Shock-filled expressions were worn by every ninja in the room as they gaped at Ibiki Moreno who stood defiantly in front of them, flanked by the group of exam proctors. The man in question raised his index finger and pointed it directly at the Sound Ninja who had attacked Kabuto mere moments before.
"Knock that off, you are not permitted to fight in this exam room! Are you looking to fail before we've even started?" Ibiki yelled loudly.
"Sorry, this is our first time at the exams. Guess you could say we're a little jumpy." The bandaged Sound Ninja simpered and not sounding the least bit apologetic in Sakura's opinion.
Ibiki seemed to be thinking along the same lines and simply nodded in affirmation before addressing the room of potential Chunin.
"Listen good, you're not permitted to fight each other in combat without the permission of your proctor but even using fatal force is prohibited. Any rule breaking equals immediate disqualification" The scar faced man announced to the room of blank faces.
No fatal force? As if any of these lunatics are going to listen to that. Those Sound Ninja didn't think twice before coming after Kabuto – who knows what the rest of these ninja are capable of, Sakura thought as Ibiki moved to speak again.
"Now that we have that settled, it's time to move on to the first stage of the exams. Hand in your paper work and you'll be given a number which will be the number of your seat. The written component of the exam will begin when everyone has been seated" Ibiki instructed.
"W-what? Did he say w-written? NO, NOT A WRITTEN TEST NO WAY!" Naruto called out in fear as he gazed upon the large stack of paper one of the proctors was holding.
One by one each ninja in the room handed over their papers and were given an allocated seat number. Sakura soon lost sight of Sasuke and Naruto as they were moved to different spots in the room. Sitting at her desk with the test paper facing down, Sakura willed herself to breathe and remain calm. Tsunade-sama hadn't mentioned anything about a written component. It was all supposed to be survival wasn't it?
"How exactly am I supposed to pass a test I haven't even studied for?" Sakura anxiously thought as she gazed across the rest of the room and her eyes finally located a familiar crop of blonde hair.
Ugh I don't even know where the others are sitting! I'm all alone; this exam is a disaster already! Naruto thought and clutched his hair in anguish.
"H-hello Naruto" A voice piped up from his right side. The blonde boy turned to see the Hyuga girl sitting next to him.
"Hey Hinata, where did you come from? I didn't even see you" Naruto spoke happily, his mood instantly better with a familiar face beside him. Hinata blushed softly and turned to face the front of the room where Ibiki stood with a piece of chalk held up against the blackboard.
"Okay pay attention and eyes forward. You need to listen to the rules I'm about to tell you and I won't be taking any questions so you'll hear it once and once only" Ibiki spoke loudly.
What's the deal with this guy? Who doesn't allow questions about an exam before the exam starts? Every exam I took in the academy I could ask questionsSakura stressed but tried to keep her thoughts together as she listened to the rules.
"Rule 1: This part of the exam is done by a point reduction system. Everyone begins the test with ten points – one point deducted for every answer that's wrong. So for example if you miss or fail 3 questions then your final score will be 7" Ibiki explained.
That's annoying, so if anyone misses 10 questions their score will be zero, Sasuke thought to himself and his gaze wandered to Naruto. From their days in the academy, Sasuke knew that Naruto's forte was not written tests at all.
"Rule 2: You will all pass or fail depending on the total scores of all three members of your squad" Ibiki stated and immediately the room was filled with disbelieving whispers.
Sakura also looked around horrified, combining the scores? Sasuke she knew could probably pull it off but based on what she had seen at the academy, how on earth was Naruto going to pass?
"SCILENCE! Stop that whispering, I have my reasons for making the test this way" Ibiki said effectively halting the whispering and continued.
"Rule 3: The men positioned around the room are there to watch you for any indication that you might be cheating. Each time you're caught – two points will be taken from your score. If you want to be good Shinobi then show us how good you can be" Ibiki finished.
