Chapter 55: The First Test
Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 55: The First Test
"But… in any case," Kabuto continued.
"You can expect to find many geniuses from different villages here: Leaf, Grass, Sand, Waterfall, Sound… they would send their best genins here.
Well, I don't know about Sound… that is a new village, so their genins may not be on the same level as the others."
"Makes you lose confidence…" Hinata frowned.
"Yeah… hearing about so many geniuses gathered here," Sakura added.
"Indeed," Kabuto agreed. "Lee and Gaara are far from the only ones."
"So what?" said Naruto. He had heard the words genius and prodigy so many times already, back at the sect. Those fools would always get most of the resources because their talents were a bit better.
But in the real world, even the geniuses died like flies.
Cunning and luck were the things that would allow you to survive long enough until you acquired some real power.
"Talent alone is not enough. At the start of the road, we are all the same, and the grass that stands taller than the rest… gets cut first." Naruto's words resonated through the room.
The silence was broken by Kabuto's chuckle.
"That's an interesting view…." He got a bit closer.
"But you are kind of standing out right now… so be careful you don't get cut."
Naruto did not show any reaction to his threat, but he was ready to go all out if it came to that.
He felt some movement to his right and thought that Kabuto had done something. But he then realized he was wrong… he was not the target of this attack.
A tall masked man came running directly at Kabuto and took a swing aimed at his face.
Kabuto dodged it, showcasing some of his speed in the process.
"He is fast!" Sasuke realized he had underestimated the harmless-looking genin.
They all thought that Kabuto had completely avoided the assault, but then his glasses broke and he fell to his knees.
"What was that? He avoided it!" Sasuke said.
"He may have glanced his face" Shikamaru added.
"Blegh!" Kabuto began to vomit.
Naruto glared at the attacker as he stood menacingly over Kabuto. He had his face covered in bandages, so it was hard to see his expression, but he appeared to be smiling.
On his forehead, he wore a headband with a musical note as a symbol.
'This must be the Sound village he mentioned before… that would explain it. I felt like I heard something when he threw that punch.' Naruto noticed the strange armband he was wearing. It had many holes, like some musical instruments.
'I see… so that's what he did. That was kind of clever…' Using wind instruments as weapons was nothing new for him but he had not been expecting to see it in this world.
"Write this down in your stupid cards!" He shouted at Kabuto.
"These three ninjas of the Sound are no pushovers. We will soon become Chunin."
"What kind of trick was that?"
"I don't know, it looked like a normal punch to me."
Naruto heard the room erupt in murmurs.
And then… a large smoke bomb exploded on the other side of the classroom.
At first, he thought it was another attack, but then he spotted a group of older ninjas standing there.
At the front was a large bald man, whose face was completely covered in scars.
"Quiet, you worthless brats!"
He waited a moment for everyone to shut up, and then continued.
"I am Morino Ibiki. I am the examiner for the first test…" His eyes moved to the three Sound genins.
"You over there! There will be no fighting in this classroom. If you can't even do that much, I will disqualify all of you."
The three ninjas from the Sound village looked towards the examiner.
"Sorry about that. I got a bit carried away," the man with bandages gave a half-assed apology.
"Now we can start the first Chunin test. You will all be assigned a specific seat, and after everyone is seated, we will begin to distribute the paper exams…"
"A written test?!" Kiba said with horror.
"I have a chance!" Sakura was one of the few who looked excited at the prospect.
Once they were all seated, some of the assistants began to distribute the papers while Ibiki told them the rules.
Naruto ended up being seated next to Hinata. But his other teammates were far away from him.
'What was the point of forcing us to join the exam as a team if we are going to be separated?' he wondered.
"Do not turn your test over until I finish explaining the rules." Ibiki turned around and began to write on the board behind him.
"First rule: You will begin with ten points, there are ten questions in total, and you will lose a point for every wrong question you answer."
"Second rule: Whether you pass or not will be determined by your team's combined score."
"Wait, that is not fair!" Ino shouted. She did not have much trust in Chouji's chances.
"Shut up! And now the third and most important rule… if I or any of my assistants catch you cheating, you will lose two points."
The classroom erupted in murmurs.
"I said shut up!" Ibiki's loud and authoritative voice was enough to keep everyone quiet.
"Last rule! Those who lose all their points or fail to answer a single question correctly… are out! And their two teammates too."
"Wait, what?!" Sakura exclaimed.
"Well… there is the team component I guess," Naruto said.
'Still… there is something off with these rules.'
Naruto glanced around. There were eleven Chunins sitting around the classroom as well as Ibiki, the examiner. All watching them with attention.
"Begin!"
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