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 Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 4:19 pm
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Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:40 am
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Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 1:47 pm
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WOOT! It's my 15th birthday people (and as a side note, so is Gaara's, whee ) and I feel really happy now that my Final Exams are over and done with.
Hoy es mi cumpleanos! sweatdrop . Sorry, I don't exactly know how to put all the symbols and the upside down exclamation mark...and some vocabulary from my Spanish Exam studying is still stuck in my head. blaugh .
"Talking"
Thinking
"Telepathy through mind seal"
(“Animals communicating with humans”/Telepathy with animals)
“Demonic Language”/Demon thinking/ 'Demon talking telepathically to their jinchuuriki'
Disclaimer: I do not know the Hell Song (by Linkin Park) or Naruto (by Masashi Kishimoto-sensei).
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
::;Seeing the Truth;::
Chapter 10: Paper Test
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
Naruto woke up to the sound of rock music playing outside of his bright bedroom. He mumbled in his sleep and turned his body away from the door, towards his window.
“Five more minutes…”
Akina heard this downstairs, despite the loud music, and snapped her fingers, earning a questioning glance from Sasuke, who was quietly eating breakfast.
A scream coming from upstairs cleared up his confusion.
“AAHH! THE LIGHT! IT BURNS!”
An amused smirk appeared on his face before he returned to eating.
Fifteen minutes later, Naruto trudged down the stairs, rubbing his eyes in attempt to get those spots he was seeing to go away. As a result he didn’t see Sasuke’s [removed](something that the other boy was slightly thankful for), and wandered over to the cabinet to get some ramen out of it.
Well, he tried to, but the door just wouldn’t budge. He put a foot against the cabinet next to it and pulled harder, but it wouldn’t work. He heard Kouseki snickering behind him and turned around to pout at Akina.
“Akina-chaaaaaan! Why can’t I have ramen for breakfast?”
She ignored his whining and continued cooking Naruto his breakfast, having already eaten early that morning.
“Nutrition.”
(“Ahahahahaha!”)
At this point, Sasuke decided to join in the conversation. “Yeah, baka. It’s a miracle you’re not fat from eating so much of that ramen…”
Naruto shook his fist at the Uchiha threateningly and scowled. ”Urusei!”
Akina placed about five plates of bacon, eggs, pancakes, and waffles in front of Naruto, walking over to the boom box in the living room to change the song.
Living with each other for the past month had been…interesting, to say the least. They learned a lot about each other, and some things were meant to be kept within these walls.
Sasuke found out that Naruto talked in his sleep and had nightmares almost every night. And Akina always woke up to go into his room to calm him down, unknown to Naruto. Apparently she’d been doing this for the last few years since they had the keys to each other’s apartments.
It was ironic now that he thought about it. Akina was, after all, younger than both the boys.
He listened to the song now blasting out of the speakers. The Hell Song by Sum 41 came on, making Akina smile a little before it disappeared.
Everybody's got their problems
Everybody says the same things to you
It's just a matter how you solve them
And knowing how to change the things you've been through
I feel I've come to realize
How fast life can be compromised
Step back to see what's going on
I can't believe this happened to you
This happened to you
The last Konoha Uchiha also found out that Akina liked to listen to rock music, and would frequently turn it up so that it can be heard through out the house. This puzzled him and when he finally got her alone to ask her why, she told him that it relieved her stress and trained her to be alert even with noise trying to distract her.
It's just a problem that I'm faced with am I
Not the only one who hates to stand by
Complications that are first in this line
With all these pictures running through my mind
Knowing endless, consequences
I feel so useless in this
Get back, Step back, and as
For me I can't believe
Part of me, won't agree
Cause I don't know if it's for sure
Suddenly, suddenly
I don't feel so insecure
All three kids paused in their different activities (Naruto: shoving food in his face, Sasuke: reading a scroll from the Uchiha main house, Akina: sharpening her weapons) at certain verses.
Part of me, won't agree
Cause I don't know if it's for sure
Suddenly, suddenly
I don't feel so insecure
Anymore
Everybody's got their problems
Everybody says the same things to you
It's just a matter how you solve them
But what else are we supposed to do
An aura of approval radiated from Akina as she continued to check over all of her weapons in preparation for the Exams. The boys noticed and figured that this song suited how she felt now, seeing as she changed it to this song.
They went back to what they were doing. It was 10 am now.
Part of me, won't agree
Cause I don't know if it's for sure
Suddenly, suddenly
I don't feel so insecure
Part of me, won't agree
Cause I don't know if it's for sure
Suddenly, suddenly
I don't feel so insecure
Anymore
When Naruto was finished eating, Akina beckoned her teammates over to the living room, which had an empty bowl sitting on the coffee table in between the couches. They sat down and looked questionably at her.
Why do things that matter the most
Never end up being our choice
Now that I find no way so bad
I don't think I knew I what I had
Why do things that matter the most
Never end up being our choice
Now that I find no way so bad
I don't think I knew I what I had
In response she just took out a scroll that she was hiding and opened it up to show them.
It described a seal for a permanent telepathic connection. They looked on in interest and read it thoroughly.
