Naruto: The Weapon Master

Chapter 12: Pen is mightier than the Sword

The next day, Naruto and his team had arrived the building where the Chuunin exams is going to take place,

"So where are we supposed to be?" asked Naruto.

"Kurenai-sensei told us that we're to go to room 301 on the third floor," said Sakura.

"Okay then, let's get there before it's too late,"

They entered the building and ascended the stairs, along the way they saw several Genin teams standing before two guards that were blocking a door with the sign '301'. Sakura and Hinata were about to check it out but Naruto held them back.

"But Naruto, isn't that the entrance to the exam?" asked a confused Sakura.

Naruto shook his head in the negative, "There's more to it than what we're seeing, plus I've counted and the floors we've climbed and this is the second floor so it might be a trick to delay us," said Naruto.

Hinata activated her Byakugan and looked at the door before nodding in agreement with the blond "N-Naruto-kun is right, t-there's a g-genjutsu on the d-door,"

"If so, then let's keep going up," as they continued climbing, the guards saw them leave and smiled inwardly since they have realized the trick unlike the rest standing before them.

Soon they reached their destination and found Kurenai standing at the entrance waiting.

"I glad to see that you've arrived in time," said Kurenai with a smile.

"Well you should expect no less from us," said Naruto with a smirk "We're gonna show the others our strength and become Chuunin!"

"Where's Anko-sensei?" asked Sakura looking around for their other sensei.

"She's been called for something, but you'll see her later on," said Kurenai "All I have to say us good luck in the exams and I'm proud of you no matter what,"

Naruto gave a thumbs up, Sakura nodded in affirmation and Hinata smiled shyly before they passed through the door. They saw many ninjas around the room with different clothes, gears and forehead protectors with different symbols.

"I'm guessing that they are from different villages which came to participate in the exams," said Naruto looking at them.

"True, but I doubt that they could give you any trouble especially with the training you've had with us," said Kurama with Chinami nodding in agreement.

"And it's thanks to you two and for that I'm truly grateful to have you in my life," thought Naruto with a smile, Kurama blushed and Chinami smiled happily.

"Hey, is that Naruto-kun?"

Naruto turned to see who had called him and smiled upon seeing a familiar face "Oh Tenten-chan, you're participating in the exams too?"

"Yes, along with my team," said Tenten pointing at the two boys behind her.

One had black hair in a bowl-cut style and very thick eyebrows, green spandex and orange leg warmers, and he wears bandages around his hands and wrists and his red forehead protector is tied around his waist.

"Hello, my name is Rock Lee!" said the boy.

"Oh Kami, what the hell are those things?! Hairy caterpillars," thought Naruto, on the outside he was putting on a poker face but inwardly he was panicking, Chinami was quivering with fear at the sight and Kurama covered her eyes with her tails so as not to see the eyebrows, even Tora stuck her head deeper into the hood in order not to look at the boy. Naruto looked at the other standing next to Tenten. This one has long black hair which is tied in a loose ponytail and wears a khaki shirt with dark brown shorts and wrapped bandages on his right arm and leg. His forehead protector with two straps is worn on his forehead.

"By the look of his eyes, he must be a member of the Hyuuga clan," said Chinami.

"So he's related to Hinata-chan," thought Naruto.

"This is my team mate, Neji Hyuuga," said Tenten, but the boy didn't respond to which Naruto quirked an eyebrow, then he noticed Neji glaring intently at Hinata who was trying to look away.

"Why is he glaring at Hinata-chan? He'd better not try anything or he's gonna get a one way ticket on board the pain express," thought Naruto, then he turned to Tenten "Well I wish you guys good luck in the exams,"

"You too, Naruto-kun," said Tenten with a blush.

"Yosh! I can't wait to see the power of your youth in action!" said Rock Lee doing a good guy pose, Neji simply looked away.

Naruto walked back to his team, they saw Sasuke and his team enter the room. Then Sasuke was hugged from behind by a girl with blond hair to whom they're familiar with.

"Sasuke-kun, I've missed you so much!" said Ino, then she saw Sakura coming up to them "You'd better give up Forehead, Sasuke's is all mine,"

"Well I don't care about him anymore, the one whom I truly love is Naruto," said Sakura, everyone aside from Naruto and Hinata were shocked upon hearing what she said, they took a glance to see that she was calm instead of sad and wondered why.

