Chapter 16: Test Number 1!

Finally they make it to the classroom. Going in, Yuri is overwhelmed by all the taste. Some people have higher chakra levels than others… She can taste the blood, peppermint, and spearmint. Meaning the Sand guys are here. But so many other tastes take over her senses. Yuri would prefer to be home… but she agreed to take it.

As they walk in, all eyes look at them. She doesn't say anything. Not yet.

But one stands out. And it is happy to have a taste that is like home to her. She moves almost too quickly for Kenji and Isamu.

"Shika!" Yuri walks over to him and sees him with Choji and Ino.

She goes and hugs Shikamaru. She doesn't care about getting looks, she hasn't seen Shikamaru in a while. She hadn't been able to see him in a while. So she was glad he was here at least.

He even seemed surprised. "Yuri? You're here? What a drag."

There is a pause, and Yuri pulls back a little. Seeing Shikamaru's face being all red. She tilts her head but looks at Choji and nods her head. A small smile on her face as she turns to look at Ino.

Ino smirks. "Oh? So you also were put in this year?"

Kenji steps in. "Yeah, we were. Surprised you made the cut. You can't even keep up with Isamu."

Recently, Kenji had been poking fun at Ino. Which annoyed Ino, but was so funny to watch that Yuri can't help but chuckle.

"Anyone else here?" Yuri looks at Shikamaru.

"Not that I know of. It's a drag Asuma sensi put us in." He lets out a sigh.

She doesn't know if Hinata is here, with all the taste around she isn't sure. But with Shikamaru and Yuri trying ground, she feels herself refocusing. She can refocus with Kenji and Isamu, but she's known Shikamaru since she was younger. It was easier to refocus with him.

But the doors open and she glances back. She sees Saskue, Sakura and Naruto. Glad they made it and everyone turned to look at them as well. She keeps her hold on Shikamaru though.

"Well well… look who finally made it to the party." Yuri hums.

Shikamaru shakes his head. "More trouble."

But Ino runs over once she notices Saskue and of course they have to follow. Ino is practically hanging off Saskue, but Yuri can't say much since she is also hanging off Shikamaru. But hers is to recenter and stop herself from being overwhelmed.

But she tugs on Shikamaru. "Shika, be careful here. The Sand ninja are no joke."

"I know." Shikamaru comments.

Yuri doesn't even care what the girls are bickering about. The fact they are bickering is going to be the most annoying thing to her. She keeps pace with Shikamaru and waits.

"I knew this was gonna be a drag, but I didn't know it was gonna be this lame." Shikamaru comments.

"Give it a rest Shika." Yuri warns. Speaking a little over Naruto.

But even that doesn't stop Shikamaru. "Hey, you know what, pipsqueak?" Yuri tugs on Shikamaru. "Ah, forget it. You're a waste of time."

Yuri lightly hits his back. "Stop it. Don't be lame."

There is no point in fighting. Seeing as they were in a room… with people who could possibly wipe them out quickly. Her team agreed to keep a low profile, but being around Naruto means they won't be able to.

"You're one to talk, Yuri." Kenji mutters.

Yuri shoots Kenji a glare. She knew it, but there was no way she wasn't going to try being nice. They clearly weren't taught like they were, and it was to not speak out of turn. And to know when to stop talking all together.

"Sorry but Saskue's all mine." Ino teases Sakura.

But Ino looks like the idiot hanging off Saskue like that.

More people approach. "Well, what do you know? It looks like the whole gang's back together again."

Rolling her eyes at Kiba, Yuri shakes her head. Kenji moves a little over to stand next to Sakura. The rookies… all together. She wonders if they will all be as annoying as they were in school. She doubts any of them had changed that much since they all graduated.

But she can dream a little.

"Oh… Hi, Naturo." Hinata mumbles.

Hinata moves a little closer to Shino and he seems to reach down a little towards her hand, but stops a little shy of it. She gives a look to Hinata as she blushes and pushes her fingures together. She isn't that shy around Naruto anymore, which is a good thing.

Naruto is still an idiot.

