Yohei's eye twitched.
"Left shoulder!" Warned Gōdo.
He obeyed.
His chakra, which had already been primed and ready, quickly moved towards the indicated part of his body. It took a fraction of a second for the Iron Body Transformation Technique to take effect, making the skin gain a faint metallic sheen.
It took just a bit more time after that for him to put into practice what he had learned from the Physique Manipulation Manual, tightening his muscles to the point they became like armor in what he had come to call the 'Adamantine Kata', dubbed so in honor of the similar technique from the Niko Style of martial arts.
Without using his Scrap Iron Pills or going into a Warframe, this was pretty much as perfect of a defense as Yohei could make. Certainly more than enough to block the attack being delivered by his sadistic senpai-
Thump!
"Hnnng!"
-If, that is, the bastard didn't completely ignore it and hit his other shoulder.
"Motherfu-" Yohei swore, gritting his teeth and blinking to make the tears that had gatherers in his eyes fall, "Why?"
"Hm?" Gōdo asked with a tilt of the head, resting the rock staff on his shoulder, "Why, what?"
"Why are you calling out one place and hitting anoth-!"
"Chest!" Gōdo interrupted his question, weapon already swinging.
Once more, Yohei did as practiced, moving his chakra, activating the Iron Body, and then tightening up his muscles.
… Only for the staff to hit him right in the belly.
"Oof-" Yohei coughed with wide eyes, trying not to puke as the air was driven out from him.
Gōdo tsked, shaking his head, "What are you talking about, Kohai-kun? If an enemy says they'll aim for your head, are you going to believe them? Don't try to shield the place I'm saying I'm going to hit, but where the weapon is moving towards."
Yohei stared incredulously at him, "But you're the one who trained me like that-!"
Once more, he was interrupted.
"Feet!"
This time, however, he didn't fall for the trick. Focusing his all into the trajectory of the staff, he saw that it was heading straight towards his knee.
He smiled, seeing the metallic sheen cover the skin well before the hit could connect…
Thack!
… only for the staff to tilt slightly to the side, passing straight down and smashing into the top of his left foot.
This time, the pain was enough to make Yohei abandon the stance he had been on to kneel down, hissing as his hands hovered over the swelling limb.
Gōdo nodded, "That's right, I did! At first, it was useful to get the strikes of the Strong Fist on your head; then it was useful to train up your speed when activating your defenses. But now we need to break you out of this habit before it becomes a problem." He tilted his head in confusion, one hand on his hip, "This would be a lot less painful if you were cycling chakra, you know?"
Yohei sighed, rubbing the swelling and shaking his head, "Having a body that's as strong as a ninja's without using chakra is an advantage I can't just ignore, I need to learn how to work with just that, in case of emergency." Then, as the pain passed he stood up, chuckling, "Besides, I'll learn faster if it hurts, right?"
"Probably! We'll certainly find out!" Gōdo said with a laugh, then grinned widely, "Does that mean you'll stop bitching about it and take your hits like a man?"
Yohei returned in kind, showing his fangs, "Only if you promise to stop hitting like a girl."
"Hahahahaha! Kohai-kun, you're a riot!" Gōdo laughed.
As he did that, though, his chakra covered his staff, darkening the compacted rock and making it smoother. It continuously absorbed the earth it was touching, adding mass onto it and creating a wide hole on the ground.
'I should learn when to keep my mouth shut.' Yohei decided, letting out a sigh and already mentally preparing himself for another night of practical medical ninjutsu training.
The incoming session of borderline torture was interrupted before it could start by Hayama coming out of the treeline, catching both of their attentions and causing the weapon in Gōdo's grip to crumble to dust as his concentration slipped.
Both Ren and Souma were following behind him, and on his arm was a white, somewhat eagle-shaped bird, though it flew away before he could get a proper look.
"I was called to report to Lord Hokage." Hayama explained, making Yohei's eyes widen.
He traded knowing looks with Ren and Souma, and then stumbled as a laughing Gōdo gave him a 'light' slap on the shoulder.
"It was about time!" The older boy declared.
Hayama didn't comment on it, but he too had a smile on his face. "You three are dismissed for today. We'll meet up again tomorrow as usual in front of the Academy and I'll update you on the situation."
"Understood!" The Genin said.
With a nod, Hayama looked to the side and disappeared in a gust of wind.
Yohei wasted no time in dusting himself off and rushing to pick up his Kanabo which had been left laying against a tree, much to Gōdo's protest.
"Oh, come on, leaving already!? I just got fired up!" The mountain in the shape of a boy grumbled.
Yohei turned to him with an apologetic smile, bowing a bit with a hand pressed sideways on his forehead.
"Sorry, senpai, I've got something to do today!" Quickly thinking up a solution to the predicament, he turned to the always reliable sword-maniac of his team, "I'm sure Souma would like to spar with you!"
Souma, who had his clothes shredded all over and small cuts littering his dirt-covered body nodded firmly, an eager look in his eyes as he turned expectantly to Gōdo, who was already reforming his weapon with a grin.
Yohei shook his head, chuckling and moving away, starting to cycle his chakra as he did so.
Ren wasn't far behind him, not even sparing a look as the two they left behind started doing their best to beat each other to a pulp.
"What's the rush?" The red-eyed boy asked with a raised brow, noticing him speeding up.
Yohei grinned. "I've got a redhead to find."
"... you're not going to elaborate on that?"
Yohei laughed, "Nope!"
Then he breathed in, entering Total Concentration Breathing to flood his body with chakra and pushing against the floor, leaving it to crack behind him as he dashed forwards, out of Ren's eyesight.
-~=~-
"There you are…" Yohei muttered with satisfaction, eyes closed and sitting atop the tallest building around. In one of his hands he made the Seal of Confrontation, using it to knead chakra for sensing.
While this wasn't the way he preferred to do this - being much more of a fan of using the modified Chakra Highlight Technique - Yohei had still trained the 'usual way' to an acceptable degree, which meant he was perfectly capable of feeling the three signatures within his range.
All of them felt… 'golden', though certainly different from Naruto's and in different shades. One was lighter and fainter, almost white; the other was darker and brownish; and the last was like 'burnt gold' from all of the red mixed in.
Opening his eyes in the direction he sensed them, it was quite easy to catch sight of his targets.
The first was a blonde girl, dressed in clothes he would rate as coming from the same line of thought as Ino's did.
'Why do so many kunoichi treat their armor like fishnets?' He grumbled mentally.
By her side, looking at the streets like a tourist who was going through a great amount of effort not to seem approving of anything he was seeing, was a boy dressed in a black, baggy full body suit, with a black hood with cat-like ears that served as his forehead protector.
More noticeable to Yohei than his attire was sensing that even while 'relaxed' the boy kept a measure of his chakra pooled at his fingertips.
'That's interesting… Is that something every puppeteer does, or what?'
As for the third signature…
Yohei swiped his eyes around the scene, unable to find him out.
'He's hiding,' Yohei concluded with a smile, 'Ownt… that's adorable. Even when he's still a neurotic little fucker, he's worried about his siblings and staying close to keep an eye on them. I bet he justifies it to himself by saying that he's making sure they're not shaming the Hidden Sand or something like that.'
Yohei blinks, turning in surprise as other signatures - one of them being rather familiar - enter his range.
He watches, dumbfounded, as Naruto and company walk alongside the street, heading straight towards the sand siblings.
"So despite all the butterflies, this is still happening, huh?" He muttered, "Though, I suppose it's not really the same this time around."
What he remembered from this 'scene' was that Naruto and Konohamaru's gang were running away from Sakura, only for the 'Honored Grandson' to crash against Kankuro and start the whole mini-conflict.
This time around, however, the entirety of Team 7 was walking together and talking, with the kids running around and pestering them.