First, they had to mix the blood of all who were going to be connected using the seal. Akina took out a kunai and slit her wrist gently, letting the blood flow and drop into the bowl on the table. There was no flinch or cry of pain.
She passed the bloody kunai to Sasuke and Naruto, who did the same and let Akina wrap their wounds (she did Naruto’s quickly before the cut healed itself, leading Naruto to suspect that she knew).
Akina picked up a paint brush and mixed their blood. When she was satisfied, she took off her headband, keeping her eyes closed. The others did the same, after getting over their surprise at seeing the girl’s uncovered face (and being slightly disappointed at not seeing her eyes).
She picked up her head band and let Sasuke look at his reflection as he drew the seal on his forehead. Akina and Naruto sat still and let Sasuke draw the seals on them as well, since he had the steadiest hand (much to Naruto’s annoyance) and can actually see.
In unison they did the large number of hand seals, combining their chakra (Naruto grinned in triumph when he realized that the tree climbing exercise helped with his control). All three of their seals glowed blue when they neared the end.
“Seishin fuuin (Mind seal)!”
There was a searing pain in all of their heads as the ink seeped into their skin and disappeared. Akina was the first to recover.
“It worked…”
“YOSH!”
The other two flinched at the extremely loud thought and showed their annoyance through the seal (and a glare from Sasuke).
Kouseki looked interested at their facial expressions from the mental conversation.
(“You guys are making such weird faces…you look like idiots.”)
The boys turned their heads to glare at Kouseki before realizing that they understood her. Naruto’s jaw dropped.
“Wh-What the hell?”
The wolf blinked. (“You can hear me?”)
They nodded. Akina sighed and tied her head band back on. “I thought this would happen…a warning in advance: Kouseki has a potty mouth.”
Kouseki looked away innocently. (“…No I don’t…all right, yes I do.”)
Naruto grinned at the new possibilities now that they can all talk telepathically. Sasuke smirked before looking at Akina for an explanation.
“I can understand Kouseki through my bloodline. Our minds are connected. Therefore you can understand animals…it might not be such a good thing at times, though…”
“What are you talking about? This is awesome!”
Kouseki grinned. (“You won’t be thinking that when I get through with you, gaki.”)
He gulped at this threat and laughed nervously. So this is what Akina had to put up with for half of her life.
Sasuke took this new ability as an advantage and went back to reading the scroll. Naruto pouted again before getting up to help Akina with the dishes.
The feeling of being connected like this strangely comforted all of them, and they stayed silent, basking in the feeling.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
Team Seven walked through the Academy’s front doors, going through the nostalgic hallways towards the crowd gathering in front of room 301. Another team walked next to them wearing Konoha headbands.
Naruto spared them a glance and recognition came onto his face when he saw Lee from one of his previous years at the Academy when he joined early. The spandex-wearing ninja felt his gaze and blinked when he looked at the strangely familiar orange jumpsuit.
They pointed at each other in unison.
“Gejimaru…?” “Naruto-kun…?”
Their teammates stopped walking to look at them grinning at each other like long lost friends.
((AN: Screw it. I’m not describing the characters like I don’t know who they are anymore. It’s annoying, and I’d only need to do that if someone was completely new to the Naruto series, which you aren’t, since you’re reading fan fiction.))
Tenten blinked curiously at the two ninja. “You two know each other?”
Lee put hand on Naruto’s shoulder and nodded, eyes twinkling. “That is correct! Naruto-kun and I used to train with each other in our Academy years, although I haven’t seen him in over a year…”
Neji snorted and sneered at the two. “A dead last will stay a dead last. That is their fate.”
Kouseki frowned. (“Who shoved the stick up his a**?”) Though he does have a valid reason for acting like this…kinda. He’s going overboard on the angst, though…
The two dead lasts scowled at the previous Rookie of the Year. Lee clenched his fists. “Just wait, Neji-san! I shall prove to you someday that hard work can surpass a genius!”
A fire burned in his eyes, and extreme determination could be found on both of their faces. Akina let a little pride seep through the telepathic connection to show her approval to her teammates.
She turned around and started walking towards the stairs, with Kouseki and Sasuke following. At the end of the hallway, they stopped and waited for Naruto to catch up. He noticed and waved cheerfully at Lee, promising to fight with him later, before running to his team.
Team Ten watched them leave unnoticed by the crowd, and when they ascended the stairs to the second floor, Tenten frowned and tilted her head in confusion.
“Who was that girl, and why was she blindfolded? Is she crazy? This is the Chuunin Exams!”
Lee took a lecturing pose. “That is Takamaru Akina-san, Naruto-kun’s teammate. He told me soon after we met that she is a blind ninja and apparently skipped a year, graduating with Naruto-kun’s former classmates,” the fire came back into his eyes, “I must test myself against her as well!”
Tenten felt slightly bad about calling Akina crazy (guilt for mocking a handicapped person). Neji made no reaction to this new information and instead decided to follow Team Seven’s example in getting to the room where the Exam was being held.
And so both teams left the two chuunin in disguise to play around with the genin that couldn’t see that they were on the second floor and not the third floor.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
Team Seven made themselves comfortable sitting in empty desks near the back of the classroom in order to observe everyone coming in. They were about an hour early, giving them time to check out the competition.
