The room to which the genin were led was a large auditorium, with levels of seating. It looked like an old classroom, which made sense as it was. The genin were instructed on specifically where to sit, with the teams of three obviously divided and space throughout the room. There was some grumbling over the state of affairs, with more than one of the older shinobi complaining about how they wanted to fight, not take some test. They did as they were told though, and when everyone was finally where they belonged, Ibiki stood in front of them.
"Now, I'm not going to explain this twice, so clean out those ears of yours and listen up," he told them in that gruff voice of his.
"This will be a written test, simple and easy, just to see if you're smart enough to know which way to hold a kunai," as he spoke, he went through a quick series of seals, and then with a staccato of pops, papers appeared in front of all of them. No chakra smoke, just one minute blank desks, the next minute papers. That spoke of a level of control that even the most jaded genin in the room took notice.
"On those papers are nine questions, picked from previous missions. You will have one hour to solve all of them, at which point I will present the tenth and final question to you. If you are caught cheating three times during this test, you and your entire team are disqualified. If you choose to drop out now, your entire team is disqualified. If you die because the questions break your brain, your entire team is disqualified. If I don't like the way you look, your entire team is disqualified. Do you understand?" he said, smirking at the genin.
"Hai!" went the entire group, and Ibiki nodded, making one last seal, and causing pencils to appear, before he took a seat at the teacher's desk, and other shinobi wearing ANBU masks appeared in chairs that ringed the room. It was impossible to see the eyes of those ninja beneath their masks, but everyone knew they would be watching for cheaters, and there were a few nervous gulps from the young people, before the rattling of papers, and the scribbling of pencils could be heard.
The questions were challenging, no doubt. They dealt with everything from advanced trajectory calculations, to political history, and even one on the phases of the moon. A few of the genin complained still about how stupid this was, but after a few minutes, only the sound of the pencils scraping across the papers could be heard, as the genin attacked the problems before them. For the Thirteen, the test was challenging, but most of it was basic knowledge, things Hizashi had them going over in his lessons during the three week training session.
After the first thirty minutes, most of the Thirteen had finished their tests, only Kiba and Shikamaru being left out. The former was seemingly having trouble remembering, and had to keep requesting new pencils when he chewed his current one until it broke, whereas the latter seemed totally disinterested, with nary a mark on his paper as he balanced the pencil on his nose. That last seemed to cause everyone around him, even his team mates, to glare at the pineapple headed boy with death in their eyes.
"Hmm, interesting," said Ibiki to himself. He'd done the proctor for exams before, but never in his career had he seen such a good showing. The half hour marks was typically where the class had been thinned to less than a third of its normal size, but this group had only lost five teams so far, and most of the others were finished, or near finished with their tests. His plants were the farthest behind, in actuality, mostly because they had a schedule to when they answered their questions.
"Since it seems most of you have completed this phase, let's move onto the final question a bit early. Are there any objections?" he asked, and was greeted with silence.
"Good. Now, before I present you with the final question, I must warn you, this one comes with more consequences than just missing a few points," he began, standing up, and then striding next to the covered blackboard beside him.
"Unlike the previous questions, this is an all or nothing stroke. If you miss this question, then all of your work was for nothing, as I will instantly fail you, not just from this exam, but from all future ones. You will no longer be allowed to take the chuunin exam so long as you live," he told them this in a dull, almost dead tone, and it seemed that was the proper way to handle it, as many of them seemed just as dull to his warning, taking several seconds for their eyes to light up, as the information reached their brains.
"What kind of bullcrap is that? What was the rest of the test for if only the last question matters?!" shouted the Inuzuka boy, slamming his hand into the desktop in front of him.
"Yeah! Besides, we know people here have taken the exam before, what do you mean we won't be able to if we fail?" demanded Naruto, Ibiki knowing him by sight, considering his history, and the recent prisoners in his holding cells courtesy of the boy's team.
"Every exam has its own rules to follow, and to your great misfortune, I'm the one making the rules this year. But you don't have to try and answer it. The tenth question is optional, and I'm offering you all the right to back down, leave this exam. Maybe next year, the test won't be so hard," as he spoke, he reached his hand up behind his head, and then began to undo the bandages that covered his scalp. Slowly, he let the cloth fall away, allowing everyone to see the scars that crisscrossed his body.
"This is the way of shinobi. You can succeed at nine-tenths of the mission, but fail right at the end, and you and your team aren't going home. Are you willing to risk that? Your lives and theirs on a gamble like this?" he asked them, and many of the young ones seemed taken aback by the signs of his life. The older ones were blank though, and he could see so many of them were doubting themselves. Yes, he was about to-
"Just get it over with then! We beat that Zabuza creep, and Gato's army of thugs. No way is some stupid word problem going to get the best of us!" shouted Heero, and Ibiki wanted to sigh, as that name rang out over the classroom. You could actually hear a pin drop, as so many in the room recognized both names. The silence mostly came from the former, however, as he was known to be one of the strongest missing-nins in the Nations, and to have some kid declare that his team had beaten him, well, it was both unbelievable, and yet, the type of thing you wouldn't say unless it were true.