'So Sasuke's not being moody for a change…' He thought with a twitch of his lips, 'Actually, thinking about it, it's kind of suspicious that he showed up just in time to make a dramatic entrance when he was supposed to have gone back home in the original timeline. Was he just being a tsundere like Gaara and following the other two along? That would be hilarious.'
The mirth slipped from his face when three other signatures appeared, slowly following behind Team 7 and doing an actual great work of hiding themselves, at least from sight.
'That should be the trio from the Sound.' He guessed.
His distraction was enough for Yohei to almost miss what happened.
The chakra pooling in one of Kankuro's fingers extended into a thin line that affixed itself to the two sides of the street - and the obvious result was that the kids, plus an unaware Naruto, all tripped on it.
Of the four, though, only two actually fell, that being his dumb blond friend and Konohamaru - with Sasuke moving quickly and holding up the girl and the four-eyes before they could crash on the floor.
Yohei was way too far away to hear their voices, but he could see Kankuro talking with a mocking smile, while Temari seemed to hold back her own amusement while giving him an exasperated look.
Naruto jumped up from the ground, turning a glare at the boy and shouting while pointing his finger. Kankuro, still with a mocking smile on his face went to reply, but as he did so, Sasuke stomped his foot down, which made the puppeteer stumble forwards with wide eyes.
'Right, the Chakra Thread. Did he use the Sharingan to see them?' Yohei wondered, wishing he had some popcorn to enjoy the brewing drama.
In response to the humiliation, Kankuro seemed fully willing to escalate the issue, pulling the bandaged puppet from his back with a glare, much to Temari's reproach and panic as she put a hand in his arm as if to hold him back.
'Now, Gaara's going to show up to put the fear of sand satan on everyone while trading names with Sasuke,' Yohei recited the script in his head. Then blinked as an idea came to mind, making him smirk, 'Unless…'
With a single smooth movement, Yohei stood up and pressed his hand against the wall beside him.
'Summoning: Saw Cleaver!'
In the same motion he spun, holding the weapon by the end of the handle and throwing it.
It was just a moment too late that he considered what may happen if his aim failed him…
But he soon released a sigh of relief that he quickly hid as the weapon fell right between the two groups… though a bit closer to Naruto than should be safe.
'I guess playing around with the Fūma Shuriken was actually useful for something,' he thought with a grin.
They all stared quietly at the blade which had sunk deep into the ground - including Gaara, who had manifested in a spiral of sand, staring at the weapon intensely before shifting his gaze to Yohei, a motion copied by the others, despite their surprise at the appearance of the boy.
In the moments between throwing the Saw Cleaver and now, Yohei had rushed to change his pose, so the sight they were greeted to was the blue eyed and armored boy standing upside down on the roof of the building, one hand in his pocket and the other waving idly as he grinned toothly.
Despite the distance, this time he was able to hear it quite clearly as a spooked Naruto looked between the weapon not even a meter way from his body and back to him before screaming:
"YOOOOOOOHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEI!"
He laughed.
-~=~-
The atmosphere of the Hokage meeting room was quite different from the Mission Desk.
It was understandable, really. The places served completely different purposes.
The Mission Desk was designed to show an approachable side of the Hokage and the Village - both to the ninja, who'd be greeted with warmth and brightness before and after their missions; and to the commissioners and clients, who'd be more likely to come to them for jobs if they weren't subjected to an oppressive atmosphere.
The meeting room, however, was designed to show another side of the Hokage - that of a leader, sage and military commander all in one.
It was long and spacious, but the lack of windows or any visible doors beyond the one at the entrance made everyone who came inside feel as if they had stepped into someone's domain.
There was little decoration of notice beyond some pieces of calligraphy hanging from the walls and some plumbing whose purpose he had never bothered to question in depth.
A long red carpet trimmed in gold extended from the door all the way into the back of the room, leading towards the slightly elevated platform where the Hokage sat at his 'throne'.
The last time he had been here, that was the extent of it, but today, for some reason known only to himself, Hiruzen had also placed a table in front of him, with his crystal ball laid on it flanked by a pair of candles which provided the only illumination in the room.
… Hayama didn't get why, since he knew for a fact that there were electrical lamps, but he supposed if anyone should be afforded leave to be dramatic it would be the Hokage.
'Souma and Yohei would love being here,' he thought with some amusement, 'Ren as well, if for different reasons.'
He wasn't the only one present, of course.
Beyond him and the Hokage there were dozens of others. Most of them fellow Jonin, though he could recognize some Chunin as well.
'Academy teachers,' he reasoned. 'And the administration of the Genin Corp.'
Before he could ruminate more on it, the wizened voice of the Village's leader rang out in the silent room.
"Seeing whom I invited here, you may be able to guess what we are reunited to discuss." Started Hiruzen, lighting up his pipe with a small application of Fire Chakra.
"Is it time already?" Asked Kakashi in a drawl.
Hayama looked flatly at the lazy-looking brat, posture slouched and with both hands on his pockets.
He gave it a fifty-fifty chance that the young man had genuinely lost track of time or was just doing that to mess up with the others.
"Lord Hokage, have you already notified the nobles from other villages? I've noticed the presence of some foreigners on the streets." Asked another Jonin with a frown.
Hiruzen chuckled.
"Is that so? My, what a hurry…" He took a drag of his pipe, blowing some smoke before declaring, "Well, to make it completely official, I hereby announce: Seven days from now, on July 1st, we shall begin conducting examinations for the journeyman ninja, the Chunin."
As it always did when this time of the year came around and the announcement was made, a wave of complicated feelings spread among the gathered shinobi.
Nostalgia, excitement, melancholy, eagerness, regret, amusement and more.
All of them had gone through it in the past, and they all carried the experiences and memories from such a time in their hearts.
For each ninja present, the Chunin Exams represented something different in their history.
The Hokage let them take a few moments to compose themselves before continuing, though as he did so he also put out the candles and stored his crystal ball, flipping a switch beneath his table that turned on the lights of the room.
Hayama restrained the impulse to comment on it.
"Now then, I believe we'd all like to hear first from those who have overseen the training of our newest junior ninja." Hiruzen prompted, and as one, four individuals - including Hayama himself - stepped forwards.
He was surprised, though he held it back from showing in his face.
In truth, he hadn't really bothered to keep in contact with the other Jonin these past months - with a few exceptions, of course - so their number had been a genuine shock for him.
'A mere four teams graduating in a year…' He mused, 'I wonder if this is a consequence of those peaceful times. Are the others more willing to let the children become better prepared before they start working since there's no urgency, or is this new generation simply weaker for growing up without knowing the pressures of war?'
His mind went to his own students and he almost snorted.
'Ah… thinking that the new generation is weak just because they haven't suffered as we have. Old people really are quite arrogant, huh? Or perhaps bitter would be a better word for it.'
"Masters Hayama, Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma; tell us… do any of you have, among your charges, any genin you'd recommend for this year's journeyman exams?" The Hokage questioned, bringing Hayama out of his thoughts, "Remember that before we can even consider them, they must have completed a minimum of eight C-Rank missions. Beyond that, employ your own judgement as to whether they are ready to aspire to the next level."
Smiling around his pipe, the old man continued, rolling his hand, "Of course, to be truly competitive candidates they should probably have completed at least double that number…"
That right there was a key element that most Genin and inexperienced - for a given value of the word - jonin didn't properly consider.
What the Hokage was talking about wasn't about the level of skill of their students, but their proven history in the field.
Being powerful and capable, ironic as it may sound, wasn't enough to get an individual a promotion.
Even if a genin beats a chuunin, that doesn't mean that they are more worthy of the flak vest than their superior.
That's because, at the end of the day, Ninja weren't just fighters and saboteurs - they were, at their root, multipurpose mercenaries.
How many skills do they hold beyond combat?
How good are they at leading?
How well can they command the trust and belief of their fellows?
How quickly can they make a strategy after being surprised by an unexpected event?
