Chuunin Exam Round 1 - Written

After everyone had time to settle in, each participant received orders to meet the following morning at 10 am in the village’s academy, room 4. The academy itself was like any other and the instructions gave clear directions on how to find it. The room held several long tiered desks left unmarked to allow anyone to sit wherever there was an open spot. Sat at the front in the teacher’s spot was a plain looking blonde woman in Jounin attire with a stack of exam papers and pens that she would hand to every single person that entered. On the board behind her was large clear writing: “Silence during the written portion of the exam. Anyone caught sharing answers will have their tests removed and be disqualified on the spot - No Exceptions.” Even she wouldn’t say a single word of welcome or offer any offering of luck, simply hand the materials to the participants and watch them all with an intense dark eyed gaze.

[DO NOT WRITE YOUR ACTUAL ANSWERS IN YOUR POST, DM THEM ON DISCORD TO ME AND THEY WILL BE DISPERSED TO THE GRADERS. Use this time to get a first glimpse at competition and size people up IC outside the room or after the test is taken.]

On the paper was a list of the questions and one image at the bottom: 


Question One:
You have been targeted for assassination and have been pinned down; in front of you is a sparse forest, and behind you is a canyon with a depth un-survivable were someone to fall into it, the rest of your terrain is  made up of small rock formations too small to take cover behind and a thin calf-deep stream of water cutting in front pf the forest terrain. You are surrounded on 3 sides; front, left, and right. The one in front is 6 meters from you coming out of the tree line, the one on the left is 4 meters away from you, and the right one is 2 meters away - even spacing between the assailants, with 3 meters behind you before the edge of the canyon. [180, 90, 180 in degrees for clarity of enemy placement in regards to your placement.] 


The target in front of you is using the B rank version of Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere in an attempt to knock you back into the canyon - sending out 10, 3 inch wide ‘bullets’ in a cone formation; 2 would hit each upper thigh, 1 at your belly button and 1 at each shoulder, and one near at your head [5 total direct hits] the remaining 5 bullets would disperse in the air grouped tightly on either side of your body [within a meter] Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere [V7]


The target on your left slams their hand on the ground and uses the B rank version of Blistering Web, forming a 15 meter semicircle under the ground - if you were to step on any portion of the affected jutsu the user will emanate a 4 meter tall fiery explosion shaped like a sphere at the point of contact. [V7] Blistering Web


The target on your right is simply wielding clawed chakra chains, as your closest assailant they are attempting to wrap the chain around your torso and hold you in place for either of the sent jutsu to take effect. It is a direct swing and if unable to avoid the chain that is moving at 50 speed then the claws will sink into the ground and hold you in place. The strength of the chain is 70 and can be broken with a direct hit of anything of its power or higher.


[ALL TARGETS ARE CLONES AND A HIT IS ALL YOU NEED TO END THEM] 


You have everything in your preselected arsenal to defend yourself, what do you do? Not all answers are obvious so get creative - your goal is escape, however you achieve it.


Question 2

• Has your character and humanity been forged more by pleasure and success or by pain and disappointment?
  

Question 3

• Do you work harder to earn praise and recognition or to avoid criticism?
  

Question 4

• If you could see a measuring scale above people’s heads, what would you want this scale to measure? Their status in society, their level of happiness, their wealth, etc.?
  

Question 5
Decode this message and answer the riddle correctly.

Soon he was here right at the start of his next goal. What will this lead too? How would this effect him? For good or for worse. Even he did not know. But one thing for sure was Flow was not going to go down without a fight. He would be thinking this as he made it to the class. Room four was the room it was being held at. Flow then would take his seat. All the way in the front. Sitting down right at the edge of this long desk. With his test in hand he would look on. The first question was ome of a battle. Clearly Flow was in a tight spot and had to get away. But he was a ninja that was true to this nature. So he gave the best resume of a response he could.
The next one seem a bit odd to him. It was as if they expected him to live life already. He would smile as he gave the answer best suited for him. The third one came at a bit of a shock. As he remember the saying his father once said. *A crown is inherited but the respect is earned.* with that he gave the best respond of a answer he could. The fourth one came to him and it was all about titles. The standing of someone is indeed something. Remembering what his mother said. *Your reputation is your life and you must protect it with your life* with that he gave the best response he could.

