Italics indicate thinking

Bold is for attacks

Kale's POV

We opened the door to the exam room and came face to face with a room full of people, it was almost impossible to even find a seat.

"Sasuke you're late!" a girl yelled jumping on his back.

"Get off me." He grumbled.

"Ino you pig get away from him!" Sakura yelled.

"Oh it's Sakura, how's the forehead?" Ino smirked.

"RAHH!" Sakura yelled trying to get by me "Let me go I'm gonna bash her brains in!"

"Oh you're taking this ting too?" Shikamura sighed walking up.

"You're as chipper as ever." I scoffed.

We said hello to the members of one of the other teams, Ino, Shikamura and Choji.

"Yo~" Kiba said walking in "Everyone is here."

All of us are taking the exam…wow.

"Well we're not gonna lose." Kiba smirked.

"Shut up!" Naruto yelled "I'm not losing to you either."

"Again with the yelling." I sighed.

"He's right you should be more quiet." A man said walking in.

The boy was tall, had white hair, wore glasses and a local headband.

"You're just schoolkids? You should be screaming like a bunch of babies." The boy said "This isn't some game."

"Yeah and who are you?" Ino grumbled.

"I am Kabuto." The boy said "But it's not me you should look at."

Behind us dozens of people were giving the stink eye to our direction.

"Those men back there are from the Hidden Mist Village, everyone is nervous so you should quiet down and not cause a scene." Kabuto instructed "You are rookies though, remind me of myself."

"Is this your second exam?" Sakura asked.

"No." the boy shook his head "It's my seventh. They hold the exam twice a year so this will be my fourth year."

Seven times…and he's failed each time?

"So you know a lot about this exam?" Naruto asked.

"Sure do and since I'm nice I'll share some of my ninja info cards with you." Kabuto said pulling out a few cards.

Kabuto pressed his cards to the ground, they had information written in chakra, they had names and numbers of how many people came from however many villages, including the small village of the Hidden Sound. He also had cards for individuals like Rock Lee and Gaara.

This won't be easy…

"Naruto don't look so down." Sakura smiled "We'll be okay."

"Hmm…" Naruto cracked a smile "My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'm not gonna lose to any of you! Got it!"

"Hmph…" Sasuke scoffed and laughed a bit.

"We're dead." Sakura whimpered "We're gonna die because Naruto can't shut up."

"Well no going back now." I smiled.

"Big words." Shikamura sighed "Moron just turned everyone here into his enemy."

"What were you thinking!" Sakura yelled putting Naruto in a headlock.

"I only told the truth." The blonde complained.

"He's joking!" Sakura said "Ignore him he's an idiot."

Sakura started scolding Naruto for being an idiot, the crowd calmed down and went back to normal…or so I thought.

Suddenly three ninjas appeared and attacked Kabuto with some sort of invisible attack. The one guy didn't even touch him but was able to knock him back.

I looked at the headbands of the attackers.

Ninjas from that new village…the Village Hidden by Sounds.

"what the hell?" Sasuke asked "He dodged the attack but his glasses broke?"

"Probably glanced his nose." Shikamura said.

"No." I shook my head "It was a wave…look he's bleeding out his ear."

That attack went through the skin to the organs.

"Everyone shut up!" a voice yelled as a smoke bomb went off.

At the front of the room nearly a dozen examiners appeared. A man dressed in black with scars on his face seemed to be in charge.

"Thanks for waiting, I'm Ibiki, the examiner for this test." The man said pointing to the back "Hey Hidden Sounds guys, knock it off are you trying to fail?"

"Sorry…" the member with the bandages on his face said "Got a little carried away."

"Hmph." Ibiki scoffed "I'll take this chance to tell you any fighting without the examiners permission will not be tolerated, and if permission is granted killing of your opponent is also an intolerable offense. Anyone disobey me fails instantly got it!"

