Chapter 111 - Arc 7 - We're Ready Kakashi, The Chunin Exams Start Now! - Secret Quests?

Huge chapter, system wise. One I've been looking forward to for a while.
This chapter forced me to randomly catalog everything I've ever done with the system for like 3 hours the other day. Went through every single chapter, was nuts.

Glad I did it though.

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“I will not judge you for doing what is right by your friends and comrades.” His words ring in her ears, playing themselves on repeat. The track is skipping and she’s stuck thinking. What is best for her comrades?

Should she stand up? It sounds silly when she thinks about it like that, but should she? If it’s a purely analytical question as difficult as the last few on the exam, Sasuke is going to fail, Naruto is going to fail. The her from the Academy would have struggled a little with the final questions, only the two months of study she invested in made the questions a joke to her. They spent that time training and intellectually they still aren’t even on the level she was when she graduated. If Ibiki’s being honest and the bonus question is as difficult as the test as a whole is, her team fails and crumbles beneath their own feet.

On the flip side, she can easily spend the time until the next exams teaching them until they can pass this level of question. She could also figure out a way to subtly get information to them in that time, whereas right now she has no communication support skills. The nature of her system is that all she needs is direction and time and she can do anything. She could even work on telekinesis before the next test and control their pencils to do the question for them. She could figure out a sort of chakra messaging, or if that kind of thing would be too obvious and her own abilities to teach were too weak, she could plain out force them to attend classes with her. There’s a hundred answers in front of her, but they all require standing up and preparing for the exams next time instead of this one.

“What kind of ridiculous rule is that!?” Kiba of all people stands up, pointing at Ibiki like he’s not their menacing proctor. “Besides, there are many here who have taken the Chunin exam many times!” The high pitched dog barking from above his head is only offset by the dark aura Ibiki exudes as he laughs.

He laughs some more, drawing all attention his way, even the people that were already breathlessly looking at him somehow manage to stare a little more unwaveringly. “You’re simply unlucky. I make the rules this year, and have given you the option to leave. The Kages will respect my decision should I give proper reasoning. And believe me, I have proper reasoning. I have watched you all, and you are all lacking in one way or another… Go home if you lack confidence, I may not be your proctor next time. Luck is a huge part of ninja life, get used to it.”

Tick, tick, tick-

Her thoughts race onwards despite them talking, deciding what to do, deciphering the options in front of her in any way she can. She doesn’t have a way to ensure Ino succeeds either, or her team, or Gaara’s team, or Hinata’s, or… She has nothing, and with a little more time she can guarantee everyone moves forward with her. Would they be smart enough to give up with her, or would they challenge themselves anyway? Could they succeed without her? It feels like the world is on her shoulders, and no one even had the decency to warn her that it would be this way!

She can do this, she can solve this puzzle, but she needs more time. She needs to leave, regroup, train, prepare, and do this again next time. A single look around shows how many people are leaving. There’s no shame if they don’t follow, the points she’s gotten for the teams wouldn’t even be a waste because Ibiki said their scores matter in the next test and the left-over points get distributed amongst their village.

She could leave. She could just walk out of the room. No one would criticize her. They’d all just say that the pretty little pinkette - redhead right now - couldn’t handle it. They’d mock her a little behind her back, but she’s dealt with that her whole life. What does any of that matter when her team and friends need her? But then self sacrificing is bad, she’s been told that over and over again. Ino’s put countless sessions into the concept that she needs to stop using self sacrifice as her first instinct. She values herself too lowly, she doesn’t care about herself or her own ambitions, just the ambitions and safety of others. She’s a self imposed martyr with a death wish and Kakashi’s been telling her to stop it since they started being ninjas. Even her own headspace attacks her while protecting others. Is this just her anxiety spiraling out of control again? Would she choose this again next time around if she had even a slight doubt?

They could end up in a permanent loop until Sasuke and Naruto abandon her.

Tick, tick, tick-

“That’s it.” She mumbles to herself. Maybe it’s the wrong decision, but she does know she can get more prepared and ensure everyone succeeds, and in that matter she’s not being irrational. The stakes are too high for a simple test and she’s smart enough to understand the expected value here is just too low for a test they might not even pass the second or third part of. They can do this again later, and Itachi’s not going to get any younger just because they waited a few extra months and took the test somewhere else. Sakura raises her hand.

