"Would everybody please just shut up?!" A guy yelled from the puff of smoke.

"No!" I yelled back, earning a kick to the back from Sakura. "Still no!"

The guy became clear, as well as the many proctors behind him. "Sorry to have kept you waiting-"

"You don't look it," I pointed out, earning an elbow to the side from Uchiha. "Not sorry."

"My name is Morino Ibiki. I'm the proctor and chief examiner for the first part of the exam," the man with two scars on his face said.

"Aren't you the head of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Force - the Sadist Morino Ibiki?!" I questioned loudly, my hand high in the air.

The man gave a dark chuckle. "At least one of you has heard of me."

I bit my lower lip before turning to Sakura. "Forgive me, for I am about to sin."

"This will turn out the same way it did eight years ago, Ren," she replied mercilessly.

Morino-san suddenly pointed towards the three oto nins. "You... The kids from Otogakure! You can't carry on any way you please when the exam's about to start! ...Or do you want to be disqualified?"

"Sorry, sir... It's our first exam, and we got a little carried away," the leader of the team said.

"Is that so?" Morino-san asked before straightening up, even if it was only by a miniscule amount. "Then it's high time someone laid down a few ground rules. From this point forward, there will be no more fighting without the expressed permission of the examining officers, and even if that permission is granted, anything that endangers another applicant's life is strictly forbidden. Any of you little piglets who break that rule are out. Disqualified. No second chances. Got that?"

I shivered while biting my lower lip. I held my cheeks as a blush spread across my cheeks. Ah, that glare is the thing of my wildest dreams. The mere thought of being tortured while that face glares down at me... Ah, I can barely take it.

"So this is a test for little girly men?" The oto nin with the spikey black hair questioned with a smug smirk.

As the proctors sneered at the boy, I looked over at him in disgust. "Man, are you fucking retarded, or what? I seriously can't tell if you already don't understand the point of this first test. You're pretty fucking pathetic if that's the case."

He glared over at me, clearly trying to intimidate me. "And you know?"

I gave a deep sigh as I brought my palm up to my face. "Let's just get this over with..."

"As you wish. The first part of the selection exam is about to commence. Turn in your written application, take one of these seating assignment cards, and report directly to the seat indicated." Morino-san held up a small, square card with the number 1 on it for emphasis on his words. "When everyone's seated, we'll pass out the written part of the test."

Kotetsu-san waved around the stack of papers he held, a smirk clear on his face.

"Hunh?" Uzumaki-kun asked before suddenly screeching, "A- a paper test?!"

"No, not a paper test! Anything but a paper test!" I yelled dramatically before swatting the blonde's head. "Yes, a fucking paper test. You have to hold a certain level of knowledge the higher your shinobi rank is. They're testing that knowledge with this test, moron."

Uzumaki-kun gave a pout as he held his head. "No one said anything about this before though."

"Consider it a pop quiz. I'm willing to bet you're going to pass," I stated, making him give a sigh of relief.

"What about me?" Sakura asked as she leaned in close.

"All of the rookies are going to pass, as well as 23 more teams," I whispered, making her nod while gulping slightly.

"Are you sure?" She questioned nervously.

"I'd bet on it," I replied softly, earning a nod. I then joined the many other people that had lined up to hand in their applications. Once I did, I got a number and ended up separated from the people that I knew. I was seated at the edge of a row with the proctors pretty much lined up against the wall - the closest one within kicking distance. As I stared blankly at the ceiling, I wondered to myself if I should just blurt out the meaning of the test or not.

It was fairly obvious if one thought about it. A paper test? Really? And one that proctored by Morino Ibiki at that? If that doesn't spell out mental pressure, I'm not sure what would. Not only that, but the number of "genin" in the room was 156, two more than there was supposed to be. That meant there were 52 teams despite earlier numbers suggesting that there were only 51 teams, and the single individual taking the test alone - me.