The last one had him lost as he was not too familiar with it. With a smile on his face yet a bit sad. He would write a statement as an answer and put down his paper and ink. Thinking to himself as of what would come next. "Welp hopefully I get a passing grade. But that last question it seemed off." Thinking to himself.

The moment Zeo entered the exam part of the building, the tension was extremely high. Some people for stress to do well, some with crossed expressions at their fellow exam takers. While this was the written portion of the exam, people were there as another ninja. From their own village and other villages. While others came in teams or squads, Zeo was unfortunately alone. It made him the subject of a few stares from rival groups.

He didn't project any threat or challenge but merely kept to himself for the time being. He let out a soft breath as he found a corner nearby to rest him as he waited for the exam to start. This was the harder part for him. He had read over the rules of the exam and everything. He felt confident in the practical application and combat portions of the exam. It was the written portion he was concerned about. They were tricky by nature and he had no idea what to expect. He was smart, there was no doubt about it. Still the written exam was by design meant to be tricky.

He saw people from other villages, all trying to get the best advantages he could. Despite that, he felt supported despite being alone. Friends had wished him luck and mentors instructed him. If he used his head right, he would be fine for this part. As the signal came to start the exam, Zeo soon entered the exam room.

He found the far most corner, preferring the extra elbow room as he heard the blonde woman's bossy demand and instructions. As his test was given, he gave it a good look over. The questions on it were surprising. He did not expect this kind of test but felt oddly relieved... for the most part. He gave a look around the room and soon saw everyone else writing their responces. Some did it in grace, others seemed more puzzled and stressed... especially the last question is the hardest.

Still, Zeo picked up his pencil and after a few twirls of it-- got to work writing down his responses...

*Afterward*

Zeo emerged from the exam room. While he wouldn't know if his responses were right or not, he felt more confident now. The scenarios he imagined for the exam were far more different than he thought. His studying had prepared him and he felt confident. The last one, naturally, was a terror. Still, he could only hope he made a passing grade, but his answer was made with confidence he made the best choice possible.

All he could do now was wait and hope his confidence matched his results.

One of the proctors of the exam, Arashi started the first day of the Chuunin Exams at the front of the classroom he never was taught in, overseeing an exam that he never took a part of. It was a bit ironic, but that was the kind of hectic life he had lived. He almost jumped at the chance to see the exams up close, and here he was, one of the people who held the future of these seated genin in his hands. That was a bit of an over exaggeration, but the point remained that of the people he saw from different corners of the world, some would be leaving disappointed.

Arashi was part of that first barrier to the genin. The rules of the test were simple; no talking, no cheating, no copying. Students who completed the exam would turn it in and wait outside for the completion of the first part of the Exams. As the test went on, the Jounin began walking around the room, adding the pressure of moving eyes to the genin. He was looking for that one slip up; that one sign of trying to circumvent the rules he could use to disqualify a candidate. So far, they seemed to be behaving.

-step- -step- -step- -step-

He would continue to move, watching.

The morning of the first exam was filled with anticipating energy. People were excited for the exams to show how well prepared they were to become chuunin. Ban was also looking to show her nation how prepared she was but she was more excited for the 1v1 battles to come in the last round of the exam. But she would have to get through the first two rounds to get to that point. That meant she had to pass this written exam. 

It was in an academy in Hoshi, lead by a blonde hair jonin that would give the instructions as soon as the participates were ready. It was standard test-taking rules; no talking and no cheating otherwise they would be disqualified. Ban wasn't sure what to expect from the chunin exams as this was her first exam. However, once she got the questions she would find it isn't exactly what she thought it would be.

The first question was a combat scenario where you are cornered by three assassins, each of them using their own techniques to try and take you down and she needed to come up with her own response based on her own techniques and skills. It was strange for Ban to have to visualize the battle situation in order to respond to it correctly as normally she relies on what her gut and brain say in the moment of adrenaline. Ban would put down a quick response and move onto the next questions.

