Standing outside the academy Skye looked at Haku who had come to wish there team luck.
"So what are you doing today, more lessons?"
Haku nodded "And I need to get some clothes as well, Hikari-sensei said she would take me shopping after we finished."
"Oh you poor unfortunate b-" Skye was cut off by Naruto shouting hello and waving. He turned away from the blissfully unaware doomed soul and waved back at Naruto. The blonde haired boy was quickly followed by Sakura who was looking a little nervous.
"So you two decided to take the exam as well, good. Team Seven's going to pass this exam no problem." Skye smiled at the two of them.
"Good luck you three," Haku said before leaving.
"I should be saying that to you." Skye muttered before shaking his head.
Team Seven walked into the building and headed upstairs. Naruto and Sakura were about to stop with a group standing outside a door being blocked by two people but Skye stopped them.
"That isn't the room, look at the sign it's covered by a genjutsu, this is another test. The room we're supposed to go to is three zero one, this is only the second floor." Skye whispered and they continued onto the next floor.
They made their way up to the next floor and found the room they were looking for. Kakashi was standing outside reading his usual book; he spotted them and put away his book going into one of his rare few serious moments.
"So Sakura came, now you can properly take the exam." He said.
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.
"He means the exams can only be taken in full teams. If you didn't show up we wouldn't have been allowed to take it. He told us it was individual choice so you wouldn't feel under any pressure." Skye told her.
Kakashi eye smiled "Are you ever going to let me explain anything? Anyway Skye is right, If only two of you showed up you wouldn't have been allowed in. But you came of your own free will; you guys are my proud team. Now go."
"Yeah let's go!" Naruto shouted before opening the doors and all three walked into the room.
"Wow!" Naruto exclaimed seeing all the people in the room.
The room was completely filled with Genin's from most of the countries. All of them looking in their direction.
"Troublesome, so you guys are taking the exam to?" Shikamaru asked appearing next to them. Choji and Ino were standing beside him and Ino went immediately to talk to Sakura.
"So Team Ten is taking the exam as well." Skye smiled.
"Found you!" Kiba shouted as he, Shino and Hinata walked over to them.
"Team Eight as well, it's good to know we aren't the only rookie team to enter." Skye sat on a desk as all the rookies gathered around.
"I wonder how far we'll get, eh Skye." Kiba said grinning.
"Well it's good to have confidence, but we are rookies so we'll have to work hard against this competition. But I think we'll do alright." Skye told them.
Sasuke walked into the room with his team and immediately Ino jumped on to him, Sakura quickly following her.
"Hey you guys should be quieter."
They all turned to see a silver haired guy with glasses walking towards them. It was Kabuto, Skye didn't react when he saw the spy instead he just cocked his head to the side slightly and smiled.
Kabuto put on a slightly annoyed look "You guys are rookies right, just out of the academy? Screaming like school girls. This isn't a picnic."
"Who do you think you are?" Sasuke asked.
"I'm Kabuto, but instead of asking me that you should be looking behind you." He told them.
The group turned to see a couple of people directly behind them that was glaring towards the rookies. Skye couldn't help but give them a wave.
"Those guys behind you are from the Hidden Rain village, they have short tempers. Everyone is nervous about the exam so quiet down before you cause a scene." Kabuto told them. "Well I can't blame you rookies, you remind me of how I used to be."
"Kabuto right?" Sakura asked turning back from the glaring ninjas.
"Yeah."
"So is this your second time taking the exam?" The pink haired girl asked.
"Nope," Kabuto said. "This is my seventh time, the exam is held twice a year so this is my fourth year."
"So you know a lot about the exams." Sakura said.
"That's right; since you're all rookies I'll lend you a hand and give you some information thanks to my nin-info cards." Kabuto pulled out a deck of cards from his pouch.
The Genin looked at the deck of orange cards and Kabuto pulled one from the top. "Hey what gives they're blank!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Ah that's because I haven't put any chakra into them yet. Now watch." The boy sent a surge of chakra into the card and a map of the hidden countries appeared. "As you can see I've gotten some good information. I have four years' worth of information on over two hundred cards. I have the number of people who are taking the exam and what country they're from as you can see from this map."
"Do you have information on individuals?" Sasuke asked.
"Worried about the competition," Kabuto smiled slightly. "Of course I do, the information isn't perfect but I do have it. Just tell me something about the ones you want to know about."
