Chương 13: The Beginning of the Chunin Exams

The Chunin Exams are an opportunity for genin to be promoted to chunin. The exam structure and evaluation processes differ from one exam to the next so genin cannot come prepared. Villages originally held their own individual exams.

However, following the Third Shinobi World War, exams open to all villages started being held bi-annually, with villages taking turns hosting responsibilities. These shared exams improve relations between the villages, help keep each other in balance and up to date with the competition, present up-and-coming ninja to clients, and create an opportunity for gambling.

Although the exams, specifically the final round matches, are designed for there to be an ultimate "winner", success does not guarantee promotion nor does failure preclude it; if the observing ninja and daimyo feel a genin displays the necessary qualities for a chunin, that genin will be promoted regardless of how they place in the exams.

For this reason, it is possible for as many as all of the finalists to pass, or even for none of them. Being victorious simply expands the participant's chances of demonstrating their qualities in the next match.

Having too many participants to advance to the following stages seems to be an undesired result, as the examiners tend to run additional preliminaries to reduce the number of finalists. Today was the day of the official start of the Konoha's held second yearly Chunin Exams. Genin must enter as a part of a three-man team. It was exam mostly for Konoha, its allies, and neighboring smaller villages. The morning sun just shone, and the whole village was already buzzing with people.

Although there are variations from village to village, the general organizational structure and hierarchy of the ninja systems of each village are about the same. At the top of the organization is the village head, or the Kage in the case of the Five Great Shinobi Countries. They rule the village and its shinobi together with a council, usually consisting of highly ranked shinobi and elders. The actual shinobi forces are divided into three groups. The regular forces, the Anbu, and the medical teams.

The regular forces form the foundation of the village and its shinobi system. The majority of shinobi are a part of these forces and together, either individually or in teams, they perform the majority of the missions the village receives. They are also tasked with various duties within the organization, such as training and administrative duties.

When an Academy student graduates, they usually become a part of these forces, assuming the rank of genin. Via various exams and tests, they can be promoted to higher ranks, first to chunin and jōnin after that. Sometimes, when a shinobi is specialized in a very specific skill, they can assume the rank of a special jonin, which is a rank between chunin and jonin.

Neji, Tenten, and Rock Lee already met on one of the Konoha's many high-rise rooftop roads.

They were currently walking towards the Ninja Academy where the first phase is being held.

Surprisingly, during the last month, after Neji left the medical hospital, they started seeing each other less and less often. Tenten and Neji trained on their own, while Guy trained with Lee. Having already completed the number of missions required for the application to the Chunin Exams, Guy left that period of time for them to just focus on training. And as Neji and Tenten requested that they want to train alone, he left them to do just that.

Neji trained in his usual routine, at home, and sometimes sparred with Hiashi, while the Hyuga elders spectated them. He felt like they treated him now like a really strongest guardian dog.

Neji really did get a lot of combat experience and Gentle Fist style-related knowledge from Hiashi. But he would never be grateful to him or spare him if he ever got a chance to end him. He knew that deep inside, Hiashi also looked at him as a servant rather than a real nephew. As for other mysteries, related to their clan, and the Main Branch, sadly he hadn't found any related clues.

He felt increasing urges to break free from their control lately and he felt like he would soon even possibly come to a breaking point of anger. After all, the stronger one was, the stronger he hated being chained. That's why recently, he also distanced himself a little from his team, to meditate and clear his mind. After all, he would never allow himself to make any kind of mistake or a misstep until he breaks completely free, he must remain calm and carefully plan his hundred moves ahead like in chess.

"Neji, I heard that nine rookies of the previous year will also participate in this round. Have you met them before? I feel like they are really out of their place this time around...", Tenten, slowly walked beside Neji and asked in a smiling tone, seemingly more confident and playful than before. Neji also noticed a while ago that something was different about her. She was definitely getting more and more confident in herself than a month ago, 'Something good should've happened to her...'

"Well, the two I met before, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha are the most special out of them, others not so much.", Neji glanced at a head shorter Tenten near him and casually answered her.

'After all, how could the reincarnations of the legendary Indra and Ashura Otsutsuki not be special?', Neji thought all of a sudden, also getting curious, for a while, if he could change his fate of getting defeated by Naruto this time around, 'Fate..? It is bullshit, I will change my fate this time!'

"I guess it's true about Sasuke Uchiha, but why that dumb and weak Naruto Uzumaki...?", Tenten was surprised by his answer, "You'll see everything soon!", To which, Neji just replied mysteriously.

"Anyway, Tenten, I'm also a little curious about you. Exactly what jutsu did you come up with?", To Tenten's surprise, Neji suddenly changed the topic. Rock Lee on the side also looked curious.

