"What's with the outfit change?"
Naruto shrugged. Instead of his bright orange jumpsuit jacket, he had on a black shirt with a red spiral on the back, a symbol he learned represented the Uzumaki Clan. His headband was shifted so it hung loosely around his neck, much like how Hinata wore hers. His katana was tied and angled with the hilt over his right shoulder. He wore black, fingerless gloves with metal plates on the backs of the hands, similarly to Kakashi. Other than that, however, his outfit hadn't changed. He still had on his bright orange jumpsuit pants and blue ninja sandals.
"I just thought that if I'm gonna become a chunin, I should try to look like one."
Sakura and Sasuke shrugged with their question answered.
"Whatever, let's just go in."
Naruto and Sakura nodded and followed Sasuke into the academy building.
"I actually saw Adrik this morning."
This made both Sasuke and Sakura turn around with surprise clear on their faces.
"Really? What was he doing?"
Naruto shrugged.
"Didn't say much. He just ate some of the breakfast I cooked and left. Which actually reminds me."
Naruto continued as the group resumed walking down the halls.
"I asked the old man why Adrik was actin' weird and it turns out he's on some sort of mission. He wouldn't tell me anythin' else, though."
"A mission? For what?"
Naruto shrugged in response to Sakura.
"If Lord Hokage wouldn't give you any details, the mission he's on must be of pretty high importance. Probably an A-Rank at least."
Naruto nodded to Sasuke.
"That's what I was thinkin', too."
He sighed to himself.
"I just hope that mission ends soon so he can- Woah!"
The three genin stepped back as a teen came tumbling across the hall to the opposite wall of the door on the left. Naruto walked over and helped the teen in the green spandex to his feet.
"You alright, man?"
The bowlcutted teen nodded his appreciation.
"Yes. Thank you for your help, friend. I apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused."
Naruto shook his head and was about to speak again when he was cut off by what appeared to be two genin guarding the door to room 301.
"And that's what you get, kid! If you can't even take a hit like that, you'll have no chance in the Chunin Exams!"
Two teens, who were likely the first teen's teammates, walked over to stand by their green clad companion.
"Lee, are you alright?"
Upon seeing her teammate nod, the girl with her brown hair up in twin buns looked back over at the two genin guarding the door with anger.
"What was that for, assholes?!"
The two genin shrugged as the one to the right responded.
"We're here to make sure nobody gets in over their heads. The Chunin Exams aren't for everyone. You could die at any moment in there, so consider yourself lucky we were here to keep you from entering."
The other teen, a boy with long brown hair that was braided further down and pale eyes signifying that he was a part of the Hyuga Clan, put his hand out to keep his two teammates from arguing further.
"Let's just go. It is clear we are not wanted here."
His two teammates nodded hesitantly before following him as he began walking down the hall. The entire time, the three genin of Team Seven had been watching them. Naruto in particular was staring at the green clad genin as if trying to figure something out.
"Hey, wait, are you Rock Lee?"
Lee looked back with a wide smile and a thumbs up.
"Indeed, I am Rock Lee, the Beautiful Green Beast of the Village Hidden In The Leaves!"
Naruto nodded with slight surprise as he was given more information than he asked for.
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, one of Adrik's friends. He told me about you and your Sensei."
Naruto held out a hand for Lee to shake, which was immediately made clear to be a mistake on his end. The older teen apparently took that as a sign to show off a bit of his physical strength by slightly crushing Naruto's hand while shaking his arm up and down, all from a handshake.
"It is a pleasure to meet one of Adrik's youthful friends! I can see you two share that same spark that my Sensei, Might Guy, and I have..."
Lee trailed off as he looked over Naruto's shoulder at his two teammates. The three genin of Team Seven watched with wide eyes as Lee did a flip over Naruto for no apparent reason and posed in his fighting stance in front of Sasuke.
"And you must be Sasuke Uchiha! Please, allow me to test myself against you!"
Sasuke stared at the teen for a second as he tried to respond.
"Uh... right now might not be the best time..."
"Rock Lee."
"Right. Now might not be the best time for that, Lee."
Lee slouched with a depressed rain cloud forming over his head.
"Ah, I see."
Within the next second, he stood up straight with his head held high and a determined frown on his face.
"Then, allow me to test myself against you if we should ever meet as enemies on the battlefield of the Chunin Exams!"
