"That's bull, man! What kind of crappy rule is that?! There are plenty of people who've taken the test before!" Kiba yelled, his dog Akamaru yipping from on top of his head. Ibiki's laugh echoed throughout the silent room.

"I guess you're just unlucky. You see, I wasn't making the rules before, but now I am." he explained, looking right at the dog owner. "If you aren't feeling confident, you can skip it and take it again next year.

It was obvious that a lot of teams were getting discouraged, even Naruto's team. As confident as the rookies were when they came in, it didn't seem likely that they would even think about giving up. They didn't seem too sure about themselves anymore.

"Alright, if you don't want to take the 10th question, raise your hand now. Your number will be recorded and then you can leave." he assured the crowd of remaining Genin.

"What could this tenth question be?! What if the question is easy? What if it's not?!" Naruto worried, contemplating what he should do. "If I take it and get it wrong, i'll be a Genin the rest of my life! But if I dont take it... If I skip it, what will the others say?! I can't let them down!" he thought frantically, still unsure.

One boy raised his hand in defeat, muttering "That's it, i'm out. I can't do this, i'm sorry."

"Number 50, fail!" he and his two teammates stood up and walked out of the room without another word. Suddenly, hands started shooting up all around the room. They couldn't handle the pressure, or the chance at never ranking up, so they decided to just quit. One after the other, the teams put down their pencils and walked out of the room in defeat.

Arisa glanced around the room, waiting to see if anyone on her team decides to quit. She looked over and her sister, who just crossed her arms and shook her head. Then she looked behind her in Kyo's direction, and he just gave her a thumbs up. She smiled and turned back to the front, confident in her decision.

As surprising as it was, Naruto was the one person left who raised a shaky left hand. He really seemed to be struggling with the choice, based on his pained expression. His teammates seemed the most surprised by this because they knew just how stubborn he was.

He sat there for a few moments silently with his hand raised, before a loud slam echoed through the tense air. Everyone glanced over and saw that it was Naruto, who'd slammed his hand hard onto the table, a sudden air of confidence radiating from him.

"Don't underestimate me! I dont back down and I won't run away!" he yelled. "Act tough all you want! You aren't going to scare me away! I don't care if I get stuck as a Genin for the rest of my life," he stood up and looked the proctor right in the eye, a serious expression on his face. "I'll still be Hokage someday!"

"This decision is one that could change your life. If for any reason you want to to quit, now is your last chance." Ibiki warned, but he knew that wasn't going to change the blonde's mind.

"No way, I never go back on my word. That's the way of the ninja." he replied confidently.

"Hm, remarkable. He's given the others some backbone, inspired them into staying." he surveyed the room again, but it was obvious that every one else was confident in their decision.

"Well then, I admire your determination. I guess there's only one thing to do now, and that's for me to tell you..." with a grin on his face, the scarred older male stepped forward. "That you all passed the first exam."

"Hey Blondie, wait up!" Naruto and his teammates turned around just in time to see Arisa rushing over.

"Hey Arisa! Congrats on passing!" he greeted with a wide smile.

"Same to you guys! So, do you all wanna get some ramen? It's my treat." she didn't have the chance to say anything else, because the blonde knucklehead hugged her tightly, screaming "Thank you!" over and over in her ear. Sakura and Kyo agreed to go with, but Sasuke and Saeko declined and went back to their homes.

"Welcome!" the friendly old man greeted. They all took seats on the stools and Arisa pulled some money from her pocket, handing him enough to cover their food. "Four bowls coming up!" he took out four clean bowls and started cooking the noodles.

"So, you guys ready for the next exam?" the brown-haired girl asked, and both of the rookies grinned.

"Of course! It's gonna be a piece of cake!" the blonde boy cheered, throwing a fist into the air. She couldn't help but laugh a bit at how pumped he was.

"The next exam is pretty tough, actually."

"Sure is. We didn't even pass it last year." Kyo added to his teammates statement, and Sakura blinked in surprise.

"You guys took the exam last year?" the brunette nodded in reply to her question. She was about to reply, but stopped when the food arrived. She thanked the man as he put their steaming bowls of noodles in front of them, before smiling at the three other Genin. They sat and enjoyed their ramen, discussing the exam as they ate.

Once they finished eating, the four of them left the ramen shop and started walking again. The giant yellow sun was beginning to sink behind the pink-orange sky, signalling that it was time for everyone to head home. They said their goodbyes to one another and went their seperate ways.

"This place is really creeping me out..." Sakura whined, staring up at the tall wire fence that separated the Genin from their next test site. The proctor, Anko, just smiled mischeviously at the young ones.

"You should be. This place is called the Forest of Death, and you'll soon find out why." while the pink haired kunoichi shivered at the thought of entering the forest, Naruto just scoffed, mocking the older woman.

"You won't scare me one bit! Do your worst!" he challenged, and she smirked at the blonde.

"Oh really? Looks like we've got a tough guy here." with extreme speed, she pulled out and threw a kunai, grazing the blonde boy's cheek and almost hitting another Genin. Almost instantly, she appeared behind the boy.

