บท 40: 40. Mother Vs Wife

(Guys Top 30 is so close yet so far, Give me your Powerstones)

Hanabi activated her Byakugan, her eyes widening in surprise. "That's... actually impressive. I can barely see through it at all."

"Of course it is! I'm a genius, remember?" Sora/Taro preened. "Now, your turn!"

With Sora's guidance, Hanabi performed the Jutsu. When the smoke cleared, she had transformed into a girl with shoulder-length black hair and dark eyes.

"Perfect!" Sora clapped his hands together. "From this moment on, you are Yumi, the totally unsuspicious and not-at-all-secretly-awesome Genin!"

Hanabi examined her new appearance with a mix of awe and trepidation. "This is so weird. How long can we maintain these transformations?"

"Oh, indefinitely," Sora said casually. "Some Complex things Like Nature Energy which that Seal sucks in to maintain it, Let's say it is a SealMaster thing"

"Oh"

He formed another hand sign, and a shadow clone popped into existence beside him, already transformed into a third Genin, this one with spiky green hair.

"Meet our third teammate, Akira!" Sora announced. "Strong, silent type. Very mysterious."

The clone nodded solemnly, then pulled out a book and began reading, pointedly ignoring them.

Hanabi pinched the bridge of her nose. "I can't believe we're actually doing this."

"Believe it!" Sora grinned, then paused. "No, wait, that's Naruto's thing. How about... Believe it or not, here we come!"

With that less-than-inspiring battle cry, the trio of disguised troublemakers made their way towards the Chunin Exam registration area.

As they approached the building, Hanabi's nerves started to get the better of her. "Sora," she whispered, "what if they ask for our registration papers or something?"

"Already taken care of," Sora whispered back, patting his pocket. "I've got top-notch forgeries right here. Just act natural and let me do the talking."

They joined the line of Genin teams waiting to register. Hanabi tried her best to look bored and slightly nervous like a real Genin might. Sora, on the other hand, was grinning from ear to ear and practically bouncing on his toes.

When they reached the registration desk, the Chunin in charge gave them a bored look. "Team and village?"

"Team 42 from Konoha's Genin Reserves, reporting for duty!" Sora announced cheerfully, handing over their forged papers.

The Chunin raised an eyebrow at Sora's enthusiasm but took the papers without comment. He glanced over them, stamped something, then handed them back. "Room 301. Next!"

And just like that, they were in.

As they walked away from the desk, Hanabi let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. "I can't believe that actually worked."

"Of course it did!" Sora said, puffing out his chest. "I told you, I'm a ge-"

"If you say 'genius' one more time, I'm going to Gentle Fist you through Time into next week," Hanabi growled.

Sora wisely closed his mouth, but his smug grin remained firmly in place.

They made their way to Room 301, pushing open the doors to reveal a room filled with Genin from various villages. The atmosphere was tense, with many teams eyeing each other suspiciously or trying to intimidate their competition.

"Whoa," Sora whispered, his eyes wide. "There's a lot more people here than I expected."

Hanabi nodded, feeling a bit overwhelmed. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all..."

"Nonsense!" Sora declared, thankfully remembering to keep his voice down. "This just makes our eventual victory all the more impressive!"

Before Hanabi could respond, a stern-looking proctor appeared at the front of the room. "Alright, listen up, you brats! The first part of the Chunin Exams is about to begin. Take your seats and prepare for a written test!"

As they moved to find seats, Sora leaned in close to Hanabi. "Don't worry," he whispered. "I've got a plan for this part too."

Somehow, that didn't make Hanabi feel any better.

The proctor began handing out test papers, explaining the rules as he went. "You have one hour to complete the first nine questions. The tenth question will be given verbally at the end. If you're caught cheating five times, you and your team will be disqualified. Begin!"

Sora flipped over his test paper, his confident grin never wavering. He scanned the questions quickly, his mind already formulating answers - though perhaps not the kind the examiners were expecting.

The first question asked to identify a jutsu based on a series of hand signs. Sora's eyes lit up with recognition. 'Oh, this is too easy,' he thought. 'That's the Chameleon Jutsu! I use that all the time for my pranks.'

He scribbled down the answer, adding a little doodle of a chameleon wearing a ninja headband for good measure.

The second question, however, gave him pause. It asked for a 300-word essay on the treaty between the Sand Village and Leaf Village. Sora's brow furrowed. 'Crud. I knew I should have paid more attention in history class. Or, you know, actually gone to history class.'

