Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (either manga or anime!); the wonderful Masashi Kishimoto-sensei owns all rights. However, the plot and Namiko Uzumaki are mine!

Chapter 6: To Cheat Or Not To Cheat?

Nearly three months had passed since Team 7's fateful A-rank mission and July was fast approaching. All the rookie genin teams had done several missions since then and they were all starting to adjust well.

All except maybe Team 7…

They had just finished another D-rank mission and Naruto had been a little too overconfident going into it. Sasuke had to save Naruto from getting more injured than he already had, and Naruto was trying not to let his disappointment in himself show.

Namiko had felt Naruto's chakra come into range when Team 7 was finished with their mission, nearing her and Naruto's apartment. She ran out to greet him, a little surprised to see him covered in scrapes and bruises when it was supposed to be an easy mission. "What happened, nii-chan? You look awful!"

Naruto sighed, "Gee, thanks for kind words, imouto…" Namiko looked at him sympathetically.

"He would've been fine if he didn't overdo it like he always does," said Sakura, letting Naruto lean on her.

"You're such an idiot, Naruto," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes and starting to walk away from everyone. "If you want me to stop rescuing you, just get better than me…"

"That's it! Sasuke—" Naruto was yelling as Namiko tried to hold him back.

"Naruto, don't worry about him. He's not worth it," she said, turning him to face her. Sasuke scoffed and kept walking away from everyone, heading home.

"Your teamwork has been almost non-existent," started Kakashi, as he noticed a bird dropping a feather above him and caught it. "Okay, that's enough today. I'm going to hand in our mission report." With that, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Well, since Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-kun are gone, I'm going to head home too." Sakura turned and started walking towards Sasuke. "Oh Sasuke-kun!" she said in a sing-song voice.

"Buzz off, Sakura. You're worse than Naruto." Sasuke just kept walking. Sakura decided to turn and head in the direction of her own home.

"Let's go home so I can bandage you up," Namiko said, lightly tugging on Naruto's hand.

Naruto groaned. "Aw, come on, it's not that bad. Just a few scratches; they're not even bleeding anymore." Namiko gave a half-smile and rolled her eyes.

As they walked home, a familiar voice called from behind them. "Naruto-nii-chan! Namiko-chan! Wait up!"

"Oh, hello Konohamaru-kun," Namiko smiled sweetly at the young boy. He reminded her so much of Naruto and she found it endearing.

Konohamaru lightly blushed at Namiko's greeting. "Where are you two headed?"

"Home," said Naruto brusquely, still stewing in anger from Sasuke's earlier comment.

"Can I walk with you?" Konohamaru asked, eyes sparkling as he leaned against Namiko.

Namiko gave a little laugh. "Sure thing, Konohamaru-kun."

"Ya-hoo!" Konohamaru sprinted ahead, not paying attention to where he was running, and smacked right into a tall boy wearing all black and lines painted on his face. "Oof!"

The boy picked him up by his scarf. "That hurt, brat."

"Knock it off, or you'll make him mad," said a girl with blonde hair, pulled into four short ponytails.

Naruto immediately jumped to Konohamaru's defense. "Put him down, you big ape!"

The older boy smirked. "I just want to play with him while we're waiting for the nuisance to show."

Naruto rushed the boy and suddenly his feet swept out from under him, faceplanting on the hard ground. "What the heck was that?!"

Namiko looked the two ninja over. She didn't recognize them but did notice they were wearing a hitai-ate from Suna. She subtly activated her chakra sensing and felt a ribbon-like sensation around the boy and Naruto. 'What is that?' She thought, shutting off her chakra sensing when she noticed Sasuke's chakra nearby.

Not two seconds later, a rock hit the boy's wrist, making him drop Konohamaru. Sasuke sat in a nearby tree, more rocks in hand. "What are you guys doing in our village?"

Konohamaru darted away from the boy and hid behind Namiko. The boy rubbed his wrist. "Oh look, another little brat."

Sasuke stared him down from the tree. "Get lost."

The boy made a move for a large, wrapped object that had been strapped to his back when a sinister voice startled everyone. "Kankuro…don't."

Sasuke's head whipped around, seeing a boy with red hair hanging upside down on the branch next to him. 'He snuck up beside me and I didn't even have a clue. His stealth skills are on par with Kakashi.'

"You're a disgrace to our entire village," said the red-haired boy. "It annoys me that you'd lose control in a quarrel with children! Have you forgotten why we're here?"

Kankuro argued, "But Gaara…they started it. The little one slammed into me!"

Gaara growled back, "Shut up…or I'll kill you."

