Chapter 41

Last time:

"The Chunnin Exams have officially begun!" He exclaimed loudly.

Now:

~ Hokage's Office – Present Time ~

Minato sighed as he looked at the members of the Inuzuka clan kneeling before him. All six of them were Anbu level ninjas, proven through combat. " Minato, you can't seriously be considering this!" Jiraiya said behind him. "It's a direct violation of the guidelines set down for the Chunnin exams in EVERY hidden village!" Jiraiya yelled in an enraged tone. "I don't have a choice, sensei." Minato responded. "He might know where Naruto is!" Minato yelled.

"You ever get the feeling maybe he's happy wherever he is?" Jiraiya shot back. "If he was half dead or desperate, he might be seeking you out. If you actually wanted him back, you might have searched for him when you had the chance! The only reason you want him now is because of what he did.." Jiraiya began, but was cut off by a slap to the face from Kushina. "Don't you think we know our mistakes?!" She yelled at him. "We know what we've done, but we can't change it. All that's left is for us to try and fix them!" She finished.

"Well, what if you're caught?" Jiraiya demanded. "Kidnapping a Genin from another hidden village isn't necessarily going to go well with said village!" Jiraiya said pleadingly, trying to dissuade them from their plan of action. "They're Anbu level ninjas, he's a Genin! Not only that, this is a retrieval team, things will be fine." Minato said in an attempt to calm the toad sage. " Fine, but I want no part of this." Jiraiya said. "Sensei, please.." Minato began, but the toad sage jumped out of the window and left.

Minato sighed and looked down, contemplating what to do. "Kushina, are we doing the right thing?" He asked her, not sure of what they were really trying to accomplish. " I don't know, Minato-kun." She began as she laid a hand on his shoulder. "But we have to take this chance, even if it's just a small possibility of leading us to Naruto." She said as she kissed his cheek. Minato nodded and turned his attention back to the Anbu team in front of him.

"Your assignment is a simple grab from the Chunnin exams, a Kumo shinobi who holds vital information pertaining to the firstborn of the Namikaze clan." He began and pulled out a picture of Vee, helmet on and dressed in all black from his file. "You are to capture this Genin during the second part of the Exams in the Forest of Death." He said and passed out copies of the picture. "Make it look like he just went missing and make sure no one can track him or find a clue to where he might be." Minato warned.

"Afterwards, you are to take him to the Interrogation and Torture building where Inoichi and I will be waiting to extract all the information out of him" Minato finished. "Make sure he's alive, or there will be trouble, understood?" he asked the Anbus. None of them breathed a word. "Then move out!" Minato finished and the Inuzukas scattered. 'Hopefully, this won't hit the fan..' Minato thought as he looked to his wife with worried eyes.

"She could really use this.. any small bit of information..' He thought as he buried his face into the palms of his hands.

~ Meanwhile – With Naruto ~

Naruto groaned as he took a seat next to the girl with bubblegum pink hair. 'And here I thought I was going to get a peaceful test..' HE muttered as the girl began complaining about her 'sasuke-kun' seating next to 'ino-pig'. "Alright, listen up you little shit stains!" Ibiki began as soon as everyone was seated. "There are ten questions in every test. You have to answer all questions, each one is worth ten points." He began explaining.

"Your scores and your teams scores are graded as a cumulative, so there is a chance to get 30 points overall. If you do not answer a question, that question is deducted automatically. If you are caught cheating, two points will be automatically deducted from your test and so on until you fail." Ibiki said, making all of the Genin mutter amongst themselves. 'That makes no sense, in any other scenario you would be disqualified for cheating..' Naruto thought to himself as Ibiki began speaking again.

"In order to pass, your teams' scores must equal out to at least 18 in order to pass. There are only nine questions on the test and the tenth will be given out near the end of the test. You have one hour. Any questions?" Ibiki asked, but no one said anything. "Then you may flip your test sheets over and begin. 'Hmm… maybe they want us to cheat? Possibly to test our reconnaissance skills?' He thought to himself as he looked over the questions. 'Let's see.. A shinobi throws a kunai at an enemy from above him at a forty five degree angle..' Naruto thought as he began writing out equations.

'All right, it would hit the kneecap and embed itself two inches in, a useless shot. From a fifty six degree angle he had a shot of hitting something vital..' Naruto internally ranted as he filled the test in. "Alright, next question. Name at least two weapons which can effectively be combined with chakra natures for maximum damage.' Naruto read softly under his breath. 'A fan with wind nature chakra to create larger scale attacks and a hammer with earth nature chakra to create larger impacts and deal heavier damage.' He wrote in quietly.

'This is going to be easier than I thought.' Naruto internally thought as he began to breeze through the other questions. Within fifteen minutes, he was done. 'Guess sitting through all of Tony's lessons did pay off.' He thought until he saw a kunai flying next to his helmet. He quickly grabbed his pencil and channeled wind chakra through it, then threw it. The pencil quickly sliced through the kunai and buried it besides the head of the person who threw it. "Number 99, you're dismissed." The man said. Naruto looked to his number and saw it was 66.

He sighed and pulled out his six-shooter, emptied the bullets, and began field stripping it. He then pulled out a small cloth and began wiping it clean, catching the attention of Ibiki. 'What the hell does that guy think he's doing?' Ibiki wondered as he headed towards Vee. "What do you think you're doing, Genin? The test isn't done yet." He said in a warning voice. "But I am." He replied with a taunting grin on his face. "Is that so?" Ibiki asked as he picked up the sheet and saw all of the questions answered with scare precision and a careful eye to detail.