The next three -questions 2,3 and 4- were all personal questions and there was no way people would have a reason to fail them as it was based on opinion. At least, that's what Ban thought. She wasn't much of a personal person, not really able to connect well with her emotional side. So she answered without digging too deeply into her soul and moved onto the last question. 

The fifth and final question was a cipher that would lead to a riddle that would need an answer. Ban was glad to see something familiar. Back when Ban was an academy student, she studied codes and cipher keys. She found them pretty interesting, to say the least. This cipher was nothing different from the ones she studied in the academy. The next part was to answer the riddle, which was a bit more tricky. She would answer with an answer that gave her the most confidence, but perhaps it was because she was familiar with it.

After finishing the test, she would wait for the exam time to end before turning in her paper for grading. She was confident in her answers, so if she failed the written exams, it would shock her. 

WC: 451
EXIT:
Claiming 
451 WC towards Hydrification M (1783/2850) (after this topic gets approved)

Kouma was a bit antsy for the couple of hours that he was outside waiting, as he had psyched himself up for the test and immediately went outside of the room, even though he was insanely early. He sat there in a small waiting area outside of the room, going over a hypothetical situation in his head, and going over some last minute flash cards about various subjects, such as maths, science, history, and other things that he might have to answer on the test, as he was ready. He had studied, although he was pretty decent at match and various forms of engineering due to his backgrounds in puppetry and medical. This was something that actually weighed a bit heavy on his mind, and when the test started to actually be underway, Kouma followed a couple of the first people in, as he was in the zone of last minute crunching on certain topics, so he was definitely not the first one in the room for the test.

He had sat down in a desk almost randomly, which happened to be in the front row off to the side, before he was handed a paper with the questions of the exam on it, with a couple of extra pieces of paper that was obviously for putting down his answers. Kouma had his eyes closed, and did a slight breathing exercise to calm himself down a bit, before suddenly opening his eyes and looking down at the test, a glint of ambition and readiness in his eyes. He was determined to ace this test, or at least get a very high score. Even when he thought about what he would do if he did not pass this test, he was not quite worried about it, as it just meant he needed to try harder and go through the channel of getting chuunin by meritorious service to his village, which would also be fun and fulfilling.

As Kouma looked down at the test, he glanced over the questions real quick, before looking back and carefully reading each question. He wanted to know if any of the later questions relied on information from the first questions, as he had taken tests that were like that before, so there was some sort of precedent for it. As he read over the questions, it finally dawned on him that almost none of these questions that they had put on the test were related to actual book knowledge, and they were more an ethics test for the future of their respective villages. This made Kouma exhale a huge sigh of relief, as he was very sure about who he was as a person, and so this was something that he suddenly felt comfortable doing. As Kouma finished sighing, he made sure to go into this a bit more casually, and simply have the answers he thought of come to him spontaneously, as this seemed like the best way for the test to see his real self.

He glanced at the questions and just sort of winged them, thinking fairly minimally as to not inflate or overthink his answers. After working through the first four questions, the last question on the test seemed to be a strange garbled message, and they had learned about such coded messages in the ninja academy, so Kouma slowly worked through it to make sure that it was correct and made sense to him as well. After that, it had a strange premise, and was some sort of riddle. Kouma did not really enjoy these types of riddles, as it seemed like they only made sense to the person that actually created the riddle, and the others were simply left there in the dust about it. With this style of riddle though, he just answered as honestly and earnestly as he could, coming up with a solution that fit the criteria, before putting it to the back of his mind.

