Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or its characters!
Note: This is going to seem a lot like the Naruto Chunin Exam from the anime/manga... yeahhh
"I will be gone for a while. Take care of things here while I'm gone."
"But Lord Orochimaru! You are not in any condition to leave. What if something happens to the body!"
Orochimaru glared at the man from under bandages that covered much of his face. He reached a hand up, ripping the bandages from their place. They fell limply to the ground at his feet. "Don't worry about this. The body seems to be holding up just fine." He paused to flash a sinister smile at the doctor standing in front of him. The doctor visibly backed away from the man in fear. "Besides, I hear that my student is partaking in the chunin exams. You know what an honor that is."
OOO
Butterflies danced in Anko's stomach as she walked down the streets, passing many citizens of Konoha who were unaware as to the level of stress she was feeling. She had been assigned a new squad led by a new jonin and it was time for the chunin examination. Unlike Anko, the two members of her team were fresh out of the academy, rookies. From what she had heard and seen over the last few months, the genin were good, two of the best from the academy, one girl and one boy.
They were wary of her at first, as to be expected. The first time they met, the two gave her looks of apprehension before one came up to her, hand outstretched, and introduced himself.
"I'm Bakari," he said, a bit shyly. According to her research, he was an only child, slightly shy, but definitely powerful. She took his hand and shook it, telling him her name. She smiled at him, and, feeling a bit more at ease, he smiled back at her. He pointed behind him at the girl standing a little ways away. "That's Yume. She's kind of shy but man, she's strong and scary."
"Shut up, Bakari," the girl muttered, glaring at him. She looked at Anko and quickly looked down at her feet. "Nice to meet you."
This reaction was to be expected, as much as if irritated Anko. She was treated differently because she was the only one to survive. What she survived still eluded her. But whatever it was, in the minds of the residents of Konoha, it was something terrible.
After months of training, their sensei deemed them ready to take the chunin exams. Anko thought it was about time, given that all of her friends were already chunin or higher, but given her situation, it was to be expected.
And so now, Anko was walking down the street to meet with her teammates so that they could sign up together. They had about an hour before they were supposed to report but their sensei warned them to arrive early, lest something happen and they were disqualified for arriving late.
The first exam was being held in one of the rooms that normally taught groups of ninja at the academy. Ninja from different villages were being assigned numbers and told where to sit in the room. Anko was given the number 346 and was separated from her teammates.
"346," she thought. "So there are a lot of ninja here." Of course, she knew that many of them would be gone within the first twenty minutes. That she was positive of.
"Alright, settle down, all of you. My name is Ibiki Morino and I am the first test proctor. I'm only going to explain this once so listen up," said the examiner, coming into the room. He was tall and absolutely huge, a big tower of muscle and fear rapped in a black coat. The top of his head was covered by his headband but you could still see the two scars that ran across his face, disappearing under the headband. He seemed to be smiling at the fact that half of the ninja present seemed to be afraid of him.
"This exam will be a written examination of what every ninja should know and comprehend," he began, explaining everything in detail. "The test will be comprised of ten questions, each complex and difficult. You all will start off with ten points. For each question unanswered or answered incorrectly, you will lose a point. So if you get one wrong, you end with nine points. Each time you are caught cheating, you will lose two points."
"Two points?" Anko thought. "Wouldn't we normally fail?"
"Anyone caught cheating five times will be dismissed. This means that your teammates will be dismissed as well. Only the teams with the highest combined scores move on. You get one hour," he paused, as if for effect. "Oh and if anyone in your group gets a zero, you all fail."
"Crap, I've never been good at written tests. And I was supposed to be the one in my group with the most experience. No!" Anko panicked, trying to figure out what to do. She held her head in her hands, trying to calm herself. She took a deep breath, relaxing her muscles. "No sense in stressing myself out. Must focus."
The test began and everyone began to read over the questions quickly. As each participant read, the feeling of dread and fear grew and grew. Anko stared at the paper in front of her, holding her head in confusion. None of the questions made sense to her, not a single one. They were too complex, questions no genin would be able to answer.
"Anyone caught cheating five times will be dismissed," the examiner's warning sounded in her head.
"There's something more to that statement. But what?" she thought, struggling to grasp what he could have meant. "Think. I have to remember something that could help."
"I'm going to teach you about people of the village today, my dear. Why you ask. Because it is important to know things about them if you want to understand and be able to defeat them.
Today, let's begin with some of the special jonin. Ah, my personal favorite, Ibiki Morino. He is part of the Konoha torture and interrogation force. His specialty is not physical torture, but mental torture. His words get into your brain and cause you to stress yourself out. Ultimately, you become your own undoing.
What you must do is read his inner meanings. What he says means something entirely different than what it appears to be."
Anko did not know what was going on, why she was remembering something that she could not remember before. But suddenly, it hit her. They were not supposed to get 'caught' cheating. But he never said that cheating was against the rules.
