Chapter 33 - Chuunin Exam(4)
.
.
.
Kabuto who finished explaining things somehow glanced for a moment into some guys in the crowd of genins which Naruto saw so he smiled and asked "What was that for?"
Kabuto, astonished at Naruto's perception, replied like a seasoned spy and asked in confused tone "What do you mean?"
Naruto shrugged and replied "Alright, I'll help you with your show."
Kabuto slightly clicked his tongue not loud enough for anyone to hear and he was suddenly attacked by genins wearing hidden sound forehead protectors.
Naruto, who already saw that they were moving, finished his hand seals. As soon as the ninjas approached Kabuto he didn't wait for him to dodge but instead, [Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!] "Haaaa!"
A tunnel of wind sent the ninjas slamming into the wall.
Kabuto again was surprised at Naruto as he didn't possess this type of information about him. Naruto simply smiled at him and mouthed the words "You're welcome."
That got him a bit annoyed as Naruto was playing with him.
The genins looked their way shocked at Naruto's firepower.
Shikamaru was awoken by the commotion and yawned "Ahhhh... Hm? Naruto again? He really likes to mess around."
Rock Lee who saw that had his eyes burning and said "Naruto-kun is so strong! Yoshhhh! I won't lose!"
Pooof!
Suddenly a huge amount of smoke gathered by the blackboard and shouted "Quiet down you worthless bastards!"
"Hm?" Naruto looked towards where the voice came from and also caught the attention of all the genins
A large number of examiners appeared in front of them and also a man with black coat lead them.
The man in black coat introduced himself "Thanks for waiting, I am Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the Chuunin Selection Exam first test."
He pointed towards Naruto and said "You! The guy with the blonde hair, stop doing as you please before the exam. Do you want to fail already?"
Naruto replied "Ehhh… but it was self defense, they tried to attack my senpai, Kabuto."
"Bah… There will be no fighting without permission of the examiner. Even if permission is granted, killing your opponent will not be tolerated. Those pigs who disobey me will fail immediately. Do I make myself clear?"
Naruto sighed and took his seat somewhere and said as he pouted "It wasn't even me who attacked first."
Ibiki raised his voice "Do I make myself clear?!"
Naruto replied nonchalantly "Yes, yes. You're the examiner, you rule."
Ibiki nodded and continued as he brought out a stone tab from his pocket with a number "You will pick one of these tabs and sit in the seat assigned to you. We will hand out the exams."
Naruto received a tag and sat at his designated area. Sitting down he got goosebumps as he heard "Naruto-kun…" turned his head and saw Hinata. "Hi? Hinata?"
Hinata blushed but tried to not let it get to her mind "Let's do our best…"
Naruto smiled and said "Sure! Let's do our best!"
Each genin was now handed an exam paper on table that was faced down.
Ibiki instructed "Don't turn your paper up and listen closely to what I'm about to say. There are many important rules to the first test. I'll write it on the board while I explain, but questions will not be allowed, so listen carefully."
Naruto cheekily replied "Yes~"
Ibiki got annoyed and threw a chalk at Naruto which he dodged nonchalantly. "Don't talk until given permission to do so! Understood?!"
Naruto sighed at this examiners attitude and simply nodded
Ibiki thought 'What an interesting kid.'
Ibiki started writing into the blackboard and explained "The first rule. You guys will all start off with 10 points. The test is made up of 10 questions and each one is worth a point but… This test uses a subtraction system. If you answer all questions correctly, you keep your 10 points. You miss three questions, you will lose 3 points? Go below 6 points and you're disqualified."
Naruto who was listening frowned as if he heard something groundbreaking as he simply thought 'Isn't that the normal rule for paper exams? Is this guy messing around?'
"The second rule… This is a team test. Whether you pass or not will be determined by the combined scores of your teammates. So each team will compete to see how many points they can hold onto from the initial team total of 30."
