Ask to Join Shinobi’s Dawn

[Mystic Zander]

Not so long ago, the Village of Konohagakure was under attack by a rentlesless, chakra monster known as the 9 Tails. The village tried to quickly pool its resources and mount a defense, but the beast was far too powerful.
Hundreds of lives were lost, one being the 4th Hokage, Minato Namikaze. Upon realizing the village couldn’t stop this threat, Lord 4th, his loving wife, Kushina, his newborn son, Naruto, and the 9 Tails itself, were all wiped out in an attempt to seal the beast away...

Now, approximately thirteen years later, Konoha has tried to bandage the wounds of their past. There is always common ground to stand on, and because of this, the village of Konohagakure is holding the annual Chunin Exams.
While an unseen wall may always separate the ninja of this world, it’s also apparent that there are threats greater than one Nation can handle.
Genin from all walks of life are invited to attend this contest of Ninja, and prove their villages worth.
It was time for the Chunin Exams, yes...but when would the trials truly end?

“Alright everyone! Sit down and shut up! The first exam will begin immediately!”

Proctor Ibiki’s voice boomed throughout the classroom, causing several of the less…gutsy Genin to drop into their chairs with a small whimper.
The scar-faced Jonin slowly made his way from student to student, passing out a thick packet of exam papers. He made it apparent he was sizing them up-giving each Genin a condescending sneer as his gaze washed over them.

“Now...you will all have one hour to complete the test in front of you. If you do not finish, I will fail you. If you are caught cheating, I will fail you. If you get on my nerves...I will fail you…”

Ibiki let the gravity of this examination sink in, before surprising the class with a quick and quiet-