Namiko suddenly felt a rush of fear. 'This boy, Gaara, is swimming in dark chakra. I can feel it rolling off him and I don't even have my chakra sensing activated…' She pushed Konohamaru further behind her to protect him.

Kankuro held up his hands in surrender. "You're right, I was out of line. We're sorry, okay Gaara?"

Gaara leaped down from the tree. "Let's go."

As the three Suna ninja started to leave, Sasuke spoke up. "Wait, why are you here?"

The blonde girl answered. "We're here for the chuunin exams." The three Suna shinobi continued on their way.

"What was with them? They're freaky!" shouted Naruto.

Konohamaru poked his head out from behind Namiko. "They were scary! What was with that red-head boy?"

"I don't know, but I don't think it's good he's here," Namiko said, playing with her hair nervously.

The day after the run-in with the ninjas from Suna, both Team 7 and Team 8 had been summoned by their respective senseis and told they were recommended to take the chuunin exams. Naruto was beyond ecstatic about the exam, but Namiko had been hesitant to sign up. She and Hinata weren't exactly the strongest out there, but at least Hinata had her Gentle Fist technique. 'I'm mediocre at ninjutsu, but I do have my speed, plus I have been learning more taijutsu with Hinata-chan.'

The next day when they arrived to turn in their applications two chuunin guards stood in front of the doors to the room, however, Sasuke and Sakura both noticed a genjutsu around the room and the guards removed it shortly after. After the genjutsu had been dispelled, one of the chuunin guards attempted to attack Sasuke, but before actual physical contact could be made Rock Lee blocked them both. Lee then walked up to Sakura and asked her out…and she promptly turned him down as she was completely weirded out.

Team 7 decided to go ahead to turn in their applications while Team 8 stayed around to check out the others, and poor Rock Lee walked over to his teammates hanging his head in disappointment before heading in the same direction as Team 7. Namiko recognized one of Lee's teammates and whispered to Hinata, "Isn't that Neji-san?"

Hinata nodded and motioned for them to walk up to the third floor, seemingly not wanting to draw attention to herself. However, it didn't work and Neji noticed her anyway. "Hinata-sama…why are you here? Surely you don't intend to actually go through with this foolishness."

Kiba didn't give Hinata the chance to defend herself. "Why do you have to be such an ass?"

Namiko lightly smacked Kiba's arm. "Seriously? Don't start a fight and get us kicked out," she hissed.

"Namiko-chan is correct. You don't want to start a fight you most certainly couldn't finish," said Neji with a cocky tone.

'Now I'm starting to see why Hinata-chan treats him so cautiously. He's not kind at all, and he uses "sama" almost like it's poison.' Namiko watched them carefully, deciding to tug lightly on Kiba's jacket. "Kiba-kun, let's just go turn in our applications."

"Fine, but if I get the chance to be paired against you, Neji, you better watch out." Kiba glared and Akamaru growled.

Neji smirked. "I look forward to it."

Team 8 continued towards Room 301 where they were to turn in their applications. When they went through the door, they saw dozens of other genins waiting around at desks. Team 7 came through the entrance and joined Teams 8 and 10 near the front of the room.

Naruto was doing his usual trash-talking and causing a bit of noise when an older Leaf Shinobi with silver hair and glasses spoke up, "Would you guys do everyone a favor and shut up? You three teams must all be the rookie genin. You're all still babies; this isn't a school field trip, you know."

Sasuke stepped forward and sized up the older boy. "Who the heck are you?"

"The name's Kabuto. You guys need to look around you, everyone's on edge waiting to take the exam. I wanted to give you a heads-up before someone snaps and beats the crap out of you. I remember being in your shoes and thinking I knew everything…" Kabuto trailed off.

"So, you've failed this once before?" asked Naruto.

"More than once. This is my seventh time. I guess the least I can do for you guys is share the info on my shinobi cards." Kabuto held up a thick deck of cards that appeared to be blank. "When activated by my chakra, they show information that I've put on them, like the distribution of shinobi between the nations."

Sasuke was trying to play it cool, but he was highly interested in the information he could get. "Do you have information on individual shinobi?"

Namiko turned and walked away from the group, finding her assigned seat. Kabuto gave her a weird feeling, and she didn't trust him. Namiko looked up when heard her brother yell, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto and none of you are going to beat me!" She laid her head on the desk, trying to calm her nerves. She wished sometimes that she had her brother's brazen confidence. She heard a scuffle and then the sound of someone vomiting; it was Kabuto.

She saw three shinobi from the newly formed Otogakure had approached the rest of the rookies and Kabuto up front. One shinobi with a fur-like pelt on his back spoke up, "You're such a pushover aren't you? Pretty sad when you've been trying for four years now. Add this to your cards: the three applicants from Oto will all make chuunin this year!"

