THIRD PERSON POV
As the commotion was about to settle down by the Otogakure Shinobi's, a commanding voice erupted.
"Quiet down, you worthless bastards"
Y/N's eye followed the voice to see the smoke dissipating, catching a glimpse of the man with smattering scars on his face smirking down at them and many scary looking Ninja's behind him.
Observing the man closely, Y/N discerned the man has a large, imposing figure, which he complements with a rugged head and face covered with old wounds and scars. He wears a darker version of the standard uniform of the Intelligence Division, along with a black trench coat and gloves.He wore his forehead protector in the bandanna style.
"Sorry to keep you guys waiting. I am Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the first test of Chunin Exams"
Some gulped showing fear, some had lazy looks, some were really excited and some remained indifferent.
Y/N belonged to the last category but she had some remains of excitement she wouldn't admit.
Ibiki pointed his fingers "You guys from Otogakure! Stop doing as you please before the exams or do you want to be failed already?"
"I apologize. it's our first time taking exams, so we flipped out despite ourselves" Y/N could hear the Oto shinobi apologizing without a hint of sincerity.
"Is that so?" Ibiki smirked but soon wiped it off as he turned to face the rest of the genins.
"Then it's high time someone laid down a few rules, shall we? From this point forward, there will be no more fighting without the permission of the examiner. Even if permission is granted, killing your opponent will not be tolerated"
His eyes held a dangerous gleam as he continued "Any of you little piglets do it, are out of this exams. Disqualified immediately. Do I make myself clear"
Silence
Naruto squinted, sweat forming on his face and wondering about what the first exams would be of.
Y/N smirked, a glimmer in her lilac orbs. Finally! the exams were starting.
"We will now start the first test of Chunin exams. Instead of your current seating arrangements you will pick one of these tabs and sit in the seat assigned to you. We will then hand out the written part of the exams" Ibiki announced as a shinobi at his side demonstrated the papers and showed the genins the tab they will be given
"WHAT? A PAPER TEST!?" Naruto shouted, his eyes widening in disbelief.
Y/N's visage also showed distaste not liking the written test. She scowled to herself.
Written examination are too easy. Give us something strenuous.
The blonde was in a total dilemma when he saw Y/N step in front of him, a look of confusion spread across his face.
"All the best" Y/N began, her low and melancholic voice symbolizing a flow of estuaries, uttering his name "Naruto"
"THANK YOU Y/N CHAN, I AM GONNA ACE IT, BELIEVE IT" He shouted but soon regretted as the words sprouted from his mouth.
"Dobe" Sasuke muttered, a mocking smirk as he followed the amethyst girl.
"Not that you need it" Sasuke began, Y/N frowned at him "but...all the best"
Y/N raised her brows in surprise and soon opened her mouth in reply muttering audibly "you too!"
What no one noticed was the faint smile playing in their faces as they walked away.
Y/N went to the exam proctor and gave her application form to him in return getting a seat number, she nodded once to Ibiki, a sign of respect to the superior who reciprocated the gesture, handing her a tab.
"Seat no. 67" Y/N muttered her gaze roaming in an attempt to find her designated seat.
Y/N finally found her seat not bothering to check who is sitting beside her left or right. She was in between two people where one seat had yet to occupy. There was a sufficient distance between them. She preferred an isolated place or a corner seat.
Her eyes focused at the exam proctor still handing out the tabs, she felt someone shifting beside her vacant seat.
"Lucky ~ To sit beside a Shirazaki"
Y/N turned her head hearing an uncanny voice. She saw a girl, whose age she wasn't able to guess and she had a headband with the grass ninja symbol. She also had a straw hat covering her head.
Y/N ignored her as usual but the grass ninja spoke again "So how does it feel being the last Shirazaki"
Y/N's eye glowed in rage, she turned her head to the lady beside her "Shut up, It doesn't concern you"
Kabuto who was just seated few seats behind clenched his fist in anger 'How rude'
But to Y/N's dismay, the grass nin only smirked in amusement.
Y/N looked to her side to see a red sitting beside her. 'What was his name again? Something of the mud? no. Right Gaara of the sand?'
Feeling someone's stare Gaara looked to see Y/N looking at him with an impassive look. Y/N titled her head in acknowledgement while Gaara stared at her before blinking blankly. But after a few seconds Gaara also bowed his head in acknowledgement.