Can they make sound decisions when it truly matters?
How is their behavior while on a mission?
How do they treat their clients?
Are they able to build a good relationship that'll bring in more commissions?
All of those and more were essential questions when it came to deciding whether one should be promoted or not.
And sure enough, some of them would be answered in the coming days of the Exam, but having a documented past that could be analyzed and pointed at as proof of their competency really mattered..
In a way, his kids were already at a disadvantage from the start.
Seeing the Hokage's gaze fall on him, Hayama nodded.
"Cell Number 5, led by Shirakumo Hayama, consisting of Kuroyama Yohei, Mikazuki Souma and Kouen Ren. I vow upon my sword and life that all three of them are ready for the Chuunin Selection Exam."
A noise of surprise rang out from behind, along with some shuffling of feet and turned heads, but no one commented on it.
Next was the scarecrow.
"Cell Number 7, led by Kakashi Hakate, consisting of Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sakura Haruno. I vow upon the honor of my clan, the Hatake, that all three of them are ready for the Chuunin Selection Exam."
This time it wasn't just a noise, but an outright exclamation of disbelief as the same person from before said, "What?!"
None of the others paid him any mind, however.
"Cell Number 8, led by Kurenai Yuhi, consisting of Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame. I vow upon my own clan, the Yuhi, that all three of them are ready for the Chuunin Selection Exam."
"Cell Number 10, led by Asuma Sarutobi, consisting of Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi. I vow upon my clan, the Sarutobi, that all three of them are ready for the Chuunin Selection Exam."
Hiruzuen smiled, "My, my… how unusual, for all of you to have assented without any hesitation whatsoever."
'Of course.' Hayama thought promptly, 'To hesitate now would be an insult to their hard work.'
Before he could voice his thoughts, however, the 'ceremony' was once more interrupted by the individual from before.
"J-just a moment! Lord Hokage, please allow me to speak!"
Hiruzen nodded calmly, "Go ahead, Iruka."
'Ah, yes, their last professor.'
Stepping forwards with a somewhat nervous countenance, the tanned man with a scar crossing over his nose winced before firming his expression and starting his tirade.
"Forgive me if I overstep, but all of the genin just named were my students while they were at the academy." he explained, then waved a hand, "Certainly, they are all gifted and show both commitment and talent… but it's too soon for kids that young to be stepping up to the rank of chuunin. Only with time will they have the kind of experience and maturity those exams require. I don't understand why their supervisors can't see that!"
'How presumptuous,' Hayama thought, turning a glare at the man, who swallowed dryly, 'In a single breath he insulted our capacity both as instructors and as ninja, calling us all as unable to measure the strength of our students and recognize the dangers of the situation.'
From the corner of his eyes he could see both Asuma and Kurenai tightening their expressions in annoyance as well.
His indignation lessened some, however, once he noticed that rather than doubt at their assessment, it was worry for the genin that had moved the man to speak up.
That, he could not only understand, but also approve and appreciate.
… It was still a bit insulting, but he could wave it off.
Kakashi didn't seem to share this opinion.
"I was six years younger than Naruto when I became a chunnin, Iruka," the white-haired man pointed out with humor.
It really highlighted the absurdity of the argument, despite Kakashi being an exception among exceptions.
Age never had anything to do with the rankings of ninja.
… Though, considering how things turned out with the last prodigy to rise quickly through the ranks, perhaps it should.
"Naruto's not like you!" Iruka exclaimed the obvious, turning towards him and the other instructors to look for someone more reasonable, "Do you all want to destroy these children!? You know what they call those Exams, don't you!?"
'The Rookie Killers, the Genin Slaughterhouse, the Junior Wars, the Great Filter… please be more specific.'
Kakashi seemed to find the man's panic funny, chuckling and waving a hand, "Honestly, they gripe about every little detail of every single mission. Just for once, I think it would do them good to find out what real pain is…" Now Hayama was the one glaring at him. "Let's admit it. Breaking them would be fun."
'You're going way too far, Kakashi.'
Iruka seemed to think so as well, veins jumping on his face as he glared almost murderously at the white haired man.
"Are you out of your mind!?"
"... It was a joke, Iruka." Kakashi explained exasperatedly.
'A shit one.'
The Yuhi girl thought the same, or she was just genuinely done with this entire theatre, as she turned with an impassive face and told Kakashi to hurry up.
The man nodded, shrugging and leaving some last words, "It's none of your business anyway… they're not your students anymore. They are soldiers under my command."
Hayama couldn't hold his tongue anymore.
"Since you are saying that, you are referring to your own students, yes? I don't believe I authorized you to command my Genin." He told the white haired man, who turned to him with a somewhat embarrassed face, rubbing the back of his head, "Since this entire discussion seems to be about your students in particular, then I believe you should solve it between yourselves and Lord Hokage. There is no need to further drag this on when we all have other things to do."
The backhanded scolding given by who just may be the second oldest Shinobi in the room gave everyone pause, until the actual oldest chuckled and released the tension.
"Quite right, Hayama." Hiruzen said, grinning around his pipe and letting out a puff of smoke, "In that case, let us go ahead with the instructors of the previous batch…"
-~=~-
One week after his first meeting with the ninja from the Hidden Sand, Yohei found himself humming a song from his other world as he walked towards the site where the first part of the Exam was going to happen.
Unsurprisingly, it wasn't going to be in the Academy, considering how it was such a hub for the administrative wing of the Village, and how foreign operatives and sensitive information should never be placed so close to each other.
The building, from his previous scouting of it, was just one of the civilian schools in the village, which provided general education for those whose parents opted not to enroll for the ninja course.
'Which, completely understandable, really.'
"You got better."
"Hm?" Yohei questioned, tilting his head and turning to look at Souma after his rather sudden comment.
"Singing. You got better at it." The white haired boy explained with a soft smile.
"Oh. Oh! Uh, thanks!" Yohei said, chuckling with some embarrassment at the praise. Partly because of how genuine it was and part because of where this growth in skill had come from, "It's… not that great, really."
"It really isn't," Ren agreed with a nod, making Yohei forget his embarrassment to glare at him. "You can't sing for shit. But you know, I have an aunt who has a voice like a saint, I'm sure she would love to-"
He's interrupted by Yohei covering his face with his hand and raising him off the ground, all the while keeping his stride into the building.
"Don't even start with that shit, Wimpy." Yohei said in an exasperated voice, letting go of the small boy before he either licked his palm or stabbed it with a needle.
Sure enough, the midget already had a hand inside one of his pouches, and was staring with narrowed eyes at Yohei, who laughed.
As they walk up the stairs, Yohei couldn't help but wonder how he should play things out.
While he and Nanami had made several plans for how to proceed with specific parts of the Exam, they were more concerned with the situation of the invasion in general rather than… well, the exam itself.
The fact that Yohei didn't perfectly remember everything also made it pretty hard for them to decide such things.
In the end, some things were left mostly to his discretion.
Though, from his memories, the only notable thing here would be the illusion test placed by two of the proctors to make others believe the second floor was the third.
Should he also go along with it? Pretend he had fallen to the illusion?
'It was a bit of a moment for Sakura, wasn't it? Getting some affirmation of her skills from Sasuke, which gave her the confidence to actually take part in the Exams…' he pursed his lips, 'If I interfere with this, is she going to give up? Will Team 7 be eliminated because of it? That would throw the entire timeline out of whack.'
His musings were left aside once they actually stepped into the second floor and Yohei was greeted to the chaotic sight in it.
A large group of Shinobi ranging from kids just a bit older than them all the way up to either old teenagers or young adults were standing around in front of a door blocked by two guys with mean smirks and Konoha headbands.
On the floor, Yohei could see none else other than Lee - with his bowlcut, giant eyebrows and green spandex suit.
There were bruises all over his face.
'Wait, I didn't remember tha-'
Before he could even complete the thought, he was distracted by a loud slap.
