The Other Jinchūriki - A Naruto Fanfiction

Chapter 46

When all the ninjas entered the room, they lined up in columns based on their teams. There were about over twenty teams in all. In front of them was the third Hokage, with quite a few Jonin, including Ibiki and Anko.

"First of all," Anko began. "Congratulations on the second exam."

"I'm really hungry..." Choji mumbled while holding his stomach.

"What a drag," Shikamaru complained, putting his hands in his pockets lazily. "There are so many more people left. What a pain." Ino looked behind her and suddenly clasped her hands together in delight.

"Sasuke and his team passed as well!" Ino chirped. Shikamaru turned his head to look at the team and scoffed.

"Well of course they did. All that trouble we went through to keep them safe, they better have passed...!"

Kiba turned back to look at Team 6 and his eye twitched in annoyance. "Hey Kiotori!" The blunette turned to look at him. "That's my stick!" Akamaru growled alongside him.

"Oh, this?" She waved it and grinned. "The one you whacked me awake with, right? Yeah, thank you for leaving it! Now it's pretty much my bo-staff. And wow, I thought you'd be at least a little bit glad to know we've passed, with everything you and the others went through!" Kiba scoffed and turned away, the girl smirking victoriously.

"Wow," Sōma commented. "Looks like everyone's here; Lord Hokage, Iruka-sensei, and all us rookies! Looks like they've made it!" Sasumi stayed quiet as she gently touched her bandaged neck, where the dry blood stayed.

"I have a pretty bad feeling about this," she said quietly to herself so nobody could hear. Though Rizaki's eyes sent her a small glance for a second.

"Alright, now pay attention!" Anko declared. "Lord Hokage is going to explain the third exam to you. You better listen carefully, maggots!" She looked at Hiruzen. "They're all yours, Lord Hokage." The old man nodded and turned to look at everyone.

"First, before I tell you what the third exam entails, I want to explain something about the test itself. Listen closely now, it's something that all of you need to understand. I'm going to tell you the true purpose of these exams.

"Why do you suppose our country holds these exams in conjunction with our allies? To raise the ability levels of the Shinobi and increase friendship between allied nations, to be sure. But it's important to understand it's true meaning.

"The exams are, so to speak...they're a representation of the battle between allied nations. And what's that supposed to mean? Now, if we look at the history, all the countries that we are currently allied with were once neighboring nations that continuously fought with each other for power. In order to avoid destroying each other's military strength meaninglessly, those nations picked champions to battle on behalf of their countries at a mutually selected location. That was how the Chunin Selection Exams originally began."

"Well, that's great," Naruto said, taking a step forward. "But then why do we have to go through these exams? I mean, it's not like we're picking Genin to go fight-ttebayo."

"Well, actually, there's no question that part of the point of these exams is to select Shinobi worthy of becoming Chunin. However that is not the full story. These exams also allow for a place where Shinobi can carry the purse of their nation on their backs, and fight against other ninja for their very lives."

"The pride of their nation?" Sakura asked.

"Many leaders and people of prominence from various countries are invited to attend this exam as guests," Hiruzen explained. "And also possibly seek for Chunin to work for them. This exam will determine the course of your ninja work from here on out. And more importantly, those rulers will watch over your battles and take note of the strengths that each ninja and each nation is developing. If there is a gap in power between the nations, the strong nations are inundated with job requests for their ninja. And conversely, the request for countries that are deemed weak decline.

"Therefore, the stronger our nation is, the better our position when it comes to negotiating and neighboring countries. So it is important to show how much military strength our village has."

"Okay," Kiba said. "But even so, why is it necessary for us to risk our lives?"

"The country's strength is the village's strength. The village's strength is the Shinobi's strength. And the true strength of a Shinobi is when it's pushed to its limits, such as in a life-or-death battle. This exam is a chance for each nation to display the strength of its Shinobi, and hence the strength of the nation itself. It is because of this exam that forerunners fought in the exam. It's truly a dream worth striving for."

"But then why did you use the expression 'friendship' before?" TenTen, who was on the far side of Team 7 with her team, asked.

"You've only remembered half of what I said," the old man reminded her. "You also mustn't have the wrong idea of the exam's meaning. This is a custom to which balance is preserved by fighting and dying. In the world of Shinobi, that is friendship. The third exam is a fight for life with the pride of your village and your own dreams at stake." Everyone got quiet.

"Heh!" Naruto chuckled nervously. "Well, he sure convinced me!"

"Any test is fine," Gaara growled. "Just tell us what the details of the exam are already. I'm tired of waiting." Lord Hokage nodded.

"Very well then," he said. "Now listen closely, I'm going to tell you exactly what you would be doing in the third exam." Suddenly, a ninja jumped in front of the senior, a Jonin.

"Lord Hokage," he requested, bowing with respect. "Before you do, please allow me, Hayate Gekko, appointed as proctor of the third exam, to speak first."

"So be it." The ninja, now known as Hayate, nodded before turning to all the Genin before him.

"It's nice to meet you all—" he began before he turned to the side and coughed. "There's something I would like all of you to do before the exam." He coughed a bit more before speaking again. "Uh...we have to have a preliminary exam before we are able to move on to the real one."

"Huh?!"

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1071 words

Damned Wattpad and not letting me copy and paste the freaking chapter on here for almost THREE DAYS-
Aajsjsksksksk

Anyways, this is probably one of the boring chapters thanks to the OLD MAN, TALKING FOR SO LONG. But now we're getting to the good stuff, ayyyyy

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter either way though! <3