Chapter 5

I felt my body tense up, this guy definitely was scary. I stood there, trying not to show any fear.
"First, you candidates from the village hidden in the sound," Ibiki started, pointing to the trio in front of me. "knock it off! Who told you you could fight! You wanna be failed before we've even begun!"
The trio began to pathetically apologise, acting innocent. Ibiki reinforced the rule of no fighting among us candidates. He emphasised his message with a creepy aura and intimidating voice.
"Now, if we're ready, we'll proceed to the first part of the Chuunin Exam." Ibiki said. "Hand over your paperwork, in return you'll each be given a number." He says, holding up a few square-shaped pieces of paper containing an individual number on them. "This number determines where you will sit. We'll start the written test once you're all seated."
I sank a little, I was never good at writing things..

I handed Ibiki my sheet, and he gave me a number. Number 65. I found my seat and sat down. To my right was an empty spot, and to my left was some random guy from the Hidden Rain Village.
"Ahhh geez." I heard, when I looked, I saw a guy sit down in the spot to my right. "Hm?.. Hey." He said. I examined him, he was about my age, wearing a black onesie, and a neko-shaped hat. I like that hat, very much.
"Hiya!" I replied. He put an arm on the table, leaning toward me.
"What do they call you?"
"I'm Kuromizu Setsuki. And what about you?" I asked, staring at his hat rather than the distinct facepaint markings on his face.
"They call me Kankuro, one of the strongest guys from Suna."
"They? Who's 'they'?"
He frowned. "You know, people."
"Ohh...so what's your actual name?"
"… Kankuro..." He said. "I just said that.."
"Ohhh, I thought that was your nickname."
"Wow... aren't we the slow one?"
"I'm actually quite agile." I corrected him.
"That's not what I.. ugh, never mind." He sighed, looking away from me.
"What about you? You seem cool." I said, regaining his attention.
"You think so?" He grinned.
"Like ice!" I said.
"Wha..?"
"Ice is cool." I laughed, but then saw his blank, unamused expression. "Ehh, get it? Ice? cool? Because ice is frozen water, so it's cool.. eh? Get it?" I nudged him with my elbow.
"Yeah.. I know what ice is.." He spoke slowly.
"It's funny!" I exclaimed.
"Yeah... sure..." He looked away again.

The Chuunins handed out the pieces of paper, two pencils and an eraser to each person.
Ibiki tapped the blackboard with a stick of chalk. "Everyone, eyes front." Everyone looked up at him. "There are a few rules you need to be aware of.. And I wont answer any questions." He began tapping the board with the chalk a few times. "So you had better pay attention the first time around." He turned and began writing on the board. "Alright, rule number one is this; the written part of the exam is conducted on a point reduction system." I was already lost. "Contrary to what some of you may be used to. You all begin the test with a perfect score of ten points. One point will be deducted for each question you get wrong. So if you miss three, your final score will be seven." He explained.
I thought I had the basic idea grasped. "Rule number two, teams will pass or fail based on the total score of all three members." My eyes widened slightly, and gasps filled the air from almost everyone. 'All three? Man.. there's no way we'll win now..'
Sakura up the front tried to complain out loud, but she was silenced.
"Rule number three, the sentinels you see positioned around the room are there to watch you carefully for any signs of cheating. And for every incident they spot, they will subtract two points from the culprit's score. So be warned. Their eyes are extremely sharp, and if they catch you five times you will be dismissed before the tests are even scored."
'Looks like there will be no cheating then.'
"Anyone foolish enough to be caught cheating by the sentinels doesn't deserve to be here. If you want to be considered shinobi, then show us what exceptional shinobi you can be."
I smiled slightly and nod. 'Simple enough. Answer questions.. don't cheat.. adds everyone's score at the end.. then.. pass! Yes!' I caught myself with a fist of courage held at my chest.
"One more thing. If any candidate should get a zero and fail the test, then the entire team fails. The final question won't be given out until before 15 minutes before the end of the testing period. You will have one hour total." Once the clock's second hand hit 12, we began.
I flipped the paper over and read over the questions. I frowned at the first one. Decipher a code.. "Next." I muttered.
"Next.. next.." I let out a sigh.
"You ain't got no clue 'ave ya?" Kankuro muttered, smiling at his paper. I glanced at him.
"No." I admitted in a low voice. He chuckled in his throat.
".. You know, you're kinda alright yourself, so I'll help ya out a little." He said, not taking his eyes of his sheet. My eyes light up.
"Really?" I felt like the happiest person alive. Even the smallest amount of help is bound to help me get more than a zero. He nodded.
"Just wait a few minutes." He murmured. I nodded and read over my sheet again.
"Thanks." I whispered.
"No problem." He whispered back. I looked around at all the sentinels, a particular one caught my eye. He had a line running down each cheek, starting from his eye, and ending at the bottom of his face. But it was his eyes that got to me, they had no irises, no pupils.. they were just plain white. I shivered. That kind of thing was scary, was he a ghost or something? I gulped.
"Somethin' gettin' to ya?"
I shook my head quickly. "N-nothing at all." I replied and looked away from that sentinel. I noticed Kankuro smirking to himself.
"Looks like Gaara's figured it out.."
"Huh?"
"Oh, nothing... I'm counting on you Crow." He muttered very quietly. 'Crow?' I shrugged and read over the impossible sheet again. Then something began to irritate me. What on Earth? I look around for the cause. My vision went blurry, then suddenly everything went blank.