"What do you mean by that, you had always spoken of how Naruto was annoying?" asked Ino, Sakura looked at the ground with sadness and guilt before replying.

"I wasn't truly myself back then, I knew Naruto long before I met you and entered the academy, and he was the one who helped me become my true self which is one of the reasons why I care about him so much,"

"What do you mean by you weren't yourself?" asked Shikamaru, not being lazy for once.

"We can't tell you guys yet as it's an S ranked secret," said Naruto, this made Sasuke, Shikamaru and Shino look at him with a calculative eye.

"What does he know that I don't?"

"What kind of secret could it be that it would involve Sakura? Man what a drag,"

"…."

Their thoughts were broken upon hearing someone approach them from behind.

"You might want to keep your voices down, otherwise everyone here would think that you're fresh from the academy," the group turned to see a boy wearing glasses who was approaching them

"We weren't that loud," said Kiba.

"Then you might want to take a look around," they turned to see many ninjas glaring at them, however they quickly turned away in fear.

"That's strange, they were just glaring at us a few moments ago, so are they acting like they just saw the Shinigami?" wondered Ino, what they didn't notice was that Naruto had used a bit of Kurama's killing intent to scare the foreign ninjas.

"What's your name, it also seems like this isn't the first time that you've taken the exam?" asked Sasuke.

"My name is Kabuto, and yes this happens to be my seventh attempt at the Chuunin exams," said Kabuto, Naruto stared at the boy intently.

"Either the exams is very difficult or this guy is after something else," Thought Naruto.

"You could be right Naruto-sama, for him to have failed must have been on purpose, I'd advise that you remain vigilant around him," said Chinami.

"I should have guessed that the exams would be so tough, how troublesome," said Shikamaru.

"Don't give up yet, I can help you guys out with my ninja info cards," said Kabuto, bringing out a stack of cards.

"I guessing that they contain about other ninjas right?" asked Sasuke.

"That's right, it seems like there a few ninjas that you want info on," said Kabuto.

"Gaia of the Desert, Rock Lee and Naruto Uzumaki," everyone wondered why Sasuke was seeking info about him.

"Rock Lee, mission experience 20 D-ranks, and 12 C-ranks. His Team leader is Maito Gai, he has high proficiency in taijutsu but the others severely poor, and his team mates are Tenten Higarashi and Neji Hyuuga.

Next is Gaia of the Sand, mission experience, 8 C-ranks and 1 B-rank, his skills are currently unknown, but get this he survived every mission without getting so much as a scratch on him.

Lastly Naruto Uzumaki mission experience, 14 D-ranks, 1 B-rank and 1 A-rank. His Team leaders are Kurenai Yuuhi and Anko Mitarashi, he has high proficiency in kenjutsu, medium proficiency in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and a low proficiency in genjutsu, and his team mates are Sakura Haruno and Hinata Hyuuga," said Kabuto, reading out the info off the cards.

"And they haven't even seen your true power yet," said Kurama.

"They will be seeing it soon Ku-chan," thought Naruto.

The rookies quirked an eyebrow at Naruto's stats, thinking if this is truly the boy who graduated with them. Kabuto brought out a card which an illustration of the map of the elemental nations, along with symbols of ninja village including the Leaf village and a graph.

"Leaf, Sand, Rain, Grass, Waterfall and Sound. From these villages, those ninjas are here to participate for the exams and this is the largest turnout, the sound village is a total mystery as no one knows much about them,"

"Naruto-sama, there are three ninjas moving towards your position with hostile intentions!" said Chinami.

Naruto quickly moved in and grabbed the arm of a young man with dark spiky hair then flipped him over to the ground before blurring away and reappearing with Mumei no Tamanoo at the neck of a ninja who was bandaged all over with his left eye visible, a metal gauntlet and a furry cape on his back.

"Damn, had I taken one step I would have beheaded myself," thought the ninja while sweating from the flames of the blade.

"You sound ninjas better behave or there will be problems between you and me," said Naruto before twirling the blade and sheathing it.

"Now I see what the info card meant by high proficiency in kenjutsu, this troublesome blond is really becoming a whole different puzzle every time I meet him," thought Shikamaru.

"Is this really Naruto, and what could have changed Sakura so much?" thought Ino as she looked at Naruto and Sakura.

