Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I still don't own Naruto.


Chapter 2: A Test of Character

"Are you alright? You've barely touched your breakfast."

Tatemichi was so preoccupied that it took a moment for him to realize that his mother had asked him a question. "I'm okay, Kaa-san. I guess I'm just nervous about the Exams."

Kurenai smiled. "I remember the first time I took the Chuunin Exams. I was so worried about them that I couldn't eat anything for the entire day before the first test started. So then I was sitting there in the exam room, and my stomach was rumbling so loudly I was sure everyone in the room could hear it."

Something about what Kurenai had said struck Tatemichi as odd. "What do you mean, the first time you took the Exam? Did you have to take it more than once?"

"I did. The first time I took it, my team was eliminated during the second test." She reached over and ruffled Tatemichi's hair. "So, don't worry. It's actually pretty standard for people to take it multiple times."

"It's just...I've heard that the first test isn't like a normal exam. It doesn't have to do with fighting at all, it's all paper-and-pencil, like the tests on Ninja History we used to have at the Academy."

"Well, that's technically true. But remember, being a ninja is all about seeing underneath the underneath. You shouldn't expect a shinobi test to be exactly what it appears to be. That's all I can tell you. Now eat your breakfast--even if it's only a paper-and-pencil test, you'll still need your strength."

"Yes, Kaa-san."


Tatemichi fidgeted, staring around the huge room at the assembled teams. "Sensei, isn't this the arena where preliminaries for the Third Exam are held?"

Shikamaru nodded. "Yes, when preliminaries are necessary. I had my preliminary exam here, a long time ago."

Kajiya, the girl from Lee's team, ambled over. "Hey, Tatemichi-san, what's up?"

He shrugged. "Just waiting for things to get started, I guess. There sure are a lot of people taking the Exam this year."

Kajiya nodded. "You see those guys over there?" She pointed to a team on the other side of the room. Their sensei was tall and muscular, with bull's horns tattooed on one cheek. Despite being indoors, he was wearing sunglasses. His three students were leaning against a wall, looking bored.

"What about them?" Tatemichi asked.

"I heard that their sensei is the Hachibi jinchuuriki, and the Raikage's younger brother."

Tatemichi's eyes widened. "Really? They must be super-tough! We have to compete against them?"

"Hey," Shikamaru cut in, "don't let yourself get too nervous. Remember, this Exam is about more than just brute strength. Character, teamwork, strategy, and the ability to make the best of a bad situation are all just as important. Have I ever told you how I got made a Chuunin?"

Tatemichi shook his head.

"I forfeited my match when I saw that I couldn't win. The Examiners decided that it showed I wouldn't lead my team on a suicide mission, and promoted me. Losing your matches doesn't guarantee that you won't pass, and winning them doesn't guarantee that you will."

At the front of the room, Naruto was conferring with the Kages and Examiners. He turned to the crowd of students and sensei, and raised his hands. "Everybody! Welcome to this year's Chuunin Exams! I'm going to introduce you to the Examiners, and they'll go over a few of the basic rules." The people around him had separated into two groups. To his left were the other Kages: Gaara, E, Mei, and Konan. To his right were three shinobi that all the Leaf Ninja in the room recognized.

"The proctor for the First Exam will be Uchiha Sasuke." A murmur went through the room at the mention of his name.

"The proctor for the Second Exam will be Hyuuga Neji. And the proctor for the Third Exam will be Haruno Sakura."

There was polite applause from all of the students and their jounin teachers.

"Before we explain the rules, why don't you all introduce yourselves to each other?" Naruto scanned the room for a moment, then added, "Shikamaru-san, why don't you go first?"

"Aw, man, why do I have to go first?" Shikamaru whispered under his breath, then said more loudly, "I'm Nara Shikamaru, and these are the members of Konohagakure Team Seven: Sarutobi Tatemichi, Morino Noriki, and Inuzuka Yamamoto." Yamamoto's dog barked enthusiastically. "Yes, and Matsu too."

Tatemichi noticed that there was a flutter of activity when his clan name was mentioned, just as there had been for Sasuke. On the one hand, it made him proud that his grandfather was so well-known. But it also made him aware of how high the expectations for his performance were. What if I can't live up to that?

Lee was next. "Welcome, guests! I am Rock Lee, and this is the youthful Konohagakure Team Ten: Hidaka Kondo, Ootani Toda, and Shiranui Kajiya. We all promise to do our very best!" He finished with a Nice Guy Pose that made some of the students snicker.

There was a momentary pause, then the Sand jounin stepped forward. Her blond hair was tied into four pigtails, and she had what looked like a huge fan slung across her back. "I'm Sabaku no Temari, and this is Sunagakure Team Three: Tokunaga Yagame, Nomura Yagi, and Hasegawa Saito."

