Chapter 30: The Survival Exam

Everyone's eyes widened, they were surprised and also confused.

Ibiki, repeatedly approved of everyone who had stayed in the room.

At that, Toru's eyes narrowed. Even he didn't expect something like that.

(So that's what it was all about)

Toru knew that the exam was centered on information gathering, but the latter he didn't see coming.

"Wait a sec. What do you mean we passed, where's the tenth question?" Sakura stood up from her seat and looked at sensei as he spoke.

But Ibiki only burst out laughing before answering.

"Hahaha, there is no such thing as the tenth question, at least not written. In fact, your decision to stay was the answer to the tenth question" With a smile on his face, Ibiki spoke.

(Hm... basically, it was all a mind game. I'm surprised. It even makes me want to laugh...) With the flattest expression in the world, Toru thought.

"Seriously, so the other nine questions only served to waste our time?" Said the girl with the giant fan as she stood up from her seat.

At this, Ibiki sighed before answering.

"It's quite the opposite. Those nine questions served a very important purpose in this exam."

Ibiki crossed his arms and continued speaking.

"That objective was the gathering of information in the least favorable situations."

"Ah... well, that explains a lot" The fan girl sighed as she sat back down.

"I'll explain it simply. My main goal was to test both their individual work and their teamwork. Basically, I wanted them to keep an eye on each other. That's why I set that rule, if one got a zero, the whole team would be eliminated from the Chunin exams."

Ibiki looked at the ninjas in front of him before continuing with the explanation.

"The high difficulty of the exam is done on purpose. That's why everyone was forced to use trickery to get the answers to the questions on the exam sheet. Of course, none of you would have been able to answer the questions if it wasn't for the two Chunin infiltrators among you" Ibiki said while looking at two specific people.

Those people raised their hands with a smile on their face.

"Hahaha, I knew it. No one can fool me, I knew it from the beginning" With a nervous laugh, Naruto spoke.

(It's obvious that he had no idea about anything) Sasuke thought as he looked at Naruto.

"This exam was very difficult for you guys, I can tell that just by looking at your faces. Information gathering is an important thing in the shinobi world. But, it's better to be uninformed than to have wrong information."

Ibiki sighed and crossed his arms.

"A single mistake can lead them to death, I'm sure a few have been able to experience it first hand."

(What he said is true. During the research mission, our team is almost wiped out due to lack of information. In a way, no information is better than being misinformed).

"As Konoha ninja that we are, we have to give our all for our village. There will be many moments when we will have to make difficult decisions."

Ibiki brought his hands to his head, removing the protector covering him.

Everyone's eyes widened in surprise.

That man had several types of scars on his head. Burns, cuts, blows, among others.

That showed that the life of a ninja was not easy, you always had to sacrifice something to keep something.

That is something that stayed in the minds of most of the ninjas in that room.

"Now, having said that. I wish you the best of luck during this exam. You've passed, that's something I can't deny, but... you won't just have this exam, so show why it was that you passed the written exam. And... try your hardest to achieve your dreams."

A slight smile was on the man's face.

This made everyone in the room feel calm and happy that they had passed.

But this was only the beginning, because...

"Okay, I've finished my speech, so you can-"

Ibiki fell silent as a bundle of cloth appeared in front of him.

That bundle circled all over the place, throwing four kunais in different directions.

(Seriously, it always does these things) With a tired face, Ibiki sighed, after all he knew the identity of the person behind it all.

"Hello worms, are you ready for the next exam!"

As a woman's voice was heard, the bundle of cloth opened, revealing a woman with blue-black hair. Her eyes were brown and she had two large boobs that bounced as she emerged from between the maw of the savannah.

"Anko, it's not your turn yet" Ibiki said.

This made Anko's face turn a pale red color due to the embarrassment of the moment.

"Yes, I know" Anko said.

"You should have waited a bit, I was just finishing up. Well, it's not like you're going to listen to me, after all you're such an idiot."

"Hey! Well..." Anko gave up and looked at the ninjas sitting on the benches.

"There's a lot of them, huh... You seem to be mellowing out, Ibiki."

"Hmph, it's quite the opposite. There seem to be very capable ninjas this year" Ibiki said, making Anko sigh.

"Well, whatever you say."

After that talk, Anko stepped forward and with a smile on her mouth said:

"Listen, scumbags. Everything you had to go through today was just child's play compared to what I'm going to do to you."

Crossing her arms and making her breasts look bigger, Anko grinned mischievously as she looked at the Konoha rookies.

(It was to be expected...) Toru dropped her hands on the table as a sigh came out of her mouth.

True, the written exam was only the beginning, but still, everything Anko said left hints of what the next exam would be like.

"So, I'll see you tomorrow morning, I'll give you all the details you need on the same day. And... I hope you don't die."

