Naruto : Struggle Of Childhood

Games and Players

There was dead silence after that pronouncement, but it quickly gave way to shouts of protest and anger that rang throughout the entire room. Some of the Chuunin winced a little, but most of them looked rather amused.

"You don't have the power to do that!" Someone, a rain Genin, yelled.

"Who do you think you are!" someone else agreed.

Another person, a woman with red hair that Naruto realized was a Grass Genin started to use a very fluent and colorful vocabulary to insult Ibiki, his mother, his father, his pets, and everything else about him or connected to him. Naruto was slightly disconcerted that someone could have that kind of vocabulary and that the she was from the village that he was supposed to be from, and made a mental note to watch the other members, just in case he was going to have to display that kind of vocabulary as well.

He would have to talk to Sai.

Ibiki seemed to find the reactions all rather amusing, and he really didn't seem to care if they insulted him. He started to laugh, soft at first, but then it began to penetrate the entire room.

Silence fell again, and the tension was so thick that Naruto could almost see it floating around certain people's heads.

"Actually, worms, I can do whatever I want," he smirked, "You all signed a legal form giving me the power to do what I want to do. As far as you're concerned, I'm the god in this classroom. Suck it up and do the question, or leave. If you have any doubts about your own ability, go right now, you're going to fail anyways."

Naruto felt a spark of anger rise up but quelled it. There was no reason for him to react, he reminded himself. No reason whatsoever. After all, he wasn't even a real Genin. There was nothing that this guy could do to him or his friends. Still, it was kind of annoying to watch Ibiki bully people around the way he did. No wonder everyone in Kinen had called him a sadist. He actually seemed to be enjoying this.

Naruto noticed suddenly that everyone had fallen into complete silence, even the natural rustle of clothes and breathing seemed to have stopped. The other participants were glancing at one another in a very nervous way; even Shikamaru seemed to be on edge, leaning on the desk. He was actually looking at Ibiki in the face and had gone a shade paler. He knew that the other members weren't going to raise their hands or forfeit, but still, this challenge was really ridiculously extreme. It wasn't like Naruto was dealing with life or death here. It wasn't a mission where he was deciding if he would accept a mission that could kill him...

Or maybe it was just that situation. Their entire career, their 'lives' were on the line. They could accept and go forwards or decline and stay where they were until next year. If they overestimated themselves and lost, then for all practical purposes they would have died on the battle field after taking on a mission that they couldn't handle. There was a kind of sick logic to Ibiki's thoughts that Naruto was starting to see.

He only hoped that he wasn't becoming a sadist too.

Someone raised their hand.

"I'm sorry, Chika, Akito, I can't do this," a downtrodden looking Genin said, looking apologetically at his team, "Let's go again next time."

The other two sighed and nodded, getting up.

"Come on, make up your minds," Ibiki pushed them, glaring, "I don't have all day."