Now, back to the point about Morino-san, he was a known sadistic. Surely mentally torturing someone was going to be the game he was going to play, but to a much lesser degree since he was testing genin who may qualify as Chunin. He most likely had two extra people of higher ranks slip in, seeing as how they were trusted to "take" the test. Morino-san most likely made the test difficult, and had those two there as a way for everyone to get answers. AKA the test was going to be designed to make you cheat.

Of course, that's not factoring in those who have a surprisingly high intelligence for their rank. Those that were smart enough to pass on their own surely wouldn't be unaccounted for though. That meant there was going to be an extra risk, something that would force those smarter ones to break and resort to some form of cheating themselves. It probably had to do with teamwork, especially since teams of three had to take the exam. A test of knowledge split up between three people in which all members needed to be on top of their game was the game being played.

And that left me as the one that was unrestrained. The proctor probably knew of my circumstances, but he was playing dumb for the sake of making the test run smoother.

I gave a deep sigh before looking around at the proctors. I easily spotted Izumo-san and Kotetsu-san, as well as a few other shinobi that I knew. And then my eyes landed on the one that failed to give off a normal amount of chakra. I stared at the proctor, trying to recall his face, or the symbols on his face, from around town.

He eventually noticed my staring and turned towards me.

Somewhat smooth movements, but there's a bit of twitching. It's not fluid - not completely human... Hm... There are very small cracks, but they're only really visible if you're looking for them. Sand, it appears. Let's see... Height, shadows, weight, depth... A puppet, no doubt about that, and it's covered in sand. Probably a combination between Gaara and Kankuro, especially since no one else seemed like they were carrying puppets around. I narrowed my eyes slightly at the person who had tried glaring back at me with his lifeless eyes. Definitely not someone from Konoha.

The person next to the fake proctor kicked her leg out a bit, gaining my attention.

I looked over at her and watched as she shook her eyes a bit at me, signalling for me not to look into it any further. I turned my attention back towards Morino-san and began to mess around with my eraser in boredom. How long does it take to pass a few papers out? I can't believe that it'd take this long. I mean, come on.

Finally, Morino-san straightened up, picked up a piece of chalk, and said, "Papers face down until I give the signal. Now listen up. There are a few big rules that pertain to this first test. I'll write them on the blackboard-" He tapped the blackboard with his chalk to emphasize the point. "-and explain them all, but I'm not taking questions, so listen carefully. I will say this only once."

"Rules?" Sakura mumbled from across the room.

Morino-san turned around to face the board before writing. "Rule number one! Each one of you starts out here with ten points. The test has ten questions, each worth one point. For each question you get wrong, we subtract a point from you. Get all ten right, and you retain the ten points you have. But if, for example, you answer three questions incorrectly, we take your ten points... subtract one point for each wrong answer... and your total drops down to seven."

In other words, if you get all ten questions wrong, you're down to zero, a failing score, I noted as I leaned back in my seat.

"Rule number two... This written test is still a team event. Passing or failing will be determined by the sum of the points held by all three members of each team," Morino-san said as he wrote that down on the board.

Lie. That rule wouldn't be approved by Hokage-sama and the Council of Elders, especially not if they wanted me to take the test all by my lonesome. You're bluffing in order to create tension, I thought as I continued on staring blankly.

"The objective is for each team to have as few deductions as possible from its joint thirty-point total," Morino-san stated.

Sakura slammed her head down on her desk before suddenly shooting up with her arm raised high in the air. "W-wait a second! The whole concept of the starting points and the deductions is hard enough to follow... But what is this "team total" you're talking about?!"

"Did you not hear the part about "no questions"? We have our reasons. Shut up and listen. You might learn something," Morino-san growled before calming himself down. "This next bit is crucial. Rule number three: if, during the course of the exam, a candidate does anything out of the ordinary... In other words, anything that leads the proctors to determine that he or she has cheated... We subtract two points from each member of the cheater's team."

I smirked as I found out his tactic for weeding out those hopeless cases. You intend on pressuring people into cheating and cheating good. Gathering information while undercover is something chûnins have to do, especially if they plan on becoming jônin that must go undercover. Now with the test set up this way, should everyone cheat obviously, or if one person cheats badly, the entire team will go down in flames.