"What the hell is this shit?" HE demanded as he threw the paper at Naruto. "The correct answers, as opposed to your bullshit. That is what you're talking about, right?" Vee asked. Ibiki fumed at him. "What did you just say, you little shit stain?!" Ibiki demanded. " You know, I see your mouth moving and I hear sounds coming out of your mouth, but I don't speak bullshit." He said, making Ibiki get even madder.

"Listen, you and I both know that those answers are right." Naruto said as he looked at Ibiki. "So how about you save yourself the embarrassment and we just forget this happened.." Naruto finished and holstered his weapon. 'Naruto, what are you doing?' A worried Yugito internally asked herself as she saw the little exchange going on between them two rows down."Alright, pencils down!" Ibiki yelled in a deep voice, making everyone jump.

"Its time for the tenth question. Now, you may choose to take the question or skip out on it." Ibiki began. "If you chose to skip out on it, you and your team fail immediately and can try again the next time the Chunnin Exams roll around." Ibiki said as he looked at the crowd of anxious Genin. "Then why the hell would we not take it?" Was the outburst of one Hiruzen Uzumaki Namikaze. "I was just getting to that.." Ibiki said to the boy, making him sit back down.

"If you take the question and get it wrong, then not only are you disqualified from the Exams this year, but you will be prohibited from taking the Exams ever again and remain at a Genin Rank for the rest of your careers." Ibiki finished, setting off a major uproar from the gathered participants. "That's bullshit!" Some people here have taken the exams various times!" and other similar comments floated in the room. "Well, tough shit. I'm the proctor, so it's my rules! If you wish to drop out, you may raise your hands, a monitor will take your name and call you up, and you may leave." Ibiki said.

Various Genin began raising their hands, fearing remaining the same rank throughout their careers and never advancing. 'This is bad. I don't want to cause my entire team to remain Genins just because they didn't want to seem the weak ones to give up..' Omoi thought as various names of Genin who gave up were called. Omoi looked at Naruto, Karui, Samui, and Yugito. They all seemed to have contemplative looks on their faces. 'Alright, I guess I'll have to take one for the team..' Omoi reasoned to himself as the number of teams giving up started diminishing.

Even the shy girl with indigo hair sitting besides him began hesitantly raising her hand. 'I..I'm sorry guys..' Omoi thought as he slowly raised his hands. Suddenly, a loud slam brought him out of his thoughts. He turned to see the Namikaze heir looking at Ibiki with a fierce glare. "I don't care what you say! I will take this question on, because I refuse to give up to anyone! And if I'm branded a Genin for the rest of my life, then I'll get stronger than any Kage so I can fulfill my dreams!" Hiruzen shouted.

A lot of the Genin were still hesitant, despite Hiruzen's bravado. "He's right, you know." A calm voice drifted around the class and everyone turned to see Vee sitting in his chair with his feet propped up. "Lets face it, a single shinobi can be ranked Genin and still be able to take out higher levels. Look at Zabuza Momoichi. Not even an academy student and he took down the entire graduating class of Genins at the Bloody mist." Naruto said casually, making the Genin begin to whisper amongst themselves.

"What if you're stuck a Genin for the rest of your life? You willing to take that chance, brat?" Ibiki asked in a dangerous tone. "On the contrary, I welcome it." Vee replied, making everyone look at him in shock, including his own teammates. "Let's face it, Genin are often underestimated, despite the fact they are trained killers. Not only that, but they get the easy assignments and don't have a huge bounty on their heads like most Jounin level nins." Vee said, expanding on his response and showing the bright side

"Besides, look around. We are in KONOHA, not our respective villages. Do you honestly think the Tsuchikage will take orders from a shinobi under the Yondaime? Or the Raikage will take orders from an interrogator from Konoha? Hell no. So, do as you will." Vee finished and waved Ibiki off. Ibiki fumed, but looked around. Every remaining Genin had a fire in their eyes that not eve the Namikaze heir had managed to put into them.

" Anyone else want to leave?" Ibiki asked, but not a single Genin moved. 'The brats this year… one gives them guts, the other gives them reason..' Ibiki thought to himself as he turned away from them. "Then to all of you, you…pass!" Ibiki said, making half of the contestants sweat drop. "What about the last question!?" A certain pink haired banshee yelled out loud. Ibiki sighed and unwrapped his headband, showing his head full of scars and various pucker marks that looked like someone drilled a hole in them.

"This test was not meant as an actual test, but as a means to see how well you could gather information and how well you could read a situation." Ibiki said. "As you can probably tell, a lot of you were able to retrieve information and distribute it, but only one person managed to read the situation accurately, our masked friend there." Ibiki finished and pointed at Vee. "In the Shinobi world, information is just as vital as chakra or power." Ibiki said.

"It can be the difference between a job well done and a dead team mate." Samui winced and rubbed at the scar left by the Doctor from Suna. " Also, it was meant to see if you guys were willing to take the risks that come with the rank of Chunnin. Sometimes, you have to take an extremely dangerous mission because it will benefit your village." Naruto winced in his helmet, thinking the world was playing a sick joke on him. "Now.." Ibiki began, but was cut off as several smoke bombs crashed through the window and a large banner poofed out of nowhere