Tatemichi nudged Kajiya in the side. "Did she say 'Sabaku no' Temari? Does that mean she's the Kazekage's sister?"

Kajiya whistled, impressed. "Must be. How many relatives of Kages are participating in this Exam, anyway?"

The next one to speak up was the Cloud sensei with the sunglasses. "Yo, everyone, I'm Killer Bee. Everyone take a good look at my team, see? Kumogakure's Team Twelve: Horisawa Saji, Tatebe Watanabe, and Tatsuzaki Otsuka."

The Mist sensei appeared quite young compared to the others. Like Temari, he had an oversized weapon strapped to his back, though his was a sword rather than a fan. After sipping from a bottle of water, he said, "I'm Hozuki Suigetsu, and these brats here are Kirigakure's Team One: Mizukami Narita, Koike Suga, and Kaneko Uozumi."

Finally, the Rain jounin spoke. "My name is Kataoka Akisane, and this is Amegakure Team Nine: Adachi Natsume, Kozawa Sakamoto, and Fuuma Asagi."

"Whoa, take a look at that!" This time, it was Kajiya's turn to poke Tatemichi in the ribs. "That sensei has a puppet arm! I wonder if that means she fought in Rain's civil war."

"They had a civil war?"

Kajiya sighed. "Do you always sleep through our Ninja History class?"

Shikamaru smirked. "Hey, I used to sleep through that class, too." Remembering that he was supposed to be a role model, he quickly added, "Of course, that doesn't mean that you should. Always pay attention to Iruka-sensei's classes."

Naruto cleared his throat. "Now that you all know who each other are, I'll explain a couple of things about the Exam. The most important is that there's no quota for how many Chuunin we promote. It's possible that all of you will pass the Exam and become Chuunin--but it's also possible that none of you will." He nodded to Sasuke, who stepped forward and cleared his throat.

"The first part of the Exam will take place tomorrow, in Room 304 of the Konoha Ninja Academy. This will be a paper-and-pencil test, so there's no need to bring your ninja equipment."

Tatemichi had heard that the First Exam was a written test, so he wasn't surprised. Some of the other students were, however.

"Eh? What kind of ninja test is a written exam? How does that test our strength as warriors?" This outburst came from the boy who Suigetsu had identified as Mizukami Narita. Nodding and muttering indicated that many others agreed with him.

"It's the kind of ninja test I've decided to assign you," Sasuke responded calmly. "If you feel it's beneath you, you are perfectly welcome to withdraw from the Exam."

"Uh, no, that's not what I meant at all," Narita muttered, backpedaling rapidly.

Suigetsu smacked Narita across the back of the head. "Idiot! Knowledge is important for a ninja too! You aren't gonna win any fights by being a dumbass!"

Sasuke's eye twitched.


All the examinees filed into Room 304, eyeing each other warily. As would be expected of a classroom, the space was filled with neat rows of desks and chairs, with a larger teacher's desk and a blackboard at the front. The blackboard was currently blank, and there was no one in the room to greet them.

Tatemichi and his teammates took seats towards the front, near the other Leaf genin. He looked around as everyone else settled in. The Mist team had taken seats at the very back of the room, and were chatting loudly amongst themselves. The Cloud students had slid into seats just behind the Leaf teams, and Saji was complaining about Killer Bee's pep talk--which had been delivered, apparently, entirely in the form of rap verse. Rain's entrants were taking seats right in front of the teacher's desk, while the genin from Sand sat along the side of the room nearest the windows.

No sooner had everyone sat down than Sasuke walked into the room, carrying a stack of papers. Some of the examinees fidgeted, while others sat up straighter. Sasuke perched on the teacher's desk at the front of the room and said, "Welcome to the first part of the Chuunin Exam. Before we get started, I'm going to explain a couple of special rules. First, you'll have one hour to complete the Exam. You must complete the test individually, and are allowed no tools other than your pencil and paper. Second, I don't feel like bothering to call out cheaters. That doesn't mean I won't see you doing it, however. If you see someone else cheating, raise your hand and tell me who it is. If you're right, I'll kick the person out. But be warned that if you mistakenly or falsely accuse someone, you're the one who will fail the Exam. Third, there's one question that isn't listed on these papers. I'll give you that one at the end of the hour. Any questions?"

There were none. Sasuke handed out exam papers to everyone and retreated to the front of the room. Glancing at the clock on the wall, he announced, "You may begin."


Tatemichi was relieved to see that he could answer the first question on the test without too much trouble. It gave a list of equipment and a location, then asked the test-taker to describe what sort of traps they would set up in that location with the equipment given. Luckily, Shikamaru had emphasized the importance of taking advantage of such things in his training of Tatemichi's team, so he was well-equipped to answer.

