"Now that we've weeded out some of the hopeless cases, fifteen minutes to go," Ibiki announced. "Time for the main event. Alright! Listen up! Here's the tenth and final question."
"Here we go," Sylvi thought.
"But before i give you the question, there are a few more rules you need to be aware of," Ibiki added
The back door opened and a genin wearing a black suit and hood arrived with a sentinel. His forehead protector symbol said he was from Sunagakure.
"Ah," Ibiki exhaled. "Made it just in time. I hope you found your trip to the bathroom enlightening. Well, take your seat."
After the Sand ninja took his seat, Ibiki took a step forward. "The rules are unique to question ten. Listen carefully. And try not to let them frighten you."
The wind blew outside rustling the tree leaves. Sylvi ignored the annoying sound and listened.
Kotaro, Erisu, and Josuke sat outside the building with three other Leaf rookie trainers, Kakashi Hatake, Asuma Sarutobi, and Kurenai Yuhi.
"Its quiet without the rookies around," Kakashi commented. "I almost miss them."
"Try teaching a werewolf," Kotaro muttered under his breath.
"What?" Asuma questioned confused.
Kotaro remembered that no one was supposed to know Sylvi was an Omaki. "Nothing." Kotaro answered quickly.
"dont worry," Asuma told Kakashi. "Chances are the Rookies will be back sooner than you think, Leaf and Cloud alike."
"Why's that?" Kakashi asked.
"This should be interesting," Erisu rolled her eyes.
"I heard their first examiner this year is Ibiki," Asuma answered.
"Great," Kakashi sat back. "Sticking them with that saytist right off the bat."
"Huh?" Kurenai inquired. "What saytist?"
Asuma chuckled. "I forgot you're a new jonin Kurenai. Otherwise you wouldnt have to ask that."
"So I'm ignorrant," Kurenai retorted sarcastically. Her answer almost reminded Kotaro of Sylvi, since Sylvi always had time to throw some sarcasm into the situation. "Who is he?"
"He's what you might call a specialist," Kakashi explained.
"Oh yeah? In what?" Kurenai questioned.
"From what I've heard, he's some interrogator," Josuke spoke up
"Correct," Asuma said. "He specializes in interrogation. Torture."
Both Erisu ans Kurenai looked up wide eyed.
"oh, of course he wont be using physical torture during the test." Asuma corrected. "He doesnt need to. Its not really his thing anyway. He works on people's minds, not their bodies. He's famous for it. Everyone knows the head of the Anbu Torture and Interrogation Corps for the Hidden Leaf Village. Ibiki Morino."
"Somehiw that does not make me feel any better about it," Erisu mumbled.
"He's technically a Leaf version of Baiko Adachi," Kotaro said.
"Baiko Adachi?" Kakashi questioned,
"Cloud interrogator," Josuke explained.
"Very well, rule number one," Ibiki began. "Each of you can choose not to take the final question. Its youre desicion."
"Whowhatwherewhenhowwhenwhy?" Tori shouted, jumbling his words together.
"Say what?" Kenshin spat
"Whoa!" shouted a Sand kunoichi with sandy brown hair tied in four pigtails. "So whats the catch? Lets say we dont wanna do it, what happens then?"
"If you choose not to take the tenth question regardless of your answers to the other nine, you'll get a zero. In other words you fail." Ibiki answered cooly. "And that means of course you teammates fail as well."
Murmurs rose up from the congregation.
"not so fast," Ibiki interrupted. "You didnt let me finish. If you do accept the question and answer incorrectly, you will not only fail-" Ibiki paused. "You will be barred from taking the Chunin Exams ever again!"
"That's bolshevik!" Sylvi slammed her fist onto the desk and stood up.
"That's ridiculous!" Kiba agreed. (This will probably be the only time Kiba ever agrees with Sylvi). "What kind of bogus rule is that? Lots of people here took the test before!" Akamaru barked in agreement.
Ibiki chuckled. His laugh seemed to mock both of them as well as the others. "I guess youre just unlucky. I wasnt making the rules before. But i am now. Of course if you dont want to take the question you dont have too."
