My Promise

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. TT

Chapter 2

They looked shocked. Hundred Genins of all ages filled the room.

"I don't believe my eyes…" Sakura was the first one to voice her thoughts. Sasuke didn't say anything and Takeru was silent for once. Suddenly they heard a voice: "Sasuke, you're finally here!"

The next moment, a girl hugged him from behind. Her hair was a very light blond and she had bright blue eyes.

"Ino-pig, stop hugging Sasuke, he's mine." The furious undertone in Sakura's voice could be heard quite clearly. But the only reaction of the other girl was a confident smile and a sarcastic replay: "oh, isn't that our dear Sakura-with-the-big-front? Which is of course as charming as ever…"

While Sakura almost boiled from anger, Ino just smile sweetly and hugged Sasuke even harder.

"WHAT?!"

Takeru just looked between the two of them and shacked his head amused. But the argument was interrupted by some new arrived people.

"Why are we doing this exam, its clearly suicide?" The owner of the voice was a boy of their age. Takeru bounced over to them: "Look who's here, the stupid trio, Team 10…"

The boy answered, just as lazy as before: "Don't calls us that!"

But this just brought a grin to Takeru's face. Next to the boy, stood his teammate, also a boy who was busy with eating a bag of chips as fast as possible, or so it seemed. The argument between the two girls just went on, seemingly uninterrupted by the whole encounter.

"What a surprise, to see you here all gathered…" A new team arrived, one of two boys and one girl. The boy who'd spoke carried a little dog with him. Behind him stood the girl, almost hiding after him, with completely white-eyes. She was incredibly shy and her voice was barely above a whisper: "Don't mind Kiba, I don't think he meant it that way…"

The other boy towered over her and wore dark glasses, Team 8 has arrived.

Absolutely uninterested Yué glanced at the meeting. She and her teammates sat somewhere in the back of the classroom. Looking at all the events taking place. Naruto yawned and stretched his limbs and Aine almost bounced on her chair.

At the door new things took place, Kabuto came to the noisy group to lecture them and was attacked by the three Sound-nin. And finally it began.

The door shattered and a group of Leaf Chuunin, each holding clipboards, appeared with a loud –BANG-: "Quiet down, worthless bastards!"

In front of the group stood a man in a black jacket with a big scar that went from his forehead till his chin: "Thanks for waiting, I'm Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the Chuunin exam's first test…Hidden Sound guys, stop doing as you please before the exam. Do you want to fail already?"

The Sound-nin apologized and backed down. All the participants sat down at the place with the correct number and the examiner continued, while the tests were placed face down on the desk: "This is going to be a theoretical test and there are many rules in it. First rule: you will start off with ten points. Each question is worth one point and the test subtraction system, basically if you get all ten questions right, you will keep your ten point, you miss three, you will end up with seven points. Second rule: rather you pass or fail will depend on combined points of your teammates. And the third rule, and the most important: "if anyone is caught doing any sneaky activity naming cheating, will have two points subtracted from every offence. As shinobi trying to reach the Chuunin level, you should act like a proud shinobi. The tenth question will be asked 45minutes from now. And the last rule: those of you who loses all their initial points will fail along with the other members of the team. Begin!"

Directly everyone began with reading the questions. The Chuunin spread them through the room, looking closely for possible cheaters. Some the participants looked nerves around, completely overwhelmed by the difficult questions. Other were writing furiously. And some sat completely motionless, secretly doing jutsu's to find the answers to the questions, and some who did, were disqualified by the watching Chuunin.

Takeru looked around nervous, after reading the questions, he couldn't answer even a single one. The first was a cryptogram, a message in code, and it as incredibly hard. Slowly sweat gathered on his forehead and he felt like he in a volcano or something. Suddenly he understood, the purpose of the test was to cheat, but without getting caught, so it wasn't really a test for your intelligence, but for your ability to gather information stealthy. Under the table he made some hand seals and he felt his senses sharpening. Within no time he completed the exam.

