"I'm Ibiki Morino, proctor for the first test of the Chunin Exam" all the Genin stared at the intimidating man silently, wondering what he would do. The proctor brought his finger out and pointed to the Sound Genin "You, from Hidden Sound Village! No doing as you please before the Exam! You want to be failed from the get-go?!"

The scariest of the Sound Genin, a slouching man with all but his left eye covered in bandages, turned to Ibiki "sorry, it's our first time taking the Exams, so we flipped out…despite ourselves" the man didn't sound sorry and the proctor instantly noticed.

Ibiki smirked "Hmph. This is a good opportunity, so I'll say this" he glanced over all the Genin "there will be no battles, competitions and the like without the permission of the proctors! And even if you get permission, actions that could lead to the death of an opponent will not be permitted. Any pig that screws with me will be disqualified immediately. Got it?!"

The other Sound Genin, a sadistic spiky haired boy smirked at the proctor "this Exam looks to be easy!"

"Now then, we will start the first test of the Chunin Exam! Turn in your applications, take one of these number cards in exchange, and sit in the seat matching that number! After that, we will hand out the paper for the written test!"

Naruto squinted his eyes at the proctor's words "written…? Paper…? Paper…Paper…" he looked over to one of the proctors and saw him holding a stack of papers. His eyes widened in panic "A PAPER TEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSTTT!?"

START YOUR ENGINES! THE CHUNIN EXAM BEGINS!

After Mieko calmed down a panicking Naruto and ushered him into the seat in front of her. The proctors sat in chairs on both sides of the room so they could see everything. Mieko sat behind him and next to Sasuke whilst Sakura sat behind them.

'Everyone's seats are all scattered…what should I do?' Naruto thought despondently, he hated that he wasn't sitting next to any of his team members. He grabbed his head and shook it rapidly.

'He's deflated, deflated…it's the worst type of test for Naruto…' Sakura chuckled to herself, feeling immense satisfaction at Naruto's stupidity and soon failure.

"Naruto…" a soft and sweet whisper floated over to the panicking Naruto.

He blinked and realised it was Hinata speaking to him "Oh! You are Hinata…since when have you…?"

The sweet girl blushed and looked down at the table "l-lets both do your best" she said to her secret crush.

Naruto smiled and said, "y-yeah" out loud though on the inside he said 'I didn't notice her at all. Hinata has no presence at all…'

"There are several important rules to this first test" Ibiki called out to the class as he held a chalk to the blackboard behind him "I will take no questions so listen well accordingly!"

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the proctor 'rules? No questions will be taken…?' she went silent and looked back at the teacher.

"First off is the is the first rule!" the proctor began writing on the blackboard "you are given ten points each from the start! The written test has ten problems in all! Each problem is one point. And this test is a point deduction system. You are deducted by one for each problem you get wrong! If you get three wrong you'll have seven points!"

Naruto grabbed his chin in thought 'if I get ten wrong, I'll have zero points…'

"The second rule" Ibiki continued "pass or failure will be determined by the total points of the three or four-person team" every single team froze in shock and fear if one of their team members failed then they all would. They would have to wait for months to do the exam again and even then they may fail again.

Team 7 was panicking for one reason…Naruto "w-wait a minute!" Sakura screamed to Ibiki "what do you meann…total points of the teams?"

"Shut up!" Ibiki ordered Sakura sternly "there's a perfectly good reason for this! Shut up and listen! If you've got it, here is the most important next rule! Those who are deemed by the sentinels as having committed an act of cheating or something similar to that…will have two points deducted for each act."

"What…?"

"Oh! In other words…there may be those who will be dismissed during the test without waiting for test grading."

A proctor with thick spiky hair smirked evilly to all the Genins "Know that those who commit awkward cheating…will bring ruin upon yourselves, I'll check your anytime."

Ibiki continued "if you aspire to become a Chunin at all, know that Shinobi should act like exemplary Shinobi."

Mieko remained calm as she knew Sakura, Sasuke and herself will be fine. Naruto, however…

"And, in the case of even one person on the team getting zero points…everyone on that team will fail!"

"Wha-!"

"What did he say…?!"

"Fuck!"

Naruto shivered as he felt three dark glares stabbing right into the back of his head "Naruto?" Hinata asked the shivering boy in concern when he didn't answer she turned back to the proctor.

"By the way, the last problem will be given forty-five minutes after the start of the test! The time for the test is one-hour" Team 7 got prepared and determined to start their test…except for Naruto, he was still panicking. "Begin!"

