Chapter 7: Written Exam

I'm gonna cry.

I was horrible at this sort of thing. I could ace practicals blindfolded, but written tests were painful. It became apparent this would be the most painful one of all, what with the myriad of rules. Not only that, but I was getting a killer headache too.

Damn, all this nervous chakra is giving me a massive migraine- and I had to sit next to him of all people.

I glanced to my left at the redhead. Even though his chakra was probably the calmest in the room, the sheer mass of it wasn't helping any. I wondered what kind of test-taker Gaara was though. I just didn't see him as the studious type.

Probably more so than me... Yeah, I'm gonna cry. A shinobi shouldn't have to take written tests! Even if I could get one answer, Naruto certainly won't and the four of us will get kicked out on our butts!

"Now then, begin!" Ibiki announced.

Everyone flipped over their tests. I stared at mine for a few moments. I scanned number one and decided it was too hard. So, I went to number two, then three, then four, but the questions just got increasingly hard.

No one could answer these! What the hell is going on here?

I looked over the room. Others seemed to have realized how ridiculous the questions were too. Sakura wasn't having a problem and Sasuke for whatever reason seemed amused. One look at Naruto and I knew we were done for. He was the perfect picture of a nervous wreck.

I sat up in my chair. These exams were designed to be difficult, but also to test our skills as shinobi.

What's the trick here? They should know almost none of us would even understand these questions. Sakura and some others seem to know what they're doing... I'll just have to cheat! Even if I get caught doing it once, that's only two points off. It's better than getting a zero.

I pulled out the maneki neko and set it on the desk. I bit my thumb until it bled and rubbed the blood over the statue.

I hope I did that jutsu right.

I concentrated my chakra on the statue. I could feel it respond.

"Kazuki, transform— condensed!" I whispered.

The pink maneki neko statue gained light in its eyes and slowly dropped it's pose to stand on four legs. The cat rubbed against my hand and purred.

Victory!

"Go, Kazuki. Get me some answers," I commanded.

Kazuki quietly meowed. The pink feline almost jumped off the desk to do as I'd asked, but stopped short when he looked to my left. I followed his line of sight. Kazuki started to walk to my left and I blanched when I realized where he was going. The naïve cat was going to Gaara of all people for affection.

I quickly snatched Kazuki away and gestured for him to go and do as I'd told him. He huffed, but obeyed and jumped to the floor to make his way to Sakura, who seemed to be answering the questions at the speed of light.

My eyes followed Kazuki as he slowly made his way towards Sakura. I sighed. It'd take forever for him to get there and back.

Dammit, why does condensed Kazuki have to be so slow? Well, okay, I guess that's a stupid question. He's denser, so he has to be slow. Ironically, he'd be more useful in a fight than expanded Kazuki. I glanced over to Gaara. Ugh, and why did I have to pick the cat that can't tell if a person is good or not? I don't know why he thought it'd be a good idea to go to Gaara, but he would have been crushed if I hadn't grabbed him.

I felt Gaara's chakra start to move. I peered over and noticed grains of sand gathering in his hand. An eye formed in his palm. Gaara put two fingers over his left eye and crushed the one in his hand, letting the sand drift.

Clever. He made some sort of eye so he could look at someone's answers. The grains are too small to be followed and Gaara didn't even turn his head, so there's no proof that he could have cheated.

After a moment, Gaara began to write. I frowned and looked at the clock. There was still a half an hour left, but I wondered if Kazuki would be able to get back in time. Minutes ticked by and it was almost time for the tenth question when I felt Kazuki jump onto my lap. I picked him up and put a finger to his forehead.

Show me what you saw, Kazuki.

An image of Sakura's paper formed in my mind. I was glad Sakura had such neat handwriting despite putting her answers down so fast. I smiled and retracted my finger.

"Good job, Kazuki. Now, reverse!" I murmured. Kazuki posed again and lost the light in his eyes, turning back into the statue.

I better thank Teuchi and Ayame when this is over. I have no other jutsu that would help me here. I'd have been a goner.

I immediately set to work writing down the answers. I finished just as Ibiki addressed us again.

"Alright, here's the tenth question!"

Hmph, I don't even need the tenth question now. I bet most of the remaining genin won't have a high enough total score. As long as Naruto gets it right, we'll be fine.

"However," he interrupted my train of thought, "Before I give you the tenth question, I need to tell you all about some rules that apply only to this question."

WHAT?! More rules? What the hell is up with that?

Just then, the back door creaked open. I turned around to see Kankuro and one of the sentries. My eyes narrowed, the sentry had chakra suspiciously similar to Kankuro's. Ibiki told him to sit down and I refocused on the proctor.

"Here are the rules, and try not to let them scare you. Rule one, each of you can choose not to be given the question. It's the individual's decision."

And what's the catch?

Temari seemed to have the same idea and voiced it.

"Rule two, regardless of your answer to the other nine, you'll get a zero if you refuse the tenth question and your team will fail."

"Then we'd obviously take the question," I announced. "What kind of rule is that?"

"Not so fast," he replied. "Let me finish. If you do take the tenth question and answer it incorrectly," he paused, "You will be banned from taking the chunin exam and will remain a genin for the rest of your life!"

"That's bull!" Kiba yelled. "There are plenty of people here who've taken the exam before!"

"Yes, but I wasn't making the rules before. This year I am, so I guess you're just unlucky. You can still skip it and try again next year." He chuckled.

I clenched my fists, There's no way in hell I'm skipping out! I won't let his little speech scare me away! I gulped, No way! No way am I gonna let it get to me.

