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Author's Note:
I got me some ice cream and Choccy Milk and I am in a GREAT mood.
So to spread the love, I will give you guys an additional chapter today.
-The Most Awesome Person to Ever Person.
P.S. Give me your Memes as payment.
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"H-hello Tsukiyo. How are you?" Hinata only stuttered once which is a vast improvement to how she is with other people. The fact that she even managed to speak to Tsukiyo speaks for a lot. There are many people even in the same classroom as her that she never even spoke a word with.
'I said it's because they are mob characters, they don't matter to the story!' Miku shouted again, but Hinata seemed to not hear it.
"Hello Hinata. I am fine." Tsukiyo spoke curtly, though Hinata took no offense to that. That is simply how Tsukiyo speaks to people.
"T-that's good. Are you nervous about the exams today?" Hinata let out a sigh of relief as she was responded to, and for once she decided that she wanted to continue the conversation with another person that wasn't either her sister, Miku, or Bang-Sensei.
Tsukiyo looked at Hinata and raised an eyebrow at her unusual actions. If this were any other time Hinata would only speak a few words to her, even those would be accompanied by stutters, and then she would go silent. But now? Now here she is, actually trying to carry a conversation. The thought caused Tsukiyo to smirk as she lowered herself from the tree with chakra strings, constantly practicing her control of them.
"I don't believe that the exams will be too difficult to pass. They're mostly just very basic theory, and just a demonstration of your physical skills, as well as a practical application of the three basic Jutsu." Tsukiyo simply stated as she straightened her clothes and retracted her chakra strings into her clothing. "How about you Hinata? Do you plan on getting a good score on the tests?"
Hinata would have flinched if it were anyone else to ask this question, but Tsukiyo had been her desk mate for the last few years and it would have been even more strange if she didn't notice that Hinata purposely answered some question incorrectly or partially correctly to lower her score. I guess if she thinks about it, if you count Tsukiyo, that makes three people that she actually spoke with in school, and she would be the closest thing that Hinata has to a friend.
"I-I plan on getting a slightly better than average written score, I was originally going to aim for 80 but I think it might be better if I aim for roughly 88 instead. As for the physical exam, I believe I can coast through it if I need to." Hinata explained, officially making this the longest conversation that the two have shared. "As for the three basic jutsu? If I can't even pass those, it would make it way too obvious that I am manipulating my scores."
"I think that would be a good idea, you should know from the history books, at least the ones that the Third Hokage hasn't changed to make himself seem all powerful, that a genius never lives too long." Tsukiyo scoffed when she spoke of Hiruzen Sarutobi. "That's why I plan to do well on the written test and nearly fail the physical test, after all a puppet master shouldn't have too much strength. Right?" She smirked at the last part she said.
"That's right. In a head-to-head fight a puppet master should most definitely be weaker." Hinata nodded along, even though she knew the fact that Tsukiyo has decent if not pretty good physical strength. There was one time during class that Hinata managed to drop her pencil and she had to bend underneath the desk to reach it. What she realized when she grabbed it was that Tsukiyo was not actually sitting on the chair, her feet weren't even on the floor. She was supporting herself, making herself seem like she was sitting normally, when her feet were actually pressed on the sides of her desk supporting her whole body weight.
It was after that time that Hinata realized that Tsukiyo was also holding back during classes. Though Hinata didn't know Tsukiyo's exact reason for doing so, she could guess that one of the reasons was definitely because she didn't wish to stand out too much.
Hinata was about to continue speaking to Tsukiyo, but before she was able to, the class teachers for every class walked out of the building.
"Everyone gather around us, we are here to take you to the examination room for the first part of the exam. You will be separated by class, and by your average test scores throughout the current school year. I wish to inform you right now that any form of cheating is not allowed, and if you are caught doing so, then it will be an immediate failure and you will have to retake the test with the students next year." A strict teacher wearing a Chunin flak jacket eyed all the students around, making sure to get his point across.
When he saw that everyone was paying attention and that they understood he turned around and led the teacher's back into the building, calling out over his shoulder as he did, "Parents and family can leave now, or they can wait in the lounge area in the other building. Now come on students, it's time to get the exams underway."
"Good luck in there, Hinata, try not to score too low." Tsukiyo said as she waved over her shoulder while walking away.
"Good luck to you too Tsukiyo." Hinata said, just loud enough for her to hear and then she followed along.
The way that the exam rooms were divided was that first they separated people so that there were not too many students from a single class in the same room, this also included the general course students as all academy students took their exams, not just the ninja course students. Then they arranged the seating so that people with similar grades are seated by each other, just so that they are unable to copy off of each other.
