11 ch 10

Chapter 10: The chunin Exams: Round 1

Finally, the day came for the chunin exams.

"Hey, Hinata!" Naruto shouted, coming to the gate o the academy. The poor girl began to turn red, like normal when Naruto expectantly appeared. "Are you here for the exams too?"

"Y-yes, I-I am" Hinata managed to get out.

"Naruto!" Sakura called out for him, across the academy courtyard.

"Oh, sorry Hinata, but it looks like my team is here" Naruto said.

"I-it's okay, I-I think I s-see my t-team coming as well" the shy girl said, trying to hide herself from her crush.

"Good luck. I know you will do great" Naruto said as he ran off to join the rest of his team.

"He thinks I will do great?" Hinata thought to herself. "If Naruto thinks I can do it, then I will surely try my best". The truth is that Sakura wasn't the only one doubting her entrance into the exam. Hinata was also questioning why she was there, coming to the conclusion that her team really wanted to take the exam and they needed a third member. Because of that, she decided to join so that they could participate, but if Naruto thought she could do it, then she would do her best.

Team 7 arrived to a mass of people standing in front of a door with the room number 301 above it. Two ninja were guarding the door, preventing anyone from getting through. They then looked at Lee, the kid in the green spandex suit, trying to force his way through, only to get shoved back by the guards. After his teammates picked him up, Lee turned and looked at the four rookies that were staring at him.

"Why don't you just release the genjutsu and let us all pass" Sasuke said to the guards at the door. The two were actually impressed that a genin, not to mention a rookie, would figure out their little trick. As Team 7 proceeded to the proper floor, Lee quickly followed.

"You are Sasuke Uchiha, am I correct?" Lee said to Sasuke.

"I am what of it?" Sasuke responded.

"I wish to challenge you. I wish to test my skills against the offspring of the powerful Uchiha" Lee said. He then winked at Sakura. "You are an angel; I wish to take you out on a date."

"Eew, never!" Sakura said as she bent backwards to avoid Lee's kiss that he had blown towards her, hitting her head against the ground in the process.

"Frankly, you're a fool, thinking you can challenge me" Sasuke replied to Lee's challenge. "You're about to learn what this name means, thick brows."

"Finally, I will get to test my skills against the #1 rookie and Gai-sensei will be proud of me" Lee thought to himself. Naruto charged at Lee, thinking that he will take down this guy and show Sasuke his true skills. Lee easily sidestepped Naruto's attack and retaliated with a kick of his own, sending Naruto into the opposing wall. "I will say this again, you cannot defeat me."

Inside Naruto, the Fox was laughing at him for what had just happened.

"Hmph, this might actually be fun" Sasuke said, realizing that Lee was actually strong. With that, Sasuke attacked Lee. Lee quickly dodged and kicked back at Sasuke. He could not evade the attack and had to resort to blocking the attack. As Lee made a quick hand sign, Sasuke braced himself for some sort of ninjutsu, only to be hit in the stomach by a second kick. 'What sort of ninjutsu or genjutsu was that?' Sasuke thought.

"That's…" Lee said, looking into Sasuke's eyes. "The Sharingan."

Sasuke charged at Lee, thinking that he would use his eyes to reveal what type of ninjutsu or genjutsu Lee was using.

"Eee. Sasuke is getting stronger and stronger!" Sakura squealed. At that moment, Sasuke go kicked upside the chin by Lee. "! H-he hit Sasuke?! L-like it was no-nothing?!"

"What?! The Sharingan couldn't read that?" Sasuke said in a bit of pain.

"Yes, my techniques are neither ninjutsu nor genjutsu" Lee stated. "Shadow Leaf Dance!" Lee appeared behind Sasuke, who was still mid-air. "Yes Sasuke, my techniques are simply taijutsu. They say the Sharingan can read all sorts of nin, gen, and taijutsu. It is true that you get the advantage in a nin and genjutsu battle by reading and copying your opponent's hand seals, but a taijutsu battle is different."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.

"Even if you can read my movements, if your body can't move, then it's useless." Lee stated, unwrapping the bandages on his arm. "Do you know that amongst strong ninjas, there are two types; the genius and the hard working types. You are the genius and I am the hardworking type, having mastered only taijutsu. And with this technique, I'll prove that hard work surpasses genius."

Out of the corner of his eyes, Lee saw a kunai fly past him with a green cloth attached to it. He stopped his technique, knowing that the fight was now over.

"That's enough Lee" a turtle said, appearing in the room. As Sasuke was falling to the ground, Sakura caught him, saving him from a dangerous position that Sasuke had not even bothered recovering from. Looking at him, she saw that Sasuke was shaken with the battle. The turtle spoke again as everyone watched. "Lee, that technique is forbidden."