The second question also went smoothly, but the third question was tricky. It asked about a relatively obscure detail regarding water-chakra manipulation--something Shikamaru hadn't spent much time discussing since no-one on their team was particularly good at it. With growing nervousness, Tatemichi realized that he wouldn't be able to answer the question on his own. I'll have to cheat. But how to do it without getting caught by one of the other students? Slowly and carefully, he formed a seal, trying to make it look like he was just fiddling with his pencil. As something between a big brother and father-figure, Shikamaru had asked his own father for permission to teach Tatemichi the secrets of Nara shadow techniques. The only thing Tatemichi had mastered so far was the most basic jutsu, Shadow Mimicry. As stealthily as he could, Tatemichi extended his shadow forward until it merged with the shadow of Lee's student Toda, who was sitting directly in front of him. The usual application of this jutsu would be to force Toda to mimic his movements, but he thought that he might be able to modify the technique somewhat. Instead of imposing his will on Toda, Tatemichi allowed the shadow to transmit Toda's movements to him, watching as his right hand began writing of its own accord. He smiled as he saw the answer to Question Three beginning to appear on his paper.


Sasuke surveyed the room, watching the activities of all the genin. With his Sharingan, he was almost guaranteed to detect anyone who was cheating, and had indeed observed many people doing so. In addition, he was fairly certain that some of the students had caught their competitors in the act, but with the "You fail if you accuse someone wrongly" rule in place, most people seemed reluctant to report cheating for fear of being mistaken.

Sasuke noted Tatemichi's use of a reversed Shadow Mimicry jutsu with interest. Thinking of a new use for a jutsu on the fly--he's definitely Shikamaru-san's student. The members of the Mist team were communicating among themselves with a sign language made up of ordinary-looking gestures: they would ask or answer each other's questions about the test by scratching their noses, rubbing their eyes, or sneezing softly. Two members of the Rain team, Natsume and Sakamoto, had their eyes squinched shut. Although their teammate Asagi's eyes were hidden behind her sunglasses, the rest of her face betrayed a look of extreme concentration, and Sasuke could see threads of chakra connecting all three. They're talking to each other telepathically? Now there's a neat trick.

At one side of the room, Temari's student Yagame raised his hand.


Tatemichi noticed movement from the corner of his eye. Glancing over, he saw one of the Sand genin raising his hand. The boy was stocky, with red hair shaved into a buzz-cut. He had tough, weathered skin--not surprising for someone who lived in a desert.

I hope he didn't see my trick with the Shadow Mimicry!

Sasuke had been leaning forward, with his elbows on his desk and his chin in his hands. Now, he sat up straight and said, "What is it, Yagame-san?"

"Sir, Tatsuzaki Otsuka of the Cloud is cheating."

"What?" Otsuka slammed his pencil down on his desk and shot to his feet, looking outraged. "I am doing no such thing!"

Sasuke sighed. Yagame-san must have noticed that Otsuka-san's chakra levels are elevated. But that's not from a jutsu he's using to cheat--he just has an Advanced Bloodline of some sort. So many people in this room are cheating, and Yagame-san picked nearly the only guy who isn't. Out loud, he said, "You're wrong, Yagame-san. Otsuka-san isn't cheating. You are dismissed."

"That's not possible! I know I'm right!"

"Yagame-san--"

"Do you even know who I am? My father is Baki-sama, who was our Kazekage's sensei! How dare you accuse me of lying?"

Sasuke got to his feet. "I am not accusing you of lying," he intoned ominously. "I'm saying that you've screwed up. Or do you think your eyesight is better than mine?" He fixed Yagame with a rather disconcerting red glare.

"Er...that is..."

"Leave."

"Yes, sir." Yagame trudged out of the room.

"Well, now that we've got that little interruption over with, please continue." Sasuke sat back down, and Tatemichi breathed a sigh of relief.


"The hour's up. Everybody put your pencils down. That means you too, Uozumi-chan."

Tatemichi considered his performance on the test, and felt reasonably satisfied. By using his Shadow Mimicry, he had been able to fill in all the questions that he couldn't answer on his own. He was sure he hadn't gotten full credit on every question, but he was also sure that he'd managed a decent score.

After collecting all the exam papers, Sasuke tossed them unceremoniously onto his desk. Without even glancing at them, he said, "Now, I'll give you the last question for the First Exam. It isn't so much a question as a practical test."

"But you said we couldn't bring any of our ninja tools with us!" Narita of the Mist protested. Sasuke ignored him.

"Each team must choose one member to continue on in the Exam. The other two will fail, and can retake the Exam next time it's held. You have ten minutes to make your selection. If a team refuses to choose one person to go forward, or is unable to reach a decision within the ten-minute time limit, all three members of that team will fail."

There was an immediate hubbub among the students. Tatemichi looked to his left and his right, and saw that both of his teammates were shocked. He was sure he looked the same to them. What are we going to do?


A/N: The Exam is underway! I hope you're all enjoying the story.