"H-How did you find out!? But, hehe, you'll see it later. It is definitely something unseen before!", Tenten smiled a little proudly as she answered. This month was the most extraordinary one in her whole life. She really did invent a completely new jutsu thanks to her fuinjutsu knowledge and some creativity.

After previously seeing that outstanding display of strength, on their last mission, and feeling her own uselessness, she was sleepless many nights, until something finally clicked for her. She got a really big piece of inspiration and started working towards developing a new personal jutsu of her own. She felt like some initial stages of that jutsu could even be implemented in a battle right now.

'I just don't want to lag behind Neji too much!', But this was maybe her biggest reason for it all.

Neji felt a little surprised after seeing her admitting it and being so confident. He definitely didn't expect her to break off her limits, from the original series, so soon, or at all. In fact, he held much more hope for Lee, one the side, who now clenched his fists, clearly not mastering anything new.

However, Neji felt that Lee calmed down after a while reciting something inside, 'He also changed a little, but more on the mental side...'

Neji was right, during their last month of training together, Guy explained to Lee his whole history with Kakashi, and that real man never quit, even if they had to wait for decades, that is their way.

After a while, they arrived in front of the Konoha Academy they all once attended two years ago. Tenten and Lee looked at it while remembering many memories, Tenten also secretly peeked a little at Neji who remained indifferent and said, "Let's go in!", The large crowd outside slowly made way.

Passing behind more genin ninja, who stared at them curiously, also a bit respectfully towards Neji, they finally came outside that memorable room number, on the second floor, from the original series. There was a large commotion and a circle of people forming around it in apprehension.

And just when Tenten and Lee turned towards Neji, they suddenly heard his low but strong voice, "Move!"

The whole hallway suddenly got silent, people recognizing Neji and curiously giving him a way toward the door in question. They also started gloatingly looking at the two people who stopped them all just now from proceeding. Those two people also surprisingly started sweating a little.

At the beginning of the hallway, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura also came at the same time, "That guy..."

Neji, Tenten, and Lee slowly stood in front of the two people in question. One of them had brown hair and dark eyes. His hair was combed down and covered his right eye.

The second one had long, spiky, black hair and dark eyes. He had a strip of bandage running across the bridge of his nose and a light-colored marking on his chin.

Neji suddenly activated his Byakugan. His pupils became sharper, and veins were all over his eyes.

"Could you release this small illusion? I don't want to embarrass the chunins of the fellow village. Also, what is your point pretending to be genin like this?", Neji sighed and calmly spoke. The whole room, including the upcoming Team Seven, suddenly looked at him in surprise, especially Sasuke.

'I didn't realize those two were chunin, while he immediately did!', Sasuke also furrowed his brows.

"Yes, yes...", Both of them suddenly released their illusion, revealing a new path toward the next floor.

They were just a little stronger than average chunin, so how could they be opponents of the guy who previously killed two elite jonins just a while ago? They planned to leave as soon as Neji came from the beginning, "Hump....", Tenten even humphed a little as their team went forward in awe of the other genins there, "Let's go, Naruto, Sakura!", Sasuke angrily exclaimed, and also went ahead.

This time around, there was no battle between Sasuke and Rock Lee, as Lee was way more mature.

And soon, they all came towards the room where all the other applicants this time around gathered.

As soon as Neji opened the door, he felt a dozen strong gazes coming toward them. The spacious room was filled with genin from all the villages that came in to participate in this round of exams.

However, Neji and his team ignored all of them and slowly walked forward toward the tables. No way a ninja of that level could pressure any of them. Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura who came after them appeared more shaken. But that slowly changed as one blonde young girl suddenly jumped onto Sasuke and eased the atmosphere a little bit. Shikamaru and Choji also came behind her.

Neji instructed his team and they quickly got further away than them all. Neji always hated loud people like them, and Lee and Tenten respected his preferences. Shikamaru suddenly turned his attention to Neji's back solemnly, 'Is that the guy Asuma-sensei warned us to stay away from..?'

Shikamaru had narrow brown eyes and a typical expression that suggested he is either bored or irritated all the time around. He has shoulder-length black hair tied in a spiky ponytail. He wore a short-sleeved grey jacket with green-edged sleeves and the rudimentary Nara clan symbol on the back, under which is a green-lined mesh armor T-shirt. He also wore brown pants, a pair of his clan's traditional silver hoop earrings, and his blue forehead protector around his left arm.

Ino, who was standing beside him, and pestering Sasuke, also thought weirdly, all of a sudden, after catching a glimpse of Neji, 'He's more handsome than Sasuke, but also way more gloomy and dark. Not my type, so Sasuke is better, humph!'.

