There were easily a hundred people crammed into this room, probably many more, and every pair of eyes was watching us with varying levels of hostility. Naruto was visibly surprised, and even Sasuke seemed a bit discomforted. I just felt dread.

This isn't going to be fun, is it?

Then my sister jumped on Sasuke's back squealing about how she missed him. Ah, Ino.

"Sasuke-kun~" she sang out. He looked like he was dying a little inside. "Where've you been, cutie? I could hardly wait to see you!"

"Ino, what have I said about molesting my teammate?" I asked, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"I'm not molesting him!" she protested, pouting at me. Sasuke shrugged her off and drifted a bit closer to me. Evidently I was the safer twin. I didn't particularly blame him; I considered myself the safer twin too.

"She's got a point," Shikamaru drawled, giving me the tiniest of nods. Chōji followed behind him, munching on chips. It was a good plan, getting his carbs in when none of us had any idea when a fight might break out. "You really think you guys have a chance of passing?"

Naruto instantly bristled at his words. I knew Shika well enough to know it wasn't really meant to be insulting, just badly worded concern. It was still kind of annoying.

"Decent chance as any," I said, grabbing Naruto's collar to keep him from attacking someone before the exam even started. I wasn't risking being ejected early. "Figured we'd at least get some decent experience even if we did fail."

Shikamaru just grunted. "Chip?" Chōji offered quietly as we watched Ino unabashedly drawing closer to Sasuke, who was in turn trying to inch away without looking like he was trying to get away from her.

"Thanks," I said, accepting it. It gave the situation a bit of normalcy.

"Hey, there you guys are," Kiba said, bouncing over to us. "Looks like the gang's all here! Hey, Inoko, did you find your sensei alright yesterday?"

I nodded, anxiety clenching in my stomach and tightening my throat. Kiba was instantly drawn into a half teasing, half serious argument with the rest of my team. Hinata was blushing as she hid behind a silent Shino.

"Would you guys just do us all a favor and shut up?" a voice groaned from behind us. I turned around, focusing on keeping my face relaxed and disinterested. "You kids are genin, right? Would-be-hotshots fresh out of the Academy. This isn't a field trip, you know."

My boys, Kiba, and Ino all scowled at him. Bored. You're better than everyone here and you know it. Don't rise to the bait. This teenager was familiar, so familiar in a way I couldn't quite place. Silver hair, round glasses, a faint mocking look on his face. Where had I seen him before?

"Who the heck do you think you are?" Ino demanded, hands on her hips and Sasuke's non-existent affections forgotten.

"Name's Kabuto," he introduced himself, and everything else that left his mouth sounded like white noise as my brain screeched to a grinding halt.

Kabuto. Yakushi Kabuto. Freaking Kabuto.

I remembered him now. Bitch.

He was one of Orochimaru's flunkies, wasn't he? Must have been important later in the Plot too, if I remembered him at all. Regardless.

"No thanks," I said once I managed to find my tongue. Kabuto paused, a deck of cards halfway out of his pocket. "We don't need your help."

"Are you sure?" Kabuto asked, a mocking glint in his eyes. "This is the chance of a lifetime you're turning down here."

"I would literally rather die than accept any form of help from you," I said flatly. He opened his mouth to reply. "Literally. Rather. Die."

There was something else in his eyes, flashing through for just a split second. Then he sighed and laughed.

"If you insist. See you around, Yamanaka-san."

"What are you doing?" Sasuke hissed as Kabuto turned around and left. "We could have gotten a valuable edge on the competition."

"He was so nice and you were so rude!" Naruto added. "He's from Konoha just like us!"

"Yeah, and so was Mizuki-sensei," I muttered. Naruto's mouth snapped shut. Sasuke glanced between us. I doubted he knew the exact details of what happened that night, but the fact that Naruto was instantly silenced by it must have meant something to him.

"Are you sure about him?" Ino asked in a low voice.

"Positive. Stay away from him and his team." Crap, I still hadn't warned her about Gaara. "Stay as far away as possible from the Suna team too. If you even think you're near him, go in the opposite direction."

