The atmosphere in Room 301 was heavy enough to crush a normal person.
Ibiki Morino the sadistic proctor stood at the front of the room. His scarred face was grim as he surveyed the remaining candidates. Forty five minutes had passed and many students had already been caught cheating and thrown out.
"Now" Ibiki announced his voice echoing in the silent room. "It is time for the tenth question."
He paused letting the tension build.
"But before I give you the question I must add a special rule. You must choose whether to take this question or not."
"Choose?" Temari from the Sand Village spoke up. "What happens if we choose not to take it?"
"If you choose not to take it" Ibiki smiled cruelly "your score becomes zero. You fail. And your teammates fail with you."
"That is absurd!" Kiba Inuzuka shouted. "Of course we will take it!"
"However" Ibiki continued ignoring the outburst "if you choose to take it and you get it wrong... you will be barred from taking the Chunin Exams ever again. You will remain a Genin for the rest of your life."
A wave of fear swept through the room. To remain a Genin forever meant no high ranking missions no promotion and no respect. It was a death sentence for a ninja's career.
"Now choose" Ibiki said. "Those who are not confident raise your hand and leave."
One by one hands went up. Entire teams stood up and walked out heads hung in shame. The pressure was breaking them.
Uehara Naraku sat calmly in his seat twirling a pen.
"Psychological warfare" Uehara thought. "Boring. This guy tries too hard."
He looked at his teammates. Shigure and Baiu were trembling pale as ghosts. They looked ready to raise their hands.
"Don't do it" Uehara whispered his voice cold. "If you raise your hand I will break it."
Shigure froze. The fear of Uehara outweighed the fear of Ibiki. He slowly lowered his hand.
Suddenly a loud slam echoed through the room.
Naruto Uzumaki slammed his hand onto his desk.
"Don't underestimate me!" Naruto yelled his eyes burning with determination. "I don't care if I stay a Genin for the rest of my life! I will still become the Hokage! I am not afraid!"
His declaration shattered the heavy atmosphere. The other candidates looked at him and their fear began to dissipate replacing it with resolve.
Ibiki looked at Naruto then at the determined faces of the remaining students. He let out a small huff of amusement.
"Very well" Ibiki said. "To those of you who remain... I have only one thing to say."
He grinned.
"You pass."
"What?" Sakura blinked. "Where is the tenth question?"
"There never was one" Ibiki explained. "The choice itself was the test. To be a Chunin you must be able to face the unknown with courage. Those who ran away are not fit to lead."
Naruto cheered loudly. "I knew it! I knew it all along!"
"Liar" Uehara muttered. "You were terrified."
Before the celebration could continue a massive crash shattered the window.
CRASH!
A dark blur flew into the room smashing through the glass and unfurling a large banner that read THE SECOND EXAM.
A woman with purple hair and a mesh undershirt struck a dramatic pose in front of the banner.
"Alright you maggots!" she shouted. "No time to celebrate! I am the proctor for the second exam Anko Mitarashi! Follow me!"
Anko looked around the room. She frowned seeing so many people still sitting there.
"Ibiki you let twenty six teams pass?" Anko clicked her tongue. "You are getting soft. The first exam was supposed to weed out the weaklings."
"We have a talented batch this year" Ibiki shrugged.
"Whatever" Anko licked her lips anticipating the chaos. "By the time I am done with them less than half will remain. Meet me at Training Ground 44 in thirty minutes! Move it!"
Training Ground 44 also known as the Forest of Death was a massive enclosed forest surrounded by a high chain link fence. The trees were gigantic blocking out most of the sunlight and the sounds of strange beasts echoed from within.
The remaining seventy eight candidates gathered outside the locked gates.
Anko stood in front of them holding a stack of consent forms.
"Before we start" Anko said handing out the papers "sign these. People die in this forest. If you die I don't want the village to be sued. So sign your life away."
She pointed to the dark forest behind her.
"This is the Forest of Death. Inside there are giant insects poisonous plants and man eating tigers. And that is not counting the other teams trying to kill you."
She held up two scrolls. One was white the Heaven Scroll. The other was black the Earth Scroll.
"The rules are simple" Anko explained. "Each team will be given one scroll. Your goal is to take the other scroll from another team. Once you have both a Heaven and an Earth scroll you must reach the tower in the center of the forest within five days."
"Five days?" Choji Akimichi groaned. "What about food?"
"The forest is full of food" Anko smiled sweetly. "Just make sure the food doesn't eat you first."
Uehara took the consent form and signed it without hesitation.
"Shigure Baiu" Uehara said turning to his team. "Go get our scroll."
Shigure ran to the booth and returned a moment later holding a white Heaven Scroll.
"We got a Heaven Scroll Captain" Shigure whispered hiding it in his pouch.
"Good" Uehara nodded. "That means we need to find someone with an Earth Scroll and beat them up. Simple."
"But Captain" Baiu asked nervously looking at the towering trees. "What is our strategy? Do we set traps? Do we hide and wait?"
"Strategy?" Uehara laughed. "My strategy is to walk in a straight line to the tower. If anyone stands in my way I will run them over."
He looked at the other teams.
Gaara stood alone radiating bloodlust.
Orochimaru disguised as a Grass ninja was licking his lips staring at Sasuke.
Kabuto was whispering something to his teammates.
Naruto was arguing with a rock.
"The actors are all here" Uehara thought. "This forest is going to be a gold mine."
"Alright!" Anko shouted checking her watch. "It is time! Go to your assigned gates!"
Team Rain was assigned to Gate 12.
The metal gate rattled as the proctor unlocked the padlock.
"Ready?" the proctor asked.
"Born ready" Uehara cracked his knuckles.
The gate swung open revealing the dark ominous path into the forest.
"Go!"
Team Rain dashed into the shadows.
As soon as they were out of sight of the gate Uehara stopped.
"Captain?" Shigure skidded to a halt. "Why are we stopping?"
"Because I need to do some shopping" Uehara said.
He opened his System Interface.
[Gold: 750]
"I need 150 more gold to complete Rylai's Crystal Scepter" Uehara calculated. "I need to find three Genin to kill. Or maybe just beat up a few giant centipedes."
He activated his sensing ability Scrying Orb. The blue magical eye appeared in the sky invisible to everyone else scanning the surrounding area.
[Enemy Detected: 300 meters North. Three chakra signatures. Low level.]
"Jackpot" Uehara grinned. "Looks like we have our first customers."
He turned to his terrified teammates.
"Follow me boys. It is time to go hunting."
Deeper in the forest a scream echoed as the Chunin Exams truly began.
...
Author Note
Hi guys! Thank you for reading my fanfiction.
I wanted to let you know that I'll be releasing bonus chapters for Power Stones. Here are the goals:
15 Power Stones: 1 Bonus Chapters
30 Power Stones: 1 Bonus Chapters
50 Power Stones: 1 Bonus Chapters
75 Power Stones: 2 Bonus Chapters
100 Power Stones: 2 Bonus Chapters
Thanks for the support!