But Sora wasn't one to let a little thing like complete ignorance stop him. He put his pen to paper and began to write:

"The treaty between the Sand Village and Leaf Village is a very important document that says a lot of important things about important stuff. It probably happened after the Third Shinobi War, which was a big deal because wars are always big deals, especially when they're the third one.

Now, you might be wondering, 'Sora, I mean, totally not Sora examiner person, what does this have to do with the treaty?' Well, let me tell you about the Fourth Hokage. This guy was so awesome that other villages were scared to even say his name. He was like, 'I'm gonna flash all over the place and beat you up,' and Iwa was like, 'Oh no, please don't flash us, we give up!'

But it wasn't just the Fourth Hokage that made other villages want to be friends with Konoha. There's also the Third Hokage, who's basically like everyone's grandpa if your grandpa could breathe fire and summon giant monkeys. He acts all frail and stuff, but don't let that fool you. He's probably got abs under that robe. Old man abs, but abs nonetheless.

So, you've got the Fourth Hokage flashing around, the Third Hokage with his sneaky old man strength, and a bunch of other super strong ninjas that I totally know about but won't name because there are too many to list (and not at all because I can't remember any others). The Sand Village looks at all this and thinks, 'Wow, these Leaf guys are pretty cool. Maybe we should be friends instead of trying to bury them in sand all the time.'

And that's how the treaty came to be. It's all about peace and friendship and not turning each other into kunai pincushions. The Sand Village promised to stop all the sand attacks, and Konoha promised to share their superior hair care products. Everyone wins!

In conclusion, treaties are great, the Fourth Hokage was awesome, the Third Hokage is sneaky-strong, and Konoha has the best shampoo. The end."

Sora sat back, admiring his work. 'Nailed it,' he thought with a grin. 'Who needs facts when you've got creativity?'

Moving on to the third question, Sora's eyebrows shot up. It was a scenario question: "If both of your teammates were in danger and you could save only one, who would you save? Give reasons."

'Oh ho,' Sora thought, 'trying to trip me up with some moral dilemma, eh? Well, two can play at that game!'

He began to write, his pen flying across the paper:

"As a proud shinobi of Konoha, I hold the Will of Fire close to my heart. Our comrades are precious to us, each one an irreplaceable part of our ninja family. The bonds we forge in battle and in peace are what give us strength, what makes us more than just tools or weapons.

So, naturally, if faced with such a horrific choice, I would do the only sensible thing: let them both die and save myself.

Now, before you start yelling about the power of friendship or the importance of teamwork, hear me out. By choosing to save one teammate over the other, I would be making a biased decision. I would be saying that one life is worth more than the other. Is that fair? Is that what a true leader does? No, sir or madam!

By allowing both teammates to perish, I am being perfectly fair and unbiased. I'm not playing favourites or making impossible choices. Plus, this way, neither teammate can be upset that I chose the other one over them. They'll both be equally dead and thus, equally un-offended.

But wait, there's more! By saving myself, I ensure that at least one member of the team survives to complete the mission. After all, the mission is paramount, right? That's what they teach us in the Academy (or so I've heard - I may have missed that lesson due to a severe case of not being there).

Furthermore, by living on, I can honour the memory of my fallen comrades. I can tell their families how bravely they died, perhaps embellishing the story a bit to make them sound extra heroic. "They fought off a hundred enemy ninja," I'll say, conveniently leaving out the part where I was hiding in a bush the whole time.

In conclusion, by sacrificing both teammates, I am upholding the principles of fairness, completing the mission, and ensuring that their legacy lives on through my extremely creative retelling of events. It's what they would have wanted. Probably.

P.S. If this answer results in my disqualification from the exam or imprisonment for suspected sociopathic tendencies, please disregard everything I just wrote and assume I made the noble choice to somehow save both teammates through the power of friendship and possibly time travel."

Sora nodded to himself, satisfied with his answer. 'Let's see them argue with that logic,' he thought smugly.

***

Thank you to 99_DRAGONS, knightwolf225, TreadwayHeinrich, Ghstrider28, syedsaid95, PauloHMS, Tsniper, Uchiha_D_minato, CR077, Bobstheman, IECXA1, Osas_Destiny_4852, Jerlyn_Wilfred, Kennchan, Rayquation, Desire96, Kay_smiles101, Travis_Tharp, Pehathon, J4F, Ducks123, Syazam_Daniel, Carlos_Caballero_6475, and Kennchan for the Powerstones.