Kakashi's Disappearing Acts (Kakashi Hatake)

Chapter 22 -The Written Exam

The people here are much older than you. Years older. It was intimidating, for sure. You couldn't imagine what it was like for your teammates, the rookies. You took a seat in your assigned spot, next to a grass ninja and the blonde girl from the sand.

"Hey," You smiled softly. "Hey." She responded back, continuing to look forward. Not in the mood to talk, huh. Whatever. You wanted to be fully mentally prepared anyways. No distractions. You took a deep breath, and let it out.

"What are you doing?" The blonde girl frowned in disgust. "I'm medidating. Calming my nerves," you responded, rolling your eyes. 

"Oh. So, how do you do that?" She asked inquisitively. 

"Uh, just take a deep breath in for 8 seconds. Let it out for 4. And think of something calm and happy. That's all." You watched as she repeated your steps.

"Hey, thanks. My name's Temari, by the way," she added. And then the proctor walked into the room.

The papers were passed out and the information was given. You stared down at the paper. It was hard. Period. But you were a genius, you had to admit. You had brain smarts. It wasn't impossible, but it was hard. You sighed. If it was challenging for you, no doubt Naruto was having trouble. Sasuke...he wouldn't know a single thing. He would find a way out. Sakura would fail, no doubt. She would have to cheat somehow. 

You glanced over at Temari, just for a second. She looked at your paper, then her eyes met yours. She was cheating. Off of you. For a second, you wanted to stop her, or tell on her, but instead, you found yourself pushing the paper closer to hers. You wanted her to pass. She gave a smile. A small one, radiating big thanks and relief. 

Naruto was staring at his paper. No questions filled in, anxious. Sasuke was smiling, struck down by how challenging it was. Sakura was slowly filling out the questions. What if you used some sort of mind Jutsu...to transfer your info to your teammates? No, you didn't have anything of the sort. But, you could use a Jutsu to pass notes. You laughed at the thought. Pass notes? What was this, second grade? But it was realistic. If you managed to conceal the paper with the answers, and pass it along without any distractions, then you could win. All or nothing.

No. It couldn't work. They were all watching. One at a time, they all looked sadly at you. You had to do something.

You stared at your shoe. Holy crap. It came to you. You grabbed the pen in your hand and raised your shoe to your waist. You scribbled down some lines and placed your foot back. The next time Naruto looked at you, you subtly timed the moment to point your finger at your shoe, and stick it out. Naruto glanced at the shoe, and wrote down the answers. Same with Sakura, and then Sasuke. It had worked!

"Now you will be moving onto the Tenth Question. All or nothing. If you fail, you will never be able to participate in the Chunin exams ever again. If you chose to opt out now, you can take the exam again next year. Your choice," The proctor glared at everyone.

Sakura...please don't. If one of your teammates failed, you could never be a Chunin. But opting out was never an option in the real world. In the real world, there was no going back. It was life or death. Naruto glanced at you. You shook your head quickly, and determined. He acted like he ignored you and put his head down.

No, not you too, Naruto... 

Naruto slowly raised his hand. You nearly jumped from your seat. Baka! Don't do this..please...He stood up, without being called on. The room was halfway filled with all the people who chose to leave. You frowned. What was he thinking?

"Even though we want to play it safe, know that I will never give up! Ever! Believe it!" Naruto pumped his fist up in the air, and flew back down. All the rest of the hands went down. 

Looks like Naruto's speech gave the others hope. You smiled. Of course. Naruto never gave up...What had you expected from the number one hyperactive knucklehead ninja?

"Is that all?" The proctor asked, surprised. YEAH! BET YOU DIDNT SEE THAT ONE COMING! Nobdoy spoke. It was time for the final showdown. Can't fail.

"Alright, you all pass." The proctor stated simply. Hold on...what? Pass?

"The point was to see if you were brave enough, to stay, and act like a true ninja would. You all did. So now you move onto the next round." He added.

"Nee-Chan! We did it!" Naruto jumped up and flung onto you. You laughed and put him down. "Yeah, duh, of course we did." 

"We didn't even need those answers you gave us. Anyways, thanks for that..." Sasuke said softly. Even if Naruto didn't answer a single question, and didn't opt out...he would've passed. You should have seen that one coming...

Sakura smiled. "Gosh, I nearly fainted...That was stressful..." You turned around and saw Rock Lee waving. "You did it! Yes! I am so very happy!" He smiled, shutting his eyes like Kakashi does sometimes. "I'm happy too, Lee. I'll see you at the next part." You walked away with your team. "Wait! Be my girlfriend!" He exclaimed behind you.

"Wow, Eri-chan, you're lucky you got a boy all over you." Sakura laughed, full of jealousy. "Shut it. It's Lee. I mean, sure I liked him a while ago, but he's not my type." 

"You were talking to the girl from the sand," Sasuke changed the topic, "And you helped her cheat. Why?" 

"Because I wanted to help. Something wrong with that?" 

"Everyone here can be our enemies in future matches. So watch yourself." He simply stated, moving farther forward, signaling that the conversation was over. 

That was true. If you made it far enough in the chunin exams, you would battle a fellow Genin. At this point, you wanted an easy opponent the first round, and a harder one the second round to show the audience what you really are made of. That is, if you would make it. But you definitely would. 

Helping Temari made you feel happy. For some reason you could relate to her.

You met on a field next to a so called "Forest of Death." Was that supposed to make the Genin's scared? I mean, it was working...

The rules were fairly simple. Each team started out with one scroll: either the Heaven or Earth. The point was to get both scrolls and get to the finish point. You had to get the scroll from another team.

You smiled at your teammates. You were going to pass this. Not only that though.

You were going to be first.

(Wrote July 16, 2020)