Merp. Writing the written portion of the exam is rather boring...luckily, the forest of death is next! yaay fighting underaged kids to gain a rank in a military organization! happy reading!

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A hundred eyes swiveled to greet them as Team 7 opened the doors of the first exam. None were friendly. Sakura met their gazes with a stoney face, not about to back down to these wannabe Chunin. She could see both Naruto and Sasuke adopt similar expressions, accompanied by a small trace of fear. That was good. Coming into the Chunin exams with no fear was a death wish. Fear quickened your reflexes, fear kept you alive.

"Sasuke-kun! You're here!" Ino walked over to stand next to her crush, small happy red spots on her cheeks. Sakura took note of the fact that her rival had a similar backpack to the one Sakura herself wore. It seemed everyone was taking the exam more seriously this time around. The rest of team 10 followed behind their boisterous female. Shikimaru had his usual bored look, and Chouji his happy smile.

For his part, Sasuke didn't scowl at Ino; instead, he opted to ignore her. In terms of the Uchiha, that was an improvement. Then Ino hugged him, "Sasuke-kun, I bet you'll become a Chunin in no time! Nobody here can stand against you!" Sasuke scowled. Sakura giggled. Naruto mimed throwing up, which made Sakura laugh harder. "You got something to say, forehead?" Ino shot her a glare.

Before Sakura could respond, a voice popped up behind her, "Yahoo, found ya!" Turning around, Sakura saw Kiba and Shino approach. Behind the two came the small head of Hinata. Unbidden, images of the Hyuga's funeral flashed across Sakura's mind. She chose to ignore them. Kiba smirked, "Well, well, seems like everyone's assembled."

Shikimaru groaned, "You guys too?" Kiba responded with a low growl, his fangs bared at the Nara. Feeling that something was off, Sakura tuned out her companions conversation to take another look around the room. As she did so, the thought that something was missing intensified. Were they missing someone? No, all of the rookie nine were at the front of the room...eyes moving over Shinobi after Shinobi, Sakura spotted the Sound trio. A small smile rose to her face, they'd make a good first target-ah!

That was it! Sakura's eyes moved faster around the room in her search. If the sound ninja were here then that must mean...Sakura moved away from the rookie nine to get a better view of the room. Her fist clenched as the realization hit her. Kabuto wasn't here. But, that was impossible. If Orochimaru was planning to attack during the Chunin exams as he'd done before then he needed Kabuto here. So why couldn't she bloody find him? Was this proof that Orochimaru had changed his plans then? Would he not single out Sasuke for his Sharingan? True, since the Uchiha clan was alive it would be easier to obtain one...But still, Sasuke was only a Genin and the Chunin exams were the perfect time to sneak into a village; what with the amount of foreign Shinobi entering, not all could be accounted for. And yet, Kabuto wasn't here.

Before she could contemplate the consequences of Kabuto's disappearance, a large gust of chakra spiked behind her. Turning around, she was met with the cold face of Morino Ibiki. The first test had begun.

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"...and now, I will begin the tenth question." Ibiki's statement was met with a mix of groans and sighs of relief. Sakura herself was rather indifferent, knowing that both her boys would stick with her. Glancing down at her paper one last time, Sakura couldn't help the tiny flicker of pride that filled her. She hadn't really tackled problems like these in years, putting more focus into her strength training. It was nice to know that she could still figure them out.

"Before we go over it, I'll tell you the added rules." Everyone in the room tensed.

"For this last question, you must choose whether or not to answer it. If you fail, your points will be reduced to zero and your team disqualified." Angry protests sprung up from Genin around the room as they hear this. Ibiki's voice broke through their complaints, "Also, if you choose to take it and answer incorrectly, that person will lose the right to ever take the Chunin selection exam again." Dead silence followed his proclamation. He laughed, "I'll give you another option. If you drop out now, you and your team can take it next year with no problems." His smile was sadistic. "Now, anyone want to leave?"

Sakura watched as team after team left until only half of the genin remained. As they filed out, she saw Naruto glance at her with a large grin on his face. There was no way Team 7 was leaving. Sakura smiled back at him.

"...is that everyone then?" Sakura felt both shinobi next to her tense up. Naruto was bouncing in his seat. "Well then...CONGRATULATIONS." He barked the last word, startling many people. "You pass the first test!"

A timid voice spoke up behind her, "W-what? But, what about the tenth question?"

"There never was a tenth question. Or, you could say those two choices were the tenth question."

Another voice shouted from across the room, "Then what were the first nine questions for? They were pointless!"

Ibiki grinned, "They were to test your intelligence gathering ability...basically, it was to test your ability to cheat." He took off his headband to reveal a grossly scarred scalp underneath. "As a shinobi, you must remember that information is one of the greatest tools you will have, and one of the greatest weapons against you. It should not be taken lightly." He replaced the cloth over his head, "As for the tenth question...that was a leap of faith. In missions, you won't have a nice long time to ponder every decision you make, most have to be split second. The tenth question was to see if you could make that choice."

He took a step back, and pointed to a door opposite of the one they'd entered from. "Now, go through there for your second test!"