Ino shot a look at where I could feel Gaara lurking. "Noted," she finally replied. "I'll keep my distance. Anything else?"

"If they weren't in our class, don't trust them," I said in a low voice. Team Gai was still a variable, and while I trusted them, I didn't exactly have a reason to.

"Got it. Be safe, sis." She offered her fist out.

I lightly bumped it. "You too."

That's about when Naruto instantly made a target of us all and shouted, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto! And none of you are gonna beat me!"

In the silence that followed, all that could be heard was the twin slap of Sasuke's and my hands hitting our faces.

"Evidently 'flying under the radar' means announcing us to the entire exam," Sasuke muttered. I sighed heavily.

Then I grabbed Naruto's collar and hissed into his ear, "Naruto, if the other genin don't kill us first, I'm going to kill you."

"S-Sorry, Inoko," he apologized sheepishly, then instantly made his apology moot. "I meant it though."

"I know you did." He was so earnest and ridiculous. I sighed and let him go, absently straightening his jacket a little in the process.

I watched as in the background the Oto team lunged at Kabuto and attacked him, and I would cheerfully be the first to admit I was feeling more than a little satisfaction when his glasses broke and he threw up. Get rekt, sucker.

There was a giant explosion of smoke at the front of the classroom. The proctors stood in the clearing smoke, a series of imposing figures. Everyone instantly shut up.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Morino Ibiki said conversationally. I'd seen him around due to Dad's work. Sometimes, I would tag along with him to T&I and spend time in his office while he did paperwork, and he'd come over for dinner every now and then. Ibiki liked kids well enough, though he often scared them. I liked him; he used to bring Ino and me presents when we were younger. "My name is Morino Ibiki. I'm the chief proctor for this exam."

Ah, he was scaring everyone else too, it appeared, not just small children. Ino and I were the only ones unaffected by the faint killing intent leaking out of him. And Gaara, now that I noticed him. I guessed that once you lived with the living embodiment of killing intent, a mere mortal wasn't much for scaring you.

"You kids from Otogakure!" he barked. "You can't carry on whichever way you please when the exam's about to start. Unless you want to be disqualified?"

The Oto nin glanced at each other before retreating away from Kabuto. Phooey.

"Sorry, sir," the hunched over one said. "It's our first exam; we got a little carried away."

"Is that so?" Ibiki asked, darkly serious. "In that case, it's high time for me to lay down some ground rules. From this point forward, there will be no fighting unless authorised by myself or another head proctor. Even if that permission is granted, anything lethal is strictly forbidden. Any of you brats break that rule and you're out. No second chances." He glared at the room from under his brow. "Am I understood?"

There was a tense silence.

"The first part of the exam will now commence," Ibiki said, a sadistic grin slowly crawling across his face. I wondered if Dad knew that he was in charge of us. "Turn in your applications and take a number. That number will indicate your assigned seat. You will take it promptly. When everyone is properly seated, we'll pass out the written part of the test."

Naruto blinked as the other people began to shuffle towards the desk to get their numbers.

"A paper test?!" he shrieked.

"What do you think, Sasuke?" I asked, dragging Naruto behind me. "Bury him alive or poison?"

"Your friend is going to fail," Hyūga Neji said casually as I took my seat beside him. "He's a fool, isn't he?"

"You're a fool," I muttered back. Childish, but my mind was focused on more important things than getting into an argument with Neji. I had a clear line of target to both of the boys, which was good; Sasuke ought to pass pretty easily, though given Naruto's track record with written tests…

Yeah, I'd probably have to use the mind switch jutsu on him if he was going to pass. I could pass it off as me crashing from sleep deprivation, right?

Probably.

"Papers face down until I say so," Ibiki ordered once we were all settled in. "Listen up. There are some big rules that pertain to this first test. I'll write them down on the black board and explain them, but I'm only saying things once and I'm not taking questions, so listen carefully."

I straightened in my seat instinctively. Ibiki turned around and the sound of chalk scraping on the blackboard filled the classroom.

