Disclaimer: I do not, in no way own Naruto or Yu Yu Hakusho. Honestly if I did I would not have had to suffer from some of the bull crap those manga's and anime's had.
"Talk" Character talking.
'Think' Character thinking.
"Talk" Jagan talking.
'Think' Jagan thinking.
"Talk" Tailed Beast talking.
"Think" Tailed Beast thinking.
"Hey, wake up."
Sasuke grumbled and pulled his sheets over his head.
"Oi, teme wake up."
"Dammit dobe, it's..." Sasuke cracked open his eyes and saw that it was four o' clock in the freaking morning! He turned to glare at his teammate with all the hate he could muster. "Someone better be dead or dying for you to wake me up this early."
"No one important to my knowledge." Naruto shrugged, donned in his full shinobi gear ranging from his black sandals, vest, skull belt buckle, to his Hannya mask and all. "Listen I know it's late, but I cannot sleep anymore with the Exams coming up in a few hours."
"It does not start until eight in the morning. Go back to sleep dang it."
"Yea right, I am far too pumped. Listen we dropped the kits off yesterday, and we have a few hours to kill." Naruto then began pumping his arms in excitement. "Come on Sasuke-teme, get dressed and head out with me. We need to polish our skills to a fine point to become Chunin."
"I honestly hate you." Throwing off his covers the Uchiha rubbed his tired eyes. It took forever to calm himself down and get some much needed shut eye, but then the idiot on his team just had to get him excited about their potential increase in rank. "Fine, fine. Training ground in ten minutes?"
"I will meet you there." Without another word Naruto raced out of Sasuke's bedroom and into the night.
"I honestly thought I locked my door." Sasuke said to himself before getting to his feet. "Ah well, no time like the present."
Within ten minutes the two young shinobi were at their familiar training grounds, and at seven thirty am the groundskeeper let out a horrific shriek. The grounds were torn asunder, grass was burnt to ashes and in dire need of being replaced. Large patches of neck deep mud littered the grounds along with hardened chunks of earth pointing out the ground like spears, or walls, one even looked like a dome.
Large cuts also littered the ground and trees, some being completely cut in half or set on fire. There was also the water issue where it was ankle deep in some parts, other areas were just soaked with uprooted trees. Little to say the groundskeeper was not pleased. Nor would the Hokage be pleased when he looked at the report, and the few shinobi who were proficient in the semi-rare Earth Release affinity, and one certain Anbu member were not pleased that they were assigned to clean up the mess of two overzealous youths.
(The Academy - Eight am)
"What happened to you guys?" Sakura asked with great confusion and worry in her voice.
"Er..." Naruto, who kinda looked water logged with mud caking his black pants, missing a sandal and minor scorch marks at the bottom of his mask was unable to find a good excuse.
"Well..." Sasuke was no better. His white pants were dirty and tattered at the edges, his hair a frizzy mess, and the right sleeve missing from his dark long-sleeved shirt.
"We were on our way here, but then a sinkhole opened up underneath us." Naruto tried to make a plausible excuse.
Sakura crossed her arms and gave the both of them an unamused stare. "I rather believe Kakashi-sensei's lies over yours."
"That was pretty terrible dobe." Sasuke seconded.
"Aw screw the both of you."
Sighing like she was talking to a child, Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose. "Do the both of you have a change of clothes? We want to give off a good impression."
"I don't really care about giving off a good impression." Naruto scoffed.
"For the village you idiot. If we were to look like a bunch of bums that would make the other nations look down on us. I don't know about you but I do not wish to do that." Sasuke filled in for his pink-haired teammate. Thankfully he planned ahead and had a second pair of clothes in a sealing scroll he bought a few days previously just in case something like this happened.
"All right, fine. Sakura give us a few minutes and we will join you in looking awesome." The black-streaked blonde waved them off irritably before making a beeline for the men's room.
Five minutes later both Leaf Genin exited the rest room, their clothing replaced and bits of mud or soot awash from their faces. They arrived at their old academy, and honestly the place had not changed since both Naruto and Sasuke visited the place more than once since they got back from their mission in Wave Country. The entrance was crowded, Genin that were a few years older than them were chatting with old friends, others were from a few other villages just hanging around.
"Hmm, quite a turn out." Naruto punched his right fist into his open left hand. "I cannot wait to show off just who I am in there."
"Who easy there, we're first years remember." Sakura sharply responded to her teammate. She was still nervous about these exams, two strong teammates or not she was still on edge. "Lets try and stay low and under the radar. It will be safer that way."
Sasuke only scoffed in retort, even if she did make a valid point. "Fine, lets just go before the entire building fills up with weaklings."