Naruto leaned back in his chair and kicked his feet onto the desk, pillowing his head with his hands.
“Hey guys. Ya think we’re taking some sort of paper test? We’re in the classroom…”
Sasuke leaned forward in his chair and rested his chin on his folded fingers.
“Probably.”
Akina put her head in her arms on the desk and appeared to be sleeping. But her friends (Sasuke would refuse to acknowledge this if asked in public) could sense her keeping track of the entire building.
Kouseki lay down next to the kids since they were sitting at the end of the tables, closer to the door. Her ear twitched when she heard a familiar yell of happiness.
The doors slammed open to reveal Team Eight, with Kiba leading the way. He attracted the attention of the entire room (half of it was filled up so far) as a result and he just grinned at them.
Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru scanned the room and spotted Team Seven as the only people they knew. Hinata shuffled inside after her teammates, staring shyly at the ground when she had felt all the genin look at them.
Akamaru jumped off of Kiba’s head and ran towards Kouseki, who opened her eyes when he came near.
(“Hey! Kouseki-senpai!”) he nuzzled Kouseki’s mane in respect to the older canine. She grunted.
(“Hey Akamaru-chan.”)
“Act like you can’t understand what they’re saying.”
Mental nods were exchanged. No one needed to know their little connection.
The rest of Team Eight came over to stand in front of Team Seven. Kiba stepped in front of Akina and noticed she was awake by her heartbeat, so he just grinned and sat on top of the table in front of her.
Hinata hid behind a stoic Shino whenever she noticed Naruto looking in her direction. The bug-user stood still at the silent request for a human shield. He nodded in greeting to his fellow Leaf-nin.
About thirty minutes later, Team Nine walked in through the doors. Ino looked psyched for some reason, but her teammates didn’t look like they cared. Chouji was munching on potato chips and Shikamaru had a “what the hell am I doing here again?” face.
The Yamanaka immediately spotted Sasuke and dashed over to talk to him.
“Sasuke-kuuuuuun!”
She glomped her object of affection and nuzzled him. He stiffened considerably.
“I missed you! We haven’t talked for so long!”
“I wouldn’t call what she does talking…” came Naruto’s thought. If Kouseki heard she would have agreed and added her own two cents, but unfortunately, she wasn’t a part of the seal.
“Ino-san.”
The blond stopped cuddling and looked up to see where the voice came from. It was then that she noticed Akina resting her head next to Sasuke. She immediately scowled and let go of Sasuke, much to his relief.
“So you’re awake? Figures you’d fall asleep when we’re in the Chuunin Exam. Is the pressure too much for you?”
The other girl didn’t attempt to move or acknowledge Ino’s insults. She quietly drew her attention away from her teammate. Ino snarled.
“Answer me, you damn b***h!” she screeched.
“Hey…you guys should stop making so much noise over here…this isn’t a field trip, you know.”
The Rookie Nine looked at a silver haired genin that was frowning disapprovingly in their direction walking towards them.
(“He smells like snake…”) was Kouseki’s first analysis. The ones that could understand her brushed it off as her usual comments, but Akina acknowledged it by twitching her fingers slightly, still resting.
In the Jounin lounge across the street, Kakashi looked up from his book and into the window of the classroom all the chuunin-hopefuls were in. Kurenai and Asuma noticed and followed his line of vision. Asuma smirked.
“Worried about your brats, eh? It doesn’t seem like you…”
Kakashi shrugged after seeing Akina’s hands go into a certain position when she scratched her head after Kabuto started talking to them.
Possible spy.
Kabuto took out a deck of cards and showed it to them. He picked up the card on top, flipped it over, and activated using his chakra. In a small poof of smoke, a diagram of the Elemental Countries and the ninja coming from each Hidden Village popped up.
Naturally since the 3-D images were just that, images, she couldn’t sense or find a way to “see” what they were looking at and stuck to listening to the explanation.
“Do you have info cards on specific shinobi?” asked Sasuke. This got his team’s attention.
Kabuto nodded and got ready to pick out another card. “Yeah,” he shuffled the deck, “any requests?”
He nodded briefly. “Sabaku no Gaara.”
Naruto thought for a bit before grinning sheepishly at Kabuto. “Can we see our own cards, too?”
Kabuto pushed up his glasses with a hand. “Names?”
“Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Takamaru Akina.”
The silver haired genin seemed to react slightly to the name “Uchiha”, but complied with their requests. He skillfully shuffled the deck before picking out four, fanning them out. He put one down and fused it with a little chakra. Another poof of ninja smoke and Gaara’s profile came up.
Kabuto took the opportunity to read it out loud.
“Sabaku no Gaara of Sunagakure. His teammates are his siblings, Sabaku no Temari and Sabaku no Kankurou. Sensei: Baki of the Wind. These three are the descendants of all the Kazekage. An unknown amount of D-class missions, 8 C-class missions, and…amazing. One B-rank. That’s pretty hard to get as a genin. He’s a foreign ninja, so I don’t have that much information on him, but…
It seems that he has returned from all of his missions without so much as a scratch.”
Shikamaru’s eyes widened. “He did a B-rank mission and came back unharmed?”
Naruto and Sasuke frowned at this new information.
