes their teams," Ibiki said, as the chunin that were with him quickly did just that. The remaining ones tensed. This guy meant business if he got rid of people that easily.
"Now this first exam is a written test, so I hope you all are not ready."
Naruto paled as he was bombarded with killing intent from his teammates.
"Written," he whispered fearfully, yet the entire room heard him.
"Pay attention, there are rules, and questions are a no go. Now here are the rules: Rule number one, the written part of the exam is conducted on a point reduction system. Contrary to what some of you may be used to, you start this test with a perfect score of ten points. One point is deducted for each question you answer wrong, understand? Good. Rule number two, teams will pass or fail based on the total scores of all three members."
Naruto felt crushed by killing intent.
"Rule number three, the sentinels you see positioned around the room are there to watch you carefully for any signs of cheating. And for every instance you get caught they will reduce two points from the culprits score. Be warned, their eyes are extremely sharp, and if they catch you five times you will be disqualified. Anyone foolish enough to be caught cheating doesn't deserve to be here."
"I've got my eye on you guys," said a sentinel, causing many of the genin to pause.
"If you want to be considered shinobi," Ibiki said. "Then show us, what exceptional shinobi you can be. I have three more things to announce. One, if any candidate who is on your team gets a zero and fails the test, then the entire team fails."
Goku clenched his fists out of nervousness. The Saiyan, while being brilliant in the world of combat, clearly neglected the academic aspect of being a shinobi.
"The final question will be told fifteen minutes before the end of the testing period. You'll have one hour total," Ibiki smirked.
"Hajime!"
-Ten Minutes Later-
'Damnit!' Goku cursed inwardly.
It had only been ten minutes since Ibiki began the exam. In that time, a significant amount of genin hopefuls were eliminated.
Goku had started to panic when he heard the test was written, and it only increased when he heard about the penalties for cheating. His fear reached it's peak when we actually looked at the paper before him.
'What am I even looking at? The angle to throw a shuriken and hit blah blah?' He hissed.
The Saiyan was sweating, he had to find some way to cheat!
'I'm gonna have to cheat somehow. But unlike Hinata I don't have eyes that can see everything…' Goku thought. 'Maybe I can distract everyone in the room?'
Goku considered offsetting everyone's attention with a minor explosion, but he knew he lacked the proper control to even pull it off given his current anxiety.
Then his eyes widened. Using his ki sensing, he found himself able to witness the minute twitches and arm movements of every single person in the room. Combining his sixth sense with his heightened visual and audio prowess, he found himself picking up his pencil and writing answers down quickly: answers that he did not comprehend.
He mimicked the movements of the girl closest to him, Hinata Hyuga. Goku faced forward, before using his peripheral vision to see how Hinata was doing. She was currently filling down answers rapidly, to which the Saiyan noticed her Byakugan eyes activated, showing him the method behind the answers.
After he wrote the answer for the ninth question, he felt a sense of relief. Now relaxed and no longer worried, he put his head down and daydreamed about the potential opponents he would have to face going forward.
Ibiki nearly laughed as he watched Goku put his head down. He then examined the room, seeing the crimson orbs of the Sharingan, mirrors on the ceiling, the Yamanaka girl unconscious, a boy asking to go to the restroom, the Byakugan activated, the Kagemane no Jutsu from the Nara, and the redhead from Suna closing one eyes as an eye floated high in the air.
These kids had potential.
- Later -
"Alright, it is now time for the tenth question!" Ibiki shouted, waking everyone up. "Before we begin, though, I must explain a few more rules about this question. The first rule is that you have the option to not answer the tenth question." He informed them.
"What happens if we don't take it?" A fodder genin asked the obvious.
"If you do not, then you lose all your points and you and your team will fail the exam," The proctor answered.
Multiple genin snorted in near unison. As they saw it, there was no reason to forfeit the question at all. Shikamaru, however, was not like most. He groaned, realizing the obvious; there was a catch.
'What's the catch?' The Nara questioned himself.