After a few moments, the final team of Konoha rookies came to their place, near the entrance door, this time it was Hinata, Kiba, and Shino. All of them suddenly started talking about something loudly, bringing all the attention onto themselves right from the get-go, which wasn't a good thing. Only Hinata flinched after seeing Neji's back a little but calmed down after seeing Naruto as well.

And soon, someone came to remind them. It was a peculiar person with glasses, Kabuto Yakushi! He had onyx eyes and ash-grey hair, which he kept in a ponytail. Hi wore black-rimmed circular glasses.

And once they were talking with Kabuto about the Chunin Exams, Neji and his team came to a table. But, once they got there, they suddenly felt a really chilling and dangerous gaze from one direction. It was coming from the direction of three Sunagakure genins, Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari.

Gaara had fair skin, green eyes, and short auburn spiky hair. He lacked distinctive pupils or eyebrows, and he also had a red tattoo with the word "love" on his forehead. He wore a black body suit with an open neck, t-shirt-like sleeves, and almost full-length leggings. With this, he wore a white cloth over his right shoulder and the left side of his hips. He had a wide leather band from his left shoulder to his right hip for carrying his sand gourd and around which he wrapped his forehead protector. He suddenly gazed towards Neji specifically while thinking to himself, 'It's great, mother, it's really great, I can feel it in my blood, this guy is really strong, even stronger than that Uchiha!'

Temari had teal eyes and sandy blonde hair, which gathered into four consecutive pigtails. Her outfit consisted of a single light purple-colored, off-the-shoulders garment that extended to halfway down her thighs, with a scarlet sash tied around her waist. In addition to incorporating a fishnet worn over her shoulders and legs, specifically on her right calf and her left thigh, she also wore her black forehead protector around her neck, "Gaara, calm down, I plead you, think of our plan!", Seeing how Gaara started madly shaking and grinning as soon as he saw the white-clothed teenager on the other side of the room, she started whispering to him, while also peeking a little curiously at Neji, 'Just who is that guy. Gaara didn't produce this kind of reaction in a long time...'

'This Konoha is really a giant factory for geniuses! Or better said a perfect place for Gaara. I just hope that idiot doesn't mess up our plans...', Kankuro, with one eye closed, also observed Neji.

He wore a Bunraku puppeteer's costume; a black, baggy, full-body suit with a red and yellow circle on the front. He also were a black hood that covered his head completely and had cat-like ears and a forehead protector on his forehead. He also had a different puppet makeup applied to his face.

Neji turned his gaze away from Gaara, not caring about him anymore while thinking to himself, 'I must avoid that idiot, at all costs, inside the Forrest of Death next, or my plans will be ruined...', During this stage, Gaara was quite an interesting person, however, later after Naruto used his famous "Talk no Jutsu" on him, he faded into the second row in part two of the original series.

Then he looked at the next performance in which, all of a sudden, one weird-looking Sound Ninja attacked Kabuto, near the entrance door. But, that also got over, once the Ibiki Morino, the protector of the first test, finally came in a large puff of smoke! And with that, the first test started!

Ibiki Morino was Konoha's special jonin and the commanding officer of the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force. Ibiki has a large, imposing figure, which he complements with a rugged head and face covered with old wounds and scars.

And soon Ibiki started explaining the test and then it started. The first stage is, at a glance, an hour-long written test of ten questions. However, the first nine questions are too difficult for an average genin to be able to answer. The real objective, therefore, is to cheat: either copy from one of the few genin that can answer the questions or from one of the chūnin embedded with the examinees. If a genin is caught cheating five times, they and the rest of their team are disqualified.

The goal is also to force the genin to apply critical thinking. In most cases, being caught cheating means instant failure, but the two-point reduction is meant to give them a chance instead of trying again without being caught and make them realize they have to cheat. Getting the correct answer to these nine questions is not ultimately important, as it is possible to pass without answering any of them at all.

Forty-five minutes into the first stage, genin are given the opportunity to answer the tenth question. They are first warned that, if they answer the question incorrectly, they will not be allowed to take the exams ever again; if they forfeit - which also disqualifies the rest of their team - before hearing the question, they will be allowed to retake the exams another time. This option is, itself, the tenth question; if a genin is willing to face the unknown of the tenth question, they are ready to be a chunin.

Ibiki tried everything imaginable to get as many genin to drop out as much as possible. But in the end, Naruto Uzumaki's open determination to face this unknown inspires all of the remaining genin, causing twenty-six teams, a higher number than average, to pass to the second stage in the end.

Of course, Neji already remembered all of this, from his previous life, once he combined his past memory of the series with Ibiki's behavior here. So, same as in the original, his team also passed.