"What?! That turtle can talk?" Naruto shouted out as Sakura knocked him over the head. While the turtle was scolding Lee, a man that appeared to be an older replica of Lee appeared on top of the turtle. Team 7 almost passed out, disgusted at the resemblance. They had seen this man once before at Haku and Zabuza's hearing, but they never noticed the creepy resemblance until now.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee called out. Gai punched Lee in the face, probably as punishment for disobeying him. The two 'clones' then proceeded to do something that would leave Team 7 traumatized for a few months.

"LEE!" Gai called out.

"GAI-sensei!" Lee responded.

With that, the two hugged, creating an ocean sunset in the background. Being a thousand year old demon, Kurama had seen some pretty disturbing things, but this ranked right up there.

"I am sorry sensei. For that, I will do 1000 laps around the village after the exam" Lee said.

"Is that even possible?" Sakura whispered to her team. Gai turned to the four of them.

"Hey guys, how is Kakashi doing?" Gai asked, winking and giving them a creepy smile.

"How do you know Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"People refer to us as, eternal rivals" Gai said. Lee took another look at the group of Kakashi's students, his attention focused to Haku.

"You look just as lovely as the beautiful Sakura, may I ask you on a date instead?" Lee said to Haku, only to make the rest of Team 7 nearly throw up.

"You do realize I am a boy, don't you? I thought I made that clear when I first came to the village" Haku responded to Lee, whose world was now shattered.

Naruto made a mention to Sasuke that Lee must have trained extremely hard, every day after catching a glimpse of his hand and seeing the scars. This only made Sasuke smile. "Sounds like this is going to be a fun chunin exam."

Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and Haku stepped into room 301, only to find about 200 ninja from various villages, including their own. Out of the ninja in the room, a particular blonde-haired kunoichi that Sakura knew all too well lashed her arms around Sasuke. "Oh Sasuke, you're late" Ino said, blushing and smiling.

"Get away from Sasuke, Ino-pig!" Sakura shouted as Naruto and Haku tried to get out of the way of the incoming cat fight. Looking around, Naruto quickly noticed Teams 8 and 10. The entire rookie 9 was here. Then the 9 noticed a grey-haired ninja who introduced himself as Kabuto. "Hey you guys, quiet down. The last thing you want is to cause a scene" Kabuto told the rookies. "Although, I can't blame you. I remember how I was when I was a rookie."

"So you've taken this test before?" Sakura asked the newcomer.

"Actually, this is my seventh time, since the exam is held twice a year" Kabuto bragged.

"Wow, so you must know a lot about these exams" Sakura said.

"Yep. I'll even share some of my info with you, using the nin-cards" Kabut said, whipping out a deck of cards. "Is there anyone you want information on?"

"How about, Gaara of the Desert and Rock Lee of the Hidden Leaf" Sasuke said, getting in on the action.

"Hmm, let's see. Rock Lee. He's a year older than you and has completed 20 D-ranks and 12 C-ranks. His specialty is in taijutsu with his nin and genjutsu being weak, if not non-existent. This is his first time taking the exams. On his team are Neji Huyga and Tenten" Kabuto read off. "Now Gaara. 8 C-ranks and wow, a B-rank mission. Since he's a new comer, I don't have much information on him, but it looks like he has returned from all his missions without even a single scratch." Kabuto then explained that the top genins from the Leaf, Sand, Sound, Grass, Waterfall, and Cloud were here. This wasn't going to be an easy exam. Sakura could see that even Naruto was getting nervous. However, nerves work differently with Naruto.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I won't lose to any of you bastards!" the blonde haired genin shouted out, effectively challenging anyone who heard him. Kakashi, who was standing outside the room, heard his student and just smiled, figuring it was about time Naruto did something stupid.

Suddenly, a trio of sound ninja jumped out of the crowd and attacked Kabuto. He easily dodges the fist, but was soon hit by another force. As the fight started to escalate, there was a large puff of smoke in the front of the room. "Quiet down you worthless bastards!" the new ninja said as the smoke dissipated. Behind him stood a few dozen chinun. The man wore a long black trench coat with a Leaf bandanna. He had a few scars on his face. Most of the Leaf ninja knew him as Ibiki, torture and interrogation specialist. "I am Ibiki Morino, the proctor for the first exam. Take your seats now before I decide to start failing people."

No body doubted him and suddenly, order was brought back to the room. Ibiki started handing out the tests as Naruto realized that this was a paper test. He was doomed to begin with.

"N-Naruto, let's do our best, ok?" Hinata said, who was assigned a seat next to Naruto.

