So... first test of the chunin exam! I followed the canon closely on this one. Direct quotes from the manga are written in bold. I subtly ( I hope) added a few allusions to other genin who without beeing important to the plot will be more than completely generic background characters.

3. September III

From the next day on foreign genins and jonins began to fill the village. Brown flat jackets could be spotted among the green ones, the long white and gray tunics typical of grass stood out among the see of green, blue and black typical for Konoha. A nervous energy filled the village. On the one hand chunin exams were always the occasion to hold festivities, on the other hand the wars weren't that far away and most adults, even civilians, were keeping an eye open, never really relaxing in the presence of foreigners.

Kakashi had had his hands full in the last few days. Even the jonin senseis were asked to participate in the updated surveillance roster. His new genin team had also held some of his attention. While Naruto and Sasuke were buzzing with excitement Sakura was unusually subdued. Ah the mysteries of teenage self-doubts. Certainly the exam was frightening and most chunin were doing their best to spread rumors of terrible trials and bloody casualties but the girl was clever and blessedly pragmatic ( except when it came to her damned crush). Then again it was her choice. It seemed tat she got over her fear because she did show up on the day of the exam. He heard from Gai later on that Sasuke managed to get himself in trouble with the green beast' s pupil. The boy couldn't resist the challenge and they ended up fighting each other where all the other could see their skill and figure out their secrets. Not just that, apparently they took it to far and Gai himslef had to intervene. Kakashi sighed at that. He's quite certain that when they were kids Gai and him never were that careless despite their rivalry. If only the young Ushiha learn to be less impulsive. Contrary to popular beliefs Sasuke had just as much talent as Naruto when it came to provoking trouble. Finally, he met them in front of the room that led to the first exam. A few last words, a smile, they would have to do the rest now.

Ibiki had come into the classroom with a veryclear task in mind: create an atmosphere suitable to weed out those among the students who did not have the mental strength to survive the hurdles of a chunin life. Of course the change in locations would make that slightly more difficult: the caves under the lake near Konoha that shinobies had used as a prison during the last war would have brought a certain special "touch" to his performance but he would do without. He appeared inside the room by shunshin with most of the members of his interrogation brigade. The large classroom was full. 153 applicants this year he had heard. 72 from Konoha, that was a little less than last year but 30 from Suna, that was a lot and could be problematic if Jiraya's suspicions were founded. And then the three sound ninja's were already looking for trouble pitting themselves against a group of Konoha genin, Gai-sensei's and some of the rookies if he wasn't mistaking. A gangly Konoha-genin with glasses was leaning against a wall, victim of some skirmish between applicants. So the fights had already broken out. Interesting but annoying. This exam wasn' t about mere hitting and picking.

"Thanks for waiting, I' m Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the chunin selection exam' s first test."

"And then he pointed at the little bellicose group at the back."

"Hidden sound guys, stop doing as you please before the exam. Do you want to fail already?"

One of them, covered in bandaged and with a large fur drapped onto his back spoke up lazily:

"I apologize...This is our first time... we got a bit carried away..."

Ibiki sighed and went about explaining the rules. Already he could see the ones who listened closely, looking for tricks and hints. The more experienced genin had an advantage there, they knew that most parts of the exam were anything but straightforward. Despite his order to remain silent a pink haired girl interrupted him. He brushed her off coldly but he could see the bright spark of intelligence in her striking green eyes. That one would probably pass.

Quickly most of the students concentrated on their paper or, for those who had figured it out, on cheating successfully. Honestly these genin's attempt at cheating may escape the chunin's notice he had posted in the room but very little could hope to hide from him. Just in the first few minutes he saw the silent interaction between a pretty unnoticeable girl and Gai's clone. The girl was manipulating a mirror that she had hidden god-knows-how in the ceiling. A bold move, pretty impressive. But who was he kidding. Of course Gai was producing crazy students. One of the Suna teams seemed to have developed a clever code based on surprisingly subtle gestures which allowed them to share their knowledge.

A lot of kids from clans, especially those from Konoha, were using their kekkai genkais to hunt for answers. Right of the bat he could see the way a young Inuzuka used his dog to survey the room and tell him the answer, the Aburame boy was using some of their bugs, the young Hyugas had activated their byakugan and so did the Ushiha with his sharingan. Others had to be more inventive. He realized that on the third row most of the students seemed to look vacant wich indicated some kind of genjutzu. The boy on the far left must have initiated it because he was subtly forcing them to turn their test toward a girl with beady eyes a row above. Probably a teammate. Honestly, the kids were interesting these days. After the 45 minutes more than fifty students had left the room. Now the fun part began as he introduced them to the dilemma that would decide of their success or defeat in this test.

"If you remain for this question but fail it you will spend your whole life as a genin, it will be the end of all your dreams and ambitions, on the other hand if you quit now you can try again next year."

After a wave of silent protest went over the room the first few cowards got up and abandoned, in less than a few minutes more than thirty people left until again a tense silence filled the room. Ibiki was ashamed but not surprised to see that a lot of the one's who abandoned were Konoha shinobies, proportionally at least as many as from the other villages. But the one's who remained seemed to be strong. And then that loud blond brat went and surprised him, explaining brashly that nothing would stop him from becoming Hokage and brushing away all the other attendant's fears. Well, they were one crazy generation, different enough, worrying sometimes but Ibiki felt a spark of hope and excitement in his chest. His sarcastic smile became a wide grin and he told them they had passed.

After the test the genin rushed out of the room in different states of excitement. A one week respite had been ordered. Some of the older genin noticed that it was unusual, the different phases of the exam were usually completed the one after the other with the exception of the final fight but most just appreciated the extra time to prepare. Only the jonin knew it was a security measure that allowed the village to set up the security for the next task. When team 7 exited the building they saw their sensei lazily leaning against a tree on the opposite side of the entrance to the exam place.

When they came up to him the orange book he always read was put away and he took the time to look at each of them and said in a unusaly serious voice: "You passed. I' m proud of you." Even Sasuke had to admit that the warm feeling of pride, of knowing that he had shone in the eye of his sensei was nice and strangely new. For years he had trained and pushed himself only to achieve his goal. The praise of his academy teachers seemed fake and unimportant. And even before that when the clan was still alive most praise had been for his brother. Actually Itachi had been the only one to praise him in a way that felt meaningful. He looked at his teacher and absently wondered if Itachi and Kakashi-sensei had ever met.

Sensei bought dinner for all of them and they ate the take-away sitting on one of the roofs of Konoha. The sun was shining orange-red on the village. The Hokage's stone faces didn't seem to look down at them with their usual seriousness but with a kind of proud endearment and Sasuke could admit to himself that he felt happy. Not just content that he progressed on his path but truly happy. Naruto was smiling and talking loudly and for once Sakura seemed to listen. Kakashisensei was looking at the mountain walls with the Hokage' s faces and seemed at peace, then he looked at him and caught his gaze. Instead of the one-eyed smile he only saw a slight twitching under the man' s mask and guessed the man was giving him a little genuine smile. He didn' t quite smile back but he wasn't scowling either.