A loud poof accompanied by a cloud of smoke appeared in the front of the classroom. "Would everyone please shut up?" A loud voice boomed, "Sorry to have kept you waiting. My name is Morino Ibiki. I'm the protector and chief examiner for the first exam. You kids from Oto, if you do something like that again you'll be disqualified."

The same Oto shinobi from earlier replied cooly, "Sorry sir, it's our first exam and we got carried away."

"Then it's time I laid down the ground rules," started Ibiki, his whole presence exuding intimidation. "Anyone fighting without direct permission of the examining officer is forbidden. Anyone breaking this rule will be disqualified immediately. The first part of the exam is about to commence. Come to the front, turn in your applications, take one of these seating assignment cards, and report to the seat indicated. Once everyone is seated, we'll pass out the written part of the test."

"A PAPER TEST?!" screeched Naruto.

They went to their assigned seats where everyone was separated; no teammates were sitting together. Hinata blushed when she realized Naruto was sitting next to her. "L-Let's do our best!" she said quietly to him.

"Of course!" Naruto gave Hinata a big smile and thumbs up. Hinata's blush flooded her entire face and looked like she was about to pass out.

Namiko couldn't help but giggle to herself. She heard someone moving beside her and was surprised to find it was Sasuke. "Oh, hey Sasuke, good luck." She smiled at him gently.

Sasuke turned his head away. "Yeah, good luck to you too, Namiko."

Ibiki cleared his throat. "Okay, there are some major rules for this test. I will only say them once and I will not be answering any questions either…" Ibiki went on to explain the rules thoroughly. "…and if the proctors catch you cheating each member of your team loses two points. If any individual loses all ten points, the entire team is disqualified, regardless of how the other team members do."

Namiko saw Sasuke subtly freeze next to her, and leaned over to whisper to him, "Don't worry, Sasuke, Naruto may try to take shortcuts or goof off in real life, but I know him best, and he'll be too freaked out to even try and cheat."

Sasuke gave a curt nod and quietly replied, "I sure hope you're right."

Naruto started shifting in his seat and glanced back at Sakura who was sitting a couple of rows behind him. "Oh man, I can feel them from here. They want to kill me!" he half-whispered to himself.

Hinata's expression softened and was about to try and tell him not to worry when Ibiki's booming voice rang out. "You have one hour. Starting…NOW!" The rustle of papers and scratching of pencils filled the room.

Sakura stared at the back of Naruto's head. 'Come on, Naruto, hang on to at least one of your points!'

Naruto was trying to keep himself calm; written tests were not his strong suit. 'This is the real worst enemy…the trick is not to show any fear. Tests can smell fear. Remain calm and take it one question at a time. Find the easiest one, separate it from the herd, and take it down.'

'This is not good. Naruto is an idiot; I just hope he doesn't panic.' Sasuke glanced at Naruto and Sakura before going back to his test. 'Whoa, first up is cryptography. They want us to work our butts off.' Sasuke glanced through the rest of the test. 'Well, that's great…I don't know how to answer a single question.'

Sasuke watched the proctors around the edge of the room. They were fully focused on the genin, scratching notes frequently. 'They're watching us. Like cats watch mice…almost like they expect us to cheat…that's it! They're testing us to see our information-gathering skills! They want us to cheat…like shinobi. We're not being tested on if we know the answers but how stealthily we can discover them.' Sasuke looked out of the corner of his eye to see Namiko was writing steadily; she seemed to be able to answer fairly easily. 'Might as well get some practice in…Sharingan!'

Namiko smirked, face mostly hidden behind her long bangs. She knew Sasuke would probably try to cheat off her once he realized, like she had, that they were meant to cheat. Though it was honestly easier for her to just answer the questions outright instead of finding a way to cheat. She had felt his chakra flare and knew he was using his Sharingan. Normally she probably couldn't have been able to tell his change in chakra usage without her senses active, but sitting side by side, she could feel the change easily. 'That's fine. I don't mind Sasuke,' she thought as she continued writing.

Naruto was getting more and more nervous. 'I'm almost out of time! If I don't cheat, I'm dead anyway!' The sound of a kunai hitting a nearby desk stopped Naruto's racing thoughts. 'That was close, I was about to turn around.'

"What was that for?" asked the shinobi whose test had been split in two by the kunai.

A nearby chuunin proctor scoffed. "That's five strikes and ten points gone. You're out! Take your teammates with you out of the classroom. Now."

The shinobi's teammates stood too. "No way!" "Why'd you have to get caught? This sucks!" The three shinobi were escorted out of the classroom.