Before Sasuke could even respond, Lee looked over at Sakura and went slack jawed with a blush on his cheeks.
"Might you be Sakura Haruno?"
Sakura barely had time to nod before Lee got up in her face, making her take a step back.
"Would you please go out with me? It would be an honor to go on a date with such a gorgeous kunoichi as yourself!"
Sakura looked to her two teammates to see she would be getting no help. She put on a placating smile as she came up with a response.
"Uh, well, now isn't the greatest time, so-"
She was cut off as Lee once again slouched over in a fit of depression. He perked right back up a moment later with a determined frown and a small blush.
"Then allow me to ask you again after the Chunin Exams are over!"
"Lee."
Lee looked back at his teammates and nodded before walking off to rejoin them in walking down the hall. The three genin of Team Seven, along with all of the genin in the hallway, were stunned into silence. Sasuke shook his head and grabbed his two teammates by their arms, dragging them down the hall with him.
"Huh? Hey, wait, Sasuke, what about the Exams? We were supposed to be in that room back there."
Sasuke let go of his two teammates and shushed Naruto. He talked quietly so as not to be overheard by anyone other than Naruto and Sakura.
"A few things. First, this is the second floor. Room Three Hundred One is on the third floor. Second, there were genjutsu over those guys guarding the door and the number on it. Third, that Lee guy and his teammates probably knew that and just played along for the theatrics. That other guy was a Hyuga for god's sake. Fourth, you need lessons on detecting genjutsu."
Naruto opened his mouth to respond but ceased when he had no good comeback. He hunched over as he walked as, yet again, Sasuke called him out on his faults. At least he was using insults anymore...
X
"Sasuke!"
The moment Team Seven entered the correct room, Ino came giddily running towards them with her arms out in an attempt to tackle Sasuke into a hug. Sakura, however, had other plans, grabbing Ino before she could reach Sasuke.
"What were you trying to to do to my teammate?"
Ino huffed as her attempt at showing Sasuke 'affection' was halted.
"For your information, forehead, I was going to hug Sasuke. You must be pretty blind if you couldn't see that."
Sakura narrowed her eyes as an angry tick grew a over her eyebrow and she let go of Ino.
"Just knock it off Ino, we're not here for that and you shouldn't be either."
Ino raised an eyebrow as that wasn't the usual response she would get from Sakura.
"Thanks, Sakura. For a second I thought Choji and I would have to drag her off of Sasuke."
Sakura looked at the approaching Shikamaru and Choji and gave a small nod.
"Hey, Naruto. Finally got rid of that ugly jumpsuit. Well, most of it, I guess."
Naruto crossed his arms and squinted at Shikamaru.
"Hey, that 'ugly jumpsuit' served me well in my time of need, I'll have you know. It's happily retired, now."
Shikamaru simply nodded. Choji spoke up after swallowing a handful of chips.
"But you do look a lot better, Naruto. What made you change your outfit?"
Naruto shrugged.
"I wanna make a good first impression if I'm gonna be a chunin."
"Heh, like you'll make chunin before us!"
The six genin of Teams Seven and Ten looked over as the genin of Team Eight approached.
"Oh hey, Kiba, Shino, Hinata! I was wonderin' where you guys were."
Naruto waved at the three before Hinata ran up and hugged him. He chuckled slightly as he returned the hug for a second before letting go.
"H-Hello, Naruto. I-I was beginning to w-worry that you w-wouldn't show up."
Naruto scratched the back of his head slightly.
"Ah, well, we got a little caught up."
The genin who weren't Hinata or Naruto stared at the duo with wide eyes. Apart from Sasuke, Sakura, and Shino, that is. Ino walked over and tapped Sakura on the shoulder as the duo continued talking as if nobody else was around.
"Hey, forehead, uh... How long has that been a thing?"
Sakura turned her head back to face Ino.
"What thing?"
Ino pointed at Hinata and Naruto.
"That thing. How long? I need answers."
Sakura shrugged.
"Oh, that. I don't know. About... a little over a month?"
"And I'm only hearing about it now?!"
The nine genin all looked over when a much older genin put a finger to his mouth.
"You all may want to quiet down. There seems to be a growing target on your backs."
The genin all looked around the room to see the other chunin hopefuls glaring at them.
"Anyways, I'm Kabuto Yakushi. I'm sorry if that came off as harsh, I'm just trying to look out for the younger ones."