But he did ask one time if Yuri knew if anyone had a crush on him. After their talk with Jirya, he kept asking her if Hinata still had a crush on him. And Yuri never answered anymore. It was pointless, besides, she liked Hinata moving on. Now… if only Sakura and Ino would do the same thing.

"You guys too, huh? Man. Everyone's here for this stupid thing." Shikamaru complains.

Yuri moves so she isn't holding onto Shikamaru as tightly. But she still holds onto his sleeve. Ino had moved off Saskue and he gave Yuri a pleading look. But she shakes her head. They aren't in school where Yuri can just save him. Saskue has to learn to tell the girls to back off.

She wasn't going to be there to save him forever.

"Yep. Here we all are. The twelve rookies. This is going to be fun. At least for those of us good enough to make the cut." Kiba looks right at Saskue. Whos attention goes back to Kiba.

Isamu leans into Yuri. "Good to know Kiba is still talking a big game… he might be strong, but he is going to get himself hurt with how he acts."

Yuri giggles a little. Isamu is right. Kiba had a big head. He was good at most things. He was in the middle of the class due to his testing. Who knows how he has improved, or hasn't improved. Yuri couldn't say. He was faster, but smarter? That was up for debat.

Of course Naruto has to comment. Causing Yuri to roll her eyes once again. Leave it to Naruto.

"I see Naruto hasn't learned to shut his mouth…" Shikamaru mumbles.

"You really think-" Yuri pauses as one of the most disgusting tastes comes into her mouth.

Making a face she knows Shikamaru and Saskue can see, both give her a concerned look. Since she can taste chakra's… it's weird for her to be tasting so many… right? Or is it something being in this area?

She doesn't even notice Choji stepping away.

"What?" Shikamaru asks.

Yuri glances around. "Really disgusting taste… and it's pretty strong."

Shikamaru turns to Yuri, he and Isamu look at her and she notices Saskue is keeping an eye on them as well. Yuri keeps a hold on Shikamaru, she knows he will help to keep her calm.

"What's the taste like?" Shikamaru asks.

"Dead snake skin." Yuri answers.

She can see the confused look from the boys. But Asami sensi wanted Yuri to be able to identify taste, good and bad. While she had a lot of food, she also tried some… not so nice things. And they had found a lot of things for her to try. It helped her in moments like this… but she still hated the taste being in her mouth.

And it was only getting stronger.

"Hey, you guys." She turns to the voice, holding onto Shikamaru.

She knows he doesn't care… but she missed having Shikamaru as her comfort taste. A boy… man? Approaches them with big round glasses and white hair. And she knows this is Dead snake skin. She gets a little behind Shikamaru and hides a little. Shifting away from him, she doesn't want to be near the guy. Not when he tastes like he does.

"He is the taste." She whispers to Shikamaru.

She feels him stiffen. Asami told her to trust the taste. They seemed to lead her in the right direction. She and Shikamaru had talked about it in length, and he agreed. Maybe the taste told her something about the person.

While Yuri enjoyed it most of the time… the current taste threw her off.

"You might want to try keeping it down a little. I mean, no offense, but you're the twelve rookies, right? Fresh out of the Academy? I wouldn't go making a spectacle of yourselves. Just cool it. This isn't a class field trip." Snake skin says.

Her grip on Shikamaru tightens. Why approach them? Wouldn't that put a target on his back as well. She tries to keep her stance neutral, but this is overwhelming.

"Well, who asked you? Who are you?" Ino asks.

For once, she is happy about Ino's ability to ask questions. While an ally would be nice here… she doesn't think it's this guy.

"I'm Kabato Yakushi. But really, look around you. You've made quite an impression."

Slowly Yuri turns to look around. And everyone is staring at them. She spots a few genin she had met along the way. Like the Sand people, and they have three others around them. The two red heads, she liked them. And their tastes. She also sees the Hidden Grass Genin from before. But… Most everyone is giving them looks of hatred.

Yuri tunes Snake Skin out though. Why would he help them? The bigger the target on the rookie's back, the easier it would be for him to make it through.