Bang

And lowers it instantly as her eyes shoot towards Naruto’s fist slamming into the desk in front of him with enough force to crack the wood and send shards flying into the air. The noise causes several people closer to him to cover their ears. “No.” He growls out, “I will pass this. I will not hold back anyone. I will become Hokage even if it means working harder than anyone to get noticed, and I will do it with a smile on my face.” He stands up, glaring hard at Ibiki, “and I will not be doubted. If I back down just because the path in front of me is risky, I wouldn’t deserve to be Chunin, I wouldn’t even deserve to be a Genin. My goals are bigger than your stupid exam, I can’t back down now! We’re going to kill Itachi, this test is nothing! A ninja never gives up!”

“We’ll get him together, Naruto!” She shouts, shaking that fist into the air. “Sasuke?!”

“Screw the test, let’s do it. I look forward to learning from failure and we’ll get promoted when we kill him anyway.” Sasuke nodding along is all she needs to know she was stuck in her own head.

Naruto totally unknowingly insulted her in that speech, but screw it, she deserves it. She’s not quitting, they’ll fail together, screw it, screw it all. She’s not the only one that thinks so, it looks like everyone’s been rallied by Naruto and- “hey why are so many people leaving?” She blinks as she takes in a huge group standing up and walking up the steps.

“Fuck that, that kid’s confidently talking about killing Itachi.”

“Straight delusional.”

“I don’t wanna be faced against the Itachi hit squad next test, I’m out.”

Naruto screwed the test. That’s so like him. She has to hold in a chuckle as waves of burden flow off her shoulders. She finds none of her friends have left and that’s actually a huge deal. Maybe they’ll all fail and they can form an eternal Genin club and kick ass together. She’ll lead it, she’s already got so much experience leading a club!

“I like your determination.” Ibiki shouts, walking up to the desks to look Naruto right in the face. “For those of you still here. The first test, you have passed it!” His smile is brighter than she’d ever expect of him. Lying liar lies again!

Jerk!

They probably weren’t caught for cheating, which means her and Naruto have twenty points, and Sasuke should have close to ten, and that question was worth an additional ten points per person, which means they should have at least fifty five points, probably more. Regardless of what the points are used for the next exam, they should be starting off amazingly.

They might be one of the better off teams by far.

“There was never a special question, well, you can look at the choice you just made as the special question!” Ibiki’s smile is so genuine, so deep, she finds herself forgiving him by accident as a reflex. When was the last time she smiled like that?

She finds he continues to ramble on while she takes a deep breath, shakes her head and compartmentalizes. None of that’s important anyways, he’s just going over the purpose of all that and honestly, she kinda got it already. That question was to make sure they had the guts and- holy crap that’s gross.

He takes his headband off, and his bald head is just one huge scar. It looks like he got bathed in fire. Cosmetic damage be damned, her conviction to never let Konoha be in a situation like that again even if she has to make a life of grinding dungeons for healing items, is renewed tens of times. She’d never seen him without his headband before and if she can help it, she’d like to never see it again.

“You will always have to risk your life. You will get hurt, you will get kicked down, you will be trampled and burned and destroyed to your core. That is what it means to advance as a ninja. If you do not have the guts to take a simple question on a written exam, you do not deserve to be here. The foolish must fail, the unlucky will fall, and you will advance.”

She appreciates the insight of missions where cheating is important, and determination can be everything. She feels a little bad for doubting her team again, but she finds she’s proud of herself for persevering long enough for Naruto to snap her out of it. They all have their weaknesses, and she can say with certainty that standing alone, she would have failed this test.

Her team is important to her, and not just sentimentally.

“The Chunin Exam’s first exam is complete, you have all passed. I wish you well!” Her attention is fully caught when he jumps back, and Anko Mitarashi of all people comes through a freaking window, blasting glass everywhere and throwing up a display that hangs from kunai that the woman pierces the ceiling with in a quick maneuver. Chainmail fishnet, a thick coat, vibrant purple hair tied up behind her head and a gaze that steals the soul.

She’s met her a few times too, it seems they decided to use the entire interrogation team for this. Will Inoichi be in charge of exam three? That’d be cool. The display behind her says Exam two, among other things. So Anko’s in charge of part two… she can get behind that. The first time she met Anko she was stunned to her core. That hair reminds her of the monster she met in the mid-way point between worlds, but she managed to shake it off quickly. That monster’s shade was brighter, and Anko doesn’t look like she eats people, much.