While Takeru was busy, the others did the same: Gaara created an eye out of sand, Akamaru, Kiba's little dog, barked the answers to Kiba, Shino sent out some of his bugs to for the answers in the air, Tenten used a construction of threads and mirrors to copy the test from the prison in front of her and lets Lee copy them, Kankuro used his puppet and gave the answers to Temari, Dosu listens to the sound that the person in front of him is making, copying the number, rhythm and order of the pencil strokes, Ino used her Mind-Body-Switch on Sakura to read her answers and her teammate Choji to give him the correct answers, Neji used his Byakugan, just like Hinata and Sasuke his Sharingan.

"It sure is boring without my team…The missions willhave to wait." Kakashi sat lazily on his chair, holding some sake. Then Asuma spoke up: "Don' worry, you'll be busy again soon…"

Kakashi sat up curiously: "Why's that?"

"I heard that the examiner for the first test is Morino Ibiki." Drawled Asuma lazily, while smoking.

"Not that sadist…" on Kakashi's face appeared something that resembled irritation, "Passing the first test may be difficult for them…"

Kurenai spoke up, bewildered: "Sadist?"

"Kurenai, you're a new Jounin so you probably don't know…" Asuma stopped speaking.

"Who's he?" Asked she, just as confused as before.

"A pro…" drawled Asuma.

"A pro, …Of what?"

Asuma inhaled deeply once again: "Torture and interrogation…and well, there may not be physical torture while taking a test, but… but they must be experiencing mental suffering brought by his interrogation skills."

Exactly 45 minutes later Ibiki spoke up once again: "There have 45 minutes passed, I will now give the final question, but there is a special rule for this question. You'll have an option whether to take it or not."

"What happens if we choose not to?" The Sand-nin girl, Temari, in the back asked.

"Then your current points will be reduced to zero and you and your teammates will fail. But here is the special rule, if you decide to answer the tenth question, and answer incorrectly, that person will lose the right to ever take the Chuunin selection exam again!"

The whole classroom erupted in whispers and the boy with the dog, Kiba protested loudly: "What kind of stupid rule is that?! There are guys here who have taken the exam before, why can't we…"

But he was interrupted directly by Ibiki: "Look kid, you guys were unlucky, this year I make the rules and you will just have to accept that. But I am giving you a way out: those that aren't confident can choose not to take it…and try again next year. If you do try to answer the next question, and you answer incorrectly, to bad, you'll never be able to take another Chuunin exam again, if you answer the question right then you'll move on to the next round. Those that do not wish to take it, raise your hand. Once your number is confirmed, leave."

"I'm sorry, guys, but I don't want to take that risk…" A boy in the middle of the room stood up, closely followed by his teammates, and left the room. And three by three the room began to empty. Eventually there were only 28 teams were left.

Sakura looked at Takeru worriedly, he was always acting like a fool who only knows one thing, his dream to become a Hunter-nin, to revenge his mother who was killed by missing-nins. 'I'm sorry Takeru…that impossible dream of yours…I don't want to see it crushed.' Slowly she began to raise her hand.

Asuma continued: "Ibiki knows the human mind completely, that's what makes him scary. By attacking their mind, he can gain control over their spirit. The person's weaknesses all float to the surface. You can't escape his interrogation."

Sakura stopped halfway 'Takeru!'

Slowly and shaking his hand went up. Sakura could only look shocked, just like Sasuke and Hinata. He was crushing his own dream?!

The boys hand went up, slowly, but suddenly he slammed his hand down, on the table: "DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME! I WILL MOT RUN! I WILL TAKE IT AND EVEN I AM A GENIN FOREVER! I WILL MYSELF TO BECOME A HUNTERNIN ANYWAY? SO I DON'T CARE! I'M NOT AFRAID!!"

Next to his, Hinata smiled softly. Sasuke smirked 'He wasn't thinking about us at all…What guts…' and Sakura smiled 'Yeah, you're that kind of idiot.'

"I'll ask you again, your life is riding on this decision, this is your last chance." Ibiki looked around, but nobody stood up or left the room, the nervous atmosphere had disappeared with Takeru's words. 'Interesting kid, he blasted away everyone's worries. 84 left…more than I expected…stretching this any longer won't make any difference.' He smirked and spoke once again: "Good decisions, now, to everyone still remaining…I congratulate you on passing the first test!"

Various levels of shock and joy could be seen in the room

"And what about the tenth question?"

"There never was such a thing, or you could say that those two choices were the tenth question."