“...begin…”

~~~~~

Eito Yoshikage, better known as Yoshi, stared at the test before him in bewilderment. Being a ninja of the Stone, Yoshi had always been taught to be strong, determined, and unwavering...yet this test! This test was insane!

“How the hell am I supposed to solve this?! I couldn’t even begin without actually seeing the scenario firsthand.”

It immediately became apparent that only those with a facility for written exams would even come remotely close to passing.
Yoshi quietly looked around the room, not at others papers, but their faces.
Nearly everyone flipped through the pages with a mixed look of confusion and hopelessness, obviously no more certain than Yoshi as to how they were able to conceivably finish this exam.

“It’s nearly everyone...there's no way this is a coincidence…”

The young Iwa-Nin took one final glance around, noticing Odo, one of the more ‘brainey’ individuals he’d graduated from the academy with. Odo was nearly two years younger than Yoshi, but monstrously more book-smart.
To Yoshi’s surprise, even he was struggling!
However, a glimmer of hope suddenly arose as Odo fringed his brow, whilst quickly scribbling down something on the first page. He was actually solving it.

“I’ve got no choice...I’ve gotta find a way to cheat.”

 

[=Nightshade=]

Yuna shifted her gaze from the proctor to the test once the word “begin” was spoken. She read through the questions, then read through them again; while she showed no visible signs of confusion, she had to admit she had absolutely no idea how to solve any of the questions. Calculate the trajectory of the kunai if it— what? Who the hell calculates the trajectory of their kunai before throwing it? This is ridiculous. When exactly would I need to know any of this? She sighed silently before turning the page. The only plausible way to get by this is to cheat. It doesn’t make sense any other way; no genin would know these questions. I have to be careful, though... don’t want to get caught. I’ll do my best on the ones I understand, then check my answers with ice mirrors.

Now that she had a plan in mind, Yuna was calmer. Not that she had shown any outward signs of panic. As she sketched out a graph of a shuriken’s furthest throwing distance under varying wind speed and temperature, she twirled a piece of her white hair around her finger. Small rectangles of ice formed in the corners of the room; large enough for her to read the reflections, but small enough to avoid notice. Besides, it wasn’t likely even if they were discovered that they could be connected to her; only the slightest flicker in her eyes would give away the fact that she wasn’t looking at only her paper.

Ah, so that’s why I was having trouble on number seven... noted.

 

[Gamingfan]

Zeren sighed as he stared at the papers before him. These people obviously didn't understand that you learn better with a hands-on experience. Instead now they were doing a pointless exam as if the first thing they'll think of in a fight would be "What was the answer to question eight?"
No way he would finish in an hour even if he tried. He may as well leave it up to luck.
So, he began answering, making educated guesses or just straight up random ones, only occasionally pausing when he encountered a question he semi-understood. He wrote noticeably faster than most students, a bored expression on his face.
If he failed, his father wasn't going to be happy. But then again, was he ever? Even if he failed, Zeren planned on continuing to train.
A crucial ninja exam wasn't going to stop him from becoming a full fledged ninja.

 

[DarkHydraT]

Kani gulped as she looked at the test in front of her, what was this all about? She didn't expect math tests as a ninja, the only math she was good at was math involving money because she'd done it plenty of times before. This was gonna suck, how many questions were there? Flipping through the test, the girl inwardly groaned. There were thirty of the blasted things! Returning to the first page, she exhaled loudly as she took her homemade tekko-kagi from her hip and put them on the table. If she was going to be here for a while, she might as well make herself comfortable. She'd do any questions related to money first and after that? She had no clue, but maybe the reflective metal of her weapon could help?

 

[Schrift]

Tensei sat in class, rubbing his temples as his eyes scanned the entire paper. Numbers, numbers and more numbers?! What does this have to do with being a chunin?, he thought as he tried to hold a straight face. On the occasional combat question, he would smirk finall finding something he is slightly good at. Everytime one of the Jonin or Ibiki turned their heads away, his eyes paced around the room to see who was doing alright and who was struggling. After his 5th scan around the room, it appeared that he wasn't the only one who was confused. He could see a few Hidden mist ninjas but apart from that everyone here was a complete stranger. He adjusted his headband, causing a stray beam of light to bounce form his headband into one of Yuna's mirror and back into his other eye. At first he was confused what had just happened, rubbing his eyes until his vision returned. Looking at the mirror he could see other people's test papers, which meant he could 'magpie' the answers. Well half of their answers. But who would've left those mirrors up there to use? he thought as he got back to his paper. He tried his best to copy off the other test answers, finding it hard to copy when he could only see part of the answers. But hey, half is better than nothing right? he wondered as he scribbled onto his test.

 

[Godjacob]

"Bah, a paper test? I thought this was a measure of our abilities as ninjas not an SAT checkbox."

Needless to say before the proceedings had began there had been one voice who expressed displeasure and had been uncaring or careless enough to be vocal about it. Then again, for those who knew the Sound Ninja Koichi this behavior was very much in character and no outlier even to those who have but met him upon arrival today. Regardless, the "exam" had began all the same as with a sigh he was resigned to his face and scanned the paper as he seemed to be deep in thought. He tried to process the questions, whether they calculated shadow size or kunai trajectory as he scanned the questions for a moment before his eyes closed and an amused chuckle escaped his lips.

Yeah, no chance in hell I'm answering this crap.

In spite of the conclusion this had been a hopeless situation in a direct context, Koichi seemed unconcerned. In fact, he seemed cool as a cucumber as he focused with his ears for a moment as he had a calling card for such situations even if his speciation had to be tucked away for the moment. The sounds in the air, in specific the sounds of pencil to paper as his sharp hearing and ability to discern rhythm, stroke number and overall writing order tests had always been a bit of a breeze for him. As while he had been clueless on this test, as he listened around there was a slim minority who had known and one in particular a row over he focused upon as he tuned out the background noise and when his eyes opened he focused on his paper and began to write mirroring the strokes as the sound sync in pitch to what he heard as he began to write his answers down as if he had just known them himself.

----------
Towards the back row of the room, a young woman seemed to have her eyes and focus glued on the paper as she seemed to have a frown on her face. While the headband she wore signified an allegiance to Kumogakure, in her heart the ninja life was merely the side job to her true passion; as the samurai apprentice Mitsuko held that title closer to her heart than any ninja rank. Regardless of that or the stern instructions of this proctor she had been here as a representative of her nation and that alone had been enough fuel to allow her to move forward best as she could.

When she scanned the test, like others in the room she quickly discovered these questions had been beyond anything at their academic level; hell, based on one question she wondered how many actual "Chunin" would have been able to get these questions right. She had been all for a test of wit of some kind as one needed to be sharp in body and mind in any area of physical demand & sacrifice but this seemed to stretch the threshold of acceptance a step too far.

Alright, just relax Mitsuko. This is but an exam, you've taken far too many to allow this one to scare you away.

Regardless, Mitsuko pressed on, having had the fortune of being exposed to a number of literature by her father throughout her life along with frequent opportunities to challenge and expand her thinking through puzzles or constructive projects and the like. SO while these questions seemed daunting, they had not been an impossible challenge to overcome as Mitauko began to break down the first question in more manageable "parts" with the goal to solve each piece or component of the question at a time before bringing it together for a general answer. This had been a test of her patience as much as her mind, but she pressed forward and began to write down her response to the opening question.

----------
A young man with a curious item wrapped to his back scanned the paper presented once the rather scary looking proctor had finished outlining the instructions as he tried to see what kind of questions were on the table. Much like any test, he figured he could quickly answer the questions he had a better idea of and skip the harder ones first as he had a fair amount of time to answer them all. Hiroshi was never the biggest fan of written tests, especially given the hype these Chunin Exams had going into it but he figured there was a way to approach just about...

Huh, well uh...this is certainly a question...

....well, his thoughts had been interrupted when he actually saw the first question; as the kunai tidbits seemed to leave him at a loss and with a slight sweat drop he scanned down to the next question.

Alright no sweat just gotta try the next one.

As he read it, his sweat drop seemed to grow as again he found himself stumped as he tried to not dwell on it and moved to the next question. And the next question. And the next question. This continued until the grim reality that he had no idea how to answer any question which caused him to lightly slam his head against his desk in frustration. Quickly, Hiroshi needed to think of some way around this, and as he glanced upon his spear wrapped to his back he realized something. While his spear had been mostly covered up in white tape, there was the occasional gap present which exposed the smooth steel underneath in small sections. Hiroshi had taken pride in caring for his central weapon & hunting tool and as such polished it regularly, so polished it was in fact that upon one exposed section Hiroshi was able to get a view of the reflection of some students to the side of him; one in particular at the end who seemed to be writing down as he appeared to get the idea of the answers on his paper before him.

As he realized this, Hiroshi went to work and began to copy the answers off the reflection, careful to avoid gazing upon his spear directly as he kept his head forward to his own paper peripheral vision to its advantage as he worked to write what the other student had upon the reflection. Course, being a reflection his answers were mirrored and seemed like gibberish at first glance, but Hiroshi had been willing to deal with the headache later of unscrambling it as he focused first on getting the information on his own paper before he'd worry bout that detail.

 

[NDB]

Arashi sat in her seat, drumming her fingers on the desk as the exam was handed out. The exam dropped in front of her, and she looked at it in a bit of awe of its size. One hour to complete the exam? Upon hearing the word "begin," she flipped through the pages of the packet. The questions seemed cover a wide area of topics, most of which Arashi only had a sliver of knowledge about. She glanced around the room at the others taking the test and noticed the confused and scrunched faces they had.

Flipping through her exam once again, Arashi shrugged and began filling in her answers. She had no clue if her answers were completely correct but was confident with parts of her answers. With the questions she had no clue on, Arashi filled in something that she hoped made sense. She wasn’t going let the test worry her that much.

 

[Retro Master]

Anxiously ruffling his blonde hair with a cool hand, Kazue dreadfully scanned over the questions of the written exam once more. Unfortunately, the young Namikaze would find himself at a loss yet again. These questions were some of the most complex ones he had ever seen. While the genin hadn’t completely excelled at comprehensive tests such as these in the academy, he was no scrub either. Yet, Kazue still struggled to comprehend a good chunk of the questions.

‘Seems like only a genius could hope to answer all of these questions correctly without cheating.’

He felt pathetic. Compared to a certain deceased relative of his, Kazue was not some prodigy. The boy had heard on more than a few occasions about how they breezed through this exam from his fellow clan members. Unlike that man, Kazue might have to cheat in order to pass. In fact, there was a possibility that this exam was meant for them to cheat. The issue with that was he didn’t know the first thing about cheating. He never attempted such a dirty act before. It just felt wrong to take the easy route and pass someone else’s answer off as his own. Doing the work to get the answer he was looking for felt more rewarding to him. However, this was a matter of failing the chūnin exams and disappointing his clan. Was he willing to sacrifice his values here? If caught, he would be immediately disqualified as stated by the proctor. Would cheating even be worth it then?

Kazue didn’t know yet.

For now, the best he could do was at least calm himself down. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any rules that restricted them from taking out a weapon. The Namikaze pulled out a special custom-made kunai, similar to those of the Fourth Hokage, and gazed at it briefly for some motivation. Considering the weapon was well kept, it had enough of a gloss to give a shiny new look. Besides a part of his blue eyes, Kazue didn’t bother to look at any other reflections and quickly rested the weapon besides the exam before he could draw the attention of the proctors. After a subtle glance around him, Kazue noticed the hopeless look on some of the faces of his fellow examinees nearby. While it was not surprising, he still felt a sense of relief.

‘Okay. Seems like I’m not the only one. No need to panic. I just need to answer what I can and go from there.’

Finally bringing pencil to paper, Kazue focused on the first question he was able to comprehend. At the very least, he should be able to get a few answers down. If need be, the boy would reconsider his options afterwards.

 

[Mystic Zander]

One by one, participants were disqualified in rapid succession. Tension was growing increasingly higher as the seconds ticked by.

“Shoto Edigima! Disqualified! Miki Dorokutso! Disqualified!”

“Bullshit! No way you caught me!”

Miki, a young girl from the Cloud Village, shouted in protest, staring daggers at Proctor Ibiki.

“Dorokutso. Remove yourself from my classroom, or not only will I fail you- ILL BAN YOU FROM EVER PARTICIPATING IN THESE EXAMS AGAIN!”

Proctor Ibiki’s voice exploded throughout the classroom, causing the aged windows to rattle violently from his anger.
Miki, now awestruck, slowly gathered herself, before slipping out the side door.

~~~~~

“It’s only been a few minutes and he’s already picked off so many...I’ll only have once chance to steal someone’s answers...”

Yoshi contemplated his fate as fellow Genin were struck down around him. Odo was a shining beacon in all this, but how would make connection?
The chestnut haired Iwa-Nin gnawed on his eraser for a moment, before almost immediately being struck with a flash of inspiration.

“Heheh...wildly underprepared and unrealistically optimistic...could be the name of my novel...”

Yoshi activated the weapon seal hidden away on the back of his tongue. Upon doing so, an incredibly small senbon, curtesy of his father, was produced in his mouth.
He pinched this Mini-Senbon between his teeth while quickly weaving an equally thin string of chakra thread with his tongue, before joining the ends of each tool together.