Team Seven did just that, pushing past excited Genin until they entered the familiar hallway where a good lot of them were cloistered together in confusion due to two hard-looking Genin blocking the path to room 301.
"What the? Is that Team Gai?" Sakura asked her teammates.
"Yea it is, what in the world?" Naruto then saw Tenten getting struck across the face by a Genin with a bandage across his nose. It caused the black-streaked blonde to growl behind his mask and advance towards them.
It was thanks to Sasuke placing a firm hand on his shoulder to stop him from doing anything rash. "Hold it dobe, you really think Tenten would allow herself to be struck like that?" He asked. Leaning inwards he whispered to both his teammates. "There is a small, but minor genjutsu covering the sign." He had his Sharingan activated to prove his point. "This is just another test to weed out the weaklings."
"You're right, I can sense it as well." Sakura replied, her cheeks flushed by being in close proximity to her crush, but thankfully being professional about it.
"Damn Blondie you got worked up over nothing." The ghost of Ishikawa Kamizuru said in his head. "Has my favorite Kurashagan-user gotten bitten by the love bug over the panda girl?" (1)
'Okay, one shut your damn mouth, and two I do not like seeing my friends getting hit. If you were still alive and that happened I would have sucker punched the offender.'
"Aw, you consider me a friend? Well I am honored, truly I am." For once the deceased Kamizuru was not being sarcastic, or lazy, he was actually flattered. "But still get your head in the game all right?"
Naruto grunted in reply before following Sasuke and Sakura to get away from the cluttered hallway by not so subtly pushing past the two Genin and ignoring the shouts of the cannon fodder. The team passed through a large corridor and arrived at two large oaken doors where their sensei was standing in front of it.
"Yo." Kakashi greeted them.
"Kakashi-sensei what are you doing here?" Sakura asked in surprise.
"Oh I just wanted to congratulate the three of you for making it past the first trial." The one-eyed Jonin said with his usual eye-smile. "If you couldn't get past it then I would have to reconsider your career choice."
"It was Sasuke that saved that day, I was about to punch those Genin out." Naruto said, giving credit where credit was due.
"Ah, luckily he stopped you. Those were two Chunin that would have easily stopped you." At least he hoped so, while Naruto had changed quite a bit, he was lacking in experience. And unlike him, Izumo and Kotetsu had plenty. "Anyhow, from here on out is the real thing. Try to do well, later." Giving them a wave Kakashi disappeared in a small cloud of smoke.
Naruto only grinned underneath his masks, finally the real thing. No more bullshit. Grabbing the handles of the door he pushed them open, and were greeted by roughly a hundred fellow Genin, all glaring a hole into his head.
"Well, this is a very cold welcome." Naruto said with a chipper voice as he began to leak killing intent from his body.
"Hmph, how rude of them." Sasuke replied as he began to leak his own killing intent, glaring at the shinobi in front of him.
With their combined killing intent, the glared completely tapered off. Some even cowering away from the two Genin. Both Naruto and Sasuke certainly had the upper hand before a loud, fangirlish shriek destroyed the atmosphere.
"Sasuke-kun!" The blonde form of one Ino Yamanaka flew at the raven-haired Uchiha.
"Nope." Sasuke stepped to the side and the Yamanaka Heiress hit nothing but air and tumbled onto the unforgiving floor.
Naruto burst out laughing when Ino shot up having a betrayed look on her face. "Denied!"
"Troublesome blonde." Sighed out an exasperated voice. It belonged to no one other than a narrow brown-eyed Genin with his typical bored expression. He wore his shoulder length black hair tied in a spiky ponytail, his attire consisted of a black pants, a short-sleeved grey jacket with green-edged sleeves and the Nara Clan's symbol on the back, under which was green-lined mesh t-shirt. He also wore brown pants, a pair of silver hoop earrings, and wore his blue Hitai-ate around his left arm. He was Shikamaru Nara.
And finally standing next to him was a rotound Genin with markings on his cheeks in the form of swirls. Donned in a green, short-sleeved haori with a long, white scarf over a white shirt, with the kanji for "food" on it. He also wore black shorts, hoop earrings, and bandages around his legs and forearms. His blue Hitai-ate was styled in a manner that allowed two tufts of his brown hair to poke out at each side. His name was Choji Akimichi.
The two best friends stayed silent to watch the exchange, minus the rumpling of Choji munching on his usual bag of chips.
Naruto's exclamation caused the blonde to bristle angrily. "Hey! Who are you to..." Ino trailed off before backpedaling away when she saw the very same mask that scared her some weeks ago, her blue eyes wide open in fear. "What are you doing here!?"