Aine screamed: "Hey, then what were the first nine questions for? They were pointless then!"

Ibiki smiled: "They were not pointless, they had already served their intended purpose. And that was to test your individual information gathering ability."

While Ibiki continued with explaining what the purpose of the first test: to be able to take decisions, that information was important and when not, and that you always have to take chances, but the speech was rudely interrupted when a large object flew through the window and two kunai imbedded them self in the wall. A large, black curtain unfolded itself. In big, white letters stood written:

'The second test

Examiner: Anko Mitarashi'

A tall woman stood before the curtain, an arrogant smirk on her face: "This is no time for celebrating, kids! I'm Anko Mitarashi, I'm the examiner of the second test, so no time to lose, let's go! Follow me!"

Everybody is speechless, except Ibiki, who appears from behind the curtain: "Calm yourself and look at the room…"

"WHAT? 84 participants? You let 28 teams pass, Ibiki? The first test was too easy this time!"

But Ibiki just smiles: "This time there are a lot of outstanding ones…"

"Bah, that's fine, I'll at least cut them in half in the second test."

The whole room gulped nervous, at least in half, cut us?!

"Ahhh…I'm getting excited…I'll explain everything once we've changed placed, follow me.

Aine bounced next to Naruto, who was jus as exited as she. Their excided conversation could be heard by whole the group. Next to them, Yué was her stoic self, although a small smile could be seen, amused by her teammates. Some of the others are talking just as much, while others were nervous. Eventually they reached their destination: an area with gigantic trees.

Anko began to speak again: "This is area #44, dubbed 'The Forest of Death', here is the second test taking place. It's called that way, because of it's vicious nature."

She looked full expectation around her. The participants were whispering softly, except for one: "Do you really think you're scaring us, it isn't really working, you know!"

It was Naruto; his sarcastic command relieved the tension. Anko smirked wickedly. A strange glance in her eyes could tell everybody, she was up to something. The next moment she grabbed a kunai, threw it and disappeared. The kunai imbedded itself harmless in the ground, in the middle of a group of shinobi's wearing large hoods. Anko appeared behind Naruto, only to meet the shuriken of Naruto's teammate, Yué, only it wasn't in the form of a star, but in the form of a moon. The silver blade sparkled wickedly in the light. But also Anko held her Kunai too Naruto's throat. A thin line of blood appeared on Anko's cheek.

"Oh, cool, checkmate, how nice!" Aine giggled and bounced even more. Everyone did a double take, that girl became even more hyper, even when one of her teammates was in danger by a superior and her other teammate threatened that superior.

"Well, it seems she's right…" drawled Anko. And in a movement to fast to be seen, she grabbed another kunai. Next to her, another person had appeared. Their kunai's clashed, kunai against kunai, hand against tongue.

The new arrived man began to speak: "Your kunai…"

Anko smiled: "Oh, why thank you …But you know, don't sneak up behind me…unless you want to die…"

The tongue disappeared again in the mans mouth: "No..I just get excited when I see red blood… and plus, I let myself be carried away when you cut some of my precious hair…"

Hinata gulped, a tiny squeak came over her lips, her teammates gulped. Just like all the other participants.

The examiner spoke up once again: "Sorry for your hairs…It seems we've got some passionate, blood thirsty ones in this test, this should be fun, good, before we start the second test, ther's something I have to pass out."

With those words there appeared some papers in her hands: "You must sign these agreement forms, there will be deaths in this one…and if you don't sign these, it will all be my responsibility…"

Anko smiled pleasantly. "I'm going to explain the second test, then you can sign afterwards and then each team will check in at that booth behind me. I explain the second test: simply put, you will attempt the ultimate survival. First I'll explain the area in which it will take place. Around practice arena no.44 are 44locked gates. Forest, river and a tower in the center. From the gates to the tower is about 10km. You'll have to reach to tower in the center of the forest, and to get there you must make your way through treacherous forests, winding rivers, all swarming with giant animals and poisonous plants. Al right, to begin, there are no rules, second, battle scroll, you will fight over two scrolls. There are two types of scrolls: the Heaven scroll and the Earth scroll. There are 84 people here, meaning 28 teams. Half, 14, will get the 'Heaven scroll' and the other 14 teams will each get the 'Earth scroll'. Each team to collect either the Heaven or Earth scroll, depending on which one you will start with, so, in to pass this test, you have to collect both scrolls and make your way to the tower."

