XXXV: First Exam

Konoha One month, Nine Days Ago:

Outwardly Naruto was calmly taking the test, but inside he was panicking. He had never been any good at written tests, but his experience with Mizuki during is last year at the academy destroyed whatever confidence he had left when it came to paper tests. And besides, this test was hard, crypotgrams complex mathematic equations, and bizarre political scenarios were the focus of the exam.

Sasuke and Hinata however had already figured out the trick to the test. With his Sharingan he copied the movements of the person to the front of him, within moments he had his whole test filled out. It took Hinata a little longer to find someone who had the answers but when she did se copied them down after focusing through him with her Byakugan.

Fifteen minutes into the test Naruto was seconds away from a complete meltdown, when he noticed a strange repeating pulse of chakra. Several rows in front of him to his right and his left Sasuke and Hinata sat with their heads down, having already completed their tests. Sasuke and Hinata were repeatedly activating and deactivating their eyes.

The pulses were faint, but they were enough to get his attention. Looking around to try and see what his teammates were trying to tell him Naruto noticed something strange, His teammates weren't the only ones using chakra. Almost everyone was to some degree.

'They're all cheating!' Naruto thought, 'And only a few have been caught…Maybe the point is to see who can gather information?'

Naruto sighed and banged his head on his desk, 'If I'd have known that id have a clone henged into a mouse or something…'

Naruto reviewed his options, 'There's no way I could get away with making a clone in a room with this many people… And unsealing my tools from my scroll will alert them with a puff of smoke….

'We're screwed…' Naruto thought with a whimper. Naruto looked down at the last question, 'the question will be revealed forty five minutes into the exam,' He reread. 'I hope it's something I can answer or the Hokage's gonna kill me….'

"All right, pencils down." Ibuki's voice broke the silence. "It's time for the last question."

"What?" Someone shouted, "You said we'd have an hour!"

"The last fifteen minutes of the test are dedicated to the final question."

"That's not fair!"

"Not my problem." Ibuki said with a shrug, "Before I give you the final question I need to tell you the rules for it.

"First, you have a choice whether you take it or not. If you refuse to answer the question you fail, your team fails and you can try again next year. But, if you decide to take it and get it wrong, you fail, your team fails and you cannot take the chunin exams ever again.

"You can't do that! I've taken these exams before!" A ninja from Kumo shouted.

"Ah, but I'm the proctor for this test I set the rules. If I say you fail and can't re-try later then you fail and can't retry later."

"Screw this I'm out of here, I'll take the test with a sane proctor." The Kumo-nin shouted and stomped out of the room, his teammates glowering at him as they followed him out of the room.

After a few more teams shuffled out of the door, Ibiki continued, "This is your last chance anyone still in the room when I start the question has to take it. If you don't feel up to it you can go."

When over half the room stood up to leave Naruto shouted, "Do you think I'm afraid of your little mind games?"

Everyone turned to look at him, "Mind games?" Ibiki asked.

"You can't just say 'Oh, I don't feel like it' on a real mission, sometimes things go wrong and your only choice is to fight or die."

"Damn straight." Zabuza said.

"If you leave this room you, you're saying that you don't have what it takes to be a Ninja, let alone a Chunin!" Naruto thumped his fist against his desk, "Talk all you want scarface, I'm not going anywhere."

Three quarters of the Genin who had stood up to leave sat back down with expression of stone-faced defiance. Of the quarter that didn't sit down immediately, half returned to their seats with at the urging of their teammates. The other half Shook their heads and walked out, preferring to take their chances next year.

"Is that how you all feel?" Ibuki asked with a raised eyebrow. "Determined to answer the question even if it means you'll be genin forever?" He was met with stony nods and nervous gulps from the assembled Genin, "Well then," He clapped his hands together cheerfully, "Congratulations you all pa…"

Before he could finish the word 'pass' the window shattered, showering the room with shards of glass, A black object sailed through the now open window. There was a series thuds and the object was unfurled and nailed to the ceiling and floor by four kunai, Revealing the figure of Mitarashi Anko and a massive black banner that said "Exam Proctor Two: Mitarashi Anko"

"You're early Mitarashi…" The slightly muffled voice of Ibuki said from behind the banner. "I hadn't even got to tell them they passed."

"All of them?" Anko asked as she did a quick headcount, "Seventy eight people? That's twenty six teams!" Anko sighed dramatically, "You're getting soft in your old age Ibiki."

"It's a special batch this year." Ibiki said with a shrug, "There's some real potential in this batch of genin."

