Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Chronicles of a Self-Made Shinobi ❯ Written Examination (2) ( Chapter 19 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Chronicles of a Self-Made Shinobi: Written Examination (chap. 2)

A few minutes later Kumiko found herself sitting in the middle row flanked by unknown ninja.

“You have one hour to complete a ten question test. The tenth question will be given in the last fifteen minutes. Begin.”

Kumiko focused her attention on her left eye and waited for Neji to begin writing.

The clock was ticking. Though it had only been a few minutes Kumiko was starting to get worried. Baka, Neji. For a moment she thought maybe he was doing it on purpose to annoy her but put that out of her mind. He was too serious about these exams. She moved her pencil across the page, pretending that she was writing and thinking and trying hard not to glance at Lee who was a few rows in front of her.

Tick, tock. Neji hadn't moved an inch.

“Number 23, disqualified. You and your teammates must leave immediately.”

Kumiko watched the shaking man and his two angry teammates rise and be escorted out. She took advantage of the distraction to glance at Lee. He was shaking his pencil nervously. Neji, what are you doing?

Tick, tock. Twenty minutes had passed.

Suddenly there was movement and Neji began to write. Kumiko had to hold in a shout of elation and instead copied Neji. Ten minutes later she was finished, and sighed in relief.

“Number 49, disqualified. You and your teammates must leave immediately.”

There was movement in her eye and she looked down to see faint writing on the bottom of the page.

You're plan worked so far, it read. But it's not over yet. If you make it through the final question, there are worse things to come.

Since Kumiko couldn't hear Neji's voice she didn't know if he was trying to make her angry or actually concerned. Either way she couldn't answer.

“Fifteen minutes are left in the test. You will now be given the last question.”

Kumiko put down her pen and looked to the front of the room. It was the first time she got a good look at the proctors. They sat around the edge, laid-back. She realized then that they probably saw when everyone cheated, and distinguished between the ones who did it sloppily and those who were more cunning. The man in the front of the room was the same as the one last year: Ibiki Morino. Lee warned her about him, how he made the most grueling last questions of all. His questions allowed for nothing but character, no studying, no preparation. Only the ones who have the right hearts would move on to become ninja.

He stared at the genin. “This year we are conducting the exams a little differently in order to accommodate this final question. To move on to the second examination, you must stand and explain to the proctors how your teammates cheated. We know that all of you cheated. If you do so, the ones who stayed will be put into different teams of three and continue on to the exams. You have fifteen minutes to decide. At the end you will raise your hand if you are willing to move on, and the rest will have to leave. Oh, there's one more rule. If you refuse to tell you cannot enter the examinations for fifteen years, and if you do tell, your teammates cannot enter the examinations for fifteen year.”

Kumiko's mouth fell open. She looked at Lee who was looking at her. They simply stared, no emotion but shock on their face. Slowly, his face screwed into one of panic and sadness, while hers was angry. What kind of question is this? It's not even a question!

Her mind ran in circles. She wanted her dream, but she could never take away another's. Lee wanted this as much as she did. She couldn't possible leave him so far behind. She looked back up at Lee and saw him smiling sadly at her. He had made up his mind.

She shook her head, and shouted at him in her mind. He wasn't going to tattle, he would never tattle, not on her, and he probably made up his mind the minute the question was asked. Kumiko wanted to hit herself, for even considering selling out her teammates. Especially Lee. They had made a promise to work hard together, and it would mean nothing to go on alone.

She took a deep breath and sunk down into her chair, and glimpsed Neji off to her left. Suddenly she panicked. Neji hated her, and didn't feel any stong connection to Lee. Nothing was stopping him from telling on her and Lee.

“Time's up.”

The room was sweating, anxiety leaking out of the walls themselves. Slowly hands began to rise. She trained her eyes on Neji.

“Ten seconds to decide.”

Neji didn't move a muscle. Kumiko could only hope that there was an added trick to this question. That in the end they would be allowed to continue because they refused to jump over their teammates. But suddenly she found herself outside of the Academy, surrounded by many unhappy faces. The faces of those who didn't raise their hands.

Lee, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Ino, Chouji, Sakura…Neji. The nine of them huddled together in the crowd and stared at each other with no expression on their faces. They were blank, unable to comprehend what just happened.

Hinata bowed her head and it hung limply on her shoulders. Some other ninja panicked and ran back into the academy, hoping they could save themselves.

After a few minutes Ibiki Morino appeared in the doorway. The genin looked up at him, some with tears in their eyes, but none tried to plead for a second chance.

“Congratulations, you all pass!”

A shocked silence was followed by an eruption of applause and cheers. Lee and Kumiko hugged each other and tears fell from Lee's eyes.

Morino raised his hand for silence. “Many times a shinobi is taken hostage and tortured for names or information. Sometimes in exchange for his very life. A true ninja would never sell-out his village, and most importantly his friends. A true ninja can be trusted to the ends of the earth, to the edge of death.”

The ninja who raised their hands began to file out from the side door of the academy, sad and shameful looks in their eyes.

“You have one hour for lunch and to gather your things. You will meet on the edge of the Forest of Death for the second part of the examination. Good luck.”

He disappeared in a poof of smoke, and the academy grounds began to empty. The nine Konoha genin all left together to have a last lunch, before they were forced to become enemies for a long, long time.

Next up: Creatures in the Dark. Things really start to get messed up in the Forest of Death.