Yue frowned: "So 14 teams will lose their scrolls, half of the teams will definitely fail."

Anko began once again: "But there is a limit, this second test will only last 120 hours, or exactly five days."

All the Genins were shocked, but some showed is more then others: "Five days?!!!"

To say is lightly, Ino was shocked, just like Choji: "And what about dinner?!"

She smirked: "You're on your own, the forest is full of food, just watch out for man-eating beasts, poisonous insects, poisonous plants…and 14 teams passing is not likely. As the days go on, the distance to the goal will become farther, and the time to rest will become shorter. And the area is crawling with enemies, you won't get much sleep. So not only will some fail by losing the scroll…but some will die from the harshness of the course…Now I'll talk about what will disqualify you. First: those that don't make it to the tower with both scrolls within the time limit, second: those who lose a teammate or those who have a teammate killed… Now as rule: there is no quiting in the middle, if you stat, you'll be in the forest for five days. And one more rule: you must not look inside the scroll until you make it to the tower."

Takeru frowned: "What happens if you do?"

"That will be a surprise for anyone who does. A Chuunin will be asked to handle classified information. This is to test your reliability. That's it for the explanations, exchange the 3 forms for your scroll, then choose a gate to get ready for the start…A final word of advise…don't die."

"What a pep talk, now I feel really confident…" Aine smirked. Next to her stood Yué, who was filling in the forms. She rolled her eyes: "I sure that wasn't the meaning of the whole speech, now shut up and fill in your forms, we don't have all day, you know."

Behind them the curtain of the booth opened: "It's about time to exchange for the scrolls."

One by one the teams entered and disappeared behind the black curtain. That was placed there so you couldn't tell which team got which scroll or who on the team was carrying it. It was like Ibiki said, in this test we will risk our lives fighting for information. Everyone is an enemy, everyone here is determined, there will be killing.

Anko stood behind them 'Hehe…the meaning of signing that form, looks like they understand…'

"Everyone, follow an instructor and go to your gates. We will start in 30 minutes!"

Gate 27

Team 10 stood nervous before the gate. Choji was stuffing hid mouth with chips. Ino paced before the gate and Shikamaru looked lost in thoughts.

Gate 16

Team 8 stood close together. Kiba was talking to Hinata: "Hinata, don't go soft on us. Survival is our speciality."

Shino stood silent next to them, not showing any emotion.

Gate 20

The Sound Nins stood before the gate. Not a single word was spoken.

Gate 12

Team 7 stood before the gate. Takeru bounced before the gate, annoying his teammates: "OK, I wont lose. I'll kick anyone's ass who gets near me!"

Sakura sweatdropped, and Sasuke was still his stoic self.

Gate 6

The Sand-nins stood together silently. Temari and Kankuro looked nervous at the third member, Gaara. Afraid for the five days with them.

Gate 38

Kabuto and his team wore confident smirks, they oblivious weren't nervous.

Gate 15

The mysterious Grass-nin trio sat together.

"That makes the things easier…we're allowed to kill from here on…"

"Yeah…so first we'll go after the rookies."

Gate 41

Team 9 stood silently together. Neji and Tenten were quiet, reflecting the purpose of the test. Lee was his strange self 'Gaï-sensei, I'll do my best!'

Gate 44

Yue, Naruto and Aine stood together, not saying a word. Their faces traded messages, faster and more effective than words could do.

Slowly the minutes tickled by. Anko screamed again: "The second test of the Chuunin exam…NOW BEGINS!"

The doors opened and everyone entered area #44. the second part of the exam had now officially begun.

tbc

Hey, thanks for reading the 2d (or 3d) chapter of my story.

Review please puppydogeyes

I'm sooooooo sorry for the long wait, but I had a writers block.

For the Uchiwa-Uchiha fault, I have the French manga version and in those it's Uchiwa, so its not really my fault.

Also I want to thank the reviewers for their help and/or support.

A little warning, my exams begin the 8th December, so it will take a while to update, sorry.