Kiba looked as if Ibiki had punched him. "If youre not feeling confident then by all means skip it," Ibiki continued. "You can come back and try again next year."
"I chose the wrong year to take the exams," Sylvi muttered.
"What was that?" Kiba mocked.
"None of your business," Sylvi growled at Kiba.
The two sat down and glared.
"Now if were ready, the tenth and final question." Ibiki continued. "Those who dont wanr to take it raise your hand. Your number will be recorded and you will be free to go."
Sylvi looked at Hikabo and Tori. None of them looked ready to raise their hands. Sylvi smiled. Team Kotaro was andancing toward the flames. Many others however quit and left. None of them appeared to be the Leaf Rookies or Cloud Rookies.
Tre was a long silence.
A leaf genin with blonde hair wearing an orange track suit started raising his hand.
"There goes a Leaf team" Sylvi thought.
Then the genin slammed his hand down. "Dont underestimate me! I dont quit and I dont run! You can act upp all you want! You guys arent gonna scare me off! No way! I dont care if i get stcuk a genin for the rest of my life. Ill still be Hokage someday!"
Ibiki said nothing, he only looked at the genin. finally he spoke. "This desicion is one that can change your life. If for any reason you'd like to quit, now's your last chance." No one budged. "Well then, i admire your determination. For those of you remaining, there is one thing left to do. And thats for me to tell you.. That yoi've all passed the first exam!"
"Hold youre horses, we passed?"Sylvi was beyond confused.
The pink haired kunoichi stood up. "What just happened? What do you mean we passed? Wheres the tenth question?"
Ibiki grinned. "There never was one! At least not a written one. Actaully you desicion to stay was the answer to the tenth question."
"Wait a second!" spat the Suna kunoichi. "So the other nine questions were just a waste of time? That was your saying?"
"Yeah," agreed another Sand kunoichi next to her with blonde untamed curly hair. "That was valuable time ya know."
"no, not at all," Ibiki answered. "Quite the opposite. The first nine questions had a prupose. To test your ability to gather strategic information."
"Oh, well that clears up everything," said the first kunoichi.
"Let me explain," Ibiki said. "You see, my objective was not just to test you as individuals, but as a team and how well you function as a part of that team. Thats why the test was scored on a team basis. So youd know every action would directly affect your teammates. I wanted to see how you handled the pressure."
"i figured it was somtehing like that,"said the blonde boy. "Thats why i kept my cool."
"The first nine question on the test were difficult. In fact, too difficult for any genin to be expected to solve. I imagine most of you quickly came across that conclusion that you had to cheat if you had any chance of passing. Of course it would have done you little good if you had someone to cheat from. So i disguised two chunin as genin." Two male candidates raised their hands and smiled. "Those who were caught failed. Better not to cheat than to cheat clumsily." Ibiki went on explaining about how valuable information is, removing his forehead protector and revealing many scars and puncture wounds across his scalp. He also explained about how the situation dealt with more dangerous mission that chunin have every day.
Ibiki ended by proclaiming they had passed and wished them good luck. The room exploded with cheers and celebration.
Something burst through the window, shattering the glass. Four kunai were thrown, opening a large red tarp. In front of it stood a woman wearing a mesh bodysuit and a khaki coat.
"Heads up boys and girls this is no time for celebration! Ill be your next proctor. Anko Mitarashi. Ready for the second test? Good. Lets Go! FOLLOW ME!"
Sylvi noticed that the tarp had the words "Second Test's Proctor: Anko Mitarashi" written in large white letters. "Screaming nutcase is what it should sa," Sylvi whispered.
Ibiki peeked from behind the tarp. "Youre early. Again." Ibiki informed Anko. Anko's face fell. After Ibiki and Anko had a conversation, Anko proclaimed more than half teams would be eliminated and dismissed the candidates.
On her way out, Sylvi caught sight of the Stone Siblings: Aotsuchi, Shirutsuchu, and Midotsuchi.
"This is the 44th battle training zone, but we like to call it the Forest of Death," Anko announced.
"this is gonna be crazy," Sylvi told her teammates.