DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO AT ALL!!!!!!!!!!!

Note: Instead of section marker (because that looks ugly) I'm going to do x's. Now I don't think they'll make the x's go away, so it should be fine.

Chapter 6

Mental Breakdown: What is the Trick?

Tamaru flipped over his paper at the same time as everyone else. Ten questions, he saw. If he spent less than three minutes a question, he'd be fine…

The thing is, Tamaru was never really the brightest kid in his class… he normally got a B or C on a written test.

1. What is the proper name for a bloodline limit that is passed on from parents who also have the same ability?

Well, that's not too hard… thought Tamaru, though I guess some people might not have known it. I'm lucky to have two teammates with Kekkai Genkai, I guess.

He wrote down "Kekkai Genkai" in the blank and moved on the second question.

2. How many different names are assigned to an ANBU in an average month?

Tamaru started blankly at the question, not comprehending. Did he read it right?

He read it twice. Three times.

WHAT THE HECK?!?!?! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT?!?!?!?!? Stupid test…

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Okay… calm down. Sakura said to herself, You know from last year not to take anything at face value. There's got to be some trick to this test.

She looked back down at her paper in exasperation.

1. How many landmines would it take to cover a 200,000 square foot field so that anywhere an intruder stepped would activate exactly two mines?

Well, it's not really an answerable question. Sakura thought, It would depend on the type of landmine… and because the landmine zones are circular there's always either going to be an empty space or three mine zones overlapping.

So the question couldn't be answered.

Thus, there had to be some trick to it.

She just had to find it.

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Temari blinked. She stared at her paper in amazement.

The landmine question on number 1 she had skipped, thinking that it would take a lot of math and work and she could do it later if she had time.

Huh? This one seems easier…

2. What are the names of the five Great Shinobi Villages?

Well, the Sand, Leaf, Mist, Cloud, and Rock. That was easy. Hmm…maybe she could do this test after all…

3. How many Kunoichi died in the Great Shinobi Wars?

DANGIT!

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Well… there was the landmine question, and then the ANBU question after that… but question 3 seemed simple enough.

3. What are the three main types of jutsu?

Sakura wrote down the answer: "Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu".

She looked at the next question. Better to get a scope of the whole test before scrutinizing it. She'd figure out the trick soon enough.

4. What is the volume of a Shuriken, if its center hole is two inches in diameter and the length between the points is 5 inches, the slope of the angle from the center to the point is 110 degrees?

She groaned. She doubted any of them had taken Calculus yet, and this seemed like a Calculus problem. Another impossible one.

5. Summoning requires two things: a contract and what?

Well, blood. Sakura thought as she wrote down the answer. Another easy question.

Her eyes scanned down the rest of the test.

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Neji gained a sense of confidence after the first question about the Kekkai Genkai. It deflated as soon after the ANBU question.

Something's up… he thought, as he started looking at the rest of the questions.

The question about the Kunoichi in the Great Shinobi Wars caught him off guard. Around a third of Ninja forces were Kunoichi on average, and he knew the estimate for the total number of casualties… but then again, the male/female ratios were probably different back then. How were they supposed to answer this one?

He didn't even bother thinking twice about the Shuriken volume question. Now that was just plain ridiculous.

5. How many Kekkai Genkai's exist in the world?

Now THAT is impossible. Neji thought, Nobody's ever made a thorough search and count of them. And new Kekkai Genkai's are always being born off of existing ones, like the Sharingan did from the Byakugan.

6. Squads are most efficient with this number of people.

Four, thought Neji as he wrote it, that's a basic Ninja principle. We would all know that. So there were a few easy questions stuck into the hard ones, it seemed. But why? Was it part of the trick?

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Hinata looked down at her paper. She had three answers written down. She was able to answer numbers 3, 5, and 7. But the others were far too hard. How would she be able to show how much she had improved if she couldn't even get past this test.

She looked at questions 8 and 9. Both too hard. What was with this test? Some were so easy that everybody would know it, and the rest were so hard that nobody could possibly know the answers to them. She looked at the final question.

10. What is teamwork?

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Teamwork? Thought Gaara. Well, I guess Kankuro and Temari are. They're my teammates. I guess… I would have said a different answer last time I was doing this, but after the situation with Matsuri, the Artisan people, and Naruto's group a year ago, I've come to think differently.

Teamwork is people working together for the good of each other and towards a common goal, no matter what the cost. He wrote.

Then he blinked.