"Now, I will explain the rules. Questions will not be allowed. Ibiki said as he began to write on the board. "The first rule is that you will start off with 10 points. The test is made up of 10 questions and each question is worth a point. For every question you get wrong, you lose a point. The second rule is that this is a team test. Your entire team will pass or fail based on a combined score of your team." Everyone on Team 7 knew what this meant. They would be pulling Naruto's dead weight. "Now, the third rule is that every time you are caught cheating, you will lose two points. If you are caught 5 times, your entire team fails. The last rule is that those who lose all their points and those who don't answer any questions correctly, will automatically fail their entire team."

Naruto suddenly felt a wave of killing intent directed towards him as the Fox began cracking up.

"Hey, quiet down in there" Naruto said to the demon. "Unless you are trying to help".

"Nope, you're on your own for this one, kit" Kurama responded, trying to contain his laughter at Naruto's misfortune.

"Alright, begin!" Ibiki announce. The entire room started on the exam, soon realizing it to contain some extremely difficult questions. Sakura, Sasuke, and Haku already turned to look towards Naruto, who was already freaking out. Sakura took a look at the question and realized that she could answer them, although most people in the room probably didn't have the experience or intelligence to do so.

Naruto was really freaking out, realizing that the last question would be given 15 minutes prior to the end of the exam and that he couldn't answer any of these questions. Hinata, who had been assigned the seat next to Naruto, couldn't help but worry about him.

On the other side of the room, Sasuke, Sakura, and Haku were beginning to understand the true meaning for the test. Due to the difficulty of the test and the presence of the coordinators, it was almost as if they were encouraging cheating. "I see, this is a test to see how well we can gather information by using our skills without getting caught" Sasuke thought to himself. Suddenly, Sasuke saw a mirror of ice form beneath him on the ground. In it he was a hand writing on a piece of paper, the message was pretty clear. "Don't worry about Naruto, I will help him out. -Haku" The message read. Sasuke grinned at what Haku was telling him.

All around the room, the people who were realizing the objective of this test began to make their move. Shino had released his insects to gather information while Akamaru was being a look out on Kiba's head and giving him the correct answers. Neji had activated his Byakugan, giving him the ability to see through anyone and look at any test in the room. Hinata was doing the same as her cousin. Sasuke had activated his Sharingan and began copying the movements of someone who looked like they knew what they were doing. Sakura, on the other hand, had the intelligence to solve the questions on her own.

As Hinata saw Naruto was panicking, she decided offering him her test so that he may have a chance to pass. However, a kunai passed by their heads, just missing them. "Number 64, you are out. Your team, numbers 21 and 82 are also disqualified" Ibiki said, startling most of the other takers. After that, more and more genin began to fall victim to the test. After seeing that display, Naruto denied Hinata's help even after she mentioned to him that she didn't want him to fail. However, Naruto was not willing to let Hinata get in trouble for him.

As Naruto began to start freaking out, he soon felt a chilling sensation around his feet. He looked down to see his feet on top of a sheet of ice. He soon saw Haku's reflection, which disappeared to reveal a message. "This test is meant to test your information gathering skills. You are encouraged to cheat. However, you don't have any skills that will be of use for this test, but I do. Just copy the answers that appear on this mirror. I have also been keeping eyes on the proctors to see who has marks and who doesn't. I have not gotten any and neither have you, so we should be fine doing this. –Haku" Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as even he began to write stuff down on the exam. Sasuke took a look at Naruto and saw his teammate get to work. Thanks to Haku, they were going to be just fine.

"Alright, time's up" Ibiki announced. "Now for the tenth question." By the time Ibiki stopped the clock, only about 120 of 200 chunin candidate remained.

Everyone who remained looked at Ibiki in anticipation. "Now, for the tenth question, there are a few special rules. First, you must decide whether or not you will take it."

"What do you mean choose?" Temari asked. "What happens if we chose not to?"

"If you chose not to take it, your points will be reduced to zero and your team will fail" Ibiki explained.

"What does that mean? Of course we will take it then!" another test taker stated.

"If you choose to take the tenth question and answer incorrectly, then you will be banned from ever taking the chunin selection exams ever again" Ibiki said, silencing everyone in the room.

"What is up with that stupid rule, there are people in here who have taken this exam before!" Kiba said as Akamaru barked along with him.

"Hehe. You guys were unlucky that I'm the proctor this year. My test, my rules" Ibiki said.

"Hehe, I actually kind of like this guy. Any chance he has room for me inside his head?" Kurama said jokingly.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean, you stupid fox?!" Naruto thought to the Fox, only making him laugh harder.

