Aaah! This chapter took forever! Enjoy-dattebayo!

Eyes Like Fire

Chapter 3: Frustration and Torment: Part 1 of the Chuunin Exams!

Shizen sighed, looking down at her test.

'Kuso… I never expected this. A written test? Take… take…'

She looked up, Ibiki was about to announce the rules of the exams, 'Damn.'

"You are all given ten points at the start - the written exam has ten questions each worth one point. This is a deduction based test. If you get one problem wrong, a point will be deducted." He paused, "The pass-fail decision will be determined by your team's points."

Shizen gasped, 'Kuso! So if one of us tanks the test… we could all fail!'

He continued, "If an examiner determines that you cheated during the test… you will lose two points. So, some people will be forced to leave without their test being graded."

Shizen uncomfortably crossed her legs, groaning slightly. Gaara looked at her suspiciously.

"Those who cheat without thinking carefully will only hurt themselves. You are all trying to become Chuunin - act like the first-rate ninja you strive to be!"

Keiko smirked, 'Humph, this'll be a breeze, ne, Miko-onna kyoodai?'

"Oh, and if any one person gets a zero, the whole team will fail."

Sasuke and Sakura swore, 'We're screwed…'

Naruto shivered, 'I have the feeling someone wants to kill me!'

"The last problem will be 45 minutes after the test begins. You have one hour for the exam – hajimeru!" (Begin!)

Shizen swore, 'These make little to no sense! How in the world are we supposed to answer these… wait! Yata! They want us to cheat! How else are we going to get the answers?' She smirked, 'Oh Miko-chan!'

Shizen closed her eyes, concentrating hard, /Miko-chan! Can you hear me?/

/Ee, Shizen-chan. I have almost all of the answers, there's a wiz kid behind me and I'm tapping into his thoughts./ Miko answered back.

Shizen smiled, /Yata! Arigato, Miko-chan!/ She put her pencil to the paper and began to write the answer to number one. 'Yosh! The telepathy was a success!'

Suddenly, Keiko's voice blasted into her head.

/SHIZEN-CHAN! HELP ME! I DON'T GET A SINGLE WORD! I NEED YOU!/

Shizen swore, /Keiko! Urusai!/

/It's too hard!/

Shizen rolled her eyes, /It's a test to see how well we cheat – ever wonder why he said they would only deduct two points if you tried to cheat?/

Keiko gasped, /Aa, so ka! Yosh!/

Shizen shook her head, 'Baka…nani?' She looked over to her right to see a familiar redhead.

'It's that boy from before… hmmm, doesn't look like he has that much right now. What about over here…' She looked over on her left. 'Yata! Score!'

/Oi, Miko-chan! Tap into the brainwaves of the kid on my left, doozo!/

Shizen sighed, 'I wish I could, but I can't… Miko-chan and Keiko-chan have to teach me someday…'

Miko succeeded/Shizen-chan! The answer to number 8 is…/

A kunai whizzed onto a person's desk, Shizen laughed, "Someone got caught," she sang.

Gaara looked over at her, 'Hn…why is she so familiar?'

Shizen returned to her test, /Aa, last problem! Miko-chan?'

/Hai! The answer is…/

Shizen wrote it down, glancing casually at Gaara, smirking, 'Looks like he's doing pretty fine… wonder how Tenten-chan and Lee-chan are doing…' She stared up at the ceiling and smirked, 'Aa… Tenten-chan's using the lights I see, clever.'

"Yosh!" Came a voice.

Shizen wrote down the last character, "Nande? Baka." She muttered under her breath.

"I will now give the 10th problem!"

Keiko bit her lip, 'Crap… what is it?' She gripped her pencil tight.

"But before I say the final question, there will be one special rule for this final question – "

Kankuro came into the room.

Ibiki looked at him, "Looks like your little puppet show went to waste."

He gasped, 'He knows!'

"Well, sit down."

Kankuro shrugged, passing Temari and dropping a small pill unto her desk.

"I will now explain," Ibiki announced. "This is… a hopeless rule. First, you are all going to choose whether to take the 10th problem or not."

Temari gasped, "What happens if we choose not to take the 10th problem?"

"If you choose not to, your points will be reduced to zero. In other words… you'll fail and your teammates will fail along with you."

Uproar arose in the classroom.

"Soshite… here is the other rule. If you choose to take it and get it wrong, you will… lose the privilege to take the Chuunin exams, forever!"

Shizen swore, 'Nani ka? Forever? Kuso…'

Kiba stood up in outrage, saying that the person who took over the Chuunin exams last year should be here.