Kabuto put the card back into his deck of cards and shuffled again, bringing out three cards, fanning them out for show. The other members of the “Rookie Nine” looked on with interest. He was going to show Team Seven’s profiles next, and they wanted to see what their former classmates have been up to during the past few months.
He pumped charka into all three cards, causing a larger burst of smoke than usual because of the simultaneous activation.
But before the silver-haired genin could read the cards, they were snatched out of his hand by none other than Naruto, who immediately scanned over the cards and frowned at the large amount of information. Kiba blinked, then scowled.
“Read it out loud!”
Naruto just grinned and handed the cards to Akina, who had “woken up.”
“No.”
And with that, Akina cupped the cards in her hand and shredded the cards to dust with her chakra, careful not to show that she didn’t need to use chakra to control the wind and rip things up.
Before Kiba or anyone else (including Kabuto, who was now frowning because his cards were destroyed) could yell or ask why they did that, Sasuke stepped into the conversation.
“Mind your own business. We like to keep our surprises secret.”
Kabuto just nodded. “So I guess you aren’t all wet-eared rookies after all. Smart.”
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
Kakashi smirked behind the cover of his book in the Jounin lounge while his fellow ninja chatted about the first phase of the Chuunin Exam. He half-listened to the conversation.
“I think my team will do great on this Exam. I have confidence in them.”
The copy-nin just shook his head. “I wouldn’t say that. I heard that Ibiki was the proctor for the first phase.”
Asuma immediately grimaced. “Damn.”
Kurenai blinked and tilted her head. “Ibiki? Who’s that? What’s wrong with him giving the exam?”
The Sarutobi just shook his head. “You’re a rookie-jounin, so you wouldn’t know who he is. Morino Ibiki. He’s a pro.”
“A pro? Of…?”
Asuma blew out some smoke before smirking back at the genjutsu master. “Torture and Interrogation.”
When Kurenai gasped slightly, Kakashi continued the description.
“Although there will be no physical torturing in the exam...I’m sure the students are going to be feeling some mental stress through his interrogation skills. Konoha Anbu’s torture and interrogation squad leader. Morino Ibiki.”
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
“SHUT THE HELL UP AND SIT DOWN! You! Oto-nin! Stop fighting or we’ll fail you! This is your first and last warning!”
(“He reminds me of that Anbu sensei of yours…what was his name again? Ah, right. Enkou.”)
The genin in the room shared a collective shiver down their backs. The ninja with more backbone stood their ground and stared back at the black-clad proctor without as much as a flinch.
Morino Ibiki inwardly grinned at the prospect of getting to turn these genin into mentally disturbed vegetables.
Dosu turned towards Ibiki. “I’m sorry. I was excited, since this is my first exam.”
The interrogator just smirked slightly in response before all traces of emotion was wiped from his face.
“This is a good chance to say this. You aren’t allowed to fight each other during the exams unless you’re given permission by the examiners. Even if you are given permission, you are not allowed to kill each other. Those who go against me will fail immediately, understood?”
The air was thick, and all was quiet.
“We will now begin the first exam of the Chuunin Selection Exam. Turn in your applications, take one of these number tags, and sit where the number tells you to. Then we will pass out the papers for the written exam.”
Naruto’s eye twitched slightly at the words “written exam.”
Everyone got out of their seats and moved as one towards the front of the classroom, where Ibiki and two other examiners (Kotetsu and some other chuunin) were giving out the numbers. Much to Ibiki’s amusement and slight disappointment, no one went into his line, leaving him to watch the genin cast wary eyes towards him.
Naruto got up out of his seat and paused for a moment before nodding towards his team mates.
Under the watchful eyes of the other chuunin scattered on the edges of the classroom, he walked slowly and confidently up to Ibiki, whose eyebrows rose slightly when he was given Naruto’s application. Sasuke shook his head in slight exasperation before following his example, as well as Akina.
One by one, the Rookie Nine marched up towards Ibiki and got their numbers, sitting down without another word. The proctor’s eyes followed Naruto towards his seat.
He’s an interesting guy…
When everyone was seated, Naruto looked around, looking for his team mates. He scowled when he realized that they were all separated. A glance to the side made him realize that Hinata was sitting next to him, nervously playing with her fingers. He had vaguely noticed her sitting next to him from the beginning but she seemed to have mastered the art of being invisible.
He gave a bright smile and a nod.
“Let’s do our best Hinata-chan!”
The blush on her face deepened and the Hyuuga was left trying to get her mouth to function properly before she managed a quiet and strangled “H-Hai…”
From the back of the classroom, Sasuke took note of where everybody was and found that Akina was in the middle of the right side, and Naruto was near the front of the left side. It’s not a problem…it’s a good thing that Akina had that mind linking scroll.
Kouseki scowled and growled lowly when she realized that she couldn’t fit into the space behind Akina’s chair. A couple genin standing nearby moved a little away from the pissed wolf. She contented herself with sitting in front of the examiners sitting along the right wall, nearest to Akina.
Sasuke and Akina could feel a mental grin coming from Naruto. “Kouseki-chan doesn’t seem too happy..she looks like she wants to eat the next person that pisses her off.”
