Preemptive Strike

"You've really got a giving-up attitude, don't you?" Ino complained.

"I just became a Genin. I wasn't expecting to become a Chunin so quickly," Naruto said honestly. "Chunin missions are more troublesome, aren't they?"

Ino rubbed her forehead, speechless.

Shikamaru rather agreed with Naruto and nodded.

"I hate troublesome things the most."

The exam began with the first written test.

Naruto sat beside Hinata, yawning as he looked over the test in front of him. The essay questions were physics problems about free fall, while the multiple-choice questions covered ordinary common knowledge.

If he actually tried to answer them, half would be guesses and half would be blind luck. But Naruto did not even touch his pen.

He propped himself up on the desk and closed his eyes to rest. It did not matter what was written on the paper anyway. That damn pervert of a proctor would definitely come up with some kind of Will of Fire test to assess how much the candidates trusted their comrades.

How boring. Who would be moved to tears by something as trivial as the Will of Fire?

When the exam ended, Naruto passed the first round of the Chunin Exams with a completely blank paper. The principle behind the written test was simple, summed up in six words: never abandon, never give up.

Naruto did nothing and smoothly advanced to the second round.

Mitaraishi Anko burst into the written exam venue, dressed in a long coat over fishnet clothing. There was no sign of weight gain on her face; she still radiated youthful collagen-filled vitality.

"You lot, that was only the first exam! What are you so happy about?"

"There's no time to prepare you. In twenty minutes, the second exam will begin at Training Ground 44!"

With that, she vanished in a puff of white smoke.

Scattered sighs rose up. The candidates were bewildered and helpless as they got up and headed toward Training Ground 44.

"Hinata, let's go!" Kiba Inuzuka called from afar, a dog perched on his head.

"Okay."

Hinata answered, then blushed as she looked at Naruto and softly said,

"Naruto, I'll be going first."

"Okay, goodbye, Hinata." Naruto waved.

"Naruto! Over here! We'll miss it if we're late!" Sakura urged from the doorway.

"Coming."

Outside the Forest of Death, Naruto noticed that Kabuto in the distance seemed to have been watching their direction. More precisely, his gaze kept drifting over Sasuke.

"That glasses-wearing guy over there is pretty suspicious. He might even be a rogue ninja from Konohagakure," Naruto said with displeasure. Without the slightest restraint, he pointed straight at Kabuto and spoke loudly.

"Don't those ANBU people carefully investigate the candidates' backgrounds?"

Such an abrupt remark immediately drew the attention of the surrounding candidates. The three members of Team Seven instantly became the center of attention.

"Naruto, what nonsense are you talking about?"

Sakura lowered her head, not daring to look around. Her face flushed for a moment as she asked in a lowered voice.

"I'm not talking nonsense." Naruto lowered his voice as well, subtly pulling the two beside him closer. In a voice only the three of them could hear, he said, "Be careful of those Otogakure ninja."

He did not mean anything else by it. He was merely mentioning it in passing.

Noticing the disturbance, the examiner Mitaraishi Anko walked over and said to Naruto,

"Candidates are forbidden from disrupting exam order!"

Then she looked around at the other candidates and said,

"Those of you who have not collected your scrolls, come get them from me. The rules for this exam are simple: teams that obtain both the Heaven and Earth Scroll and reach the High Tower at the center of the Forest of Death within five days will pass. Otherwise, you fail."

"Take note: if a teammate dies or loses the ability to fight along the way, that also counts as failure. Also, no one is allowed to open their scrolls."

"If you understand, come collect your scrolls. Time is tight, so move quickly!"

Under Mitaraishi Anko's urging, the tense atmosphere eased, and no one paid attention to Naruto's words any longer.

Naruto clicked his tongue, glanced at Kabuto, and went to collect a scroll as well.

With a creak, the rusty iron gates of Training Ground 44 slowly opened after letting out a piercing screech. The teams that had received their scrolls filed in, tacitly choosing different directions. Some also followed teams they had already set their sights on.

Team Seven randomly chose a direction and walked for a long time. The three hid in a clump of bushes and began discussing the most important question at hand.

Who would hold the scroll?

The exam rules were as follows: among the twenty-six candidate teams, half received Heaven Scrolls while the other half received Earth Scrolls. To win, a team had to gather a complete set of Heaven and Earth Scrolls and survive until the fifth day without any deaths or serious injuries.

As a result, deciding who would keep the scroll became extremely important.

"Sakura, you should hold it," Naruto said.

"Me?" Sakura was clearly flustered. "But what if I lose it?"

"It's fine. If there's no other way, just hand the scroll over," Naruto said. "Sasuke and I can both protect ourselves. If you hold the scroll, it might give you some protection too. This is only an exam; there's no need to gamble with your life."

"But..."

"No buts." Naruto waved his hand. "I have a bad feeling about this Chunin Exams promotion. You two should be more careful. If you run into enemies, you can throw away the scroll and escape."

Sasuke caught the implication in Naruto's words and immediately frowned.

"You're going to act alone?"

"What?" Sakura was completely stunned.

They had just signed a death waiver outside the exam venue. That meant no one would stop anything even if they died in Konoha Forest. If Naruto planned to go off on his own, would that not leave Team Seven with only two people?

"Yeah." Naruto nodded and looked seriously at the two of them. "I need to take care of something. Wait here for me."

"Are you joking?" Sasuke said. "Wouldn't it be more convenient for three people to act together than for you to go alone?"

"Well... don't worry about that." Naruto smiled. "I guarantee I'll come back for you before nightfall. Having all three of us together would actually be less convenient."

At that, Sasuke and Sakura exchanged a glance.

"You're going to steal scrolls, aren't you?" Sasuke saw through him at once and asked with a frown. "Before entering the exam venue, you told us to watch out for the Sound Ninja. So you had your eye on them from the beginning?"

"Sound Ninja?"

Sakura was startled, then her face filled with concern.

"I'll explain when I get back." Naruto leaped away without another word.

After leaving the other two members of Team Seven, Naruto's expression turned cold, and his eyes filled with indifference. If he did not deal with those three Sound Ninja, they would remain a problem. They would come looking for Sasuke to kill him anyway. Rather than wait for trouble to strike first, it would be better to strike first himself. The sooner he settled this mess, the more safely they could get through the next few days.