After conversing with Naruto, Ino and Sakura returned to prepare for the upcoming exams. Though they didn't know what they would need to do, they assumed that it wouldn't be drastically different from what they did in the previous exam.
Naruto, on the other hand frowned a little as one of the clones he created reported back.
"Another snake, huh? Orochimaru, just what are you up to" He muttered
His clones have found multiple snakes already, most of which seems to be following Fu, with a few found around the Forest of Death.
He left supervising Orochimaru to a few clones as well, but none have reported anything strange as of yet.
'Unless he planned something during the small period I have yet to assign clones to watch him yet' He thought to himself
Since he couldn't think of anything, he just went to bed. His eyes closed, and he slowly drifted into a deep sleep.
'-ruto'
His eyes twitched as a familiar voice rang in his head...his brows furrowed as his eyes opened.
"Orochimaru?" He asked as he sat up
His mind was strangely hazy
When his eyes opened up fully, he saw a figure seated across his bed. A pale faced woman, but a little different from the one he remembered Orochimaru had transformed into. His lowered his gaze, and...
"Uh, your 'assets' are looking quite big, what, fed up with being a man and decided to become a woman?" He asked as he lifted a brow
Orochimaru let out a faint chuckle
"Yes"
"...well sh*t...okay, now that you said what you wanted, get out" Naruto said
"Haha, of course this isn't over yet, I still have more to say, I also brought someone with me" Orochimaru said as someone stepped out behind him.
"...okay, this chick looks familiar, who is she?" Naruto asked
"Naruto" The black haired girl said
"...ah f**k, don't tell me"
"This is Sasuke" Orochimaru introduced
"...."
"Naruto, I-" Sasuke stepped forward
"What are you doing, get away from me, don't think I'm scared to hit you" Naruto said
Sasuke stepped closer
"AH!" Naruto suddenly sat up from his bed and looked around...empty...
His back soaked in sweat
"Oh sh*t that was scary" He muttered as he wiped the sweat from his forehead
[Had a nightmare?] Kurama chuckled
"Yeah, I-...hold on, you piece of sh*t, was that you?" Naruto exclaimed
[Fufufu, living in our mindscape, it's easier than you think to create such nightmares] Kurama replied
"....brother Kurama, don't do that again, you scared me half to death" Naruto sighed
[Oh? Finally showing some respect now? I'll consider it after you vow to never use that MadaraXHashirama jutsu] Kurama responded
"....not happening" Naruto replied in a low voice
[Enjoy experiencing nightmares then] Kurama chuckled
"Hmph, let's see who's scared of who" He replied
After that traumatising night, Naruto woke up with dark circles under his eyes. Kurama truly outdid himself with forcing nightmares inside his dreams.
"That damn fox" He muttered as he yawned
He got out of bed and took out a cigarette. He lit it up, took in a puff before tapping it out. One breathe was all it took to recover him from his sleep deprived state.
From then on, he spent less and less time sleeping due to Kurama's little prank, while spending more and more time training. In all honesty, he felt that he's become a lot more productive.
"Huh, so this is what a healthy lifestyle is like"
[It's not a healthy lifestyle]
"Hush, I'm being productive for once" Naruto replied
With the days going by quickly, it was already the day of the Chunin exam. The examinees were all taken to an underground hallway, and on each side of the hallway were doors. Rows upon rows of doors lined up, all the way down the hallway that went on for over a hundred meters down.
"This looks like a dungeon" Fu muttered
[It is] A voice came from the speakers
!?!?!
[This segment was a little rushed in terms of location, so we redesigned the dungeon] It was Shikamaru on the other side of the speakers.
"...."
[If you fail this first exam, you will be locked up for good] A second voice came through the speakers
!!!!!!!!!!!!
The examinees immediately broke into an uproar!
[Naruto, stop messing around, everyone, ignore him] Shikamaru's tired voice sounded out
"...." So will they be locked up?
Some felt that Konoha was scheming something because of what Naruto had said, but most heaved a sigh of relief.
"Eh? Naruto?" Fu muttered
Soon after, a familiar face came into view as Naruto walked over with a carefree smile. He acted as if he didn't just mess around in the control room earlier, as innocent as can be...
