Chapter Twelve 💫

                                    

                                          
I could tell Naruto was staring at me from across the room, but I didn't do much as glance in his direction. 
                          
Footsteps echoed through the room, and the subtle chatter of the room hushed.
                          
"Welcome... to hell." The administrator said in a gravely tone. I recognized him as Ibiki, the interrogator of Konoha. Interesting.
                          
"Today, for the first part of the chunin exams, you'll be taking a standardized test."
                          
Lots of mumbled protests came from the class as he explained the rules. I wanted to get this over with. It was ridiculous, the hidden meanings that underlaid everything. I guess it's all part of a ninja's job.
                          
"One more thing. If one teammate gets a zero on the test, the whole team immediately fails."
                          
I cringed. Oh, no. Of course, this would be the exact sort of thing to happen. Next, anyone with blonde hair and their team are going to be immediately disqualified.
                          
Please, please, please, let Naruto remember at least a few things from the academy.
                          
A boy next to me scoffed. "There are tons of us in here. How are these leaf ninja going to see us cheat?"
                          
Why was cheating emphasized here? The whole idea of it was essentially in bold letters.
                          
One of the instructors, those that were on the side watching for cheating, appeared in front of him and at his desk in an instant.
                          
"We see everything, kid. Not an eyelash falls out of place that we don't know about."
                          
He looked around the room, and raised his voice.
                          
"If any of you are caught cheating three times, your team is disqualified immediately!"
                          
"Correct." Ibiki said. "You may flip over your tests.. now!"
                          
The sound of a hundred sheets flipping over filled the room.
                          
I looked over the questions. They were difficult, indeed, but I could answer the first few. When I got to the fourth, I raised an eyebrow.
                          
There was part of the question missing. It was impossible to answer.
                          
So, the point of the exam was to cheat, but not get caught. That made sense. How could I do it without getting caught, that was the question.
                          
More importantly, how could I let Naruto know?
                          
I smelled sand, and looked up next to me. A floating eyeball was looking at my paper.
                          
I formed a few quick hand signs, and a gust of air narrowed into a point before piercing the makeshift eye. It dissolved into the air.
                          
I looked back at my paper. Maybe I could..
                          
I put my hands under the table so that nobody could see me perform hand signs.
                          
"Wind style; whirlwind jutsu." I whispered, and watched as wind moved throughout the room and carried everyone's paper, including mine, astray.
                          
I looked at the ones near me and memorized the answers before collecting mine.
                          
Everyone in the room was chaotic, scrambling to grab their tests before the ninja around them could see.
                          
A few teams were called out after immediately, and I realized that they had gone out because of me. They looked at other people's papers and got caught.
                          
I looked down at my paper. It was fully filled out, except for the last question. That meant others would be trying to copy off of me.
                          
Maybe I could get certain teams out, and better our chances. Ones that weren't close to Naruto, so that he could still cheat.