Everyone who knew the answers starting scribbling the answers down straight away, the ones who knew some answered what they knew and others stared at their papers with a blank mind. Mieko scribbled down all the answers she could, she was feeling immensely grateful for all the lessons she had with her father, they were annoying when she did them but now she was glad for them. As she continued the questions she realised that the end ones were incredibly difficult that she didn't think Sakura could answer them 'the parabola B in the diagram illustrates the greatest possible distance. Enemy Ninja A can throw his Shuriken from a tree seven meters high…Predict and answer the Enemy Ninja's character inferred from the ellipse this Shuriken forms, also answer the longest firing range in battle on the flat ground and explain your basis…what the actual fuck!' Mieko yelled to herself in frustration, this was easy but for Naruto…there was no way he could solve it. How could they ever hope to pass if they don't cheat… 'no…wait, that's it! Cheating! These types of questions were never learnt in the academy and once we graduate there is no point in learning anything unless you're really dedicated. This isn't a test of knowledge, this is a test on cheating, they are forcing us to cheat! Excellent!" she spared a glance towards Sasuke and noticed that he too had realised the point of the exam. Soon everyone else realised the point of the exercise too…not Naruto, never Naruto.

Mieko used her advanced hearing to hear the scratching of a pencil, how long it was, the curve, points and lines of every word or number. As someone wrote the answers she copies them perfectly. She looked over at Sasuke and tapped the table to get his attention. He stopped writing the last answer and looked over at her, she motioned with her eyes to the table where she was using her claws to carve the answers. He smirked and used his Sharingan to cheat by copying her hand finger movements.

Ibiki smirked at the Hatake child, she didn't need to use any technique or unique skill, she used her advance hearing which is a highly values skill. Many ninjas took years to improve their senses beyond the limit a human has, she has no need to train, hers were more advanced than humans the moment she was born, if she was to train then she could be the best spy or assassin of Konoha.

Everyone had their own unique way of cheating, Kiba used Akamaru to look at the answers as no one though a dog was cheating. Ino possessed Sakura and memorised the answers, Gaara used his sand to look at the answers. Everyone had a different technique but all got the answers.

Ibiki was staring at the Genin diligently cheating, seeing as he was excellent at gathering information, it wasn't that hard to see how each person cheated, they were lucky that he wasn't calling people out otherwise everyone would be gone. 'I think we almost finished shaking off the losers. Then I guess I'll move onto the main issue. It has been 45 minutes, so I'll start' he glared at his shouted and shouted "all right! Here is the tenth question!" everyone stopped and stared at their proctor.

'Here it comes…' Naruto thought to himself, his entire body was shivering with fear 'I have to put everything on the line for this question!'

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the proctor, incredibly unimpressed 'hmph! Making such a big deal.'

Sakura wasn't fazed by the final question, she was confident that she could answer anything 'this is the final obstacle.'

'This will be a piece of cake' Mieko thought confidently 'no problem.'

"But before that, I'm going to add some rules for the last question" the door to the room open and one of the Kazekage's kids, Kankuro, strolled in "aren't you lucky? It looks like playing with the dolls wasn't a waste, after all? Anyway, sit down." The boy quickly did as was told "Let me explain! These are…the hopeless rules!"

"Hopeless rules…?!" Naruto thought grimly.

"First, you guys will have to choose whether or not you will talk this 10th question."

Team seven stared at Ibiki with the same feelings of fear 'huh? Choose whether or not to take the exam?'

"What, choose?!" Temari, the only female of the Kazekage's children shouted: "what happens if you chose not to take the 10th exam?"

Ibiki nodded "if you chose not to take the exam then your score will be zero. In other words, you fail! And of course, the same goes for the others in the same group!"

"W-what does that mean!" someone shouted, "of course, everybody is going to choose to take the exam!"

"This is ridiculous! As if we have a choice!"

Ibiki was unfazed by the angered shouting "and…one more rule…if you chose to take it and are unable to answer it correctly, then you will have to…relinquish your right of taking the Chunin Exam forever!"

"What!" Mieko screamed angrily, how is that a rule, is he even able to do that!?

"What kind of ridiculous rule is that?!" Kiba shouted angrily as he pointed to the head proctor "besides, there are plenty of people here who have taken the Chunin Exam many times!"

Ibiki started to chuckle deeply, slowly "you're just unlucky, I make the rule this year. But I did give you the option to go back! For those of you who aren't confident, you can choose not to take it and take the exam next year of the year after that."

'Oh! How terrible!' Sakura thought to herself 'if one out of the three chooses not to take the exam, then all three will be failed. If you do choose to take it but get the wrong answer…then that person will be a Genin for the rest of their life! No matter what, the odds are against us! It's an impossible choice for anyone with normal nerves!'

"Then, let's begin…The 10th question…Those who will not be taking it, raise your hands! Once I confirm your number, I'll ask you to leave!"

