𝐁𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 | 𝙉𝙖𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙤

¹⁵; ᵖʰᵃˢᵉ ᵒⁿᵉ

𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐉𝐈𝐑𝐎'𝐒 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐒 𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐓 𝐀𝐓 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐊, listening to the clock slowly tick as he waited for the exam to finish.

They had been given an hour to finish after the scarred man finished monologuing, as Kenjiro put it.

It was questions no Genin should've been able to answer, unless they were anyone in Squad Zero.

Obviously, it was a piece of cake to all three of them, they had to be smarter than the average Genin in order to be Anbu members, and their sensei made sure of it.

Kenjiro was seated next to a Sound Genin, the female, he hadn't caught her name but he didn't quite care to know.

He made it clear to her the consequences if she attempted to screw with him, so the exam went rather smoothly for him.

He just sat examining the ways the other Genin cheated, the one from the sand disguising his puppet as a proctor, Sasuke using his Sharingan, Kiba using his dog

It was obvious they were cheating, but that was the objective, to evaluate how they'd be able to gather intel discreetly.

Eventually, forty-five minutes had passed, as the head proctor had announced that there was to be a final tenth question.

"First you must choose, whether to accept, or reject, the tenth question."

Kenjiro listens as the people in the classroom become more erratic, a Kunoichi from the sand even asking what he meant

"If you reject the question and don't even try to answer it, you'll lose all your points and fail. Your teammate along with you."

All the answer did was result in more questions being asked, to which the scarred man would have another answer.

"They would choose to reject it, because of the other rule," he slightly pauses, "if you attempt to answer the question and get it wrong, you'll never be permitted to apply for the Chunin exams again. Ever."

Kenjiro didn't intend to quit, even with what was at stake, so when it was explained to raise your hand, he sat still as he was. Watching as the other Genin quit, one by one.

It seemed neither Ronin, nor Mai, intended to quit either as Ronin simply laid his head down on his arms, and Mai sat back in her chair and crossed her arms. Plus, none of them wanted to deal with their Sensei after they'd been forced to take the exams.

The Uchiha was snapped out of his daze as he heard a loud slam on one of the desks, listening to Naruto give out a speech of encouragement, one that seemed to cause the rest of the Genin to stay aswell.

"Good call. So everyone who is still here... You've just passed the first exam."

Everyone left in the classroom was left in a state of shock as the man explained how there was no question beyond the accept or reject portion of it.

Kenjiro had no interest in whatever was said past the fact that they had passed, as he slipped back into his dazed state, ignoring everything around him.

Until once again, he was interrupted, this time by the sound of glass breaking.

"None of you are in any position to celebrate. I am the second examination proctor, Mitarashi Anko, time's a wasting people, follow me!"

All the Genin in the classroom simply deadpanned at the proctor, her high energy reminding the leaf-nin of Naruto.

"Seventy-eight of you are still here?! Ibiki! You pased twenty-six teams?!"

"This year, we have applicants of exceptional caliber."

"Yeah right, i'll cut down that number by half by the time the next test is done."

—

All the squads stood in front of whats Anko had called 'The Forest of Death', saying that the Genin were about to find out why it was named that.

In all honesty, The Uchiha was tired of hearing Naruto speak out, but there was nothing he would do to prevent it from happening, as it did once again.

He found it odd that the proctor had thrown a kunai at Naruto, drawing blood, then flickering behind him with the Leaf Body Flicker technique, a basic one nowhere near the level of Shisui and Kenjiro's, licking the blood on his cheek in a fashion that creeped the three Anbu members out.

What made it worse was the Kunoichi that appeared behind the proctor, offering the Kunai back to Anko, only, it was wrapped around their tongue.

What was most odd about it, was the bloodlust that radiated off of the female ninja. The proctor called her out on it, threatening her, but nobody else picked up on it.

The three Junior Anbu members all found the female Genin odd, there was something off about her.

"There's something off about her." Ronin was the first one to speak between the three, the other two agreeing with him.

"I agree. We've to be careful around her."

"She's dangerous."

The two males agreed with Mai's statement that the ninja was dangerous, as they silently agreed to keep an eye on her.

Soon after, Anko made them all sign waivers, as she explained that it was a "no holds barred" survival test.

"Training Grounds #44 is bordered by a circular perimeter, interrupted at regular intervals by forty-four locked gates," she slightly paused, "there are forests and a river, and in the center is a tower about ten kilometers from those gates."

"Within the confines of this area, you'e going to undergo a survival test. During the course of that test, you may use any ninja arts or weapons you have at your disposal. It's a fight to the death version of capture the flag,"
"Or in this case, capture the scroll."

Kenjiro was growing tired of her explaining for so long, but he had to listen for the sake of his team. He had to regain their trust, mostly Mai's, but still. Which meant he couldn't mess up in this portion of the exam.

"There's a scroll of heaven and a scroll of earth. Your objective is to acquire both." once again, she pauses to catch her breath before continuing, "there are seventy-eight of you. Meaning twenty-six three member teams. Thirteen will start with a heaven scroll, thirteen with an earth scroll."

"You'll need both scrolls to pass. Bring them both to the tower at the center."

Sakura then spoke, questioning the proctor, "In other words, half of us, the thirteen teams whose scrolls are stolen, will fail."

"You bet! and there's a time limit. You have 120 hours to complete this exam. Exactly five days."

From then on, what Anko said was mostly to scare the Genin. Aside from explaining that they were not allowed to leave the forest until time excluded.

And one last rule was introduced.

They were forbidden to look at the contents of the scrolls at any time.

They traded their three consent forms for a scroll. Receiving a Heaven scroll and their gate number, 18, in return.

They followed their proctors to their respective gate, as they waited for the gates to open and signal the start the exams.

"Everyone is an enemy here. We must make it out."

By now Mai had taken the role as squad leader as the two men nod their head in understanding.

"Part two of the Chunin Exams, begin... now!"

—

Elsewhere..

—

"Target the three rookies first. Go for the brats. I'll send a clone with you."

"The main three however...."

"They're mine."

—

published 7/23/23

1263 words

literally noone responds when I ask a question