Sakura pressed her hands together tightly in front of her mouth. It was suddenly clear to her; they were expected to cheat but not get caught doing so. This was a stealth as well as brains test. It tested the ability to calculate and think quickly as well as the ability to act undetected, both of which were essential attributes for any ninja.
How exactly am I going to cheat and not get caught doing it? I don't have any special bloodline traits or a jutsu I know that could help me out. Relax Sakura relax, just sit it like you would any other test. Try and do it just yourself without any cheating and then if you get stuck… Well we'll get to that bit later Sakura thought as she fidgeted nervously, wanting to get started as soon as possible.
"One more thing before we begin. If anyone should get a zero on the exam that person and their squad will automatically fail" Ibiki said as Sakura and Sasuke automatically stiffened in shock and Naruto began to feel very very sick.
"As for the final question, you won't get it until 15 minutes before the exam ends. So you have one hour in total to complete this exam" Finally finishing his speech Ibiki turned to the clock at the front of the room. The minute hand seemed to tick by slowly to Sakura, but it finally reached 12 and the time stood exactly at 4:30pm.
"BEGIN!"
Papers flew open and Sakura hunched over her desk, determined to do as well as she could and not have to resort to cheating. Although she only suspected that this was the true purpose of the exam she had wondered to herself how many other people may have figured this out as well. Naruto was probably too stressed about the exam itself to have a hunch as to what the real exercise behind it was, and even if he did figure it out how exactly was he going to cheat? Sasuke had the Sharingan but what did she and Naruto have?
Sasuke watched Naruto from the corner of his eye so as not to get suspected for cheating. He saw as Naruto stared blankly at the exam in front of him, not even moving to pick it up. Naruto finally decided to pick up his paper and examined the first question.
What was I worried about, it's just a test. I'll just relax and do the ones I can answer the best. Okay the first one I've got to figure out some sort of code. Uh um… okay forget that one, which one can I do next? Naruto thought as he stared at the paper completely perplexed.
Line B on the paper demonstrates the trajectory of a shuriken thrown at enemy C by ninja A sitting on top of a tree 7 metres tall. Describe and formulate the trajectory required if C were positioned at points D, E, and F. Also the possible range of the shuriken and explain how you arrived at your answer?" Sasuke read the question to himself.
He felt less and less confident. He couldn't locate Sakura within the room but he seriously doubted even she could pull off these questions.
These are integrated problems requiring complex mechanic energy analysis which is really advanced stuff. There's no way Naruto can solve this, hell I don't know if I can solve it. But at least I understand the underlying principles so that's a start Sakura thought as she swallowed hard and glanced around the room.
There can't be more than a handful of people here who could do this. So the exam questions are basically backing you into a corner and forcing you to cheat if you don't want to lose any points but not get caught by the supervisors otherwise you'll lose points for that as well, Sakura sighed and picked up her pencil to begin.
The pink haired teen only hoped that if her teammates chose to cheat that they wouldn't get caught, she feared for Naruto more than Sasuke on that front.
Both the male members of Team 7 were having equal trouble, although Sasuke was much more composed about it. It was interesting to him (in a humourless sort of way) that he couldn't even begin to understand any of the problems. The numbers and facts swirled around Naruto's head, taunting him and his inability to understand them. Each problem was more complicated than the last.
Don't panic, don't panic. There's only one thing for it! I'll just have to cheat and not get caught! Naruto decided in his head and wiped the sweat from his forehead. But one sharp look from Ibiki completely destroyed the thought as soon as it had come up.
It's strange; they seem to care more about the cheating aspect of the exam than the exam itself. These guys watching us and writing down every person they see cheating… and why only a two point deduction? Surely the first time you get caught cheating it would mean immediate disqualification? Sasuke thought as he watched the sentinels observing the class room. And then it hit him.
So that's it! This written exam is just a front – it's a test to gather information. It explains it all, a ninja must see through deception. How many others have figured this out? Sakura? Naruto? They need to use their heads if we're going to get through this, deciding on what he had to do, Sasuke picked up his pencil and prepared himself. The next part of the task was figuring out who to steal to answers from.