Everyone had mixed expressions on their faces, no one knew whether to raise their hand or not. 'what kind of a question is it going to be…?' though Naruto, his hands were clenched and his teeth were grinding against each other. 'Darn! If I get it wrong, I'll be a Genin for the rest of my life. I don't want that! But if I choose not take it…Then I'll fail Sasuke, Mieko and Sakura, too! I don't want that either!'

Sakura was having the same dilemma as her team member 'I won't raise my hand! I'm confident that I can answer it correctly. But…But Naruto! You're different! You should retreat this time even if it means to ignore us and think of your next chance to take the Exam!'

Making up his mind, the man beside Naruto raised his hand in the air "I…I…I'm quitting! I'm not going to take it!"

"#50 failed!" one of the proctors called out "#130, #111 will be failed as well…"

The man who raised his hand bowed his head in shame "i-I'm sorry…Gennai! Inaho!" soon after, other Genin stood up to leave, their fear overriding them.

'Naruto…' Sakura thought desperately 'why don't you raise your hand?' she was being selfish, she knew but she didn't want to never have another chance at being a Chunin! 'that guy…he's always got a one-track mind. Saying Hokage, Hokage all the time like a fool. I'm sorry, Naruto. It seems like…I don't want to…crush your unachievable dreams.' Sakura went to raise her hand but Naruto beat her to it. All of team 7 looked at the Uzumaki kid in shock, he was the last person they thought would raise their hand.

Mieko shook in fear. She couldn't go home to her father without completing the Exam, she just couldn't! She couldn't bear to see the disappointed look of her fathers face, he had been helping her so much all her life, using as much of his free time as possible to train her to become the best she could be. To come home after all their hard work and tell him she failed…she couldn't handle that.

Sasuke looked at the fear and despair flashing in her golden eyes 'don't do this Naruto, if not for yourself than for Mieko!'

No one who knew Naruto could understand why this was happening, Naruto never gave up no matter how difficult the situation is. Suddenly, as quick as lightning, the hyperactive knuckleheaded ninja slammed his hand down on the desk and glared at Ibiki "Don't underestimate me! I won't run! I'll take it! But even if I'm stuck being a Genin forever, I will become a Hokage no matter what it takes!" he stood up from his chair "I'm not scared!" he slammed himself back down on his chair and crossed his arms so he looked serious.

Sasuke sighed and closed his eyes 'he wasn't even thinking of us at all. Such audacity!'

Sakura smiled at the back of Naruto's head 'That's right…that's exactly the kind of fool you are!'

'Of course, Naruto would never give up' Mieko said fondly 'I shouldn't have felt so scared.'

"I'll ask again," Ibiki said to the Genins "it's a choice that will alter your life. If you want to quit, now is your chance!"

"I'm not going to take back my words!" Naruto said confidently "that is my Way of Ninja!"

His strong words gave all the other Genin the motivation they needed to go on with the final question. Ibiki remained stoic but he was inwardly assessing the nine tailed holder 'huh…what a funny kid. He completely brushed away those kids' anxieties. 78 huh? Much more left than I expected. It's going to be the same no matter how much more I push it.' He looked over his proctors and took notice of their encouraging nods. "I like your determination! Then…For those who are still here…The first exam…You have passed it!"

His words swirled through everyone's brains "you have passed it!" the just couldn't comprehend how they passed.

"H-hey, what does that mean?" Sakura yelled to the head proctor "all of a sudden you're telling us that we've passed! What about the 10th question?"

Mieko growled and turned around to look at her pink-haired team member "shut up Sakura! Do you want him to give us another question!" the pinkette shivered and sat down.

"What about the 10th question?" Ibiki smirked "there wasn't such a thing to begin with! Well, you can look at the choice you just had to make the 10th question!"

"What?" Sakura asked stupidly.

"Hey!" now it was Temari's turn to shout at the proctor "then, what were all those nine questions for! It was just a waste of time!"

"Not a waste…the objective of the nine questions was already accomplished. To test your individual ability to gather information!"

"Ability to gather information?"

"Oh! That makes sense now" Mieko said chipperly as she slouched in her chair, the test wasn't that hard no that she knew the true objective. "I wish I figured that out before I started the test."

"But that would defeat the purpose Miss Hatake," Ibiki said once he overheard Mieko "First…the focus of this test was on the system of determining the pass or failure based on the three or four-person groups that were proposed in the first rule. By grading the exam on a group basis, I added the unimaginable pressure of dragging down your teammates."

Naruto nodded his head as if he knew what Ibiki meant, which he didn't "I see, I see. I kind of felt that was the point of this test!" his team did not look impressed.

'No, you didn't!"

"However…The questions on these tests weren't things that you Genin Ninja would have been able to solve…So in that case…I imagined that most of you here would have come to this conclusion: 'in order to score points, I'll have to cheat.' In other words, this exam was created under the premise that you all would cheat! That being said, I had two Chunin in the group who knew all of the answers from who you could cheat" two Ninjas in disguised raised their hands.