Basically, everyone must have a certain level of skill to pass, and that's where individual skills come into play. You could use the individual skills of a team member, and have said team member pass around that information. That'd be the best way to do it. If you leave one teammate hanging, they're bound to resort to cheating that'd be very sloppy. So if you don't make plans ahead of time to secure good teamwork, and you don't work separately from your group with your own skill set, you're failing.

"Oh!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Exactly! In all probability, some of you run through your entire allowance during the test. If so, you'll be failed and asked to leave," Morino-san said.

"I'll be looking over your shoulders when you least expect it," Kotetsu-san commented with a smirk despite the fact he couldn't possibly look over my shoulder from the angle I was at and still see my paper.

"If you let the proctors catch you cheating, you'll bring yourself and your friends down!" Morino-san announced.

I chuckled softly. If you let them catch you. This most definitely is a test that involves cheating. My speculations were right.

"If you aspire to become chûnin... If you want to be the best shinobi you can be... Then you'd better start acting like you already are!" He declared. "One more thing... If an individual loses all ten of his or her points that person's entire team, regardless of how the other two members do... will be disqualified!"

So this is where teamwork comes in. I can see so many failures already, I thought.

"You one hour... Starting... Now!" He yelled.

I flipped my paper over and wrote my name on it. I then read the first question. "Question No. 1 Decode the following cipher and summarize its meaning." I blinked before snickering, Basic cryptography, huh? Okay, let's just fine the code word, and we'll be golden. I soon found the repeating kanji and used it to help me decipher the paragraph. I then summarized said paragraph and moved on to the next question.

"Question No. 2 The parabola marked B represents the greatest effective distance the enemy shinobi, A, could throw a shuriken star from the top of a 7.1-meter-tall tree. Calculate the specific features of the scenario and deduce the range of the shuriken's effectiveness, assuming a constant speed for shinobi A's assult upon any enemy within the arc that the flight of the shuriken describes. Show your work." I internally sighed before thanking you gods that there was a graph to help me along. Well, the standard equation for a parabola is (x - h)2 = 4p(y - k), so I'll simply start there...

The guy next to me released a soft groan as he looked down at his paper. He was clearly not happy with being tested on such questions.

I ignored his annoying noises and worked through that problem quickly. I had just solves the seventh question when someone from Suna stood up.

"You know... The one thing I keep wondering... is how many of the top-ranking exams they intend to pass," they said.

Morino-san chuckled before answering with a slightly annoyed expression, "Knowing that now isn't going to help you, is it? Unless you're hoping to fail."

"I-I'm sorry..." They apologized as they sat down to resume their test.

I rolled my eyes before finishing off my test. I flipped the test over and stared at the back blankly. I was then hit with a massive wave of boredom and decided that I'd start recreating my seals into a single, better functioning seal. I hummed softly to myself as I began to draw a rough sketch of the seal I'd use from then on.

Of course, I fucked up majorly within the first minute, causing me to move onto a different spot on the page.

Suddenly, Kotetsu-san stood up and threw a kunai at some boy's page.

"Wh-what was that for?!" The boy yelled.

"That's five strikes... And you're out!" Kotetsu-san replied while giving a small smirk.

"N... No way!" The boy gasped.

"Take your teammates with you. Out of this classroom. Now," the chunin demanded.

As the boy begrudgingly left, his teammates followed along. "Damn!"

"You're done here. Move on!" Kotetsu-san yelled at the group that was leaving rather slowly. He then took his seat back against the wall and continued on with proctoring.

Once the half-way mark came, people began to drop out like flies. Some put up fights, some didn't. Either way, their noise caused me several problems when it came to making my seal.

I growled as I filled up the page with failures, the only blank space being a tiny square in the bottom right hand corner. I sighed with annoyance before taking a deep breath. I calmed myself down before starting once again. As I carefully detailed the seal, I made sure to incorporate a few symbols to correct the problems my previous seals caused me. I soon began to develop something that caused me to grin widely.