Many of the other ninja had already figured out that the concept of the exam was to cheat without getting caught. Holding his arm a little forward on the desk, Gaara allowed small grains of sand to curl around his wrist. Taking this as a sign, Kankuro who was seated a few seats away activated The Crow. Subtly sniffing the air, Akumaru relayed the correct answers to Kiba in a series of inaudible barks. The bandaged Sound Ninja listened carefully to the scratching of the pencil from the ninja behind him.
Judging from the rhythm and the frequency of the strokes… I see. So that's it, he thought quickly picking up his pencil and jotting down the answers.
Another ninja busy scribbling down his answers casually brushed a fly off of his desk without giving it a second thought. The fly flew through the air and landed on Shino's finger.
"Well, show me" He whispered in a low voice and the fly immediately moved to buzz around his exam paper. "Eight, of course" Shino muttered as he hunched over his paper to write the correct answers in.
Tenten and Lee worked as a co-operative unit, with Tenten using well hidden strings on her fingers to adjust the mirrors surrounding the lights on the ceiling to reflect Shino's correct answers for herself and Lee who adjusted his headband every time he could see the answers clearly.
Meanwhile Naruto was in full meltdown mode and his indecision to cheat or not was driving him insane, coupled with the incessant ticking of the clock reminding him that time was running out. Hinata observed the blonde boy and with a blush staining her cheeks, made her decision.
"N-naruto, you can look at my test if you want" Hinata spoke softly. Naruto eyed Hinata suspiciously debating as to whether it was a trick or not from Kiba and Shino to make him mess up. He immediately asked why she would want to share her answers with him.
"Uh um w-well you see… I don't want you to leave. We should all be together as the 9 rookies right?" Hinata explained shyly and Naruto grinned at her.
"Right of course, sorry Hinata I thought you were trying to pull a fast one on me" The blonde boy said as Hinata subtly slid her test paper towards him, but before Naruto could even look at it a kunai knife whizzed straight past his ear and pierced the test paper of the ninja behind him.
"W-what the hell was that for!?" The ninja asked in fear, standing up.
"5 strikes and you're out. You just failed the test. You and your teammates need to leave immediately" The sentinel said.
It was as though that had opened the flood gates, proctors then began calling out the seat numbers of people who had failed and ordered them and their teammates to leave the room. Naruto watched in horror as people kicked and screamed and demanded that the proctors were wrong but they left nonetheless. Hinata again quietly pushed her paper towards the blonde boy, but he had locked eyes with a proctor sitting at the end of the row of desks. Naruto swallowed hard and shook his head.
"Thank you, Hinata but I can't. Hey don't look so down about it, I'm an ace ninja! I don't need to cheat to pass this" Naruto declared happily to Hinata but turned the other way in misery. "When did I become so noble" he thought to himself.
"Sharingan!" Sasuke whispered a few seats away; with his clan's bloodline trait activated he immediately began to copy the movements of the pencil of the ninja seated in front of him.
Sakura too was furious scribbling down her answers to each of the questions. Although they were tricky to begin with she had been making great time ploughing through each question methodically and logically, making sure to triple check her mathematical working and justification. Setting her pencil down at last, Sakura picked up her paper to check her working again and again but Inner Sakura had already called victory.
"CHA! We've answered every single one of these right I know it! And without cheating too – take that Kakashi-sensei you old man trying to say we weren't good enough to make it in these exams!" Inner Sakura jumped around inside Sakura's head doing various victory poses.
"I can't believe Forehead is finished with the exam. She's got a brain behind that billboard brow I'll give her that. But thanks to my mind possession jutsu her brain is going to be working for me and my team" Ino said and raised her hands to perform the mind possession jutsu technique. Her body immediately slumped onto the desk, but the sentinels were none the wiser.