“A-hem!”

Yoshi feigned a light caught, covering his upper lip with his hand to mask the small senbon being launched with precision accuracy-roughly four feet away-right into Odo’s pencil eraser.

“BULLSEYE! I can’t believe that actually hit!”

The newly revitalized Genin almost burst out with excitement, before remembering the exact situation he was in.
Now that his chakra thread was attached to Odo’s pencil, he began gnawing on the end of his own pencil once more, this time to connect it to his newly formed tether.

“Right, now the really tricky part...successfully tracking his movements...”

Yoshi wasn’t a sensory ninja by any means, however, thanks to his constant use of explosive tags, he’s gotten good at tracking the scale, trajectory, and distance of vibrations.
He waited for Odo to start writing once more. As he expected, the end of his pencil gently hummed to match the vibration of Odo’s pencil sliding across the paper.
Slowly but surely, Yoshi mimicked his peers movements, gradually filling in the blank questions.

“That answer...looks like it makes sense.”

 

[kyuukestu]

"Wha– what?"

Kikyō goggled at the test packet before her: reams and reams of finely printed paper, with hundreds if not thousands of characters layered onto its surface—freshly inscribed from the looks of it; still-moist ink with a noticeable smell.

Unlike many of the slightly confused genin around her, Kikyō seemed visibly upset by the written test.

"Is this a joke...?"

If this was, then it was a poor one. The girl bit her lip, her eyes flitting over the questions that mentioned incomprehensible calculations and scenarios.

The Hidden Sand village was by no means a place of absolute poverty; but, living in the middle of a vast expanse of desert did mean that resources were somewhat limited. These days...paper was a minor luxury. It wasn't that they couldn't afford it, for they certainly could; but, the price attached to it wasn't always worth it. The sand didn't have access to vast forests from which they could produce their own paper and that meant whatever paper they obtained was usually bought from other nations. However, that same lack of resources meant that paper wasn't a high priority. When more essential things like food and water were on the line, what good was it waste precious money on paper? And money truly was precious.

For all the weight its name carried and its supposed reputation among the Great Five Ninja Villages, the facts were that even their own Daimyo hadn't bothered to finance the Hidden Sand or provide them with missions. In fact, he had reduced funding towards the village and then, to bury them even further in the sand, had begun outsourcing their missions to the neighboring Hidden Leaf. When the village's traditional forms of funding had all but vanished in a puff of smoke, the Clans had scrambled to put some stop-gap measure in place. The expenditure was a burden on them all; but, luckily, they had Lord Kazegake, whose Gold dust release had been able to alleviate the financial burden.

Despite the grandeur of their arrival, Lord Kazekage himself leading the procession, each Sand shinobi knew how dire the straights were back home. Kikyō had walked through the Leaf and taken note of their prosperity: lush land and a flourishing population. She'd seen and trembled before their great clans; the likes of the Uchiha, Hyūga, Nara, and Aburame whose prowess was of world-renown. She'd seen them all and thought back to the stories her father had told her, of a time when the Sand stood amongst the Great Five as an equal.

Her imagination had been opened to a time when the village's grand puppet brigades raced across the sands nurturing the desert with blood; when enemies were driven to a rout at the mere thought of Sand's deadly poisons. The Village had been rife with legendary figures: the honored lady who'd even taken on Hanzō the Salamander; the strongest third Kazekage; Pakura of the Scorch release, Hero of the Hidden Sand; the puppet master, Sasori of the Red Sand and his dust-devil parents. But sadly, most of those names were from a bygone era.

Lady Chiyo had grown old and though she was still revered, things had never been the same after the Leaf's Slug Princess had stunned the world by neutralizing the Sand's bests poisons. The puppet brigades were now lived in the shadow of their former glory, their best and brightest consumed by the flames of previous wars; the dust devils themselves, parents of the Red Sand, slain by the Leaf's White Fang.

The Sand-kunoichi clenched her fists tightly, recalling the history of her village. Their power had been steadily waning since their defeat at the hands of the Leaf in the Second Shinobi War. The cause of the conflict had been lost to time and was now heavily debated; but, one theory suggested the origin stretched back to the time of the first Kage Summit. The Sand had made some dealings with the Leaf, bartering over some fertile land, but then the Leaf had gone back on their word...

Kikyō didn't know whether that was the truth or not, the few books she did own—ones detailing the long history of her village—couldn't come to a singular conclusion. It was a shame that this written test didn't ask about the history of the villages; she would've aced the section on the Sand.

The kunoichi looked over the paper once more, finally coming to the conclusion that there was no way this test was actually serious. Who the hell could even answer these questions seriously?

She glanced around, her certainty growing as she glimpsed the confused and conflicted expressions on the faces of the surrounding ninja; but, then she noticed...them. Breezing through the paper with a bored expression on his face, a boy was filling in questions...almost as if at random! Every ounce of logic in Kikyō's body told her that couldn't be the case. Who would risk failing the exam on chance alone? Maybe he had given up and was simply hoping for the best? It seemed like a plausible explanation, but then Kikyō noticed another person, a girl who shrugged and then began flipping through the packet without a worry in the world. A second boy anxiously ruffled his blonde hair, seeming perplexed for a few moments before he finally put pen to paper.

Kikyō's expression paled as she noticed the one common thread between them. Leaf shinobi. Every. Single. One.

Slowly, a dreadful conclusion began to dawn on her. Could it be that...perhaps...just maybe...it wasn't the test that was hard, but she who was too stupid? Was this the standard that Leaf shinobi were held to?

Humiliation washed over her, born from a sense of gross inferiority, and provoked the spirit of righteous indignation.

LEAF SHINOBI!!

It was always Leaf shinobi. Despite the supposed 'equal alliance' that existed between the Leaf and Sand, it felt that the Sand was little more than a side-kick; a lacky, with no identity of their own. The Leaf had, time and time again, whether intentionally or not, put the Sand down. And now, here there were, FLAUNTING, their superiority. BAH! Some allies they were!

And yet...it was the truth. What else could be said about it?

The Sand an equal to the Leaf? That was nothing more than a joke!

Was there even an argument to make? Whether prestige, power, population...the Sand was far inferior on all fronts. Even their prided medical ninjutsu played second fiddle to the Leaf.

Kikyō lowered her head, her clenched teeth and fists had become so tight they were painful. The test before her was more than just a quiz, more than just an arbitrary assessment; it was a sign of ever-growing disparity. A dark chasm had opened between the Sand and the other Great Ninja villages, and though it pained her to admit, the Sand had fallen so far behind that she couldn't even fathom what lay on the other side. But, that was exactly why she couldn't fail.

Failure now was to accept inferiority, to live in the Leaf's shadow for a long as days lasted.

Kikyō refused.

Her father had taught her to hunt, taught her that the only thing you really owned was that which you acquired yourself. Anything else was being subject to another's good graces. That lesson had really been driven home when the Feudal Lord's good graces had run out and he'd almost buried the village by withdrawing his support.

A hunter did what they needed to do in order to provide for their kin, and if that meant cheating...so be it. The fear of being caught was vastly outweighed by a need to validate herself and her village.