"From what I've experience during the Wave mission, I can tell that you haven't gone all out yet, just how powerful are you?!" thought Sasuke furiously.

Then there was an explosion of white smoke, then it faded to reveal a man wearing the headband as a scarf, a black trench coat and has two long scars on his face which made him look very intimidating.

"Alright you baby faced degenerates, pipe down and listen up! I am Ibiki Morino, your proctor as well as your worst enemy," said the man with a sadistic grin.

"That must be the head of the interrogation and torture sector, he certainly looks like he knows how to do his job and enjoys it," thought Naruto.

"Now pick a tab with a number on it, it will show you where you will sit, then we will begin with the written test," said Ibiki.

Everyone did as he told them were seated at the indicated number, Naruto ended up sitting next to Hinata much to her joy with the paper test placed in front of them face down.

"Before we begin, let us go through the rules. You each start with 10 points, the test has ten questions, and if you miss one then you lose a point. Second, this is a team test to see if you can hold up to thirty points. And lastly, if anyone is caught cheating, they will have 2 points subtracted," said Ibiki.

"Just keep it in mind that we have our eyes open to catch anyone who would even try to cheat," said one of the proctors with a smug look which unnerved some of the participants.

"Also know that if a team mate doesn't answer all the questions correctly or loses all of his/her points, they will fail along with their team mates,"

This brought shock to all but a few of the genin teams who had thought of a plan to back their team mates up.

"Whoa, they practically gave us no way out of this test," thought Naruto.

"That may be true, however I feel that there may be something else behind all of this," said Chinami with a thoughtful look.

"You might be right, we just have to find out when the test begins,"

"You have approximately one hour to complete the test…and begin!" said Ibiki.

When Naruto turned the paper and read through the questions, he was dumbfounded at what he saw.

"What the, there's way I can solve these problems, each one becomes much more difficult than the other. Only someone like Sakura-chan can answer these questions… hold on, the only way to answer these questions is to cheat without getting caught by the proctors. But I don't have any way of doing that, unlike Hinata-chan with her Byakugan or Sasuke with his Sharingan," thought Naruto.

"Which is why you have us to help you, Naruto-kun, we can provide the answers to the questions," said Kurama with Chinami nodding.

"Thanks I really appreciate it," Thought Naruto happily.

Hinata noticed that Naruto had started writing on the paper quickly while Tora just slept in his hood. "Kurama-san and Chinami-san must be helping him, thank goodness," thought Hinata as she resumed writing on her own.

The others had also gotten the gist of the test as they started to cheat as well. Sound ninjas were using sound waves and rhythm to decipher the answers, Shino was using his bugs to serve as recon, Tenten was using strings and mirrors to spy on Naruto's answers while helping Lee as well and Neji was using his Byakugan too, Gaia made an eye out of her sand and using it to spy on the others, Ino used her Mind Transfer jutsu to possess Sakura and memorize the answers before returning to her body and relaying it to Shikamaru who then used his Shadow Possession jutsu on Chouji to write the answers.

Meanwhile, Ibiki and the other proctors had caught a large number of the Genins that tried to cheat and had sent them out, though there are still some left. After 45 minutes, he called out to them.

"All right, we may now begin with the tenth question, you must know that there are unique rules to this particular question. So try not to let them scare you," said Ibiki smiling darkly.

"The way he's talking, it sounds like this question could either make or break the game," thought Naruto as he listened to the proctor.

"First, you have the choice to either answer the question, but if you refuse to do so then you will fail along with your team mates,"

"If that's the case, of course we'll answer!" said a random Genin with the others muttering in agreement.

"If so, then you must know that by answering the tenth question incorrectly, you will be banned from ever participating in the Chuunin exams hence remaining a Genin for life," this brought shock to many of the participants in the examination room.

"That's a total bull! There are lots of people here that have taken the exam before!" said Kiba who had stood up from his seat with Akamaru barking in agreement.

"Then you're just unlucky to have me in this exam, since I make the rules. You can skip it and come back next year if you don't have the guts. Hopefully, you won't see me again by then," Ibiki laughed darkly.

"This guy's trying to mind games with us," thought Naruto as even Tora had woken up and climbed to his head to listen.

"Be calm Naruto-sama, this must be the crucial part of the test," said Chinami.