"Um, my team and I were invited to participate in the exams." Naruto pointed to Konoha's symbol painted on the forehead of his mask. "Isn't that right Sasuke?"
"Hmph, that's right Naruto." The Uchiha revealed the name of his masked teammate.
"Naruto!?" Ino immediately got to her feet, her eyes blazing in anger from him scaring her half to death twice. "You idiot I'm going to punch you for scaring me to death!"
As Ino wound up to deliver a punch to his face, her arm was caught by a very unamused Sasuke Uchiha . His onyx eyes bored into her blue ones and his grip tightened around her wrist. "I wouldn't do that if I were you Yamanaka. My teammate does not like to be hit by anyone and will retaliate in earnest, if you don't believe me ask Sakura."
"I..wha?" Ino looked over to her former best friend and saw the pinkette nod in reply. The last time she laid a hand on Naruto she got headbutted for her troubles, and that was going to be the last time she did it, orders from her mother be damned.
Ino looked over to Naruto and found him glaring daggers at her. She instinctively shrunk back and shook her arm free of her crush. "You chose wisely." Naruto said.
"Yea...I uh, I gotta go." Backing away the young Yamanaka made her way back to her team and didn't even look back.
"Well it seems you might have one less fangirl." Naruto lightly commented as he smirked underneath his masks. "Keep hanging out with me and you might get rid of them for good."
"I may very well take you up on that offer." Sasuke lightly said.
"Well lookie here, the Rookie Nine are all together!" A boisterous voice caused the three to look over.
The voice belonged to Kiba Inuzuka, a young man with animalistic features that included sharp black eyes with vertical slit-like pupils, messy brown hair, pronounced canine teeth, and red fang marking on his cheeks. He wore a blue striped Hitai-ate upon his head, greyish pants reaching to his calves and a grey, hooded fur-lined coat, with the hood usually placed on his head. Resting inside his coat was a small white puppy with brown ears and the fur on the top of his head styled to resemble a Mohawk.
Trailing behind him was the tallest member of their graduating class. He had dark, bushy, brown hair that was held up by his Hitai-ate and sporting the extremely unique style of his clan, consisting of dark sunglasses and a sea-green jacket with a high, upturned collar to conceal the lower half of his face, along with dark brown pants. He was Shino Aburame.
Following behind him was a young woman with fair skin, and pupiless white eyes with tinges of lavender. She wore her dark blue hair the same hairstyle Naruto remembered from when they were children, it was kept in a hime-cut, kept just above her forehead with chin-length strands framing her face. She wore a cream-colored hooded-jacket with a fire symbol on the upper sleeves and fur around the cuffs and hem. Along with this she also wore navy blue pants and kept her Hitai-ate around her neck. She was Hinata Hyuga.
Seeing their once familiar orange traffic cone missing, Kiba sniffed the air to find his old trouble making friend before turning his attention towards the one in the mask. A feral smirk came to his face as he made his way over to his location. "Naruto I did not recognize you. I like the new duds."
"Thank you Kiba. It's nice to be noticed." Naruto replied with a grin behind his mask and shook his friend's hand. "How are ya doing?"
"Doing well, kicked some ass, took some names." The feral Genin boasted.
"A lot of D-rank missions, huh?" The black-streaked blonde deadpanned.
"Ugh, far too many." Kiba hung his head in response.
"Kiba has complained about this on a daily basis, how I know this you ask? Because I had to live through it." Shino butted in, much to his teammates displeasure.
"Sounds like a certain someone I know..." Sasuke turned his attention to his not-so-subtle teammate.
"Bite me teme."
"Bite yourself dobe."
"Well now aren't you the noisy ones?"
Once again Naruto moved his head to meet a new speaker. He was a much older Genin with onyx eyes and ash-grey hair, kept in a neat ponytail, and black rimmed circular glasses. He was wearing a dark purple shirt with a high collar, a white under-shirt, and dark purple pants with a white cloth waistband. He also wore dark purple fingerless gloves with armored plates on the back of the hands and a blue Hitai-ate resting on his forehead.
"And who the hell are you?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh where are my manners," The man said with a smile on his face. "My name is Kabuto Yukushi, and I am a veteran of these exams." Kabuto greeted himself as he pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose.
"A veteran? What is that supposed to mean to us?" Choji asked, stopping his snacking long enough to ask his question.
"Well this is my seventh exam, and take my word it can be deceptively hard." He replied in gloomy manner. "My first exam was in Earth Country. My team and fifty others were to navigate through a cave system, collect a gold and silver ore and fight our way out."