I came conscious again, then looked around quickly. What on Earth had just happened? I looked at Kankuro who seemed to be giving me a strange look.
"How did you figure that out?" He inquired.
"What?" I asked. He gestured to my sheet. I looked down, seeing the second question was answered. I picked the sheet up and looked at the writing more closely. I squinted my eyes, and upon closer inspection, this hand writing did not belong to me, it was Daisuke's. But how on Earth did that happen? Then it clicked. He must have used his Mind Transfer technique. I looked behind, seeing him two tables down. He was secretly focused on Susumu to do the same.
"What's up?" Kankuro asked.
"Nothing." I replied, smiling to myself. At least now I wouldn't get a zero, even if I already have a perfect score of ten.

Few people were disqualified during the exam, and I wondered why they were all cheating.

I looked around, thinking about the answers when Kankuro raises his hand. "Uh excuse me?" Kankuro says.
"What is it?"
"Gotta use the can, sorry." He said. I facepalmed. The Chuunin, the one with white eyes stood up and put handcuffs on Kankuro and held the rope tied to them.
"We go with you, to make sure you're not up to anything." He said.
"That's perfectly understandable." Kankuro agreed as they started walking. Something about Kankuro's big smile bugged me. I looked back at my sheet. Only one question answered. Surely I can do better than that. Kankuro had turned his sheet over, so copying his answers was out of the question. Then my eyes widened. I slapped myself in the face. 'Bad Setsuki, what were you thinking! You can't cheat! You'll get yourself and the other two kicked out!' I shook my head in disappointment of myself.

I looked up at the clock, we had 20 minutes left. "Ah.." I groaned, something hit my eye and it stung. I put my pencil down and rubbed my eyes. I must have gotten dirt or something in them somehow. However, using my ninjutsu, I created water from my tear ducts, and drained the dirt from my eyes, then looked down at my paper. I blinked a few times, I saw some sort of eyeball hovering over my sheet. I shivered, this was definitely scary. I clenched a fist and punched it into the desk, gaining attention from the person beside me. The eyeball turned into a pile of sand. "What the..?" I muttered. Out of the corner of my eye I saw some red-head tense up slightly. He shifted his cold eyes in my direction for a second, then I recognized the kanji on his head. 'That must be that Sabaku no Gaara guy Sasuke was talking about earlier.'
I looked at the pile of sand on my desk, then picked my paper up with the sand still on it and tilted it over the edge of the table, making the sand slide off onto the ground.
"Hey, number 65, what are you doing?" A Chuunin asked. I tensed up slightly.
"Th-there's sand on my sheet, I'm getting it off." I answered, sounding as innocent as I possibly could. Then I wasted no time in returning the paper to my desk. None of the questions made any sense to me whatsoever. I rubbed my forehead. I was doomed.