"Those who don't want to take it, raise your hand. Your number will be recorded and you and your team will be free to go."

A few tense moments passed before a genin stood up and bowed out. The nervous chakra was making my headache worse. A bunch of other genin followed suit and I started to wonder if they were being smart. I shook my head, a true shinobi looks threats right in the face and refuses to be scared!

I looked at each of my teammates to gauge their resolve. Sakura was rightfully confident in her ability and so was Sasuke. I gaped when I saw Naruto slowly stand up.

What's that loser doing?! What happened to never giving up, Naruto?

Naruto suddenly slammed his hand down on the desk and looked straight at Ibiki.

"Don't underestimate me! No way you're gonna scare me away! Even if I'm a genin for the rest of my life, I'll still be hokage one day! Believe it! I don't quit and I don't run!"

That's the spirit... you loser. I reluctantly realized I was actually feeling some admiration towards him. His words made me sit up straighter and I realized Naruto had the same effect on the others in the room. They all became more confident in their decision to stay. It helped my headache too as the others' chakra calmed down.

"Now's your last chance. This decision could completely alter your life."

"I never go back on my word. That's the way of the ninja," Naruto declared.

That's right. A true shinobi always finishes what they start. A true shinobi never gives up!

"Well, I admire your determination if nothing else. Now, there's only one thing left to do, and that's for me to tell you," he paused dramatically, "Congratulations, you've all passed."

I blinked stupidly for a moment, Say what now?

"What do you mean we passed?" Sakura stood up, "Where's the tenth question?"

"The decision to stay or leave was the tenth question," Ibiki started to explain. "The rest of the questions were to test your ability to gather accurate information under extreme circumstances. I wanted to see how you'd handle the pressure of knowing your team was depending on you to get the correct answers."

"Yeah, I knew it all along. That's why I kept my cool," Naruto nodded. Hinata giggled beside him.

He really didn't know this whole time? Jeez, that loser is such an idiot. I hadn't realized the purpose either, but at least I knew I needed to cheat!

"The first nine questions were made to be too difficult for a genin. That's why I asked some chunin who already knew the answers to sit in with you all."

Two boys raised their hands. I noticed one was sitting directly in front of Naruto. My eye twitched as I thought about Naruto's idiocy. Naruto seemed to realize he should've had it easy too.

Yep, admiration over. Time to go back to him being a stupid loser.

"Yeah," he laughed nervously, "You had to be a complete doofus to not realize that!"

"Those who were caught were failed. It was better not to cheat than to cheat clumsily. Such bad attempts could lead to false information in the field. False information can be even more dangerous than none at all. There'll be times you'll have to risk your life to get accurate information." Ibiki removed his bandana. Most of the class gasped at the sight of his marked up head.

There are a bunch of scars and even puncture wounds and burns. This guy has some real battle scars right there. I tugged at my turtleneck.

"And what about the tenth question?" Temari asked.

"You don't get it? The tenth question was the most important part."

"Enlighten us, will ya?" I told him.

"A chunin will face life and death situations. Their team may go on a mission with almost no information and even suspect the enemy is expecting them. So, what do you choose: to fight another day and stay alive or continue on? A real chunin needs the courage to face these missions. You must think only of the goal. That was the point of the tenth question. Those who would save themselves for the sake of honor don't deserve to be chunin."

A shinobi needs to have courage. A shinobi should never back down!

"You have all earned the right to continue on. I hereby declare this part of the exam completed. All of you have passed."

"Alright! We did it!" Naruto jumped up and down with a grin on his face. I rolled my eyes, but smiled nonetheless.

I felt a new chakra approach right as a woman with purple hair in a ponytail came crashing through the window with a banner. It read, "The Second Proctor: Anko Mirashi."

"Heads up! This is no time for celebrating! I'm your next proctor, Anko Mirashi. Ready for the second test?" She didn't wait for a response, "Good! Let's go! Follow me!"

Ibiki peeked out from behind the banner. "You're early. Again."

Anko blushed. I face-palmed at her antics. She looked around the room.

"Ibiki, you let all these guys pass? You're going soft."

"Or there's just an exceptional crop of candidates this year," he countered.

"Either way," Anko smirked, "There'll be less than half when I'm done with them!"

My eyes widened, Less than half? Is the next exam going to be that extreme? There are, what, 29 teams left? Will more than 15 teams fail the next test? Chakra in the room spiked and my headache was back full-force. I gripped my head and groaned. I felt Gaara's eyes on me for a half-second.

"This is gonna be fun. You maggots have had it easy so far, but things are gonna be different starting first thing in the morning. I'll let your squad leaders know where you're to meet me. Dismissed."

I sighed in relief. The concentration of chakra was getting to be too much for me. I cursed my sensitivity.

Standing up, I followed the other genin outside and met up with Team 7.

"Well, that was dramatic," I noted. "I'm not even sure which part of that test was worse, the massive headache or the fact that I could've just slept through the damn thing until the tenth question."

"Headache?" Sakura said. I nodded.

"Yeah, so much nervous chakra in one room was too much. I need to work on my sensitivity to chakra, that's for sure." Naruto was still grinning like a maniac and jumping around like a monkey, "Now, though, our priority is being rested and ready for the next test. You losers better bring your game tomorrow."

Sasuke smirked, "That goes for you too, Haruka. Don't drag us down."

"I won't as long as you won't drag me down. I'm unstoppable."

"Let's hope we all are," Sakura mumbled.