Why talk with them and keep them from fighting with each other? She would think it was a good thing. No one shows their skill level and the rookies could be considered an easy target, they are new and probably don't have the the skill levels the others have. He could leave them alone and let them fight, make themselve the center of it all.

"No, it's– my seventh." Kabato admits.

That… that makes less sense. She tugs on Shikamaru, she would speak around the guy… but she knew Shikamaru would. She would listen and watch.

"Ya some expert. He's never even passed." Shikamaru comments.

How is it that he hasn't passed? He has strong chakra… and he seems like a powerful ninja.

"Well, seventh time's the charm. That's what they say, huh?" Snakeskin says. He shakes his head.

Shikamaru looks even more annoyed. "So I guess all of those rumors about the exam being tough are true. Oh man, I knew this was going to be a drag."

Yuri tugs on Shikamaru to melt with her in the back. She needs to talk to him, and while everyone is distracted, it would be good for them to talk. She needs to let someone else know that she doesn't trust this guy.

"I don't trust him, Shikamaru." Yuri keeps her voice low, she keeps holding onto Shikamaru.

Even seeing the ninja info cards, she doesn't know why someone would make cards. Seems like a lot of information to gather.

"I know… I know this is a hard exam… but seven times? That is crazy." Shikamaru comments.

Kabato talks about regulations. How would he know that? It was something they learned about in the academy, keeping the balance… but the specific number of genin from each village? That is something he shouldn't know. Not unless he went around and met each and every genin.

Yuri scoffs lightly. "He has a high level of chakra… more than all the rookies. Minus Naruto."

Kenji speaks up, she forgot he was behind her. "This guy… does he seem strange to you?"

Slowly Yuri nods her head. He knows a lot about the inner workings of the exams and balance. A little too much.

"He knows a lot." Yuri comments.

"Could be because he's taken the Chunin exams a lot too." Shikamaru chimes in.

Of course Saskue asks about Gaara and Rock Lee.

Yuri rolls her eyes. While they might be strong, asking about them might not do a lot of good.

This character is weird… Kabato even has information on two people Saskue asked about. He has missions stats and Lee's teammates. He has a lot of information on someone who's never taken the exams before. She looks at Shikamaru, and she can tell he is thinking the same thing. They need to be careful.

Gaara… there isn't a lot. But not getting an injury is hard. She knows that. Even going on a B-Ranked mission and possibly coming back unharmed? Even her few C-Ranked… she had been injured.

"... Sound. From the looks of it, they've all sent exceptionally skilled candidates to the exam this time around. Of course, the hidden Sound Village is small. It sprang up recently. No one knows anything about it. Those guys are a mystery."

But hearing about the sound, she remembers the three in the tree from a week ago. They had to be part of the sound village. She needed to keep her wit about her.

Kabato puts away the cards. "Well, you get the point. The competition's going to be intense this year."

"So it would seem." Hinata mumbles. "It's almost enough to make you lose confidence."

Yuri looks at Hinata. She can understand it, there are a lot of people older than them, and they have to have more experience and more power. Makes her wonder what they are all doing here.

"It's a fine time to start talking like that!" Ino looks at Hinata.

"Do you really think it's going to be tougher this time?" Sakura asks, her eyes on Kabato.

"Oh, yeah. In the four years I've been coming, I've never seen a crop of candidates with as much potential as this bunch. Yep. We've got our work cut out for us."

Naruto seems to be falling apart, and Shikamaru moves to the front of the group, tugging Yuri with him so she is next to Hinata. Kenji and Isamu are staying in the back, trying to watch out for anything. Yuri's eyes land on Saskue, and she knows he is going to have a complex.

Saskue was the strongest of the rookies, and now he was at the bottom. She worries it is going to cause Saskue to spiral, and that isn't something she needs to worry about right now. She knocked that out of her boys right away, but she was still working on it with Saskue.

Yuri jumps a little at Naruto screaming and steps closer to Shikamaru. Who's face is getting a slight tint of red. But no one else is able to notice it, since Naruto takes all the attention.