The ticking of the clock was irritating me. My eye twitched in sync with the ticking.
"Alright!" Ibiki called, making me jump. 'Noo! I've only answered one question! You can't continue yet!' I looked to my side. 'Kankuro isn't back yet..' "Listen up! Here's the tenth and final question!" I gripped my pencil. 'This is it.. maybe if I can answer this question correctly, I'll get a slightly higher score..' "But.." I raised an eyebrow. "Before I give you the question.. There are some more rules that you need to be aware of."
I scratched my neck, this is so much to take in. The door squeaking interrupted my thoughts, I turned my head back slightly, I saw Kankuro walk back in, his smile was still on his face. "Huh?" Kankuro whined, seeing everyone's eyes on him.
"Ahh." Ibiki said. "Made it just in time. I hope you found your trip to the bathroom enlightening."
I looked at Kankuro's concerned eyes, it was like he was freaking out. "Well..? Take your seat." Kankuro started walking down, I noticed he slowed down slightly when going past some girl with four ponytails. Kankuro returned to his seat beside me. He put one arm across the table in front of him then his other elbow in front of that arm, resting his chin on his hand. With the other hand he had behind that one, he flicked a small rolled up piece of paper toward me. I looked at it.
"What's this?" I whispered. He cleared his throat quietly.
"Read." He breathed. I curiously unrolled it. I couldn't believe it. All the answers, they were written here. All of them! I smiled, I really have to thank him later. I quickly wrote them all down.
"Theses rules are unique to question ten." Ibiki started. "Listen carefully. And try not to let them frighten you."
I scratched my cheek with the end of my pencil and try not to let my nerves get the better of me. I've answered the other nine questions, so this should be alright if I don't get the tenth question. "Very well then, rule number one. Each of you is free to choose not to be given the final question. It's your decision. If you choose not to take the tenth question, regardless to your answers of the other nine, you'll get a zero." Ibiki grinned. '.. Looks like I'm taking this tenth question then.' "In other words, you fail. And that means of course, both your teammates fail as well." I looked back at Daisuke, he was smirking, so obviously he ain't gonna give up, then I looked at Susumu. His lazy eyes showed no determination, but the teamwork Komaru-sensei taught us is invaluable, he wouldn't give up and let us fail too.
Murmurs broke the silence.
"Shut up." Ibiki groaned, we all paid attention to him again. "You didn't let me finish. If you do accept the question but answer it incorrectly.. you will not only fail... YOU WILL BE BARD FROM TAKING THE CHUUNIN EXAM EVER AGAIN!"
"What?" I gushed, almost having a heart attack. I began freaking out. What if I don't answer it right? What if I put the other two in jeopardy? I caught my hands shaking on my lap.
"Hey that's bull man!" The dog boy shouted, standing and pointing a finger at Ibiki. "That's ridiculous! What kind of rubbish rule is that? There's lots of people here that's taken the test before!" Then the dog on his head barked in concur. Ibiki smirked to himself, laughing in his throat. Ibiki started to laugh.
"Ahh, I guess you're just.. unlucky." Ibiki said in a ghostly voice. "I wasn't making the rules before. But I am now. Of course if you don't want to take it, you don't have to. If you're not feeling confident, then by all means skip it. You can come back and try again next year." He explained, then started laughing. "... Now then, if you're ready. The tenth and final question. Those who don't want to take then raise your hand. Your number will be recorded then you're free to go."
I gulped. I looked at Kankuro, he seemed deep in thought, staring at the desk. How on Earth was he so calm? I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. 'Find a happy place.. find a happy place.'

