"Or else the sandworms got 'em," noted Kotetsu.
Naruto nodded. Six teams of Suna genin. Two Grass. Two Stone. Two Rain. One other group from Leaf.
"LISTEN UP, MEATBAGS!" roared a Sand jonin. "This is the second phase of the chunin exams. If you're here for tea and crumpets, you're in the wrong line."
"What's a 'crumpet'?" asked Naruto, earning him glares from the jonin and most of the other victims/test takers.
"Any of you, especially little kids from Leaf, that want to live and try again some other day, you can leave now," continued the jonin, continuing to look directly at Naruto.
Naruto just grinned and crossed his arms behind his head.
"Right," said the jonin. "This second part of the test is going to be grueling. Harsh. Deadly. It's going to take every survival skill you have. It's going to be the sort of harrowing experience that will give you nightmares for months to come."
"Kinda like those sandworm things on the first test?" asked Naruto.
"Well, yes," admitted the jonin. "Only more so."
"Cool!" declared Naruto.
The jonin looked at Naruto as if he couldn't quite believe this kid had gotten this far. "Okay, your task on the second part of the test will start when one member of your team draws a numbered tag like this one from the bin there. You will then draw a slip of paper from this other bin. Your task will be to arrive at THIS spot on the map at the end of the week with the numbered tag listed on your slip of paper, plus your own team's tag. If you lose your team's tag - you fail. If you fail to get the correct tag, you fail. If you fail to survive, well, I'm sure you're all surprised to learn - you FAIL. If any member of your team fails - YOU fail."
"How do we know who's got what tag?" asked one of the Suna genin.
"Use your information gathering skills if necessary," said the jonin as he watched Naruto go up to the bin and pull out a tab.
Holding it aloft, Naruto proclaimed to the group. "Okay, number Seventeen!"
"WHY did you do that?" asked the jonin, twitching a little.
"Because now we only have to really worry about one group, nobody else's going to attack us just to find out what number we've got," said Naruto matter-of-factly. "There'll be some who attack us just because we're there or we're genin or whatever, but everyone else will be concentrating on the group they need to get a tag from."
There was a murmur from the various other genin as they debated the merits and demerits of this course of action.
"Are you NUTS?" asked Kotetsu.
"You really want to spend a week of survival training in the desert in THIS heat?" asked Naruto. "It's gotta be 55oC."
"Uhm, no," admitted Kotetsu. "It's a dry heat though."
"So's an oven and stuff gets cooked pretty well in one. Well, once we find out who is after us," continued Naruto loud enough for his voice to carry, "and we get the tag we need, we can get past all the hanging around in the desert and not be completely wasted when the one-on-one third part of the exam comes around."
"I got six!" said a member of a Suna team, holding up his own tag.
"Hey," said the jonin, protesting that someone had figured out a way to avoid some of the worst of the exam this early.
Some of the other groups followed suit. Some didn't. When they were done though, Izumo went to the other bin and drew a slip of paper that said that the Leaf team would be going after:
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(Posted Mon, 29 Mar 2010 16:49)
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