~*****~

The minutes seemed to drag on as I awaited for Ibiki to announce the last question. And from the looks of it, so were a lot of people. The subtle tick of the clock had me wanting to pull my hair out. "Now that we've weeded out most of the hopeless cases, fifteen minutes to go. Time for the main event!" Ibiki announced, making me look up in relief. 'Finally...' "Alright! Listen up! Here's the tenth and final question!" I clenched my fingers over my pencil, gritting my teeth. 'Here we go... it's all or nothing at this point...' I sigh out and pay close attention. "But, before I give the tenth question, there are some more rules that you need to be aware of." Ibiki states. Just as he does, the door opens and Kankuro steps in.

"Huh?" He hums.

"Ah... Made it just in time." Ibiki smirks. "I hope you found your trip to the bathroom enlightening." Ibiki chimes. I perk up, wondering if what I felt was right. "Well? Take your seat." Ibiki snaps. "These rules are unique to question ten. Listen carefully and try not to let them frighten you." Ibiki looks over his shoulder. 'Frighten me more than Gaara over here?' I question to myself. "Very well then, Rule Number One; Each of you is free to chose not to be given the final question. It's your decision." 'Huh?'

"Woah! So what's the catch!" I hear the blonde girl from the sand trio ask aloud. "Say we decide we don't wanna do it, what happens then?"

"If you chose not to take the tenth 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 team mates fail as well." Everyone started to murmur as to why anyone would do that. "Not so fast... You didn't let me finish." Ibiki stated. "If you do accept the question, but answer it incorrectly, you will not only fail...." We all sat at the edge of our seats. "You will be barred from ever taking the Chunin Exam again!" He declares loudly.

It feels as if a chill washes down my back. "Hey, that's bull man!" Kiba shouts "That's ridiculous! What kind of bogus rule is that?! There's lots of people here who've taken the test before!" Kiba snapped. Akamaru barked in response.

Ibiki just chuckled. "I guess you're just... Unlucky." He states. "I wasn't making the rules before, but I am now. Of course if you don't wanna take it, you don't have to." He repeats. "If you're not feeling confident enough, then by all means skip it, you can come back and try again next year." Ibiki smirks before laughing again. 'That's such bull shit! If one of us decides we don't take it, we can try again next year, but... if one of us screws up... we won't get that chance again....' I bite my lip, trying to hide my obvious anger. "Now then, the tenth and final question. Those who don't want to take it, raise your hand." Ibiki commanded. "Your number will be recorded and then you're free to go." A few people did decide to leave. One by one, teams got up to leave. It made my heart wrench at the thought. I stared at Naruto, waiting for him to raise his hand. I wouldn't hold it against him if he decided our futures were more important than some stupid question. I pursed my lips, debating if I would raise my hand for him. He would be too stubborn. I looked over at Sakura to see her start to raise her hand, but Naruto raised his. We all flinched at his shaking hand.... That is until he slammed it on his desk.

"Don't underestimate me!" Naruto suddenly shouts, standing up. I stare in awe. 'This kid, I swear. He's got more guts than anyone would give him credit for.' "I don't quit and and I don't run! You can act tough all you want! You guys aren't gonna scare me off! No way! I don't care if I do get stuck as a genin for the rest of my life! I'll still be Hokage someday!" He finishes, staring down at Ibiki with determination. He sat back down wit a huff, crossing his arms over his chest. 'Way to go, Naruto... You knuckle head...'

"This decision could change your life!" Ibiki starts. "If for any reason you would rather quit, now is your last chance." Ibiki urged.

"No way, I never go back on my word." Naruto retorts confidently. "That's the way of the Ninja." I smiled and straightened up, cracking my knuckles.

"Well then, I admire your determination. Nothing else." Ibiki comments. "For those of you remaining, there's only one thing left to do. And thats for me to tell you...." We all listen intently. "That you've all passed the first exam."

"WHAT!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE PASSED!? WHERE'S THE TENTH QUESTION?!" Sakura shouts.

Ibiki's face split into a child like grin. "There never was one! Not a written one at least! Actually, your decision to stay was the answer to the tenth question!"