Well to say he was not surprised would be incorrect
"Pft" The grass nin beside her chuckled seeing their interaction, licking her lips "You are very amusing"
"Do not turn your test over. Listen closely to what I'm about to say" Ibiki announced as the one sided conversation between the grass nin and Y/N came to a halt.
"There are many important rules to the first test. I'll write it on the board while i'll explain but I'm not taking any questions so listen carefully" He started jutting down on the blackboard, a white chalk in his hand.
"Rules" Sakura frowned 'No questions allowed? Why not?'
"Rule No: 1 Each one of you here starts out with 10 points. The test has 10 questions, each worth one point. For each question you get wrong, we subtract a point from you. Get all 10 right and you retain the ten points you have. But if, for example you answer three questions incorrectly. we take your 10 points. Subtract one point for every wrong answer and your total drops down to seven"
'In other words, if I get all ten questions wrong, I'll end up with no points at all' Naruto thought in dilemma, nervous sweat droplets forming on his face
"Rule No: 2 This written test is still a team event. Passing or Failing will be determined by the sum of the points held by all members of each team. The object is for each team to have as few deductions as possible from it's joint thirty or forty points total"
"Wait a second" Sakura raised her voice interrupting Ibiki "The whole concept of the start points and the deduction is hard enough to follow...But what is this Team total you are talking about"
Y/N shook her head in dis-contempt at the pinkette 'No Questions'
"Did you not hear the part 'No questions'. We have our reasons. Shut and listen. You might learn something" He irritably uttered.
'What reasons' Sakura wanted to ask but bit her lips.
To be honest Y/N didn't care, she, Sasuke and Sakura would most probably score good marks nearing to thirty so team total was not a problem.
"The next step is crucial. Rule No: 3 If, during the course of the exam, a candidate does anything out of the ordinary. In other words, anything that leads the proctor to determine that he or she has cheated, we subtract two points of each members of the cheaters team"
"Oh" Sakura gasped, emerald eyes remaining on the proctor.
"So there will be some who will lose all their points during the exams and asked to leave"
'I get it. There are more ways to lose a point than just missing a question' Sakura thought
"I will be looking over your shoulder's when you least expect it" Another proctor named Hagane Kotetsu spoke. Kotetsu has long, spiky, black hair and dark eyes. He has a strip of bandage running across the bridge of his nose.
Ibiki smirked "If you let the proctors catch you cheating, you'll bring yourself and your friends down!! If you aspire to become a chunin...if you want to be the best ninja you can be...Then you'd better start acting like you already are"
'Get a hold of yourself, Sakura. It's too bad about Naruto, But Sasuke kun, Y/N chan and I should be able to retain enough points for all four of us. Even if Naruto gets every singe answer wrong' Sakura comforted herself.
"One more thing, if any individual loses all ten points, that person's entire team, regardless of how the other members of the team perform will be disqualified" Ibiki announced, his eyes peering upon some genins.
'What did he say' Sakura screamed in her head.
'What?' Sasuke gasped.
'Eh?' Y/N's eye grew wide, her gaze searching for the blond who already had a panicked expression.
The three having the same thoughts
Naruto sweat dropped, a petrified appearance overtaking his features "I can feel from here, those three are ready to kill me"
The grass lady beside her chided "Judging from your reaction you do not trust your team"
Y/N bit her lips 'It's not good, Naruto if you don't score a single point, I am gonna torture you worse than Ibiki ever would'
Naruto felt a shiver run his spine "Why do I feel someone cursing me?"
"The exam will last one hour" Ibiki claimed "BEGIN"
Everybody started the exams but team 7 were doubting Naruto
'This could be very bad Naruto just please don't get zero points' Sakura gulped, looking at her teammates.