One of the transformed examiners had backhanded a girl, who fell down with a cry, her face already reddening.
Yohei didn't really think about his next action, all he knew was that between one moment and the next, he had vanished from his spot and was swinging his kanabō down at the head of the proctor, who looked at him with wide eyes.
'Water Breathing: Eight Form-'
Thunk.
… Thankfully, his attack was stopped cold by Souma's sword.
The white haired boy, despite the visible strain in his hands to keep their weapons locked, did not allow it to show on his face, only giving him a calming look.
"She's not hurt." he told Yohei, who blinked and looked to the side.
Sure enough, the girl looking at him with wide eyes - Tenten, he finally noticed - wasn't actually injured. The redness on her face was really superficial, just as Lee's were.
'They were downplaying their strength,' he finally understood.
Letting out a sigh and breaking out of his Total Concentration Breaking, Yohei chuckled, patting the man he was targeting just a few moments before on the shoulder.
"Sorry, dude, I almost killed ya." He said with some embarrassment, rubbing the back of his head. It was a bit of an exaggeration, the blow wouldn't actually kill the proctor, but it certainly would have been enough to punt him through the floor.Then, he shrugged, tightening his grip a bit, "Next time go a bit tamer on the roleplay, yeah?"
And then he was walking off, this whole thing having completely soured his mood and made him unwilling to waste more time.
Souma sheathed his sword and gave a small bow to the proctors before following along - and Ren, who had a growing migraine already, put on his game face and helped a still stunned Tenten up, kissing her hand and winking, only to be dragged off like a cat by Yohei, who pulled him along by the scruff of his coat.
The surprised ninja gathered couldn't do much more than watch as the three walked past what seemed like a solid wall; and all one of the proctors had time to do was groan and pinch the bridge of his nose before the kids broke out of their daze and started shouting questions.
That, however, was none of Yohei's concern, so he just did his best to ignore the noise behind him as the three members of Team 5 marched on towards the room where the examination would take place.
… Well, two of them marched.
"If you don't let me go by now, I swear by every kami in heaven and every demon in hell that I'll-"
He didn't let the diminutive boy finish his threat, letting him down - gently - with a chuckle.
For a moment, Yohei considered asking Ren to put up a Genjutsu around them so they could stay around and see if Sasuke's fight with Lee would still happen, but…
'Why should I?'
Even if it still happened, it's not like it would actually help him in any way. He already knew what Lee was capable of from his spars with Gōdo, and neither he nor Sasuke were opponents he'd face with anything less than his all.
Confirming if Sasuke had advanced a bit beyond his 'canonical' counterpart was also useless.
The best bet would be to just assume he was at least as strong as he would be at the end of the Exams without the Cursed Seal.
There were times where overestimating your opponents was just as dangerous as underestimating them.
This does not apply at all when said opponent is a reincarnating alien demigod.
Of course, saying that there was nothing to gain from watching such a fight was rather dishonest, but… well, Yohei was irritated.
Arriving on the third floor, they opened the first door in sight, leading to Class 301 and we're greeted to the sight of-
'... that's a lot of people.'
The classroom, which was much bigger than he expected, was filled to the brim with ninja - a few of whom he vaguely recognized from the Village, but there were also so many foreigners.
It was awesome.
Seeing so many different people was honestly a… breath of fresh air.
There were some dressed in 'modern' clothes; others dressed as stereotypical ninja from Terra; some had a measure of armor; while a few were basically dressed in mesh and bandages.
He found himself wanting to talk to them, to ask them about their experiences.
He knew how life was like at Konoha, but what was it like at the Sand? How was their daily life? What did they do to have fun? How was it like to live in a city in the middle of the desert?
And what about Waterfall? How big actually was that tree in the middle of their village? What kind of animals lived on it? What kind of fish developed in those chakra rich waters? Yohei always thought that it looked like the home of a fantasy elf or fairy race.
He really wanted to go there.
Unfortunately, most people, even the ones from their own Village, looked like Team 5 had pissed on their heads.
'Is that some kind of scare the rookies tactic or are they genuinely pissed because of our age?' Yohei wondered, then blinked, 'Wait, no, Souma looks like he's fifteen or something, and I sure as hell don't look much like a twelve year old anymore, how the hell would they even know how old we-'
With dawning realization, Yohei turned to his red-eyes teammate with a frown.
Ren, who was irritated by the little scene they had made earlier and the way the other ninja seemed to be targeting them, looked back at him with the look of someone ready to snap.
"What?"
"It's your fault." Yohei told him flatly.
Ren's eye twitched and he breathed deeply, mentally counting down from a hundred to avoid attacking his dumbass of a teammate.
With a crooked smile and closed eyes he tilted his head and sweetly asked: "Do you wanna die?"
Souma sighed, chopping them both upside the head with a reproachful look, "Don't fight here."
'Oh, so it's okay to fight somewhere else?' Yohei thought with a laugh.
Before he could vocalize his thoughts, however, Team 5's attention was taken by the sound of approaching steps.
Looking over, Yohei smiled as he saw Kiba approaching them with Hinata and Shino following behind him.
'Dog boy, bug boy, and the moon princess.'
The three really did make for the strangest team of the Konoha twelve.
'Well, Konoha fifteen, now.'
The closer they got, though, the more Kiba's smile slipped off his face, as he looked around for something and didn't seem to find it.
After around a dozen seconds of awkward silence between the two teams, he finally turned to Yohei with a frown and asked, "Where's Mugetsu?"
'Yeah, I could see that coming a mile away.'
"Hello to you too, Kiba. I'm fine, thanks for asking." He snarked, then turned to look at the other two, greeting them with a much better natured smile, "Hey there Shino, Lady Hinata."
Shino nodded back at him silently, fixing his sunglasses. Hinata, however, had gotten flushed in a rather amusing shade of head, ducking her head and waving uncertainly with a wobbly smile.
"A-ah, hello, Yohei-san."
Ren, not one to lose the chance to tease someone, did his best to hide the grin in his face as he bowed dramatically.
"Lady Hinata," he greeted solemnly, getting a squeak from the shy girl.
As his friends and the other two talked with each other, Yohei was distracted by the high-pitched bark of the furry little fella who was growling at him.
"Sorry, sorry," he apologized with a chuckle, "Hello to you too, Akamaru. I left Mugetsu with Hana, she's making sure my girl's ready for whatever if I need to call her today."
Kiba tsked.
"Lame. You should have done that before." Then the wild looking boy shrugged, a fanged grin growing on his face, "Whatever, at least we'll finally get to fight without my sister butting in."
Yohei snapped his fingers, remembering the talk he had with her months ago, just after he had gone through his transformation. "Right! I did make her a promise about that."
"What about?" Kiba asked with a bothered frown.
Yohei waved it off with a laugh, "You'll find out if we do end up fighting."
Turning to look at the other four who were talking between themselves, Yohei raised an eyebrow.
"Honestly, I'm surprised Hinata even knows my name."
The girl, who apparently heard his comment, did her best to avoid his eyes and look away.
Kiba laughed, throwing one arm over his shoulder.
"Well, yeah, why would she? You were kind of a nobody in the Academy."
Yohei gave the bastard a dry look.
'I'll be really happy to kick his ass.' He decided, then grinned, 'Actually, maybe it would be better to give him a lesson in the Forest rather than leave it up to chance in the tournament.'
Enticing as the prospect may be, he knew he couldn't actually do it.
The upcoming days in the Forest would be the most dangerous ones in the entirety of the Exams - and also kind of critical. There were a few different things he had to accomplish during them, and he couldn't lose time and energy in a needless fight.
"Oi," Kiba prompted, poking him with a finger, "Who else do you think will come?"
Yohei tried not to laugh at the way Hinata had shifted her attention to the both of them. Giving her a knowing look that had the girl flushing once more, he shrugged.