“What kind of time is this, why are you all celebrating!? The real test is just beginning!” Yeah, okay Anko, you can only keep pressure up for so long. She’s a little pressured out. She shakes her head and puts her face down into her arms for a moment to catch her breath.

Stupid proctors being annoying while she’s suffering emotional whiplash.

She’s just gonna not tell anyone she almost gave up. They don’t need to know.

[Congratulations, Secret Quest Complete! You’ve passed the first test of the Chunin Exams, and you weren’t fooled by Kabuto. You also managed to avoid letting Gaara kill anyone, and every single Leaf Rookie Team passed.

Reward: All Stats +2]

She blinks at that. Secret Quest? She could have been doing secret quests this whole time? How many times did she fail the freaking secret quest? Is that something she should be looking for? Also that reward, that’s huge because-

[Congratulations, your Charm is 31, you have officially unlocked the trait: Genin Charm]

[Genin Charm: You will no longer get mood charts. Instead you will instantly know if someone below Chunin charm is attempting to mislead you in any way, and you may also instantly know the general emotional state of anyone who has a positive relationship with you. You will now know instinctively if what you are about to say or do will lower your relationship with those around you to negative from neutral, or neutral from positive, making you less likely to accidentally drop relationship tiers without knowing it.]

She sincerely doubts that the last part is too important, how often is she expected to drop tiers with people? It works with her ‘ignore the relationship system’ goals too, only bringing it up if she’s about to do something really stupid, so it feels less like gamifying people and more like idiot protection.

The mood chart will be missed, but lie detection isn’t bad. She bets it’ll still work on Kakashi, that man’s charm score is probably less than hers. Overall, not exactly underwhelming, but for something she’s been working towards for her entire ninja career this feels a bit… lacking.

[Congratulations, with that every stat is at or above Genin. You have officially unlocked the trait: Genin All-Rounder]

[Genin All-Rounder: You have left your Academy days behind, and you’re officially a Genin in every way. When gaining new skills they are immediately learned at Genin level, and any skills you already have below genin proficiency are upgraded. You now gain any Stats below Chunin level at 10x the normal rate. Whereas as a student you gained increased experience from studying and training stats/skills peacefully, as a Genin you now gain increased experience from combat and training stats/skills in direct conflict.]

“What?” She blinks at that.

How hardcore was she supposed to be training charm? Did she miss a tooltip telling her she should be devoting every second of her life to becoming better at talking to people? Sure, Ino told her many times that she should, as did her parents, as did Kakashi, and Naruto, and Sasuke, and Haku, and Tenten, and even Neji, and Hanabi’s told her off a couple of times, but like, this is different! No, maybe it’s not.

[All Proto Skills whose full versions are Genin, made normal

All Normal or + Skills with a genin normalcy made ++

All Novice Skills with a genin normalcy made Moderate]

She immediately checks and - “Damn-it, the proto-affinities are traits.” Well there goes one awesome moment. Her water clone is normal and level one though, that’ll be really cool. Does kinda spit in her eyes and rub salt into her cuts that she could have ground charm instead though!

[Due to a miscalculation and patch to fix said miscalculation, the Contribution level math has been redone. Power levels have not changed, just the way the numbers are represented]

She can see it immediately, she was like level 30 last she checked, now…

[Sakura Haruno, Contribution Level 44

HP, 189

Chakra, 63

Strength, 60

Constitution, 63

Dexterity, 63

Agility, 64

Mental, 116

Control, 225

Charm 31]

“Sakura, are you listening?”

“Eh?” Her head shoots up, and everyone is looking at her while Anko ‘s gaze falls down on her, Sakura rapidly take’s in the woman’s foot as it is slammed down next to Sakura’s face. “Why’d you climb all the way up there?” She tilts her head back to look up at the woman aggressively standing on her desk..

[Anko Mitarashi, feeling nervous and embarrassed that you’re not at least pretending to be intimidated in front of everyone.]

Oh! “S-sorry ma’am!” A single look around reveals that everyone else has left their seats, so she quickly joins them in the hopes that will ease Anko’s embarrassment. Genin Charm is already really useful.