Name: Yamanaka Ino

Age: 17

Grade: 11

Class: Biology

Mark:

Yamanaka Ino looked down onto the test sheet she was filling out, contemplating on how to answer the blank clearly labeled, "Mark". How was she supposed to know what her mark was going to be? Was she supposed to estimate how well she'd do out of 100 skill-testing, brain-blowing questions? Were they really giving her that question?

Or was it just a trick?

Maybe she was thinking too hard... Either way, she shook her head and wrote on the side of the paper, not daring to fill it out until she had a good look at the questions.

Hopefully good enough to pass.

With a smile, she flipped past the first page, excited as to see what the test would include, what she would need to know, and what type of questions were there for her to answer.

She'd never been a whiz at Biology like Sakura was, but Ino was sure that she could do decent on it. Of course she wouldn't be the lowest of the class; that was always Naruto. That had been his spot for the last semester or two, only being taken over once when Akamichi Chouji had entered their Algebra class; who knew a kid could get straight 0s for a whole term?

But looking at the questions typed elegantly onto the page in bold print, she could feel her smile fading, the panic welling up inside her as her mind screamed, "You don't know these!"

Because she didn't. None of the things the questions asked seemed to make any sense to the teen. How was she supposed to know how to answer the questions when the facts weren't even in her brain?

Had she not studied enough? Had she been asleep that class...? No, Ino never fell asleep in class; it was too hard to! The teacher was just too damn hot, and she could never fall asleep without thinking that she'd make a fool of herself in front of him!

Besides, she got enough sleep as it was, clocking in at nine in the evening and awaking at eight the following day. A good eleven hours of sleep each night, and still she couldn't answer these questions! Was she the only one?

Quickly, her blue eyes scanned the surroundings, looking at each student as if he were a time bomb about to explode. She didn't want to get yelled at for attempting to cheat, did she? No, this was just a quick inspection... "Oh, don't worry sir, I'll be out of here in no time. Just came to see how everything was."

What she saw shocked her to her wits end. Everyone was writing down fervently, looking as if they knew exactly what the answer was to each and every little question, faces smug with their own self satisfaction. That panic welling inside her chest was only heightened when she seen that blond idiot, Uzumaki Naruto, putting his pencil to the paper with his tongue halfway out of his mouth; the signature look he had when he knew he had the answer right.

Her heart began to pound harder in her chest, threatening to break through her rib cage with each staggering beat it made. Her eyes grew wide and her hands began to sweat uncontrollably, releasing out the water she had inhaled earlier this morning, when she nearly missed her bus. Luckily she caught it, lest she wouldn't be here now.

Here, worrying over the outcome of this gruesome test.

Uzumaki Naruto looked at the writing, giving a soft chuckle at what he saw on the back of the paper. He didn't know any of these. Hell, he hadn't been awake in class half the time, let alone studied! There were a lot of blank spots, he noticed, so he decided not to let the space go by wasted. Sticking out his tongue in concentration, he put his pencil to paper and began drawing a large dinosaur, its tongue drooping out in a comic fashion.

He turned to see if anyone was looking at him, only to meet the frantic eyes of his classmates for a mere second. It was only a few milliseconds, but Naruto could tell that Yamanaka Ino was panicked and frightened, like she was a small child who had just awaken from a terrible nightmare. And he'll admit; he felt bad for her for a good second or two, seeing her with those wide eyes and pale face. But it was only a second, until he remembered how much of a bitch she was to him, always insulting him and mocking him for things that didn't matter. So he went back to drawing.

The blond boy was completely out of it during the test. He didn't care about marks; he already knew what would happen! He'd bomb this test like always, yet Iruka-sensei would give him a makeup project to do that would be as easy as breathing, and he'd pass that.

It was always the same. Iruka-sensei was too kind. He always let Naruto get away with stuff like that, just because he didn't want to see the idiot failing Biology and getting held back a year.

Then again, Iruka also didn't want him to fail Algebra, Geography, or any other of his classes. Which was why, Naruto though, Iruka bribed them into giving Naruto those extra assignments.

Yep, in his eyes, Iruka-sensei was his savior, his best friend, the one who looked out for him even though it could cost him his job.

With a swipe of his hand, he finished off the top of the dinosaurs head, his drawing resembling... Nothing close to what he wanted to draw. He was never good at creating things out of lines. Typical for him; He was never good at anything. Naruto was told that day after day, that he failed at everything he tried. But he tried nonetheless, which always seemed to get him the marks he needed to pass his classes. Albeit, with a 58, but that didn't matter. Not to him. He wasn't like Haruno Sakura, who based brains completely on your mark in school. Nor was he like Nara Shikamaru, who was a secret genius. And he definitely, by no means, was like Uchiha Sasuke, the coolest smart guy you could find anywhere.

He liked it like this, though, being different. Naruto knew that he'd never want to be similar to anyone, because then he wouldn't be "Naruto". He'd never have that certain characteristic that made him an Uzumaki.

He also knew that no one else could copy his certain charm. That charm that got him friends and some admirers. That hard headed determination, the unwavering optimism that seemed to always be in his life.

With a smile, he read the last question on the test – well, he supposed it was a statement, if what little he knew of his Language class was correct – and couldn't help but look at Yamanaka Ino again. Seeing her delicate hands pulling at free flowing blond hair, he began to laugh. Wasn't she stressing out over nothing. If only she would be like him, always starting at the back of the book...

This test is a joke. Relax. Take a deep breath. You've passed.

At the moment he reread the 100th question (statement, he reminded himself), he wondered if others had read it.

With a shrug, he smiled again and continued to draw.

Let them figure it out themselves.

Fifteen minutes had passed since the beginning of the test, yet she was still as stressed out now as she was at the beginning. These questions were hard, she knew, and there would be no way of her passing.

Goodbye, C-! I'll welcome a D instead...

With a sigh, her head hit the desk, a loud sound sent echoing through the small room they sat in. It was hopeless, she knew, yet she still couldn't help but feel like there was still something small, something still left to do on this test.

Oh. Right. It hit her immediately as she flipped to the front of the book, staring at that one empty blank with angry, hateful eyes. It was like that one word was mocking her, those four letters suddenly as sharp as daggers, stabbing into her eyes and sending wave after wave of pain and anguish into her body.

Mark:

With a shaking hand, she attempted to put pen to paper, struggling with herself to admit defeat to such a difficult object, a thick group of papers that seemed to be casting a horrible spell over her. But it was just paper, and she was just an idiot. That was it, she told herself. That was what was happening. This paper wasn't really a paper, but a sorcerer in disguise! A frightening wizard capable of bending her emotions and making her stupid! Of course, she thought, she wasn't really this dumb! Of course she really knew the answers! It was just the paper-wizard getting his revenge on the world for turning him into paper. Ino just happened to be the closest one to feel his terrible wrath.

Taking a deep breath, she wrote down her answer to that one last question, admitting her defeat finally, unable to bare with the wrath any longer.

Mark: Worse than Naruto. That's saying something.