Tapping from the front of the classroom got all of the rowdy and nervous genin to pay attention. Ibiki was holding a chalk stick and was scowling at them all.
“This first exam has a few rules. I will not accept any questions so listen carefully. First rule is you are all given 10 points at the start. The written exam consists of 10 questions, and each is worth one point. This test is a deduction based test.”
He started writing down the rules on the board as he talked.
“If you get one problem wrong, you will get one point deducted. If you get three problems wrong, you points will be reduced to 7.”
This seemed sensible enough.
“Second rule, the pass-fail decision will be determined by your team’s total points.”
A slam brought their attention to Ino, who was now glaring at Ibiki with a red mark on her forehead.
“Matte matte! Your team’s total points? What?!”
“Shut up! There is a reason for this. Just shut your trap and listen. Now that you know, let’s move onto the next rule. If an examiner determines that you cheated or did something similar during the test…each action will cost you to lose 2 points.”
There were several cries or gasps of disbelief throughout the room.
"In other words, there will be people who will be forced to leave this place without their tests being graded. Those who try to cheat without thinking carefully will only hurt themselves."
Kotetsu, who had seated himself by the windows, smirked at them. “We’ll “check” you at any time.”
This only served to thicken the already tense atmosphere. Ibiki continued.
“You are all trying to become Chuunin. If you are a ninja, act like a first-rate one.”
Ino tried to calm herself down as she thought over the rules again. It’s okay. The Sasuke-kun and the b***h can get enough points to pass, even if Naruto fails.
“Also, if anyone in a team gets a zero, everyone on that team will fail.”
This completely shattered her sense of calmness. “Eh?!?”
The blond Yamanaka glared at Naruto, who immediately felt her trying to drill a hole into the back of this head.
“Oi, Sasuke-teme. Your lackey doesn’t want you to fail and might try something.”
“Let her, dobe. She should know better than to doubt the team that I’m on.”
Akina gave no comment, so the other two just assumed that she agreed.
“The last problem will be given 45 minutes after the exam begins. You have one hour for the exam.”
(“It’s 3:30. That means that at 4:30, the exam will end, and at 4:15, the last question will be given. Good luck, gakis.”) grinned the black wolf.
“BEGIN!”
Tests were flipped over, and the tense atmosphere doubled in thickness when everyone saw the questions. Sasuke immediately scanned all the questions.
Number 2. The parabola, B, represents a shuriken’s maximum throwing distance of the enemy ninja, A, from a height of 7 meters. Figure out the trait of the enemy ninja that can be observed from the eclipse formed by the shuriken, and figure out the maximum throwing distance on flat ground. Explain your reasoning.
Akina did the same and, for show, ran her fingers over all the words so that no one should suspect that she is more skilled than they think. Hmm. A compound question that involves figuring out facts from indefinite conditions and physical analysis. Even some chuunin wouldn’t know the answer to this question, so everybody in this room shouldn’t be able to figure this out…Morino Ibiki, neh?
Sasuke looked at the rest of the questions and smirked slightly. I see. I don’t understand. Not even one question… He gave up trying to figure out the questions for glancing at the chuunin surrounding them. They seem to be really cautious…It’s almost as if they’re assuming that we’re going to cheat.
He ran over all of the rules in his head again. Two-point deduction, eh? Normally, you would be kicked out if you’re found cheating just once. I see, I get it. This wasn’t just a test to test our knowledge. It’s true purpose is…to also be a test to see one’s information gathering skills using camouflaging and concealment methods.
The other ninja in the room seemed to have come to this conclusion as well, since Sasuke heard a small scoff from Kiba.
Ninja need to think beyond the normal, right? In other words, the examiner really wants us to not cheat without thinking carefully…But to do it like a first-rate ninja…And not be caught. If I think about it that way, everything makes sense. So, what’s being tested here is to not get detected by either the examiners or the one who’s being cheated from…and to gather correct answers.
He relayed this to his team mates. “We have to cheat…”
“Hai.” Was both of their replies.
All around the room, people started to use their different skills to cheat. Akina immediately singled out a person that was furiously scribbling down his answers and gave his position to her team mates.
She zoned in on his paper and started copying his answers from the feeling of the markings that his pencil made on the paper. Sasuke spotted him and activated his Sharingan, writing down the answers at the same pace and trusting Akina to give him the answers that he missed.
Naruto grinned when he realized that he had nothing to do, since his team mates were getting the answers. His thoughts went back to Ino, and his grin grew. A mischievous glint appeared in his sapphire eyes.
“Oi…don’t give me the answers until 4:10.”
Sasuke and Akina recognized that tone in his voice and mentally shook their heads at his inner prankster.
Hinata glanced to the side and noticed Naruto’s paper was still blank. She kept her head facing the front of the room and stage-whispered to him.
“Naruto-kun…I’ll show you my…test.”
Naruto blinked before shaking his head. “Nah. I wouldn’t want you to get into trouble for me.”
She blushed harder. He cares!
Not five seconds later, a kunai was launched, just making it past his head and onto the paper of a boy sitting behind him. Naruto was still grinning, having not moved an inch. Kotetsu smirked at the other genin and failed him. After this team got failed, the numbers started to go down rapidly.