"Sup" He waved
"Hi, but why were you in the control room earlier?" Fu asked curiously
Naruto let out a light laughter as he placed a finger over his lips
"From this moment onwards, no one is allowed to speak anymore, if you do not comply, I will have to disqualify your entire team" Naruto said calmly
!?!?!?
Many groups were confused at first, but that confusion became annoyance that someone who may be younger than them is acting all high and mighty. But before any of them could voice out their thoughts, Shikamaru spoke again.
[As Naruto said, no one is allowed to speak from this point onwards, the exam has already begun, and get used to his presence, as he is the one overseeing the majority of the following exams, for now, he is just supervising the first exam] Shikamaru explained calmly
"...." Everyone who were about to say something found the words stuck in their throats, in which they promptly swallowed down silently.
Naruto let out a faint chuckle as he watched them all change faces, from annoyance to complete obedience.
Fu on the other hand was staring at Naruto in completely bewilderment, and a slight look of betrayal, as if saying, 'I thought we were both genins!'. She couldn't believe it, Naruto was her age, so she always thought he was a genin as well, but he was actually overseeing the exams!?
Whilst she was having an existential crisis over this matter, Shikamaru began explaining the rules.
[I will now explain the rules, this exam requires each member of the group to enter a different door, which will be sound proof]
[Inside each room, there will be three exam papers worth different points, being twenty, thirty, and fifty]
[However, the exam requires each group to score a total of exactly one hundred points total, no more, no less, each examinee will complete one paper only]
[If you are caught cheating or talking to your group members, it will be immediate disqualification of the entire group]
That rule made many shake a little as they tried to understand this absurd exam. Naruto glanced around, and noticed that despite these rules, quite a few people were trying to work their ways around it already. The most simple was displaying a number in their hand behind their backs.
Two fingers meant twenty points, and so on. They confirmed with each other, gave a faint nod and finalised their decisions. Of course, there are also those who had different methods prepared for when they enter the rooms, so they remained silent as they waited for the exam to begin.
[I hope you all know your teammates well enough to know what they will pick] Shikamaru said lazily before turning the speaker off.
His words lingered in their heads, but what everyone was focused on was the part he said before that. 'Caught' cheating. If that is the case, any methods they use is fine as long as they are no caught in the act.
Many were a little nervous under Naruto's watchful gaze, but quite a few were already thinking of plans to bypass the rules. He is just one person after all, how can he make sure no one cheats?
As they were thinking that, Naruto formed a hand sign and *poof*.
Their expressions all changed upon witnessing an army of Naruto form in an instant. He created dozens of clones, enough for one clone to watch each group!
[These clones will act as supervisors, as well as the ones checking your final result, once your group completes the papers, they will be handed to one of these clones, and have their results marked down, once again, I will remind you, one member is only allowed to do one paper] Shikamaru warned
As Shikamaru explained, Naruto focused his eyes on a pale faced girl....Orochimaru and his two 'teammates'...
As if taunting him, Orochimaru gave him a smile before turning away
With all the rules explained, the groups were asked to line up down the hallway to enter the rooms. Meanwhile, for Ino, Sakura, and Choji, the three of them did not look worried in the slightest, in fact, they were very relaxed.
[Alright, Choji, you do the twenty point paper, Sakura, you'll handle the fifty point one] Ino smiled as she linked their thoughts together, allowing them to converse freely.
The two nodded faintly, wearing faint smiles on their faces as they entered the room. Once inside, the door shut, and people began testing the sound proof function of the walls.
"Hello?" Someone called out
However, there were no responses at all. He then heard a faint tapping sound from another room. Though the walls trapped sound generated within, the sound of actually tapping the wall seems to be able to get through.
His teammate tapped the wall thrice in his direction, and he understood that he was asked to do the thirty point paper.
This method quickly became one of the main methods of conversing, however, they soon came to realise that it wasn't as practical as they had hoped.
*Knock knock knock knock*
Four sounds rang in another room. Why? Because someone in a nearby room knocked an extra time when his teammate knocked, resulting in this confusion. More and more people began sabotaging other teams by knocking on the walls, causing chaos within.