Naturo points out to everyone. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm going to beat every one of you. Believe it!"

Yuri smacks her head into Shikamaru's shoulder. "What an idiot."

"He's putting a target on all our backs." Shikamaru complains.

Even the girls are arguing behind her. He has guts… but he dumb. She doesn't move her head for a second, she doesn't want to be associated with Naruto now. He just made them the most hated group in the room. Something that is hard to do! But with Naruto, he makes it so easy.

She raises her head and tries to keep a groan from coming from her.

"Yeah! I feel a lot better now." Naruto puts his hands on his hips.

But the icy stares they are getting now… Yuri tries to step in front of Shikamaru but he stops her. She looks at him and he only glances at her.

"Keep a low profile Yuri." Shikamaru whispers.

She slowly nods her head. Present herself as a weak ninja and let them focus on the boys in her group. Make everyone think she is dead weight in the rookie group, which she isn't.

There is so much tension in the air… you could almost cut it. And no one says anything for what feels like an eternity. It all seems like too much.

Thankfully, they have Kiba. "Uh, can you say that again a little louder? Didn't quite catch it."

"You moron. Are you trying to get everybody in the place to hate our guts, or what?" Shikamaru asks him.

She has to agree. They all have a target being around Naruto. How she wishes she would have just faded into the crowd with Kenji and Isamu. But she needed Shikamaru.

"Ya… Naruto… you aren't that smart. We all have targets now." Kenji shakes his head.

Sakura pounces on Naruto and begins to strangle him. Better than letting him talk. But… It also shows how inexperienced all of them are. With everyone's eyes on them, she doesn't want to make a move. She grips onto Shikamaru's shirt and keeps close to him.

"Oh, hi, everyone. Don't mind him. Sometimes he says these spazzy things. He doesn't really mean them. They just kind of come out…" Sakura begins to babble.

Yuri pulls Shikamaru closer to her. "Sakura isn't helping…"

"Ya… I know." Shikamaru snickers.

But Sakura keeps talking while holding Naruto. This isn't good for any of them, and it was only going to cause a bigger target on all their backs. She is about to say something else to Shikamaru, but something catches her eye.

In a blink of an eye though, she hears movement and they have the people from the trees attacking them. Even though Yuri doesn't have time to react, while she would like to help, she also thinks Kabato deserves it. He messed up talking to the rookies, and he talked too much.

Shikamaru tries to push Yuri back and Kenji and Isamu grab Yuri as well. Pulling her away from the possible fight going on, and keeping with Yuri being the weakest. One punches Kabato, and snakeskin dodges, but his glasses crack.

"Oh, I get it. So it was that kind of attack." Kabato muses.

Saskue steps forward, with Yuri between Kenji and Isamu. She held onto Isamu, all the tastes were so overwhelming still. And she would play the role of weakest.

"Hang on, I saw it all. He dodged the attack. How did that happen?" Saskue looks upset.

Shikamaru comments. "It must have come closer than it looked. Look at him acting like it was nothing. Real tough guy."

But then Kabato drops to the floor, puking. It was delayed so much though.

"Sound…" Isamu mumbles. "That is a side effect from vibrations hitting your body. I guess they are from the sound village."

There is silence in the room. Whatever just happened… it isn't good. Naruto and Sakura run towards Kabato. Yuri sticks closer to her team and Saskue comes closer to them.

"He did kind of insult them." Kenji mutters.

Yuri watches them standing there. Trying to help Kabato. She doesn't like that, nor does she like having to pretend to be on the weaker side of the group. But those Sound Village genin are bad, if they don't even need to hit the person they are fighting against… It troubles her.

"They seem like trouble. We should avoid it at all costs." Yuri mumbles.

"The guy will be fine. It's a shock wave in the body, and it can be healed, but I can't heal that yet." Isamu explains.

Right now she is glad Isamu had been having medical training. It will help them in the long run. Especially if they end up moving on and going on more missions. They would need it.

There is a puff of smoke up front.

"All right, you baby face degenerates. Pipe down and listen up. It's time to begin. I'm Ibiki Marino, your proctor. And from this moment, your worst enemy."