"A shinobi should also know when it is time to brag, and when he should keep his mouth shut," said Ibiki, but the purple eyes beneath that silver hair didn't seem to hear him, as they stared back into his. Finally, he let the kid win their contest of wills, and then looked around at the teams about him.
"Does anyone else have something to say?" asked Ibiki, and got almost no looks back, as half the class was staring at the silver haired boy still.
"Is there anyone who wants to back out now, and save your careers?" he asked as a follow up, and this got some to finally look at him, but no one seemed willing to back down. Sighing and rubbing at the bridge of his nose, Ibiki smashed his fist into the wall, causing the shade covering the blackboard to shoot upwards, slamming home with the sound of a thunderclap, and revealing words beneath. Of course, the only word that could be made out was 'Pass'.
"It is my pleasure to say that everyone else in this room passed the first part of the chuunin exams," he declared, taking his seat again, and causing everyone to just stare at the blackboard for a few seconds.
"What the hell?! Where's the question?" demanded the Inuzuka again, and Ibiki almost found himself chuckling at the foolishness of youth, not realizing when they were getting off lightly.
"You stayed in this room, you were willing to risk your futures, your lives, on this one question. That's the test of a true shinobi, knowing that despite the danger, he must keep going regardless," explained the scared man as he began to wrap his head back up.
"Now, can one of you men please go summon Anko for the next phase?" he asked, and one of the chuunin along the walls nodded, before rushing out of the room. A few moments later, one of the nearby windows was assaulted by a huge harpoon like thing, with a scroll around it, one that unfurled into a banner reading, 'Mitarashi Anko, Second Exam Proctor' in huge letters.
"Ibiki, you must be losing your style, there's way more of these punks left than there should be," said a voice, and suddenly one of the exclamation points at the end of the banner glowed, a woman stepping out of it to stand before the class, her eyes going around with a hungry glint to them.
"There are quite a few good candidates among the crop this year," responded Ibiki, keeping his voice calm and level. The woman, smirking, just thumbed her nose at him, before turning towards the class with a feral grin on her face.
"Oh, you say that now, but I'm sure I can cut the chaff out of this wheat. By the time I'm done with these kids, I'm gonna leave a good two-thirds of them on the ground crying for mommy," she told them, a rather crazed glint in her eyes.
"Two thirds?" questioned Sakura, that would be almost ten times what had been dropped in the first phase. What was this crazy lady planning?
"Alright, squad leads, you remain here, I'll give you details on where to meet up tomorrow, and you can pass them out to your teams later. Everyone else, get going, and remember to sleep well tonight. It's the last time you might be sleeping above ground," the way she said it sent shivers down the spines of a few of the genin, but everyone rose from their seats, the team leads coming forward.
"Okay, I'm bored of this shit already, so I'm gonna make this quick. You idiots are going to meet me at the Forty-Fourth Training ground tomorrow morning at nine sharp. Any team that's late by even a second is disqualified, do you got me?" she told them, and she got a series of nods.
"Good, now get out of my face," she ordered, and a few of the team leads bowed to her respectfully, before they all exited the building, some meeting their teams as they went. Going to the window of the classroom, Anko along with Ibiki watched a large gathering of Konoha genin come together outside, and then walk off towards the streets that led to the Hyuga compound.
"So, that's the Thirteen," said the crazy lady as she watched them go. A few of their fellow examinees were watching them as well, but considering the size of the group, and the fact that a few senior jonin met up with them, no one made a move.
"Indeed. I don't think a single one of them had to cheat on my exam, which isn't surprising when you consider the fact that Hizashi helped me to prepare it," said Ibiki, with a chuckle.
"Do you think he rigged the test?" she asked, concern in her voice.
"No, nothing like that. He probably had them going over everything he could, and those kids absorbed it all. They'll make chuunin for sure at the end of this. If they survive the next two phases," he told her, before going around to collect the papers. Anko, nodding, left the room, to prepare for the test herself. A few details still needed to be worked out, after all.
OoOoO
"Forty-four, isn't that the Forest of Death?" asked Kiba as he scarfed down another roll from the table the group of genin were sitting at. Around him, everyone nodded somberly, not for the first time wishing their jonin had joined them for the meal, but they'd been told that until the second phase was done, it was best to keep a slight distance, lest the other villages complain about favoritism.
"Yeah, that's the place that chews up and spits out chuunin teams. What do they expect us to do there, do you think?" asked Choji, a bit of nervousness in his voice.
"Hey, lardass, we're going to be chuunin after this. That means they expect us to be up to the challenge of that place. Maybe burn it down or something," offered Ino.
"No, that would be inefficient. The most like scenario, given the size of the training area, and the density of the woods is an endurance challenge," responded Shino.
"With a diameter of ten kilometers, it would take even a ninja a few hours to cross the territory, and with teams of us going in, that'll slow us down even more. So we should probably pack for a few days travel, like we did for our C-Ranks," said Sakura, and everyone again nodded at the suggestion. They then went over specific preparations they were going to make, before the meal concluded and they fanned out, everyone going home to assemble supplies and tools they would need to meet the challenge ahead.