'Damn this is bad, looks like Naruto is already freaking out' Sasuke bit his finger
'This is not looking good, if Naruto can't get at-least one point we all will fail' Y/N fretted over her thought,
Y/N soon tried to focus on her paper 'Let's first complete the paper. Okay so first is a cryptogram'
Next
'The parabola marked by represents the greatest effective distance the enemy shinobi A could throw a shuriken start from the top of 23.3 Foot Tall tree. Calculate the specific features of the scenario and deduce the range of shuriken's effectiveness, assuming a consistent speed for Shinobi A's assault upon any enemy shinobi operating within the arc that the flight of the shuriken describes. Show your work'
Y/N read. 'Well these are easy' As she started writing down the answers
Sasuke sighed 'I can't answer a single one of these' His gaze wandered to Y/N who was writing answers at a very fast rate.
'Of course, she will know all the answers, it's no surprise'
'Thud' Suddenly a kunai landed behind Y/N making her jerk slightly in surprise.
Kotetsu looked at the ninja "You messed up 5 times. You fail"
The boy stood up desperately uttering "No..No way"
"The other members of his team, get out of here. right now" Another two Konohagakure's genin stood up leaving after their caught teammate.
Y/N sensed a chakra to her right seeing Gaara's hand covered with minute sand particles, difficult for the naked eye to see. Y/N frowned.
Y/N blanked suddenly. Ino had taken over her 'Woah she had already completed her test...let me check, Just memorize fastly'
Ino was back in her body. Y/N had cancelled her jutsu just through sheer will 'What? How did she do that?'
Y/N frowned, her gaze then wandered to Gaara only to widen 'AN EYE'
The eye propped on her sheet looking at all the answers. Y/N harshly poked the eye, a frown on her face. The eye bursted into sand startling her a bit, her gaze narrowing to the redhead beside her.
Gaara looked at her in displeased expression, glaring at her as she returned it.
'This is a competition, I will not help anyone that isn't my teammate.'
The eye vanished and appeared to another genin who suddenly had sand in their eyes causing him to stop writing. He rubbed his eyes in order to get rid of the sand and the red head took advantage of the situation peeping into the answers.
Y/N was glad that he didn't put sand in her eyes but she found the technique quite cool not that she would admit it.
Y/N had finished her test finally as she gazed around lazily.
She saw Naruto, as usual panicking while looking at his answer sheet.
Sasuke who has activated his Sharingan and writing the answers
Sakura who also has finished and Ino had entered her body for the answers
Ino using her mind transfer jutsu and helping Shikamaru and Choji.
Saija whistling, her tune felt like conveying answers.
The brown haired boy whose name she didn't catch was playing with his pencil with a prominent scowling face.
Shino using his insects.
Akamaru telling the answers to Kiba.
Neji had his byakugan
Gaara using his eye
Kankuro went outside with an exam proctor but Y/N already noticed, no chakra 'A Fake'
Y/N sighed softly 'This world has no honesty'
Now she had just to wait for the next question
Question 10 This question will not be provided until forty five minutes into the exams. At that time, please answer the proctors question to the best of the ability.
'Well it's time now to announce the last question' Y/N looked at Ibiki expectantly awaiting for the question
"You finished your exam fast, As expected from a shirazaki prodigy" The girl beside her licked her lips.
Y/N reprimanded the women beside her "Do not speak"
"Get ready for the tenth question" Ibiki announced
Soon Kankuro appeared making Ibiki smile "You are very lucky. The time you have been playing with dolls haven't been completely wasted"
'Dolls? Does he know about the scarecrow' Kankuro's face hardened, nervous sweat glistening his painted face, scowling silently at Ibiki he went towards his assigned seat handing a small crunched paper secretly to Temari.
'I am betting it all on one roll of the dice' Naruto grips his pencil tightly, waiting anxiously for the question.
Everybody waited, staring at the proctor anxiously gulping, Ibiki opened his mouth
"I'll now explain" He side glanced at them "These are the rules of desperation"
'Rules of Desperation?!!' Naruto wearily gulped.
"First for this question you must decide whether you will take it or not" Ibiki announced.
'Choose whether to take it?' Sasuke thought seriously.
"Choose?!! What happens if we choose not to?" Temari shouted, her hands propped on the desk.
"If you chose not to , your points will be reduced to zero, you fail! Along with your other teammates" Ibiki elucidated.
"What does that mean?"
"Then of course we will decide to take the test"
Some genins exclaimed.
"And now the other rule," Ibiki started.
'More? Give it a break' The pinkette anxiously looked around.
"If you choose to take it and answer incorrectly, that person will lose the right to take the chunin selection exam again"
"...." Naruto's jaw dropped.