Ibiki laughed, "You were unlucky. This year, I rule. But that is why I have given you the choice, those who are not confident can choose not to take it, and take the exam next year, or the year after that."

Shizen closed her eyes, trying to concentrate, 'Shhsha! We're screwed either way… demo… what is the last question?!?!?!'

"Let us begin: those who will not be taking this 10th question, raise your hands. After we confirm your numbers, we will ask you to leave."

Shizen watched the idiots one by one raise their hands, "Bakas."

Naruto stood up after raising his hand, "Screw you'ttebayo! Even if I remain a Genin, I'll find a way to become Hokage… I'm not scared!'

Shizen watched as he sat down, smiling lightly.

Ibiki asked again, "I will ask one more time… this is the chance that will impact your life. If you want to quit, now is your chance."

Shizen smirked, 'Naruto-san seems to have encouraged everyone… heh, baka.'

She looked around, '78, ne? Not bad.'

"Nice determination. Dewa… for the First Exam, everyone here… passes!"

Sakura stood up, "Nani? We pass already? What about the 10th question?"

Ibiki laughed, "There was no such thing to begin with! Or… you can call the two-choice question the 10th question."

Temari shouted, "So all of the other questions, were a waste?!"

Ibiki shook his head, "No, it's not. The nine problems accomplished their purpose- to test each individuals information gathering skills."

"Information gathering skills?" Temari asked.

"First, this test's purposes lies in the 1st rule… your pass or fail decision is base don your three person teams. Given that, we gave you an unprecedented amount of pressure to try not to be a burden to your team. But these test problems cannot be solved by you Genins. So, much people here came to the conclusion, 'I have to cheat.' In other words, this exam assumed that everyone was going to cheat. So, we snuck in two Chuunins, who knew the answers, to be the targets of the cheating. But those who just cheated like fools, failed. Information can have greater value than life at times, and in missions and battlefields…"

Ibiki took off his hitai-ate like bandana to reveal grotesque scars, holes, and veins, "Information is contested with the lives of people."

Shizen cringed, 'How awful… he looks like a torture victim."

Ibiki hid his scars once again, "Information that an enemy gets after being noticed by a 3rd person will not necessarily be accurate. Remember this: getting incorrect information can cause damage to your teammates and your village. So, we made you gather information in the form of cheating and we kicked off those you lacked in that field."

Temari looked up, still confused, "Demo, I still can't agree to the last question."

"This 10th question was the main question of this exam. I'll explain. The 10th question was a 'take-or-not-to-take' choice. Needless to say, it was a painful two-choice problem. Those who did not take it, failed with their teams. If you chose to take it, and could not answer it… your right to take the exams would have been taken away forever."

He walked around the room, "How about this two-choice problem: Let's assume that you have all become Chuunin. Your mission is to capture a secret document. The number of enemy ninja, their abilities, and armaments are unknown. And there may be traps set up by them. Now, will you accept this mission or not? Just because your life and the lives of your teammates may be in danger, are you able to avoid dangerous missions? The answer is… no.

"Some missions carry risks, but cannot be avoided. The ability to show your courage when needed, and the ability to get through a bad situation… that is what we look for in a Chuunin, a squad leader. Those who cannot bet their fate in a critical situation; those who give up when given the chance because there is a next hear, and let their minds sway towards an uncertain future; fools who only carry a light of determination like that have no right to become Chuunin – that is what I believe.

"I am saying that you here have chosen the right answer for the difficult 10th question. You can deal with the difficulties that you will face. You have broken through the entrance. The first Exam of the Chuunin selection ends now! I wish you luck."

Suddenly, the window smashed.

A person with purple hair showed herself, "Antatachi! There's no time to be happy. I am the 2nd Examiner, Mitarashi Anko. Let's go to the next Exam! Follow me!"

Everyone stared- shocked.

Shizen's eyebrow twitched, "Nani dare ka?" (Who is that?)

Ibiki whispered to her, "Grasp the atmosphere."

Anko turned to him, "You let 26 teams pass? The First Exam has been too soft."

"If seems there are a lot of excellent students this time," he countered.

Anko sighed, "Oh well… I'm going to make more than half of the teams fail in the next Exam."

She evilly smirked, "I will explain the details tomorrow. We will go somewhere else so ask your Jounin-no-sensei about the rally point and time. That is all. Dismissed."

"Nande? Where are we?" Miko asked.

Anko smiled, "This is where the Second Exam will be held: The 44th training area, also called… The Forest of Death."

LIK OMFG CLIFFHANGER?!?11one9111one/:pl;,one