"Grr... This question is impossible," the boy next to me growled softly as he furiously tapped his foot against the ground with nerves.

Oh my fucking kami-sama. They're all supposed to be hard. Why not work with your fucking team? I thought as I finished making my seal. I sat back to enjoy my work before being immediately sacked with boredom.

There were still ten minutes left before they'd give out the tenth questioned.

So, I stood up with my hand raised. "Since I'm done, can I read a book?"

Morino-san looked over at me like I was some kind of moron. "No."

"What if it's a book about sensory-type ninjutsu?" I questioned.

"No," he replied.

"What if it's a book about Senju Tobirama-sama?" I pressed.

"No," he answered, annoyance clear in his voice. "Why not draw on the back of your test or something then?"

"Why do you think I'm asking?!" I exclaimed as I threw my hands into the air. "Not only have I finished my test, but I've also developed a new seal through trial and error on the back of my paper! I need something else to do!"

"You're not reading a book, so sit down and shut up!" Morino-san demanded.

I huffed before sitting down. I crossed my arms and pouted a few seconds before asking, "Can I play solitaire?"

"You lose five points for every member of your team," he snapped.

"Good thing I'm taking the test alone. My one teammate is a fucking moron, so that'd definitely have failed me," I commented with a bunch of sarcasm.

"Are you stupid?" Morino-san asked as he glared at me.

I stood up and put my hands on my hips. "As a matter of fact, no. Not only am I positive that I've solved every question on this test right, but I'm sure I understand the hidden meaning within the hidden meaning regarding this test. Also, are you seriously allowing that?" I shoved my thumb over my shoulder to briefly point at the one proctor that wasn't from Konoha.

"Sit down before I fail you," the sadist snapped.

I sat down before another question came to mind. "Hey, do you think Kotetsu-san and Izumo-san are dating? I'm currently in charge of the bets while Raidō-san is on a mission."

"For the last time, we're not dating!" Kotetsu-san yelled at me from across the room.

"Everyone knows your two are! Just come out of the damn closet already!" I yelled back at him.

"We're just best friends!" Kotetsu-san spat out.

I narrowed my eyes. "Best friends don't su-"

"We never did that!" Izumo-san screeched as his face exploded a bright red color.

"And we're not even gay!" Kotetsu-san objected.

"If there was a 100,000,000¥ being betted on, and the Legendary Sucker just so happened to bet, even she'd get the fucking money because your gayness is so obvious! And besides, you guys are all over each other more than Kurenai-san and Asuma-san, and everyone knows they're going to get married one day and have a kid!" I yelled as I looked between the two before sparing a glance at Morino-san, who was just so done with my shit, he just ignored my presence while writing something down on a piece of paper.

Izumo-san sucked in a high-pitched breath while holding his chest. He looked like I had just offended his great-grandmother.

"You fail!" Kotetsu-san yelled before pointing at the door. "Get out!"

"Hah! You can't fail me! Not only have I not cheated, but I'm damn sure I've got every answer right on this! I'm only five points down, not ten! And I don't even have a team you can play into this! I beat you, bitch!" I yelled even though I had already announced most of those facts earlier.

"You're talking during the test! You fail!" Kotetsu-san replied, thinking he'd caught me.

"The sadist never said anything about no talking," I pointed out while giving a smug smirk. "I just can't get my questions wrong or cheat."

"Excuse me!" Kankuro interjected as he stood up with his hand in the air.

"What is it?" A proctor asked.

"I've got to go to the bathroom..." He replied, obviously lying. He hadn't shown any discomfort that was typically associated with going to the bathroom, and common sense really should have told him to empty his bladder before the test started. He was up to something.

The fake proctor handcuffed his hands and said, "Of course. One of the proctors will accompany you."

"Why not?" Kankuro replied before being lead away to a bathroom.

I silently watched him leave before just sitting down. I had wasted five minutes of my time, so I content with just staring into Morino-san's soul. I watched as he simply kept his gaze on the clock, not even sparing me a glance.

Eventually, the forty-five minutes mark came, and he looked at the remaining applicants with utmost seriousness. "All right! Here it comes. Get ready for the tenth question!"