"Can you handle this? You're not scared, are you?" she teased, using her finger to wipe away some of the blood on his cheek. "Tough guys like you usually leave their blood all over this forest." the boy look genuinly uncomfortable now, and Arisa couldn't help but smirk as she watched the scene from a few feet away.

"Maybe he'll learn before shooting his mouth off during these exams." the girl thought, shaking her head.

Something seemed to startle Anko, because she pulled out another kunai and turned around at top speed just in time to find a grass ninja standing behind her, holding the proctor's kunai with her long tongue.

"I was... just returnung your knife." the Grass nin explained innocently.

"Thank you Grass ninja." though she smiled, she couldn't help but be suspicious of the Genin. She couldn't quite tell what it was, but there was something...off, about her.

A few seconds passed but neither one made any attempt to move away. The whole group of Genin seemed rather tense about the situation, and Anko finally got sick of it. "You know, you should only stand behind me like that if you want to reach a premature end." with that, she took the kunai from the girl, the long tongue retracting back into it's owner's mouth.

"My pardon. With the sight of blood and your blade slicing through my hair..." she laughed a bit as she explained, "I'm afraid I just got a little... excited. I meant you no harm."

The Grass ninja finally retreated back to join her group, the proctor smiling as she watched her walk away. "Hm, seems like every body is pretty quick-tempered. There must be something in the air."

After the incident with the Grass ninja, Anko returned to her original spot and started explaining what was expected to pass the test. Each Genin was given a release form, which they had to read and sign to recieve a scroll. They had exactly five days to fight other teams and obtain the scroll they were missing, then return to the tower for the next test. It was an anything goes survival test, something more than half of the teams weren't expected to survive.

"Alright, you maggots! The second part of the test has begun!" Anko exclaimed, and the sentinels opened each individual gate. The Sasaki twins and Kyo wasted no time, rushing through their gate and into the Forest of Death. "There's no way we're gonna fail this time around!" Arisa stated confidently, following her twin sister's lead as they jumped from branch to branch.

"You'd better hope that you're right." Saeko replied, not bothering to look back at her teammates.

After about ten minutes of running, the group of Genin decided to stop at a safe spot to figure out a plan for obtaining an Earth Scroll. Saeko already had the whole thing planned out, it seemed. She told them that they'd all have to split up and look for teams that they'd be able to get scrolls from.

"We meet right here before nightfall, understood?" Saeko asked, and both teammates just nodded in reply. It was a pretty solid plan so no one was gonna even try to argue with it. "Good. Now go!" with that, the three Genin scattered in seperate directions to complete their mission

Team 7 was making their way through the forest, discussing an action plan, when a blood-curtling scream stopped them in their tracks. "T-that sounded like someone screaming." she turned to look at her teammates, a bit nervous. "I do not like this place." she told them, and Naruto just laughed

"Oh come on, it's nothing to be scared of! It's gonna be a piece of cake!" he insisted. His face twisted in discomfort, and he rushed over to the nearest tree. "Excuse me, but I need to-" he tried to explain, but Sakura knew exactly what he was doing.

"Go find a bush or something that's not by me!" the kunoichi yelled at him, giving him a hard punch in the head.

When Naruto came back from his little bathroom break a few minutes later, he was bragging about something stupid. Sakura, as usual, found something to complain about. Sasuke came up behind the blonde and kicked him a few feet back, into a tree.

"Don't you think you're going a little overboard?" Sakura asked with a confused look on her face.

"Yeah, what the heck was that for?" Naruto asked, rubbing where Sasuke's foot made contact with his face. He got no reply from his teammate, only another blow to the face.

"Better watch out, Sakura. I think he's gone crazy!" he warned the pink-haired girl.

"Yeah, right. I just struck before you could!" the Uchiha retorted, taking out a kunai.

"Fine, bring it!" the two went at each other, the metal of their kunai clashing together as they fought. Sakura, who was still very confused by what was going on, look to Sasuke.

"Please stop this, Sasuke. What are you doing?!"

"Take a close look at him!" he insisted, still glaring at the blonde ninja. "Now, spill it! What have you done with the real Naruto?!" he demanded.

"I am the real Naruto!"

"Then where's the cut on your cheek?!" he asked, and the other boy's blue eyes widened in surprise, as if he hadn't been aware of that injury. "I guess you didn't know that the real Naruto got a cut on his cheek before the test! And also, the real Naruto is right handed! Now, who are you?"

"You got me, so what? I'm still going to take your scroll!" Smoke appeared out of nowhere, engulfing the ninja in a cloud of thick fog. When it settled, the imposter revealed his true form, a ninja from the Hidden Rain Village.

"If you just hand over the scroll, I may spare your lives. Now, which one of you has it?" the stranger demanded, his voice somewhat distorted by the device covering his mouth. When it was obvious that neither one was going to give it up, he charged at them. "Fine, i'll take you both out!"