Y/N widened her eyes a bit, her gaze wandering across her teammates, especially the blond.
"What kind of stupid rule is that?" Kiba yelled "There are guys who have taken the exam before" Akamaru barked agreeing with his master.
"Hehehehe" Ibiki cackled making Y/N frown "You guys were unlucky. This year it's my rules."
Y/N glanced at the proctor, entwining her fingers together as he continued
"But I am giving you a way out. Those that aren't confident can choose not to take it and try again next year"
'So basically if of our team members chooses not to take it, everyone fails and if you decide to take it and get it wrong you will be a genin forever' Sakura gritted her teeth.
Naruto smacked his teeth, groaning as he bobbed his head.
Y/N rubbed her head easing her situation 'Both options are bad! What a decision'
"Now let's begin the 10th question"
"Those that do not wish to take it, raise your hand. Once your number is confirmed, Leave"
Everyone looked tense wondering about their decision. If they choose and answer it incorrectly, they will remain a genin forever and if not they can take the exam next year
'But what if the same situation occurs in the next year' Y/N thought ' That's right, we shouldn't raise our hand. Anyway I will answer he question But....'
Y/N had already decided not to back off but she was quite worried about her other other teammates. Sasuke would definitely choose to answer, while Sakura is a girl with brain in academics so she will answer but she will be having doubts and....Naruto was Naruto.
'What kind of question is it going to be?! Damn it!!' Naruto gritted his teeth 'If I get it wrong I will be an eternal genin. No way!!'
'But if I choose to avoid it, Sasuke, Y/N Chan and Sakura Chan will fail too. I don't want that either' Naruto scratched his head.
'I won't raise my hand. I have confidence that I can answer it. So even if Naruto causes us to fail, It's not like I got the question wrong, so I can try next time' Sakura thought
'But..But Naruto, You're different, you should forget about us and think about the next chances'
Soon a genin raised his hand beside Naruto "I won't take it, I am sorry Gennai, Inoho"
"No 50 fail, 130 and 111,also fail"
Y/N could see Naruto trembling as the genin beside him cursed. To be honest she felt sorry. It was a difficult decision and he was in dilemma because he was thinking about his teammates
'I hope you don't raise your hand and just like you have always said , a ninja must never give up. Right?' Y/N narrowed her gaze.
Y/N 's eye widened when she saw Sakura attempting to raise her hand, sending a glare her way making it retract as she gulped 'Do not interfere in Naruto's choices, girl'
But soon Y/N's face morphed into shock as she saw Naruto raising his hand 'What?'
But soon he banged his table with the hand he raised as he shouted at the proctor
"Don't underestimate me!! I will not run!! I will take it!! Even if I am a genin forever, I will myself too becoming a hokage anyway, so I don't care!!"
Y/N sighed in relief not noticing the breath she was holding.
'He wasn't thinking about us at all, what guts' Sasuke closed his eyes, smirking slightly.
'Yeah you are that kind of idiot,' Sakura smiled.
'You really abandoned us' Y/N's lips lifted a little.
"I will ask you again. Your life is riding on this decision. This is your last chance to quit" Ibiki probed
"I follow my unbending words. That's my Ninja way" Naruto proclaimed, his blond hair shining.
'Interesting kid, he blasted away everyone's worries, 79 left , more than I expected' Ibiki smirked 'Stretching this any longer won't make any difference'
"Good decision. Now to everyone still remaining, I congratulate you all on passing the first test" He announced.
Everybody looked at him as if he had just uttered a joke.
"So all 79 of you who are still here, you've just passed the first exam"
"Eh?" Y/N hummed looking baffled at the proctor 'We passed'
Well not only our main protagonist, everyone had a bewildered and confused expression
"What do you mean passed? When did that happen? What about the tenth question" Sakura inquired continuously without shame.
"There is no tenth question or you could say that those two choices were the tenth question" Ibiki mischievously grinned.
"Huh!!" Sakura exclaimed and Y/N knitted her brows
"Hey! Then why did we have to suffer through other nine questions?! That was our total waste of a time!" Temari complained, her teal eyes blinking rapidly
Y/N frowned closing her eyes briefly 'There must be something else. Right?'