This is intense

Ibiki walked up to the podium "We're gonna start the first part of the exam, you're going to pick tabs that have a seat number, sit where instructed and wait."

We formed a line and people started grabbing tiles.

"Seat 21." I blinked looking at mine.

I headed over to me seat and waited.

"Oh hello again." The girl from before smiled sitting next to me "Seems we keep meeting like this."

"Yeah." I smiled "Nice to see you."

An exam was passed out but before we could start some rules had to be laid out.

"Shut up and listen closely." Ibiki commanded "There are important rules you don't wanna miss, I'm going to write them on the board but you can't ask any questions so pay attention."

"Rule 1." He said writing on the board "You start this exam with 10 points, there are ten questions, we'll be using the subtraction system, so if you get a wrong answer you lose a point."

"Rule 2." He wrote lower "This is a team test, passing or failing will be dictated by your teams total score."

I guess I'll have to carry Naruto through this thing.

"Wait why is it a team test?!" Sakura yelled.

"Little girl are you trying to fail?" Ibiki sighed "I said no questions, it'll be clear in a second, so please be quiet."

"Ha…" I snickered.

"And Rule 3." Ibiki said "the most important rule. Anyone caught cheating or doing anything overtly sneaky loses two points for each offense. If you lose all points during the test you will be asked to leave. The proctors will have eyes on you, and trust me their sharp. Getting caught is destroying yourself, your welcome to cheat all you like, but they will catch you, and your chance to be a Chunin flies out the window."

"Now." Ibiki said "To get back to the team part, if you lose all your points or score a 0, will fail with their whole team."

Oh we're so screwed!

"You have one hour." Ibiki said taking a seat at the front and looking at the clock "You may begin."

I flipped my paper.

How much will we need as a team to pass, all Naruto needs one point and I'm sure the rest of us can pull him up, we're a team of four so we have a number advantage over the other teams of three members.

I looked down at the paper and started answering questions, question one was a cryptogram, easy stuff for someone like me, question two involved some math but it didn't bother me.

Is this a Chunin exam test…cause it's pretty easy.

I peeked around the room a bit and saw some others visibly struggling, notably Tenten looked like her poor brain was gonna pop out her head.

I answered the first nine questions with relative ease and then got to question ten, the instructions said it would be given orally with fifteen minutes left. I check the clock; I had burned through the exam in just under twenty minutes. I started back tracking to check my work and pass the time, I could hear other people getting tossed out for cheating but I ignored it. I did see some familiar faces, Kankuro and the sand ninjas were still here, as were the sound guys and Tenten's team.

You're not supposed to get caught buffoons; you need to be more creative than looking right next to you. This test is really about cheating...or being naturally smart.

I was actually getting bored waiting for the final question but eventually it came.

"Ahem." Ibiki coughed "We'll now start the tenth question, but there is one extra rule...oh you're back."

I turned and saw Kankuro walk in.

"Did you have fun playing with your little dolly?" Ibiki asked.

He saw right through his cheat…wait doll?

"Okay the extra rule, a rule of desperation." Ibiki said "You can decide weather or not to take the final question."

Huh?

"Choose?!" the sand girl yelled "What is we say no?"

"If you say no your points instantly become Zero and your team fails." Ibiki said.

"Well then why would anyone say no." I smiled.

"There's one more thing, if you select to take it and get it wrong…you will lose the right to ever take the Chunin exam again for as long as you live."

"That's bull!" Kiba yelled "Some people here have taken the exam before."

"My year my rules." Ibiki shrugged with a small almost invisible smirk "But don't worry there is a way out, if you're not confident say no, and live to try again next time."

So if any of us say no all our work to this point is a waste…Sasuke won't quit…but Naruto and Sakura…

"So let's start question ten." Ibiki said "If you want to leave, raise your hand."

It was quiet for a few moments but then one group dropped out, and then another and another until the crowd started thinning out. I looked over at Naruto who looked like he was trying not to wet his pants in frustration and Sakura who seemed too concerns.