"That doesn't sound too hard." Ino pointed out.
"There were only six of each and my team nearly got melted by the Sandaime Tsuchikage's granddaughter who stole it from us." He lightly rubbed his right arm at the memory. "Then in Lightning Country's exam the weather screwed us over in the second exam. And in my last exam in Earth Country once again we were to go into a volcano, and my team barely escaped with our lives."
"Hmm he's right about that dude." Ishikawa commented in Naruto's subconscious.
'That seriously happens?' Naruto dared to ask.
"Oh yea, I think I remember my cousin doing something like that. But be wary, this guy is making me uneasy."
'You uneasy? But you're dead.'
"Exactly man, I'm dead and he is making me uneasy, that means something. Listen I don't know what he's all about, just keep a close eye on him all right? And do not be afraid to use J, his lazy butt need to do something other than sticking to the furballs cage."
"Don't shorten my name you ningen! I am the mighty Jagan Eye and I will be treated with respect!" Jagan bellowed at the ghostly Kamizuru.
"And don't you dare call me a furball! I will destroy you!" Kyuubi also barked out from the disrespect shown to him.
"Oh yea? What are you going to do about it huh?" In Naruto's head Ishikawa turned his back towards the cage, far out of Kyuubi's reach, pulled his pants down, bent over and began slapping his bare ass. "I'm dead motherfuckers! You can't do anything to a dead man, na na na na na!" He then turned his head towards the two, pulled his right eyelid down and stuck his tongue out in a juvenile manner.
'How am I sane again?' Naruto asked himself before shutting down the link, he did not want to see that.
"Now normally I don't do this, but since you nine are new I figured I would give you all a helping hand." Reaching into his hip pouch Kabuto pulled out a stack of orange cards with the kanji symbol for "Shinobi" on the back. "My exams may have ended in me failing to become a Chunin, but I succeeded in gathering information."
"W-what kind of information?" Hinata asked.
"Vital information, allow me to demonstrate." Picking up the top card from his stack, Kabuto channeled some of his chakra into it and laid it before the Genin. Appearing on the card was a small map of the continent regarding the Five Great Powers. "All I need to do is add a tiny bit of chakra and the information I gathered appears. And I have information on almost everybody here, just give me their description, the village they are from or even how they wear their Hitai-ate's will help me out."
Both Naruto and Sasuke gave each other a curious glance. While Iruka's lectures were boring to the point of falling asleep, he did instill at least one rule that they remembered. If something seemed too good, it probably was. The other rookies seemed enthralled by the promise of information, the only exceptions seemed to have been Shikamaru and Hinata, but they weren't about to make a move.
So it was Naruto who broke the ice and thumbed towards a Rain team that had been giving them the stink eye since the moment they walked into the room. "How about those guys from Amegakure?"
"Not my first choice, but sure I'll show you." Picking up three cards Kabuto channeled some of his chakra into them. Then he placed them onto the floor, showing their pictures, teammates, and known stats. "Team Shigure as they are unofficially called. This is their third exam, and they have participated in seventy D-rank missions, and thirty C-rank missions. Their leader Shigure has been wounded at least two times, causing them to fail their previous exams."
"Then how about Gaara of the Desert?" Sasuke asked.
"An ally? Well let me see." Picking up another card the older Genin repeated the process and revealed Gaara's picture, his teammates and stats. "Hmm, well he is on the same team as his older siblings, he personally has done eight C-ranked and..." Kabuto blinked and looked at the card more carefully. "Huh, it says he has done one B-ranked mission, and he has returned from every mission without a scratch."
"Without a scratch?" Naruto murmured to himself. That sounded off to him, no one their age came back from a mission without a scratch especially a B-rank mission. Sasuke was a perfect example, during their first B-ranked mission he got clipped in the head by an axe, and Lee got his stomach nicked. Both were considered prodigies, Sasuke having natural talent, Lee of hard work. And yet both of them got injured, that meant something about Gaara wasn't right, or natural.
"Is that all? Or is there more you want to know?" Kabuto asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh I got something." Kiba smirked in reply. "I want everything you got on Sasuke Uchiha."
"What! Kiba you bastard why would you want to know anything about me!?" Sasuke demanded.
"Because if I want to get promoted to Chunin, I will have to be prepared for anything and that includes you pretty boy!"
"You might as well include Naruto as well, especially with his...recent changes." Shikamaru smartly replied for his own benefit.
"Clever boy." Ishikawa remarked with approval.
'Didn't I cut you off?'
"Nope!"
'Fuck!'