Ibiki answered his mental question. "However, if you do choose to take the question and you get it wrong, you will be unable to enter the Chunin Exams ever again in any village."
"WHAT!?" Most of the genin screamed simultaneously: some in fright and others in anger.
"That's bullshit!" Kiba's scream was louder than the others. "I know plenty of people who've taken the exams multiple times before! Some are here right now! You can't do that to any of us!"
"Listen here. You picked a bad year to apply. I made the rules this year and my rules stand!" Ibiki said with finality. "As long as you're in this room, I am GOD!"
The genin quieted down a little, causing a sadistic grin to appear on Ibiki's face. "I've given you all your options. If you wish to quit, then raise your hand. We will confirm your team number and you and your team shall leave the room and the exam. Now…who wishes to quit?"
A hand is raised quickly by a Konoha genin. He and his team are then removed from the exam room. And then more and more teams exited the room.
Naruto sat in silence and fumed in his head, fighting the urge to voice his frustrations. Goku didn't understand why so many genin lacked the heart to attempt the final question regardless of the consequences.
A minute passed and the room had lost a good portion of the teams (at least relative to the amount at the beginning). Ibiki noticed that the genin in the room seemed to be focused on the exam. The problem was that there were still a large crop of genin left.
"Are you sure you want to do this? If you fail this question, you will lose the opportunity to ever advance beyond genin." Ibiki reminded everyone.
No one moved, staring at the proctor with anticipation.
Ibiki did the math in his head. 'Twenty-six teams huh? This year actually looks promising…' A smirk then appeared on his face with that thought.
"You've all decided to stay? Very well then…then I must congratulate you all on passing the first exam!"
The Genin all had blank looks before everyone, even Gaara, looked at him.
"WHAT!?" "Hold on. What happened?" "What do you mean we passed?" "What about the tenth question?" Were among the questions voiced.
Ibiki gave off a large smirk. "There never was one, not a written one at least. Actually, your decision to stay was the answer to the tenth question."
"Huh?" Sakura said confused.
Temari slammed her hand on her table. "Wait a second! So the other nine questions you gave us were just a waste of time! Is that what you're saying?"
Ibiki's grin left his face, but a smile remained. "Not at all. The first nine questions had a very important purpose I'm reckon some of you figured out. To test your ability to surreptitiously gather intelligence under the most adverse circumstances."
"Oh, well that clears up everything," Temari replied.
"Let me explain further," Ibiki said. "You see, my objective was to test you not only as individuals but as a team, and how well you functioned in that team, ergo why the test was scored on a team basis. So you knew everything you did, or failed to do, would directly affect your teammates. I wanted to see how you handled the pressure."
"The first nine questions were difficult, in fact they were too difficult for any genin to be expected to solve. You had to cheat in order to pass. The fact is, the test was designed to encourage, almost demand, cheating. Of course it would do you little good unless you had someone to cheat from. So I had two chunin who already knew the answers sit in with you."
The two fakers raised their hands, causing Naruto to slam his head onto the table.
'The answers were right in front of me the whole time,' he thought, a frown on his face.
"Those who were caught at it failed. Better not to cheat, than to cheat clumsily."
Ibiki reached behind his back, untying the bandanna wrapped around his head.
"Information," Ibiki said. "It can be the most valuable weapon in battle. How well you gather intelligence can be the difference between a failure, and a success. There will be times when you have to risk your life to get it."
Ibiki's head was riddled with scars, burns, bulges, and puncture wounds. Not even a strand of hair was there. Most Genin's eyes widened at the sight, horrified. They hadn't thought missions could be as serious or dangerous when they decided to become a ninja. Then again, most people did not until it happened.
"That's a mess," Sasuke mumbled to himself. "Scars, burns, punctures marks, bulges of skin that were obviously ripped open and sewed back together sloppily. What he must have endured..."