Sakura…don't choose for him…

I saw her hand move up.

She's gonna drop out to save his skin!

Naruto's hand suddenly shot up "I…"

"Naruto…" I said stunned.

He really wants to stop now.

He slammed his hand down "I'm not running away! There's no way in hell I'll quit now! Even if I'm just a Genin forever someday I'm gonna be Hokage so I don't care!"

"Hmph." I cracked a smile "What an idiot…making us worry like that."

"Your life rides on this decision." Ibiki said "Are you positive."

"I follow my words to the end." Naruto said "Cause that's the ninja way."

It seemed like the whole room acknowledge Naruto's conviction, after that no one quit the test.

"Alright then…" Ibiki looked us over "Those of you still standing, congratulations you passed!"

"HAHA!" I laughed while everyone was gasping and murmuring.

"The 79 of you here, you passed congratulations."

"but…what about question 10?" Sakura asked.

"There never was one." Ibiki smiled "The choice to leave or not was question 10."

"So then what about the other nine questions?" Temari asked.

"Pointless garbage." Ibiki shrugged "they were just to see how good you were at gathering information…how well could you all cheat."

"Here I'll explain it a bit more." Ibiki smiled.

He's actually a pretty nice guy.

"The rules were made to stress you and put pressure on the team as a group, you were supposed to be worried about messing up for your whole team. There was no way Genin like you could answer such advanced questions, I know most of you realized the true nature of the exam within the first ten minutes. In order to score more points you'd have to cheat. Some of the targets were even Chunin I hid among the classroom."

"Yeah I knew it." Naruto laughed "You'd have to be an idiot to not see that."

"Takes one to know one." I mumbled.

"Hehehe." I heard Tenten giggle.

"Of course if you cheat badely you'd fail." Ibiki said reaching up to take off his skull cap.

"Whoa…" I gapsed when I saw his head.

He had no hair, his head was burned and scarred beyond repair, there were even drill holes in his scalpe.

"Sometimes information is more important than your life." Ibiki explained "People will risk their lives to get their hands on it."

He put his hat back on "If you're seen the enemy's info then becomes unreliable, I want you to remember something, information can be a great weapon for you, and your enemies."

"But I still don't get the final question." Temari sighed.

"That was the whole point of the test." Ibiki smiled "it was a painful choice, would you be willing to take the risk or drop out and sink your whole team. Sometimes in life you need to take a leap of faith. You can't walk away from dangerous choices, you're not babies who need someone else to choose for you. Courage, is one of the most important things to a Chunin Captain. Cowards have no right to be Chunin."

"You made it through part one." Ibiki said "But there is still a long road ahead, good luck you guys."

"Hell yeah!" Naruto cheered.

The window suddenly shattered as someone dove in.

"Enough celebration!" a woman yelled standing in front of a banner she erected "I'm the examiner for part two of this exam, Anko Mitarashi! Now get up and follow me!"

"It's Naruto as an adult female." I sighed.

Miss Anko suddenly started counting "Wait 79…you left 26 teams?! You made the test too easy."

"Nope." Ibiki shook his head "There's just some outstanding ones this time."

"Whatever, I'll cut the number in half" Anko smiled disturbingly "This is getting exciting, get up and let's move."

No POV

"Naruto Uzumaki…you didn't answer a single question." Ibiki said looking at a blank paper "Interesting."

"Sir I think you should see this." One of the proctors said handing him a paper.

"It's a finished test so what."

"Every question is correct." The proctor said.

"So they were a good cheater." Ibiki shrugged.

"One of the proctors made a note." The man said looking at a board "The participate in seat #21 put his pencil down in twenty minutes, not once while writing did he life his head or give off a single drop of Chakra…This boy scored a 100% without cheating, he answered every question correctly with his own knowledge."

AN

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Till Next Time!