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Our seats were given in random order, placing our team apart in order to not cheat with our team members. Scanning the room, something was up. In realisation, they were testing us individually. Narrowing my eyes around, they fall upon my big brother.

He sat on the side, with a board in hand with his eyes locking with mine.

Averting my eyes from his I see Kiba a few seat in front of me, and Hinata just a few rows to the right with Naruto sitting right by her. Then Shino was on my left side, but in a different row.

With just a few sheets of paper, eraser and pencil.......my eyes furrowed in response to the questions on the sheet.

A sharp tap pierces the room against the blackboard at the front, my eyes drift up not startled by his abruptive nature, with Ibiki Morino up front.

"Everyone eyes forward, there are a few rules you need to be aware of........." He gathers our attention, as everyone follows in sync with his order. "......and I won't answer any questions, so you better pay attention the first time around!"

I've never seen him before, only heard rumours about him....and sensing his intense aura was enough to know he isn't joking one bit....

"Alright, rule number one is this......the written part of the exam is conducted on a point reduction system," he informs us, his voice loud and clear. "Contrary to what some of you maybe use too, you all begin the test with a perfect score of ten points. One point will be deducted from each answer you get wrong, so if you miss three....your final score will be seven."

My jaw slowly clenched, my eyes focusing upon the intimidating proctor.

"Rule number two, teams will pass a fail based on the total scores of all three members!"

Gasps and protests murmur across the crowd of genin, while I remain calm and collected while trying to understand these rules and end results. I trusted my team completely, never doubted them once. Never have, but this threw me off a little.

Gathering the confidence by Shiro's words a few days ago, I knew I had the upper hand of his encouraging words.

"What, wait a second!!!" Sakura raises her voice. "You're saying we all get scored as a team?!"

Ibiki glares upon her.

"Silence! I have my reasons!" He snaps sharply. "So shut up and listen! Rule number three, the centennial's you see positioned around the room are there to watch you carefully for any signs of cheating.....and for every incident they spot, they will subtract two points from the culprits score."

My eyes trails back to meet with Shiro's, seeing him giving me a dangerous upon everyone else until he meets mine. Sneaking a playful wink, I scoff quietly before facing back to the Proctor.

"Be warned, their eyes are extremely sharp," Ibiki warns us. "And if they catch you five times, you will be dismissed before the tests are even scored. Anyone fool enough to be caught cheating by the centennial's doesn't deserve to be here."

Then a centennial nearby me raises an eyebrow, "I've got my eye on you guys," he smirks, with strays of raven hair spiking everywhere with a bandage around over his nose and cheeks.

"If you wanna be considered Shinobi, then show us what exceptional shinobi can be," Ibiki challenges us, his eyes scanning across the room. "One more thing! If any candidate should get a zero, and fail the test. Then the entire team fails. The final question won't be given out til fifteen minutes before the end of the testing period. You'll have one hour total. Begin!"

Soon we all snap to our sheets before us, while I control my heart rate to ease the tension building in my head.

Taking the pencil in hand I begin to flip it through my fingers, while scanning across the questions. Spinning my pencil with my thumb and index, my eyes remain upon the papers not glancing up to face the centennial that was right near me.

Soon once my eyes have taken in the questions, I could sense the heavy tension within the room. Pencils tapping against the table, the shallow breathing could be heard in the room.

Tucking a lock of white hair behind my ear, I bit my bottom lip.

Soon I begin to tap away writing down my answers through my papers, feeling the centennial's eyes upon me for a moment. Their sharp gaze never made me waver, nor did I feel the need to glance up guilty.

My eyes discreetly glance across the classroom, seeing a few genin using their special jutsu's or kekkei genkai or whatever they had up their sleeves. Inhaling quietly, I close my eyes for a moment before getting a visible outline of someone's sheet with my sensory.

Gotcha.......!

Tapping away with my eyes still closed, I managed to get it on my paper before fluttering them open without making it noticeable. The circumstances were pretty tight, but with this intensity of security we knew we had to think more smarter than a fool would.

Soon I started to pick on their main objective to this exam, or test. They wanted us to cheat, but in order to do so we must use our moves without the other knowing our capabilities and sense of masking our true techniques.

The sound of Akamaru's whimpering or tiniest yelps, made me realise that kiba could understand him. Good thinking Kiba, that's smart.

Smirking softly I continue to listen to the sound of the tapping, or closing my eyes to get a better view of the entire classroom with my sensory technique. Yet the tension within the room thickens, already telling how hard this is to some genin already.

Soon time took it's toll upon the exam, hearing and seeing people being called out. Some were a little too obvious, and some were a little too prideful in their abilities. Swallowing thickly, I could feel Shiro's intense gaze upon me. My eyes never left the sheet before me, but the intensity was making my hand slightly shake for a moment.

Soon not long fifteen teams have been spotted and kicked out all together, seeing them leave the room.

Yet I could feel the most intimidating stare being sent my way, sensing it was the proctor trying to make me waver beneath his stare. To try and make me slip up, but I remain unfazed or nonchalant to care to glance up.