"However, I will give you a way out. You can choose not to take it and try again next year if you are not confident." Ibiki sent an evil glare to the chunin candidates. "Now, those of you who do not wish to take it, put your hand up and wait for your number to be called. Then you and your team may leave."

All around the room, people were thinking on what to do. "What do I do? If I fail, I'll be stuck an eternal genin, but if I don't take it, I'm sure Sakura and Sasuke would never forgive me" Naruto thought to himself.

"I won't take it" a leaf ninja said, standing up. He and his team were immediately escorted out of the room. Over the next five minutes, a total of 30 more opted out, leaving 91 genin remaining.

Naruto raised his hand, much to the rookie 9's shock. Then he proceeded to slam it down on his desk as he stood up, a look of determination in his face. "Don't underestimate me! I will not run! I will take the question, even if I'm stuck to be a genin forever!" he declared. "I'll will myself to become Hokage anyways, I don't care if I fail anyways!"

"Hehe, I'll give you all one last chance to back out. Your life is riding on this decision" Ibiki said, casting one more wave of fear into the genin. However, Naruto had managed to inspire the entire room.

"Hmm, that is an interesting kid" a voice said inside a blonde Kumo kunoichi's head. "Why do I feel like I know him from somewhere?"

"I've seen that stubbornness before. I've seen it many times from Master Bee" the Kunoichi thought back to the voice. "We'll have to be sure to find him in the second stage of the test and see what's so interesting about him."

"Hmm, I always like a good game of cat and mouse."

"That's because you are a cat" the kunoichi thought back.

"Heh, no one else? Alright then, good decision. You all pass the first exam!" Ibiki announced to the room, shocking most of them. "I congratulate the 91 of you, the 30 teams that pass."

"WHAT?!" erupted from all over the room.

"What do you mean we pass? What about the 10th question?" Sakura asked, now confused.

Ibiki let out a rare smile. "You could say that your choice was the 10th question."

"Then what was the point of this entire test?" Temari asked, being the second hot-headed kunoichi to lash out.

"They were not pointless. The first 9 questions already served their purpose to test your information gathering skills." Ibiki explained. "This test was designed to put pressure on the entire team as each member would have to not mess it up for their team. However, the questions on this test were much too difficult for most genin to answer alone, so everyone came up to the same conclusion….you would have to cheat to score. This test was designed to make you cheat, but in order to pass, you could not get caught."

A few of the candidates got the purpose right away. "Now, mixed into the group were a few chunin who had already taken this exam and knew the answers. This was to help you guys out and to give you accurate information. This is because…" Ibiki said, removing his bandana, only revealing a bunch of scars covering his entire head. "Sometimes, information is more important that life, and on the battlefield people give their lives to acquire such information."

Everyone saw the scars and screw holes on Ibiki's head and cringed a little at the image.

"If the enemy notices you, there is no guarantee the information you obtain will be accurate" Ibiki stated. "Remember this as accurate information can be a powerful weapon for you and your comrades. This is why we had you gather information through cheating. This clearly separated those who did and did not have the right abilities."

"Wait, then what about the 10th question?" Temari asked.

"Ah, but the tenth question is the true purpose of this test. The 'take it' or 'not take it' decision" Ibiki paused momentarily. "Let's say you become chunin and your mission is to steal an important enemy document. You don't know the number or skill of the enemy. Do you accept the mission? Because you don't want to die…Because you don't want your comrades hurt? Can you avoid this dangerous mission? The answer is NO!"

Ibiki let out a slight grin. "Those who aren't willing to put their lives on the line. Those who cling to the uncertain future of 'there is always next year', and then walk away from their chance. Those pieces of trash who can only make cowardly choices, don't deserve the right to become chunin. That's how I feel!" Ibiki said. "You have made it through the entrance of the first test, I wish you guys luck."

"Hell yeah!" Naruto shouted out.

"Hmm, he's an interesting one alright" Ibiki thought to himself. Suddenly, a black bundle came crashing through the window and a black poster was unraveled on the back wall. Out of the bundle crawled a lady with short purple hair in a ponytail and a mesh shirt underneath her jacket.

"This is no time to be celebrating. It is now time for the second test. I am Anko Mitarashi, the proctor. Now, follow me!" Anko said as Ibiki face palmed himself repeatedly.

"This one is almost Naruto-ish" Sakura thought to herself.

"Wow, 91. Ibiki, you're getting soft. The test was way too easy." Anko said to Ibiki.

"Heh, there are a lot of outstanding ones in this batch" Ibiki said.

"Bah, that's fine" Anko said. "I'll cut them at least in half by the time I'm done with them. Now I'm getting excited. I'll explain everything once we change places."