Chapter 24: Chapter 23 – The Chunin Exam Begins

For the first test, all genins met in a building at the edge of the village, nested against a cliff. There was already a large crowd of young ninjas when Team 14 arrived. There seemed to be only one room, a kind of hall with three doors at the end, probably leading inside the cliff. The lintel of each door was marked with a different color, red for the left one, blue for the right one, and yellow for the middle door. Two examiners were on each side of each door. They were on guard. Jun narrowed his eyes. This didn’t look like what Naruto and his peers had for their first test. He couldn’t guess what they had in store for them.

There would be a lot of competition. Jun noticed the majority of the genins were from Konoha. He counted four teams with an Uchiha among them. There were also two teams only made up of Uchihas of various ages. Jun found it strange that they had grouped together instead of integrating with others. No other clan had done something similar.

Itachi wasn’t present. How old was it now? Nine years old? Maybe the Hokage didn’t allow him to join. Jun didn’t know for sure. Fujitaro Uchiha, who had been in the same class as him at the Academy, was there. Team 14 unanimously agreed to move to the other end of the hall.

A jonin in uniform strode across the room and stood in front of the three doors before looking indifferently toward the genins. Jun recognized him from his memories.

“I’m Shikaku Nara. I don’t particularly enjoy wasting my time like this, so it’ll hopefully end quickly.”

The genins paid more attention. Shikaku’s face remained emotionless, but Jun could have sworn he was amused.

“There are three entrances behind me. Each is marked with a color representing a fundamental quality a shinobi should possess. You can enter one door, and it must be in a group of three. After you enter the door, a colored token will be given to you. You cannot go back once you enter to choose another door. These doors lead to the registration desk where you can validate the first test. You must show the correct tokens to pass the test. There was a flurry of worried and angry whispers. Shikaku didn’t hide his smirk.

“The red door represents strength, the yellow one loyalty and the blue one is for intelligence. The choice is yours.”

He vanished in a cloud of smoke. A confused hubbub instantly filled the hall. Three ninjas wearing Konoha headbands entered the blue door. Each was given a blue token as they passed. Jun had a doubt, then he sensed their chakra. It was more than what an average genin possessed. There was a possibility there were chunins in disguise.

“Hmm, we can only choose one door. And there must be three of us entering.” Susumu whispered as he looked from one examiner to the other.

Another group had chosen the red door. The whispers grew more urgent. Everyone was watching others, looking for a clue or trying to eavesdrop on their conversations. People were starting to throw Genjutsu to extract information or trick others into making a choice. A team entered the yellow door, then another picked the red one. It had only been a few minutes.

“The Uchihas are coordinating with each other,” Natsumi whispered.

Jun noticed indeed. Their group had separated, and each stood at different points of the room, blending into the crowd. After a while, one of the teams took the red door. The other chose the blue one. Jun frowned as he thought about their actions.

“It’s a trap. There is no good door.” Jun concluded.

“We have to take all the doors. We need all tokens.” Susumu whispered to their ears.

He had also cast Genjutsu around them to prevent eavesdropping.

“You’re forgetting that we can’t go through a door alone.” Natsumi protested.

“There must be a solution,” Jun said.

They had realized the purpose of the trial. They needed the three tokens to pass the test. But they can’t go through a door alone. They saw some people trying to cheat. A guy, attempting to get through the yellow door with two clones, was roughly thrown back. Another team, including a haughty-looking Uchiha kunoichi, walked through the same door, smirking at him.

Jun narrowed his eyes. He realized they must think outside the box. He had a feeling it must have something to do with teamwork. It was the key principle of Konoha’s philosophy when it comes to shinobis. He thought again about the Uchiha teams who took different doors. He tried to find the meaning in their actions. Then, he hit him.

“I got it.” He whispered.

His teammates turned to him.

“I understand why the Uchihas separated. Each team took a different door. The two only-Uchiha teams chose red and blue, and the team that just passed by selected yellow. They will end up with nine genins on the other side. They would have all tokens. They can distribute the tokens among themselves so that each team has all three colors.”

“Ah! It’s a form of teamwork. But how can we do it? We are only three, not nine.” Susumu pointed out.

“Let’s find two more teams from Konoha. There is Yugao’s team that hasn’t passed yet, and… who else can we ask?” Natsumi said.

Jun didn’t know anyone else. Then his gaze fell on a team that wasn’t familiar to him. However, he picked up on two familiar chakra signatures. It belonged to Kotetsu and Izumo. They were already chunins. They passed the exam last year. Therefore, they must be here as undercovers. That explained why they were using the transformation technique to hide their appearance. He made his decision.

“I know who to ask. But are we getting together or would it be suspicious?” Jun asked.

“Hmm, I will take on Yugao’s appearance and replace her on her team. She will assume my appearance and join Natsumi. You ask whoever you want, and that person will take your appearance and join Yugao and Natsumi. You will replace that person in their team. We’ll use this system.” Susumu explained.

