I observed my surroundings with a sharp gaze. Nobody seemed to have noticed my conspicuous looking around. A satisfied grin crept onto my lips. Then the jutsu seemed to have succeeded. Good for me.

None of the others would see my movements since I had used the jutsu of invisible movements. Unfortunately, it was completely useless for spiking, the distance was too great. Something else would come into play later. But first I had to take care of something else.

I had already found out a little about the abilities of my opponents, but now was the perfect time to expand this knowledge. I left my team members out of it, since I knew almost all the jutsus they were capable of.

Carefully, I leaned over the white sheet and began to write down my observations.

Ibiki:

I had to admit. That was one of the most interesting exams I had ever experienced. Apart from the last of the Uchiha clan, I also had Naruto Uzumaki and a few other interesting characters sitting here in the room.

Among them was the red-haired boy from Suna and the little girl from Konoha, who, just like her bench neighbour, didn't seem to show the slightest sign of stress. At least outwardly. It almost seemed as if she had already grasped the goals of this test. But still, she didn't move from the spot. She just sat there and stared at the paper in front of her.

What was going on there? Earlier I had thought I saw a finger sign on her, as if she had used a jutsu, only nothing had shown up yet.

As the lead examiner, I knew of course that she had once been the intangible. At least allegedly. I still didn't quite trust these rumours or rather tales. And I didn't care where they came from. Genma was supposed to be the uncle of the girl. Rumours I didn't give a damn about.

Anyway, I was very curious to see what would be offered to us this time. Another reason why I liked this job. It was always fascinating to see the different abilities of the genin. And the way they were able to use them.

Personally, I saw this test as quite feasible. Because it was simply a matter of keeping your nerves and developing the most effective strategy possible for cheating ... or simply ... learning. My gaze was now on the pink haired Haruno girl, who eagerly answered one question after another. Every now and then she glanced anxiously in the direction of her blond teammate. Naruto Uzumaki. The boy seemed to be completely exhausted. Written tests weren't for everyone. That was partly the point, after all.

As Genmas niece moved slightly, I glanced a bit in her direction. Surprise ran through me, but it wasn't because the assignment sheet was full, which is what I had thought at first. Instead, she had written little notes on the scratch sheet. When had she done that? I hadn't seen anything.

Nor had I noticed that she had copied from anyone. A really interesting way to get information. She would certainly make a good spy. Now she put her palm on the leaf and ... it disappeared. Right before my eyes. Now I had no doubt that the girl was indeed Genmas niece and perhaps also the intangible. Quite interesting. Let's see how she would do in the other exams; I knew that there would be a lot to come. Especially Ankos test would be interesting.

As if she sensed that I was looking at her, the girl raised her head and looked into my eyes. Unaffected, I held her gaze. But she didn't seem to want to look away. A good attitude. Not to show fear to the opponent. To look firmly into the eyes and insist on one's own right. A feeling made its way into her bright irises, while the girl's gaze seemed absent for a brief moment. Was that fear that had flashed in her eyes just now?

Tora:

Breathing heavily, I averted my eyes. For a short moment Ibiki had reminded me of father. With his tall stature, expressionless look, and long dark coat. My father had always worn long dark clothes, no matter what the occasion was. I had never known why. I had always lacked the courage to ask, the relationship between us had been very tense anyway. Whereby... A relationship had never really existed between us.

Ibiki knew that I had violated his so-called rules, but he was not able to prove it to me, because he had seen nothing of it and therein lay my advantage. Nevertheless, I was not allowed to let up. I should still be careful; I was not only observed by the examiners. Also, the look of my red-haired bench neighbour I could often feel on me. Fortunately for me, Sasuke and Kabuto were sitting in front of me, so I didn't have to deal with them as well. That would put the crown on the whole thing.

I looked at the clock and had to recognize frightened that before loud thinking, a large part of the time had run away from me. Now I had to act, before it was too late and could not be caught me thereby.

Silently, I summoned two of my invisible shadow clones and let the two suppress their chakra. Then I mentally sent them around the room to get as many solutions as possible. Although the others could not see my normal doubles, they still felt their chakra. But if I suppressed this, they were invisible in all areas and of great advantage to me.

On the other hand, it also required some concentration for me to maintain this state. I could not blow my cover, otherwise not only my future, but also that of the team would be in danger. And that could not happen under any circumstances.

Sasuke sat diagonally in front of me, staring with a concentrated gaze at the back of a ninja's head in front of him. His eyes flashed reddish, and I recoiled. His sharingan. He had gotten it. It would be a huge advantage to him now. But with it, hopefully he wouldn't be able to notice my invisible shadow doubles.

But Sasuke seemed much too concentrated as one of them walked past him. An interesting tactic to look off, I thought. Slowly, I decided it was time to make the clones disappear. I quickly released the jutsu and felt the thoughts of the clones flowing into me. Before my inner eyes the whole seen played and I smiled nodding. That would really help me.

I hurriedly wrote down the information. Although I had not been able to fill in all the boxes, I was very sure that many of them were correct. Thoughtfully I checked the tasks again. Maybe I could solve a few more.

„Number 23 failed. Take your team and get out," the deep voice of the examiner barked through the room. Loud and menacing, it echoed in my ears.

A sudden fear ran through me. So now it was starting. They began to throw out the ones they had caught peeking.

One by one they left the classroom. My hands clawed at the desk and I didn't dare breathe. Single drops of sweat ran down my face.

„Keep writing Tora," I quietly admonished myself.

If I just worked and tried to block out what was happening around me, which was not so easy. No. Another tactic was needed. Otherwise, I would only get more involved and if I did that, I was lost. One panic attack after the other would flood me and I had to suppress that now. To defend myself against it.

The image of a forest clearing crept into my head. The sun made the damp grass light up. And in the middle of it I sat with Naruto. The cake, which had found a place between us, was almost gone. It had been my birthday. The Uzumaki had baked me a cake as a present. His first one that he had ever made. For me, it was the biggest surprise I had ever had. On top of that, I loved chocolate cake more than anything. At that point, it had been a long time for me since I had last been able to eat one.

I smiled and looked up.

The forest and Naruto were gone. Instead, I sat back in the classroom, startled to notice everyone staring at me. How long had I been absent?

„So, if the dear lady back there has woken up from her daydreams, then I can explain the tenth question now."