Naruto saw the older genin had white hair in a ponytail with glasses. He wore a Leaf Village headband, signifying that he was their fellow Leaf Genin.
"Well, we appreciate that."
Kabuto bowed slightly.
"Now, if there's anything you need, like information on another participant, or maybe a village, just ask. I'll be more than happy to provide whatever knowledge I can share."
Naruto took a step forward.
"How do you have information on other participants?"
Kabuto adjusted his glasses as they all walked over to one of the tables at the bottom of the staircase style classroom.
"I am glad you asked. You see..."
Kabuto brought out a deck of what looked like blank playing cards. He pulled the first one at the top and set it down. He channeled a bit of chakra into it and some information came up, along with a small picture of Kabuto himself.
"These cards help me learn about the various test takers in here through chakra. It only tells me what's easy to find out, though."
"Really?"
Kabuto nodded and showed the nine genin the card with his information on it. On the card was a brief description of his appearance, his status as a genin, his affiliation with the Hidden Leaf, and his technique specialty, which was apparently medical ninjutsu.
"Oh hey, you're a medical ninjutsu specialist. Cool."
Kabuto nodded towards Kiba.
"Indeed. And that is about what every card shows. So, if you have anyone in mind that you want to ask about, feel free."
The genin thought for a second before Sasuke stepped up.
"Rock Lee, if you don't mind."
Kabuto nodded and drew another blank card. He put some chakra into it and waited a second. After a moment, information appeared on it, along with a picture. On the picture was Lee wearing much less green and without his signature bowlcut.
"Rock Lee. Genin of the Leaf. Graduated a little over a year ago. Teammates are Tenten Higarashi and Neji Hyuga. He's a taijutsu specialist, training to be like his Sensei, the Hidden Leaf's greatest Taijutsu specialist, Might Guy, and..."
Kabuto adjusted his glasses slightly.
"Hm... Says here that he also trained with someone named... Adrik?"
The nine genin nodded as they all knew that much about Adrik already. Kiba stepped forward this time.
"So, anything on Adrik?"
Kabuto looked back down as he drew another card. Going through the same process, he waited. He squinted as something had apparently gone wrong. He flipped the card around to show the genin.
"It's strange. Most of the card is burnt. All it says is that he's with the Leaf. Well, that and his name, of course. Hold on, let me try it again."
Kabuto brought out another card and did the same thing. Once again, the card appeared mostly burnt with very few of the details surviving.
"Well, it looks like I can't get any information on that person for whatever reason. I'm sorry, this hasn't really happened before."
The nine genin looked between each other as Kabuto crumpled up the two burnt cards and threw them away.
"So, is that everyone?"
The genin all nodded.
"Well, then. To give you some parting advice, from one contestant to another, don't get too comfortable. Some of us have experience in these kinds of things, so never underestimate the other teams. Aside from that team from the Hidden Sound, however. They are a rather new village and this is the first Chunin Exams they have entered. Go easy on them, yeah?"
In the blink of an eye, three genin stood over a downed Kabuto. The one with most of his body covered in bandages like a mummy, planted his foot on Kabuto's back and lightly swung his gauntlet covered right arm. Kabuto immediately began dry heaving while holding his head as the genin stepped off of him.
"That'll teach you to look down on us Hidden Sound genin. We're stronger than you'll ever be and we'll prove it!"
Before anyone could respond, a loud burst of white smoke went off at the front of the room. From the smoke came a booming voice.
"Get back in your goddamn seats, brats! No fighting unless instructing otherwise, you hear me?!"
Without even having to say anything, every genin went to sit down as fast as they could in their assigned seats. It seemed that each team was separated, likely for very good reason. Naruto looked to his right and grinned slightly as he happened to be sitting next to Hinata.
The smoke finally cleared, revealing a jonin with a bandana as his headband covering his entire head above his eyebrows. He wore mostly black and dark grey. His face was very noticeably scarred. To either side of him were eleven chunin in total.
"My name is Ibiki Morino! I will be the proctor for the first part of the Chunin Exams! Listen up because I'm not repeating myself!"
The jonin continued moments later, not even checking if the various genin in the room were paying attention.
"Each of you will now be given a test of nine questions! The tenth and final question will be given at the end of a forty-five minute timer! If you are caught cheating three times by the chunin or by me, you're out of this test! Do I make myself clear?!"
The genin all nodded along, though they didn't feel like their approval mattered much. After they were all handed out their papers, Ibiki spoke up.