With that, Naruto looked back down at his own paper and grinned again, picking up his pencil. He flipped over the paper and started doodling his masterpiece for Ino to see if she ever decided to “drop in.”
Sasuke finished his copying when the chuunin in disguise set down his pencil, satisfied with his paper. He exchanged answers with Akina privately, and waited out the rest of the first 40 minutes until they had to tell Naruto the answers.
Near the back of the room, Ino was nervously watching Naruto napping after he finished doodling. What if his answers are wrong? If he fails, my Sasuke-kun will fail, too! With that thought, she formed the seal for her clan’s technique.
She leaned her chin on the seal to conceal its true purpose, aiming it at Naruto. Shintenshin no jutsu!
She slumped in her chair as she felt herself possessing Naruto’s body.
Ino woke up inside Naruto’s slightly shorter body and looked down at his paper, letting her mouth hang. A vein appeared on the side of her head and vaguely in the back of her mind, Naruto was clearly laughing his a** off.
She vigorously erased an answer and penciled in the correct one, nearly snapping the pencil from the pressure. Ino gritted her teeth. One correct answer should be enough for this little brat…
With that, she formed the release seal and escaped back into her own body, leaving Sasuke and Kouseki wonder what the hell just happened. Ibiki saw the whole thing happen and just shook his head slightly. This was supposed to be a nerve-wracking exam, not a time for little pranks.
Ten minutes later, after relaying the answer to Naruto who didn’t bother to erase his picture (and instead opted to squish in his answers in between the doodles), the large proctor got their attention again, simply by talking.
“Looks like we’ve already gotten rid of the idiots. I will now give the problem, since 45 minutes have passed. All right, I will now give the 10th problem!”
Sasuke scoffed inwardly. “Hmmph. Took you long enough.”
“But before that, there’s one more thing I must say…There will be one special rule for this last question.”
The door in the back opened, and in came Kankurou with his disguised puppet examiner, Karasu.
“Good, you came back in time. Your puppet show didn’t go to waste.”
The puppeteer just tensed slightly before walking back to his seat, discreetly delivering a small folded piece of paper to Temari, containing the answers.
(“Oh Kami-sama, I can smell the bathroom from here…”) came Kouseki’s groan, having gotten bored of staying quiet and just woke up from her nap.
“I will now explain. This is…a hopeless rule. First, you are all going to choose if you wish to take this tenth problem or not.”
This perked Kouseki’s interest. (“Morino Ibiki…he’s an interesting guy…I like him.”) She grinned at his mental torture, unknowingly stealing his favorite phrase.
“Choose? So what happens if we don’t take the tenth problem?” demanded Temari.
“If you choose not to take it, your points will be reduced to zero. In other words, you will fail. Your other two teammates will fail along with you.”
There were some cries of disbelief. What idiot in their right mind would just let themselves fail?
“Of course we’re going to take it!”
“Teammates also failing is bullshit!”
“And here is the other rule,” he continued, as if he wasn’t interrupted, ”if you choose to take it and you get it wrong, you will…lose the privilege to take the Chuunin Exam forever.”
Kiba stood up in outrage and pointed accusingly at Ibiki. “What kind of dumb rule is that?! There should be those here who have taken the Chuunin Exam in the past!”
Akamaru barked in agreement with his master.
Then, Ibiki started doing something that completely surprised all that were in the room.
He started chuckling. “You were unlucky. This year, I am the rule. That is why I gave you the opinion to quit. Those who are not confident can choose to not take it, and take the exam next year, or the year after that.” He chuckled some more.
“Let us begin. Those who will not be taking this tenth question, raise your hands. After we confirm your numbers, we will have you leave.”
An older genin (he looked over 20 years old) sitting on the other side of Naruto dropped his pencil and stood up. “I…I…I quit! I won’t take it!”
“Number 50, fail. Number 130 and 111, fail along with him,” called out Izumo.
“I’m sorry…Gennai, Inaho. Damn it.”
“Me too!”
Many other people started raising their hands and filing out of the rooms.
If there’s one thing I hate more than anything it’s cowards who never believe in what they’re doing. Naruto’s eyes went to Hinata at this, wondering how she can get more confidence in herself.
Hinata was playing with her fingers more nervously than usual, and was looking timidly at her paper. Memories of her childhood replayed across her mind’s eye. Her father’s voice echoed in her mind, calling her a weak heir, not worthy of the Hyuuga name. Her confidence dropped lower, and, her hand shaking, started to rise into the air, alerting the Rookie Nine, and Neji’s team to her possible withdrawal.
Naruto whispered to her from between gritted teeth. “Hinata! What the hell are you doing?”
She offered him a small smile, her hand freezing halfway up for a moment. “I-I’m sorry…Naruto-kun…”
He scowled. “Akina-chan!”
“Hai.”
The blind girl stopped her arm from moving with her supremacy over air, not moving a muscle. Hinata blinked when her arm refused to move. Slowly, it lowered, whether she wanted it to or not.
And then, much to everyone’s surprise, Naruto raised his hand instead, keeping his head facing downward and causing his bangs to conceal his eyes. Kouseki blinked and sat back to watch the show that she knew was coming.