"Of course you must always consider the source of your information. Information from an enemy is not necessarily accurate. Always, bear this in mind, disinformation can be worse than no information at all. It can lead to the death of a squad, or a village. That's why I put you in the position where you had to gather accurate intelligence, cheat in order to survive. Those who weren't good enough were weeded out, leaving the rest of you. This is why I told you the point of the test was to cheat, to see who could decipher information from that. To see who would be too riddled with doubt, too plagued by their internal thoughts to do anything at all." Ibiki said, tying his bandanna back on.
"Okay, but I still don't get the tenth question," Temari stated.
Ibiki frowned, raising his arms. "You're not? The tenth question was the main point of this exam, surely you see that."
"Sure, but explain it anyway," Ino chimed in.
"As I said before, the point of this test was to test you as individuals and as part of a squad. The final question gave you two choices, both difficult. You could choose to play it safe and skip the question, though it meant both you and your teammates would be failed, or you could try and answer it, knowing that if you got it wrong you would never be able to become Chunin. It was a no win situation. These situations are the sort the Chunin have to deal with everyday."
Naruto looked at Ibiki with awe. "This guy is kinda cooler than I thought."
"Do you choose to avoid danger? Do you choose to run from battle? No! It will seem almost suicidal if you think about, so you do not think about. You achieve the goal, through courage and discipline. These are the qualities required of a Chunin Squad Leader. Those who choose the safer of two paths, those whose determination falters in the face of adversity, those who would put their comrades lives in jeopardy by worrying about their own, those who would save their own neck by wanting to protect their own honor, they will never be Chunin, at least as long as I'm conducting this exam."
"And as for the rest of you, you have successfully answered the questions. You have earned the right to move forward. You have passed the first gate. I hereby declare the first test of the Chunin Exams complete. There is nothing left, but to wish you all good luck on the rest of the exams."
Ibiki then sighed as a mass of black crashed through the window and into the front of the classroom. The shadow expanded, setting all of the present shinobi on edge. A banner opened, getting pinned to the ceiling with kunai; the banner read 'The sign read: 'The Sexy and Single Proctor for the Second Exam!'
In front of the banner stood a provocatively dressed woman wearing a fishnet body suit with a brown trench coat layered on top. Her dark purple hair was tied back into a loose ponytail.
Anko then got a good look at the amount of genin still in the classroom and pouted, "What the hell Ibiki, there's like 80 genin here. You've gone soft or something?"
Ibiki shook his head, "No, the candidates this year might be promising."
"Pfft, doesn't look like it," Anko grinned, "But it's not like it matters anyways cause by the time I'm done with them, more than half will be eliminated."
A sense of dread blanketed the remaining genin.
"Alright, listen up you maggots," she barked, even more rude and abrasive than Ibiki. "Y'all have had it easy so far but things are gonna be different starting first thing in the morning. I'll let your squad leaders know where to meet me. Dismissed."
When the class was finally cleared and empty, Ibiki went around to each student's desk to collect their test. When he got to Naruto's, he looked at it and smiled.
"I just passed a genin that didn't answer a single question…" he chuckled. "That Naruto Uzumaki's a funny one alright."
- The Next Morning -
Anko grinned at the Genin out in front of her, relishing in their paling faces, "Welcome to the next phase of your exam. The Forest of Death. You guys better get yourselves comfortable because it's gonna be your home for the next five days."
The genin all stared in awe at the forest in front of them. Tall, overgrown trees covered the area entirely. It was impossible to see past the trees in the front of the forest. A wire fence surrounded the entire forest and blocked it off. There were gates scattered throughout the fence with locks covering it.
The sight of the fence itself was intimidating to the genin.
"Five days?!" Ino exclaimed.
"What are we supposed to do for food?!" Choji cried.
"It's a forest dumbass. There'll be plenty of animals to hunt and berries to pick. You'll be just fine. I hope," Anko said with a slight chuckle in the end.
Goku shrugged, having dealt with the wild for a significant portion of his life. "I used to live in the woods with my grandpa."
Anko grinned before flinging a kunai at the Saiyan. Goku leaned his head to the left, completely evading the projectile, smiling back at the proctor.