"Now, the most important rule. The third rule of the exam, anyone caught by the testing officers doing sneaky activities, namely cheating will have 2 points subtracted for every offense." Ibiki smiled like maniac
Naruto's eyes twitched, sighing 'Ah… There they go again with the read between the lines… The test is testing one's info gathering skill…'
Naruto looked at Sasuke and Sakura's way and looked at him too. Naruto nodded and they nodded as if they understood each other's eye contact. Learning from Kakashi's first lesson they had been reading more in between the lines and understood the purpose of the mission.
"So there will be some who will lose all of their points during the exam and be asked to leave."
The test officers sitting on the side commented "We'll have our eyes on you guys."
The genins flinched and Ibiki continued with a smile that scared the genins "Realize that the pathetic one that got caught cheating will be destroying themselves. As ninjas trying to achieve the level of Chuunin, be proud ninjas."
He continued "The final rule, those that lose all their initial points during the test and those that don't answer any questions correctly will be failed along with their two teammates."
"The exam will last one hour. Begin!" Ibiki announced
Naruto revealed the test papers and most of it was cryptograms. He smiled as he just learned Fuinjutsu that was much more complicated than this. He didn't need to gather information if he already knew the answer. He answered everything correctly and turned his paper backwards.
A kunai went flying his way but Naruto's simply put his head down, judging from the direction of the kunai, it wasn't meant for him but for the person behind him.
The guy behind Naruto got his paper hit and asked "What was that for?"
The test officer said "You messed up cheating so bad 5 times. You fail. The two on his team get out now."
The three left the room dejectedly that made the mood much more tense. Naruto simply ignored it and slept.
Sasuke and Sakura looked at Naruto's way to find him sleeping. They thought in surprise 'So fast? He already gathered all the information in 5 minutes?'
Sasuke activates his sharingan to look for the person who he had to copy and found him after a few minutes and started copying his movements.
Meanwhile, Sakura didn't cheat, she could also answer the question like Naruto, correctly but not as skillfully.
The rest of the genins also began to cheat.
40 minutes passed…
"Okay, we will now start with the 10th question."
Naruto yawned at the same time as Shikamaru so he looked his way and chuckled
"I'll now explain… these are the rules of desperation."
"First, for this 10th question you must decide whether you take it or not. If you choose not to, your points will be reduced to zero. You fail along with your two teammates. And now… The other rule. If you choose to take it and answer incorrectly the person will lose the right to ever take the chuunin exam again."
The genins were in an uproar and Kiba complained "What kind of stupid rule is that? There are guys here who have taken the exam before!"
"Hehehe… You guys are unlucky, this year it's my rule. But I am giving a way out so I'm not being mean. Those who are not confident to take it can choose not to take it and try again next year."
Naruto observed the room and some genins left because of fear that they'll never reach Chuunin ever in their life if they fail this time. He saw that Sakura was sweating as if making a difficult decision so he sighed and decided to help her out. Naruto raised his hand and slammed it into the table which caught the attention of all the genins.
He chuckled at the question and said with conviction "I'll take it! What if I'm genin forever? Either way I'll become the strongest."
Ibiki's lips curled up but returned immediately and asked Naruto with a solemn tone "I'll ask you again. Your life is riding on this decision, this is your last chance to quit."
Naruto replied with a smile "It's just a ninja title this time but what if I encounter a situation where my life will be put on the line in the future? What if my comrades will be in danger? Should I be a coward because it concerns my life? No! Just like my sensei… I'll never abandon my comrades!"
The genins all around smiled as they got their courage back from Naruto's words that indeed they will encounter such situations in the future, they can't back down now just because they might not be promoted to Chuunin ever again.
Ibiki smiled at everyone who was swayed at Naruto's words and said "Good decisions. Now to everyone still remaining…"
They awaited the 10th question with determination but Ibiki's words dumbfounded them "I congratulate you on passing the first test!"
.
.
.
(A/N: Leave a power stone if you like the story. Thanks!)