Oh..? came Ibiki’s interested thought. Naruto’s hand went high up, and then slammed into the desk as he looked back up and grinned at Ibiki’s face.
“Screw you! I’m not going to run away! I’ll take this problem! Even if I become a Genin forever, I’m going to become a Hokage no matter what anyways!”
He stood up. “I AM NOT SCARED!” Ibiki’s face remained emotionless even when Naruto sat back down and kept grinning defiantly at Ibiki.
He has quite a spirit… thought Sasuke.
That’s right baka-chan. Shove the idea of scaring you right back at their faces! Kouseki grinned and chuckled from the sidelines.
Naruto-kun…that was…amazing.
“I will ask one more time. This is the choice that will impact your life. If you want to quit, now is the chance.”
“I’m not going to take back my words. That’s my nindo.”
Ibiki scanned the room again and found that everyone was giving off an air of confidence, and most of the genin that knew Naruto were also smirking slightly at this speech that everyone expected him to give. Interesting kid. He wiped out everyone’s uncertainty. 78 students, eh? There’s more left than I expected. Looks like there’s no point in waiting any longer.
He looked at the chuunin surrounding the room and received nods from all of them, and grins from Kotetsu and Izumo. Ibiki nodded back.
“Nice determination. Then…For the First Exam, everyone here…
Passes!”
Confusion filtered into the room and Kouseki started howling with laughter at the looks on their faces. Fortunately, she was ignored by all but the slightly nervous chuunin sitting next to her when the genin started muttering to themselves.
“Wait! What about the tenth question?”
Ibiki grinned. "There was no such thing to begin with. Or you can call the two-choice question the tenth question."
“Nani?”
“Oi! So what were those precious nine problems?! It was all a waste!” yelled out Temari.
“No it’s not. The nine problems accomplished their purpose. The purpose to test each individual’s information gathering skills.”
“Information gathering skills?”
“First, this test’s purpose lies in the first rule…Your pass-fail decision is based on your three person teams. By giving that idea, we pressured you into trying not to be a nuisance to your team. But these test problems cannot be solved by you genin. So, most of the people here must have come to the same conclusion…"I have to cheat to get points." In other words, this exam assumed that everyone was going to cheat. So, we snuck in two chuunin who knew the answers to be targets of cheating.”
Here, the two chuunin in disguise raised their hands and waved a bit.
“But those who just cheated idiots failed, of course.”
He untied his bandanna hitai ate and revealed what was underneath it. Many genin gaped.
“Why? Information can have greater value than life at times, and in missions and battlefields…the lives of people will depend on it.”
His bald head was covered in numerous scars that were obviously made by means of torture.
(“Burnt marks, screw holes, and cut marks…this guy’s been through a lot.”) Even Kouseki’s voice was serious when she looked over his scarred head. (“Morino Ibiki, Head of Anbu’s Torture and Interrogation Squad.”) she thought to Akina, who just sent back a mental nod.
Ibiki tied his hitai ate back on. “The information that an enemy gets after being noticed by a third person will not necessarily be accurate. Remember this. Getting incorrect information can cause great damage to your teammates and village. So, we made you all gather information in the form of cheating. We kicked out those who were lacking in that field. That’s what went on.”
“But what about the last question?” The ever inquisitive Temari wanted to know why.
“But this tenth question was the main question of this First Exam. Let me explain. The tenth question was a “take or not take” choice. Needless to say, it was a lose-lose situation. Those who did not take it failed with their teams. If you chose to take it, and could not answer it…Your right to take the exam would have been taken away forever.”
He started to pace in front of the classroom as he lectured the class of genin.
“How about this problem…Let’s assume that you have become a chuunin. Your mission is to capture a secret document. The number of enemy ninja, their abilities, and armaments are unknown. And there may be traps that the enemy ninja have set up. Now, will you accept this mission or not? Just because your life and the lives of your teammates may be in danger, are you able to avoid dangerous missions? The answer is…
No. There are missions that carry heavy risks, but cannot be avoided. The ability to show your courage to your teammates when needed, and the ability to get through a bad situation…That is what we look for in a chuunin, a squad leader.
Those who cannot bet their fate in a critical situation…Those who give up when given the chance because there is a next year, and let their minds sway over an uncertain future…
Fools who only carry a light determination like that have no right to become a chuunin. That is what I believe. I am saying that you here who have chosen to take it gave the right answer for the difficult tenth question.
You can deal with the difficulties you will face. You have broken through the entrance. The First Exam of the Chuunin Selection ends now. I wish you luck.”
“YOSH!!!” Naruto pumped his fist into the air in victory, grinning like there was no tomorrow. He gave a thumbs-up to Hinata, who was still a little shaken from almost getting her team kicked out when there really was no tenth question. She blushed immensely and started to feel faint.
Kouseki’s ear twitched as she sensed someone hurtling towards the window at high speeds. (“Eh?”)
The glass shattered as a mass of black blurred into the room, unfolding and attaching to the walls and floor with kunai. A certain purple haired kunoichi skidded to a halt after her flight and grinned at them all.
Geez… came Ibiki’s exasperated thought.
Naruto played a fanfare through the team’s mind link as they read the black banner.
‘Second Examiner, Mitarashi Anko is here!’
