Control

Another Challenge

"First off I'd like to congratulate you all on completing the second exam." Anko's voice loudly boomed from the front of the room.

She was standing alongside the other proctors who were lined up beside her. Across from her were all the Jonin who had congratulated the passing teams. Then in the middle of the room was the Hokage.

His posture was relaxed as his eyes slowly trailed over all of the passing genin in front of him. He then smiled slightly as Anko's voice loudly rose up again.

"Alright maggots, now pay close attention. Lord Hokage is going to explain the third exam."

You grinned brightly at these words as you tilted your head to the side, peaking around Kurai's back so you could get a better view. As you looked towards the Hokage you noticed Kakashi and Sumire-sensei along with the rest of the squad leaders standing behind him.

Kakashi nodded at you while your purple haired squad leader gave you a friendly grin. Smiling at this you turned your eyes back to the Hokage as he began speaking.

"Before I get into the details of the third exam and what it entails I would like to explain something about these exams to all of you. These exams are held for many reasons...The more obvious reason being for raising the ability levels of our shinobi and increasing friendships among allied nations. However, it's important to realize that these exams have higher meanings." The Hokage paused taking a slow puff of his pipe. He then held the smoke for a few moments before calmly releasing it.

"In a sense, these exams are a representation of the battles between allied nation. These exams carry our history within them and they give shinobi the chance to bare the pride of their villages as they fight against shinobi from neighboring nations. In the final exam many leaders and prominent figures from various nations will be invited as guests and also to seek shinobi to work for them. This exam has the ability to dictate your future work as a ninja from here on out and more importantly it allows other rulers to learn some of the strengths and weaknesses of other nations. Which in turn affects the future of the whole village."

It was silent for a few moments as everyone took in the Hokage's words. The silence was soon broken though as a Jonin appeared in front of the Hokage.

"Lord Hokage before you begin explaining the third exam please allow me, Hayate, the proctor of the third exam to speak first." Hayate requested with a respectful bow.

"Very well." The Hokage nodded allowing the new individual to speak.

"I wonder what this is about..." You quietly murmured watching as the tall man turned around.

"It's nice to meet all of you." He nodded before raising a fist to his mouth as he began coughing. Hayate then cleared his throat before continuing.

"Before the third exam there is something I need all of you to do..."Hayate paused coughing slightly as he looked between all of you.

"We need to have a preliminary exam before we can actually move onto the real one."

"Preliminary!? What do you mean by that?" Shikamaru immediately shouted causing you to jump slightly as you looked off to where he was standing. He looked beyond angry and you could understand why.

You had all worked hard to get this far and now to be told that you had to do another test before you could actually take the real one was more than a little annoying.

"Excuse me sensei but I don't really see the point in taking a preliminary exam. Can't we just move onto the third exam?" Sakura spoke up causing Hayate to sigh a bit.

"Uh well you see...we never expected so many people to pass the first and second exam...and according to the rules of the chunin exams a preliminary exam can be held at any stage in order to reduce the number of  remaining candidates."