"Rule number one!" he began. "Each one of you starts out with ten points. This test has ten questions, and for each question you get wrong a point is subtracted." Well that sounded simple enough. "Get all ten right, and you keep the points you had. Get three wrong, and you have seven points left. Et cetera, et cetera.

"Rule number two. Though a written test, this is still a team exercise. Whether you pass or fail is determined by the total amount of points held by the members of the team. The object is to have as few deductions as possible from the maximum thirty point total."

Still rather simple, though getting steadily more complicated. I rested my chin on my hand, frowning a little. There was a catch, I could feel it in my gut. There was always a catch with Ibiki's games.

"Rule number three," Ibiki continued, ignoring the muttering beginning to rise around me. "If, during the course of the exam, the proctors determine that one of the candidates has cheated in some way, two points are subtracted from that individual's total. If you run out of points, you will be disqualified and asked to leave." He set the chalk down and turned to face us, a sinister smile covering his face. "If you let the proctors catch you cheating, you're bringing yourself and your team down. If you want to be chūnin, you better start acting like you actually are!"

Huh. Well, this was going to be a problem. I probably wouldn't need to cheat though, so no sense in risking my place in the exams. Between myself and Sasuke, we ought to have enough points to carry Naruto through this exam, even if he flunked out. I frowned a little. This is too easy for the chūnin exams. There's got to be something more.

"Oh, by the way," Ibiki added conversationally, almost as an afterthought. "If an individual loses all of their points… Regardless of how well the other two members do, the entire cell will be disqualified."

My head slipped from my hand and fell into my desk. And there it is. I'm going to have to help Naruto cheat, won't I? We're gonna fail otherwise. Dang it, Ibiki.

"You have one hour," he announced, surveying us with a calculating eye. "Starting… now!"

I flipped my packet over and looked at the first question.

Oh no, I thought faintly. I'm just as screwed as Naruto.

Forget helping Naruto cheat—I was going to have to cheat too, wasn't I?

Things were trickling back to me now, bits and pieces here and there. Combined with all of the training I'd had throughout my life, I had a pretty good idea of what we were supposed to do. This was an intelligence test in all meanings of the word. We were being forced to cheat, a test designed to see how well we could gather intelligence in a hostile environment. Fail to do so safely and you and your team get it.

Clever. Though knowing that now didn't really help me. Well, it was a good thing this test was practically designed for a Yamanaka.

I closed my eyes. Chūnin tended to feel different than jōnin, and while I didn't particularly want to open up my senses while there was Sandy McMurderface in the same room, I could probably ignore him long enough to figure out who the inevitable plants were. There had to be some plants, somewhere. That was the only way to guarantee that the exam goers would have somebody reliable to cheat off of.

The seating was 'random', but the fact that no one seemed to be sitting anywhere near their teammates screamed to me that everything down to our seats was planned.

Ahem. Back to chakra sensing.

I very carefully reached out, making a point to stay far away from Gaara. Haha, yeah, there was no way I was going to risk being mentally attacked by a crazy bijuu. Not exactly something on my bucket list. Genin, genin, genin, probably a genin—ping—

I paused. Most definitely not a genin, but sitting too close to Gaara to risk lingering. I moved on, feeling a bit troubled, but put it out of my mind. Genin, genin, Lee, genin, and—aha!

A plant was sitting three rows behind me, four seats to the right. I waited twenty minutes while he wrote out the answers, absently tapping my pencil on my paper. I really hoped it didn't get mistaken for some sort of code. When he finally set his own pencil down, I casually stretched back in my chair, leaning further and further until I could make a clear shot. There was a split second where the only obstacle in my way shifted in her seat, and then shot forward.

I opened unfamiliar eyes and blinked down at the test paper. I took my time memorizing the answers; few people had any idea how to deal with a Yamanaka jutsu, and even fewer could actually do it. Five minutes later and I was beginning to feel the toll, but I had all nine answers solidly in my head. I released the jutsu and sat up in my seat, yawning for good measure.

