Chapter 16 First stage

The day of the chunin exam had finally arrived. The four of them arrived at the location. There, Naruto and the others met with some of their people in their class. As well as several others. In this chunin exam, there many other ninjas there that were from other villages. There were two people who caught Arata's eyes. It wasn't their strength, but their looks.

One was a girl with a light blue eyes and long blonde hair that was put in a pony tail with a long bang that almost covered a part of her face. Arata thought that she looked really beautiful from seeing her interaction with Sakura and the others, he noticed that she was quite a bold and assertive person. She wore purple clothing with white long sleeves. Just by eaves dropping a little but, he knew that she had a crush on Sasuke and had a small rivalry going on with Sakura over him. From their conversation, he found that her name was Ino Yamanaka.

Another girl that caught his eye was a girl with short black hair at the back with longer hairstyle near the side of her face. She had white pure eyes which made her look innocent and kind. He had tried to interact with her, but found that she was really shy and introverted. As he continued to observe her, he noticed that most of her attention was on Naruto. As Arata saw that, he knew right away that she had a crush on Naruto. He also noticed that Naruto had no clue whatsoever about her feelings and thought that she was weird. Naruto keep saying that he is in love with Sakura, but doesn't even recognize that someone else had a big crush on him. She introduced herself as Hinata Hyuna.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were having conversations with a few other people that they had went to the academy with. It was one of the first time ever that he felt left out in any situation. Suddenly another boy who had similar characteristics of Hinata but from what Arata could tell, he was a lot stronger. There were also two people behind him.

???: " Hey, you must be the sudden recruitment that joined Kakashi Sensei's team. My name is Neji Hyuga.

Arata: " Neji Hyuga? Nice to meet you. I am Arata Senju. Is there a reason why you came and talk to me?"

Neji: " Nothing much, I just found it interesting how Hokage himself approved of having you join a squad so suddenly. The tradition of a 3-man squad has been there for so long. The sudden recruitment has caught my attention. These are my teammates, Rock Lee, and Tenten."

Arata: " Nice to meet you all."

After this introduction, this caught the eye of the other classmates. Neji was well known as the number 1 genius among the genin. After their introduction, the other classmates chimed in and introduced themselves. As it was their first time meeting Arata, they all asked a few questions about Arata's likes and dislikes.

'poof' Just as they were getting to know each other, A tall man with scars on his face and several other ninjas showed up.

Ibiki: " It's time to start. I am Ibiki Morino, your proctor. From this moment, your worst enemy. I'll say this once, so listen up. There will be no combat between candidates. No attacking each other without the permission of your proctor. And even then, the use of fatal force is strictly prohibited. Anyone who even thinks of messing with me will be disqualified immediately. Got it? Now, if we're ready, we'll proceed to the first stage of the chunin exam. hand over your paperwork. In return, you'll each be given a number. This number determines where you will sit. We'll start the written test once you're all seated.

Naruto: " The what? Did he say... written? A written test!!???"

Luckily, Arata had the system so he didn't need to worry about it.

Sakura: " Hmph. Tough luck Naruto. Written exams are definitely not his strong point.

Hinata: " um, Naruto?"

Naruto: "hm? Where'd you come from, Hinata? I didn't see you."

Hinata: " I... wanted to say good luck and everything."

Naruto: " Huh? Oh. Thanks."

When Arata saw this small interaction, he got a little jealous, that fool Naruto is such an idiot. He could already tell what he was thinking through his interactions and face.

Ibiki: " Everyone, eyes front. There are a few rules you need to be aware of. And I won't answer any questions. So you better pay attention the first time around. "

Sakura: " No questions? What kind of rules are these?"

Ibiki: " All right. Rule number one is this. The written part of the exam is conducted on a point reduction system. Contrary to what some of you may be used to, you all begin the test with a perfect score of 10 points. One point will be deducted for each answer you get wrong. So if you miss three, your final score will be 7."

Naruto: " And if I miss 10, my final score will be zero."

Ibiki: " Rule number two. Teams will pass or fail based on the total scores of all three members."

Sakura, Sasuke, and Arata: "... Damn."

Sakura: " Wait, wait a minutes. You're saying we all get scored as a team?"

Ibiki: " Silence! I have my reason, so shut up and listen."

Sakura: " Reason?"

Ibiki: " Rule number 3. The sentinels you see positioned around the room are there to watch you carefully for any signs of cheating. And for every incident they spot, they will subtract two points from the culprit's score. Be warned. Their eyes are extremely sharp. And if they catch you five times, you'll be dismissed before the tests are even scored. Anyone fool enough to be caught cheating by the sentinels doesn't deserve to be here."

Sentinel 1: " I've got my eyes on you guys."

Ibiki: " If you want to be considered shinobi, then show us what exceptional shinobi you can be."