The tokubetsu jonin gave him a quick glare before bringing his attention back to everyone else.
"Eerie name, but I bet its all bark and no bite," Kiba said nonchalantly.
'I'll get him this time,' Anko mused, another kunai appearing from her sleeve before she threw it at Kiba with enough force to ensure a direct hit. His reactions were quick enough to avoid serious damage, but it did cut his cheek, drawing a thin trail of blood. His eyes widened and before he knew it Anko was behind him, her snakes coiling around his body.
"A kid like you dies at the very beginning. I think the one who is all bark and no bite is you, dog boy," Anko said, before she licked the blood off his cheek.
She then frowned, her snakes disappearing, replaced by a kunai as she brought it up, only for a long, curled tongue wrapped around a kunai to appear over her shoulder.
"I'm returning your kunai knife," a woman from Ame said.
Anko nodded although she narrowed her eyes.
"Thank you for the trouble," Anko said in a threatening tone. "But, don't stand behind me thirsty for blood unless you want a quick death."
"Well, it's in my nature to act up at the slightest sight of red blood," The woman said, officially creeping out Kiba. "And my precious hair was cut, so I got excited."
The Ame ninja turned and walked away. "I apologize."
Anko frowned before proceeding with instruction. She pulled out a stack of papers from the inside of her jacket and roughly shoved them into a random genin, who took one and passed the stack.
"These are waivers. They will be given to your village so I can't be held accountable for any deaths that will occur. Turn them into the booth over there to get a scroll, and it will say either Heaven or Earth. The objective of this exercise is to get both scrolls and get to the tower in the center of the forest. Once there you will know what to do. Collecting more than one scroll of each is legal, and lethal force is allowed. Of course, if you don't want to participate you are welcome to leave."
Most of the genin's faces turned white. Gaara raised an invisible eyebrow, liking where this was going.
"This portion of the exam is meant to be the ultimate survival test, and an evaluation of just how well you can transport captured intelligence back to friendly territory." She held up two scrolls, one with the kanji for heaven, and the other for earth. "One of these scrolls will be your teams cargo. And it'll be your teams job to get the opposite scroll from an opposing team and make it to the tower in the center of the forest."
"What are the rules?" Goku asked.
Anko grinned, "There are none. Anything goes to get those scrolls, and since you've all signed the waiver, no deaths will be investigated and only bodies will be recovered."
A devilish grin crossed Gaara's lips, making Temari and Kankuro gulp.
This was gonna be a bloodbath.
No genin decided to leave. Anko smirked. "Tough bunch this year my ass. More like fools."
The genin promptly lined up to receive their scrolls.
- With Team Seven -
As the Genin turned in their waivers, Team Seven sat away on their own behind a large boulder secluded from everyone else.
Heaven.
"We need an Earth one then," Sakura mumbled quietly. Sasuke nodded, deep in his own thoughts.
'So essentially, no other team is gonna know what we have, and vice-versa. Meaning that potentially everyone here is my enemy, but no one is gonna stop us. Naruto basically has endless chakra, Sakura can cast genjutsu's and support, and I'm Sasuke. This'll be a piece of cake.'
A small smirk made its way across Sasuke's face.
"We're gonna totally kick everyone's ass!" Naruto claimed, eager to complete the second exam.
- With Team Four -
"Earth," Goku stated. "So I need to get a heaven scroll..."
He then clenched his fists, curious as to how this would play out.
"I'm excited."
- Thirty Minutes Later -
After every Genin team received their scroll, it was time to begin the test. Each team of genin stood before their own gate, listening as Anko's voice came through the radio speakers.
"Alright maggots, the gates will open and the exam will begin on my countdown. Also reminder that you have five days to complete this task, and, as a word of advice, I wouldn't recommend opening those scrolls before getting to the tower!"
"You guys ready?" Naruto asked. Sakura and Sasuke nodded.
Goku immediately raised his power to a battle worthy level, slightly shaking the ground in the process.
"Five… four…" The chain's dropped on every gate, "three… two…" the gates opened wide, "ONE!"