"Jeez. It's like pulling teeth." I leave Sasuke to talk with Naruto. If Naruto wants to talk to me he will come over. Speaking of Naruto, how did he get in here? Looking around I spot two Konoha nin in standard gennin gear.
One has a red forehead protector, one has a green forehead protector. Are they his teammates? Probably, they do seem to be keeping an eye on him. Fine, from this point forward they are red minion and green minion!
...
I turn back to Shikamaru and Choji, who both have their mouths wide open. In fact, most of the gennin from my class are looking at either me or Sasuke. I wonder why?
"Alvarcus?"
"Yeah Choji?"
"I think you're my hero too. You actually got Sasuke to talk."
Kiba, Hinata and Shino all walk over to us. Kiba speaks up, "Dude, that was amazing! How did you do that?"
"Huh? Do what?"
"He is referring to how you got Sasuke to associate with Naruto." Shino clarifies for me.
"Oh that? That was nothing."
Quietly Hinata adds "B-but you were always so q-quiet in c-class, Alvarcus-san." Hinata pokes her index fingers together. "It w-was impressive how much y-you and Sasuke have changed."
"Sasuke was pretty quiet too. I guess I just understood him better than others. And we haven't changed that much. We've just loosened up around each other and it carries over to other people too."
"Still man that was wicked awesome!" Kiba slaps me on the back. "You're not half bad Alvarcus!"
"Hey! This is like a reunion! All of us gennin were in the same Academy class." Naruto has a good point. What were they called in cannon? The rookie nine? Would it be the rookie ten now with me here?
"You all should be quiet. You're attracting a lot of attention to yourselves." White hair. Large round glasses. Unassuming presence. Kabuto. This is Kabuto. "I'm something of a veteran of the Chunin Exams, so I know what I am talking about."
"Really? How many times have you taken it?" Naruto asks.
"He-he.. seven times. This makes eight." He sheepishly rubs the back of his head.
"SEVEN TIMES?!" The rookies exclaim. Well, most of the rookies. I already knew, Sasuke and Shikamaru don't care, and Shino doesn't react. Stoic guy, that Shino.
"Yeah. Not the most impressive thing, I admit. But! It has let me collect information about the other contestants. I have it stashed and coded on these cards. Is there anyone you have questions about? I'm willing to share." How generous of you. "Us Konoha nin should help each other."
"OH! OH! Mine! I want to see mine!" Naruto demands.
"I want to see Alvarcus's." Sasuke adds. Wow, really? He wants to see my card? Is this because he genuinely wants to know, or is he getting a base for how accurate the cards are? Honestly I could see either one being the answer.
"Gaara of the Desert." I name drop. Various people look confused at the name. "He is one of the Suna nin I invited out for ice cream."
"I still can't believe you did that." Sakura mumbles to herself.
"I also want to see yours." There. Let's see what he puts for himself. That should be interesting. "And whoever that Kusa kunoichi is that hasn't looked away from me."
"So you did notice that. Good. I was starting to think you missed it." Shikamaru says. "I too want to see Alvarcus's card. And Sasuke's."
"Alright, let's look at those first, if we have time for more I'll take more names. First up, Gaara of the Desert. Mission experience: eight C-ranks and wow! One B-rank as a gennin. And get this! He survived every mission without getting a scratch. Impressive."
"Next we have Sasuke." Kabuto flips another card over. Thinking quickly, I attach a chakra string to it and yank it into my hand. "Hey! Give it back!"
I tear the card in half. Then again. I burn the pieces to ashes. "Oops. My bad."
"What the hell Alvarcus! I wanted to see Sasuke-kun's profile!" Ino shouts at me.
"Did you really think I would let him share information about my teammate? I don't want to give away the edge of the unknown. That would be stupid. I don't want to reveal information about our strongest member." Sasuke smirks at the compliment.
"Are you going to destroy your own card too?" Kabuto asks me.
Smiling deviously, I reply "I don't know. Why don't you pull it out and we will see."
"Alvarcus Mar. Here it is." Kabuto looks at me. I keep smiling at him. "Graduated last of his class. Mission record: 47 D-ranks," Sasuke glances at me, with his hands forming the tiger sign. He's ready to burn the card at a moments notice. I shake my head. I want Kabuto to say my info. It is a part of my plan, "and get this! An A-rank!"
All of the rookies stare at me in shock. They can't believe it, the quiet kid in the back of the class has done an A-rank mission. Then they all have the same thought: just how good is this guy?
Perfect. It's exactly what I want. My plan is twofold, intimidation and scare tactics. I'm using my nin info card - courtesy of Kabuto - to let everyone listening in know we did an A-rank.
Hopefully that will scare off the weaker teams. Then, we have me taking Sasuke's card which makes him an unknown. The last Uchiha, rookie of the year, and most importantly teammate of the dead last Alvarcus who was just revealed to be strong enough for an A-rank.
Collectively all the shinobi listening in share a thought. If Alvarcus, who is good enough for an A-rank mission, says Sasuke is the strongest member on their team then how strong is Sasuke? It is exactly what I want them thinking.
"That's not the end of it." The rookies turn back to Kabuto. There isn't anything else worth mentioning about me, I wonder what it is. "He is rumored to have the magnet release." Oh, yeah that rumor is going around. Pity, it is wrong.
"He has a bloodline?" The rookies whisper to each other.
Sasuke opens his mouth to correct Kabuto's misinformation.
"Sasuke." My voice cuts through the whispers. "No."
Sasuke shuts his mouth and give me a questioning glance. Well, Sakura and I know it is a questioning glance. To everyone else his face doesn't change, the famous Uchiha mask does come in handy.
"Later." Sasuke gives into my request. "Kabuto, I believe you have three more people to go? Yourself, the Grass kunoichi and Naruto."