"Gaara of the Hidden Sand and Rock Lee of the Leaf." Sasuke immediately told him. Skye was slightly surprised that he didn't ask for information on him.
"You know their names, this should be easy then. Okay let's see…..First Rock Lee he has done 20 D-rank missions, and 12 C-ranks, his sensei is Guy. His Taijutsu is impressive but has shown no skills in the other fields. Last year he gained attention as a talented new Genin but didn't participate in the exams back then, his teammates are Neji Hyuga and Tenten. Next is Gaara of the Sand, he's done 8 C rank missions, one B rank, and- wow, an A rank mission too! Seems that he's a newcomer from another country so I don't have much info on him. But it seems he's returned from all of his missions without even a scratch." Kabuto told them wide eyed. Skye had to hand it to him; Kabuto really was a good actor.
"So, all the people here..." Sakura said looking around.
"Yup! People like Gaara and Lee, the top elite Genin from their own countries are here to compete in this exam." Kabuto said cheerfully. "Leaf, Cloud, Sand, Rain, Waterfall, Sound, all of them have sent their best, well Sound is a new village so not much is known about them, although you shouldn't expect much from them but the rest of the Villages are filled with talented Genin."
Suddenly Naruto shouted and pointed to the other Genin's in the room. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I won't lose to you bastards! Ow!"
Skye lowered his hand after smacking the back of Naruto's head. "Watch your language."
The Sound Village Genin's didn't take kindly to Kabuto's comment. "Hey Dosu we gonna let that glasses freak bad mouth us?" the spiky haired boy said.
"I agree with Zaku, I say we teach him a lesson." the girl said, her long black hair swaying from side to side. The one with bandages covering most of his face but his right eye nodded his assent, the fur like coat ruffled with his nod.
"Let's help him add to his data, we'll show him that the Sound can be quite vicious." With that Zaku jumped into the air and threw kunai at Kabuto who dodged them. Dosu then rushed at him and swung his right arm at the stumbling teen. Kabuto dodged it and smirked before his eyes widened and his glasses broke. He then fell over and started throwing up.
'What happened? I thought I dodged.' Kabuto thought.
"Are you alright?!" Sakura asked shocked as she and Naruto rushed over to the silver haired boy.
"Write down this on your cards, the three Hidden Sound ninjas will definitely become Chunin." Dosu said.
A large poof of smoke appeared at the front of the room. "Quiet down you worthless bastards!" The smoke cleared to reveal a number of people, all Chunin or Jonin's. At the front of them was the head of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Division, Ibiki Morino. "Thanks for waiting. I am Ibiki Morino, the examiner of the Chunin selection exams first test." Everyone who had heard about Ibiki was looking nervous now. "Hidden Sound Genin's stop fooling around or do you already want to fail?"
"I'm sorry we just got a little carried away." Dosu said.
"There will be no fighting without the permission of the proctor for this exam, even if permission is given, Killing will not be tolerated do you understand?" Ibiki said. "Those pigs that disobey me will fail immediately. Now, each of you will pick one of these tabs," he said holding a tab up from a box he had picked it from, "and sit in the seat assigned to you then we will hand out your exam." Ibiki told them.
"A paper test!" Naruto was shocked.
Skye took a tab and found his seat; he was sitting next to a very pretty dark skinned girl with silver hair from Kumo. Skye gave her a smile as she simply glared at him.
Ibiki started speaking again once everyone's tests were handed out but face down, only to be turned over and started on when he said. "There are many important rules to this first exam. I'll write them on the board as I explain, but questions will not be allowed. You all start out with ten points. For each wrong answer you will lose a point. If you are caught cheating you will lose two points. If you lose all your points you fail automatically. You and your team will then be kicked out! The people over there," Ibiki pointed to the people he arrived with who were now sitting at the sides of the room. "They and I will be watching. This will also be a team test, if you pass or not will be determined by the combined scores of your teammates. So each team will compete to see how many points they can keep from there beginning score of thirty."
Ibiki paused and looked around the room. "The exam will last one hour. Ready….Begin!"
Everybody flipped over there papers and started to read through the test. Immediately people started to panic, the questions on the test were very difficult and most of the people couldn't answer them. Skye simply wrote his name on the paper before looking through the questions; he could have answered them, especially with the advantage over the others in the room. But instead of doing anything he leaned back in his seat leaving his test blank. The Kumo kunoichi next to him stared at him confused for a moment before quickly turning back to her own test. Skye sat there waiting for when the tenth question would be asked according to the instructions on the test paper. Everybody was starting to cheat in different ways, Kankuro left to go to the bathroom with one of the Chunin's watching over him. Gaara used his third eye technique, Tenten was using mirrors, Sasuke, Hinata and Neji were using there Dojutsu's and Sakura just used her intelligence to answer the questions.
