"You think you're so smart, huh? You brats really don't understand your place here, do you?" He suddenly slammed Kaeru's head onto the table, not hard enough to draw blood, but enough to make it hurt. Kaeru could hear some faint gasps, and when he looked up, he could see his teammates' worried gaze. Shisui seemed to be mouthing something at him, but Kaeru couldn't even process what the man in front of him was saying.
His head began to throb, and his sight was blurry for a few seconds. He couldn't bring himself to focus, at least until a large hand went to grab his collar, which he instinctively dodged. It was like someone had flicked a switch in his head. Kaeru grabbed the proctor's wrist and glared at him.
"You sounded like you really don't like having to deal with us, so why do you keep talking? We already know your role in this exam, unless you really feel the need to prove your superiority?"
The proctor's face hardened as he broke free from Kaeru's grip. "I'm gonna disqualify-"
"You can't; the only rules applied in this room was for us not to communicate with each other. There's nothing stopping me from talking to you or any other staff." Kaeru growled, "Why don't you start the exam already, so maybe we don't have to waste more of our time here?"
Shisui and Anko could only stare at each other, their expression screaming 'we're so fucking screwed', but the proctor's booming laugh interrupted their inner panic. The man gestured to the other proctors to distribute the papers as he gave Kaeru a slow, almost mocking clap.
"I'm gonna enjoy seeing your dead body later, brat."
Kaeru huffed. "Bring me roses to my funeral, will you?"
The head proctor only walked away.
| × | × | × | × | × |
Kaeru had to hold himself back from humming and singing, and that was already hard to do even without having to answer the written test. Though he wouldn't give a damn about what the proctors would say, Kaeru still wouldn't like to disturb the participants, because that's just rude. It's not nice to be noisy when people are trying to focus on an exam.
The Hatake repeated the first question in his head, frowning slightly.
1. Explain all of the chakra natures!
It sounded too easy, but then again, they had written 'explain' instead of 'write down'. Does he have to write everything, including the connection of each of them? That is surely troublesome, but at least he knew the answer, right?
Next.
2. Which one would you rely on the most: taijutsu, ninjutsu, or genjutsu? Why?
Kinda strange, since the answer would differ for everyone, Maybe they wanted to compare between each team? Whatever it is, it looked like it would be best to just be honest.
Taijutsu. Ninjutsu, while it may be more powerful, also has its own downsides with each chakra natures, which can also usually expose where did the said shinobi came from or their rank. Genjutsu is effective against many shinobi, but it can be weak against certain clans, and usually will not work on those who already realize the type of Genjutsu used on them. Taijutsu doesn't require much chakra, which allows the user to store their chakra for something more important like healing or working on seals and many other things. Also, Taijutsu user usually has better speed and endurance compared to others, which gave them an upper hand in a long-lasting battle, Kaeru wrote down as neatly as he could. It wasn't illegible, but he's sure his handwrtting is at least on par with Anko's.
The next question, Kaeru figured, seemed to be fun, more than the rest.
3. IBA FOT TEM TSO SYA PRAH OOT CUM FOH TEM EBO RAP YLA DEZ. EEF EML CAF EME NOC ORT EML VEN SRE CCU BMU.
A code; that's surprising, since Anko had told him that decoding messages is usually a task given to high-level chuunin or T&I operatives. Which means that his team would have the upper hand, because Anko is Ibiki's apprentice, Shisui had most probably done this a lot within his clan, and it was one of Kaeru's first lessons back on Earth. With a grin, he spent the next few minutes translating the question and gave his answer for the riddle.
4. What do you think is your greatest weakness?
Now this one, this totally sounded like a trick question. What kind of shinobi reveals their own weak points? But wasn't he supposed to answer this, too? Inwardly groaning, Kaeru wrote down the first thing that came into his mind, knowing full well that basically he just described his act of defiance towards the head proctor just a while ago.
My lack of respect towards almost everyone, my inability to understand the right time and place to say and do certain things.
Didn't seem too good, but there's nothing else he knew he could write without disclosing information that might backfire against his team later.
The last question sounded a bit familiar to him, but Kaeru just couldn't put his finger on it.
5. Your team was sent to deliver a scroll containing the village's secrets, with you as the leader. On your way, your team was ambushed and one of them was held captive by the enemy. You can either save him and give up the scroll or leave him and finish the mission successfully. What would you do?
I'll take the risk of trying to do both, Kaeru wrote down, before he added, A team consists of at least 3 shinobi, which left me 2 members to make the choice. One of us will try to rescue our captured teammate. The other will create a fake scroll after destroying the real one, and with the information already memorized, will continue the mission as normal. Worst case scenario, if all of us got captured instead, at least the enemy wouldn't be able to get the content of the scroll.
Satisfied with (most of) his answers, Kaeru flipped his paper and went back to sleep on his desk, giving a smirk to the head proctor before he closed his eyes.
| × | × | × | × | × |
Raven here! This took so long, but I'm glad I finally finished it. Anyone who can solve the code gets a follow and a shout out here (you can comment or PM, whichever works)! I pretty much made it up, so good luck trying to browse it on Google, if you're into that kind of thing.
Anyways. Hal-chan is back, which I'm totally glad for, but now my laptop's acting up again so no promises on updates.
But feedback, please? Or vote, Kaeru might appreciate that. Thanks guys! Over and out!
- Rae
YOU ARE READING
Go Home (Naruto FanFic)
Fanfiction"Family? Brother? Ha! You amuse me! Dear Aniki, you're the one who left me first!" Kaeru Hatake has never felt any love in his life. With no one by his side, he never knows about 'affection'. Losing his sanity by the world's brutality, he was one da...
XII - Strike One!
Start from the beginning
