42. Accidental Motivation

(Guys, Give me your Powerstones, We are very close to Reaching the Top 30, We are 31st Position at the moment, so Don't hold back)

His next target: a Konoha Genin sitting a few rows ahead.

The invisible clone worked its genjutsu magic once more, and suddenly...

"DJ, DROP THAT BEAT!" the Konoha ninja shouted, pulling a full-sized disco ball out of his weapons pouch (which, by all laws of physics, should have been impossible, But Fuinjutsu didn't care whether Physics followeded or not).

His teammate, caught in the same genjutsu, immediately began beat-boxing, creating a surprisingly catchy rhythm.

The disco ninja leapt from desk to desk, scattering more test papers and sending pencils flying. He spun the disco ball above his head, somehow activating it so that it showered the room in sparkles of light.

"How's the beat, Konoha?!" he yelled, body-rolling across a desk. "Let's see you get down with your bad selves!"

Several of the more stressed-out Genin, perhaps driven to the brink by the pressure of the exam and the sheer absurdity of the situation, actually began to dance. A Kusa ninja started doing the robot, a Taki kunoichi broke out some impressive breakdancing moves, and even a stoic Hyuga was seen tapping his foot to the beat.

The proctors, at this point, seemed to have given up on maintaining order. The head proctor sat heavily in his chair, muttering something about retiring and opening a nice, quiet tea shop.

Sora, meanwhile, was having the time of his life. He bobbed his head to the beat, maintaining his innocent façade while inwardly howling with laughter.

Hanabi leaned over to him, her voice a furious whisper. "Sora, I know this is you. What in the world are you doing?!"

Sora gave her his best 'who, me?' expression. "I have no idea what you're talking about, dear teammate. I'm just as shocked as you are by these strange occurrences."

Hanabi's eye twitched dangerously. "When this is over, you and I are going to have a long talk about the definition of 'low profile'."

As the disco ninja and his beatboxing buddy were escorted out (the disco ball was confiscated, much to everyone's disappointment), a tense silence fell over the room. The remaining Genin eyed each other warily as if expecting their neighbour to suddenly break out into song or turn into a farm animal.

The head proctor, having regained some of his composure, stood up. "Alright, listen up you little troublemakers! I don't know what's going on here, but the next person to so much as sneeze funny is getting disqualified, along with their entire village's teams! Do I make myself clear?!"

A chorus of nervous "Yes, sir!" echoed through the room.

Sora, deciding he had caused enough chaos for now, settled back into his seat with a satisfied smirk. He had successfully thinned out the competition and thrown the entire exam into disarray. Plus, he had provided himself with prime entertainment for years to come. All in all, a successful morning's work.

As the remaining time ticked away, Sora found himself actually looking forward to the tenth question. Whatever it was, he was sure he could handle it. After all, how hard could it be compared to maintaining a straight face while orchestrating the most ridiculous Chunin Exam in Konoha history?

As the clock ticked down to the final minutes, tension in the room reached a fever pitch. The remaining Genin, still rattled by the bizarre events of the past hour, fidgeted nervously in their seats. Some cast suspicious glances at their neighbours as if expecting them to suddenly burst into flames or turn into a potted plant.

Sora, for his part, was the picture of calm. He leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head, looking for all the world like he was on a relaxing vacation rather than in the middle of a high-stakes exam. Hanabi, next to him, looked like she was seriously considering using her Gentle Fist to knock some sense into her troublemaking friend.

Finally, the head proctor cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention. "Alright, listen up, you brats. It's time for the tenth question. But before I give it to you, there are some special rules you need to be aware of."

The room fell into an uneasy silence as the proctor continued.

"First, you must choose whether or not to take this question. If you choose not to take it, you'll fail the exam immediately, along with your teammates."

Murmurs of confusion and concern rippled through the room.

"However," the proctor's voice cut through the whispers, "if you choose to take the question and answer incorrectly, you will be barred from ever taking the Chunin Exam again. You'll remain a Genin for the rest of your life."

The murmurs turned into outright exclamations of shock and protest.

"That's not fair!" one Genin shouted.

"You can't do that!" another added.

The proctor's stern gaze silenced them. "Those are the rules. If you're not confident, you should quit now. The choice is yours."

As the implications of this ultimatum sank in, several teams began to raise their hands, choosing to withdraw rather than risk their future careers.