People gasp all over the room. And Yuri even pulls a little closer to Kenji and Isamu. He tastes like… like fire? And she is so confused by it. But the others in the front of the room… she can taste all of them. It's a little overwhelming but she can't hold onto Shikamaru. The Ibiki guy… he is scary.

"First, you candidates from the Village Hidden in the Sound, knock it off. Who told you you could fight? You want to be failed before we've even begun?"

The half mummy one speaks up. "Sorry. It's our first time. Guess we're a little jumpy… sir."

"I'll say this once, so listen up. There will be no combate between candidates. No attacking each other without the permission of your proctor. And even then, the use of fatal force is strictly prohibited. Anyone who even thinks of messing with me will be disqualified immediately. Got it?"

A silence falls over the room. Yuri lets go of Isamu and lets out a breath she had been holding. They aren't fighting here, it would be delayed. But she needs to keep the note in her mind. Stay away from the Sound Ninja.

But the other guy from the Sound speaks up. "Hmp. No fatal force? That's no fun."

She shakes her head. Only able to watch the events unfold in front of her. She doesn't want to make a sound or draw attention to herself.

"No, if we're ready, we'll proceed to the first stage of the Chunin Exam. Hand over your paperwork. In return, you'll each be given a number. This number determines where you will sit. We'll start the written test once you're all seated."

Yuri pulls Kenji close. "Naruto, Kiba and Choji are screwed."

Kenji chuckles a little and nods his head. "I think it's more Naruto."

Everyone gets in line to hand over their paperwork. And it is a quick process.

Kenji is on the other side of the room, Isamu is behind Naruto and Hinata and Yuri is right by some chunin lining the wall. She only keeps tabs on her team. Sadly, she would like to keep track of the others, but she needs to worry about her team.

She tastes Peanut butter. So she was right. He was the one messing with the genin earlier. Which means she was right, and she loves being right about things.

But Naruto and Hinata are sitting by eachother. Could be good for them. But she also worries that it might sway Hinata back to liking Naruto. And Naruto was aware of Hinata and he was noticing her a lot more. Maybe having a crush, but Naruto still focused a lot on training.

Her attention is brought forward by the sound of chalk hitting the board.

"Everyone, eyes front. There are a few rules you need to be aware of. And I won't answer any questions. So you better pay attention the first time around."

Testing the ability for ninja to retain information… no questions. She has to remember everything. Ibiki begins to write on the board, facing away from people. Yuri knew this was a chance to test them, and it's going to be a rough day.

"All right. Rule number one is this. The written part of the exam is conducted on a point reduction system. Contrary to what some of you may be used to, you all begin the test with a perfect score of 10 points. One point will be deducted for each answer you get wrong. So if you miss three, your final score will be 7. Rule number two. Teams will pass or fail based on the total scores of all three members."

Yuri's eyes widened. A team score? She knows her team will be fine, Kenji and Isamu are fine with the test. She knows Naruto will fail his team. The room gasps and she knows her team is fine. It's Saskues team she is worried about.

"What? Wait a second! You're saying we all get scored as a team?" Sakura yells out.

Of course, it worries Sakura. She would carry her team in this section.

"Silence! I have my reason, so shut up and listen."

Another silence comes over the room. And Yuri's brain is working.

"Rule number three. The sentinels you see positioned around the room are there to watch you carefully for any signs of cheating. And for incidents they spot, They will subract two points from the culprit's score. Be warned. Their eyes are extremely sharp. And if they catch you five times, you'll be dismissed before the tests are even scored."

She narrows her eyes. A fail if caught five times. She looks and sees the Peanut butter. She is right next to them. Being this close means she has to be careful not to look like she is cheating. Looking back to the front she knows this is going to be hard.

But five fails. That seems like a lot.

"Anyone fool enough to be caught cheating by the sentinels doesn't deserve to be here."

Caught cheating… Why does that stand out so much?

"If you want to be considered shinobi, then show us what exceptional shinobi you can be."

