Chapter 32 – The First Stage: Escape from Ibiki

Team Anko walked up the side of the academy instead of entering through the doors. They really didn't have to but they figured that they should enter the building like ninja. They arrived on the third floor and made their way toward the main room. They were surprised to see their sensei with a bunch of other sensei. Anko saw them and was shocked.

"Wow, I didn't expect you guys to reach up here so fast." Anko said.

"We entered the ninja way." Naruto said. Anko just smirked at them and then to the others. She presented her team like they were the best to the other jōnin.

"Well, I wish you guys luck but you don't really need it. Watch out for each other and do me proud." Anko said.

"Hai sensei!" the said and entered the main room. Once inside, they picked a spot in the room so that they could see who comes in. They waited and watched as the teams came filing in. Team after team filed into the room and Yakumo narrowed her eyes.

"This is way too much competition. I was sure that the examiners would have had genjutsu traps laid out around the building." Yakumo said.

"It looks like someone may have spoiled the surprise." Jakken said. That's when they saw Team Gai enter the room. They saw them and gave them a nod. They nodded back and picked a spot. The next familiar team they saw was the Suna siblings. Gaara and Naruto locked eyes before they moved to a different spot of the room.

"It seems that he hasn't heeded my warning. I will have to do something about that." A female voice said. Naruto noticed her voice instantly and pulled out his staff. The end of it was right in her face. Some turned to see what the commotion was about. A dark chuckle escaped the female's lips before she removed the hood to reveal Midoshi. "It seems you recognized my voice."

"So, you're the one that Gaara told me about? I didn't figure you to hold a grudge." Naruto said.

"You think that I'm out to kill you? Oh perish the thought Naruto-kun." Midoshi said. That got Naruto to blink owlishly at her. "Why would I want to kill you when you are so interesting? That power of yours, I don't think I've been so overwhelmed in my life. I need you alive so that I can defeat that power of yours." Naruto didn't like the way she send that and narrowed his eyes at her.

"You don't know what you're asking for Midoshi." Naruto said seriously.

"Oh, I know what I want Naruto-kun and I will get it. Just survive long enough to have our rematch. I will be waiting." Midoshi said and made her way pass them to go to her team. Naruto relaxed a little as Yakumo and Jakken flanked him.

"I know that this sounds ridiculous but I could have sworn that she was flirting with you." Jakken said. Yakumo looked at him with annoyance.

"That's what's going through your head? You're not worried at all about the fact that Midoshi is here and may want Naruto's life? Let's not forget the psychotic red-head that also wants our teammate dead." Yakumo said.

"I'm not trying to sound insensitive but it looked like she was flirting with him. You guys kind of agree with me right?" Jakken asked a couple of Taki genin.

"He has point. The way she kind of walked away wasn't just for show." The genin said. Jakken gave Yakumo a look who just sighed at him. Naruto chuckled at their antics until something got his attention. He turned to see a teenager with one of the genin who graduated six months ago. He was holding a card and was facing Sasuke. The reason this got him interested because he heard his name called.

"Uzumaki Naruto, age thirteen, rank genin. He is a member of team thirteen, teammates Kurama Yakumo and Watanabe Jakken, sensei Mitarashi Anko. They have quite a mission record with fifty D-rank mission, three C-rank mission and two of them got bumped up to B-rank. They have done a B-rank mission and an A-rank mission. It says hear that they were credited with Gatō's removal. His taijutsu, ninjutsu & bojutsu are really high while his genjutsu is unknown. He is also very skilled in fūinjutsu and Kekkai ninjutsu. On a special note, he was trained at an early age by the Sandaime Hokage and has been taught by the Gama-Sennin (Toad Hermit), Jiraiya. Wow, this guy sounds like he's no joke." The teenager said. Team Anko narrowed their eyes at the boy.

"How in the hell did he get that information?" Jakken whispered.

"Yeah, only a select few knows about my training with the old man or Ero-Sennin (Pervy Sage)." Naruto said.

"Also, to have such detail of your mission history is very suspicious. No genin should have access to that information." Yakumo added.

"What do you think we should do?" asked Naruto. They ignored the small fight that happened, which put Kabuto on the ground. There was a sudden explosion in front and everyone paid attention. When the smoke cleared, team Anko was white as a sheet. In the front of the room was the head of the Konoha Gomon/Jinmon Butai (Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force), Morino Ibiki.

"Holy shit, we are fucked. We are so fucked." Jakken muttered in fear. He didn't mutter it low enough as it caught the attention of one of Ibiki's people. He informed Ibiki who faced the team.

"Well now, if it isn't team Anko." Ibiki said. He sent some killer intent toward them, making them gulp in fear. "You and I have some unfinished business." The team gulped and cursed their sensei for putting them in this mess.

XXX

Anko sneezed as rubbed her nose as she sat in the jōnin lounge. Kakashi looked at her.

"You getting a cold?" he asked.

"Nah, it's probably my brats. I usually sneeze when they curse my name or something. I wonder what I did now?" she asked with confusion.

"Maybe it's because the examiner of the first stage is Ibiki." Asuma said with mirth.

"Oh, I forgot he was the first examiner. I knew I forgot to warn the guys." Anko said. She then shrugged it off. "I shouldn't be too worried. Ibiki won't do anything too painful to them. I'm sure that they're fine.