Could it really be that easy?

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Tamaru gasped as he felt something squeeze his leg.

He forced himself to calm down, letting one of his hands fall off the desktop, seeming as natural as possible. He reached his hand down as far as it would go without bending over. He felt Raigar's hand touch his, then squeeze their palms together, like a handshake. He felt wet ink pass from Raigar's hand press onto his own, and then the hand left.

Now why is Raigar sending his hand around to us? Did he figure something out? Because I sure haven't… except for 1, 6, and 8 this test seems impossible. Well, and question 10. That seemed pretty straightforward too.

He started to bring his hand up to look at Raigar's message when a kunai whizzed by his ear, striking the desk behind him. He froze, petrified.

"You there, you and your team are disqualified!" Shizune exclaimed, pointing a finger in his direction.

"Shikamaru, mark off Seat 57 and teammates." she instructed the kid who looked like he was falling asleep in the corner. He yawned and pulled out a clipboard, striking through a few names.

Tamaru sighed in relief. He was seat 47. That was close… he thought as the person behind him rose to leave the room in disgrace.

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Sakura had just finished reading the tenth question when she felt herself falling under one of Ino's mind jutsus. She let herself black out, and felt her spiritual essence being pulled across the room… into Ino's body.

She found herself on a field of blackness, with nothing in it at all. It was just empty space.

Suddenly an image wavered in front of her and Chouji appeared.

"Oh, hi, Sakura. You know what's going on?" he asked.

"Umm… no, not really." she said.

Then Ino appeared.

"Okay, this is one of my special jutsus. We've got to have a meeting." she said.

Sakura and Chouji glanced at each other, then nodded at Ino.

"The test, right?" Sakura asked.

Ino nodded.

"I hope this isn't too obvious." Sakura said, "If they think we're cheating they'll disqualify us, like they did to that one person a minute ago."

"It's not," Ino assured, "I've put your bodies in a basic routine of writing something down, thinking a few moments, erasing it, then going into a thinking position, and repeating. It looks completely natural. We can talk safely."

"Since when could you do that?" Sakura asked.

"Ever since we decided to have our own discussions without Asuma's hearing at the Korean Barbeque Place. I can even mimic Chouji stuffing all that meat in his mouth." Ino said.

"Hmm… that's cool. So we can discuss things then. But what good does that do us?" Sakura said.

"Well… maybe if we put our heads together we can come up with something. Teamwork, you know?" Chouji suggested.

Teamwork… Sakura thought, The tenth question…

"All right, Sakura. Don't leave us in the dark. We can tell you thought of something just now." Ino said.

"Well, it's not really helpful." Sakura said, "But the tenth question was asking 'What is teamwork' or something like that."

Ino laughed.

"Well, that's what gave me this idea… I wrote down 'Having companions that will come help when you need help' and then realized that I definitely needed help on this test. Which is what we're here discussing for." Ino said.

"Yeah… I definitely need help on most of them. I could only answer four questions, there was that teamwork question and-" Chouji was saying.

"Same here." Ino said.

"Yeah, only four." Sakura agreed.

"-questions 2, 4, and 9." he finished his earlier statement, looking slightly irritated.

For a while nobody spoke.

"Wait, Chouji? How did you know that ANBU question?" Ino asked.

"What?" he asked.

"Number 2." Sakura said, curious as well.

"What are you talking about? Number 2 was just some lame question about the five Great Shinobi Villages… everybody knows that…" Chouji was saying.

"Hang on a second." Ino said, vanishing.

"I think you got it all wrong, Chouji." Sakura said, "The easy ones were 3, 5, and 7. I don't know what you're talking about the Great Shinobi Villages, but number 2 was some impossible question about an ANBU's names."

Chouji stared at her blankly.

"Weird." he said finally, "My 3 was some junk about Kunoichi. My five was some random thing about all the Kekkai Genkai's in the world…"

They were both interrupted as Ino reappeared, holding three copies of paper in her hands.

"Okay, guys. I have astral copies of our tests here. Let's take this nice and slow. she said, setting down each test in front of the owner. They all sat in a triangle and started comparing.

"Srange." Chouji said finally.

"Ino and I have the same hard question 2, while you have an easy one. My easy question 3 is the only one out of ours, you and Ino have a hard question 3." Sakura said.

"And Ino had an easy question 1 while we didn't." Chouji finished.

"Well one thing's for sure," Ino said, "The tests are different."