"Alright! Listen up, here's the tenth and final question!" Ibiki breaks the silence. "But before I give you the question, there are some more rules that you need to be aware of."

Soon I hear the door crack open from behind all of us, seeing that Sand shinobi stepping out who by the name is Kankuro. He furrows his eyebrows in confusion, "Huh?"

Ibiki lifts his chin up, folding his arms.

"Made it just on time, I hope you found your trip to the bathroom enlightening," Ibiki assumes, earning a grimacing smile from the sand shinobi.

"Tch, rude," I mutter.

"Well, take your seat. These rules are unique to question ten, listen carefully and try not to let them frighten you," he began, gesturing to his seat. "Very well then, rule number one....each of you was free to choose not to be given the final question. It's your decision."

"Whoa, so what's the catch?!" I hear a feminine voice calls out, recognising that voice. "Let's say we decide we don't wanna do it, what happens then?!"

"If you choose not to take the tenth question, regardless of your answers to the other nine, you'll get a zero," He replies, as my eyes widen. What sick game is he playing at? "In other words, you fail...and that means of course, both your teammates fail as well."

"Fail? Tenth question? What is it?" I mutter to myself.

"Not so fast, you didn't let me finish," Ibiki interjects, his voice stern. "If you do except the question, but answer it incorrectly, you will not only fail......you will be band from taking the chunin exam ever again!"

Is this another test of his again? or is he being legit?

Leaning forward resting my elbows against the table, my chin rests against my palm.

"Hey that's bull man, that ridiculous!"I hear Kiba snap, seeing him stand up point at Ibiki. "What kind of bogus rule is that? There's lots of people here who have taken the test before!"

Ibiki smirks before chuckling to himself.

"I guess you're just.....unlucky," he sneers, with a dark aura around him. "I wasn't making the rules before, but I am now. Of course if you don't wanna take it, you don't have too. If you're not feeling confident, then by all means skip it. You can come back and try again next year. Now then....if you're ready, the tenth and final question those who don't wanna take it raise your hand. Your number will be recorded, and you're free to go."

The lingering aura of self doubt and intimidation sets in, within the room. Knowing we need to sit and remain calm, while waiting for his last question. People were getting a little irritated, or more agitated.

"I-I'm out!" Someone calls, noticing it wasn't my teammate. "That's it, I'm out! I just can't do it, I'm sorry."

"Number fifty, fail!"

"Number one thirty, and number one ten that means you're out too!"

The boy apologises to his group quietly, before a few more place their hands up signaling that they have had enough. I notice Kiba glancing my way, before giving me a grin of encouragement. Sending him a gentle nod, he turns back around with my eyes facing the proctor.

Soon I see a hand slowly reaching up, noticing it was Naruto's. His hand was shaking, trembling even....thinking he was about to call quits. Yet from his attitude earlier, I didn't want to believe he's taking the easy route now.

*Slam*

His palm meets the desk with a loud smack, "Don't underestimate me!" He roars, as my eyes widen. "I don't quit, and I don't run! You can act tough all you want, you guys aren't gonna scare me off! No way! I don't care if I do get stuck as a genin for the rest of my life! I'll still be Hokage someday!"

Ibiki raises an eyebrow, a hint of amusement flickers within his eyes.

"This decision is one that can change your life, if for any reason you would rather quit nows your last chance," Ibiki warns everyone, giving them their last chance to surrender and try another time.

The room remains quiet, but the tension soon starts to leave.

His eyes scan across the room again, "Well then I admire your determination!" Ibiki announces. "If nothing else, for those of you remaining.....there's only one thing left to do.....and that's for me to tell you.......that you have all passed the first exam!"

We all stared at him in shock, confusion setting in.

"Wait, hold on what's just happened?!" Sakura questions. "What do you mean, we passed?! Where's the tenth question?!"

The proctor chuckles while grinning.

"There never was one, never a written one at least!" he smiles, grinning. "Actually your decision to stay was the answer to the tenth question!"

"Wait a second! So the other nine questions you gave us, were just a waste of time, is that what you're saying?!" The blonde hidden sand girl questions.

"No, no..not at all," He replies. "Quite the opposite, the first nine questions had an important over writing purpose! To test your ability to surreptitiously gather strategically intelligence, under the most adverse circumstances."

"Oh well that clears up everything," The blonde replies, bluntly in realisation.

He began to explain everything about what he was trying to gain for us, as he wanted to test us individuals but as a team and how we would function within that team. He just wanted to see if we could handle the pressure under everything, as I took in what he was explaining. It seems very fair to me, but I felt sorry for those who got scared and walked away.

"The first nine questions were difficult, in fact as you may have realised too difficult for any genin expect to solve," he explains, but why was my answers correct?

I guess my brain took in a lot about being ninja thanks to big brother, as I saw him give me a proud smile.