Finally! I thought as I straightened up.

"And before we get to the question itself, I'm adding one more new rule," Morino-san stated.

Kankuro returned then and there with the false proctor.

"Heh... Looks like you're in luck. The time you've spent playing with dolls hasn't been completely wasted," Morino-san said before watching as Kankuro displayed a slightly unnerved expression.

So he did notice. He's just allowing it to happen, I thought before frowning slightly. Seems like a bad move.

"Don't worry about it. Sit down," Morino-san directed.

Kankuro was released from his handcuffs and walked towards his seat. As he passed by Temari, he gave something to her as sneakily as he could.

"Let me explain," Morino-san said as he moved to the middle of the front of the class. "This rule... is absolute. First... You must choose... whether to accept or reject this tenth question!"

"Ch-choose? What happens if someone doesn't accept the question?!" Temari asked.

"If you reject the question and don't even try to answer it, you'll lose all your points immediately and fail! And both of your teammates will fail right along with you," the jônin answered.

"Say what?!" Someone yelled.

"Then why would anyone choose to reject it?" Someone else questioned.

"Because of the other rule," Morino-san replied before glaring down at us. "If you try to answer the question, and get it wrong, you will never be permitted to apply for the chûnin selection exams again. Not ever."

And so, the hidden meaning of the hidden meaning is fully revealed to me. Those who are selfish don't deserve to be shinobi, or at least not in your eyes. If they can only play it safe, why should they bring others down with them? Unfortunately, their teams would go down with them in this case. It's just like a real mission. If someone slips up, everyone goes down in flames. I gave a small sigh as I crossed my arms and folded my left leg over my right.

"You can't be serious. That's ridiculous! There are ninja here who've sat for the chunin exams more than once already! We know there are!" Kiba yelled as he pointed at Morino-san, Akamaru barking in agreement.

The main proctor gave a laugh. "Just your rotten luck. I wasn't making the rules in past years. I am now. I've been up front with you. You can take a failing grade now, and try again later. Anyone who has doubts would be smart to reject the tenth question right now. Come back and reapply next year, and the year after that."

Ah, so a no-win situation. Nice, I mused as I closed my eyes and sat back in my seat.

"Ready? Then let's begin. Those who choose not to accept should raise their hands," the sadist instructed, "Once their number has been confirmed, they will leave the room."

After a few moments of silence, the man sitting to Uzumaki-kun's left raised his hand while standing up. "I-I... I quit! I'm rejecting the question! Genna! Inaho! Please forgive me!"

"Number 50! Failed! Number 130! Number 111! You fail right along with him," a proctor declared.

"M-me too!" Someone else exclaimed as they stood up.

Many people began to drop out until Uzumaki-kun raised his hand shakily.

Little dickhead's about to do something stupid, I thought as I grinned.

Uzumaki-kun slammed his hand into the desk and yelled, "Never underestimate me! I don't quit, and I won't run away! I'll accept your stupid question! Even if I risk ending up a rookie for the rest of my life, I'll still become Hokage, even if I can only make it by pure stubbornness. I don't care! I'm not afraid of you!"

I chuckled as everyone's doubts were dispelled. He's the comedy ninja - the maverick show-stopper. He's the number one knucklehead ninja... Uzumaki Naruto is definitely stubborn, a boy who will earn his respect through his constant persistence alone.

"I'll ask you one last time. This is a decision that could affect the rest of your life. Quit now, while you still have the chance," Morino-san demanded.

"I never go back on my word. That's... my nindo!" Uzumaki-kun declared.

Morino-san looked around the classroom before looking to his proctors for reassurance. Once he got that, he grinned. "Good call. So, everyone who is still here... You've just passed the first exam!"

I grabbed my eraser before turning around in my seat. I threw it at the tallest ninja from Otogakure with a smirk. "Understand the test yet, you fruitcake? Oh, wait. I'm sorry. That was offensive to all fruitcakes." I gave a laugh as I looked at the boy with a rather condescending expression.