"Well I certainly cannot say no to such a request." Once again picking up two cards and burning his chakra into them, Kabuto revealed the information on them, much to the two Genin's displeasure. "Sasuke Uchiha. Rank: Genin. Ah, he's done fifteen D-rank, one C-rank, oh and even a joint B-rank mission. He excels in Ninjutsu, recently has become above average with Taijutsu, and is a basic practitioner in Kusarigamajutsu. Special notes: Only survivor of the Uchiha Massacre."
Kabuto gave Sasuke an apologetic smile before reading Naruto's off. "And here we have Naruto Uzumaki. Rank: Genin. Like his teammate he has done the exact amount of missions, and is also proficient in Ninjutsu, and well above average in Taijutsu, but has no Genjutsu to speak of, huh that's a first. And is at least a novice in the art of Kenjutsu. Special Notes: Huh, he seems to be talented with earth based Ninjutsu, managed to bring at least three infamous people into the village, and killed B-ranked Missing Nin Hachi Dokubora...yikes."
'Yikes in freaking deed, Haku, Zabuza and the two idiots are classified until further notice. Something is not right with this guy.' Naruto mentally fumed as he ignored stunned looks from his fellow Genin. "One last question, what can you tell me who those guys in camo are?"
"Oh the ones with the musical notes?" Kabuto channeled his last three cards to show that they were surprisingly barren of any useful information. "I'm sorry, I don't seem to have much on them. All I know is that they hail from a new village that just popped up a few years ago called Otogakure in Rice Country. So I guess that means we should not expect much from such a minor weak village."
Barely after he finished his sentence a kunai was flung at the older Genin, causing him to jump away. Then he was attacked by what the remaining Genin thought was a mummy threw a punch at him with his right arm. He missed, but they all saw a strange device on his arm and Kabuto's glasses shattered and he fell to the floor where he lost his lunch with his right ear bleeding sluggishly.
"We heard you talking about our village Leaf scum." The mummy man said, his one exposed eye glaring at them. "Perhaps this will teach you not to mess with the shinobi of Otogakure."
With the room already full of high tension about to erupt into violence, eleven large clouds of smoke erupted to dispel any fighting about to happen, revealing ten men in gray jumpers and one Ibiki Morino.
"That is enough you worthless maggots!" Ibiki barked at the Genin, his scarred visage glaring at the Sound Team. "There will be no fighting until deemed otherwise, failure to comply will get your asses kicked out of this exam faster than those with the Quick Release bloodline, is that understood!"
"Sorry, it's our first time. Guess we're a little jumpy...sir." The mummy Genin apologized.
"Make sure it does not happen again. Now follow me, your First Exam is about to begin!"
"Humph, it's about time." Sasuke commented.
"Yea, I am going to kick so much ass." Kiba punched his right fist into his open left palm.
"Not as much as me." Naruto proclaimed. 'And then some.'
(The Jonin Lounge)
"So how do you think they are doing?" Asuma Sarutobi asked. He was a tall man, with brown eyes, olive skin, short black spiky hair, and a beard. His clothing consisted of the standard Konoha ninja uniform with the sleeves rolled up half way, green flak jacket, regular black shinobi sandals and Hitai-ate on his forehead. Curiously he also wore a gray sash that had the kanji for "Fire" marked on it around his waist, a pair of black bangles, and bandages wrapped around the arms of his sleeves.
"I believe they will succeed past the first round!" Gai exclaimed, his powerful voice making the room shake a bit. "I know my team will pass with their Flames of Y-" A gloved hand covered his mouth, and the bored face of Kakashi silently shushed him with his single finger.
"Thank you Kakashi, I was not ready for him yet." The son of the Sandaime thanked his silver-haired friend as he took a pack of cigarettes out from his pouch. "Want one?" He offered to Kakashi, only to get a blank stare from the masked Jonin in response. "Meh, more for me."
"Ugh, Asuma I honestly hate that filthy habit of yours." Said Kurenai Yuhi, the Ice Queen of Konoha, and resident Genjutsu Mistress. She was a fair-skinned woman of slender build, had long black untamed hair reaching her upper back, and very unique eyes that are red in color, with an additional ring in them. She wore make-up consisting of red lipstick and purple eye shadow. Her outfit was unusual consisting of a red mesh armor blouse with only the right sleeve visible and bandages with a pattern on it similar to those of rose thorns. Her hands and upper thighs were also wrapped in bandages and she wore the Konoha Hitai-ate proudly on her forehead and regular black shinobi sandals.
"It runs in my family, my old man smokes worse than a chimney stack." Asuma smoothly replied as he lit his cigarette and inhaled.
"Animal."