"W-woah what the hell is going on? Something's trying to get in here!" Inner Sakura yelled loudly and Sakura herself felt a huge amount of pressure on her head, like a headache but worse. It was as if someone was trying to infiltrate a barrier. Inner Sakura was taking no prisoners and got out her trusty baseball bat.
Ino's spirit meanwhile was trying to gain contact into Sakura's mind. W-what the hell is going on, it shouldn't be this hard to possess her. It should be instantaneous,Ino thought as she pushed and pushed. Inner Sakura held fast and prevented Ino from getting anywhere near Sakura's mind.
"It's Ino-pig; she's trying to pull a mind possession jutsu on us! CHA INO-PIG GET OUT OF MY HEAD DAMN IT AND WHILE YOU'RE AT IT KEEP YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF SASUKE GOT IT!" Inner Sakura yelled from inside Sakura's head which Ino's spirit was able to hear from the outside.
Something inside Sakura was fighting off her mind possession jutsu. Something with a lot of power, more power than her technique. Hearing those words yelled at her and not being able to get through to Sakura's mind, Ino let herself slip back into her body.
Shaking, Ino could only stare at Sakura who was massaging her temple. What the hell was that inside of her? She didn't see what it had been but it had the power to keep out her technique.
"She's up to something" Ino muttered but the confused looks from Shikamaru and Choji quickly prompted her to find someone else with the answers to mind possess.
Ino was trying to pull her mind possession jutsu on me to take my answers? Sakura thought angrily. Stupid Ino, at least her Inner had been able to fend her off.
"DAMN RIGHT! LIKE HELL SHE'S GETTING SHIT FROM US!" Inner fumed.
"The bit about Sasuke though, really?" Sakura asked Inner, annoyed. But Inner Sakura had disappeared somewhere into her mind without giving an answer.
Naruto was in crisis mode; looking at the clock he had decided that he would put everything on the final question. "5 minutes until the last question is revealed, I have to make it count" he muttered.
Ibiki smirked as he surveyed the room; it was down to nearly half of the initial candidates they had begun with. Most of the hopeless cases have been weeded out. Good. There's five minutes to go which means it's time for the final question, he thought.
"Listen up people. It's time for the tenth and final question" Ibiki called out loudly, startling Sakura. Naruto however had been preparing for the announcement and gripped his pencil tightly.
"Man this guy is full of himself" Sasuke thought. Because the room was now much clearer he was able to spot his pink haired teammate. Catching her eye Sasuke raised an eyebrow questioningly and Sakura gave a nod of affirmation.
"Good, she was able to complete the test" Sasuke smirked but his eyes traveled anxiously to Naruto. Sakura also gave a small smile of satisfaction; at least both she and Sasuke had completed the exam successfully. Sakura watched Ibiki carefully as he directed Kankuro to his seat after his mysteriously long trip to the bathroom.
"Why is he keeping up the pretence? Obviously those who have left were caught cheating which means all of us remaining now are skilled enough to have completed the exam without getting caught. All that's left to do is tally up the points. Please please let Naruto have got at least one question right or at least get this question right!" Sakura thought as she tapped her pencil impatiently waiting.
"There are some more rules, however that you must follow before we can begin question ten. So listen well and don't let it scare you" Ibiki stated in a deathly calm voice.
Kakashi sat with Kurenai Yuhi who led Squad 8 and Asuma Sarutobi who led Squad 10 in a room within the Hokage Tower. Although Kakashi kept his poker face composure, he couldn't help but feel some anxiousness for Team 7 and their progress within the Chunin exams. He then commented on the fact that it was very quiet without the rookie squads around to keep them busy. At this Asuma chuckled.
"Don't worry Kakashi, they'll be back sooner than you think I'm sure of it" Asuma said, tapping his cigarette on an ashtray. "Their proctor for this year's written exam is Ibiki"
Kakashi sighed and made a comment about him being some sort of sadist. Kurenai looked at the two Jounin in confusion so Asuma decided to elaborate.