"You act like knew it from the beginning, and your actions throughout the test also displayed that. How exactly did you piece everything together?" Morino-san questioned as he looked at me with slightly narrowed eyes.

I stood up as I faced him. I straightened myself and put my hands behind my back. "For starters, the numbers of the people in the room failed to match up. I'm taking the test by myself, as an exception decided on by the leaders of Konoha. Therefore, there should have only been 154 people in the crowd. There happened to be two extra, chûnins to be precise, but I shall come back to that later.

"You, the head proctor of this exam, are Morino Ibiki, the head of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Force, as I stated earlier. You are known for torture and breaking people's minds down like they're nothing but twigs. Of course, this is only a chûnin selection exam, so you're forced to back off a bit. However, you're still allowed to pressure people any ways you choose, something you used to your advantage by splitting up group members and adding extra proctors to look over the examinees' shoulders at all times.

"Now then, I shall explain the upfront meaning of this test. It is meant to appear as a test of knowledge, however these are questions only chunins or higher are expected to know. Besides the few geniuses in the room, you'd need to add in two chûnins just to make sure there are people that the hidden meaning can be used for. Those two chunins are there-" I pointed towards one before pointing to the other before straightening up again. "-and there respectively.

"The hidden meaning - to test one's spying abilities, whether alone or as a team. The test is set up around the fact that the majority of the people in this room would have to cheat in order to keep their points. If they were sloppy cheaters, then they'd be disqualified and take their team down with them, just as you would during an infiltration mission. A select few in this room knew their teammates were sloppy cheaters, so they worked together to pass around answers. For example, using the mirror on the ceiling." I pointed up to the mirror still on the ceiling as put there by Tenten-san earlier. I then pointed over to the fake proctor. "Or perhaps something a bit more obvious like the fake puppet proctor, which I still don't know why the hell you'd allow something like that. It's so obvious, you should have failed that team on the spot."

"What do you mean?" Someone asked as they looked in confusion.

I sighed as I facepalmed. "You're not from the village, so you wouldn't know, but-" I shunshined over to the puppet and sat on its shoulders as I poked at its face. "These markings aren't from any clans that reside here in Konoha. Besides that, looks at these cracks on his face. This sand was a good disguise, but no jônin would actually miss something like this. Besides, their weight on the chair isn't normal, and the way they have slightly robotic movements. Ventriloquism or not, I'm not going to miss those blocky movements."

"Get off..." The fake proctor mumbled as their sand began cracking under my weight.

I did so and went back to my seat where I stood properly again. "Now, the hidden meaning within the hidden meaning... It really became obvious during the tenth question, or rather the rules for the tenth question. Individually, everyone had to decide if they'd be qualified to answer the question. Those who only thought about themselves instead of their team failed, and thus forced their entire team to pay for their selfishness.

"In any case, a true shinobi, as decreed by the many shinobi rules we have, should never think merely about themselves, but rather about the good it'd do for the village you come from. One cannot be a coward when their village may depend on it. They have no right to be shinobi. Even in the face of great peril, even if it may cost you something dear, the greater picture is always more important. Saving your neck and allowing others to pay for such decisions is unacceptable... Or at least, in your eyes. Am I right?" I gave a small smirk as I narrowed my eyes at the man, daring him to tell me I was wrong.

"That's why you were so fearless when it came to threats about your failing. You didn't have anyone to take down with you, and you knew about some loophole since you are all on your lonesome. With nothing to lose, you felt free to mock us out. It was quite bold," he praised as he grinned back.

"Oh, I wasn't mocking you out. I was directing it at Kotetsu-san and Izumo-san, especially since they pissed me off earlier." I grit my teeth before making a stupid face. I waved my hands around as I said, "Oh, we're just having fun with this years applicants because we're proctors. Look at me. I'm an asshole."

"Hey, we didn't do anything against the rules," Kotetsu-san growled at me.

I glared over at him with the fire of the gods in my eyes. "Hah? You didn't do anything wrong? You laid your hands on and mocked out someone I look up to. That's a big no-no."