'What?! That's what it was?!' Naruto screamed inside his mind before anyone could see his confusion he placed his hands behind his head and leant back in his chair "It was so obvious! There's something wrong with you if you didn't notice! Right, Hinata?!"

Sasuke looked over to Mieko and shared a deadpanned look 'he…didn't realise it…'

"However…" Ibiki continued "those who just foolishly cheated naturally were disqualified. That's because…information, depending on the time and situation, it will be more valuable than life. And in a mission or on a battlefield" he took off his Hitai-ate so show his incredibly scared head, it was hideously grotesque and scared all of the Genins. "you will always have to risk your life to fight for it!"

"Horrible burn marks, nail punctures and scratches…those are signs of physical torture!" Sasuke look impressed that the proctor was still living and not criminally insane.

Ibiki placed his bandanna over his head and continued speaking, "When information is gathered and the enemy or a third party finds out about it, that information is no longer guaranteed to be correct. Just remember this. To be given the wrong information can bring a catastrophic blow to your friends and town. So that is why, out of necessity, we forced you guys to cheat in order to test your ability to collect information. And we filtered out those who were clearly lacking in those abilities."

"But…" Temari began "the last question doesn't make any sense."

"This 10th question was the main issue of this first exam."

"Huh?" Sakura asked, she just couldn't wrap her head around this Exam "what do you mean?"

"I'll explain. The 10th question was to take on the question or not. Needless to say, it is a painful decision to make. Those who chose not to take on the question would be immediately failed along with their whole squad! Those who chose to answer the question and got it wrong…would be robbed of their chance to take the exam forever. It really is an unfair question. Then, how about these two choices? Let's say that you guys did become a Chunin. The mission is to steal a secret document! You have no idea how many Ninjas the enemy has, their ability, and other armament they may have. On top of that, there may be the pitfall of an enemy trap. Now this mission…Will you take it? Or not take it? Because you want your life spared…because your partners will be put in danger…Can you get away from dangerous missions? The answer is…No!

There are going to be missions you cannot avoid no matter how risky or dangerous it may be! Showing your courage to your teammates in a tight spot, and the ability to get through the hardships…This is the quality that is needed for a Chunin troop leader! In a pinch, there are those who cannot risk their own fate and those who waver and give up their chances because they think they will have another chance. I believe that such fools who don't have strong determination have no right to become a Chunin! For those of you who chose to take on the question, you can say that you have successfully answered the difficult 10th question! You shall be able to take on the adversity that may lie in your way."

"This guy is so cool" Mieko muttered to herself with an awed smile.

"You've passed through the gates! The first exam for the Chunin Exam has been completed. I wish you well!"

"All right! Wish us well!" Naruto screamed happily as he started jumping up and down "I did it! I did it! Yeaaah!" Mieko sighed and leaned her head against Sasuke's shoulder, hoping no one knew Naruto was apart of their team. Sasuke chuckled and stroked her tail that tried to wrap around his upper thigh.

Ibiki watched team 7's different reaction 'what an interesting group…' he stopped when he noticed a shadow flying towards the window. The glass shattered and kunais were thrown and stabbed into the roof. Everyone stiffened and thought they were going to be attacked.

"W-what's going on?!" Naruto stuttered fearfully.

"You guys! This isn't the time to be celebrating! I'm the proctor for the second exam! Anko Mitarashi!" an incredibly attractive woman with reveal clothing stood before a cloth that hid Ibiki behind it. "let's move onto the next stage! Next! Follow me!"

No one moved.

Ibiki moved away from the cloth and looked to Anko "read the atmosphere."

"This must be Naruto's long lost sister…" Mieko muttered into Sasuke shoulder, he chuckled but agreed with her.

"78? Ibiki! You let 26 teams slide by?" Anko said unimpressed "I guess, the first exam this time around was too easy.

Ibiki smirked, "It seems like this time, there are a lot of excellent candidates."

"Huh! Well, all right…I'll drop more than half of them in the second exam! I'm getting excited. I'll give you the detail tomorrow so get information from your Jonin about the location and the time! That's it. You're dismissed" the groups sighed and stood from their seats and began filling out of the room. Anko looked at each person to assess them before freezing on a singular person. A small girl with white and black striped hair and tail was pulling what looked to be the last Uchiha out of the room excitedly. 'No! I thought she had died when Orochimaru abandoned his hideout 12 years ago!' she was there when Orochimaru first experimented on the pregnant Ninja, he believed that the baby had died and hadn't been able to recreate his experiment. The Hokage was hiding this child from her for years, how dare he! Who better to watch over Orochimaru's child then someone who was there when she was born! 'the Hokage has a lot to explain!' she stormed out of the room and raced to the Hokage's office.