章 33: Chūnin exams stage 1

Konoha got lively these days as the shinobi are preparing the village to host chūnin exams, the Hokage is dealing with all the required security for the guests and luckily for him only a few minor villages are participating in chūnin exams that are being conducted in Konoha as the flames of hate caused by the last war are only subsiding recently.

Sarutobi Hizuren had to spend a few nights awake choosing the proctor for the stages in chūnin exams, luckily for him his first choices accepted their duties to conduct the exam and they came up with some pretty good tasks.

Team 3 is practicing hard and brushing up also on their theoretical knowledge for the promotion test, Hiroto and Itachi had to help their teammate cram all the necessary knowledge to pass the exam so they can become chūnin together.

The same situation is being repeated for all genin teams who are preparing to become chūnin not knowing the hell that was prepared for them.

...

Chūnin exam day

Hiroto arrived at Ninja academy together with his teammates from their team's training ground as they previously decided. They've noticed no academy students as the exam is being conducted on a non-working day of the ninja school.

Team 3 is directed to a waiting room filled with many ninjas from Uchiha, Hyuga, Nara, Inuzuka along with a few other shinobi from notable Konoha clans and other normal ninjas, a bunch of ninjas from Kusa and some other small ninja villages. Anko dragged her teammates along to introduce them to her friends when she was in the academy.

"Guys let me introduce each other Yūgao Uzuki, Tenma Izumo, and ShinkoInari. These are my teammates Uchiha Itachi and Uzumaki Hiroto" Anko did the introductions pointing to every individual.

Hiroto and Itachi talked with Yūgao as she seemed friendly while the other two seemed to have a trace of hostility towards them.

"Are you good with the sword?" Hiroto asked seeing a katana on the back of Yūgao.

"I started out recently, I am decent and can hold my ground with kenjutsu" she answered.

"Let's spar sometime later" Itachi said with Hiroto expressing the same, like that Hiroto and Itachi are getting acquainted with their new friend with Anko adding bits and pieces to the conversation.

Sometime later the voices in the room died down seeing a jonin enter the room.

"My name is Yamanaka Inoichi and I am the one who will be responsible for this stage of the exam" the Yamanaka clan head introduced himself.

Hiroto shared a look with his teammates seeing the proctor as they are already briefly acquainted with him thanks to their sensei.

Inoichi identified the students of his friend but he kept the face stoic so the other genins don't feel that his acquaintances are favored. "Everyone get close to your team members", it took a few seconds as everyone is only a few feet away from their teammates, "Your team will be divided and moved to three different rooms, they will be tested in those rooms. Choose carefully who will enter which room, if even one of you fails the task your team won't be a ninja anymore" he said.

Inoichi's statements raised a huge clamor among the candidates in the room. "SILENCE, no one is forcing you to participate in the exam you can raise your hand and quit the exam so that you can participate next time" the mind jutsu jonin said.

Hiroto looked at his teammates and saw no one bothered with the rules mentioned so they waited patiently for further instructions. Hiroto and his teammates watched as Yūgao convince her teammates, but Tenmo and his team are shaking but they gritted their teeth and held on.

Inoichi looked on as the teams in the room decrease from 33 to 24. He watched on as no new ones raised their hands for a few minutes so he proceeded further saying "These three rooms have what they are about on their respective doors so you have a few minutes to choose who goes to which room. Good luck and your time starts now" and left the room the moment the clothes covering the doors are removed to reveal 'Plan, Interrogation and tracking'.

"I am good at interrogation when compared to you both so I will choose that" Anko informed her decision.

Itachi and Hiroto agreed with their friend's reasoning, "Tracking is not my strong suit and Hiroto is a sensor, so I will go with the plan and Hiroto with tracking " Itachi said which no one objected to.

They looked around the room to see a few teams fight among themselves, they ignored these and moved towards their respective door choices.

Hiroto shared a look with his teammates and all of them left for their respective selections simultaneously.

...

A few hours later

Hiroto left the room and he was mentally exhausted, a few minutes later his other teammates also arrived.

They sat down together and started sharing their respective experience in the test

Anko went first, " As soon as I arrived in the room a few Konoha ninjas arrived with masks with their crime, affiliation detailed we had to make them talk using a few techniques. Sadly they said I'd passed just after I started on the guy, pity I'd they've left me a few minutes more with the guy I would've made him sing about our second task too".

Hiroto and Itachi shuddered at their friend's methods and felt pity for the guy who fell into Anko's hands.

Itachi went next and said "For me, they provided a few battle scenarios and asked us to provide a plan based on the current situation. I've got a situation where an enemy is holding a village captive, I solved it by dividing my force into two groups with one group masquerading as another village ninjas and using chaos to my advantage".

Hiroto and Anko gave nods of approval to their teammate's plan, "We went to an open field and had to track our target based on the clues and descriptions we are given, we also had to differentiate between false tracks left to divert us and correct ones. I've got a chakra signature which made it pretty easy for me" Hiroto explained about his task.

Team 3 took a rest for nearly an hour, within this hour Yūgao also entered with her team, and also Tenmo and his team arrived. A few minutes after Tenmo and his team arrived they got the announcement "First task is done", Hiroto looked around the room to see only less than 15 teams pass the first stage.

...