"Yandere much?" The man mumbled, making me growl before looking back at Morino-san.

"Anyway, you made it totally obvious to a sociopath like me," I said as I put my my hands on my hips.

"Ah, I can see where something like that would fall down when it came to your mindset. A liar is very good at seeing through others' lies, especially after lying for a living," he mused before chuckling darkly. "You'd sure be a hard nut to crack under torture."

"It's made harder by the fact I'm totally a hardcore masochist. Hit me, burn me, cut me as you like. I'll only get pleasure." I chuckled as I gave him a flirtatious wink.

"You know you don't have a chance!" Sakura yelled at me, earning an annoyed look from me. "He's a grown man, Ren."

"I can go after whatever sadist I like!" I yelled back as a small blush covered my cheeks.

"It's called teleiophilia," she said while narrowing her eyes at me.

"And it's not a crime, so suck it." I gave a dark laugh at her annoyed expression.

"I'm not interested in you in the slightest," Morino-san said while facepalming.

"Damn," I cursed before pouting at my loss of a good sadist. Maybe I can find a masochist I can be a total sadist towards. Hm. I wonder if there are any masochist in the village besides me. Ah, but maybe I can find myself a sadist of a different kind. A narcissistic person would wear on me mentally... Nah. I like physical pain much better. Ah, but of I get myself a strong man that wouldn't be afraid to punch me around, I'd be in heaven. I gave a small chuckle as I held my cheeks, a blush covering my face at the thought.

My thoughts ran rapid at those thoughts until someone - that spikey-haired otonin - threw an eraser at my head.

I snapped out of my thoughts as my hand moved back to catch the eraser the aimed at the back of my head. I put it down on my desk and was going to continue daydreaming. I got cut off by a presence outside of the window. I looked at the purple-haired woman in confusion as she rolled up most her body in a black cloth. "Uh... Who the fuck is that?"

Morino-san looked over towards the window with great annoyance.

Said window broke as the woman cane crashing in. She threw two kunais, getting the banner to stick up properly to the ceiling. As she straightened up, her banner became readable.

NEWLY ARRIVED

SECOND CHIEF

EXAMINATION OFFICER

MITARASHI ANKO

"None of you are in any position to celebrate. I am the second chief examination officer, Mitarashi Anko! Time's a-wastin', people. Let's go! Follow me!" She shoved her right fist into the air.

"Fuck yeah!" I agreed as I bounced up to my feet, both of my fists high in the air. "Let's go!"

"I like your spirit!" Mitarashi-san yelled as she pointed at me before Morino-san pulled the banner back to reveal his annoyed expression.

"Can't you sense the mood in here?" He asked, referring to the fact everyone was still processing what I had said earlier.

"This new officer almost reminds me... of Naruto..." Sakura mumbled.

The woman in question glanced everyone over before looking to Morino-san. "Seventy-nine if you are still here?! Ibiki! You passed twenty-six teams?!"

"Technically twenty-seven. I'm taking the exam alone," I interjected, only to get ignored.

"Obviously you went too easy on them," Mitarashi-san commented while glaring at the man.

He replied with a smile, "This year, we have applicants of exceptional caliber."

"Yeah, right. I'll cut the number down by half before the next test is done." She gave a dark smirk as she looked down at us, her body shivering slightly. "Ooh! I get charged up just thinking about it! I'll explain things in detail as soon as we move to our next location... So follow me!"

"Hell yes!" I agreed as I jumped up and got ready to go.

~

"You, Hatake Kakashi," Morino Ibiki called out as he approached the jônin who had been walking along with two other jônins - Sarutobi Asuma and Yūhi Kurenai respectively.

"Yes?" Kakashi replied as he turned towards the well-known sadist jônin.

"You're the jônin in charge of Haruno Ren, correct?" Ibiki pressed.

"I told them it wasn't a good idea," Kakashi mumbled under his breath before giving a small sigh. "What did he do this time?"

Ibiki pulled up the test Ren took before flipping it over to show the back. "You know what this is, don't you?"