"We will now start the tenth question." Ibiki told them after forty five minutes. "Before we get to it I'd like to go other the added rules for this question."
All the Genin's looked surprised and slightly confused.
Ibiki continued after telling Kankuro who just walked back in to sit down. "I'll now explain…..the rules of desperation. First for the tenth question you must decide if you will take it or not."
"What happens if we choose not to?" Temari asked.
"Then you automatically fail, along with your teammates." Ibiki told them.
"What does that mean?!"
"Of course we'll choose to take it!"
"And now the other rule." Ibiki continued. "If you decide to take it and answer incorrectly, you fail and will never be able to take the Chunin exams again."
"What kind of stupid rule is that?! There are guys here who have taken the exam before!" Kiba shouted.
Ibiki laughed slightly, it was a very creepy sound. "You guys were unlucky, this year it's my rules. But I am giving you a way out. Those who aren't confident can choose not to take it, and can try again next year. Now let's begin, those who do not wish to take it raise your hand, once your number is confirmed leave."
One by one people started to raise their hands and leave along with their teammates. Skye was amused, Ibiki was good but then again he was head of Konoha's T and I division. To make people believe he can permanently keep them as a Genin was funny. Skye saw Naruto slowly raise his hand slightly, before slamming it onto the desk.
"Don't underestimate me! I will not run! I'll take the stupid question, even if I'm a Genin forever I will still become Hokage! I'm not afraid!"
"I'll ask you again. Your life is riding on this decision; this is your last chance to quit." Ibiki stared hard at Naruto.
"I never go back on my word, that's my ninja way." Naruto stared at Ibiki with determination blazing in his eyes.
"It doesn't matter if my life is riding on this decision, I'll ride it wearing nothing but metal boxers in a thunderstorm if I have to." Skye said and all eyes turned to him.
Ibiki looked around the room; he was surprised that the words of those two Genin filled everyone with confidence, and amusement. He smirked slightly and spoke to the room of Genin's. "Good decisions, now to everyone still remaining….I congratulate you on passing the first test."
"Wait what do you mean? What about the tenth question?" Sakura asked confused.
Skye couldn't help but speak up at this bit. "The question to take the test or not was in fact the tenth question. It was to test our nerve, to see if we would make the hard decision, after all a Chunin can't just back out when he has an important mission just because of the risks."
"Then what were the other questions for then? They were just pointless." Temari asked.
"They were not pointless; they had already served their purpose. A way to test your information gathering ability. Those that failed to cheat and gather the information without being noticed were knocked out of the game. You guys successfully managed to gain the information so I congratulate you all. " Ibiki was amused. "Information can be more important than lives at certain times, on missions and the battlefield people will risk their lives to get their hands on it."
Ibiki took off his bandana showing everyone his scarred head. There were not just scars but burns and screw holes as well.
"Wow, you should really change your barber." Skye grinned and a few people snickered.
Ibiki just put his bandana back on ignoring Skye. "If the enemy or third party notices you then you have no guarantee the information will be accurate. I want you to remember this; information can be a powerful weapon for you and your village. You all showed that you had the skills to gather information and that you were willing to put yourself on the line and risk yourselves. I wish you all luck in the rest of your exams."
A black figure smashed through the window and four kunai were launched to the sides of the room. A large black banister was revealed being held up by the kunai. The banner said 'Anko Mitarashi, Sexy and Single'.
"You guy's this is no time to be celebrating! I am the examiner for the second test, Anko Mitarashi. Now let's go, follow me!" A woman with light brown, pupil-less eyes and violet hair in a short, spiky, fanned-ponytail said. She was wearing a tan overcoat, a fitted mesh body suit that stretches from her neck down to her thighs along with a dark orange mini skirt.
"Bad timing," Ibiki said coming out from behind the banister.
Anko looked embarrassed before seeing how many people were left. "Seventy-eight, you left twenty-six teams, this test was too easy."
"Or we just had some talented people this year." Ibiki said.
"That's fine; I'll cut them in half at least. Ah I'm getting excited. I'll explain everything once we've changed places, follow me." Anko told them before leaving the room.