Kikyō fingers drifted to the quiver she'd set down beside her chair, and she plucked an arrow, softly snapping the wood into concealable bits while removing the arrowhead and fletching. Within a few moments, she had several pieces of broken wood within her palm. Balling the bits into a fist, she took a deep breath and focused on her chakra flow. Lively and spirited, her fiery natured chakra spread throughout her body, gathering in her palm and quickly heating the wood. When Kikyō could smell the faintest whiffs of the burnt wood, she stopped and admired her handiwork. The wood had been blackened on all its edges and was burning away at a steady pace.

'Perfect...'

After locating a few targets who looked like they knew what they were doing, Kikyō took aim. The wood bits would be easily hidden if she lowered her arm beneath the desks and chairs, and then flicked them towards their targets. The first piece of wood burned up before it reached its target, but the soot drifted on the wind, slowly lining the target's test paper. The target sniffled, catching the faint whiff of burnt wood, but Kikyō had been careful to use very small pieces so the smell persisted for no longer than a moment. However, as more soot began to accumulate on his desk and some began to drift into his nose, the target took a particularly deep breath and..."Achooo!"

That instant was precisely what Kikyō was waiting for. The disturbance turned a few heads, and Kikyō pretended to be one of the startled persons. Her eyes zeroed in not on the sneezer, but on his desk. The soot around his desk and the pressure applied as he wrote, had caused his answers to faintly imprint on the desk's surface. The answers lasted for only a moment before..."ACHOO!" A second sneeze blew them away.

Kikyō turned back to her paper, filling in the few answers she'd glimpsed. She doubted anyone, even the target himself, had noticed. The dust-like soot wasn't thick enough to be visible in the air and the scent not strong enough to draw attention; and, while the sooty imprinted was briefly visible, most eyes would be on the sneezing victim, rather than his desk. With how quickly the answers were removed by the second sneeze, Kikyō figured she could escape detection so long as the proctors weren't close.

She waiting for a few moments, feigning deep contemplation. When nobody called out to her, she breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't want to end up failed like that Cloud-Ninja from just a while back.

Kikyō returned her attention to her remaining ammunition. "Alright...just a few more times."

 

[DarkHydraT]

This was bad. Very, very bad. There were no questions about money, they were all about stuff that were way too ninja for a simple civillian born. Kani was screwed, how the heck was she going to pass? "Yo, Iwa girl. Could you move those things?" The voice of her neighbor snapped her out of her misery, though she was lost as to what the Kumo-nin meant. Looking at the girl's face, she noticed that a ray of sunlight was pointed straight at her face after being reflected by her tekko-kagi. "Oh, uh, right." Sneaking a peek at the sheet of the girl, she turned her head and moved her claws, allowing her to look at the exam of her other neighbor. Pressing down a guilty smile, the girl wrote down the answers that she saw whilst making sure at least one of them was wrong. She wasn't exactly subtle when she saw the answers and this way her conscience would be at ease and the proctors hopefully could not expel her for cheating.

Three questions down, twenty seven to go. This was going to be a hard one, Kani was sure of it. Letting her head fall on her hand, she blew a lock of hair out of the way as her eyes drifted. How was she supposed to pass this exam? If this was the level of intelligence Konoha held its genin to, Iwa was either lacking behind or she was dumber than she thought. Maybe she should've just kept working in her parents' store, she clearly was outwitted and outmatched. She didn't need to know the trajectory of a kunai if it was thrown at a speed of 20 km/h when gutting a fish or killing a crab. The genin's eyes rested on her tekko-kagi, maybe she could use it in the store. Her train of thought came to a screeching halt as realization struck her. Kani blinked. She could see the answers of her neighbor on the weapon, though there were a couple of holes in the answer that she had to fill herself. It isn't how I want to pass, but it beats failing! Wasting no time as to make the most out of her discovery before the proctors could send her away, the Iwa kunoichi began writing.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

For the most part, Ryu Ryu sat there hunched over, elbows pressed against the desk. He had a rather cocky grin about him despite not answering any questions for at least five minutes. "Maaaan! These questions are so complicated! Uuuuuuugh! Being a ninja is about killing stuff, and doing stuff, and not doing this stuff specifically. If I wanted to do paper work, I'd have taken up a job as local law enforcement. This some b.s. man. Let's see here. I'm gonna skip this question. This one too. Sk-sk-sk-skip!... Oh geez. It's guessing time. Where's the multiple choices when you need them? Uuuugh... Just kill the b**** and be done with it. Next question.. uuugh..." Ryu Ryu thought to himself. He continued to think this way for the remainder of the test. Ryu Ryu's smug face had already left his face a while ago, and the only thing left now was a nervous wreck partially hoping to be put out of his misery.

Ryu Ryu began scrawling his answers in a messy and hastily manner. Although his hand writing was legible, that was hardly an compliment. "I wonder how the others are doing! I bet I'm doing the best! I bet I probably did even better than Koichi! Ha! Eat your hearts out ninja shinobi! Ya boy is coming" Ryu Ryu thought to himself. On an extreme rare occasion Ryu Ryu actually felt confident with the answer he responded with. Whether or not they were correct, would be another factor all together. As soon as Ryu Ryu finished answering a large majority of the questions. He had answered 78% of the test was answered, and the remaining 22% merely had the phrase "Hell if I know" written next to it. For the remainder of the time, he sat there swaying side to side lightly, tapping the desk the way he would his drums. "best shinobi ever" Ryu Ryu whispered to himself with a look of contempt. Ryu Ryu was confident that he'd at least make a C.

 

[sSoul]

After answering most of the questions about Ninjutsu, Garu let out a long, exasperated sigh. He knew that there was still a great amount of test left for him to partake in, and the remaining questions were on subjects that he was unfamiliar with, hence him skipping them in the first place.

This is a mockery. This isn't a test of my abilities as a shinobi, it's just an evaluation to see what information I can retain and regurgitate. And here I thought my academy days were behind me.

Looking around at his peers, he noticed that several of them were cheating off others to get ahead. In fact, nearly everyone was cheating at the test, to Garu's initial disdain. Usually, he would hold shinobi to a higher standard, believing those who cheat to be weak cowards who need to supplement their lacking abilities with the potency of others. But in this case specifically, the Iwa shinobi began to consider cheating as a viable option for completing this test.

I could take the safe route and guess on every question left or I could attempt to cheat. If I selected the former, I run the risk of failing, which will get me eliminated. If I select the latter, I run the risk of getting caught...which will get me eliminated. Didn't expect to be dealing with Morton's Fork today but here we are...

Ultimately, Garu decided to mix the two outcomes together since they both resulted in the same negative outcome. He chose to guess on the short answer segments until he had answered every single short answer question on the test. After that, the Iwavian shinobi had reached the point of no return, he needed to cheat if he was to pass this exam. Reluctantly, Garu performed some hand seals underneath his desk and placed his right hand softly onto the desk. This caused a small, thin, transparent crystal the size of a glasses lens to materialize in front of him. From there, he put the crystal near his eye, causing the vision he got from the crystal to zoom in and focus on whatever was in Garu's line of sight. This time, his target was the Leaf shinobi that sat in front of him, who probably had the time to study out every question on the test, Once he saw the answers, he copied them down on his sheet.

This is regrettable, but it's what you gotta do when you're being tested by a hack.

 

[Grand Master Koop]

Sitting amongst the crowd of panicking Genins struggling to even begin on their exam, a lone girl was swiftly jotting down answers on her paper like it was no big deal. Ever since the examinees were handed their test papers, she had been effortlessly moving from question to question with minimal pause time. "Heh, all of this is nothing but child play." The girl was named Hatsumei Kajiya, a Genin hailing from the hidden sand village. Like her peers, she is trying to get promoted to the Chunin status by participating in the annual promotion exam.

