The Wolf Inside - A Naruto Fanfic - Watty Award Winner 2013

Chapter 13

Ashley's POV

Everyone pauses, thoroughly confused by Ibiki's sudden announcement. Hell, even I'm confused. How can we have passed when we haven't even heard the tenth question yet? Is Ibiki just messing with us or something?......

Slapping her hand down on her desk, Sakura rises to her feet, a look of both indignance and confusion on her face.

"What?!" she screeches for what feels like the fortieth time today. "What do you mean we pass?! What about the tenth question?"

Ibiki begins chuckling to himself at this, the tiny grin that spreads across his face sending a shiver up my spine.

'He looks so creepy when he smiles......' I think to myself, scrunching up my nose a little.

"There never was a tenth question" Ibiki announces with a laugh. "I guess you could say that deciding to stay was your answer to the tenth question."

"Huh?" Sakura replies, tilting her head to the side.

"Wait just a minute!" an angry voice calls out, as everyone turns to face the blonde girl from the Sand Village. "Are you telling us that the first nine questions were a complete waste of time?!"

"No, not at all" Ibiki answers, shaking his head. "It's quite the opposite actually. The first nine questions had a very fundamental purpose. They were to test your ability to secretly gather strategic information under the most arduous circumstances."

'Well' I think sarcastically, looking at the unsure faces of people around me, 'Doesn't that just clear everything up?'

"My intention was to not only test you as individuals" Ibiki explains to us, "But as a group, and how well you behave as a team. That is why your scores were scored on a team basis. You knew that everything you did, or failed to do, would affect your teammates. I needed to see how you would all handle the pressure."

"Yeah, I knew it was something like that" Naruto nods wisely, "That's why I was able to stay so cool the whole time."

From my seat at the back of the room, I see Sakura clench her jaw as she glares daggers at the back of Naruto's head. There's not a doubt in my mind that Naruto has been silently freaking out the entire time. I have to wonder if he even managed to answer one question on the test....

"As you may have noticed" Ibiki speaks up again, waving his hand at us, "The questions in your tests were far too difficult for most Genin to be able to answer. I'd imagine that most of you quickly came to the conclusion that you'd need to cheat to be able to get any answers. Truth be told, this test is designed to encourage you to do just that. In fact, it pretty much demands that you cheat."

"Of course, what good would it have done you if you had no one to cheat from?" Ibiki asks us all rhetorically. "So, I had two Chuunin who already know the answers disguise themselves and take the test with you."

Glancing around the room, I see two young men, no doubt using a Transformation Jutsu to look younger, grin and wave at the rest of us.

'That's actually pretty smart' I think, smirking and crossing my arms. 'It's the perfect way to weed out the ones who aren't able to gather intelligence well. The test also shows who can and can't handle the pressure of gathering information while under strict surveillance. This guy's pretty crafty......'

"Haha!" Naruto suddenly laughs out loud, catching my attention. "I wasn't fooled for a second! You'd have o be a complete idiot not to see it!....Isn't that right Hinata?"