I swung my legs in the seat that was just the tiniest bit too big for me, scribbling out my newly acquired answers. I double checked them, and while they seemed about right, I didn't really understand the problems themselves. For all I knew, I was as wrong as could be, which was… concerning. But I doubted the plant would deliberately write down the wrong answers; that would be stupid.

… I was overthinking this, wasn't I?

I pretended to stretch again, yawning and setting down my pencil in the moment before I shot myself into Sasuke's body. From his position, I could see Ino slumped over her desk in a similar manner.

Don't worry, just giving you a hand, I wrote in small kana at the top of his page before writing down the nine answers I had at the moment. I couldn't quite remember the tenth question, so I was probably going to have to let the boys take care of that on their own, but surely twenty-seven out of thirty would be enough to pass? I almost canceled the jutsu after I finished so I could move onto Naruto, but I hesitated.

Picking the pencil up again, I sketched a small pig face giving a victory sign. Then I cancelled the mind-body transfer. I couldn't see the incredulous look Sasuke was giving me, but I could feel it boring into my head.

I resisted the urge to giggle.

A kunai flew past Naruto's head and into the paper of a Leaf genin behind him, and all giggly urges vanished.

"Wh-What was that for?!" the genin demanded, standing up. He was obviously shaken, and I honestly didn't blame him.

"Five strikes and you're out," one of the proctors drawled. "Take your teammates with you. Out of this classroom. Now."

That was too close, I thought, hunkering down over my sheet, a hand draped over my head. I carefully glanced around me, being sure to keep my eyes away from any papers. Neji's Byakugan were active, which probably meant that covering my paper with my body was useless. Eh.

More people were failing, most going willingly, but more than a couple of them needed to be forcibly kicked out. I sat at my desk and meditated. I'd already been far too active and needed to chill a bit or I'd risk being caught. Half an hour gone, another half to go.

I stretched my arms out again, this time aiming for Naruto. I had wanted to wait for… something, before I tried to take over Naruto himself. The seal was intact still; I ought to be fine, but…

I was afraid. I remembered one thing from being a baby again, and that was the Kyuubi, dark and hateful.

I would quite cheerfully go the rest of my life without ever feeling that chakra again if I had the choice.

You don't have a choice. What's life without a little risk, anyway?

I took a deep breath and took the plunge.

It was—It was—

Completely normal.

I blinked down at Naruto's tanned hands, frowning a little to myself. Next to me, Hinata gave a questioning look. Right. Naruto had been freaking out just a second ago, and now he was completely calm. I gave her the tiniest of winks to assure her and nearly burst out laughing at how she turned bright red and muffled a squeak.

Poor girl. One day, perhaps, if Naruto ever got over his crush on Sakura and gained an ounce of social awareness.

I copied the answers onto his sheet along with the same message and drawing. Just because everything seemed normal didn't mean that I was going to linger in his body any longer than I had to. I canceled the jutsu and tried to rub the goosebumps away. Ahead of me, Naruto nearly jumped out of his seat when he realized his paper was now filled in. He didn't dare look around, but I could see the tension bleed out of his body when he realized he wasn't going to fail.

Five minutes now. I lay down for real on my paper and closed my eyes.

I almost thought I felt sand drifting across my skin. I didn't dare open my eyes to check.

"Alright!" Ibiki said suddenly. I flinched in my seat. "It's time for the tenth question. Get ready."

I slowly drew myself up, anxiety running through my body at lightning speed. This was it.

"Before we get to the question itself, I'm adding one more rule."

You could cut the tension in the air with a kunai. Kankuro came back with his puppet-proctor. Ibiki paused.

"Looks like you're in luck. The time you've spent playing with dolls hasn't been completely wasted."

I ducked my head to hide my smile. Looks like I wasn't the only one who noticed how dead inside the 'proctor' was. Ibiki sighed.

"Don't worry about it. Sit down." He waited until Kankuro meandered his way back to his seat, just happening to take the route that led past his sister. He turned, trench coat swishing dramatically. "Let me explain. This rule is absolute. First you must choose whether to accept or deny this question."

There was a beat of silence. "Choose?" Temari finally demanded. "What happens if someone doesn't accept the question?!"