Casting a glance around, Hatsumei noticed that many of her fellow exam goers had stressed and panicked expressions. This fact brought up some level of confusion in the mind of the girl. "They can't be struggling with this can they? You'd have to be really simpleminded to think any of this is difficult." She mumbled to herself, oblivious of the fact that not everyone had her level of intellectual talent.

Not long after the start of the exam, Hatsumei found herself at the bottom of her paper as she finished answering all of her questions. "Already over? How much time is left?" She mumbled as she rose her head up to find a time indicator. "I was just getting warmed up too."

 

[Mystic Zander]

As minutes turned to seconds on the timer, Yoshi quickly tried to punch in guesses on the first two questions, both of which he’d left blank.

“Well that’s kinda obvious...but it’ll have to do.”

Twenty-eight fairly reasonable answers with work shown, and two complete gambles.

~~~~~

Proctor Ibiki’s eyes trailed across the room, taking in everything around him.

“Hm. Some creative cheaters...and some...less creative...”

“Time!”

Once again, Ibiki’s voice bellowed throughout the classroom. His sudden announcement made several students jump, including one poor soul who accidentally tore a hole in his test with a pencil.

“Put your pencils down. If you continue to write, I will fail you!”

In a blur, the three assistant examiners dashed around the room, gathering the thick packets up in three clean piles at the head of the scar-faced Jonins desk.
Ibiki’s stern expression slightly wavered as he thumbed through the packets, a small smile creeping across his lips.

“Congratulations for completing the first exams. I’m sure you’ve all noticed that this test was significantly more advanced than what you were expecting. Truth is- the packet itself wasn’t the test.”

He threw all the packets up in the air, only for his three assistant examiners to, once again, make a mad dash around the room, swiping up the loose papers, before swiftly passing them back out to each respective student.
All of the tests had a big green stamp on the front page, simply reading, ‘Passed’.

“The packet was merely part of the game. The idea of the initial exam is simple. Test a ninja’s flexibility while faced with an unfamiliar situation.
We wanted you all to cheat, and we know you did. Thankfully, those of you left cheated well enough to pass. So please, take a moment to pat yourself on the back.”

Ibiki slowly made his way to the exit, only glancing back a single time.

“Then...get ready for the second exam...”

 

[Gamingfan]

Upon Ibiki's bark, Zeren looked up, having been reviewing his answers for the past few minutes. As the professor flipped through the papers, he couldn't help but tense slightly. Despite the initial nonchalance, he was a little worried about passing.
That is, until he dramatically threw the papers around, leaving his assistants to not-so-gracefully pick them up and stamp them. Zeren looked at the bright green mark on his paper, a little dazed, before feeling a brief pang of irritation. All that anxiousness he had to go through, and for what?
But, with a deep breath, he calmed himself. Whatever, this was the test and he passed...kinda. Hopefully they'll end with the mind games soon.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

Ryu Ryu had already put his pencil down upon finishing, but nearly fell out of his chair when the examiner spoke. Ryu Ryu nervously picked up his pencil just so he could place the pencil back down like Ibiki said. "Of course. Of course! I passed. It was never a question! Ha! Hahahahahahahahaha!" Ryu Ryu said wiping the sweat off his forehead. "You did it! You did iiiiit! Aaaahhh! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! I'm surprised I didn't fai- No! Don't think that way! Of course you were gonna pass!" Ryu Ryu thought to himself.

Ryu Ryu extended his legs out, leaned back in his chair, and put his hands behind his head. Ryu Ryu patted himself on the back with a smug grin, "I'm totally ready for round two!" Ryu Ryu said. Ryu Ryu was also happy to know his teammates would continue. He had doubts about pne of his teammates, but was glad to know his doubts were misplaced.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Yuna sighed and sat back, tapping her fingers on the desk as the tension left her body and the papers were collected. She kept her poker face up , masking the mixed feelings of surprise, confusion, anger, relief, and apprehension that she felt. She tucked them into the “scream into a pillow later” drawer in her mind. The ice mirrors in the corner of the room sublimated, skipping the liquid phase to evaporate directly into the air.

The girl looked over the remaining genin, taking into account her opponents and the others from her village who she would avoid targeting. She wouldn’t help her fellow village-mates unless she had to, but she could avoid hostile confrontation with them. Absentmindedly, she created a small butterfly out of paper-thin ice that fluttered around her index finger for a few seconds before dissipating. Her hawklike eyes shifted from the others to focus on Ibiki, waiting intently for instructions. A nice break, but it’s time to get my head back in the game.

 

[Retro Master]

‘That... was it?’

A sigh of relief escaped Kazue after his exam packet was returned to him. Like everyone else remaining in the room, the front page of his packet had a big green stamp on it. An indication that they had all successfully passed the first exam. Following the brief explanation given by Ibiki, it soon became apparent to the blonde-haired genin that one of his suspicions was correct. This exam was meant to test how well they could collect information while under high surveillance. To put it bluntly, they were supposed to cheat without getting caught. When infiltrating the enemy to gather intelligence, there were only so few mistakes that could be made. On an actual mission, being caught usually meant imprisonment or a cruel, bloody fate. The latter being the destiny for most on the shinobi road. However, Kazue wasn't one to have such a gloomy outlook and he simply looked forward to what was next.

'So what now?'

With the first exam complete, it seemed that they would be getting a few moments of downtime before the second one began. Looking around, Kazue was pleased to see that a few Leaf genin had also passed. In a way, they had to shoulder the pride of their village. At its base, these exams were meant for worthy genin to attain the rank of chūnin. Upon closer inspection, this was also an opportunity for villages to get a good look at the military strength and potential threats from the opposition. Failure early was a bad look for not only them individually but also their village. While the genin may be competing against each other for personal success, those in the same village were likely on the same side at the end of the day.

The young Namikaze briefly wondered about conversing with his fellow villagers but decided against it for the time being. Besides a few murmurs of joy from some of the genin, most in the room remained quiet. For all they knew, this could be the second test. An exam which tested their ability to remain focused and not lose sight of their goals even when faced with the opportunity to relax. Perhaps Kazue was reaching, but he wasn't prepared to take any risks just yet. For now, the boy decided to stay calm and patiently await their next instructions.

 

[Schrift]

Tensei flicked through his test sheet. He watched as Miki was disqualified, forcing him to go back to his test. His scribbling was frantic as he tried to patch up any words the best he could. If only I coul- he stopped. He reluctantly dropped his pencil, expecting to fail. He sunk his head low as he waited for the examiner to say he had failed. I've failed and now I've let myself down. What's mum and dad gonna think now? They gave me the 4 tail to help me and this is how I repay them, he thought. His heart skipped a beat, well more like seven, when the proctor said they had passed. He slumped into his chair, ecstatic from his pass. Tensei quickly picked himself up as his head darted around the room to see who else had passed. He was glad to see a couple hidden mist ninja had passed. When his eyes skimmed over Yuna he saw the ice butterfly in her hand. The person who'd helped him pass the test was sitting only behind him?! A smile plastered Tensei's face as he turned to her. "You're the one who put those mirrors up right?", he asked. "Those saved my butt big time, thanks", he smiled.

@=Nightshade=

 

[sSoul]

As Garu saw the proctor's assistants made their rounds to collect the tests, an unbearable feeling of dread slowly crept into him. Although he believed that he was being sneaky, it seemed that Proctor Ibiki had caught wind of the Iwavian's stunt and was preparing to punish him accordingly. He took a moment to breathe deeply as to calm his nerves, only for that process to be deemed irrelevant once Ibiki had confirmed that they've all passed. Suddenly, Garu felt relieved of a lot of tension as he allowed himself to process the fact that he passed the exams.

Well I'm glad I passed, and I'm also glad that my skills as a shinobi really were being tested, but I feel that this exam will have set a precedent for cheating in the future among my peers, which is a shame.