She sat back in her chair, smirking slightly. "I have no idea where that thought came from, but whatever it was, it just saved my butt."
OOO
Forty five minutes passed and over half the group that originally began the exam had been ordered to leave. Anko's group remained as well as about sixteen other groups. From what Anko could see, her team eventually figured out that they had to cheat in order to succeed, and luckily none of them had been caught more than five times.
Their examiner looked at the clock on the far wall, and, reading that it was the time to give out the last question, signaled their attention. "For those of you left, there is one final question. But before I hand it out, there are some rules that apply only to the tenth question. Unlike the other questions, you can choose to either take this last question or to skip it."
"Skip it? Why give it out in the first place?" a girl from the village hidden in the sand sitting in the back began to ask before being stopped by Ibiki abruptly. She sat back down, a look of irritation in her eyes.
"If you choose to not take the question, your group fails and can come back next year. If you choose the question and get it wrong," he cut off, smiling at them, "all points you might have had before are taken away and you fail. And if this happens, you can never come back here and take the chunin exams ever again. You will be a genin for the rest of your short lives."
Everyone gasped; many jumped in alarm at his statement. No one seemed to believe what was happening. "But that's not fair!" a genin in the back shouted, standing up in anger. Many nodded in agreement.
Ibiki shrugged. "I'm giving you a choice. What you choose is entirely up to you."
Too stunned to speak, many of the ninja sat back in their seat, contemplating what to do. Risk everything and possibly pass? Or play it safe and leave to come back next year?
One by one, people began raising their hands. Anyone who raised their hands was dismissed, their numbers written down and called out, until only seven groups remained. Anko glanced quickly at her team. Both of them seemed to be a bit scared, slumping down in their seats, but neither was brave enough to let the others down by raising their hands. Deep down, she was proud of her team and their bravery. She was also scared by the possibility that they might be genin for the rest of their lives.
After about a minute of them waiting in silence, Ibiki looked to each of the other ninja in the room, all of whom nodded to him. He smiled at them, a genuine smile that actually gave off warmth rather than fear. "Well, if that's all. Congratulations! You passed!"
Anko nearly fell out of her chair. "Passed?" she whispered in disbelief. "We passed?" she asked a bit louder. Ibiki nodded. "But how?"
"You chose to take the tenth question, even though the stakes were high. That is the life of a Shinobi. Only the strong ninja who can make these decisions deserve to become chunin."
"So what was the purpose of the other questions?" a girl asked in the back.
"Shinobi must also be able to gather information without being caught. This seemed like the best and least dangerous way to test that," Ibiki explained and nearly every person looked as though a great weight had been taken off their shoulders. He laughed at their expressions. "Well if that's all, then you may proceed to the second exam." He looked to the clock, scowling. "He's late, but oh well. Wait here until he arrives. And again, I congratulate you and wish you luck. You're going to need it."
Anko turned to look at her teammates. Bakari gave her a wide grin, flashing a small thumbs up. Yume gave her a small smile, one that seemed more forced than anything. Anko shrugged. She was probably just relieved from passing the first exam.
Suddenly, the door opened, silencing the happy genin, causing them to sit at attention quickly. A tall jonin walked in the room, his dark hair in disarray. Even his clothes seemed a bit disheveled. To Anko, it looked as though he had just jumped out of bed.
The jonin scanned the room, silently counting how many there were. He smirked, looking to Ibiki who was collecting the tests. "Got it down to a good number as always, Ibiki."
Ibiki nodded. "More than I thought," he answered, causing most of the remaining genin to beam with pride.
"Well, most won't pass the next exam, so it doesn't really matter," the other commented, and the genins' faces fell.
Ibiki scowled at him. "Way to ruin the mood," he muttered, continuing his task of collecting the tests. "I'm sorry we interrupted your sleep."
The genin watched the two jonin's display back and forth, no one daring to interrupt them. Finally, the new jonin glared at Ibiki before turning his attention back to the genin. "Alright, I'm Iruno Kanamake, the second exam instructor. Follow me to the next exam."
And so, the genin followed the new instructor to the second exam, fear again present in their eyes.
~AN~
Might I start by saying thank you so much to people who are reading and especially to people who are reviewing! It makes me want to finish this story.
Alright, so like I said earlier, this seems a lot like Naruto's exam. The main difference is that 1) Anko actually figures out that you need to cheat and 2) there's a different instructor for the second and probably third exams. But the tests will be the same!
I had to add in Orochimaru somewhere so I put him in the beginning, and I had a flashback (sort of). Little bits of her memory are going to surface at various parts of the story. And she's going to see him in the next chapter! So stay tuned Anko Orochimaru fans!
On another note: Bakari means only... because he's an only child... and Yume means dream... because I didn't know what else to put for her name... Yeah just thought I'd add that in...