After saying that, Anko left the place causing the same commotion as when she arrived.

Everyone was silent at Anko's strange personality, but after a few seconds everything normalized.

-Hours later-

On top of the monument of the four Hokages, stood Toru.

He was eating a sweet bread while looking at the scenery of the village.

(Hm... again...)

Toru pouted as he bit into the sweet bread.

At that moment, the Asahi clan boy was trying to relax, but due to the various sudden images appearing in his mind, something like being relaxed was impossible.

(What is all this? I can't figure it out).

Toru touched his head painfully. Each image seemed to be a split second in someone's life.

But that was what Toru didn't understand.

(It's becoming more and more frequent. No matter what I do, it keeps happening).

Toru sighed and threw a piece of bread into his throat.

(Who is that person? Why does he appear in my mind?)

Trying to search for an explanation in the images that had remained in his mind, Toru took another bite of bread and sighed.

(Brown hair, square glasses, lab coat and this feeling of guilt).

Toru looked at his hands and once again, images of a sea of blood came to his mind with a great pain and a feeling of dizziness.

"Blood..."

When the pain subsided, Toru remembered the day of his confrontation against Yasu.

The blood on his hands, the voice in his head, the image of that man and the dream of that child.

Nothing made sense, and this made Toru uncomfortable.

(I killed a person... I wonder if I left a wound in my mind?)

Toru took a deep breath as he thought.

True, he had killed a person, but after that he didn't feel anything out of the ordinary.

Although something like that is easy to explain, Toru was already upset from the day he saw his mother's lifeless body.

From that moment on, Toru's way of thinking had completely changed. He became colder, quieter and the empathy he once had was now nil.

He knew he had a serious problem, but those images, sensations and voices he heard in his mind were changing Toru.

He... felt like a different person, but still, he wanted to believe he was something different.

(Everything is so familiar...)

Toru looked up at the sky with an emotionless face.

He felt like garbage, every time he tried to look for an answer to those strange images of people he didn't know, a feeling of guilt flooded his heart and all he could see... was blood.

(I should go to sleep...)

Toru sighed and cleared all the thoughts in his mind, a second later, his body flashed before disappearing into the darkness of the night.

-The next day at Ino's house...

The sound of the alarm clock echoed in the place.

"Shut up already!"

Ino slammed the clock, which made a metallic noise as it hit the floor due to the force of the blow.

(What time is it?)

She rubbed her eyes as a yawn escaped her lips.

It was still a full hour before the next exam would start, but Ino decided she should get up earlier so she wouldn't be late.

"Aah... Toru..."

Ino's eyes instantly widened at the mention of the Asahi clan boy's name.

Followed by that, Ino's face was as red as a tomato, plus she was now hitting the innocent teddy bear lying on her bed.

After a few seconds, the bear seemed to say 'Kill me already' but still, Ino showed no mercy.

(Why do I always have to think about that jerk?)

Red-faced with embarrassment, Ino got out of bed and headed for the shower.

After a few minutes, Ino was fully prepared for the Chunin exams.

"Well, I don't have to mess this up. I'm sure Toru will try to do something weird to me if he messed everything up during the exam" Giving herself encouragement, Ino left the house with a serious expression on her face.

-Forest of Death

The bustle of people could be heard a kilometer away, after all, the next Chunin exam was about to begin.

In the place, there were different types of ninjas, among all of them stood out eleven ninjas, after all they were known as 'The eleven rookies'.

"Come on, let's get this thing started already!" The voice of a girl whose name is Onikuma Enko echoed in the place.

After seeing that, Kiba just made a poker face to hide his embarrassment.

"Enko, shut up" Kiba said, but the girl only felt offended by Kiba's words, so she wrapped her arms around the boy's neck.

"Why are you so boring? No girl is going to fall in love with you if you act like a fool" Enko said while hugging Kiba's neck.

"I'm not interested in such things."

"Really?"

"Calm down you two, you can do your lovey-dovey stuff when the exams are over" Shino said, making Enko and Kiba's face turn a fiery red.

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"He's not my boyfriend!"

Kiba and Enko reacted nervously, to which Shino could only sigh and ignore his teammates.

Meanwhile, Toru, Ino and Hinata had just arrived on the scene.

"Aren't there more people than yesterday?" Ino asked.

"Yes, I noticed that too" Toru answered right away, this surprised Ino and Hinata.

(He's acting different...) Hinata thought as she looked at Toru's back.

Ino noticed this too, but decided not to talk about it.

"Everyone, gather around. We'll start the exam shortly" With a smile on her mouth, Anko spoke, at the same time, all the participants started to gather.

"Okay, now that everyone is together, how about we start with the rules?"

Anko crossed her arms and began her explanation.

"This test is a survival test, so if you die it won't be my fault."

Anko smiled mischievously as her gaze turned sadistic.