It seemed like he was one of the middle people that were finished with their tests, and simply walked over to the desk and turned the paper with his answers on it to the beautiful blonde jounin sitting at the front desk. He then bowed to her and said thank you, before leaving the room, and seeing other people walking around. Some of them were stressed, some confident, and some of them relieved. Kouma was in the confident category, but that was not quite what could describe his current outlook, he was simply happy that the test did not actually test his book knowledge of facts, figures, names and numbers, as he was really stressing about cramming for a test. With another final and happy sigh, he started to leave the building. If anyone were to look towards him and their eyes meet, he would simply give them a big smile, as hopefully that would brighten their day.
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EXIT
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WC: 817
Claiming 800 words towards A rank Skillful Achievement 800/1875 with max stat discount

It was almost 10AM when a powder blue haired Kunochi, with a large brown bare in tote, would arrive at Hoshi’s ninja academy. When she came within steps of the entrance, she would turn to her bear companion and pat him on the head, “Sorry. You’re going to have to wait out here, don’t worry I won’t be long.” She would say in a sympathetic, but reassuring manner. She was concerned that the bear was beginning to suffer from separation anxiety, and she was not thrilled to be taking a written test. Eager to get this over with, she would turn around and enter the facility wondering where room 4 was located.
 
With just a few minutes to spare, Fu would enter the classroom and walk directly towards the first seat she saw open. The Genin’s skin was tan and her eyes large and orange. She was wearing a dark blue cloak with white accents. On her hip was a sword and across her back was another. Her eyes scanned the classroom while her feet shuffled across the classroom floor. She took in the appearances of those around her, but not a single person looked familiar.
 
A few minutes later and the exam proctor, a blonde woman in Jounin attire, would signify that the exam was starting and informed the test takes of the rules which were straight forward. The instructor passed out the exam’s and Fu took an initial look at the questions. She answered the first question with ease, but the next three questions took Fu a while to answer but she finally scribbled down a few answers. Although her answers weren’t elaborate, she felt she had answered honestly and that was all that mattered to her. The final question had completely stumped her and she was growing more frustrated by the minute. She thought the riddle over and over in her head trying to work it out but ultimately could not come to a coherent conclusion. Leaving the final question blank, she would hand here exam in. She didn’t want to be the last person in the room and was relieved to see that there were still a few students taking the exam.
 
Now that she was back outside, she would be greeted by her furry friend who was excited to see her. The bear licked the girls face with a large pink tongue and Fu jumped on the bear’s shoulder. “That was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. Hopefully they don’t disqualify me before I get a chance to fight some of the other village’s Genin!” She would confess to him, not confident in her answers at all. The girl would bury her face in the bears head as both of their stomachs rumbled with hunger. “C’mon let’s get something to eat before the next round.”

WC: 475
Earth Style Wall D rank 475/500
9 Bonus AP
[Exit]

Today was one of the more anticipated days here in Hoshigakure; it was finally the first day of the Chuunin Exams! After high-octane weeks of people speculating when the exams would finally grace a village, it seemed as though the world had finally answered their desperate prayers that wished for excitement. However, with great excitement held great tension. Just yesterday, foreign Genin as well as the Raikage had entered Hoshigakure in light of the exams being held in the village of Haven. The shinobi were varied in caliber, so today would be the first test for all of those who were participating in the highly anticipated Chuunin Exams. Today's test wouldn't be the most entertaining sight to see for civilians, however, it would prove to be quite intense for the countless Genin who signed up for the exams. It was a written test that sought to judge the intellectual caliber of the shinobi who joined to make sure that everyone had the intelligence to be a Chuunin. As it would be for every test, it was designed for those with less intelligence to fail and those with the superior knowledge and aptitude to proceed to the next stage. There were even rumors that if you scored really well in the Written Exam, then you could bypass the second test...

"Hmm..." The emerald eyes of the understudy silently scanned the Written Exam area once he entered that part of the main Chuunin Exam building. Enishi made sure to study for a whole month on shinobi material, combat arts, and philosophy to ensure he would at least have a passing grade. Of course, this resulted in many episodes of all-nighters and migraines but he didn't care. If he could understand and predict what questions would be on the exam, then he could pass and move on. He needed to pass, there were too many stakes riding on his success in the Chuunin Exams and it would be pathetic if the silver-haired Jugo flunked the first round. It seemed that there were many people - all from different factions and villages - who were already at work, so he decided to start doing the exams quickly. After all, he needed to show everyone that Hoshigakure would dominate the Chuunin Exams!

