{Konoha Academy, Konohagakure}
{3:46 PM, 1st July 13 Yrs ANB}
{3rd Person POV}
Sasuke was nervously looking at Naruto. He knew that his blond teammate would not be able to answer these questions. And although he trusted the idiot to make the right choice there was too much on the line.
'I can copy the answers from the same guy in the hoodie. He looks like someone who knows all the answers, I'm pretty sure Hinata could do the same, but if Naruto could not, then not only would our team fail, but he would also be held-...wait what is Ren doing...' Sasuke stared in shock as Ren of all people put his hand up.
...
"Excuse me Morino-san, earlier you said that we would need to ask permission of the proctors if we want to take the aggressive approach, well I would like to challenge the guy in the blue jacket over there for his answer sheet..." Ren spoke briefly, he mentioned the earlier rules which should allow him to take reasonable aggressive action and then he waited for the answer.
'All my hypothesis now depends on Ibiki's answer, so what's it gonna be...' Ren stared at Ibiki watching the smirk on Ibiki's face widen just a tiny bit.
'Interesting... he understood the exam down to its basic essence. Tadachi is one of the three chunin that have the answers to all the 9 questions. According to the rules the brat has the right to challenge Tadachi, but to go head-on against a seasoned chunin, the chances of success are virtually zero...' Ibiki calculated Ren's intent, he wanted to indulge him and see what answer he presented.
"Of course, but since this is an exam you cannot disrupt anyone else..." Ibiki increased the challenge once again.
'What is this idiot doing, this is a written test-' Temari thought as she glared at Ren, but on the inside, she was relieved that the chit she received wouldn't be an issue once he was disqualified. Her celebrations were cut short as the boy vanished from beside her.
'What!' Temari looked around only to find the guy in the blue hoodie slumped over his desk and Ren suddenly appeared beside her once again, only this time he was erasing the name on the top right corner of the exam sheet and filling in his name instead.
...
As soon as Ren got permission he executed his plan, he jumped straight up onto the sealing, if he tried to accelerate on top of desks then he would knock them over backward so taking the roof was the best option. He was able to cross the distance at max speed and at the same time execute an unpredictable attack.
He used chakra to cushion his landing as he covered Tadachi's mouth to muffle any sounds, Ren then slammed his right elbow into the back of Tadachi's head knocking him out.
The path of retreat was the same and the entire process took just under 1 second. Ibiki blinked as he saw Ren settle down on his desk. The black-haired brat happily swapped out his name into his newly acquired question papers, Ibiki stared at the slumped-down chunin.
This wasn't part of the original plan, Ibiki stared at Tadachi's fallen form for a moment and then spoke, "#34 failed, #131 and #21 will fail as well," Ibiki spoke.
He watched as the remaining two chunin stood up with puzzled expressions on their faces. Although this wasn't part of the original scheme, all they had to do was follow the orders from Ibiki.
Kin and Haruko grabbed Tadachi and dragged him out of the room, while they were focused on making sure Tadachi was okay as discreetly as possible they didn't see the look of despair on a lot of genin's faces. Ibiki didn't let the moment go of course, "This is the final call, I will give out the papers with the 10th question on it next, are you ready to put your promotion prospects on the line..."
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
...
The silence didn't last for long, one by one quite a lot of people began withdrawing from the exam, among them a lot of the genins were the ones who had copied directly off of the three chunins that left the room.
A chain reaction started as almost 20 teams left the room one after the other, the pressure in the exam once again increased as the empty positions left by the teams that quit reminded the rest of the class of what was at stake.
...
'21 teams left, that's still more than what I would like but I don't think anyone will budge anymore...' Ibiki thought. He glared at everyone one last time but it didn't have any effect, they weren't budging anymore.
'Alright I just need to do what Ren did if I can't answer the last question, I just need to find the perfect target...' Naruto thought as he scouted the room.
"I'll ask again, it's a choice that will alter your life. If you want to quit now is your chance!" Ibiki tried one last time and after another painful stretch of silence he finally spoke, "Very well, for those who are still here... the first exam, you all have passed."
"Huh?"
"H-Hey What do you mean by that!"
"W-wait really?"
...
Exclamations of surprise erupted from around the room, even Temari who prided herself as a strategist broke out in surprise. Ibiki began explaining the purpose of the exam, so Ren focused on seeing through his quest block...
...
[RARE QUEST ALERT!]
[The Chunin Exams!]
[The Chunin exams are a grand occasion that allows a shinobi village to showcase the next generation of talents from their village and at the same time judge the strengths of their neighboring countries.]
[Main Quest: Get Promoted to Chunin.]
[Side Quest I: Get through the First exam.]
[Side Quest II: Get through the Second exam.]
[Hidden Quest I: ???]
[Hidden Quest II: ???]
[Rewards:]
[Main Quest Completion: 100,000 EXP]
[Side Quest Completion: 100,000 EXP. {Collect}]
[Second Side Quest Completion: 100,000 EXP.]
[Hidden Quest I Rewards: ?, ?, ?]
[Hidden Quest II Rewards: ?, ?, ?]
[Failure: 1,000 Exp]
...
'No hidden quests completed...'
"...What about him though, why was he allowed to fight against a competitor?" Temari asked as she pointed a finger at Ren. The interest of the class shifted as even Ibiki turned to look at Ren.
"Go on, explain your reasoning," Ibiki spoke.
"I don't wanna," Ren denied, there were no bonus points for explaining his thought process, so he wasn't going to participate in a redundant process.
"You know each proctor gets a vote on who is ready to be a Chunin..." Ibiki hinted.
Ren glared at the smirking man and sighed, "Well I simply approached the exam as a mission. Morino-san's words were the mission statements and directives, and the exam questions were the mission objectives. Points were deducted for answering each question wrong, so if you simply left your paper blank you won't lose any marks."
"The reason is very simple, not every shinobi has the qualities to gather intel, and having no info is better than having false intel. The tenth question threw a wrench in my plan since there was no real choice, the question was a simulation of a dangerous mission. A suicide task..."
"I went straight for the most authentic source of intel, the chunins planted in the room... In a corresponding mission environment, they would represent a guarded safe house or a shinobi village..." Ren spoke getting a nod of approval from Ibiki.
"Morino-san then added additional constraints to the mission which simply equated to a stealth mission... that was it I guess," Ren shrugged.
"Interesting," Ibiki commented but kept his thoughts to himself, "Each of the chunins was the original source of answers or Intel, he was allowed to fight one because it was estimated that no one would be able to pull it off. If he or anyone else had asked to fight any actual genin, then it wouldn't have been allowed-" Ibiki stopped as he sensed someone flying towards the academy window.
He sighed internally as Anko made his entrance, maybe he took too long and the hyperactive Tokubetsu Jonin just couldn't help herself.
"You Guys!..." Ren looked at the brunette who broke through the window and attached a banner to the room to give her introduction. "...this isn't a time to be celebrating, I'm the proctor of the second exam, Anko Mitarashi!"
...