As one of the young shinobi was panicking, the ground below him trembled slightly, as words formed from the earth.
[Do the thirty point paper]
His eyes lit up, so they can use these methods as well! But unbeknownst to him, in a room three rooms apart from him, another shinobi had a sly grin.
"Another one, hehehe" That's right, he used his jutsu and sent the same message to nearly every other room around him besides his team.
As for his own team, he sent a secret code to signify that it was him before giving them the message so they know he was trustworthy. As for the other teams, those who blindly trusted him were bound to fail, while a few figured out that this message wasn't from their own teammates.
When Ino's group saw the message, they were a little speechless.
'So....who else got that message?' Ino asked
'Yep'
'Got it' Choji and Sakura both responded, as if trying to control their laughter
For Fu, that message was something she didn't believe either. Neither of her teammates were proficient in earth release, thus, she immediately crushed the words.
"Urgh, what do I do, what do I do? How amI supposed to know what they are doing?" Fu ruffled her hair and shouted in frustration.
She sighed
[I can help if you want] Chomei's cheerful voice rang
"Really? Yes please! How can you help?" Fu asked excitedly, she couldn't wait for Chomei to tell her how it can help out.
[I can sense what the other two are doing, the one two your left is doing the thirty point paper, the one to your right is doing...the thirty point paper as well, I think they're just gambling] Chomei said speechlessly
Fu's pupils shrunk, if they both did that, how are they supposed to pass!? Fu grabbed her head and thought of anything to salvage this.
"Ah, this is so frustrating!" She exclaimed
The newfound hope...crushed....
While Fu was having an existential crisis, Orochimaru was also staring at the words on the floor, a little speechless by this childish action.
He sighed and snapped his fingers.
In the two rooms beside him, snakelets crawled out of the sleeves of his subordinate.
"Alright, you do the thirty point paper"
"You do the twenty point paper" The two snakes instructed the two
Meanwhile, Orochimaru began working on the fifty point paper. It was quite the comical scene to Naruto, who was using Kurama's chakra to sense what was happening. Orochimaru, one of the three sanins, one of the greatest shinobi of his era, one of the most wanted criminal...is doing a test paper for a chunin exam...
"Uh, Orochimaru-sama" One of his subordinates spoke
"What?" Orochimaru's voice came through from the snake
"....w-we....we don't know how to do these" He said awkwardly
"...what?" Orochimaru's voice was now filled with solid confusion
These are papers for kids! The other test takers are fifteen years old at most! And these two said they don't know how to do them???
"O-Orochimaru-sama...w-we were orphaned children before you got hold of us, we never had the chance to learn" They said meekly
"...." Orochimaru pinched between his brows as he let out a deep sigh
"Bwahahaha!" Outside, Naruto and Kurama both burst into laughter, making Shikamaru frown when he heard it.
'Why is he laughing?'
Inside the room, Orochimaru was banging his head against the table as he helped his subordinates write the papers. How? Using the snakes! Not only could they not write, they couldn't read either! He had to write it for them with the frickin snakes!
On the other hand, Fu is still struggling to think of how she can converse with her teammates. At the start, it would have been fine if they just signaled to each other before going in the room, but the moment Fu turned to them, they looked away, resulting in the current lack of information.
For the first time in a long time, she felt frustrated by the treatment from people in Takigakure. It was fine to her if they disliked her, but to make such a mistake during the Chunin exam, it made her tremble in anger.
"Ah! That's it! I've had enough!" She narrowed her eyes as she punched the wall next to her.
*Bang*
"...."
Her fist went clean through, and her teammate, on the other side, was frightened out of his seat.
"Wh-What do you want" He snapped at her
Fu glared at him
"Change the paper you're doing" She growled
"Why should I" For some reason, he didn't feel fear towards her, just contempt.
Fu's gaze sharpened
"If you want to fail this exam, then go fail on your own next round, don't drag me down with your crap" She said, fully exerting the tailed beast's pressure upon him.
When that pressure landed, the boy shuddered, as if he was being eyed by a ferocious monster, one snap and he'd be dead. Sweat rolled down his face, his back soaked as he let out a fearful *gulp*.