"He's a specialist of sorts, in interrogation and torture. He wouldn't physical torture them of course – it's all mental. He's infamous for it, and he's not head of the Anbu Interrogation and Torture Unit for the Leaf Village without good reason. He's a master of interrogation because he understands how the human mind works. He knows where to poke to uncover weaknesses. He messes up your head so bad you torture yourself." Asuma finished and Kurenai looked shocked.
"Let's hope for all our sakes the rookies make it out of there in one piece. Pass or fail" Kurenai said quietly.
"Rule 1: You are free to choose to take the final question or not. If you choose not to take it, you'll get a zero. It doesn't matter if you've answered all other 9 correctly or not. So you and your teammates will fail" Ibiki said and once again whispers broke out about accepting the question and who in their right mind would choose to fail.
"Not so hasty people. You didn't let me finish, if you choose to take the question but you answer it incorrectly you will fail of course but you will not be able to take the Chunin exams ever again" Ibiki finished.
Sakura had to clap her hands over her mouth to keep from screaming in frustration. Sasuke snapped his pencil in half and Naruto resumed shaking like a leaf.
"HEY THAT'S BOGUS MAN! What kind of rules are those huh? People have taken the test before so how come they're here!" Kiba stood up and yelled loudly.
Ibiki chuckled sadistically but regardless of Kiba's outburst the situation was the same.
Take the question and you have a chance of passing or failing, if you fail you can't come back at take the exams ever again. But you leave now and skip the final question and then come back and try again next time,Sakura thought.
"The tenth and final question, those who don't want to take it raise your hand. We'll record your number and then you can leave" Ibiki announced and Naruto tense immediately.
Sakura had made up her mind; there was no way she was leaving. Neither was Sasuke. Both looked at each other and then at Naruto who was seated a few rows in front of the both of them. Would he stay or choose to leave?
The ninja seated next to the blonde boy stood up and raised his hand. "That's it I'm out. I can't take it. I'm sorry Genai and Inaho but I can't do it" The man exclaimed as it was announced that he and his teammates had failed.
Soon more people raised their hands, announcing they were leaving as well. Sakura stared at Naruto's back, watching to see what he would do. If he raised his hand they would leave, but be able to do it again. And that wasn't so bad really. But if they were to stay and Naruto was to fail the final question. Or any of them really, it could be herself or Sasuke that could potentially fail. But at least they had answered all the questions; Naruto most likely had not answered any given the difficulty. But all they really needed was for Naruto to pass the final question and with her and Sasuke making up the rest of the points it would be okay.
But it was a gamble, a huge gamble. Sakura had a sudden urge to raise her hand. Sasuke would hate her for it, but Naruto was just so stubborn. But she remained seating with her hand on the desk. It was his choice. As a team they would follow whatever path his choice to leave or stay would take them. She knew Sasuke would not want to be a Genin for the rest of his life, and neither would she. But the choice was down to Naruto. Whatever he chose would affect them all.
Sakura and Sasuke watched horror-struck as Naruto raised his own hand shakily.
SLAM!
The sound echoed across the room as Naruto brought his risen hand down onto the table, his eyes shining a bright blue as he addressed Ibiki.
"Don't underestimate me! I don't quit and I don't run away from a challenge. You won't scare me off this, no way! I don't care if I am a genin for the rest of my life, I'll still be Hokage someday!" Naruto yelled, sitting back down in triumph.
Hmph. Its obvious Naruto is completely clueless about the whole concept of the exam but he's still going for the final question. He's got guts, I'll give him that,Sasuke thought after watching the display.
"I probably should have seen that one coming. Of course he wasn't going to give in. Now let's hope this final question is something all of us can answer otherwise we'll be stuck as genin" Sakura smiled, slightly impressed.
Ibiki watched the outburst from the blonde boy, it had seemed that it alone had given the other candidates some backbone and despite his asking yet another time, all chose to stay.