Show them? How is a paper test going to show them? Sure, it shows how intelligent the genin are… but she thought they needed to be smart outside on the field.

"One more thing. If any candidate should get a 0 and fail the test, then the entire team fails."

She presses her lips together. Hopefully Shikamaru and Yuri pounding information into Naruto's head helped him. He took notes for years and Shikamaru quizzed him enough that they knew he knew the information.

It's the pressure Yuri worries about. Naruto isn't the best at tests and this pressure will get to him.

"The final question won't be given out until 15 minutes before the end of the testing period. You'll have one hour total. Begin!"

Yuri flips over her test. She begins to look at the test. Scanning over all the questions gives Yuri pause. Some of these are so… out there. Decoding, figuring out the trajectory… not one person can answer them.

Maybe Sakura, but she can't even begin to figure out the second half of the exams. She doesn't move though, it's hard questions and she knows there has to be a catch.

Kenji is the code breaker, and Yuri knows all about throwing things. Isamu… he knows such random things. She couldn't even guess what he might figure out here.

Yuri glances up and sees that Naruto is going to choke. This is a test to end all test. They really wanted to see how well Genin knew their information. All she could do was try to get at least 6 of them done. It would help her team. She glances back at her test then at Naruto.

Ya… he's going to choke.

Well, maybe next year will be their year. She needs to focus on getting a few correct. But they get harder as the testing goes on.

She starts the shuriken question… but she pauses midway.

Caught cheating.

They are ninjas. Asami taught her that cheating is part of the game. And she has one of the biggest hacks in all. She can use so many things, nothing should be off the table so long as she doesn't get caught.

She needs to tell Kenji and Isamu, they all need to cheat and not get caught.

She isn't a Nara… and using the Shadows… she wouldn't get caught. She finishes the question since she was already working on it. And so that way she doesn't look like she is cheating. She'll write it in the last box.

She moves to a thinking position. She should be able to find them without having to look up. And she finds Kenji and Isamu. Straightening her paper, she makes the note.

"We are expected to cheat. Don't get caught. Asami sensi would kill us."

Retracting her shadow, she goes back to figuring out problem three. Silently she smirks, knowing she will be able to pass this. She can only hope that Naruto will figure it out.

She needs to figure out who has the answers. So she begins to look around. She wishes she had bugs. Those would be perfect. Bugs, something that is unseen and no one would know. They could gather information and report back to her. She needs to focus and get through this test.

It still bugs her that they are testing them like this. While there is a lot of pressure, there is a sense of peace in the silence.

Though the peace is distrupted when a kunai is thrown.

"What the– what was that all about."

A boy stands up. Yuri only glances at him. She can't let them see her flinch at everything. She wants to finish this test and she will.

"Five strikes, and you're out. You just failed the test." Is… she focuses on the taste. With so many it's hard… but that has to be jelly.

"What it can't be."

"You and your teammates will leave the room immediately." Jelly points to him.

After that, only more people are taken out. More people are caught cheating and there is so much yelling from one person. He is pinned against a wall, and told to leave right away.

She needs to think.

She sees someone writing all the time. He hasn't stopped writing, even with all the chaos going on around.

What's the point of having the Sharigan is she can't use it? She makes sure her hair is in front of her face and activates it. She copies their answers. As much as she can though. She deactivates it a few times to look off thinking. Making sure to pause so she can keep the act up that she isn't cheating.

But only more people get kicked out.

She manages to get 8 questions. She won't bother with number 9, since she wrote her note to Isamu and Kenji there. She makes it look like she is still answering questions but looking around. There are so many tastes… she can't keep them straight. And right before the last question.

Only 3 minutes before then. The person next to her got kicked out. She doesn't flinch, she knew he was cheating, if she could see it then the others could too. Sad, but he wasn't that good.

"All right, listen up. Here's the 10th and final question."

Yuri looks up and sits back in her chair. Turning over her test. No point in letting anyone cheat off her. She needed to pay attention. She was sure about her answers, she would be fine. So long as Kenji and Isamu answered one question right it would be fine.

"But before I give you the question, there are some more rules that you need to be aware of."