People started raising their hands all over the place. Kankuro put his hand on my arm and held it against the desk.
"You're not thinkin' of quittin' are ya?" He asked. I blinked a few times.
"N-not at all!" I exclaimed. He chuckled.
"Heh, then why were you raisin' your hand?"
"I wasn't!"
"You were tellin' yourself to find a happy place," he chucklen. "then you started to raise your arm."
".. Stop it." I groaned, brushing his hand off my arm.
"What?"
"You've saved my butt twice now." I laughed.
"You're lucky to have me sittin' here then ain't ya?"
I nodded. I turned my attention back to Ibiki. Then I saw Naruto up the front, he just raised his hand.
Then he slammed his hands agains the desk and pulled himself up to his feet.
"Don't underestimate me! I don't quit and I don't run! You can act tough all you want! You guys aren't gonna scare me away! No way! I don't care if I do get stuck at Genin for the rest of my life! I'll still be Hokage someday!" He shouted, then sat down with his arms folded, feeling proud of himself. I smiled.
"This decision is one that could change your life." Ibiki said. "If for any reason you would rather quit, now's your last chance!"
"For those of you remaining there's only one thing left to do. And that's for me to tell you... That you've all passed the first exam." Ibiki delcared. I became utterly confused.
"Wh.. hold on!" Sakura said, standing up. "What just happened? What do you mean we passed? Where's the tenth question!"
Ibiki smiled, then laughed again. Kankuro nudged my arm with his elbow, I looked at him.
"This guy's nuts, I tell ya." Kankuro muttered. I nodded in agreement and we both faced the laughing maniac again.
"There never was one! Or a written one at least!" Ibiki implied, his smile grew bigger than ever. "Actually, your decision to stay was the answer to the tenth question!" He explained.
"Wait a second!" That girl with the four ponytails shouted. I heard Kankuro let out a sigh of irritation. "So the other nine questions you gave us, were just a waste of time? Is that what you're saying?"
"No no, not at all." Ibiki said, looking out the window.
"Sometimes I hate her." Kankuro grumbled. "Raising her voice all the time.."
"Who is she? Your girlfriend or something?" I asked. He choked.
"What? No way! She's just my bossy sister." He growled.
"Quite the opposite." Ibiki said. "The first nine questions had an important overriding purpose." He then looked at all of us. "To test your ability to surreptitiously gather strategic intelligence under the most absurd circumstances."
".. Oh, well that clears up everything." Kankuro's sister said.
"Let me explain." Ibiki began. "You see my objective was to test you not only as individuals, but as a team. And on how well you function as a part of that team. That's why the test was scored on a team basis. So you'd know that everything you did or failed to do would directly affect your teammates. I wanted to see how you'd handle the pressure."
"Mmhmm, yeah I figured it was something like that! That's why I kept my cool." Naruto proclaimed, I rolled my eyes and smiled.
"The first nine questions on the test were difficult." Ibiki said. 'You can say that again.' "In fact, as you may have realized, they were too difficult for any Genin to be expected to solve. I imagine that most of you quickly came to that conclusion. That you'd have to cheat if you had any chance of passing."
"But.. you said to not cheat at the start! You said that was a rule! And you emphasised that rule by placing these sentinels around the room, right?" I questioned. Ibiki chuckled.
"Now now, let me finish. The fact is, the test was designed to encourage cheating." I scratched my head, I was definitely confused now. "It almost demanded it. Of course it would have done you little good unless you had someone to cheat from. So I disguised two Chuunin who already knew the answers and had them sit in with you." He explained, two people raised their hands in a quick wave.
"Gahaha, ah come on, I wasn't fooled for a second! You had to be a complete doofus not to see it!" Naruto exclaimed. He then looked at a Hyuuga girl beside him. "Isn't that right Hinata?" I sweatdropped.
"Naruto.." I whined. "Don't call me a doofus."
"Huh?" Naruto looked back at me.
I pouted and he just shrugged it off.
