Get Lost

Chapter 9

The room beyond was full of genin. People of all ages and sizes filled the room. 

Wow. There's a lot of genin. 

Sonomi snorted. "This'll be no big deal."

"Hey guys."

Kazue looked over to see Choji with his usual bag of chips. That meant-

"Oh, you're all here."

Shikamaru.

"I knew this was gonna be a drag, but not this big of one."

Kazue glared at him. 

A little bit later, Team 7 came through. Ino immediately jumped on Sasuke. She and Sakura started fighting. Shikamaru and Choji went over, then Kiba, Hinata, and Shino as well. 

"C'mon," Sonomi said. "Those are the other first-year genin. Let's head over."

Kazue followed her.

"Hey, guys." Kazue looked over to see an older kid with gray hair and glasses. His headband said he was from the Leaf "You're the 12 rookies, right? I wouldn't make a scene of yourselves."

"Who even are you?" Ino demanded.

"I'm Kabuto Yakushi, but seriously, look around you."

Kazue did. Everyone in the room was silent, glaring at them. Behind them especially, genin from the Hidden Rain watched them with murder in their eyes.

Then Kabuto smiled. "It's alright. How would you know how things work? It's only your first time."

"How many times have you taken it?" Sakura asked.

"Let's see. This is my seventh."

"So I guess all those rumors about the test being really hard are true," Shikamaru said. "Man, I knew this was gonna be a drag."

Kazue set her teeth. What a whining bag of-

"I think I can help you," Kabuto continued. "I've got these cards that are chakra infused with everything I've learned over the last four years of taking the Chunin exams twice a year." He pulled out a stack of cards and placed them on the ground, then flipped one over. It looked blank. When he put his finger on it, it started spinning. "When I use my chakra on it, it reveals what it says."

The card suddenly showed a map with symbols and percents on the bottom. "You see, this shows the ratios of ninja from the villages. They all come here to foster brotherhood, as far as that goes, but there's another reason."

"Balance of power," Sasuke said.

"Sounds like a drag," Shikamaru said. 

Kazue rolled her eyes. Sasuke started asking about specific people. Kazue hadn't heard about any of them before. One had already gone on a B-rank mission. After that, Kabuto went back to describing how difficult the exams were going to be. Kazue started getting nervous again. Lots of people were glaring at them still.

Naruto was shaking. Kazue felt bad for him. She was almost there herself.

Naruto started shouting. Of course he wasn't afraid. He was Naruto. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki," he shouted to everyone watching. "And I'm gonna beat every one of ya. Believe it!"

"Can you say that again a little louder," Kiba said. "I didn't quite hear you." Kazue wasn't sure what to think about him. He was a jerk, but at least he usually worked hard.

"You moron," Shikamaru said. "Are you trying to get everyone here to hate us or what?"

Kazue immediately sided with Naruto mentally.

Sakura started scolding Naruto, shouting at him and apologizing to everyone else in the room alternatively. 

While she was doing that, Kazue noticed someone running through the crowd toward them. She couldn't do anything more though, before a genin was in the air above Kabuto. He threw several kunai at him. Kabuto noticed in time and jumped away. The genin landed and swung. Kabuto escaped again. 

Then his glasses shattered. 

What?

Kabuto doubled over, puking. Kazue turned away, a little sick herself from watching. What had happened? Kabuto had clearly gotten away in time. The genin hadn't hit him.

Something exploded in the front of the room and smoke started curling out.

"Alright, you baby-faced degenerates. Pipe down and listen up."

The smoke cleared to show a tall man with his head covered and his face full of scars standing in front of several others in uniforms.

The man in charge smiled. It wasn't a comforting smile. "It's time to begin. I'm Ibiki Morino, your proctor and from now on, your worst enemy. First, you genin from the Sound, knock it off. You want to fail before we've even begun?" He pointed at the genin who had attacked Kabuto.

"Sorry," the apparent leader purred. "It's our first time."

"Listen to me," Ibiki said. "Attacking other participants is strictly forbidden. Even when you've been given permission by your proctor, the use of fatal force will mean immediate disqualification." 

He looked around. "Now, if we're all ready. Hand in your paperwork. In return, you'll get a number which will determine where you will sit. Then we'll begin the written test portion of the chunin exams."

Naruto started freaking out. Kazue was quietly glad. She could answer questions. That should be fine. It was the practical application that always made her mess up.