Focusing on his chakra, he kneaded some of it and felt his smile grow as he turned to the entrance of the room.
"Why don't you see for yourself?"
Just as he finished saying that, a rather irate looking blonde kicked the door open.
His orange and blue jumpsuit was a bit ruffled, and his face was covered in some bruises that were already healing.
"Where's that damned bushy brows!?" Naruto demanded, looking around with a scowls, "I'll kick his ass!"
…
'Alright, maybe I should have stayed behind to watch that fight. What the hell happened?'
Walking behind him were an amused Sasuke and an exasperated Sakura, who upon noticing the mass of ninja glaring at her teammate - and her by consequence - hurried to shut Naruto's mouth up with a hand, sheepishly bowing and pushing his head down along.
"Ah, sorry about that, he's a bit touched in the head."
Yohei snorted a laugh, getting the blonde to shift his glare at him.
Before he could do anything, however, the door opened once more, and Team 10 walked in.
For a moment, Yohei expected Ino to jump on Sasuke's back as he remembered her doing in the canon timeline.
Instead, she tsked mockingly, tapping Sakura in the back.
"Get moving, Billboard Brow, your forehead's blocking the way."
Sakura, of course, immediately turned around and started 'biting' back.
Yohei watched the two of them trade barbs for a solid few seconds until Ino noticed his staring. The girl smiled impishly, giving him a wink and sticking out her tongue before turning her attention back to Sakura.
He chuckled, scratching his cheek and looking off to the side, feeling awfully embarrassed.
Coincidentally, that also resulted in him catching sight of Ren, who was looking at him with narrowed eyes and a shit-eating grin.
Yohei glared, mouthing 'not a word'.
The little bastard's grin only grew in response.
Kiba's laughter broke their stare off, "Alright! Looks like the gang's all here!"
"The circus, you mean," Shikamaru corrected.
Yohei was about to talk to the pineapple head when an annoyance voided from behind him made them all quiet down.
"Good grief, none of you have a lick of sense, do you?"
Turning, Yohei did his best to steady his breathing as he caught sight of the person he had already been expecting.
With white hair pulled in a ponytail, dressed in unassuming neutral clothes and wearing round glasses - Kabuto was looking down at them with something between disappointment and irritation.
"You know that this isn't a school trip, right?"
"Who the hell are you?" Ino questioned accusingly.
The bastard shrugged, "My name's Kabuto. But I'm not the one you should be worried about." Saying so, he nudged his head to the side.
Sure enough, glaring back at them murderously was a group of older ninja, their forehead protectors depicting four vertical lines.
"Watch out for those guys, they're from the Village Hidden in the Rain and they got very short fuses." Kabuto informed them.
'The Hidden Rain… So they are from Amegakure, huh.' Looking at them and remembering what he knew about their country, he couldn't help but feel pity. 'Nagato probably sent them here to gather information about the Nine Tails Jinchuriki… I doubt they're the kind who would hesitate to take the last question of the written Exam, so if they didn't get to even take part in the Tournament, chances are that they all died in the Forest of Death.'
"But it's not just them," the triple agent continued, waving his hand around the room, "Everyone's here is on edge, waiting to take the Exam. I wanted to give you a heads-up before someone snaps and beats the crap out of you."
To Yohei's utter lack of surprise and yet much to his amusement, Souma actually seemed to be looking forwards to someone snapping.
Putting a hand on the boy's shoulder to catch his attention, Yohei shook his head firmly.
Letting out a disappointed sigh, Souma nodded solemnly, calming down.
Kabuto tsked, putting a hand on his waist, "I guess it can't be helped, though. Like all rookies, you think you already know everything." He chuckled, "I remember what it was like."
"Ah, Kabuto?" Called Sakura a bit uncertainly, getting a nod from him, "Are you saying this is the second time you applied?"
The white haired boy smiled helplessly, "The seventh, actually. I've been doing it twice a year now for… well, four years in a row."
Putting on a front of being impressed, Sakura made a sound of surprise, "Wow! I guess you've got a lot of experience with what we can expect, huh?"
Yohei held back a snort. 'Pinky's trying to be slick.'
"Cute." Kabuto said flatly, having obviously caught on the attempt to butter him up. Sakura deflated a bit, smiling sheepishly. The boy rolled his eyes at the sight and caved in, "Oh, what the hell. I guess the least I can do is give you babies some intel on what you're in for."
Already knowing what was going to happen, Yohei watched as the slimy fucker took out a deck of cards from one of his pouches, explaining how they worked through a seal to store information that could only be revealed with his chakra.
"Can you do something like that?" Yohei quietly asked Ren.
The red-eyed boy didn't seem very impressed by the description, shrugging, "Probably-"
Then the cards activated, and a tridimensional map of the Elemental Nations filled with data about the number of genin coming from each of the hidden villages appeared.
"-not, what the hell?"
Yohei tried not to laugh.
From the info given by Kabuto, there were 30 contestants from Sand, 21 from Rain, a mere 6 from Grass - which, he guessed would only really be 3 now since Orochimaru and his goons had killed and taken the faces of one of the teams - then another 6 from Waterfall, a whooping 90 from Konoha and just 3 from Sound.
In total, there were 156 Shinobi in the classroom, representing 52 teams.
… that was probably a strong enough force to take over a metropolis from back on Terra.
Yohei was brought out of his musings by Ren pinching his hand and pointing at the floor.
There, in one of the cards, was his face.
'...Fucking Sasuke.' He sighed.
"Kuroyama Yohei," Kabuto said, smiling up at him before looking back down to the card, "Under the command of the Jonin Sensei Hayama Shirakumo, with a total of 9 C-Ranked missions completed, and… wow! One A-Rank! I couldn't find anything on it, but that's something you don't see everyday, it's even more impressive than Gaara's B-Rank. Taijutsu and some kind of body alteration Ninjutsu seems to be his specialty."
The four-eyed fucker moved to collect his cards, but before he could do that, a senbon pierced clear through Youhei's.
Ren, who had thrown the needle and had another between his teeth, smiled sweetly down at the white-haired boy. "Why don't you show us yours, now?"
Kabuto chuckled, pulling out the senbon and standing up like nothing had happened. "I didn't make one for me, obviously. It wouldn't be very useful, would it? If anything I think that would be rather vain." Handing the thrown weapon back to his teammate, Kabuto continued, shrugging nonchalantly, "Not that there's much to note down, anyway. I'm just your average shinobi. Though… I can't say the same for the others here."
He counted on his fingers, "The Sand, the Rain, the Grass, the Waterfall, and the Sound… This year, every hidden village has sent outstanding genin here to compete. I don't know much about Sound since they're part of a new small nation, but all the others are well-respected and home to some formidably powerful shinobi." He chuckled, "That is to say, they're all like Rock Lee, Gaara, and your friend over here. Elite, hand-picked shinobi, the best young ninja in the world."
Yohei took a moment to watch the reaction of the others to Kabuto's declaration.
There was some trepidation, of course. Shikamaru in particular seemed like he wanted nothing else than to go back home, and was looking longly at the door. On the other hand there was also plenty of eagerness, especially coming from Souma, Kiba and… Sasuke, who was almost shaking with a wide smile on his face.
Speaking of shaking, his second favorite blonde was looking down at the floor with wide eyes, his hands tightened in fists as he shook.
Yohei found it adorable how worried Hinata was, and Sakura as well.
He shook his head, covering his ears as he waited for-
"MY NAME IS NARUTO UZUMAKI, AND NONE OF YOU ARE GONNA BEAT! YOU GOT THAT!?"
Yohei laughed as Ino started shaking Sakura, "What the hell is his problem!?"
"Ahh~!" Naruto let out a long, satisfied sigh, "That felt good!"
The blond then turned a challenging look at him, an eager smile on his face, "That includes you too, Yohei! I'm going to take you down!"