Hinata sat in her seat and was surrounded by people she did not know. She was ready and waiting for the exam proctor to hand out the test papers.
After waiting for a moment the proctor walked into the room and swiftly handed the papers out and began the exam. The room was silent with the only sounds audible being the scratching of pencil on paper, the breathing and groaning of students who were stumped on some questions.
Hinata looked at the questions and found them fairly easy. They didn't separate their exams by subject and just did one big one with some questions from each subject taken during school. The only exception were the ninja course students who had an extra paper that they had to accomplish.
That paper was also fairly easy to complete, mainly asking questions such as how to assassinate this person if he is surrounded by many other people, and you were to accomplish it without there being any witnesses.
'Ooh ooh, I know this one!' Miku said with excitement in her voice.
'Really? And what do you think the answer is?' Hinata asked with no outward reaction, not wanting to draw any attention from the proctor.
'That's easy! If you kill all the witnesses that see you, then it is a perfect assassination.' Miku puffed her chest proudly.
Hinata thought about it and realized that it was technically a valid solution, but it was definitely not the one that the teachers were looking for, they were looking for a step by step analysis on terrain, personnel placement, and what tools you would need.
However since she was trying to keep a lower score, Hinata decided to use Miku's answer to fill out the question. And as for whether the exam scorers will think she is a psychopath for answering like that? Please. This would probably be considered one of the tamer methods that they are going to see.
Hinata would be able to finish the test very quickly if she wanted to, however if she wished to have a lower score, it would not make sense for her to finish quickly and not use the leftover time to spot any mistakes in her previous answers, which would in turn increase her score beyond what she wished to get. So the best method would be to pace herself so that she barely finishes the exam, maybe ten minutes before the exam is collected.
'It was like Miku said before, it feels like the exam was made for a 12 year old to complete and even then it is way too simple.' Hinata thought to herself to which Miku responded,
'Of course, you have he great me within your mind, any and all questions are but a choice of what you wish to answer, for I house all knowledge and am privy to the secrets of the world. You can start to worship me now.'
Hinata played her tried and true tactic: ignore Miku which in turn causes her to pout for not receiving a response.
Hinata then noticed a part of the paper that she would have to answer correctly or she would likely never become a shinobi, and even if she did. She would always be monitored, especially as a Hyuuga.
Question 76: (In your own words, describe what you think the will of fire is.)
'Ooh ooh I know this one too.' Miku started to get excited again, 'The answer is when the leaves blow it spreads a fire that devours all the saplings, while the towering trees absorb the rain to protect themselves.'
Now while Hinata herself also agrees with such a statement to an extent, she obviously could not write that kind of answer on her test. So she decided to write an answer that she knows the village higher ups wish to see on her paper. The wind blows strongly, stroking the fire within the peoples hearts, the determination to protect the village and its villagers and the will to do anything to ensure that the peace continues and our people live on.
After she finished writing something simple like that Hinata looked up at the clock on the wall and saw that she only had about three minutes left, and so she pretended that she needed to do some quick revision and she then erased some words, added a few others, but overall her answers remained the same just worded differently.
Soon it was time for the written exam to finish and the proctor spoke up, "Alright that's it. Pencil's down. I want you all to flip your papers face down and step two steps away from your desk. I will have one of my assistants come by to collect them. Once they do you are free to move on to the next test. General course students can go to their specialized exams, whether it be a test for business, or for cooking, or whatever path you plan on pursuing. The ninja course students can go to the training field behind the academy and meet with your examiner for your physical exam. Strength, speed, fighting sense, yada yada. You know the drill. Now get to it."
Hinata stood there and as soon as her paper was taken she lowered her head and quickly walked away without speaking to anyone. She hurriedly made her way to the training field so that she could wait for the other students to arrive.
'So I just did a rough grading of the paper you finished, and unless there was some subjective scoring involved, I would give you 86 out of 100.' Miku said while Hinata was walking.
'That's what I roughly aimed for, I didn't want to get too much, and I would expect to receive 1 or 2 more points, just because of the subjective scoring..' Hinata explained as she arrived at the training field. When she got there she saw that Tsukiyo was already there and she made her way to her side and silently sat down next to her.
"Hello Hinata, How did you do on your test?" Tsukiyo asked.
"I think I did pretty well. Enough to pass anyway. How about you?" Hinata asked back.
Tsukiyo just hummed in agreement as she was fiddling with a chakra string making it twist into different shapes, then untwisting it. "Hmm, I did pretty well, I answered so that I would score about 94 on the test, I want to be seen as good, but not to the point where I memorize every word like Sakura Haruno."
After that the two just sat in silence as they waited for the other students to arrive.