Naruto: I Became Orochimaru's Apprentice

The first part of the exam would be the writing segment. 

The next day...

The exam hall was already filled with noise when Teriyaki stepped inside. The room reeked of sweat, nerves, and that strange, barely-hidden aggression that only genin could radiate when forced to sit still.

Rows of wooden desks stretched across the room, and each one was occupied by a hopeful, or hopeless, participant. Teams huddled together — Sand genin whispering in secrecy, Leaf genin trying to size up the competition, and a few others from smaller villages already looking half-defeated before the test even started.

Teriyaki stood for a moment at the entrance, eyes scanning the room. No teammates beside him, no one to whisper to, no one to cover his blind spots. Just him, alone. 

"Even Onigiri is stuck at the base..."

He stepped forward, head held high, doing his best to look like this was normal. The Mist Village had a reputation for brutality and solitude — maybe they'd just assume this was typical for a survivor of the Bloody Mist. He just needed to ensure he wasn't singled out for being alone in the Forest of Death.

He chose a seat somewhere in the middle — not too close to the front where proctors would watch too closely, not too far in the back where troublemakers lurked. His desk was scarred with old kunai scratches and doodles from generations of genin before him.

"Alright, brats," a cold voice called out.

Ibiki Morino stood at the front of the room, scars crossing his face like a roadmap of past pain. Teriyaki recognized him instantly — Orochimaru had mentioned him once, calling him "a man who can torture you without ever touching you." Possibly due to his extremely whiny voice.

"The first test is simple," Ibiki said. "Written exam. Answer the questions on the paper in front of you. But here's the twist — if you're caught cheating five times, your whole team is disqualified."

Teriyaki's stomach twisted. "Whole team?" He muttered. He had no team.

"Since some of you arrived… incomplete," Ibiki's eyes flicked toward Teriyaki and one other lone entrant from Grass, "this rule applies only to you. Five strikes, and you're gone. No second chances."

Teriyaki exhaled slowly. At least the rules were clear, he might even be in a better position since he had nobody to weigh him down. 

The test papers were passed out — heavy sheets with columns of questions that made Teriyaki's head spin. Complex chakra equations. Battle tactics that sounded more like they belonged to jonin, not genin.

Teriyaki's pen hovered over the first question. He didn't know the answer. Not even close.

'Great... Maybe Orochimaru should've let me study stuff other than cell biology and jutsus.'

Of course. It's a cheating test, not an actual knowledge test. He still recalled the manga vividly.

He closed his eyes briefly, recalling his training. The jutsu he'd practiced over and over. It was time to test it for real.

Snake Clone: Incomplete form

His fingers barely moved under the desk, forming the necessary seals with delicate precision. A ripple passed through the sleeve of his robe, and from that ripple, a small brown snake emerged.

It was no larger than a pencil, body made entirely of thin flesh. Silent and almost transparent, the snake slithered off his desk, down the leg, and onto the floor.

Teriyaki's chakra synced with it immediately. Through the snake's senses, he could "see" beneath the desks — the edges of exam papers, the cramped handwriting of other genin, the scribbled answers being desperately jotted down.

It was an incomplete form of his snake clone, perfect for going unnoticed here.

The snake moved fast, darting between chairs, coiling under desks, and scanning answers from half the room before returning to Teriyaki's side like a loyal pet.

All the while, Teriyaki sat perfectly still, head down, acting as if he was working through the problems himself. His left hand tapped a slow rhythm on the desk —.

Bit by bit, his paper filled up.

Thunk!

A kunai stabbed into his desk, quivering right beside his writing hand. Teriyaki's pen stopped dead.

Ibiki stood directly beside him, dark eyes drilling into him like a physical weight.

"Hm?" Teriyaki asked calmly, lifting his gaze without a trace of fear. His snake had already dissolved after it's chakra had run out.

Ibiki stared a moment longer, then gave a grunt and walked away.

Teriyaki's heart pounded against his ribs, but his face stayed perfectly neutral.

As Ibiki moved on, Teriyaki caught a flicker of red from the corner of his eye. Across the room, Sasuke Uchiha's Sharingan spun lazily in one eye — just for a second — before disappearing again.

He had seen the snake, he had seen everything that was going on, every trick.

Sasuke's smirk was small, almost invisible, but it was there. Teriyaki resisted the urge to glare back as Sasuke mocked him by mimicking a snake with his hand. Let him think he's clever. He doesn't know what I'm really here for.

After an hour of quiet scratching pens and stifled coughing, Ibiki clapped his hands.

"Now, the final question."

The tension in the room instantly doubled. Genin exchanged nervous looks, some already looking ready to cry. Teriyaki leaned back slightly, bracing for something cruel.

Ibiki's smile was razor-sharp. "This is your choice — stay and answer the final question, or leave now. If you stay and fail, you'll be banned from ever taking the Chuunin Exams again. But if you leave now, you can come back next year."

Whispers rippled through the room. A few genin stood up almost immediately, shaking hands raising in surrender. Teriyaki didn't move.

He couldn't leave. Not because of pride, or ambition, or even fear of failure — he couldn't leave because Orochimaru would find out. And Orochimaru's disappointment was a punishment Teriyaki didn't want to imagine.

He stayed.

The final "question" was a fake. Just a test of nerve — the real point was to see who could handle pressure and risk. By staying, they passed.

Relief washed through the room like a collective exhale. Teriyaki allowed himself a small smile, but only for a second.

"Congratulations on passing the first part of the exam." She said with glee.

Everyone stood up, forming a loud cacophony of footsteps and whining.

Genin poured out of the exam hall, buzzing with nervous energy. Teriyaki drifted along with the flow, quiet, invisible, unremarkable. But inside, he was taking stock of everything he'd learned.

Naruto had stayed — loud and proud, confidence unshaken. Sasuke stayed too, naturally, his smirk still present. Neji stayed with a calm that was almost insulting. Gaara stayed without moving a muscle.

Teriyaki memorized every face that walked out that door. These were his competition. Orochimaru's prey. His data points. 

That night, in the tiny, dusty room Orochimaru had secured for him, Teriyaki rested well.

"You did good today," he whispered. "This is where it all begins."

Tomorrow was the Forest of Death — and in the forest, Teriyaki wasn't going to have a good time with him being all alone.