Letting out a deep sigh, Enishi would politely get the paper that the blonde proctor gave to him before promptly seating himself in an empty test chair before pulling out a pencil and jotting down answers. The first question seemed to be more combat-based than the rest, so Enishi would efficiently write down all of his steps and plans. The second and third questions appeared to be more personal so the understudy would take his time writing down his answers before moving on to the fourth one. The fourth question spoke more about how Enishi saw the world - and being the nationalist that he was, his answer talked more about loyalty and factions than anything else. Finally, the fifth question. This was easily the most difficult question of the Written Test so it would take him about three or so minutes to decode the riddle and answer accordingly. He wasn't too confident about his answer so he let out a sad smile as he wrote down his answer.

Once he was finished with his exams he would hand it to the blonde proctor and subsequently walk out of the exam room. "I hope Zeo, Tsuna, and Yuuma passed..." He absentmindedly thought as he reminiscenced about the fellow Genin he met the past few weeks.

[EXIT]

They had Kita sitting in a desk for far too long. He didn't want to make any sort of fuss coming in, so he made sure to follow the instructions given to a tee. At exactly 10 AM, Kita arrived in the Hoshigakure Academy, Room 4. He sat down in the first open spot he saw, and didn't make so much as a peep. Even as he pulled the chair out so that he could sit down, not a single sound could be heard. Not the scraping of the chair legs against the ground, not the creak of the supports as he rested his body into it, nothing. With Kita continuing to suppress his chakra, it was as if he wasn't there at all.

He had chosen to wear his standard attire today, wearing his gray kimono and Kirigakure underclothes. However, there were some noticeable differences. Kita had moved his headband from its traditional place around his waist to his head, letting the symbol of the mist peer out from between the cracks of his short dark hair. He also chose not to wear any of his shinobi gear today, nor did he bring Bobo along with him this time. It would be rather inconvenient if his petulant ape cost him his chance in the exams. Not to mention the mistake that giving away his abilities could entail.

Yet despite what appeared, at least to Kita, as a calm and collected demeanor, was just a front for a very deep and intense sense of fear and panic. Somehow, the exams hadn't truly felt real up to this point. The pressure of being compared not only to his own peers, but to the shinobi of all other villages was nerve wracking. If he didn't represent them well, how would it reflect on the Mizukage? How would it reflect on his parents? The thought made him sick to his stomach. Kita wanted to hurl, but he had to resist the urge. Kita flipped the pen that they gave the students up and down in his hand silently, trying his best to look down at the questions below with a bored expression.

The first question was one about combat, which thankfully Kita knew some small measure about thanks to Murata's instruction. He bit back the bitterness he felt on that, and tried to think of an answer that suited him.

"Let's see... There's a lot of information missing about these attacks here... but I think I can work with it. The biggest immediate threat would be the shinobi to my right... so if I used that I could disable the weapon before it became a problem. I could also do that, and take out the shinobi to my left and right... Would that work? Yes, the web goes underground, there wouldn't be any risk of conflict, and I can identify the rough location as to where it is. What to do about the bullets though? This technique should handle it. Even if this wouldn't work perfectly, I would be in a far better position than when I started out."

Then came the second, third, and fourth questions. Those puzzled him. He failed to see what they were supposed to mean as a shinobi. Maybe it was a test? A trick to see if the shinobi would put the answers that they wanted to hear on the test, even if they weren't accurate? Maybe. The shinobi world revolved around accurate information, lying simply wouldn't do. Kita wrote down the answers he felt were right, and moved onto the last question.

Immediately, Kita gave up hope of finding the right answer. There was a sort of relief in knowing that the boy would fail, as opposed to second guessing your decisions in the hopes that the second guess would be right. Kita worked out the code after what seemed like an eternity, merely by complete chance and coincidence. The boy slowly unscrambled it, piece by piece until he stood with the final answer. The boy squinted and looked it over. What could it be? He thought, and thought, yet no solid answer came. He scowled and scratched down the first thing that came to him before submitting his paper. The thought halfway crossed his mind to cheat, but the boy gave a silent scoff.

"Not with these Jounin around..."

Word Count - 724

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