"If I didn't know any better, I swear you two were acting like an old married couple." Kakashi lightly said, causing the two to blink and flush scarlet.
"A-absured." Kurenai said.
"Yea...ditto." Asuma seconded.
Feeling quite uncomfortable, a Jonin sensei with short, sandy-brown hair and dark eyes. He wore square shaped glasses along with the standard Konoha-nin inclusive of flak jacket, Hitai-ate, and sandals. The shirt he wore underneath his flack jacket came all the way up to his chin cleared his throat. "So, uh did you hear that they brought in Ibiki Morino for the First Exam?"
"Ibiki?" Kakashi questioned.
"Imiki!?" Gai's voice was thankfully muffled by Kakashi's hand.
"Oh a lot of those kids are screwed." Asuma said after exhaling a breath full of smoke through his nostrils.
Kurenai however looked confused. "Ibiki? What are you all worried about?"
"Oh yea that's right, you're a relatively new Jonin and haven't heard about him." Kakashi lightly commented. "Ibiki Morino is the Head of the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force. The man is considered a master of the mind, using mental methods to make his victims crack like eggs."
"This is a valued art because unlike physical torture where they give you false information to make the pain stop, if you break them mentally they will tell you everything you want to know." Asuma inhaled from his cigarette once again. "Now I am worried about those kids."
"But...isn't that a little extreme? They're just children!" Kurenai exclaimed.
"We were children once too." Gai said after removing Kakashi's hand from his mouth. "We just got to trust in them, otherwise we might have no Genin team to come back to us."
Back with the various teams Ibiki had them draw from various lots and were seated at desks. Some like Kankuro and Temari were seated far away from Gaara considered themselves lucky. Then there were people like Shino who were unluckily sitting next to members from the Sound team. And then there were very fortunate people like Naruto sitting next to Hinata.
When they were all seated Ibiki spoke the rules of their assignment. "Open your ears because I am only going to say this once. My associates will be handing out some papers with ten questions, nine on the front and one on the back. Do not do the tenth question until I say so. Secondly, there will be no cheating, if we catch you three times your ass is booted from this exam! And thirdly your entire team must at least score one point each, if even one of your teammates scores a zero then your team is booted out of here! And questions?" Not giving them anytime to even raise their hands Ibiki continued. "Good? Good. Now begin!"
Immediately the Genin teams put their pencils to paper. When Naruto looked at the questions he began to sweat underneath his masks. 'What the unholy shit is up with these questions? None of this was covered in the Academy, and Kakashi-sensei has done jack regarding something of this caliber. Ishikawa know anything about this?'
"Uhh, nope sorry dude. My first exam was in Lightning Country where I literally wiped the floor with the competition through straight battle tests, I left my teammates in the dust and became Chunin on my first try." Ishikawa replied with a shrug of his shoulders.
'Well, uh mind helping me out by spying on the competition?'
"Sorry Blondie, but I am not gonna help you cheat that way. Cheat some other way man, you're a smart guy."
'Yay...perfect.'
After communicating with the dead Chunin in his head Naruto went back to looking at his blank test. The first thing he did was write his name, and then began lightly tapping his pencil on the paper irritably.
While Naruto was having his mini-freakout, the rest of his fellow Genin were either excelling of flunking out. Barely ten minutes in seven teams were eliminated because they were caught cheating. Several individuals however were cheating beautifully, Sasuke was using his Sharingan to copy the arm movements of a very knowledgeable male Genin, Kiba was using Akamaru perched on his head to relay information while Shino was using a common house fly to steal from the competition. Ino herself used the Mind Possession Jutsu to take hold of Sakura who used her book knowledge to write down over half the answers and used it to possess her teammates and write down the answers. For team Gai, Neji used his Byakugan to gain the answers from Sasuke, while Tenten used a complex set of mirrors and wires to steal her information from her competition and relay it to Lee.
For the Genin from other villages they used their own methods to gather answers. Gaara used his sand to create an eyeball to spy, Kankuro used an excuse to go to the bathroom, and one of the proctors came with him, only to reveal itself to be a puppet in disguise, which he used the information he gathered to hand off to Temari. The Sound Genin however focused their hearing, hearing the tapping of pencils for answers.
'Damn it, damn it, damn it! Fuck these answers! And fuck you Ibiki for throwing them at me!' Naruto mentally cursed out, much to the amusement of the three guests within his head. There was a simple way to do it, but they were enjoying the idiot sweat a bit until he figured it out.
"Naruto-kun." A soft voice whispered to him.
Moving his eyes to the right Naruto looked over to see Hinata looking at him. He knew it was taking all her will to do so thanks to the unlocked memories he had regarding her. "Yea?"
