69 Naruto : Chapter 69

"I don't know what your sensei taught you, but it is unwise to attack a ninja from another village before the real test for your promotion has even started.

Especially when there are many more ninjas from the village of the ninja you attacked. That doesn't show chunin qualities in my eyes." Naruto stated calmly.

...

Many now looked at him with interest. He simply needed to flare his killing intent a little to make sure they knew not to mess with him. His tactic was intimidation right now. Not searching attention, but using it when he had it anyway to his advantage.

Thankfully the attention was soon turned to the front of the room where the proctors had appeared. The Oto genin only unfroze once it was time to draw numbers to determine the seat assignments for the written test that they had to do. The threw Naruto glares but kept quiet.

The proctor Ibiki Morino gave them the rules for this test and Naruto had to hand it to the man, he was good at what he did. His intimidation methods worked really well. Naruto had a look at the questions that needed to be answered and immediately noticed that they were far above genin or chunin level.

Probably Sakura and Shikamaru were the only ones capable of answering these questions right now. Which meant that this test had a hidden meaning. Probably information gathering.

Well, that was coincidentally just his specialty. That and taking out competition. Naruto produced four already transformed shadow clones seal- and smokeless and set them to work.

The easiest way was turning them into flies. One found a planted chunin in the room and watched from the shoulder and dispelled after memorizing the answers.

The other three were doing a bit of sabotage. After all, if you burned or shredded somebody else's test, that team was unable to continue. And retaliation was hard in this setup.

So using some basic techniques like the one to start campfires or basic wind manipulation, Naruto disqualified seven teams. It added to the stress level of the others in the room.

Ibiki seemed to be strangely pleased. Finally the forty five minutes until the last question was asked were over. And of course they got a new set of rules that increased the massive stress-level again.

Confronted with the choice to take the question and risk staying a genin for the rest of your life if you answered wrong or quitting together with the rest of your team and try again in six months Naruto was surprised how many weak-willed candidates had survived this far.

Once one had broken there was a stream of others following behind. Naruto could only shake his head, especially at the foreign candidates. Promotions were handled by each village individually and many ninjas got their promotions in the field.

There simply was no way that with an average of eight to ten finalists in each chunin exam the villages could cover their need of qualified soldiers. The exams were just the best opportunity to show off the abilities of the ninjas in a village.

After some, for most, nerve-wracking minutes there were no more that wanted to quit. Naruto had been sure that neither Sasuke nor Sakura would bail out.

They were ready and they were the students of the next Hokage. No way that they would quit over something they were sure they could pass.

Ibiki tried one last time to get more people to give up, but realized that the rest would take his question. He declared that they had all passed and listed the reasons why the test had been built like it had been. Naruto had to admit it was a good way to filter those of weak determination out.

He could also see that Ibiki was keeping a close look on him. Did he figure out that he had been behind the sabotage? Well, no matter, team seven was going into the second round now. Now he only needed to make sure that each of the interesting remaining candidates got a seal that let him listen into their plans. He simply loved fuinjutsu.

...

Naruto signalled his two teammates that he needed to talk to them before going into the next test. So they used the time they had to get to training ground forty-four to discuss a few things.

"Okay, I think the next part is survival against the other teams. I already sent some disguised shadow clones out to tag the interesting candidates with listening seals. That way we get an advantage." Naruto told them.

"Good thinking, Naruto. So we probably will be able to know the other teams' plans, if they target us directly and if they do we can turn them against our attackers." Sasuke analysed.

"Yes. Now we need to ensure that we can identify each other in case we get separated in a fight. Take these." He said and handed each a small seal tag.

"Put them on a part of your body and the seal will connect to your chakra. Best would be a part that can't be seen by any others. So under your sleeve or pants leg is a good place for example.

The seal tags are connected and will last two weeks. We will get a tickle if another of the seal tags is close by. This way nobody can pretend to be us in the forest."

"Wow, that's really neat." Sakura said impressed. "Where did you get them?"

"It's a joint work between me and Dark Phoenix that the Hokage ordered. We are sure that they will work, but this is also a test of the range they have. If they are good enough the ANBU will get equipped with them for their missions next.

I got permission to test them in the chunin exams as it is the perfect opportunity to see how different chakra signatures around influence the seal." Naruto answered.

"You are working with Dark Phoenix?" Sakura asked surprised.

"Yes, I do. But don't ask me about his identity, I don't know, he is always disguised. But it's nice to work with another seal master." Naruto replied.

"So you were evaluated as a seal master?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes. Jiraiya Sama confirmed my level when he tested me. Sealing is an art that is in my blood as an Uzumaki, but my father also had a huge talent in the area.

So it's not that surprising that I took to it like a fish to water during my academy time. I spent a lot of my free time learning fuinjutsu." Naruto confirmed.

Sasuke and Sakura took the information and knew that it was important to keep it a secret. While it would come out sooner or later anyway now that Naruto was revealed as the Yondaime Hokage's son, the longer it was a secret just which level he had, the better it was for missions and the village.

They then reached the training ground where a lot of other teams were already assembled.

The proctor, Anko Mitarashi, had left an impression after crashing through the window of their test room at the academy. That she wore really revealing clothes did the rest for at least the male participants of the exams.

...

Once the time for assembling was up Anko started telling them how the second test would work.

They would get one of a set of scrolls each and would have to fight for the other one over the time limit of five days in the Forest of Death. Doable.

They were all given waivers to sign to free Konoha from the responsibility if any of the participants died, which they would.

This was probably the most dangerous part of the exams. The finals were controlled by a refereeing jonin who would step in if things were clear, which would reduce the death toll somewhat.

After all, there were many noble guests watching them every time and putting them off their lunch wasn't good for business. Naruto signed his quickly, followed by Sasuke and Sakura.

He took the three waivers and got a heaven scroll. He went over to his team and they went to the gate that they had been assigned.

Naruto quickly took out an empty scroll and let Sasuke put a genjutsu on it to make it look like their real scroll. Sakura was given the fake scroll while Naruto sealed the real one into a storage seal on his belt.

Nobody would find it there as the ink wasn't visible on the black belt at all. They quickly discussed their strategy with a few hand-signals. When the signal to start the second round came over loudspeaker they jumped into action.

Their plan was to find a secure location, listen into the teams that Naruto had put listening seals on and then get as many scrolls as they could. The more scrolls they got the less teams could pass. And this was their chance to prove themselves to their sensei.

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Hey guys I really need some power stones to Elevate the ranking :)

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