“Sounds good. My team will take the red door, yours the blue one, and Natsumi’s the yellow one.” Jun said.

They nodded and separated. Jun went straight to meet Izumo and Kotetsu’s team. He finally recognized the chakra of the last member of the team. It was Hayate Gekko. He stood before them. The guy with Izumo’s chakra snorted arrogantly.

“What do you want, little genin?”

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Jun refrained from pulling the rug under their feet by telling them he recognized them.

“Hello, fellow comrades from Konoha. I know how to pass this test. Are you interested?” He said cheerfully.

“Really? And why are you telling us this?” The one with Kotetsu’s chakra asked.

“The trick is to corporate with other teams. I chose you because you are among the strongest people here. I’m a sensory ninja. It is also possible that you are all chunins posing as genins using the transformation technique. In that case, your work here will end faster if you help me.”
There was a brief silence. Kotetsu stomped on his foot, Izumi made a small sound like a hard strangled laugh, and Hayate put a hand over his face in resignation.

“What’s your plan?”

Jun explained it to them, and they accepted to work together. They discreetly changed their appearance. Hayate transformed into Jun and joined Natsumi. Jun replaced him and stayed with Kotetsu and Izumo.

They waited for Natsumi’s team to go first, then Susumu’s, before they took the red door. They felt the weight of everyone else’s gaze on them as they walked to the door. The examiners raised an eyebrow at Kotetsu, who shrugged before pointing at Jun with his chin. The examiner snorted amusedly and gave them three red tokens. The group disappeared down the hall.

The hallway was quite long. It was made of stone. The path climbed steeply and there were many turns. Jun guessed the exit must be at the top of the cliff. After walking for several seconds, it became clear to him the path was a maze. He slowed down. The two chunins stopped behind him. When he turned around, they gave a placid smile.

“Where are we going now?” Kotetsu asked innocently.

“You’re very funny.”

It was part of the test. He must find a way out. He knew the two chunins wouldn’t help him. He was on his own. He sighed, then he closed his eyes and relaxed. He was a sensory ninja. This shouldn't be too difficult.

He began to walk again at a reasonable pace, relying on his chakra-sensing ability. He finally picked up on some familiar energy. Susumu, Natsumi, and Yugao were motionless a couple of hundred meters from his position. He continued advancing. He detected traces of the passage of other teams. Some had put markings on the walls in case they got lost. Others had left their footprints on the ground. He also found traps. He saw wires stretched on the ground, but it was nothing he couldn’t handle. The traps weren’t meant to kill but to disorient others.

Led by Jun, they arrived in a vast circular room. It was illuminated by the natural light coming through the glass openings in the ceiling. He knew they were close to the surface. There were several tunnels around them. Some led outside. Jun could feel the fresh air. A sign read, ‘Registration desk’ near the widest of the tunnels. An examiner was twiddling his thumbs. Susumu, Natsumi, and Yugao’s team were on the other side of the room, their tokens in hand. They let out a sigh of relief when they saw Jun coming.

“Behold, the red tokens are here,” Susumu exclaimed.

“Let’s go. I hope this work.” Yugao said.

They made the exchange. Each team collected a token of each color and went to the examiner. The chunin glared at them. He had seen them arrive and overheard their conversation. But he made no comment whatsoever. Jun put down his team’s three tokens, holding his breath. The chunin observed them for a moment before pushing them back to Jun.

“You pass. Take the right exit. Keep the tokens with you. You will need them in the next trial.

The others were told the same thing. Kotetsu, Izumo, and Hayate received a skeptical look. Jun cleared his throat.

“They didn’t reveal their cover. I just took advantage of it.”

“What? They are chunins? Susumu asked.

“Isn’t that against the rules?” Yugao added.

The three chunins dispelled their transformation technique. The genins were shocked.

“Not really. We had to act like genins. We didn’t help Jun in any way. He found his way alone.” Izumo smiled.

“So, did we pass as well?” Kotetsu asked the examiner.

“Get outta here. You are already a chunin. What else do you want? Your mission is over. I’ll let Shikaku know you found a way to bail and take it easy while others are still there working hard.”

“Shikaku is a Nara. You want to tell him we found a way to stop working hard? Be my guest. He might give us a medal for that.”

The examiner glared at them, then pointed in the direction of another exit leading outside.

“I won’t let you off that easily. Take the left exit.”

The three chunins resumed their genin’s disguise and headed towards the losers’ exit. The examiner followed them with a stern look, then turned to Jun’s team. They all hurried toward their exit.

A short tunnel led them outside. Jun was right; they were at the top of a cliff overlooking the village. There were nine people present, the two teams solely composed of Uchihas and another team with one Uchiha kunoichi. Fujitaro Uchiha, surrounded by his pals, gave them a mocking grin. But no one talked. There were a dozen jonins around them, squatting in trees. They were being watched. It would be foolish to start a fight now.

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