"I...I have a few an-swers, you can c-copy them if you wan-t." She managed to stutter out.
The black-streaked blonde's eyes widened in surprise, she was willing to risk her own advancement for him? It caused his heart to skip a step and he was almost tempted to take her offer. But then suddenly he forced it down into his gut, there was absolutely no way he was going to jeopardize her advancement, definitely not like this.
"Thanks, but I can't do that to you. I rather fail than have you kicked out because of you helped me." He thanked her, but politely declined her offer. "I just gotta find a way to get even a single answer, but that involves using eyes like...yours." Without warning Naruto violently face planted onto the desk, cracking the edge of it.
"Uzumaki! Get your head up and don't destroy my table!" Ibiki barked at him.
"Sorry, I just realized how much of an idiot I am." Bringing his head up he whispered to the girl next to him. "I owe you one." Much to her embarrassment.
''Oi, Jagan are you there?'
"Where else would I be?" The sentient eye growled out in irritation. "What do you want?"
'You said I could do almost anything with you. Is there a chance I can get an ability to spy on people?'
"About time you asked the right question. The Remote Viewing does allow you to spy on people or object from vast distances, see into houses, caves and whatnot, and even hear conversations from miles away. A littler experimentation could cause you to spy on anyone in this room if you're willing to suffer the headache."
'Aw dammit, another headache? Will this happen with every ability?'
"Only if you don't use them. What was it that ugly bug-eyed ningen told you? Practice, practice, practice." Jagan did a horrible impression of Lee, but the sentient eye believed it got its message through to its host. (2)
'All right I will practice with you more when I get the chance. But thanks Jagan, I really appreciate it.'
Not another word was spoken and Naruto closed his normal eyes and opened his third eye, hidden underneath his Hitai-ate, and his mask. He at first saw nothing but the solid walls, but slowly he reigned it in until he was viewing the ceiling. He slowly turned it upside down until he was viewing the heads of his fellow Genin. He moved his line of sight side to side until spotting the mummy man and zoomed in. His paper was half full, just enough for him to cheat off of.
Releasing the Remote Viewing, Naruto let out a jolted sigh and began rubbing his temples. "Ouch, that hurt." He complained before opening both eyes. He only remembered one answer and that was enough.
The test came to an end one minute later, reaching the forty-five minute marl causing many to sigh out in relief.
"Hmph, so it seems we got ourselves some very good bookworms, or some very crafty cheaters!" Almost the entire room flinched at that, causing the scary man to smirk. "Well now, I got something for you little bastards. The tenth question."
Almost every heartbeat ceased to exist when he said that.
"But first I got one more rule to impose on all of you. You must choose to accept or reject this question. If you reject it, then your team loses all the points you earned up till now, and your team will fail immediately!"
"But then what was the point!? Why would anyone reject the question?" Temari demanded.
A sadistic, malevolent grin formed on the proctors scarred face. "Because if you accept and take the question and get it wrong. Well...then you will never be able to take the Chunin Exams ever again, and you worthless maggots will be stuck as Genin for the rest of your lives!"
The entire room reeled back in outrage and surprise. Ino stood up, flabbergasted. "But we know there are people who have failed several times, but they always get a chance at the next one!"
"Ha! Sucks to be you. This is my first year as a proctor, and what I say goes. So, who is willing to risk everything in order to advance?"
For several long, breathless seconds nobody moved, let alone dared to breathe. This determined their lives, if they screwed up they would kiss their careers goodbye. A Genin team from Konoha stood up and his head hung in shame he said. "I'm sorry guys...but I just can't do it."
Then another got to his feet, apologizing to his teammates. Then several more rose, one even had to be escorted out by his teammates because he was bawling like a baby.
Naruto looked over and saw Hinata shaking like a leaf, her own hand was ready to be raised. And so were several others. Gritting his teeth he shot up to his feet knocking his chair over, and pointed at the proctor. "Bring it on scar-face! I am not afraid to take a stupid answer!"
"You do know that you are betting your career on this single answer."
"I don't give a flying damn if I remain a Genin for the rest of my life, I'll become stronger regardless and take the high ranking missions to show my worth. Plus..." He gave the proctor a glare from behind his mask. "I do not believe you for a second. You don't have any authority to prevent someone from taking the test again, this is above your rank and station."
"Or is it?" Ibiki lightly cracked his knuckles in response. "Care to wager your life on it?"
"You bet I am! Now quit jerking us off and tell us the damn question!"
For a full minute Ibiki said nothing, he glared at the masked hoodlum before a smirk came to his face. "Well then, for all those remaining; you...pass!"