"There was no waste. Those questions had a purpose, which they've already served" Ibiki said confirming Y/N's thought.
Temari looked confused "Such as?"
Ibiki explained "Our goals was to test your skills at spying"
"What?" Y/N's eye shot open at revelation 'We had to cheat??!!'
'Should I have cheated even when I knew the answers? Is that what he is saying?'
"Our skills at spying?" Temari questioned 'He seems like a completely different person'
"Remember the rules at the beginning? You pass or fail as part of three man squad. With that rule, I pressured you with the fear that anything you did wrong would bring your teammates down with you"
'Oh I get it' Naruto folded his hands "You know I kinda figured that was it"
Sakura shook her head 'You re so full of it'
Y/N looked at the blond, an inexplicable emotion in her countenance.
Hinata giggled beside Naruto, red hue covering her cheeks.
"But the questions on this test were not the types that a mere genin could answer. Because of that most of the people came to the same conclusion that to score points I'll have to cheat. Basically the premise of this test is to cheat, as cheating targets we had two or so chunins who knew all the answers mixed into the crowd to help you guys out" Ibiki explained.
"Hn" Sasuke smirked in victory knowing he comprehended the meaning of this test.
Y/N sulked, the corner of your lips turning down, a frown visible as her eyebrows creased.
"You don't look too happy" The lady beside her smiled.
Y/N totally did not like the way the women smiled at her.
Y/N ignored it as usual, her thoughts rampaging her mind 'But it should be fine right? Because I knew the answers'
Naruto brooded 'Huh I had no idea'
"Hahaha I saw through that. You'd have to be a moron to not notice that" Naruto exclaimed as an imaginary arrow went to Y/N's chest
'Even he knew about it' Y/N further sulked.
'He hadn't noticed himself either' Sasuke trutted over, his gaze wandering to Y/N who had been surrounded by a depressed aura.
Sasuke sweat dropped 'Of course she wouldn't know either'
"But those that cheat poorly, fail of course" Ibiki removed the headband covering his head making all of his scars visible to the genin. "Because in times, information is more important than life and on missions and the battlefield, people risk their life to get their hands on it"
'Horrible burns, screw holes, scars...The after effects of torture' Sasuke observed, his hands folded across his chest
Y/N's eye widened a bit seeing the slashes that ran across his head and face
'Cool, I bet his hands are even worse! But that's what he gets for being dumb enough to be captured. It'll never happen to me' A sound genin thought arrogantly.
"......" Gaara discerned the scars from beside Y/N
"If the enemy or the third party notices you, there is no guarantee the info will be accurate, I want you to remember this. Important information in your hands can be powerful weapons for your comrades and the village. So we had you gather information through cheating. This clearly separated those that did not have the right abilities" Ibiki tied his headband back.
"..." Temari was still confused as ever, her sandy blonde hair grazing her forehead "But I don't understand the final question?"
Ibiki smiled "But the tenth question is the purpose of this test. The 'Take it' or 'Not take it' decision."
"?" Y/N could see a small question marks around Naruto.
"What do you mean?" Sakura questioned, tilting her head.
"Obviously there were painful choices. Those who chose the latter fail along with their teammates. Those who take it could lose the chance forever"
Y/N nodded, grasping the concept slowly, Ibiki recommencing his monologue.
"Let me explain, the tenth question was a choice between two options that were both difficult and dangerous. Those who chose to reject were failed and their friends along with them. Those who chose to accept and couldn't answer the question lost any choice of ever trying again. It was a nasty, unfair, no win set of options"
Ibiki smirked while Ino jerked her head wanting to implore. "So why did I present them?" Ibiki asked what Ino ought to query.
"Let's suppose you all go on successfully attain the rank of chunin, you are assigned to steal a vital enemy document knowing nothing about the skills, deployment, military preparedness of your foe. You may have to cross a territory that has been heavily mined and set with traps."
The proctor gave a situation, Y/N instinctively forming an image of it inside her head.
"Now do you accept your mission or do you reject it. Rather than place your own life or the life of your companions in jeopardy? Could any Chunin get away with only taking on the safe jobs?" Y/N raised her brow, her delicate fingers touching her cheek, pondering about the predicament carefully.