However, instead of focusing on the disturbing thought of being forced to compete with cheaters, Garu opted to prepare himself for the following exam. Obviously, he would need to recharge his chakra to maximum capacity so he can perform optimally, but that was assured given he only made a small lens. Rather, it was a more prudent time to gather allies for the coming trial, as allying yourself with others allows you to compliment each other's strengths while supplementing each other's weaknesses. Before attempting to talk to anyone else, he sought out those who wore the same forehead guard that he did, denoting them to be of the same village and therefore likely to cooperate in the future. It didn't take long for him to find someone that hailed from Iwagakure, the first Iwavian he noticed was a short tan girl that seemed to be around his age. Without further hesitation, he went over to her desk to strike up conversation.

Hmm, what are good conversation starters..?

The question plagued his mind as he made his way over to the kunoichi, and he wasn't coming up with a good answer any time soon. Eventually, he reached his destination and without a concrete plan in mind, he simply recited the latest suggestion that he gave himself.

"So, I see that you passed as well."

 

[=Nightshade=]

Yuna glanced at the boy in front of her who was turned around to grin in her direction. The girl knew that the mirrors were a risk in the way that others could use them, but she had made the angles optimum for her while slightly less convenient for anyone else on purpose. She didn’t think anyone would actually try to get other people’s answers through them, considering they would probably only reveal half an answer at best. Hmm. More astute than I expected for the idiot I marked him as. She was about to make a cold retort before she noticed the four squiggles on his headband plate, showing that he was of Kirigakure as well. Now that she thought about it, he looked vaguely familiar, though she couldn’t recall his name. She stopped herself from snapping at him and resigned herself to a curt nod and a low “tch,” before turning back to Ibiki. With any luck he’ll ignore me. The last thing I need right now is to be chatting up this guy when I should be planning my strategy for the second exam.

@Schrift
(OOC: lololol these two do not get along lmao)

 

[Grand Master Koop]

"Unfamiliar circumstances? What could he mean by that?" A confused Hatsumei pondered to herself. After the examiners collected their papers and subsequently gave them back with the mention that they intended for all the exam goers to cheat, the Sand born girl was genuinely surprised at the claim. "Did people actually need to cheat on a test as simple as this one?" She said to herself, still completely oblivious of the fact that her intellectual level was higher than most other examinees.

Leaning back, Hatsumei stretched her arms out as she let out a yawn. "Oh well, whatever the case that was a good warm up. I wonder what's coming next." She said to herself.

 

[Schrift]

"Jeez, perfect way to show your ice has more personality than you", he muttered to himself. A look at her eyes told Tensei everything he needed to know, well sort of. She's from the Harusuki clan, he thought as he looked at her. Looking at her made Tensei feel cold, from her white hair and unnerving attitude, she felt exactly like her own ice. Try some small talk, she may be cold but don't lose your temper over that, he thought. "I'm Tensei Terumi, from the name you probably guessed I'm from the Terumi clan", he said with a small smile on his face. He rubbed the back of his head, feeling like a moron for trying to carry on conversation with her. Sure he wasn't the upmost best when it came to being social but he was not the worst by far, he hoped. "So are you going to be a healing nin or something like that?", he asked, knowing that this question by now should hopefully kill the conversation. His father had told him that the Harusuki clan had a lot of healing nin so it wasn't a bad guess, well not to Tensei.

@=Nightshade=

 

[kyuukestu]

'What a sham!'

The desert hunter quietly seethed at the apparently inconsequential test. Who in the world didn't know of the Leaf shinobi's exceptional espionage skills? They boasted the Clans of two of the great dojutsu, the Sharingan and Byakugan, as well as a plethora of other clans like the Yamanaka, Nara, Aburame, and Inuzuka—all of whom were exceptionally talented at gathering information due to their Hiden techniques. Which other village had entire clans whose abilities seemed tailored for a test exactly like this one?

'Conniving little worms, the test was biased this whole time!'

Well...on second thought, that was unlikely. The Leaf wouldn't have been able to so blatantly rig the Chunin Exams, after all, this year's exams had been jointly held by all five of the great nations. Besides, from what she observed, the exam passes were split pretty evenly among the five. She'd even noticed her village's tinker-bell yawning while muttering to herself. The exam probably hadn't been much of an issue for the mechanist; who had probably spent every waking moment tinkering with books and gadgets.

Despite being from the same village, Kikyō couldn't claim to know much about the girl; but, the practiced way in which she held conversations with herself spoke to many moons spent in solitude—or maybe she'd snorted too many fumes. Whatever the case was, Kikyō decided her time was best spent observing the competition.

 

[Godjacob]

As the announcement was made, the Genin in the room seemed to have a mixture of emotions to the reveal of what the real exam had been all about as it took a moment for it to process.

"S-seriously..." Hiroshi muttered with a sigh, and amused grin as indeed it seemed he unintentionally guessed the real intent and thankfully his method had been discrete enough to get by. One exam down least another pair to go as he figured it would only get more difficult from here, but hey that may mean there was bound to be an exam to test his physical skills and talents which he'd take over pencil work any day of the...

"T-this must be some joke right!?"

The voice of Mitsuko slamming her hands on her desk and her cry of disbelief sounded next as the samurai-style ninja had her jaw agape in response to this revelation. She had worked tirelessly to answer each question to the best of her ability and felt prideful in her responses; they had not all been perfect but for this academic level each seemed to require she had felt she did a commendable job. Only to learn that this was merely an example of ninja deception; avoiding the questions directly and trying to peer off the work of others to get ahead. How could she be expected to take "pride" in her ninja lifestyle when ninja can't even seem to combat a paper without resorting to such tactics to get ahead?

A chuckle sounded as Mitsuko directed her gaze towards Koichi who seemed amused at how bewildered Mitsuko had been which caused her to frown his direction. "Seems we've got a simple-minded over achiever here. It's precious really." Koichi mused as Mitsuko felt a slight at that comment but the Oto-nin paid her no mind as he stood having placed his hands in his pockets and already began moving from his seat to get his legs moving as he casually glanced Ibuki's way with a sly smirk.

"Sure hope the next exam brings something more interesting. So far, can't say I've been overly impressed." Koichi said as the disrespect to the exam proctor only caused Mitsuko to feel further resentment towards this upstart while Hiroshi merely raised an eyebrow a bit intrigued by this.

This guy sure is full of himself. Either he is full of hot air, or might be an interesting challenge. These exams get more promising by the minute...

 

[NDB]

Arashi finished filling in her answers and placed her pencil down roughly a minute before Ibiki called time. When he did call time, Arashi sat back and watched as his assistants gathered up all the tests. When Ibiki announced the grade of the test didn't really matter, she smiled, relieved that, even though she probably didn't get a single question right, the test wasn't going to be holding her back from moving up the ranks. After Ibiki left the room, the young ninja looked around at the other genin still in the room. She was glad that there were still some other genin from Konoha that made it pass the first test. It would've looked really bad for the village if only one or two of them passed. She wasn't sure what the next test was going to entail. but she was sure that she wasn't going to pass by bullshitting her answers.

 

[kyuukestu]

It all happened in an instant. Faster than any of the examinees could react. Glass panes shattered and lightbulbs exploded. Hissing, angry sparks showered the classroom, casting a faint light. The flicker lasted for the briefest of moments, illuminating a shadowy blob that had clearly been the source of all the chaos. The light wasn't nearly enough to identify the object; then, a moment later, everything was shrouded in darkness.

A chorus of crisp thuds filled the classroom, and then with the flicker of returning lights, all was revealed...