That caused nearly everyone to scream out in surprise. "What the hell do you mean we pass?" Sasuke demanded.
"You passed. Becoming Chunin is doing much more than having book smarts, it is also gathering information by unconventional means." Three Chunin got out of their seats, and waved at the Genin with smug smiles on their faces. "And if you were caught, well worse things could happen to you other than getting kicked out of an exam." Ibiki then removed his bandanna to reveal his scarred bald head that was full of burns, cuts and screw holes.
"As Chunin you must be prepared to face consequences of your choices and actions. One screw up could get you and your entire squad killed or worse. This is why I made you face a choice, sure you could try again next time, but sometimes you got to take a risk to have a better reward." Ibiki then obscured his head and smiled at those who passed. "And it is because of this, I proudly draw the first part of these exams to a close. Congratulations!"
The Genin cheered, many in glee. Others in relief.
But Ibiki mentally counted to three before a black ball blasted through the windows, unrolled with two kunai attached to ropes pinned into the opposing walls to reveal the words 'Anko Mitarashi, Second Examiner' on them. And the woman herself standing in front of the banner.
"Congratulations on passing you maggots. I'm your second proctor Anko Mitarashi, your absolute worst nightmare!" She greeted the stunned Genin.
"You're late Anko." Ibiki deadpanned as he moved her banner out of the way to reveal himself, much to the younger woman's displeasure.
"Don't give me that Ibiki! You're making me sound like Kakashi!" She barked in a very Naruto-like response, making many of the Rookie Nine sweat-drop. "And what's with all the brats? I count twenty-six three man teams. Are you you losing your touch?"
"We have a surprising amount of outstanding candidates this year." The larger man simply said.
"Ha! Well I will cut them in half by the next exam. Follow me midgets!" Anko then jumped out the window with a joyful laugh.
"Please don't jump out the window. Use the stairs." Ibiki gritted out at the confused Chunin hopefuls.
After Anko and the twenty-six three man teams left to head to their destination, one that caused the older man to feel mighty sorry for them. Anko was a good girl most of the time, highly unusual, playful, but professional, but she also had a sadistic side that made torturees urinate themselves when she came in to gather information.
Ibiki decided to gather the papers, while the test itself was to prove if they had the guts to advance, he always liked to see if there were any worth taking note of as a...lets just say personal interest. Already he looked at those that came from Rice Country, the Genin teams from Wind Country, and even those from Amegakure. Some showed talent that would need to be watched, others not so much.
The ones from his villages were also the same, some showed promise but others not so much. He personally knew many of them would not be invited to join the Anbu Black Ops by their Kage if the time ever came. When he got to Naruto's he raised an eyebrow, the answer he gave was incomplete. It was intelligently written before it trailed off and said the two words "Fuck it", causing him to laugh.
"Naruto Uzumaki, you got some brass balls on you." Ibiki said before his eyes trailed down to the bottom of the pace where he silently read 'Something is not right about Kabuto, he has these info cards with a lot of information regarding many Genin in the room, so far he has information about some Rain team, those Sound guys, Gaara of the Desert, Sasuke, and myself; including the information concerning three Demons known only to few and not the general public.'
Eyebrows slightly raised in alarm, Ibiki filed the paper away and continued collecting the rest until he came across Sasuke's. His paper had more answers than Uzumaki's but his message was almost exactly the same, detailing about the three Demons yet to be released to the public. Once was a fluke, twice was a coincidence. But as the head of the Torture and Interrogation Force, he could not overlook this.
After collecting the rest of the papers he left to start an investigation after reporting his findings to the Hokage.
The Fifth Rider of Armageddon: Well folks, I'm back and it's only three years later...damn I am sorry. Before I go any further and some of you know this by now, for those who don't well head to my other story Spiraling Shark chapter fifteen, just read the author's note and all will be explained. Now onto some trivia!
(1) For my long time fans, if you are wonder the name change of our favorite deceased Kamizuru, well after some research and them FINALLY releasing the Shodaime Tsuchikage's name, I had to go back and redo it since he was named after the man. I know I really didn't need to do it, but it's the principal of the matter that I keep this story somewhat accurate with the people in it.
(2) This is something the Jagan Eye can do called Remote Viewing, but I decided to play with it a bit for better spy work that will be needed.
Now I bet you are wondering why this is so short, or why I changed Kabuto's introduction. Well frankly I am sick of doing it, a little change up was needed in my humble opinion since the characters changed so much. As for the shortness, this is a two parter because, holy shit this is too much too fast. Well see you next chapter! Don't forget to leave a review though!