Arata: " Caught? So if we cheat and don't get caught, it'll be fine? Sakura and Sasuke should be fine then. Hopefully Naruto can get the meaning of it."

Ibiki: " If any candidate should get a 0 and fail the test, then the entire team fails."

Arata, Sakura, Sasuke: "... Damn."

Naruto instantly shivered up. " Damn, they're gonna kill me."

Ibiki: " The final question won't be given out until 15 minutes before the end of the testing period. You'll have one hour total." Waiting for clock to hit a new minute, " Begin!!"

Arata first looked at the questions and found them to be extremely hard. " Damn, Naruto won't be able to get any of these right." Going over the ones he knew, for the ones he didn't Arata used the system for help completing the test with over 30 minutes left over. He looked over at Naruto to see if he had caught on yet, but still saw his frustrated expression. " Well I'll just leave this up to fate then." Arata put his head on the desk and began to take a nap.

Ibiki: " Alright 15 minutes left. Here's the 10th and final question."

Naruto: " Here it comes, his last chance."

Ibiki: " But before I give you the question, there are some more rules that you need to be aware of. These rules are unique to question 10. Listen carefully and try not to let them frighten you."

Naruto: " If even the rules are scary, how scary will be the 10th question??"

Ibiki: " Rule number one. Each of you is free to choose not to be given the final question. It's your decision."

Sasuke: " Say what? We're free to choose?"

???: " What's the catch. Let's say we decide we don't want to do it. What happens then?"

Ibiki: " If you choose not to take the 10th question, regardless of your answers to the other nine, you'll get a zero. In other words, you fail. And that means, of course, your teammates fail as well."

As soon as he said this, the people taking the test started complaining quietly.

Ibiki: " Not so fast. You didn't let me finish. If you do accept the question but answer it incorrectly, you will not only fail... you will be barred from taking the Chunin exam ever again!"

Kiba: " That's just bull man!! That's ridiculous. What kind of bogus rule is that? There's lots of people here who've taken the test before."

Ibiki: " haha. I guess you're just unlucky. I wasn't making the rules before, but I am now. Of course, if you don't want to take it, you don't have to. If you're not feeling confident, then by all means, skip it. You can come back and try again next year."

Naruto: "... What could the question be? What if it's easy. If I fail then I will be a genin forever, which could never happen. If I skip it then I will be bringing everyone down with me."

After Ibiki had said his words, there were already a few people that raised their hands. It got to the point that Naruto was pressured even more.

Naruto raised his hands then slammed it down on the table and yelled, " Don't underestimate me! I don't quit and I don't run. You can act tough all you want. Your guys aren't scaring me off. I don't care if I do get stuck as a genin for the rest of my life. I'll still be the hokage someday!!"

Arata: " There he goes, his catch phrase."

Sakura: " Way to go, you crazy little fool."

Ibiki: " This decision is one that could change your life. If for any reason you would rather quit, now's your last chance."

Naruto: " No way. I never go back on my word. That's my ninja way."

The hesitation in the room disappeared as he said his words. Looking at the sentinels, they nodded at him.

Ibiki: " 80 people huh. that's a lot more people than I thought. Well then, I admire your determination, if nothing else. For those of you remaining there's only one thing left to do. And that's for me to tell you that you've all passed the first exam."

Naruto dropped his pencil: " Huh?"

Arata: " 'phew' Lucky... haha."

Sakura: " Wait a minute... so what happened to the 10th question?"

Arata: " What the... don't make him change his mind."

Ibiki: " hahaha. There never was one. Not a written one, at least. Actually your decision to stay was the answer to the 10th question."

???: " Wait, then what there no point of answering the other 9 questions?"

Just as Ibuki was going to explain, the glass window broke as a woman came flying through with a giant black cloth. She used kunai knives to pin the edges of the cloth to the ceiling and floor creating a black background.

Arata: "... what an entrance haha."

Anko: " heads up, boys and girls. This is no time to be celebrating. I'll be your next proctor, Anko Mitarashi. you ready for the second test?" Before anyone else could respond, she raised her fist into the air and yelled, " Good! Then, let's go. Follow me!"

Everyone: "..."

Ibiki peaked out from behind the cloth curtain, " You're early again."

Her face was grew red with embarrassment.

Sakura: " She reminds me of Naruto."

Anko: " This many people. Ibiki, you let all these guys pass? Your test was too easy. You must be getting soft."

Ibiki: " Or it could be a stronger crop of candidates this year."

Anko: "hm. They sure don't look it. Trust me, before I'm done with them, more than half will be eliminated. This is going to be fun. All right, you maggots have had it easy so far, but things are going to be different starting first thing in the morning. I'll let your squad leaders know where you're to meet me. Dismissed."