Naruto looked at the first question. Hmmm. A cipher. Look for patterns… He identified five patterns that all led to gibberish plaintext. Next.
If the arc from ninja A to ninja B is the path of shuriken C…predict the next move? Naruto groaned. He could think of at least ten different moves in that situation relying on different common jutsu. There was probably some hint buried in there to figure out which jutsu should be used, but he couldn’t figure it out. Next!
…yeah that’s not going to happen. Next!
Oh kami NEXT!
That isn’t even possible! Oh wait. Hmm. Well, if the flamingo had a rubber neck, maybe. Next.
Ibiki smiled evilly, although he didn’t feel very evil at the moment. About half of the genin had started by actually trying to take the test without cheating. The pinkette was the only one having any success, but she was panicking and looking at her teammates with every question she read. The others had all resorted to cheating.
Unlike the proctors, he was paying attention to the cheating of excellent shinobi. Individual performance and teamwork were important to note on anyone who made it to the third round, and to mark in their records. The blonde teammate of the pinkette was an interesting case. Ibiki hadn’t expected to see jutsu like that, let alone before the test had even begun. Kid clearly had a good head on his shoulders, but from the way he was scowling at the test, he wasn’t the brains of his team. Ibiki wondered if he had thought about how to retrieve the test copy, but it didn’t matter. He wouldn’t get it back before the tenth question, and it was meaningless after that hurdle. Kid would probably pass with a blank paper. What a funny kid.
Oh, the first team was just eliminated. Time to turn up the pressure. He nodded to the proctors and they all started exuding a touch of killing intent.
Naruto looked up from his test, along with everyone else, when the first genin to be eliminated made his way out.
He looked back at his own paper. He’d scribbled a few marks on it in his attempts to look like he was taking the test, but really there was only one question he was sure he could figure out, and it was taking him most of the hour to do it.
Next to him, Hinata had finally activated her byakugan. She’d stiffened slightly and glanced at him. Naruto gave her a grin.
Hinata felt a moment of indecision. Naruto had somehow split his paper and snuck in a layer of carbon paper as well. He was cheating off her. That wasn’t nice. Well, she didn’t mind that so much. Actually, she felt happy that he trusted her enough to help him, and it wasn’t like he could have asked. What was she being indecisive about? She smiled slightly at Naruto, blushed, twiddled her fingers, and scanned the room for the answers. She’d do her best, for both of them!
Naruto allowed himself a sigh of relief. He’d really have to thank her for her help later.
Sakura frowned as she saw some kind of interplay between Naruto and Hinata. Baka, don’t cheat! Now you have to get at least three questions right to keep us going!
She looked at her own paper and smiled slightly. They had been really hard, but nothing she couldn’t handle. And she was sure Sasuke could get at least half of them. Sasuke was awesome like that.
Sasuke tied his arm muscles directly to his sharingan and stared unblinkingly at his choice of victim. The genin stopped and shifted, puzzled by the next question, and Sasuke looked down at his own test to see the answer he had written. …I have no idea what any of that means, but it sounds smart at least. I hope that guy wasn’t an idiot. He looked for a new target.
The minutes ticked away slowly at a lightning pace. Every genin was aware of every agonizing second, yet at the same time it felt like there wasn’t enough time to finish the test. More and more genin broke under the pressure. Cheating became sloppier. Panic spread like wildfire.
Then with a suddenness that was almost brutal, Ibiki calmly tapped the blackboard with his chalk. “Now it is time for the tenth question. But before that, I must explain some new rules, and you must make a choice. That choice, is whether to take the question or not!”
“Eh?” came an anonymous voice. “What happens if we choose not to take the question?”
“Then you fail,” Ibiki said calmly.
Naruto’s eyes narrowed as Ibiki laid out the new rules. All the grading ceased to be important. The last question would be all or nothing.
After a few seconds, one genin lost his nerve. After that it was a stampede as genin broke under the pressure and fled.
Naruto looked at the man who threatened to crush his dreams and thought that over. No, he had faith in Hinata’s byakugan. If there was an answer, she’d find it. The question was Sasuke and Sakura.
Sakura looked at Naruto. He wasn’t freaking out nearly as bad as he should be. Sakura gasped as she realized that Naruto would risk everything for his friends. The baka would throw all his crazy dreams away rather than give up on her and Sasuke. I can’t let him do that!
Naruto swept his eyes around, looking at Sasuke. The Last Uchiha was a mask of aloof determination. Fine, that was his game face. He wasn’t worried. Naruto moved on to Sakura…whose hand was inching off her desk?
Naruto’s head spun. Sakura was brilliant. Any question that a genin could answer, she could take a pretty good swing at. So why was she? Naruto realized Sakura wasn’t looking at Ibiki, she was looking at him. Before he realized what he was doing he slammed one hand down, stood up, and pointed at Sakura. “Oi! Keep that hand down, Sakura-chan! You aren’t giving up because of me!”
Sakura stared at Naruto, utterly dumbfounded.
Naruto didn’t notice. He was in Full Scene Mode. “We said we were going to take the exam, so we’re going to take it!” He spun around and pointed at Ibiki, who was not nearly as dumbfounded. “And you! Scaring us with the big talk! Don’t underestimate me! I’ll take your question! Even if I’m stuck as a genin forever, I will become the Hokage!” He sat down. “I’m not scared!”
Sakura still had her hand halfway raised, and half expected Ibiki to just throw them out after that.
Sasuke closed his eyes and sighed. That guy can really be annoying, he thought without conviction.
Ibiki didn’t change his expression. “I’ll ask one more time,” he announced. “Does anyone else wish to resign?”
“Didn’t I just say I wouldn’t?” Naruto asked. “I don’t go back on what I say. That’s my Way of the Ninja.”
Sakura realized people were looking at her half-raised hand and lowered it. “If the fool wants to risk it all, who am I to stand in his way?” she said.
Ibiki pumped up the intimidation a bit, but it was useless. Blondie’s speech was quite effective. The Hyuuga he was cheating off of looked starstruck, the Uchiha just looked annoyed, and everyone else was either inspired or unwilling to do worse than someone that loud. Either way, no one was feeling the pressure anymore. Even the proctors were smiling openly.
And Ibiki would have been lying if he said he didn’t feel it either. What a funny kid.
“You all pass!”
Part two: survival in the forest of death!
"I'm much scarier than anything in here!"
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(Posted Wed, 06 Jul 2011 19:26)
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