"He...! He drew such a complicated seal?!" Kurenai asked in surprise as she looked over Kakashi's shoulder.

"Designed it," Kakashi corrected as he took the paper. He pulled up his hitai-ate before looking down at the seal with his special eye. "Hm... That symbol with this one... Next to this kanji... And then surrounded by this... Ah, I see." He pulled his headband down before handing the paper back to the scarred man. "It's a seal specially designed to keep something inside of him sealed."

"A seal for himself? Why?" Asuma questioned with a furrowed brow.

"The fool believes it will make his sister happy," Kakashi grumbled as his shoulders sagged a bit, his hands going into his pockets. "He typically has something sealed away, his sadism. Lately, he's also been trying to seal away his masochism and sarcasm. He's slowly becoming emotionless, just like..." Kakashi trailed off, looked around carefully, before lowering his voice and muttering, "Itachi."

The other three flinched slightly at the name of the Uchiha who had single-handedly massacred his entire clan.

"I pressed him on it a week ago, but he shut me down at every alley I took. I didn't want him to take this test, especially not with his current mindset. In order to combat that, the Council of Elders decided to have him give up his seals, and Hokage-sama agreed. If he did what I image he did, this is not going to turn out well. He may be strong and cunning, but it's exactly that which will get him into trouble." Kakashi gave a deep sigh before looking to Ibiki. "Who's the second proctor?"

"Anko," Ibiki replied, earning a look of worry from the copy-cat ninja.

"This is going to end up bad. I can already tell..." Kakashi rubbed the back of his head before looking to the test. "He got them all right though, correct?"

"Not a single flaw. He's definitely a genius, but that makes me wonder why he isn't already a chûnin, maybe even a jônin if his skills can match his brain," Ibiki replied as he showed the carefully detailed work on the front of the paper.

"He has an obsession with keeping his little twin sister happy and healthy. It's like an extremely platonic sister complex." Kakashi shook his head at having to actually say those words out loud. "In any case, he's bound to do something stupid during the next part of the exam..."

"By the way, did you know your student is currently in charge of a betting pot?" Ibiki questioned.

"Please tell me you're lying..." Kakashi muttered as he looked at the older man pleadingly.

The TI Force leader gave a small smirk. "Apparently he's holding the betting pot for Raidō while he's away on a mission. The kid had the gaul to ask me if I wanted to add my money to it during the middle of the exam."

"Namiashi Raidō..." Kakashi growled as he glared into distance. He then straightened up and asked, "What betting pot is he in charge of again?"

"Kotetsu and Izumo's gay relationship," Kurenai answered, earning odd looks. She gave a small shrug before saying, "It's totally obvious."

"I knew he was a gambler, but I didn't think he'd be that far into it," Kakashi mumbled as he was defeated a bit in the inside.

"It can't be that bad," Asuma said as he patted his friend's shoulder.

"He made a bet with Tsunade-sama..." Kakashi sighed deeply. "She owes him an arm, a leg, her necklace, her first born child, and exactly 112,685¥."

"You're lying," Kurenai replied as she looked at the man with surprise.

"I'm serious. He's the exact opposite of her. He's a gambler that could one day swindle the entire world into a disaster," Kakashi commented before looking back at the woman. "I've found that the bets he makes always turn out in his favor. One time, he bet on an S-Rank criminal getting away, and he did through the help of someone else. He bet on an event coming, and that event came just as he predicted. He has an ungodly ability to predict things that will come, and then will use it to his advantage by betting on them. I lost 1,000¥ to him already. It's made even worse by the fact he'll add interest based on what your income should be around."

"Interest rates? A child shouldn't know about that," Asuma muttered as he rubbed his chin.

"He's such a delinquent, it's not even funny. He's even broken into ANBU-Rank records before and gotten away with it by acting like a stupid child," Kakashi explained, earning a surprised noise from Ibiki.

"He's that manipulative, and I've never heard of him before?" The scarred jônin asked in surprise.

"Ren's brain is to be feared..." Kakashi finally admitted before looking towards the Hokage monument. I hope you were right about this, Hokage-sama...