"Whew," sighed Naruto aloud. 'I almost cheated. That was too close. I'm not gonna risk cheating…not alone.' A hushed voice broke his train of thought.

"N-Naruto-kun?" started Hinata, inching her paper towards him discretely, voice barely audible. "You can look at my paper if you want…"

Naruto's eyes went wide. "Huh?"

"Naruto-kun, please look at my answers…"

Naruto went from staring at her to eyes boring into his paper. 'This is a trick. It's gotta be! But…why would Hinata trick me? That's not like her. I wonder if Namiko or Kiba put her up to it to throw me off. Nah, they wouldn't do that either…' He looked back up at her, blush staining her cheeks cherry red. "Why are you helping me?"

Hinata's whole face went red and Namiko was watching, praying that her teammate didn't pass out. 'This is the one time it might have been a bad time to put them near each other.'

Hinata took a deep breath and breathed out slowly, forcing her blush to recede. "I-I-I don't want you to leave so soon, Naruto-kun. I want you to do well and if your team succeeds too, then we can all work together."

"Oh okay, that makes sense. Sorry I doubted you," he said with a smile. 'Good thing Hinata was next to me. She makes this easy.' He froze as he saw the proctor next to him start writing. 'Nope, I can't do it…' "I'm sorry Hinata. A world-class ninja like me isn't the kind who cheats. Plus, I don't want to get you in trouble for helping me."

"N-Naruto-kun…" Hinata looked away from him. "Thank you for thinking of me…" 'I should've expected that from him. He's always thinking of others.'

"Of course, you're important!" Naruto said as quietly as he could with a grin, before realizing what he implied and blushing furiously and trying to backtrack. "I mean, you're important to my sister…and everyone. Ugh! I'm going to shut up now…"

Hinata stared at the blackboard, blushing so hard Namiko thought Hinata would pass out for sure. 'What on earth did Naruto say to get that sort of reaction from her?' Namiko had finished writing and just sat waiting for the tenth question. Sasuke was still copying from her and so she pushed her paper away from her to the front edge of the desk so he could see a bit better. She might as well help him out a bit since she had time to waste until the tenth question.

Several more minutes passed and Naruto was getting more antsy. 'My only hope is that last question!'

"Alright," said Ibiki loudly and several genin jumped in their seats at the auditory intrusion. "Here it comes. Get ready for the tenth question. And before we get to the question itself, I'm adding one more new rule. Let me explain: this rule is absolute. First, you must choose whether to accept or reject this tenth question."

'Accept or reject?' Sasuke studied Ibiki closely, trying to figure out what he was planning.

Someone stood suddenly and Namiko recognized her as the girl from Suna they met the other day. "Choose? What happens if someone doesn't accept the question?" The blonde girl was nervous.

Ibiki closed his eyes as he answered, "If you reject the question, you lose all your points immediately and fail, along with both your teammates." Several genin were shocked and obviously irritated, and Ibiki raised a hand to quiet the room and he continued his explanation. "This is because of the other rule: If you try to answer the question and get it wrong, you will never be allowed to apply for the Chuunin Exams again." The classroom erupted into chaos and almost everyone was talking at this point.

Kiba yelled out, "You can't be serious! There are ninja here who have sat through the Chuunin Exams more than once already! We know there are!"

Ibiki smirked. "You just have the rotten luck of having me making the rules this year. I've been upfront with you all. Take the failing grade now and try again later, or run the risk of getting the question wrong and never becoming a chuunin. Anyone who has doubts would be smart to reject the tenth question here and now. If you want to reject the question, raise your hand now."

The room was silent and the fear was palpable. Naruto's mind was racing. 'What to do? What to do?! What kind of question could it be? If I get it wrong, I'll be a genin for life…no way! But if I reject the question, Sasuke and Sakura both suffer too.'

'Oh Naruto, just reject the question. Sasuke and I will only lose time, and we can reapply next year.' Sakura's thoughts were concerned with what Naruto was going to do. 'You're different, it would be foolish to sacrifice yourself for us.'

Suddenly a hand shot up in the back of the classroom and an older Konoha genin stood. "I-I-I quit! I'm rejecting the question!" That sparked several other nervous genin to start raising their hands to reject the question.

Namiko leaned forward, watching the back of Naruto's head attentively. 'Come on, nii-chan…don't give up! You can do this!' She watched in horror as she saw Naruto's hand start to rise, and she felt Sasuke tense beside her.

Naruto slammed his hand down on the desk in front of him. "Never underestimate me! I don't quit and I won't run! I'll accept your stupid question. Even if I risk being a genin for the rest of my life, I'll still become Lord Hokage, even if I make it only by pure stubbornness! I don't care and I'm not afraid of you!" Namiko beamed at her older brother; she always admired his strong will and determination.