"No way~" Yohei teased, pulling him in a headlock, "I've got a bet to win!"
Sakura pulled the troublemaker out of his grasp, putting her hands around his neck and choking him, "Na-ru-to! What do you think you're doing!? Do you want to make us become targets?"
"Thank fuck he did that," Ren hummed under his breath, "At least now people will focus a bit less on us."
Just as he finished saying that, a flurry of movement started.
By the time Yohei managed to turn around, Kabuto was already jumping back, evading a pair of weird-looking kunai which had sunk into the floor. The next moment, one of the three ninja from Sound, the weird one covered in bandages, rushed forwards under his guard.
The first thing Yohei noticed was that he was fast.
Not as fast as Souma. And not as fast as himself, either. But enough that he'd be worried about this guy fighting Ren at close quarters.
The second thing he noticed was that he was making the Seal of Confrontation.
'So his sound jutsu takes a reasonably big amount of chakra.' Yohei reasoned, 'More than he keeps in his reserve passively, at least.'
No other hand signs were done, however, which meant that the implants, or whatever the source of the Sound Jutsu for this one was, could be activated at will.
The boy - Dosu, he finally remembered - delivered a punch against Kabuto, who once more evaded.
Or at least it looked like it, because a moment later the white-haired boy's glasses cracked and he fell on his knees puking, much to the surprise of the genin around.
'I didn't hear shit…' Yohei noticed, 'That's worrying. Is it because the technique is more about vibration than sound, or is his control just that good?
He looked impassively down at the still dizzy looking Kabuto, who was being helped up by Sakura and Naruto.
'Did this actually affect him or did he force his body to react in a way that would conform to the expectations of the others?'
He pursed his lips, turning to look at the trio from Sound.
'They're trying to look intimidating… a bunch of kids taken in by Orochimaru and tortured until they became somewhat useful tools that he didn't hesitate about throwing away. Is this an attempt to protect themselves through fear?'
The thought left a bad taste in his mouth.
From what he remembered, the girl and the other guy would be used as sacrifices by Orochimaru to summon the dead Kage, while Dosu…
'How the hell did he even die? I can't remember.'
Which, really, said everything that needed to be said about the situation.
"That wasn't a genjutsu," Ren said quietly. "Sound?"
"You caught on fast," Yohei praised with a grin.
The boy scoffed, "Oh, come on, every village has a technique based on their name. Still, this is going to be a pain in the ass - how the hell do you avoid sound?"
It was Souma who answered, just as quietly, "How do you avoid lightning?"
Yohei laughed, seeing the realization bloom in the midget's face.
'You don't. And yet, you can avoid Lightning Release. Because it's not the natural phenomena you're facing, but chakra that's acting like it.'
Before he could say anything, however, a voice interrupted them, making many jump in place.
"Would everybody please just shut up!?"
PUFF!
With a cloud of smoke to hide the entrance they used or their movement through the Body Flicker, a large group of shinobi appeared at the front of the classroom.
The Proctors.
A team of 18 ninja dressed in dark grey suits instead of the usual green flak vests; led by a tall and scarred man who wore a black coat and a bandana-like forehead protector.
He smirked.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting. My name is Ibiki Morino. I'm the Chief Examiner for the first part of the Chuunin Exams." He extended a gloved finger in their direction with a scowl. "You… the kids from the Hidden Sound! You can't carry on any way you please when the exam's about to start! Or do you want to be disqualified?"
"I'm sorry, Sir… it's our first exam, you see? We got a little carried away." Said Dosu in a somewhat raspy voice, looked entirely too unapologetic
Ibiki snorted, "Is that so? Then it's about high time someone laid down a few ground rules. From this point forward, there will be no more fighting without the express permission of the examining officer… and even if that permission is granted, anything that endangers another applicant's life is strictly forbidden." He glared, and Yohei felt a bead of sweat run down his face at the projected bloodlust. "Any of you little piggies who break that rule are out. Disqualified. No second chances. You got that?"
"So this is a test for sissies?" Asked the other guys from sound mockingly, only for his smile to be wiped out when the rest of the examiners laughed patronizingly at him.
Ibiki ignored the question.
"Settle down. The first part of the Selection Exam is about to start. Come here to turn in your written applications, take one of these seating assignment cards…" He instructed, showing up a small metallic tag with the number 1 on it, "And report directly to the seat indicated. When everyone's seated we'll pass out the written part of the test."
Focused as he was, Yohei was just as caught by surprise as the others from the sound of Naruto falling despairing to his knees, an expression of dread in his face.
He chuckled, ignoring the drama and heading to the already growing line.
'Right, let's get this show on the road.'
-~=~-
He looked down in contempt at his assignment card.
There, painted in black ink, standing almost in mockery of him was the number: 67.
"Can I get another one?" He asked Hibiki pitifully.
"What do you think?" Replied the man with a death glare, almost challenging him to answer.
Letting out a sigh, Yohei turned in disappointment and made his way to his seat.
To complete his misery, he wasn't even sitting close to anyone he knew, or any pretty girl.
On one side was a guy with an orange mohawk and several needles in his ears. On the other was an actual adult, shirtless except for a sleeveless jacket, showing off his muscles and hairy chest.
Both of them were staring angrily at him.
Yohei laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
Looking for his teammates, he scowled.
Souma was sitting right behind Ino, and Ren was-
'Wait, red hair… is that-?'
The little bastard, who apparently had gotten to sit besides Karin Uzumaki of all people, looked back at him smugly, having noticed his gaze.
Yohei swore to make him pay for this.
Taking the stack of papers that were given to him, he placed one down on his table and passed the others on to mohawk-guy, listening patiently as Ibiki continued his explanation.
"-listen up. There are a few big rules that pertain to this first test. I'll write them on the blackboard and explain every single one in detail, but I'm not taking questions so listen carefully because I'll only say it once." Without even turning, he started writing while facing them.
It was a simple enough set of instructions that he had managed to remember them all even after so long.
Rule Number 1: Everyone starts with ten points. The test has ten questions. Each question that is answered wrongly will result in a deduction of one point from the total of the individual.
Rule Number 2: The test remains as a team event. Passing or failing will be determined by the sum of the points held by all three members of each genin cell. Therefore, the goal is for each team to have as few reductions of the their cumulative 30 points as possible.
Rule Number 3: If during the course of the exam a proctor determines that one of the candidates has cheated, two points will be subtracted from each member of the cheater's team. As such, if anyone is caught five times, they all fail automatically.
One of the proctors from before raised a hand from where he was slouching on a seat, a mocking smile on his face, "I'll be looking over your shoulders when you least expect it."
'And here's where the actual mechanic of this first part of the test comes into play.' Yohei thought idly.
"If you let the proctors catch you cheating, you'll bring yourself and your friends down! If you aspire to become chuunin, if you want to be the best shinoibi you can be, then you'd better start acting like you already are." Hibiki warns them before turning his on back
Just as people were starting to relax, however, he snapped his finger as if just remembering something.
"Ah, that's right," He said joyfully, "One more thing. If any individual loses all ten of his or her points, that person's entire cell, regardless of how the other members do… will be disqualified."
"What!?"
"How is that fair!?"
Before the class could descend into chaos, the man loudly clapped his hands, making them quiet down. With a sadistic smile still on his face, he announced: "You have one hour, starting now."
Yohei let out a sigh, turning his paper and reading through the questions as he thought about what he should do here.
The apparent purpose of the written test was clear, even without his foreknowledge.
Cheating.
'Or, more specifically, acquiring information without being caught.'
The questions written on the paper are supposed to be too advanced for a genin to solve. Therefore, through the classroom, certain individuals had been planted as fake test-takers whom the genin were supposed to take the answers from.
