The Turning Point

Chunin Exams Part 5

Shock-filled expressions were worn by every ninja in the room as they gaped at Ibiki Moreno who stood defiantly in front of them, flanked by the group of exam proctors. The man in question raised his index finger and pointed it directly at the Sound Ninja who had attacked Kabuto mere moments before.

"Knock that off, you are not permitted to fight in this exam room! Are you looking to fail before we've even started?" Ibiki yelled loudly.

"Sorry, this is our first time at the exams. Guess you could say we're a little jumpy." The bandaged Sound Ninja simpered and not sounding the least bit apologetic in Sakura's opinion.

Ibiki seemed to be thinking along the same lines and simply nodded in affirmation before addressing the room of potential Chunin.

"Listen good, you're not permitted to fight each other in combat without the permission of your proctor but even using fatal force is prohibited. Any rule breaking equals immediate disqualification" The scar faced man announced to the room of blank faces.

No fatal force? As if any of these lunatics are going to listen to that. Those Sound Ninja didn't think twice before coming after Kabuto – who knows what the rest of these ninja are capable of, Sakura thought as Ibiki moved to speak again.

"Now that we have that settled, it's time to move on to the first stage of the exams. Hand in your paper work and you'll be given a number which will be the number of your seat. The written component of the exam will begin when everyone has been seated" Ibiki instructed.

"W-what? Did he say w-written? NO, NOT A WRITTEN TEST NO WAY!" Naruto called out in fear as he gazed upon the large stack of paper one of the proctors was holding.

One by one each ninja in the room handed over their papers and were given an allocated seat number. Sakura soon lost sight of Sasuke and Naruto as they were moved to different spots in the room. Sitting at her desk with the test paper facing down, Sakura willed herself to breathe and remain calm. Tsunade-sama hadn't mentioned anything about a written component. It was all supposed to be survival wasn't it?

"How exactly am I supposed to pass a test I haven't even studied for?" Sakura anxiously thought as she gazed across the rest of the room and her eyes finally located a familiar crop of blonde hair.

Ugh I don't even know where the others are sitting! I'm all alone; this exam is a disaster already! Naruto thought and clutched his hair in anguish.

"H-hello Naruto" A voice piped up from his right side. The blonde boy turned to see the Hyuga girl sitting next to him.

"Hey Hinata, where did you come from? I didn't even see you" Naruto spoke happily, his mood instantly better with a familiar face beside him. Hinata blushed softly and turned to face the front of the room where Ibiki stood with a piece of chalk held up against the blackboard.

"Okay pay attention and eyes forward. You need to listen to the rules I'm about to tell you and I won't be taking any questions so you'll hear it once and once only" Ibiki spoke loudly.

What's the deal with this guy? Who doesn't allow questions about an exam before the exam starts? Every exam I took in the academy I could ask questionsSakura stressed but tried to keep her thoughts together as she listened to the rules.

"Rule 1: This part of the exam is done by a point reduction system. Everyone begins the test with ten points – one point deducted for every answer that's wrong. So for example if you miss or fail 3 questions then your final score will be 7" Ibiki explained.

That's annoying, so if anyone misses 10 questions their score will be zero, Sasuke thought to himself and his gaze wandered to Naruto. From their days in the academy, Sasuke knew that Naruto's forte was not written tests at all.