XXX

Naruto, Jakken and Yakumo couldn't wait for the first stage to be over. Each of them was watched by the examiners and Ibiki. Sometimes, the examiners were hitting them with a dose of killer intent. They each cursed their sensei for causing this. As they looked at the test, they each got the meaning of it within several minutes. While they could answer a few of the questions but to get a good score, they would need to cheat. The question was how?

Naruto went into his pocket when no one was looking. He pulled out a couple of pebbles and moved them around in his hand. He launched a pebble at an Ame genin, who stood and looked around the room with a glare. He caught the attention of the examiners and Naruto threw another pebble, this time at an examiner. The man let out a string of curses and glared at the room. Naruto cause sight of Kiba and aimed his shot. With a flick of his wrist, he launched a pebble right to the side of his head. Kiba looked furious and saw a Kusa genin give him a dirty look. Assuming that it was him, Kiba launched himself at genin and a fight broke out.

Team Anko moved quickly. Naruto noticed that one of the genin was actually a chūnin in disguise. He knew the guy as he had pranked the guy during one of Anko's missions. He quickly took his paper and switched it with his. Yakumo did the same, using a genjutsu on the nearest person to her, which happened to be Sakura. Jakken just copied Lee's answers, which he got from Tenten. They managed all this within the time it took the examiners to stop the fight.

After the fight and the time limit, Ibiki caught the room's attention.

"Okay, pencils down. It is time for the final question." Ibiki said. "Before we begin, there are some rules. The first rule is that you must choose to answer the question or not."

"What kind of rule is that?" Temari exclaimed.

"It means that if you do not answer the question, then your points go to zero. You fail and your team leaves with you." Ibiki said. This cause an outrage among the group. Ibiki ignored them and spoke again. "Another rule, if you choose to take the question and get it wrong, then you will never get another shot at the Chūnin Senbatsu Shiken (Chūnin Selection Exam)."

"What type of rule is that? You can't make that type of decision!" Kiba shouted.

"That's where you're wrong. Inside this room, I am the law. You either get with that or you can leave. Those are you're only two options. So, are you ready for the final question?" Ibiki asked with a smile. He watched as several genin stood and walked out of room. He saw that a few looked ready to quit but what really caught his attention was Anko's team acting so relaxed. He glared at them and wondered what was so relaxing. "You three," getting team Anko's attention. "You seem pretty relaxed for such a huge decision hanging over your heads."

"I'm not really relaxed but I've been taught not to show your hand. Besides, I'm not backing down just because you're in charge." Naruto said.

"Yeah, if becoming a chūnin was easy them we wouldn't need such test. So bring on this final question. I don't care if I get it wrong or not." Jakken said.

"As chūnin, we will have to make such decisions and we will have to live with it. Wrong or right, I will stand by my decisions and my teammates." Yakumo said. Ibiki looked at this team and had to admit that Anko had a wonderful team of genin. He looked at the others.

"Does anyone else feel the way that this team feels?" Ibiki asked. Only a few looked convinced by what this team said. "Very well, the first stage of Chūnin Senbatsu Shiken is now over."

"Say what now? What about the ten question?" Jakken asked.

"There was never a tenth question." Ibiki answered. Everyone looked at him and the examiners with shock.

"Are you telling us that you mentally scarred us and it was for nothing?" Sakura asked.

"Yes." Ibiki answered.

"You are a sick son of a bitch." Naruto said, getting the agreement of most of the room. Ibiki ignored them and began to speak.

"The object of this test was to see how well you can gather information. Did you really believe that no one would notice the use of dōjutsu, animals or puppets? Those who were eliminated would have been killed on the spot by how bad they were getting their information. The tenth question was just to see if you have the stuff to be chūnin. As a chūnin, you will be given more difficult mission. Some of those missions, your life would be in great danger and you have to make a decision." Ibiki suddenly removed his bandana, allow everyone to see his man scars and holes in his head. "Depend on your choice, you make it in the service of your village. Never forget that." He said and placed his bandana back on. As he was about to speak again, something coming toward the window caught his attention.

It smashed through one of the windows and stopped in mid-air. It began to un-wrap itself. Two kunai hit the ceiling and a banner appeared. On it were the words 'The Procter of the Second Stage, The Sexy and Single, Mitarashi Anko'. The purple haired ninja stood and gave everyone a menacing stare.

"This isn't the time to be cheering! You little bastards belong to me now!" Anko shouted. Everyone looked at her like she was crazy. Suddenly, Anko replaced herself with a chair as a staff, a sickle and a few shuriken came flying at her. She stood on one of the tables and grinned at the three genin who attempted to kill her. "Aww, are you guys man at me?"

"You could have warned us that he was the examiner of the first stage!" Jakken roared.

"You're still alive aren't you?" Anko asked. Her students just glared at her. She chuckled until her eyes landed on Midoshi. The young girl gave her a wave and smile, which made Anko frown. Before she could do anything, she was interrupted by Ibiki.

"You're early, again." Ibiki said with a frown.

"Eh," Anko said with a shrug. She looked around and noticed quite a lot of people. "You allowed twenty seven teams to pass?"

"There are quite a few strong ones in here." Ibiki said.

"Is that so? Well then, let's see if they are as strong as you say." Anko said with a sadistic grin. She faced the group of hopeful chūnin. "Alright maggots, follow me to your next test. If you think that Ibiki was scary, you're going to love what I have in store for you." Everyone was put off by the chuckling of the deranged looking jōnin, with the exception of her team and Midoshi.

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Authors' Notes- Here's a new chapter. Sorry that it's late but I have some important stuff to do. Anyway, enjoy.