In a few minutes, Gaara should start doing his sand-eye thing; Neji and Hinata will begin using their Byakugan; Sasuke will follow the movements of one of the plants with his Sharingan and so on…
'Now here's the thing,' Yohei thought sardonically, 'None of the proctors are stupid. Of course they're going to look at the glowing red eyes of the guy whose family is known for their glowing red eyes. Of course they're going to notice the bulging fucking veins in the faces of the Hyuuga. Of course they aren't stupid enough not to notice that there's one more amongst their number than there is supposed to be. And for all that is sacred, Tenten, they can see the big ass mirrors on the lamp.'
The point was, no one really had done their thing without being noticed, which meant that either the proctors were ignoring things as long as it wasn't too obvious, or they were considering a single method as a single 'act' of cheating, or something of the sort.
The second, Yohei believed, was more probable.
Which meant that no one had gotten a perfect score in this test.
The strategy, then, was to make sure to lose the least, with the ideal situation being one where a single member of the Team is responsible for getting the answers for the two others.
That meant Team 10 probably had the highest grade out of the Konoha 12.
Ino alone obtained the answers from Sakura and gave it to the Shikamaru and Choji, so in the best possible case their score was still 24 Points. Or, if you convert it, a grade of 8/10.
Which is good, but not great.
'Should I use the Circuits, then?' He wondered.
In the months since he had gotten them, Yohei had been storing as much information as he could into his pseudo-nerves. Not only medical texts, but also things that could be useful on the field, and academic knowledge that he could use here.
He was sure that he would be able to answer the test's questions with that.
'But should I?'
As said before, the purpose of this part of the exam was to cheat. The actual written test was secondary to it.
This kind of situation defined the Genin Exam as a whole.
For example, Shikamaru, if Yohei was right, hadn't gotten a perfect grade here. His team also hadn't been the first to get to the center of the Forest of Death. And he didn't even get to the finals of the Tournament.
And yet, he was promoted.
Because the obvious goal wasn't the true objective.
'Look underneath the underneath', and all that.
Even if Team 5 got a perfect score here, if that didn't fit into what the proctors actually wanted to test he would actually be left behind.
'On the other hand, the number of points probably does count to some measure when they analyze who should become a chuunin. Besides… getting a perfect score would probably be worth a new reward from the Chaos Scroll.'
He sighed.
'The obvious solution, then, is to make it clear that I cheated, without actually letting them catch me doing so.' That, too, had been something he had planned beforehand with Nanami, but thinking about it now… 'How about going a bit Plus Ultra?'
Focusing on his connection to Kara as he mentally went through the 'motions' of biting his finger, Yohei grinned.
'Hey, sweetie, I'll need your help.'
-~=~-
She had already caught on to the situation from the moment Ibiki had stressed the words: 'If you let the proctors catch you cheating.'
That is to say, as long as they weren't caught, it was aaaaall fine~!
She also had her target firmly in sight since the start.
It really was a sign of good luck that she had been placed behind Sakura for this - it would make everything so much simpler.
Was it a bit risky to try to get the answers from Sakura instead of one of the plants? Sure.
But she knew Sakura. If there was one thing that that big ass forehead of hers was good for, it was storing information.
Besides, it would be a lot more suspicious for the others who were already copying one of the fake genin if they just fell down on the table out of nowhere!
'Hm… maybe if I did it at the right time I could mess up the answers and cut off some of the competition…' she mused, before shaking her head. 'No. Too risky. Better to just wait until Sakura's over with hers so I can copy it.'
"Hey, Ino."
She almost jumped on her seat.
With wide eyes, she looked around for the source of the familiar voice and found nothing. Recognizing the feeling of Yin Chakra, however, she quickly rushed to bring her hands up to dismiss the illusion.
"Don't panic, it's me, ya boy." Continued the disembodied voice of the most frustrating boy she knew.
Against her better instincts, she did wait.
"What do you want?" She whispered harshly.
'Since when can you use Yin Release?' She questioned mentally.
"Sorry, I can't actually hear what you're saying, this is kind of a… uh, a record? Yeah, let's go with that. I'm not talking in real time."
'… that's not amateur-level genjutsu.'
"Look, I know that you're planning on using your possession on Sakura, but if you do that I'm like, 90% sure you'll end up losing some points. I want to make all of us rookies pass this with a full grade, so I came up with a plan." He said in the same tone of voice he used when he had made that bet, "I got all the answers for the exam already, and I'll give them to you. Of course, you can just ignore this and do what you were going to - I'm sure you'll pass anyway. But if you do want them, just tap twice on the table with the tip of the pen."
She closed her eyes.
'Should I?'
Looking to the side, she saw the proctor responsible for her area of the classroom.
Immediately, the kunoichi's eyes went to hers and the woman smiled, raising an eyebrow.
Ino cursed.
Of course she was going to lose points, there was no way they weren't going to notice her doing the handseal her jutsu required and falling asleep repeatedly on the desk.
But that was just how things were, she just assumed there was no way to finish this without getting caught, unless you had a team full of Sakura's.
But if Yohei was telling the truth…
However he was projecting his voice, he seemed confident it wasn't something that would be noticed.
She couldn't ignore the risk that he would try to sabotage her exam, but…
It was Yohei.
Ino smiled.
She doubted him of all people would try to get her to lose here.
'He better not, if he knows what's good for him. Still, he could have come up with a better excuse. Making sure everyone passed with a full grade. Yeah, right… oh, well, I suppose a boy would be too embarrassed to tell the truth in a situation like this. Heh, that's actually kind of cute.'
Having made her decision, she tapped twice.
"Great! Now, I just need you to do one little favor for me…"
The pencil creaked on her grip and her smile thinned.
-~=~-
"Yo, Kiba!"
He looked sharply to the side.
Akamaru got confused at his sudden movement, but calmed down once he didn't find anything wrong.
"Calm down, dude, it's just a genjutsu." Yohei's voice continued, all the while Kiba watched the actual guy himself just calmly writing down on his paper without a twitch.
Creepy.
"Look, you were going to use Akamaru to look for the answers, right? That's a good strategy, but the proctors will be waiting for it. You'll still pass, sure, but that's going to count as one instance of 'cheating', adding Hinata's and Shino's, that means your team will only end up with 12 points in the end. That's low, dude."
'Shiiiiiiiiiit.'
"Look, I want all of us rookies to pass this. How awesome would that be if we all became Jonin? The best fucking class in the history of the Academy, ha! Besides, we still gotta fight, right? So here's the deal, I'll give you and your teammates the answers to the test. Of course, you can still do what you were going to, if you want, it'syour choice. If you want my help, though, just pinch your chin."
He grinned, doing so immediately.
That's what he was talking about. Thinking about your friends even when you were competing against each other. Dog people really were the best.
"Great! You won't regret it! In exchange, though, I just need you to do me a favor."
-~=~-
"Hey, Lady Hinata, please don't panic."
Her eyes widened, but she calmed down once she recognized the voice, though confusion replaced the fright.
"Ah, Yohei-san?" She whispered hesitantly.
"Sorry, sorry, I can't actually hear what you're saying, this is an illusion." He explained, "Look, I'll be quick, okay? I had already decided to help Naruto with this part of the Exam, and thought, 'what the hell, may as well help the others, too.' I know you were going to use the Byakugan to see the answers, but that's going to take points from your team. I already talked with Kiba and gave him the answers-"
She turned her head slightly to the side, seeing that indeed, her teammate was eagerly writing down on the test, a wide smile on his face.
"-and I'll be offering it to Shino as well. You're free to refuse, of course, no pressure. If you want my help, though, just rub your nose."
She took a moment to think about it, but…
Looking at Naruto, he too was going through his test with a relaxed expression on his face, occasionally looking down a few rows with a thankful look.
'If he's Naruto's friend then… it should be okay, right?'
She also really didn't want her team to lose any points. Kurenai-sensei had them all to pass this and become Chuunin. She couldn't fail her.
She rubbed her nose.