"I imagine that most of you quickly came to that conclusion, that you had to cheat if you had any chance of passing. The fact is, the test was designed to encourage cheating. It almost demanded it. Of course it would've done you little good unless you had someone to cheat from, so i disguised two chunin who already knew the answers and had them sit in with you. Those who were caught at it, failed. Better not to cheat, than to cheat clumsily," he began to take his band off revealing his head.

The ghastly sight, making my eyes slightly widen in response, wondering what happened.

"Information, it can be the most valuable weapon in battle. How well you gather intelligence can determine whether a missions a failure or success. They'll be times you'll have to risk your life to get it."

"Whoa, there's marks and puncture holes," I whisper, slightly angry how this world works.

"Of course you must always consider the source of your information," Ibiki continues, placing his band back on.

He shifts his eyes to one side, before shifting over.

"Intelligence gathered from an enemy is not necessary accurate. Always bear this in mind, disinformation can be worse than no information at all. It can lead to the death of comrades, or the loss of a village. That's why I put you in the position where you had to gather accurate intelligence, sheet to survive. And that's why those who were good enough at it, were weeded out. Leaving the rest of you."

"Okay, but I'm still not getting what the tenth question thing is all about," The blonde questions, as he looks at her in confusion and irritation.

"You're not? The tenth question was the main point of the whole exam," He explains. "Surely you see that?"

"Sure, but explain it anyway," Sakura asks a little impolitely.

He seems to have no regards to the situation, thinking this is some game to him. Hearing about how serious he can be, I couldn't blame him entirely.

"As I said before, the goal was to test you not only as individuals," he began, shoving his hands into his pockets.

I see now, and already reading his intentions it was clear in front of me.

"But as part of a squad, the final question gave you two choices. Both difficult. You could choose to play it safe, and skip the question though it meant that both you and your teammates would fail....." he continues on. "......Or you could try and answer it, knowing if you got it wrong you would lose your chance of ever being chunin."

So he wanted to see how strong our mindset was, our determination. Or did he just wanted to see how we would handle this, but under pressure.

"It was a no win situation, but just the sought chunin had to face everyday for example....let me give you a hypothetical mission? To steal a document from an enemy's stronghold, you have no idea how many ninja the enemy has or how heavily armed they are. Further more you have reason to be believe the enemy expects you, that you might very well be walking blindly into a trap," he places an analogy, expressing a dire situation.

"Now you have the option of taking a path and same mission, of saying my comrades and I would rather live than fight another day? Can you choose to avoid danger, no. There will be many missions that will seem also suicidal to think about it, but you do not think about it. You think only of the goal, and of achieving courage and discipline. These are the qualities required of a chunin squad leader. Those who choose the safer of two paths, those whose determination falters in the face of adversity, those who would put their comrades lives in jeopardy by worry about of their own. Those who would save their own neck of the price of sacred honour will never be able to call themselves chunin, as least as I'm here."

My eyes widen with my mind sinking further in, understanding what they wanted us to interpret.

"As for the rest of you, you have successfully answered the ten questions I put for you. You have earned the right to continue on to the next step, you have passed through the first gate. I hear-by declare this part of the chunin selection exam completed. There's nothing left but to wish you all good luck!"

"Oh right! We did it, that's one down!!!" I hear Naruto exclaim, as I smile softly with his completion.

Soon as that moment was finished, glass was sent flying that shattered instantly. A banner soon was being pegged down by kunai knives against the roof, covering the proctor in front of him.

"Heads up boys and girls this is no time to be celebrating!" I hear, seeing a woman with purple or indigo hair. "I'll be your next proctor! Anko Mitarashi. You ready for the second test? Good! Let's go, follow me!"

Everyone went silent not knowing what was going on, when Ibiki appears from behind. "You're early, again," He points out the obvious, not remembering him mentioning this next step yet.

"How many are there?" She questions him. "Ibiki, you let all these guys pass? Your test was too easy! You must be getting soft."

"Or it could be a stronger crowd of candidates this year?" Ibiki points out.

Her eyes glance across the crowd, with hands on her hips.

"Hmm they sure don't look like it," She smirks. "Trust me before I'm done with them, more than half will be eliminated."

"Huh? More than half? Really?" Sakura questions.

So were there meant to be more eliminated from this crowd? They really want to down the numbers? Damn.....

"This is gonna be fun," Anko grins, licking her lips. "A'right you maggots have had it easy so far, but things are gonna be different starting first thing in the morning. I let your squad leaders know where to meet me, class dismissed."

"Dismissed?" I question softly. "So.......we continue....."

Furrowing my eyebrows everyone stands up leaving their desks, while I stood still for a moment. Questioning our next step to our exam, I felt presence before me.

"Great job Cub, we just made it," Kiba grins widely, as my eyes widen.

He raises his hand up, making me softly smile.

"Yeah," clapping his hand in response, he clasps his hand around mine.

"We love a good challenge, don't we?"

Nodding in response, I pat little Akamaru on top of his head gently before we head back to our homes.

What will our next challenge be?