Ibiki closed his eyes. "If you reject the question without even attempting to answer it, you and your teammates will fail instantly."

The classroom understandably rioted for a minute. I hunkered back down, making myself small.

"Why would anyone choose to reject it?!" someone shouted.

"Because of the other rule," Ibiki responded in a low voice. He was so quiet everyone else had to be silent if we wanted to hear him. "If you try to answer the question and get it wrong, then you will never be allowed to participate in the chūnin exams again. Ever."

That couldn't be true. It couldn't be. It just didn't make any sense. What was the point of forbidding genin from taking the chūnin exams again, just because they failed it once when they were young and inexperienced?

Unless…

Oh, I see now. Clever Ibiki; this is another one of your mind games, isn't it? I had lost count of how many times he would play a game like this with me and Ino, candy or chocolates being our prize if we won. Now we were playing for our rank.

"That's crazy!" Kiba snarled, slamming his hand on his desk. Akamaru barked in agreement. "There are genin who've done this exam tons of times!"

Ibiki began to laugh. It wasn't a pleasant sound. "Just your rotten luck," he finally said past his chuckles. "I wasn't making the rules then. I am now. I've been upfront and honest with you; you can take a failing grade now and try again later. Anyone who doubts my words would be smart to reject the tenth question now. Come back and try again next year… and the year after that… and the year after that."

You could have heard a pin drop.

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

There was silence for what felt like an eternity. One of the plants stood up and raised his hand. "I quit!" he exclaimed. "I'm rejecting the question!"

He apologized to his teammates before they were all escorted out. And like the floodgates of a dam opening, genin began to drop like flies. I withdrew a little further into myself.

I was pretty sure I knew what he was playing at, and I was pretty sure Ino did too. But neither of our teams did. Would any of them reject the question?

I sat ramrod straight when I saw Naruto's trembling hand rising up. No! He can't reject the question! I refuse!

Summoning my flagging chakra, I tried to discreetly make the seal. At least, until his hand slammed down on his desk.

"Never underestimate me!" Naruto shouted. "I don't quit and I won't run! I'll take your stupid question, and even if I'm a genin for the rest of my life, I'm still gonna be Hokage! I'm not afraid of you!"

My hands fell to my desk as I sighed in relief. Of course that's what he was doing. This was Naruto I was talking about.

"Last chance," Ibiki said, eyes serious. "This is a choice that could affect the rest of your life. Quit now while you still have the chance."

"I never go back on my word." Naruto grinned. "That's my ninja way."

"I see." Ibiki finally nodded, sharing a glance with the other proctors. "Everyone who's still here…"

I swallowed. Time to see if my gamble paid off. If everyone's gamble paid off.

"You've just passed the first exam!"

I sank into my seat, breathing a heavy sigh of relief and running a hand through my bangs. I thought we were goners there for a minute.

"All seventy-eight of you who remain pass," Ibiki continued.

"What do you mean, 'pass'?" a Taki genin asked. "What about the tenth question?"

"There is no tenth question!" Ibiki explained cheerfully, his entire demeanor taking a one-eighty. "Aside from the whole 'accept or deny' thing."

"Hey! Why did we have to suffer through the other nine questions, then?!" Temari cried. "That was a total waste of our time!"

"There was no waste," Ibiki replied, hands shoved into his deep pockets. And they were deep; I remember one time he pulled the most ridiculous things from there to me and Ino's increasing bafflement and disbelief. In hindsight, though, it was probably just some fancy ninja sleight of hand that let him pull an entire lamp out of his pocket. Hm. Things to think about on a later date.

"The previous nine questions had a purpose, which they already served. Our goals were to test your intelligence gathering skills. By giving you questions to which there was no way you could know the answers, we forced you to cheat. By establishing rules by which you would be severely punished if caught, we forced you to cheat well." He began to untie his hitai-ate. I looked away. I was familiar with the scars on his head, and I really didn't care to see them again. Then I forced myself to look back up. Seeing something as a child and seeing it as a shinobi were two different things.