Sora, however, was having none of it. He stood up abruptly, slamming his hands on the desk. "Oh, come on!" he shouted, drawing all eyes to him. "Is that the best you've got?"

The proctor's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Sora continued, warming to his theme. "We're ninja, for crying out loud! We face life-or-death situations all the time. If we're going to chicken out over one lousy question, we might as well hang up our headbands and open a ramen stand!"

A ripple of uncertain laughter went through the room. The proctor's eye twitched slightly.

"Besides," Sora went on, really getting into it now, "who's going to enforce this 'never take the exam again' rule, huh? Are you going to follow us around for the rest of our lives? Set up checkpoints at every village gate? 'Sorry, can't let you in. Says here you flunked a quiz one time!'"

More laughter now, and a few nods of agreement.

"And another thing," Sora was on a roll now, gesticulating wildly, "what kind of messed-up education system do we have where one test question can determine your entire future? I mean, I could understand if it was a really hard question, like 'What's the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?' or 'Why did Madara Uchiha really leave the village? Wrong answers only.' But this? This is just silly!"

By now, the entire room was in stitches. Even some of the proctors were struggling to maintain their stern expressions.

"So you know what?" Sora concluded, striking a dramatic pose. "Bring it on! Give us your worst! We'll take that question and we'll ace it so hard, you'll have to invent a new rank just for us! Who's with me?!"

A cheer went up from the assembled Genin. Those who had been about to quit lowered their hands, new determination shining in their eyes.

The head proctor stared at Sora for a long moment, his expression unreadable. Then, to everyone's surprise, he burst out laughing.

"Well," he said, wiping a tear from his eye, "I think we can safely say you've all passed the first test."

A stunned silence fell over the room.

"What?" several voices chorused.

The proctor grinned. "The tenth question was whether or not you had the courage to face an unknown challenge. As Chunin, you'll often be faced with difficult decisions where the stakes are high and the outcome uncertain. Those who crumble under that pressure have no place in our ranks."

He nodded towards Sora. "And you, loudmouth, just demonstrated the kind of spirit and leadership we're looking for in a Chunin. Well done."

Sora bowed with a flourish. "Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week. Try the veal!"

As the room erupted into cheers and sighs of relief, Hanabi leaned over to Sora. "I can't believe that actually worked," she whispered.

Sora grinned. "Never underestimate the power of complete and utter bullshit, my dear Hanabi. It's gotten me this far in life!"

Before Hanabi could respond, a new voice cut through the celebratory atmosphere.

"Alright, maggots! If you're done patting yourselves on the back, it's time for the second phase of the exam!"

All eyes turned to see a fierce-looking woman with spiky purple hair standing in the now-shattered window. She grinned maniacally at the startled Genin.

"The name's Anko Mitarashi and I'll be your proctor for the next stage. Hope you're ready for some real fun!"

As Anko began detailing the horrors that awaited them in the Forest of Death, Sora couldn't help but feel a thrill of excitement. He caught Hanabi's eye and winked.

'Phase one complete,' he thought. 'Now the real challenge begins!'

Little did he know, his antics had caught the attention of more than just the proctors. High above in the Hokage's tower, Hiruzen Sarutobi chuckled as he watched the proceedings through his crystal ball.

"Well, well," he mused, puffing on his pipe. "It seems our young troublemaker is full of surprises. This should be very interesting indeed."

As the Genin filed out of the room, following a gleefully sadistic Anko, the Third Hokage made a mental note to keep a close eye on the upcoming Forest of Death challenge. With Sora involved, there was no telling what kind of chaos might unfold.

The stage was set for the next phase of the Chunin Exams, and if the written test was any indication, it was going to be an exam unlike any other in Konoha's history.

"Oh, by the way," Sora suddenly whispered to Hanabi whose attention was now on the Former's words, they were walking towards the site of the next phase of the exam.

"I said all that during the Tenth Question to make people be genins their entire life, this way we would have very little competition in the Next Chunin exams, Didn't want to accidentally help them," Sora said, Disappointed in his voice clear.

Hanabi was speechless hearing this and just stared at Sora throughout their walk to the Forest of Death.

Even Sora's Silent Clone was flabbergasted by what Original's intention was.

***

Second Bonus Chapter for 200 Powerstones