"Well, don't worry!" Anko said with a malicious grin, "I'll cut their numbers in half for you!"

She rubbed her hands together, "Follow me to training ground Forty Four! Last one there's a rotten Egg!" With an evil cackle she leapt out of the window.

"No fair you evil snake lady!" Naruto shouted and leapt out the window after her.

Once the last genin left Ibuki sat down at a desk and started grading the stack of exams left behind in their rush to get to the next exam. While the scores didn't actually matter when it came to passing the first test, they would help the judges decided which genin to promote.

After half an hour he came upon a blank test. 'Must have been a spare,' He thought, but before he could crumple it up and throw it away he noticed a name written across the top in the careful hand-writing of a Fuinjutsu user rather attached to his fingertips.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Ibiki read the name out loud with a laugh. "You passed on a blank test and convinced 12 teams to stay… You're something else alright."

Meanwhile, The last team arrived at training ground Forty Four. It was a forest dark and foreboding surrounded by high chain-link fences, topped with barbed wire.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to the Forest of Death!" Anko welcomed the teams cheerily. "The next part of the exam will take place inside the forest. But first I need you to sign a few forms," She held up a thick stack of paper, "Absolving Konoha in general, and me in particular, of any culpability regarding any injuries you sustain in the forest, up to and including death."

When she was met with nothing but nervous gulps and, in Naruto's case an angry glare, she sighed, "What? No outbursts? No declarations of strength? No boasting?" She sighed again, "Those are my favorite part of this test."

"Get on with it, cheater." Naruto was feeling a little sore over her beating him to the training grounds.

With a glare at Naruto she pointed to a tent to her left, "Get your forms there fill them out and hand them in at that tent there," she pointed to the one on her right. "Once everyone has filled out and handed in their forms we can begin."

It took half an hour for everyone to fill out their forms. As soon as the last team handed theirs in Anko rubbed her hands together excitedly, "All right the test is simple!" She held up two scrolls one white, the other brown.

"Each team will be given one of these scrolls. This," She held the white scroll higher, "Is a scroll of heaven. And this," She held up the brown one, "Is a scroll of earth. You have five days to acquire the other scroll from an opponent's team and make it to the tower in the center of the forest, with both scrolls and all of your teammates."

"F-five days?" Choji moaned, "what about lunch, or dinner, or breakfast, or lunch or…"

Ino smacked him in the back of the head. "Stop thinking with your stomach!" She hissed.

"Don't worry there's plenty to eat in the forest, as long as you stay away from the carnivorous plants, the poisonous mushrooms and the mutant giant honey badgers." Anko informed them cheerfully.

"Oh, before I forget, whatever you do don't open the scrolls until you're inside the tower. Tamper with your scroll and your entire team will be immediately and irrevocably…disqualified… from the exam."

"All right. Get your scroll at that tent there," she pointed to a tent that had all of its flaps down, preventing anyone from seeing inside. "Take a number from the box near the door and head to the gate with the corresponding number over it."

Team Seven got a scroll of Heaven and the number Forty two. "So," Naruto said while they waited for the signal to enter, "This is what she meant when she said she'd cut the numbers in half."

"Less than 13 teams will pass." Sasuke noted, "There's going to be teams who take more scrolls than they need."

"Wh-what's the p-plan?"

"We grab an earth scroll as fast as we can and run to the tower." Naruto said, "The less time we spend in the forest the better."

"Agreed."

"A-Agreed."

"It's time to begin," Anko shouted, so all the teams could hear her, "on my signal the gates will open and you with have exactly five days to finish. Five, Four Three!" She began to count down, "Two, One. Go!"

The Gates clattered open and the second exam began.

Location: Unknown, Date: Unknown.

"Do you see what your actions have caused?" A deep voice rumbled.

"You!" The man shouted, "How did you escape?" He struggled against his chains.

"A better question would be, 'How did you get in?' After all I have been here this whole time."

Twisting his body around the man managed to catch a glimpse of his adversary. The great beast sat in a too small cage. The bars were rusted, and large chunks were missing altogether. "My security measures should have prevented this much damage! What did you do?"

"Me? I've done nothing." The beast shifted position and the man caught a better glimpse of it, it seemed to be cradling something in its giant limbs, protecting it from the rising water and the man's eyes. "Well, that's not entirely true; I have certainly done more than you. All this destruction you see," The beast gestured with its head, and the man caught a glimpse of something that surprised him more than waking up here, driven through the beast's neck were three giant transparent silver chains, two seemed solid, almost opaque, but the third shimmered as if it wasn't really there, "All of it, is the result of the choice you made that night."