Kabuto gives me an appraising look. Did he figure out what I did? I wouldn't be surprised if he did, he is supposed to be on par with jonin. "I didn't make a nin info card about myself. I never saw the need to."
"The Grass kunoichi then." I press onward.
Kabuto glances at the kunoichi in question. "The one with the black hair and the big straw hat?"
"Yep. She is giving me the creeps. She hasn't stopped staring at me since I entered the room. I'm worried about my virtue." I try to lighten the mood with a joke. It flops, no one laughed. Probably because once I mentioned my virtue, the Grass kunoichi smiled widely. Gross, I'm twelve lady!
"I don't have a card about her. I've never seen her before."
Impossible, he has cards on everyone. Everyone but himself and her? Himself I could ignore, but I can't ignore her. That means he is purposefully holing back information on her. But why? Kabuto is loyal to Sound, he shouldn't care about some random Kusa kunoichi.
Kusa. It all connects. Orochimaru kills and replaces a Kusa team. That's Orochimaru. He's already done the switch. It is the only logical explanation.
That means Orochimaru has been eyeing me like a piece of meat since I entered the room. What the hell? Shouldn't he be going after Sasuke? That's the whole point of him coming here, to put the cursed seal on Sasuke so that he goes to Orochimaru for more power.
Then why is he staring at me?
Not good. Did he hear about the magnet release? He has to know that is false. Right? How accurate is his information network? If the Kazekage ordered his kids to bring me to Suna then a lot of people are believing the rumors.
Unless he already replaced the Kazekage. Did he order the Sand Siblings to approach me? Oh Kami, does he want to give me a curse seal too?
"Alvarcus." I snap out of my freak out episode.
"Sorry, you say something Sasuke?"
"You missed Naruto's card. You were... internalizing." Internalizing? Oh, he knew I was freaking out, but doesn't want others to know. Well played Sasuke.
I missed Naruto's card? Dammit, he's the only mystery to me. I can safely rely on my foreknowledge for everyone else since they mainly stuck to cannon but Naruto has been training under Jiraya for months. I have no idea what he's capable of.
"Yeah. I was. You snapped me out of it. Thanks."
POOF
"Alright you baby faced degenerates! Pipe down and listen up!" Once the smoke clears from the mass shunshin, a hoard of leaf nin appear. "My name is Ibiki Morino. From this moment on I am your proctor for the first exam. And your worst enemy." That man is intimidating. He got the entire room to quiet down from that short speech alone.
Wait, wasn't something supposed to happen before this? Didn't Kabuto get attacked by someone?
"I'll say this once, so LISTEN UP!" I subconsciously straighten up. "There will be no attacking the other candidates, no attacking each other without the permission of your proctor. Even then, the use of fatal force is strictly prohibited. Anyone who even thinks of messing with me will be disqualified immediately. Got it?"
No one speaks up.
"Good. You will hand in your paperwork and receive a number. That number will tell you where to sit for the written exam." Ibiki's posse breaks away from him and start taking paperwork from various teams.
"Did he say... written exam?" Naruto pales. "Oh man that is not good."
"Come on team." I urge. "Best not to take too long."
We head to one of the open chunin and hand over our paperwork.
"Here." I hand over mine, Sasuke and Sakura follow suit.
"You get numbers 17, 46 and 32." She shoos us away.
"Well. Team, this is it. Best of luck." We separate and go to our seats.
I'm number 17. Then my worst nightmare happens. The Kusa kunoichi sits down on my left. I freeze. This is Orochimaru. He's not even a meter away from me. Oh Kami what do I do?
"Hello there. What's your name, child?" She's talking to me. Calm down. Deep breaths, you won't be attacked here.
"Alvarcus Mar." I respond. Please leave me alone.
"A good name." She smiles to herself. "I can't help but notice that you seem extremely young. How old are you?" Oh Kami, she wants to know how old I am. Is that even a she? Until Orochimaru sheds that skin, it's a she.
"Twelve." Just stop talking. Please.
"Then this is your first time taking the Chunin Exams?" Why do you care? Do you find it funny to scare innocent (okay, I'm far from innocent) little gennin?
"Yes." GO AWAY DAMMIT!
"I have been through once before. If you require assistance... I will provide it. For a price."
Did Orochimaru just offer to help me? Am I crazy? Did the stress finally pop an important blood vessel in my brain?
"Thank you, but I will have to decline. I can stand on my own."
She grins maliciously. "Wonderful. It will be amusing to watch you struggle through this."
Another person sits to my right. I ignore them. There is no way they are as threatening as Orochimaru of the Sannin.
"I will not struggle. This will be easy." Oh sweet merciful Kami, I need to shut up. If I don't reply maybe she'll quit talking.
"So you say. Just know, my offer stands. Assistance, for a price."
I remain quiet. Eventually everyone sits down, and Ibiki explains the rules of the test.
It is exactly like cannon. Something went right, finally something went right. I've been thinking of strategies to use all week. I can pass this no problem!
"Begin!" Ibiki barks out.
Instantly, the person to my right starts writing away. I finally take stock of my other neighbor. Kunoichi, dark hair, leaf headband. Confidently writing out every answer to the test. Could she be a chunin plant? It's not even been 5 minutes and she is on question 4 of 9 already.
She is. She's a plant. I'm sitting next to Orochimaru and a chunin plant. Talk about some crazy odds. Now that I think about it though, I don't doubt that Orochimaru is sitting exactly where she wants to. She has the skill to pull something like that off without relying on chance. So I got a lucky seat next to a chunin plant. Yay.
At 20 minutes in, the plant finishes with her test. She places her pencil down, leaves her test facing upwards, and leans back in her chair. Confirmed, chunin plant. No one else would purposefully stay that wide open.
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