Hmph, 78 left. That was more than I had initially expected, and they all appear to be holding strong. I believe this is it then, Ibiki thought and looked at the sentinels who all gave nods of affirmation. This was it.
"I admire your determination, and for all of you left I guess there is nothing left for me to do but to tell you that you have all passed the first exam" Ibiki said in good humour much to the disbelief of everyone else.
"Hang on, so there is no tenth question?" Sakura asked, confused.
"No there isn't, well not a written one anyway. Let's just say your decision to stay was the right answer to the tenth question" Ibiki laughed.
"Wait, so the other 9 questions were meaningless?" Temari called out, a few rows behind Sakura.
"Not exactly, the purpose of the exam was to test your ability to surreptitiously gather information in high pressure circumstances. The questions themselves were hard for the genin level to say the least. Some of you may have picked up on it earlier but the exam was essentially encouraging or even forcing you to cheat. But you needed someone to cheat from, so there were two Chunin sitting the exam who already knew the answers" Ibiki explained.
"Yeah designed to cheat we knew that from the beginning but HELL YEAH THEY WEREN'T EXPECTING GENIN TO SOLVE THE QUESTIONS WITHOUT CHEATING BUT WE DID IT!" Inner Sakura danced around victoriously and Sakura had to concede that she was pretty proud of herself.
"If you were caught, you failed. It's better not to cheat than to cheat clumsily. Information can be the most valuable weapon in a battle. Missions fail or succeed based on how well you gather intelligence" Ibiki said and pulled off his head-cloth to reveal his skull which looked seriously damaged.
His head! Scars and puncture wounds, burn marks. What he must have endured, Sakura thought in horror as Ibiki retied his head-cloth over the damage.
"Of course the intelligence you gather from an enemy is not always correct so you have to be careful of your sources. Keep that in mind. Disinformation is just as dangerous. The tenth question was designed to further test your abilities to work as part of a team – your choices before taking the question left you in a no win position. That's the kind of position Chunin are faced with almost every day" Ibiki said and continued on.
"Many missions you take as Chunin will seem suicidal but you don't think about that, you only think about the goal and using courage and strength work towards completing it with your squad. You don't get to take a pass. Those who put themselves before their teammates and their own fears before honour, they will never been Chunin. Well not as long as I have a say. You have passed through the third gate and I wish you all luck" Ibiki finished but before he could dismiss them something broke through the window.
Two kunai knives attached to a dark coloured cloth were thrown into the ceiling. As the cloth unraveled, it revealed a female ninja underneath. Twisting out from underneath the cloth, she came to an upright position in front of the candidates.
"Is this part of the test!?" Naruto yelled.
"ALRIGHT BOYS AND GIRLS LISTEN UP BECAUSE THIS IS NO TIME TO BE CELEBRATING! I'M YOUR SECOND PROCTOR ANKO MITARASHI!" The female ninja called out, the banner behind her reading these exact words.
"TIME FOR THE SECOND TEST! YOU READY? FOLLOW ME!" Anko yelled loudly and threw her fist in the air. But her entrance and words were lost on the candidates who simply stared blankly back at her. Ibiki simply shook his head and told Anko she was early, yet again.
"Ugh really, it's like the second coming of Naruto or something. What is with this lady screaming at a hundred decibels?" Sakura thought as she watched Anko recompose herself.
"How many of you guys are there? Did you let them all pass? Clearly your test is too easy." Anko said, annoyed at the number of potential Chunin left.
"Perhaps we just so happen to have a strong group of candidates this year" Ibiki replied indifferently.
"Hmph. You lot don't look strong enough, don't worry it'll all work out. By the time I'm through with you we'll be down to half of what there is now. This will be fun. You're all dismissed, I'll see you first thing tomorrow morning and I'll be sure to tell your squad leaders where you should meet me" Anko declared.
And with that Team 7 and the rest of the candidates were dismissed from the room, wondering just how much tougher this exam was going to get.