~~~

Kikyō blinked. Stunned. In the blink of an eye, everything had changed. A blanket of powdered glass covered the desks and chairs, they became a sea of glitter, each bit and fragment reflecting the newly restored lights—which Kikyō noted were brighter than before. Kikyō also noticed that a tarp now hung at the front of the classroom, concealing the exit with bright, bold characters.

Congratulations on Passing the First Exam!!
​

The desert hunter blinked once more. She reeled at the sheer absurdity.

"Not impressed~?" A feminine voice questioned laughingly. Alarmed, Kikyō's attention snapped in the direction of the intruder, eeking out a surprised "wha—"

Standing behind Koichi, with the blade of a kunai dancing dangerously close to his neck, was a scantily dressed woman: fishnet-mesh covered her body, revealing peeks of skin beneath a brown overcoat.

"I'm Mitarashi Anko! The proctor for the second exam."

"On your desks, you'll find a life-lease. Signing it will free the Leaf of any responsibility if you die during the second exam. Once you've signed, then I'll lead you to the location of your next test."

The woman—who proclaimed herself the proctor of the second exam—seemed all too happy to have a group of children sign their death warrants; but, unconcerned with their reactions, she leaned closer to Koichi, letting the gleaming blade she toted reflect his soft and tender neck.

"I like kids like you...spunky, energetic," Anko started with a dangerous smile, "It's a pity they always die first."

 

[Gamingfan]

Well...these guys certainly have a flair for the dramatic. And here I thought a ninja was supposed to be stealthy.
Ninja Theater aside, the paper before Zeren lay expectantly, awaiting his signature.
If we die during the exam, huh? Is this another mind game?
Despite the rather...ominous thought, Zeren smirked as he wholeheartedly signed his name without a second thought. Eh, at least there's finally something exciting to look forward to.
And potencial death as well, but what's a test without a challenge?

 

[ThAtGuY101]

Ryu ryu ducked when the lightbulbs exploded, "What the actual hell is going on now?!" Ryu Ryu said. "Psycho looking like she wants to turn Koichi into bite sized Koichi pieces" Ryu Ryu said.

"Second exam? Guess that's one way to make an entrance. She certainly doesn't look like an examiner. Yet then again I guess you can't entirely judge someone based on as appearance. Even if it's a relatively reasonable move. This lady might like kids a little too much. A bit concerning... I'd save you Koichi, but I'm not gonna fight this lady. Crazy people are unpredictable" Ryu thought to himself. Ryu Ryu doubted she'd try kill him, but he had his hand near his kunai pouch anyways.

Despite Ryu Ryu's concern for his teammate, he was still relatively excited to pass the next portion of the chunin exam.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Yuma’s mouth twisted into a scowl as the boy introduced himself, continuing to talk, and immediately proceeded to sort her into a mold. Just as she was about to verbally bite his head off, the window exploded and in shot a female ninja with short purplish hair and a wild look about her. She looked down at the paper she’d been handed, read through it with a wry grin, and signed with a quick flick of her wrist. Never thought signing my death warrant would come before I was a full-fledged shinobi. Though, it’s not as if I plan to die during this test, so I guess it doesn’t matter that much.

Turning back to the boy she found so obnoxious, she said, “Yuna Harusaki,” curtly, before shutting her mouth tightly, teeth gritted, as her mind went into overdrive. I got past the first exam easily enough, but if I know anything, it’s that that was the easy part. It’s only going to get harder from here. Yuna chewed her lip absentmindedly, trying to dissolve the anger she felt at the other Kiri nin’s question about if she planned to be a medical ninja. Asked so innocently, and yet as if he were judging her, shoving her into the mold of her clan. I hope that’s the end of that conversation. I swear if I don’t get to hit something soon, I’m going to end up hitting him.

 

[Mystic Zander]

BANGBANGBANG..Bang!

The first thing Yoshi picked up on was the sound of small explosions.

“From above?”

The fairly quiet Iwa-nin kicked the chair out from beneath him and looked to the ceiling with one hand covering his eyes, and the other sliding a scroll from his thigh-holster.

“The lights...?”

As Yoshi lowered his gaze, realizing the ‘explosions’ was nothing to concern himself with, a mesh-laden shinobi with deep purple hair had already smashed through the window and announced herself as the Proctor for the next exam.

“Oh...”

Yoshi awkwardly picked up his chair and put it back, before quietly sinking into his seat.
All his practice with paper bombs had made the boy...a little testy around explosions of any caliber.

“I am a DUMBASS.”

Now, thoroughly embarrassed, the young man had no problem whatsoever signing his life away.

“Just kill me now...”

 

[DarkHydraT]

Kani let out a sigh of relief, thankfully the answers didn't matter. She still didn't feel good about cheating, but atleast she passed the first exam. Leaning back in her chair, she saw someone from Iwa feel the need to approach her and make conversation. Why? She had no idea whatsoever, but who was she to judge? Putting on a polite smile, the girl made eye contact with the boy. "I did, and I'm going to assume that you did too." It wasn't the most impressive answer, but it was enough for now. After all, she was talking to a stranger during a time that just had to be tense politically. Thankfully the boy was also from Iwa, so some tension was removed.

As the lights went out and the windows broke, Kani covered herself with her arms to avoid anything getting in her eyes. "What was that?" Lowering her arms, the Iwavian noticed that there was a piece of paper in front of her stuck to her table with a kunai. Before she could ask what the paper was about, the proctor answered her question before it left her lips. "I think I just might get second thoughts about this whole ninja business." She whispered as her eyes stayed on the arguably pretty but definitely insane woman that was responsible for the second exam. Grabbing the pencil again, her hand hovered above the form before Kani signed it. There was no going back now, hopefully this was just another test where doing the thing that was reckless was the right thing to do.

 

[Godjacob]

The sudden arrival of the second proctor had been one to catch seemingly every Genin in the room off guard. Needless to say this led to a mixture of reactions as one startled Kiri-ninja nearly fell out of his chair in response to the shattered glass alone.

Shit! We're under attack!
​

While Hiroshi stumbled and tried to get his bearings before he planted on the floor, Mitsuko had eyed the window as she had her hand instinctively rested on the handles of her blades. Was this some ill-conceived assassination plot? Mitsuko felt she was prepared for whatever came through sudden as it had been, but to be truthful she wished she held that thought till after she had seen just what it actually was before she made such hasty judgement.

As the dust cleared and a large banner which seemed to have a message across it, as the woman who seemed to be the proctor for the next exam made an entrance that one could call over the top but really that seemed to be an insult to the word. Mitsuko and Hiroshi looked upon the scene, both of them seemed a bit dumbfounded in the sea of other reactions to this as Koichi found the woman trace a blade from behind to him.