"Those who were caught at it, failed. Better not to cheat," He then started to untie his bandana. "than to cheat clumsily." He then removed it, and the room filled with gasps. "Information. It can be the most valuable weapon in the battle. How well you gather intelligence can determine whether your mission's a failure or a success. There'll be times when you have to risk your life to get it."
"Man.. what a mess.." Sasuke grumbles. "Scars and puncture wounds.. Burn marks, what he must've endured.."
"That's disgusting, yet creepy at the same time." I murmured. Kankuro put a hand on my shoulder, making me jump. "Gahaa! Don't do that!" I hissed.
"Haha, you scare easily." He tormented. I sulked to myself.
"Of course you must always consider the source of your information." Ibiki said, putting his headband back on. "Intelligence gathered from an enemy is not necessarily accurate.. Always bear this in mind, dis-information can be worse than no information at all. It can lead to the death of comrades, or the loss of a village. That's why I put you in the position where you had to gather accurate intelligence. Cheat, in order to survive. And that's why those who weren't good enough at it, were weeded out, leaving the rest of you."
Ibiki proceeded to explain the rest of the tenth question, and an example situation of where we would use these cheating skills. It wasn't long before Naruto butt in.
"ALL RIGHT!" Naruto shouted, jumping out of his seat. "WE DID IT! THAT'S ONE DOWN! YEAH YEAH! WOOHOO! YEAH!" We all stared at him.
Something smashed through the window, Ibiki's attention was already on it. Two kunai's hit the roof and a red cloth fell down, in front of Ibiki, hiding him from sight. A woman appeared in front of it.
"Wh-what? Is this part of the test?"
"Heeeads up boys and girls, this is no time to be celebrating!" The woman roared. "I'll be your next proctor! Mitarashi Anko. Are ya ready for the second test?.. Good! Lets go! Follow me!" She cheered. We all sat there staring at this crazy woman.
I stood up, but Kankuro pulled me back down. Ibiki poked his head around the cloth.
"You're early." He said. "... Again."
Anko flushed, embarrassed. "How many are there?" She asked, Ibiki stepped around the cloth, and stood beside her. "Ibiki.. you let all these guys pass? Your test was too easy. You must be getting soft." She groaned, giving him a look of disgust.
"Or it could be, a stronger crop of candidates this year." Ibiki replied.
"Hmm. They sure don't look it. Trust me, before I'm done with 'em, more than half will be eliminated." Anko jested. "Alright, you maggots have had it easy so far, but! Things are gonna be different first thing in the morning. I'll let your squad leaders know where to meet me, dismissed."
"Oooh yeah! Bring it on!" I called. Anko, the sentinels, and some Genin have left by now. I noticed Lee's squad was gone too. It was just Naruto's, Kankuro's and my squads left in the room apart from Ibiki.
"Ya know," Kankuro started to speak as he rose from his seat. I looked up at him as he faced me. "despite the fact that you're.. off, I reckon you're kinda cool, so whaddaya say, friends?" he asked, then extended a hand to me. I smiled.
"Of course!" I grinned, slapping my hand in his, giving him a handshake. I forgot about my burns and winced slightly.
"Well then, Setsuki, allow me to show you out." Kankuro said. He pulled my hand up close to him, forcing me to my feet, and he threw an arm around my shoulders.
"Okay." I replied, and walked beside him as we left. Daisuke's high pitched growl echoed through the room as we left.

As we left the academy, we noticed the sun had already begun to set. "Wow, I thought we were only in there for an hour." I said.
"Heh, that was how long the test went for, but of course we were in there longer than an hour."
I laughed. "Oh yeah, say, is there anything I can do for you?"
"Hm? Whaddaya mean?"
"For helping me." I mentioned.
"Oh.." He thought about it, then smirked. "Well, there is one thing."
"Yes, what is it?" .
"Allow me to take you out for din-"
"Setsuki! Wait up!" Daisuke called. I stopped and turned around, breaking out of Kankuro's grip.
"Daisuke-kun!" Both him and Susumu ran to me.
"We have to see Komaru-sensei to see where we must meet tomorrow." Susumu said. Daisuke was glaring at Kankuro, and pulled me away from him.
"Oh! Yes of course!" I turned to Kankuro. "Hey, I'll catch you later! See ya!"
".. No problem." He grumbled just as my squad and I ran off.