Fading Light

Chapter 9: The Chunin Exams Begin

After a week of contemplating whether we wanted to take the exams or not, we all showed up on the day we were meant to with our forms signed. 

"I knew the three of you would make the right decision." Asuma smiled at us as we got ready to head into the room. 

"Thanks Asuma." Shikamaru stated. I had been constantly training since the day Sasuke asked about the Sharingan. 

I'm ready to do this, I'm ready to see if all my training has been worth it.

We walked into the room and were met by tons of other shinobi standing and waiting. However, we were the target of their interest as all the genin that graduated recently were recommended to take part in the exam. 

Great, just what we need...everyone seeing us as weaklings. They'll think we're easy targets to take out.

"Amaya!" Kiba came over with Akamaru. 

"Hey Kiba, Akamaru. It's been a while. How have the two of you been?" 

"Great, just getting stronger and stronger everyday." I chuckled. 

"That's good..." I was cut off as Naruto shouted that he was going to beat everyone in the room. I sighed. 

Typical Naruto...

"Naruto, you idiot!" Sakura hit him upside the head and attempted to calm the now angry crowd down. I shook my head and leaned against the wall, not wanting to get involved in Naruto's delusion. Sasuke was looking at me out of the corner of his eyes and I knew this was about the Sharingan. I knew he wanted to know more, but was too afraid to ask about how strong I actually was. I touched where the ruby was and sighed. 

Itachi Uchiha...I know what you want...but why drag Sasuke through the dark? He's your brother...shouldn't that mean anything to you?

I shook the thoughts away as the sound ninja attacked someone from our village. I saw that the attack never actually hit the ninja, but it created a sound wave that messed with the senses. 

"That's enough!" We all looked quickly at the entrance to see several jonin walk into the room. "I am Ibiki Morino, I will be the proctor of your first exam. But you should all know that fighting is strictly prohibited unless it is part of the exams. Now take your seats!" Everyone in our squad was split up and exams were handed out to us. "The proctors around the room will be keeping a sharp eye on you to make sure you don't cheat, if you're caught cheating five times then you will be dismissed from the exam. Also if one member of your squad is dismissed you all are dismissed. This exam will be ten questions..."

"But there's only nine questions on this exam!" Someone interrupted. 

"I will get to that if you would be quiet. The tenth and final question is the most important question. I will give it five minutes before the exam is over." 

This doesn't make any sense, if the point of the exam is to not cheat then why give us five times to cheat at all before dismissing us? Unless...is this a test of our ability to get information...?

"You have two hours starting now!" I looked down at the exam and saw questions that we shouldn't have even known at this point in our training. 

This is impossible for anyone in this room...this is stuff for jonin not Genin. Are there any people in here that would know this at this point? Maybe Sakura, she was brilliant when it came to this kind of stuff, but even me and Sasuke who were at the top of our class had no idea what any of this was.

I sly-eyed the immediate people around me and noticed there was someone briskly on the paper without looking around. I took a look farther ahead realized there were several other individuals that were doing it without cheating. 

That's it! Ibiki placed several other jonin in the classroom to have the answers, this is about getting information without being caught. If that's the case then...Sharingan!

I fixed my gaze secretly on the movements of the jonin's pencil movements and began copying them myself in order to get the answers quickly. 

Once I had the answers I had to figure out how to get them to Shikamaru and Choji since I knew they didn't know the answers to these questions. I sensed something coming closer to me, I looked down by my ankle and saw Shikamaru's shadow reaching out to me. I scribbled down the answers on a different sheet of paper and dropped it down into the shadow, which retracted quickly. I smirked slightly and went back to writing as the time passed by. 

When the time came for the tenth question, Ibiki told us if we failed this question then we would be barred from taking the exams ever again. I kept my face emotionless as I watched Naruto stand up to Ibiki. 

"Then all that is left to say is that you all pass." I smirked slightly. 

"Reverse psychology...psychological torturer, he should know exactly how to get into someone's head." I muttered, the jonin sitting near me nodded once to my words. 

"You're smart. You knew from the very beginning. I could see it." 

"I'm not here because of my looks." 

~

After getting a strange introduction to the second proctor we were led to the Forest of Death. 

"Great..." Shikamaru said from beside me as the second exam was explained to us. Choji sitting stuffing his face with food as per usual. 

"This is not going to be fun..." I muttered.

"What a drag..."