“Everybody, this is no time to be happy! I am the Second Examiner, Mitarashi Anko! Let’s go to the next exam!”
She thrust her fist into the air much like Naruto did. “Follow me!”
The entire classroom fell into a shocked silence, staring at the grinning proctor.
Kouseki grinned and wagged her thick tail. She liked her attitude already. (“She’s…just like you and Naruto…”) said a dumbfounded Akamaru. The rest of their friends apparently thought so, too, because they were all staring rather blankly at him, while he just flashed them a grin and a victory sign.
Ibiki sighed and shuffled from behind the overly large banner. “Grasp the atmosphere.”
Anko allowed herself a blush before she did a head count. “78? Ibiki, you let 26 teams pass?” she then sneered, "the First Exam must have been too soft."
“There were a lot of excellent students this time.”
She scoffed a little. “Oh, well…I’m going to make more than half of these teams fail the exam.” Her voice took on a happy tone. “I’m getting excited. I will explain the rules tomorrow. We will go somewhere else, so ask your jounin-senseis the rally point and time. That is all. Dismissed!”
Chairs slid back and people let out satisfied or relieved sighs. Team Seven stood up as one and regrouped, waiting for the other genin to finish squeezing themselves through the only doorway.
Kouseki grumbled as she saw how everyone was eager to get out of the dreaded classroom. She muttered and shook her head. (“You know I can just plow my way through those brats and knock em over for you guys…”)
Hinata’s heart rate finally returned to something resembling normal, and she noticed Naruto about to leave.
“M-Matte…”
Naruto stopped walking and looked back at the shy Hyuuga heiress, tilting his head, much like a fox does when confused.
Hinata looked down at her feet and shuffled them a bit before letting out a small “A-Arigatou…”
He grinned again and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Heh…no problem Hinata-chan!”
“Baka. Akina stopped her, not you.”
“Urusei, teme! She doesn’t know that!”
Akina paused at the (now empty) doorway. She turned her head back towards her teammates.
“Going for a walk.”
She left, leaving Kouseki to hang around with the rivals.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
Akina strapped on her arm guards and headed out of the Puma clan’s cave with Kyou following behind her, looking slightly more muscled than she had when they first started going to the Training Center.
She shunshined them into the main lobby, immediately being greeted by Kenshiki, the only person here who even attempted to become her friend since the first day. The other ninja in their class had, for the most part, ignored her and silently envied her.
The two nodded to each other before walking towards the classroom. All the Anbu in training had been informed of the upcoming activity that was to be expected from Orochimaru, and they had to be prepared as well.
Enkou was already in the room when they entered, and he greeted them with a grunt. All the ninja in their class were scattered around town right now, since being a trainee was their second life. Only a few other Anbu students were inside, since most of them were chuunin and were helping out with the Chuunin Exam.
Kyoukoumune hopped up onto the desk and started cat napping, as was her usual past time while waiting inside the classroom. The taller brown-haired man sat down in his seat and idly petted the small cub’s ears, making her emit a low purr.
Akina sat cross-legged on her chair and meditated.
Their sensei looked up from reading some reports when the door smashed open (it had recently been reinforced after being slammed open so many times by various ninja), letting in an irritated Anko. Her amber eyes scanned the room and she walked up to Enkou. She gave him a scroll and scowled, looking back at the other ninja in the room (she could feel some of their curious gazes).
“What the hell are you looking at?”
They hastily returned to their previous activities, not wanting to aggravate her any more than she already was. Enkou looked up from reading the scroll and nodded at the snake-user.
“Okay.” He glanced at the few students that had actually made it to the meeting on time. “Attention!”
Immediately, everybody straightened in their chairs and looked at Enkou, silent. He smirked.
“In the next phase of the Chuunin Exam, the little genin are going to be using training area 44, the Forest of Death. We need volunteers to sweep the area and make sure that it’s ready.”
They kept their mouths shut, knowing that he wasn’t really going to ask for volunteers. “Numbers 33, 35, 45, 48, 54, and 55; get your asses up and out of my classroom!”
The Anbu trainees that were called stood up. Enkou waved a bit as they made the seals to use Shunshin.
“Don’t get eaten!”
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Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 7:17 am
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Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:08 am
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Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 12:55 pm
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Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 1:18 pm
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Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 1:21 pm
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Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 3:17 pm
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Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 1:14 pm
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Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 1:22 pm
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Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 2:39 pm
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Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 7:15 pm
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(points up at the poll) Oh, look! There's four votes, so that means that, since I voted too, there's another person that reads Seeing the Truth and isn't dropping a comment or anything. xD. Don't be shy, we don't bite...well, at least, I don't...
That sounds like a good plan, Maeve, I'll do that. Especially since I procrastinated too much today and ended up only typing up about 40% of Chapter 13 instead of finishing the whole entire thing.
(shakes fist at Kiba and Naruto) Why does your fight have to be so complicated to remodel? gonk . I ended up typing up things that happened like 8 hours in the future. sweatdrop .
heart Yeah, sleeping in is awesome. You know...until someone wakes you up. (smacks sister) What did I tell you about rapidly clicking the mouse on the computer that's right next to where I put my head?!
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Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 2:13 pm
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Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 11:12 am
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