"Alright! Ah, before that, could you do me a favor?"
-~=~-
"Hey, Shika-!"
-~=~-
"Yo, Choji-"
-~=~-
"Sup, Shino-"
-~=~-
"Hehehe~!"
Naruto laughed to himself as he looked down at the completed test.
Well, almost completed. All that was left now was the last question.
'Alright! Thanks, Yohei, you're the best! There's no way I'm not acing this!' He thought happily. Then tilted his head, pursing his lips. "Hm… Man, I should probably try to answer the last one by myself, right? Even if I mess it up, I can't just let my friends carry me to the finish line.'
As he nodded to himself, the bandana weirdo started talking again.
"Forty-five minutes have passed. Get ready for the tenth question!" He shouted, making some of the more twitchy kids jump on their seats. "And before we get to the question itself, I'm adding one more rule."
'Oh, come on, more!?' Naruto grumbled to himself.
At the same time, the door at the back of the classroom opened, and another weirdo came in, the purple make-up guy from the Sand.
Ibiki chuckled, "Heh... looks like you're in luck. The time you've spent playing with dolls hasn't been completely wasted. Ah, well, don't worry about it, sit down."
'Eh, dolls? Wait, did that guy go to the bathroom to play with dolls!? Hahahahahaha!"
As Naruto tried to hold in his laughter, the proctor continued.
"Alright, let me explain what I mean. This new rule I'm adding is different from the others. It is absolute." He said, putting emphasis on the word, "Before you're even given the tenth question, you must make a decision on whether or not you will accept it. If you reject the question and don't even try to answer, you'll lose all your points immediately and fail. And both of your teammates will fail right along with you."
'Eh?'
Mirroring his thoughts, one of the other test-takers raised his hand with a confused face, asking, "Why would anyone choose to reject it?"
"Because of the other part of the rule." Ibiki explained with a glare, making the kid quickly lower his hand. He huffed. "If you do try to answer the tenth question and get it wrong... You will never, ever, be permitted to apply for the Chuunin Exams again."
'EHHHHH!?'
"Oi, cut the bullshit!" Shouted Kiba with a snarl, "There are people here who've sat for the exams more than once already!"
'Yeah, Dog Breath is right!' Naruto nodded along, glaring at the man, 'Kabuto's already doing this for the hundredth time or something!'
Ibiki chuckled, "That's just your rotten luck. I wasn't the one making the rules before, but I am now, and my word is law." He declared, shrugging uncaringly, "It is what it is, you can take a failing grade and try again later. Anyone who has doubts would be smart to reject the tenth question right now. Just this year there will be another Exam, and so on next year and the one after that. So let's not waste any more time. Those who choose not to accept should raise their hands. Once their number has been confirmed, they will leave the room."
'What the hell... what the hell kind of question is that!?' Naruto cursed to himself, 'I'll never get to get past Genin? No way! That can't happen!'
He stressed about it for a moment, clenching his teeth once he heard the first person give up.
Looking down at his paper, his eyes widened.
'No, wait, Yohei will help me out again, right? So I don't need to-'
"Naruto."
He stopped cold.
Looking ahead, he could actually see Yohei now, differently from before.
There were two of him, like a Shadow Clone. One was sitting in his chair, with his back turned; and the other was standing up, looking at him with a somber expression on his face.
"I don't know if I'll manage to answer the next question." He said seriously.
Naruto's heart skipped a beat.
'You… don't know?'
The other boy sighed, as if hearing his thoughts. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration.
"The first nine were already way too hard, man. And each one was worse than the last. Frankly, I don't even know if I got the last one right. Depending on what kind of question it is, I don't know if I'll even have the time to finish it, much less pass it on to you or my teammates."
Naruto looked in surprise as the guy at his side stood up, his chair scraping on the floor.
He was an adult, with a beard on his chin, but even so he was trembling like a leaf, tears pooling in his eyes.
"I… I quit! I'm rejecting the question!" He said shakingly, regret and frustration dripping from his voice. He bowed, "Gennai! Inaho! Please forgive me!"
"Number 50! Failed!" Ibiki announced mercilessly, "Number 130 and 111, you fail right along with him."
Naruto watched listlessly as Yohei's clone walked, taking the seat of the guy who had just given up.
The two of them watched as the three failed genin were escorted out of the classroom, and then as more and more people kept raising their hands.
"I don't know if I'm going to pass," Yohei repeated firmly, getting Naruto's attention. And for the first time the blonde noticed that there were eyes in his shadow.
Naruto wanted to scream.
'What the hell am I supposed to do, then!?'
If even Yohei couldn't get it right-
If he couldn't help him-
If he had to choose-
A flicker to his nose got him out of that spiral.
Yohei chuckled, "I'm still going to try, though."
Naruto looked at him in surprise, and his friend shrugged. "What? Of course I'm going to. Even if it means that I'll stay a genin forever, that just means I'll become the strongest as a genin." he looked to the side, and Naruto followed his gaze to see Pretty Boy chewing nervously at his pen, "I can't force my teammates to take this question, and if they give up that's their decision, just as it is for Sakura and Sasuke. It doesn't matter. What does matter here is… What are you going to do?"
The blue-eyed boy put his hand inside one of the pouches at his waist, pulling out a kunai and offering it to him.
He raised an eyebrow, "So? Are you going to do the smart thing and stab your heart?"
…
Crack.
"ARE YOU KIDDING!? DON'T FUCK WITH ME, I'M NOT GOING TO DO THAT!" Naruto shouted, pulling his hand out of the hole he had driven on the wooden table, "I'LL TAKE THAT STUPID QUESTION, AND IF I END UP BEING A GENIN FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE THEN I GUESS I'LL BE THE FIRST GENIN HOKAGE!"
He turned to Ibiki with a glare, "Bring it on! I'm not scared!"
Yohei - both of them - laughed, the only sound made by anyone after his declaration.
The one in front of him took the kunai and threw it away, giving him a wink and a thumbs up before dissolving into shadows.
The creaking of the leather in Ibiki's gloves was like a representation of the tightening tension in the room.
"I'll ask you one last time," He said with a glare, "this is a decision that could affect the rest of your life. Quit now, while you still have the chance."
Naruto tsked, sitting down and waving him off irritatedly. "Yeah, yeah, quit yapping! I don't go back on my word!"
"Is that so.." The man asked with a raised brow. He laughed scornfully. "Well, in that case, everyone who is still here..."
From one moment to the next, all of the oppressive aure coming from him vanished, and the disdain in his face was substituted by satisfaction.
"You've just passed the first Exam!"
-~=~-
Ibiki let out a sigh, looking down at all the shards of broken glass and wood left behind by that troublemaker, Anko.
He looked at the other destroyed piece of furniture in the room, the table broken by the blonde brat. The two of them were really alike, weren't they?
The Genin had already left, and by now they should be arriving at the site of the next step of the Exam.
'The Forest of Death…' he mused, 'I wonder how many will actually make it out alive this time.'
"Ibiki-san, check this out."
Blinking, he looked up to see one of his subordinates pushing a stack of the papers in his direction with a disbelieving smile on his face.
Raising an eyebrow he accepted them as the man started to explain. "We noticed something weird going on with the kids of the newest batch…"
"Weird, how?" He rumbled, leafing through the tests and already seeing what they meant. All of the answers were right, and except for a single one, they were all identical as well, with the method used to arrive at the result being the same.
"We didn't catch any of them cheating," another subordinate said with a laugh.
"Really, now…" Then he blinked, noticing something in the back of the papers.
Flipping them on their backs, he saw that each one of them had some random lines drawn on them.
'No, not random,' he corrected, feeling a smile also grow on his face as he arranged all twelve pieces down on his table like a puzzle.
"Isn't that…"
"The symbol of the new Clan, right?"
Ibiki chuckled. "Looks like we'll have a bit of a show this year."