"Now we begin, anyone who wishes to withdraw should raise their hands, then they can leave,"

One by one, a Genin would raise a hand to drop out and were escorted out the door along with their teams.

"Now is there anyone else," Ibiki noticed an arm being slowly raised and everyone turned only to be surprised that it belonged to Naruto who raised a fist up into the air.

"Naruto is actually quitting?" which was what everyone thought.

"I said raise your hand not your-" Ibiki was cut off when Naruto brought his fist down on the table, cracking it and stood up to face Ibiki with an intense stare at the surprised proctor.

"If you trying to get into my head with all of this crap then you might as well give up, I'm never gonna run away nor quit for the sake of achieving my dream which is to become Hokage!"

"This kid is really something, let's see if he won't falter," Thought Ibiki "Are you sure that you want to take this test, you would remain a Genin forever if you answer the question incorrectly,"

Naruto simply snorted and pointed at his headband "I knew what I signed up for before I became a ninja, as we're supposed to protect our villages with our lives so you're little late to be giving us this crap. Besides, a rank can never define one's true strength,"

Ibiki looked at the crowd who had looks of fear and hesitation are now sporting looks of confidence.

"This kid's really something, to be able to invoke confidence upon everyone around him. 78 participants left and none are backing down," Ibiki glanced at the other proctors and received nods of affirmation "If that is your decision, then I have no other choice…..than to pass you!"

Everybody simply sat there in stunned silence until it was broken by Naruto laughing.

"I get it now, it completely makes sense!" said Naruto along with Kurama and Chinami agreeing with him.

"What do you mean Naruto-kun?" asked Sakura.

"The decision to answer and reject the question was the tenth question, but there's more to it than that so I'll let Scarface explain it," said Naruto.

"The kid is right, the first nine question was to test your ability to acquire information under the most severe conditions as some of you may have noticed that the questions were so difficult that it was practically demanding you to cheat without getting caught," Ibiki then untied his scarf to reveal scars, burn marks and puncture holes on his head. "Information is the most powerful weapon in the world of ninja, and anyone will do anything to get it,"

"Oh man, this guy must been through a lot in order to gain information to end up like that," thought Naruto, Tora shifted uncomfortably on his head at the sight of the scars, so he gave Hinata in order to calm her down.

"Then what did the blondie mean about the tenth question?" asked the girl known as Temari.

"The tenth question is based on a choice, misinformation is much worse than no information at all, it could lead to the death of your comrades or the destruction of your village. This is what you would have to face as a Chuunin, in missions everything is decided by a split second set of choices which could lead to either accomplishment or failure. I hope that you remember this when you become Chuunin and I wish you all good luck," said Ibiki who smirking at Naruto who smirked back.

Suddenly, a black ball broke through a window and it unraveled to reveal a woman whom looked familiar to Naruto and his team.

"Aright kids, this is no time to relax just yet!" she shouted, a banner was written with 'The Sexy and soon to be married Anko Mitarashi!' "I am the second examiner of the exam, now follow me if you're ready for the second test!"

Naruto covered his face so as to hide his embarrassment while Sakura and Hinata smiled weakly. Ibiki peeked out from behind the banner.

"Anko you're early….again," the Kunoichi blushed in embarrassment as well.

"You let 78 pass this test? You must be losing your touch," said Anko.

"This group is an interesting one, especially a certain blond,"

Anko saw Naruto smiling at her and smiled back with small blush something the other girls noticed as well before looking serious

"Alright, but by the time I'm through with them, half will be eliminated. I'll let your team leaders know where you should meet so you're dismissed,"

As they left the hall, Sakura spoke up.

"Naruto, what do you think the will be like?"

"I don't know but what I do know is that it's going to be tougher than the first," said Naruto.

"I-I hope that we'll be a-able to pass," said Hinata, then she and Sakura were hugged by Naruto.

"As long as we believe in ourselves, of course we'll pass,"

Then they went home to rest and prepare for the next phase of the Chuunin exams.

This is Hussbek online with another chapter, a fellow reader of mine had told of how I didn't properly update my fics and for that I apologize so I'm gonna have all of them to match up with the same number of chapters starting with the weapon master before moving on to the Naruto/pokemon crossover.

Read and review as always since it encourages me to write more.

This is Hussbek from Ghana.

Signing out.