"O-Okay" He nodded
Fu scoffed at him, watching him change papers to the twenty point paper. Fu on the other hand, finally had a peace in mind, and went to do the fifty point paper.
Naruto sensed this naturally, but did nothing about it. After all, he didn't 'see' it in person, simply sensed it with chakra.
As for the hole...as long as he said nothing, who would know? If someone asked if he was biased and corrupt, he'd answer, 'No, anyway, here's a million ryo, hush'.
[Very responsible of you] Kurama said
'As I should be' Naruto took it as an honest complement and responded as if Kurama's complement wasn't sarcastic...
[....]
After Fu finally got her team on track, Orochimaru was also about done. And by done, it means his mental wellbeing. Writing as a snake was unreasonably difficult for him, after all, who in the world has the leisure to try writing as a snake?
To make matters worse, his subordinates were just watching by the side as he struggled to even hold the pencil in his hand! Are they the subordinates, or is he!?
As for Naruto, he enjoyed the show to the fullest.
On Ino's end, their team were working through it swiftly without trouble.
The team that had the most trouble was actually...
"Tenten, what do I do about this question?" Lee held his head as he asked through a scroll
Tenten was clutching at her head as she answered Lee's questions. In their team, she gave each of them a communication scroll, something Naruto created and taught Tenten how to make.
It wasn't hard, as the distance to use it is incredibly short, making it rather unpractical in most situations.
But even with this, having Lee on their team made it so hard she almost cried. Why? Because Lee insists on doing the questions himself! He only asks for directions on how to do it, but won't allow Tenten to tell him the answers directly!
It drove Tenten to the point of insanity!
"How many times do I have to say it! Just follow the same method from the previous question!" Tenten yelled
"B-But Tenten-san...the numbers look different" Lee replied
"...Neji, you help him"
No response
"Neji?"
In Neji's room, he had already closed the scroll and had his arms crossed.
"Sorry Tenten" He muttered
If Tenten knew what he did, she'd first flip out, then feel betrayed, lastly, flip out once more. After a long and arduous journey of teaching Lee how he should do the questions, Tenten finally relaxed, and slammed her head against the table so hard she nearly broke it.
"I swear, when I'm out, I'm gonna murder the two of them" She muttered
Lee and Neji (who reopened the scroll) both gulped...
"I hate this exam! This is worse than before! I hate it, I hate it!" Tenten then burst into tears as she cried.
Her emotions continued to switch, going from joy that it's over, to sadness due to Lee, to anger from Neji ditching her.
Outside, Naruto(clone) felt a little bad for her, key word, 'a little'. Otherwise, he was laughing so hard he almost fell over.
'Once the main body sees this, he'd fall to the ground laughing' He thought
Thank goodness for the sound proof room, or everyone would have heard his hysterical laughter.
After the trauma inducing experience Tenten just had, she vowed that she must become a Chunin by the end of the exam, so she will never need to go through such a humiliating experience again! If she fails, she'd do anything she can so Lee becomes a Chunin by the end! As long as Lee isn't in their group, the exams won't be as bad!
Aside from the these groups, Naruto paid attention to one final group, being Kiba, Hinata, and Shino. Compared to the horror that Tenten experienced, or the humiliation Orochimaru experienced, this group was having a far easier time.
Shino simply had an insect crawl into the sleeve of his two teammates, and the insect will transmit his intentions to them. And unlike Tenten and Orochimaru's team, Kiba, though dull headed, was shameless enough to just ask for answers directly so Shino didn't need to experience how it feels to tutor a rock.
To some, this exam was the easiest thing they can ask for, for others, it was the most mentally taxing thing they have ever experienced. Naruto had to admit, Shikamaru came up with an excellent exam, after all, this is something that almost stumped one of the three sanins!
He was honestly tempted to tell Shikamaru he should be proud of this exam for making even the great Orochimaru bang his head against the wall, but the small amount of sanity in him told him he shouldn't do it.
After a while, the exam was over, and each team exited the rooms one after another, handing the paper to Naruto's clone.
"Huh? Why did you do the twenty point one!?" Three genins pointed at one another and exclaimed
"I thought you told me to do the twenty point question!"
"No, I thought you said that"
"Wait..."