Sasuke relaxed in his chair and smirked. 'He never even gave us a thought, but he definitely had guts. And good thing, because the idiot needs them!'

Ibiki walked over directly in front of Naruto. "I'll ask one last time. This is a decision that could affect the rest of your life. Quit now while you still have the chance."

Naruto stared daggers at Ibiki. "I never go back on my word. Cussedness is part of my shinobi skill set!"

Ibiki scanned the classroom. 'Seventy-eight are still here. He's an entertaining kid. He dispelled everyone else's doubts along with his own. It's more than I expected but there's no point in delaying.' Ibiki crossed his arms behind his back. "Good call. So, everyone who is still here…you've just passed the first exam!"

Whispers and murmurs of confusion now filled the room. Sakura was flabbergasted. "Wait, what do you mean? When did that happen? What about the tenth question?"

Ibiki actually smiled. "That was the question! Whether to accept or reject a question and if you were brave enough to take the risk."

The girl from Suna stood up again, beyond pissed off. "Why did we have to suffer through the other nine questions? That was a total waste of our time!"

Namiko piped up. "It was to test our skills at spying, right?"

"Exactly!" Ibiki was full-on grinning now. "And you all did well!"

Sasuke leaned over towards Namiko and whispered under his breath. "It's like this guy has multiple personalities…"

"It's probably just to throw us off," Namiko whispered back.

"In other words, we set up the test so you had to cheat. We placed two chuunins with all the answers in the midst of you. Anyone who was spying clumsily would have failed in real life and so they failed here too. Because there may be circumstances where being caught in an act of espionage can cost you more than just your life. You pay in ways that can be taken from you little by little, time and time again when many lives hang in the balance." Ibiki removed his bandana.

'Burns, scars, punctures from screws, long slash marks…he's been tortured!' Sasuke paled slightly and he saw Namiko shift uncomfortably in her seat.

"If you can't keep your presence secret from the enemy, the information you obtain can't be trusted. Learn that and learn it well," Ibiki put his bandana back on. "Any information that you bring back from a compromised operation is doing your enemy's work for them and putting those you serve in danger.

"The tenth question helped you learn to make difficult decisions. We set up a no-win situation, often like the ones you'll encounter as a chuunin when you're sent on a dangerous mission.

"Imagine you are assigned to steal a vital enemy document…knowing nothing about the skills, deployment, or military preparedness of your foe. You may have to cross a territory that has been heavily mined and set with traps. Now, do you accept your mission? Or do you reject it rather than place your own life or the lives of your teammates in jeopardy? Could any chuunin get away with only taking on the safe jobs? Of course not!

"No matter how dangerous the risk, there will be missions that you cannot decline. A ninja must demonstrate valor that inspires those around him, helping all to overcome their fear, much like Naruto did for all of you today."

Naruto grinned proudly, blush staining his cheeks. "Aww, gee…"

"Don't let it go to your head, kid," said Ibiki. "You just gave a good example. You all still have a couple more tests ahead of you—"

Just then, a window in the classroom shattered and kunai lodged into the ceiling and floor with what looked like a flag of sorts attached to it, reading 'Newly arrived second chief examination officer, Mitarashi Anko'. A person came tumbling with it. A woman with spiky violet, almost black, hair and wearing a mesh shirt and shorts with an orange skirt and tan overcoat stood before them.

"None of you are in any position to celebrate," she started, arms moving about dramatically. "I am the second chief examination officer, Mitarashi Anko! Time's a-wastin', people. Let's go! Follow me!" The genin just stared at her, unaware of how exactly to act.

Ibiki cleared his throat. "You're here early, Anko…"

Anko looked around the room, turned, and lashed out at him, "Ibiki! You passed twenty-six teams?! You went way too easy on them."

Ibiki gave a half-smile. "This year we have applicants of exceptional caliber."

"No matter, I'll cut that down by at least half before the next test is done," said Anko, hands on her hips, staring down the genin in the room.

Namiko gave a small gasp, her voice barely above a whisper. "…at least half?"

"I think this just got a lot more interesting…" Sasuke said under his breath.

Anko was practically vibrating with excitement. "I get charged up just thinking about it. I'll explain things in detail as soon as we move to our next location…so everyone follow me!" The genin all stood up and followed her out of the room to their next test.

A/N: Well, we have the first of the exams! I know, it was pretty similar to the original scene, but I didn't want to change it too much. However, the next couple of chapters will be interesting and different as we enter the Forest of Death! See you soon!

-Eriisu