"With that, your time starts now!"
X
The one chunin that had stayed next to Ibiki instead of spreading out to survey the room leaned over and whispered in the jonin's ear.
"He's not here."
The jonin gave a small nod.
"Anything else?"
The chunin nodded slightly.
"Front row. The one that the Sound Genin attacked. Something is off. No evidence yet, but I'll keep an eye on him throughout this whole thing."
Ibiki gave a other small nod. The chunin went back to standing still next to the jonin with his mask giving away no emotions. He wore a large hooded cowl with the hood covering everything the mask didn't. The mask itself was pitch black aside from the small orange cracks around the edges and the eye holes. It seemed to be made of charred bark from a tree as it was uneven and a few particles of ash could occasionally be seen falling off of it.
Naruto and the other eight genin that graduated with him all sweatdropped as they could clearly tell it was Adrik behind that disguise. Mostly because the cowl didn't hide his bandaged lower legs. Not to mention Adrik never wore shoes. They all shook their heads as they got back to trying to answer the questions on the test, however impossible that was.
X
"Twenty minutes left!"
Ibiki called out the time and smirked as most of the genin became visibly nervous. The masked chunin, who's disguise was very easy to see through for the people that know him, looked up at the jonin.
"You know, you could've just told them how much time is left when it got closer to running out."
Ibiki shrugged.
"I prefer a slow build over a sudden escalation."
The chunin nodded as he went back to looking out over the room.
X
Naruto grit his teeth as he held his head in his hands. For someone who wasn't particularly apt at written tests, it was an understatement to say he was struggling. He didn't want to cheat as he had no idea how many times Sasuke or Sakura had been caught doing so. The assistant proctors didn't call out a team or a team member for their first or second time cheating on the test, they simply called out a genin the moment they cheated for a third time and their teammates had to leave with them. He glanced to his right as Hinata tapped him on his elbow. She silently handed him a small slip of paper with what appeared to be the answers to each question written on it. He shook his head just enough for her to notice, to which she gained a concerned look.
Naruto looked her straight in the eyes as he shook his head again. Hinata nodded after a second when she realized the blonde teen had made his decision. She just hoped he had a plan in mind.
X
The chunin that totally wasn't Adrik raised an eyebrow behind his mask as he saw Naruto go from anxious to calm in a matter of moments. For what reason, however, he had no idea. If anything, the blonde genin should have been even more nervous since there were only two minutes left.
His eyes widened slightly behind his mask as he noticed Naruto hadn't even written anything down. He let out a small, unseen grin as he realized his friend might have uncovered the truth. Whether by his own deduction or someone giving it away, Naruto had figured out the secret to this test.
X
"All right, maggots! Time's up! Flip your tests over!"
Ibiki waited until every genin did as he asked. After a second, he nodded. All of a sudden, Killing Intent flooded the room, only being enough to put everyone who was left on edge.
"Now, before we move on to the tenth and final question, there are some things that I need to inform you all of."
Ibiki cleared his throat.
"This question is of the make or break variety. If you get it wrong, you are immediately kicked out of the exams and banned from participating ever again!"
Ibiki grinned maliciously as most of the genin's eyes widened in surprise and worry.
"That being said, getting it right will allow you to continue. With that out of the way, feel free to leave now as you can still enter in the exams again. But, for all of your sakes..."
Ibiki narrowed his eyes harshly as the Killing Intent intensified, sending a shiver up many of the genin's spines. With that, many genin began to get up to leave, being unable to to carry on with the mounting pressure they were feeling from the jonin.
"You should hope you get it right."
X
Naruto looked around as more and more teams left. He had to admit this pressure was pretty intense for him as well. He glanced over at Hinata and his eyes widened slightly as he saw her beginning to raise her hand with a nervous look on her face. Feeling now was as good a time as any, he stood up and raised his hand.
Before Naruto's name could be called out, he balled up his hand and brought it down, breaking the wooden table in front of him. He pointed at Ibiki with his eyes narrowed.
"If you think some stupid question is gonna scare me, forget it! I'm here to get one step closer to becoming Hokage! If I have to be the first genin to become the Hokage, then so be it! Bring it on!"
Ibiki narrowed his eyes at the blonde teen. He glanced around the room to see the other genin that were hesitant about staying gained new confidence from Naruto's short speech.
After a few more moments of waiting, Ibiki nodded.
"I see. Then... you all pass."