It was now that many teams realised...they have been fooled! Someone had sent that message to practically everyone! And Earth release is a common thing, so most teams believed it rather than ignore it, forgetting that other teams are just next door, and can screw them over as well!
"Supervisor, s-someone set us up!" One of teams, unwilling to accept this, said to Naruto
Naruto smiled
"Oh? How so?" He asked
"Th-They sent messages to other people, look, you can see it from here, those words written in the ground" He pointed at the floor in each room and said
Naruto chuckled
"My, my, but how will I know who did it? I don't have evidence, nor do you, without evidence...I think no one cheated" Naruto said with an innocent smile
"You-"
Naruto shook his head
"Now, don't be upset, this is a learning experience, learn from this mistake, don't make it again, next time, don't be a gullible idiot who believes everything like a five year old child, you dim witted lil brat, kay~?" Naruto spoke with the utmost sincere, and gentle tone, contradicting the utter garbage that exited his mouth.
"Y-Y-You...." The boy was on the verge of tears after Naruto spoke
"Hey now, don't cry, I don't like the sound of crying children" Naruto said gently
*sniffle*
The boy tried to hold it in, but the more Naruto spoke, the harder it became
*Sigh*
Naruto let out a sigh
"You leave me no choice, I guess I need to actually stop the sound of crying" He said helplessly
People wondered how he'd stop him from crying, but the next moment, Naruto just kicked him into one of the rooms, and shut the door!
"There we go, no more crying sound~" Naruto smiled
'This piece of sh*t!' Everyone thought to themselves
Naruto chuckled
"Alright, now, let's see"
"Teams that passed are...."
Naruto began naming the teams that had passed the exam. Many were disheartened by this, while quite a few had relaxed expressions.
"Jeez, he's as messed up as always" Tenten watched Naruto's little antics from afar, and shook her head
"I think it's fine" Beside her, Hinata appeared with a faint smile on her face
"....yeah, I think only you would think that" Tenten lifted a brow and said
"Nope, Ino will probably agree as well" Hinata replied
"She doesn't count" Tenten replied
"Hinata, you've got weird taste" Kiba said
"What was that?" Hinata asked with a smile
"Nothing~" Kiba shifted his gaze and whistled to himself
Aside from the teams that Naruto was familiar with, Fu was a little nervous at this moment. She was hoping Naruto won't check the interior, because if he saw that hole, she'd be doomed!
Thankfully, Naruto simply checked the papers and walked off to report to the main body, allowing her to breathe a sigh of relief.
After announcing the exam results, those who failed were asked to leave, while the teams that passed, numbered only at a little over ten teams.
"Good, the number has filtered quite a bit, fantastic, it makes me want to thank the kid who fooled so many people into doing the twenty point paper" Naruto chuckled
Did he know who did it? Of course he did! But will he say it? Heck no! If he did, then those who accused that as cheating will number in the dozens, that's just adding more to his work!
"The next exam will take part in the Forest of Death, get there tomorrow" Naruto said as he undid all his clones in the hallway.
"Uh, where is it?" Fu asked
"That's for you to find out yourself, being a Shinobi means you need to gather intel during missions, take this as a warm up" Naruto replied
The moment he said that, many teams dashed off, but oddly enough, one team he didn't recognise stayed behind. The others that stayed behind were Ino and the others, who already knew where it is. As for Fu, she stayed behind because she can just Sakura later.
But the team he never seen before piqued his interested. One walked up to him, pressed a small bag into his hand discreetly as he greeted Naruto with a smile.
"Supervisor, you must be very talented to be overseeing the exams at such a young age" He said with a smile
Naruto's eyes curved into a crescent shape as he accepted the small bag. It was quite hefty for the size.
'About two hundred ryo, not bad kid'
"Of course" Naruto replied with a friendly smile
He then leaned in
"The forest is at..." He gave the location before leaning back
"Thanks" The boy then left with his team.
His friends: ....
Shikamaru who watched that from the control room: ....
Meanwhile, Naruto smiled happily. He's always been the one to bribe others, but as the one who receive on, he was quite happy about it. It felt pretty darn good, no wonder Tsunade always smiles so happily when he proposes an idea. Because she knows he needs to bribe her!