The doors open and she knows it's Kitty boy. He said he had to go to the bathroom. And he is such a cheater. She knows he went to the bathroom to cheat, he didn't have that thing on his back.

"Ah, made it just in time. I hope you found your trip to the bathroom enlightening." Yuri turns and smirks at Kitty boy. How fun is this? "Well, take your seat."

Kitty boy walks and Ibiki waits until he is seated to begin talking. Yuri tracks him though, sadly she can't use anything in the open. So she just watches, but turns her attention back to Ibiki.

"These rules are unique to question 10. Listen carefully and try not to let them frighten you. Very well, then. Rule number one. Each of you is free to choose not to be given the final question. It's your decision."

The genin choice. If they feel like they can't pass the last question… they can pick not to. How sweet… but doesn't sit right with her.

"Whow! So what's the catch? Let's say we decide we don't want to do it. What happens then?" Yuri glances and sees it's the sand girl. Temari?

"If you choose not to take the 10th question, regardless of your answers to the other nine, you'll get a zero. In other words, you fail. And that means, of course, both your teammates fail as well."

She narrows her eyes. She knows Isamu and Kenji are fine. They stick together. Yuri knows they would need to do this.

"Not so fast. You didn't let me finish. If you do accept the question but answer it incorrectly, you will not only fail, you will be barred from taking the chunin exams ever again!"

That makes her pause. Barred from taking the Chunin exams, that is awful! Yuri has to call the bluff. She opens her mouth, but Kiba beats her.

"Hey, that's bull, man! That's ridiculous. What kind of bogus rule is that? There's lots of people here who've taken the test before."

Kiba has a point though… She doesn't think they can bar someone from taking the exams again. It doesn't make sense. Either fail your team and quit, or take the last question and possibly never take these exams again. What a choice. But this only makes Ibiki laugh.

"I guess you're just unlucky. 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." Ibiki laughs again. "Now then, if you're ready. The 10th and final question. Those who don't want to take it, raise your hand. Your number will be recorded and then you're free to go."

Yuri shakes her head. They are all going to play chicken. Take the question and risk their career as a ninja or play it safe for another day? It was an impossible choice. One she is willing to risk and play chicken with Ibiki.

Someone quits. Once one does, a wave of people walk out. Selfish in her mind, but could be seen as a smart move. Preserve another day.

Her eyes go to Naruto.

She doesn't think he will… but he might be stuck as a genin forever. It would crush his dreams of becoming Hokage, a genin would never be able to become the Hokage. But she thinks it's a bluff. One person can't make that choice. Ibiki has to be lying.

But Naruto raises his hand. Causing Yuri's eyes to widen. He really is going to quit.

But he slams his hand on the table. "Don't underestimate me! I don't quit and I don't run. You can act tough all you want. Your guys aren't going to scare me off. No way! I don't care if I do get stuck as a genin for the rest of my life." He stands up. "I'll still be Hokage someday!"

Yuri shakes her head and chuckles to herself. Stick it to Ibiki.

Naruto isn't going to play games. Sakura might… but Naruto? No way. He will become Hokage, she knows he will figure it out, and she admires him for it.

"This decision is one that could change your life. If for any reason you would rather quit, now's your last chance."

Yuri sees no one moving. After Naruto's outburst it seemed to calm anyone down. Yuri settles in her seat a little more.

"Well, then, I admire your determination, if nothing else. 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."

Yuri tilts her head. They… they passed? No grading test? It was all a set up for cheating and sticking to their guns.

Sakura jumps up from her seat. "Hold on! What just happened? What do you mean we passed? Where's the 10th question?"

Ibiki smiles and starts laughing. "There never was one. Not a written one, at least. Actually your decision to stay was the answer to the 10th question."

That leaves Yuri even more confused. Isamu turns and finds her but she only shrugs her shoulders. How was she supposed to know what this was about? She was just as lost. Her eyes connect with Saskue and he smirks. He is just glad to have passed. And that Naruto didn't fail their group.

He actually looked nice when he smiled.

Yuri shakes her head. No. She shouldn't join that stupid fanclub.