"Anyone who cheated in an obvious way, of course, was disqualified," he continued, pulling the bandana off. He was serious again, looking out among us. There was a sharp intake of breath as people averted their eyes. I fixed my gaze firmly on him. "Because there are times when being caught spying can cost more than just your life. You pay in little ways, time and time again, while many lives hang in the balance."

Ibiki put the headband back on, his point made. "The information you gain can't be trusted if you can't keep your presence secret from the enemy. Learn that, and learn it well. If you bring intelligence back from a compromised source, you're doing your enemies' work for them and putting the lives of your comrades in danger. This is why we tested your espionage skills. It was the quickest way of weeding the incompetent ones out.

"The tenth question was a choice between two difficult and dangerous options. Those who chose to back out failed along with their team. Those who chose to take the question and failed to answer correctly would never become a chūnin. It was a nasty, unfair, no-win set of options. So, you may be wondering, why did I present them?"

Ibiki paced back and forth, glancing out at us. "Let's suppose you all successfully obtain the rank of chūnin. You are assigned to steal a vital enemy document, though you know nothing about the skills, deployment, or organization of your foe. You very well might have to cross into heavily trapped enemy territory. Now, do you accept the mission? Or do you reject it for fear of putting the lives of yourself and your comrades in danger? Could any real chūnin get away with only taking the easy jobs?" He snorted, more to himself than anyone else.

"Of course not! No matter how high the risk, there will be missions you cannot decline. A true shinobi must be a leader, one who inspires courage in their comrades. This is what we value most in a chūnin! Those who can't gamble with their own fate, who would trade the certain risk of today for the uncertain future of tomorrow, never taking the chances that lie before them, are weaklings who only make weak and easy decisions."

Ibiki looked out on us, and he looked pleased and, I thought, maybe a little proud too. Ibiki, your soft spot is showing, I thought fondly.

"By choosing to accept, you answered the tenth question correctly. If you can keep that spirit, you can probably conquer many of the doubts and difficulties you'll face in life. You've passed the first hurdle. Congratulations on passing the first stage of the chūnin exams."

There was relieved chatter beginning to spring up in patches around the room. I turned in my seat to wave and wink at the boys. Naruto appeared ecstatic, wriggling a little in his seat. Even Sasuke was smiling a little, half relieved and half happy.

We were going to be ok.

And then Anko smashed through the window with a sick flip and threw up her own banner. It was incredibly cool. I was already itching to try it out for myself.

"None of you are in any position to start celebrating!" Mitarashi Anko shouted, jabbing a finger at us. I'd never actually met her before, though I'd seen her around a time or two. "I'm the second head proctor, Mitarashi Anko! Time's a-wastin, folks, so let's move, move, move!"

There was dead silence. Ibiki poked his head around the banner. "Can't you sense the mood here?" he asked quietly.

I choked on a laugh at her flustered expression.

She got over her embarrassment a moment later, spinning on Ibiki. "You passed twenty six teams? I'm disappointed in you, Ibiki. You obviously went way too easy on them."

"We seem to have applicants of exceptional caliber this year," Ibiki said quietly, coming to stand beside her. Seeing the two of them together in their trench coats strengthened my resolve.

I was so going to get myself a trench coat once I stopped growing.

Anko snorted loudly. "Yeah, right. I'm going to cut this number down by half before the next test is done."

Oh, great.

"Ooh, I get excited just thinking about it," Anko smiled, licking her lips. "I'll explain things further once we arrive at our next location, so let's go!"

Naruto appeared at my side fairly quickly, and together we met Sasuke half way across the room before following the rest of the group out. He lightly punched Naruto's shoulder once he got close enough.

"Dobe, you had me worried there for a minute." Then he punched me as well.

"Ow," I whined, even though it was honestly barely enough to move me from where I was standing. "What was that for?"

"A pig face? Really, Inoko?"

"She drew one on my paper too!" Naruto chimed in. "Hey, hey, Inoko-chan, can you draw me another one later?"

"Yeah, sure," I said, punching Sasuke back. He rolled his eyes at me. "Do you want one too, Sasu-kun?"

He wrinkled his nose. "Don't. Just don't."