The Oto-Genin already had a hand to his banjo as momentarily his eyes seemed to widen as even he seemed caught off guard by the sudden arrival, but quickly enough he regained his form as he seemed to chuckle a bit in response to Anko's warning or one could say "compliment" to him as he glanced behind her.

"Well, least this proctor is easier on the eyes. So it may be more worth my time, just don't tempt me too much sweet cheeks." Koichi mused, perhaps an effort to regain his cool she had momentarily taken from him, or perhaps just more of his "expressive" personality on display as none the less he reached to look at his own paper and signed it without second thought, while Mitsuko and Hiroshi also looked over the contracts themselves though both had considerable resolve to be scared off by this waver warning.

 

[Retro Master]

The arrival of the second proctor had certainly been an unexpected one. Along with many others, Kazue was also startled by her abrupt entrance. Fortunately, Kazue had quickly used his arms to shield his eyes from being struck by any of the stray glass fragments that rained down on them. Compared to the last proctor, this one seemed crazy. After uncovering his eyes, Kazue found the woman with a kunai to the neck of the genin who had just made a rather bold comment to Ibiki. Judging by the forehead protector around their neck, the genin was from the Hidden Sound village. Not much was known about the village other than it was part of a new, small nation, so there was a lack of information on it. Especially for a genin like himself. However, it was clear that some of their ninja were quite confident in themselves. Maybe a bit too much.

‘I suppose that’s one way to keep people in check, but maybe that’s overdoing it a bit...’

Though the Sound genin was able to respond with yet another witty remark, Anko had solidified her dominant presence in the room. From another perspective, the action could be seen as the Leaf reaffirming its power and standing among the five great nations. The minor nations should be wary of that strength. Either way, the relationship between the Leaf and the Sound seemed to be shaky at best. Kazue would prefer there to be better relationships between the nations, but that wasn’t up to him. The Hokage had that choice. Anyways, he should be concerned about passing these exams first. More specifically, making it out alive.

‘Shouldn’t I be consulting my parents before I sign something like this? Though if I fail here, that might be worse than death.’

The thought of failing only at the second exam caused Kazue to shudder. He didn’t want to imagine how disappointed his family would be. Especially his little sister. Even worse, he would be proving his elder brother right. With that last thought, Kazue signed the form without much hesitation. The Namikaze had to remain confident in himself if he wanted to go far. Besides, it wasn’t like the villages would willingly send their young shinobi to potentially die off in droves just for an exam. The purpose of the life-lease could simply be to incite fear. Perhaps the exam wasn’t as dangerous as Anko was making it out to be...

 

[sSoul]

Given his lackluster conversation starter, Garu was met with a similarly lackluster reply. Despite this, the Iwavian was grateful that the person he was talking to was polite enough to maintain eye contact and give a polite smile. Although they haven't met before this exam, the fact that they hailed from the same village seemed to ease the transition from strangers to acquaintances. Garu was going to continue the conversation, but the windows shattered and the light bulbs exploded before he could get the chance. Luckily, he remained unhurt from the incident by covering himself with his arms. He tried to examine the recently darkened surroundings, but they were quickly re-illuminated to display a sea of glass shards on the desks and floor. More importantly, a death warrant absolving the Leaf of any responsibility in the event that an examinee dies while taking the exam was presented to him. Before the Iwavian signed the paper, he fixed a gaze onto the questionably dressed proctor to ask a simple question.

"Was that whole display of yours really necessary?" Garu's tone was deadpan as he asked, evident of his veil of nonchalance, "Allow me to clarify, wouldn't it be easier and more resource efficient to simply walk in and hand out the death warrants?" As he was questioning Anko's authority, he began to collect any shards of glass that weren't too sharp to the touch to crystalize later.

 

[kyuukestu]

'A few more inches and I'd be dead...'

Cold sweat beaded against her back and Kikyō cast a somber gaze towards Anko and then towards the seemingly fearless genin from the sound who provoked a Procter whose every action thus far screamed 'I can't wait to see these kids die'.



Evidently, he wasn't the only one that thought the proctor's attitude was just for show...

The proctor snapped at the offending Iwa-shinobi; a blurred shadow darted from her sleeve, seeking to coil around the Iwa shinobi's shoulder. Angry hisses and a threatening rattle followed and the blur—revealed to be a serpent—flicked its tongue against the Iwa-shinobi's skin.

"How is it?" The wily kunoichi asked. "It's a good taste, right?"

Anko licked her lips, sharing a peculiar look as she conversed with her snake. Smiling merrily, but with a dangerous glint in her eyes, she addressed Koichi and Garu.

"Not a fan of flare? Shame. A shinobi's got to make a good first impression. Anyway, I hope you're both still alive next week."

"The lot of you, follow me. We're headed to the second exam grounds!"

 

[ThAtGuY101]

"Ha! 'Bout time! *smack!* Let's do this! Gonna bust some sweet beats on this exam! Then come out smelling like chunin" Ryu Ryu slapped the top of his desk before jumping out of his seat. He slapped the sides of his drums, then pulled his hands up, clenched fists in chamber position. The excited ninja was radiating confidence, but most importantly, he was ready to jam. That and hopefully steamroll through the next portion of the exam. "Say... What are we doing next? I'm sure it doesn't matter. We're gonna get that chunin title, I just know it!" Ryu Ryu thought to himself. Ryu Ryu gritted his teeth with a smug grin at the thought. He turned his head towards the proctor, ready for what was to come.

 

[Mango137]

The commotion caused by Anko managed to stir Keba during his slumber. He stretched his arms above his head and let out an enormous yawn that echoed throughout the room.

“Aaaaahhhhhhaaammmm.” Shards of fallen glass trickled off Keba as he brought his hands in to rub his eyes to fix the blurred vision induced by the nap he had taken after he quickly attempted each question and figured it wasn’t worth his time to stress about double checking. The first thing sleepy Keba noticed as his vision cleared was the sign at the front of the room which loudly announced that he had passed.

Well that was lucky. He grinned, though his happiness soon fleeted after glancing around the room. A few tables away, a fellow examinee was being held tightly at knife point from a busty kunoichi wearing rather revealing clothes. “That lucky bastard.” Keba jealously mumbled to himself and clenched his fist, swearing he would enact revenge on the boy who had stolen this opportunity from him.

However, he wouldn’t have long to fester in his wrath as Anko announced that the group was to follow her to the second exam site. Solely obsessed with following the attractive examiner, the Shimogakure shinobi signed the death waiver with no regard to his own safety and obediently followed along.

 

[kyuukestu]

As the proctor departed, Kikyō signed her waiver and fell in-line. Their journey was neither long nor short; but, in a matter of minutes, they arrived at their destination: a behemoth forest confined within a circumference of barbed, high-rise fencing. Warning signs were scattered here and there between the manned outposts that administered the gates. The proctor stopped at one such gate where a darkened tents were set up.



"Welcome to the 44th Training Ground—the Forest of Death! This will be the location of the Second Exam."

With a flourish, Anko whipped around and brandished two scrolls. One white and one black; engraved with the characters for 'heaven' and 'earth' respectively.

"These are the Heaven and Earth Scrolls. Each of you will be given one scroll and your job is to obtain the other before making your way to the tower in the center of this forest. You're allowed to acquire the scrolls by any means necessary; but, you only have five days to reach the tower with both scrolls in hand, otherwise, you'll fail."

"Opening the scrolls at any point during the exam is forbidden and will result in immediate disqualification!

"Report to the tents to receive your scrolls; the exam will begin in 15 minutes!"