Exams

Once all the teams arrived in Konoha things started to heat up as it was time for the first exam to begin. The first exam was as I expected taking place within the academy as a written test or at least that was how it looked from the surface. I could tell however that there were layers involved that went beyond that. The first was that the [false surroundings] jutsu had been minorly applied to the class numbers to confuse the genin into going to the wrong room and thus getting disqualified.-

The second layer was the written test itself that held many questions that were well beyond the Genin level and thus a sort of challenge in and of themselves. The third layer was that the exam was actually a test of how sneaky these genin could be as there was an implied hint that they should cheat to pass. The final layer however was the most hilarious in my opinion as it was simply that the written test itself was bullshit and only the question that the instructor asked at the end of the time that mattered.-

Those that didn't answer all failed without exception but Naruto being the person he was ended up inciting way more teams into passing than the villages anticipated. A total of twenty six teams in fact which caused the second exam to be made harsher to compensate. The second exam started almost immediately and was a survival game with a few layers to it. The first was that each team got a single scroll that belonged to a set of two, the heaven scroll and the earth scroll. Second no matter how things went there would at most only be thirteen teams advancing as each team needed both scrolls to pass.-

The third layer was that this test was set to take place in the forest of death and that each person participating had to sign a death and injury waiver. While the exam had people watching over the participants to avoid death as much as possible the chance was still very much present. Something rather funny was that this exam was taking place smack dab in the middle of my territory with my home being in the dead center of this place. Obviously i was told to vacate the building for the exam but that didn't mean that the teams from Konoha wouldn't have an unfair advantage since my home was well known to most of them.-

While only Naruto, Shino and Kiba knew it's exact location that was more than enough as that meant so long as they didn't fight on sight the two teams that had them in it could shack up there during the exam rather than roughing it in the wilds. Something that I personally heard Shikamaru complain about. Yeah I was totally stealthing it up in the nearby shadows watching this whole thing go down. Not that anyone knew since I was cloaked in natural energy that made me next to impossible to spot.-

Speaking of hard to spot people there were some in a disguise that was definitely NOT a Genin. Their head band said they were part of Kusagakure but my senses said otherwise. First off was that while at first glance their chakra looked normal and thus easy to miss with the Byakugan a closer inspection showed that that was a lie. The chakra was actually sealed and suppressed down to that size unnaturally and thus had a certain "feel" to it that said it's true size was much larger.-

There was also this sort of wrongness to one person that made me wary of them on an instinctual basis. It was hard to explain really but it was like their body and soul didn't belong to the same person and were disharmonious. Moving on from that weirdness we came to the last layer of this second exam, the trap. The person in charge of this exam said that the teams had to report to the tower in the forest in three days with both scrolls in order to pass, what wasn't said however was that there was nothing stopping the teams from going there immediately and just jacking another teams scrolls.-

This turned this exam into a full on hostile confrontation type deal as you now had to worry about preserving your strength to fend off those hiding near the tower at the end of these three days. Naturally like always you could finish the exam early if you could get a pair of scrolls and make your way to the tower before the time limit. Unfortunately that was as far as I could personally watch the exam as the Hokage had been cunning and requested my presence in the political booth to represent my sensei as her disciple.-

I couldn't exactly say no either as the old man had not so subtly implied that he had promised my presence to the Daimyo of Fire who was eager to meet me apparently. As a shinobi of the leaf that meant I was all but forced to attend or risk angering the backer of the village which was definitely NOT something I wanted to do. I contemplated sending one of my mitosis clones since they are fully solid and nearly impossible to notice. The old man had cut off that plan however when he revealed one of the anbu with him to be a Hyuga.-

With a bit of unwillingness I walked into the political booth before the start of the second exam in person.

"Ah just who we were discussing! Kenzo I'd like to introduce you to Kenji Madoka-sama, the lord daimyo of the land of fire." the hokage said with a gentle smile while holding his hand out flat towards the other man with him.

The man had a long but chubby face and bland dull brown hair and eyes that rested on a blank expressioned face.

'He's so weak though?' I thought in confused as I sized the man supposedly holding the power to disband Konoha should he choose.

It was hard to equate the word power with this man at all as his body was untrained and over fed, he had pitiful amounts of chakra and he was seemingly oblivious to the fact that nearly everyone in this room besides him was a powerful killer. He reminded me of a particularly retarded panda and as a result I really couldn't wrap my mind around him being in command of anything much less an entire country.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance sir." I said with a friendly smile without letting my true thoughts slip out at all.

"I was quite surprised to hear that Tsunade-chan had taken another apprentice but after hearing about your medical skill from so many sources I feel it was a truly wise decision." the man smiled lightly and said in a slow manner that grated on my ears like nails to chalkboards.