"Of course not. No matter how dangerous the risk is there will be missions you cannot decline. A ninja must demonstrate valor that inspires those around him helping all to overcome their fear. This is the talent we most value in the commander of a chunin cell."
Y/N's head throbbed faintly, a wearisome beating at her skull, absorbing the statistics of his game play
"Those who can't gamble with theory their own fate, who would trade today's certain risk for tomorrow's uncertain future never taking the chance that lies before them are weaklings who only make weak and easy decision."
Ibiki paused before continuing, his eyes landing on all genins. Y/N felt he was assessing all of them, Y/N glared at him when their eyes made contact. The proctor widened his eyes slightly before smirking making the girl more annoyed than ever. How could he toy with us? Was the question that wandered in her mind.
"In my opinion they don't belong in the rank of chunin at all! By choosing to accept you answered the almost insoluble tenth question correctly. If you keep that spirit, you can probably conquer all of the many doubts and difficulties you will face. You have passed the first hurdle. Part one of the chunin selection exam is now concluded. I wish you guys luck"
Explained Ibiki as the words hammered in Y/N's ears
"HELL YEAH!! WISH US LUCK" Naruto shouted "LOOK Y/N CHAN WE PASSED"
"Moron, it's only the first test" Y/N said and glared at him for being so loud.
Ibiki observed the girl 'I didn't see that girl copying others or even panicking, not even once. Did she knew the answers or was she so qualified that I couldn't even notice. And what's more she was glaring at me all the time. How fascinating'
Ibiki smiled smugly to himself 'This is indeed an interesting batch'
Y/N looked to window to see a figure coming crashing down, shattering the window glass which scattered on the wooden ochre floor and banner behind them.
"What is this?" Naruto's eye popped out
Ibiki shook his head 'Not this one'
Another women stood before them as she put the banner behind her which read newly arrived second chief commander officer
Y/N noticed that she is a slender woman. She has light brown, pupil-less eyes. Her hair - black with a blue tint is styled in a short, spiky, fanned-out ponytail.
"None of you are in a position to celebrate. I am the second chief examination officer, Mitarashi Anko. Time's wasting people, now let's go" She shouted "Follow me"
Everybody seated there not moving a muscle with a dumbfounded expression. Y/N owlishly blinked.
"Can't you sense the mood here?" Ibiki asked in exasperation as Anko blushed in embarrassment.
"The new officer almost reminds me of Naruto" Sakura muttered with a annoyed expression.
Anko looked at the genins "Seventy nine of you are still here?! Ibiki you passed 26 teams?! Obviously you went too easy on them" Anko accused him.
"This year we have applicants of exceptional caliber" Ibiki praised the genins
"Yeah right, I'll cut down the number by half before the next text is done" Anko announced
'Cut us down by half?' Sakura trembled
"Oh I get charged up just by thinking about it! I'll explain things in detail as soon as we move to our next location, so follow me" Anko grinned creepily
The genins now followed her
☫━━━━━━━✧༝┉˚*❋━❉━☫━❉━❋*˚┉༝✧━━━━━━━☫
Meanwhile as Ibiki collected the papers, his eyes widened as he picked a paper 'He is a kind of person who thinks he can pass the exam with a completely blank answer sheets. Uzumaki Naruto, a very interesting guy'
His eyes then followed another paper 'Huh, another interesting fellow, Oh that girl, she wrote all the answers correctly and not even a single mistake.' His eyes skimming past her paper.
'I did not even catch her cheat a single time. But by looking at them it's clear that these are her very own theories'
He hummed, turning to the first page to see her name making his eye brows raise in surprise 'Shirazaki Y/N, another intriguing young girl'
☫━━━━━━━✧༝┉˚*❋━❉━☫━❉━❋*˚┉༝✧━━━━━━━☫
Y/N arrived at the location where the second exam is to be held. She noticed the arena was blocked by lare gate and with a warning sign 'Danger! stay out'
"This is the arena for the second exam: Training ground 44" Anko grinned "Also known as.."
"The forest of death"
☫━━━━━━━✧༝┉˚*❋━❉━☫━❉━❋*˚┉༝✧━━━━━━━☫
☫━━━━━━━✧༝┉˚*❋━❉━☫━❉━❋*˚┉༝✧━━━━━━━☫