"Wait a second. So the other nine questions you gave us were just a waste of time. Is that what you're saying?" The sand girl asks.

"No, no, not at all. Quite the opposite. The first nine questions had an important overriding purpose– to test your ability to surreptitiously gather strategic intelligence under the most adverse circumstances."

"Oh well that clears up everything." Sand girl rolls her eyes.

"Let me explain. You see, my objective was to test you not only as individuals, but as a team, and 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."

Of course Naruto thinks he kept his cool, but he didn't, as Isamu shakes his head at Naruto's statement. Yuri rolls her eyes. Naruto has to play it cool, but she knew he had no cool. He was panicking the whole time.

"The first nine questions on the test were difficult. In fact, as you may have realized, 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. The fact is the test was designed to encourage cheating. It almost demanded it. Of course, it would have done you little good unless you had someone to cheat from. So I disguised two chunin who already knew the answers and had them sit in with you."

"Oh, come on, I wasn't fooled for a second. You had to be a complete fool not to see." Naruto boost.

Yuri chuckles. "Sure Naruto… whatever you say."

Ibiki begins to undo the wrap around his head. "Those who were caught at it failed. Better not to cheat than to cheat clumsily."

He takes off his headband and Yuri's eyes widen. His head… it… it looks like it's been through hell and back. She can only stare at it and she can't take her eyes off it.

"Information. It can be the most valuable weapon in battle. How well you gather intelegence can determin whether a mission is a failure or a success. There'll be times you'll have to risk your life to get it."

"Wow…" Is all Yuri can say under her breath.

Ibiki puts his headband back on. "Of course, you must always consider the source of your information. Intelligence gathered from an enemy is not necessarily accurate. Always bear this in mind. Disinformation 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."

"Okay, but I'm still not getting what the 10th question thing is all about." Temari speaks up.

"You're not? The 10th question was the main point of the whole exam. Surely, you see that."

Sakura saves everyone. "Sure. But explain it anyway."

"As I said before, the goal was to test you not as individuals but as part of a squad. The final question gave you two choices, both difficult. You could choose to play it safe and skip the question, though it meant that both you and your teammates would be failed. Or you could try and answer it, knowing if you got it wrong, you would lose your chance of ever being Chunin. It was a no-win situation. But just the sort chunin have to face almost everyday. For example, let me give you a hypothetical mission."

And with that… Yuri checks out. She gets it. No-win situations in missions. Take a mission that could result in your death, or take it to get the information? Walk into a trap? Or stay safe. He gave an inspirational speech about being a chunin and a squad leader.

All she knows she passed. It's complete!

But Yuri tasted something. At first it's fine… but then makes her want to throw up. Something comes crashing through the glass, and she puts a hand over her mouth. Trying to keep herself from throwing up. It's disgusting and awful.

"Heads up, boys and girls. This is no time to be celebrating. I'll be your next proctor, Anko Mitarashi. You ready for the second test? Good! Then, let's go. Follow me!"

She turns in her chair and catches Shikamaru's eyes. He must see she is about to throw up as a look of concern comes before his face. Yuri can't even muster a shake of her head as she tries to not throw up.

"You're early again." Ibiki mumbles.

The two talk and Shikamaru comes over to her. "What's up?"

"Her. Overall? Her taste is fine… but she has an awful under taste…" Yuri reaches out and grabs Shikamaru's hand.

Trying to have a palate cleanser. And so she doesn't throw up in the exam room. She needs to calm down, but this taste is so overwhelming.

But Anko says something about more than half being eliminated. Half? Half will be eliminated next test? With her mouth a little more clean with Shikamaru next to her, she feels like she can pay attention. Yuri looks over and wonders what she means.

"All right, you maggots have had it easy so far, but things are going to be different starting first thing in the morning. I'll let your squad leaders know where you're to meet me. Dismissed."

Notes: I hoped you enjoyed the first test of the exams. This is by far the longest chapter I have written. I think it will be the longest chapter, and I have written most of the story already. Please let me know your thoughts, and follow this story!