"Wait a second," The girl from the sand trio shouts. "So the other nine questions you gave us were just a waste of time?! Is that what you're saying?!" She shouts angrily.

"Was it to see who could gather info without being seen?" I question, making everyone look at me in shock.

"Well... Yeah, actually." Ibiki states rather simply.

"Oh... Well, that explains everything." The blonde girl sighs.

"You see, my objective was to not only test you 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 know that everything you did or failed to do would directly affect your teammates. I wanted to see how you'd handle the pressure." Ibiki explained.

"Hm-hm... I figured it was something like that. That's why I kept my cool." Naruto lied. 'You rat, I saw you freaking out and even start crying!'

"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'd you'd have to cheat to have any chance of passing. Fact is, the test was designed to encourage cheating. It almost demanded it. Of course it would've done 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!" Ibiki explained.

"I knew it was something like that! You'd have to be a complete doofus not to notice! Right, Hinata!" Naruto cheers to the shy girl. I giggled at her, still loving that adorable sight of her interacting with her crush. 'You dunce Naruto, you were the only one who didn't cheat!'

"Better not to cheat, than to cheat clumsily." Ibiki stated, removing his head band. His entire head was covered with grotesque scars. "Information. It can be the most valuable weapon in battle. How well you gather intelligence can determine whether a missions a failure or a success." I shivered and rubbed my arm at the sight of his head. "There'll be times where you have to risk your life to get it."

"Man, what a mess...." I hear Sasuke murmur. "Scars and puncture wounds and burn marks.... What he must've endured..."

"Of course you must always consider the source of your information. Intelligence gathered from an enemy is not necessarily accurate. Always bare this in mind. Dis-Information 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 in order to survive. And that's why those who weren't good enough were weeded out. Leaving the rest of you."

"Okay... But I'm still getting what the tenth question is supposed to be about." The blonde girl asks again.

"You're not?" I chime again, turning to look at her. "It was the whole point of the exam. Anyone could see that." Everyone just stares at me awkwardly.

"Uh... Care to explain, Ren?" Sakura asks.

"He's not only testing on individual prowess, but as part of a squad. The final question gave us two choices." I state, holding up my fingers. "You could chose to play it safe, or you could try and answer it. Both of which would result in failure if anyone on the team didn't answer it correctly. One more severe than the other. That's the situation Chunin have to face daily. What if you had to steal a document from an enemy strong hold. You have no idea how many men they have, or how strong they are. And you have reason to believe the enemy expects you. You have two choices there as well. You can either skip the mission entirely, choosing to save yourselves instead of facing those odds head on." I hypothesize. "That's out of the question. There's going to be many missions that would seem almost suicidal when you think about it. But you don't. Because you think only of the goal and achieving it through courage and discipline."

"Those are the qualities of a Chunin squad leader." Ibiki finishes, smirking. "Those who choose the safe paths, those whose determination falters in the faces of adversity. Those who would put their comrades lives in jeopardy, but worrying about their own. Those who would save their own necks at the price of sacred honor, will never be able to call themselves Chunin! At least as long as I'm here." Ibiki gives a hard stare. "As for the rest of you, you have successfully answered the ten questions I put to you. You have earned the right to continue on to the next step. You have passed through the first gate. I hereby declare this part of the Chunin selection exam completed." Ibiki declares. "There's nothing left,but to wish you all good luck."

"All right!" Naruto cheers happily. "We did it! That's one down!" He dances in his seat as we all stare. Ibiki smirks just as the window shatters and a ball flies in. It unravels quickly with kunai piercing the ceiling and a woman stands in front of a giant banner. "I-Is this... part of the test?" Naruto yelps out.

"Heads up, boys and girls! This no time to be celebrating!" The woman says confidentially in front of the giant banner. "I'll be your next proctor! Anko Mitarashi! Ready for the second test? Good! Then lets go! Follow me!" We all just stare at her as she holds her fist up.

Ibiki steps out from the side, glaring at her. "You're early.... again." Ibiki comments.

Anko's face turns bright red as she realizes she is indeed early. 'Great... another screaming nutcase like Naruto....' "How many are there? Ibiki. You let all these guys pass?" Anko asks angrily. "Your test was too easy! You must be getting soft."

"Or it could be, a stronger crop of candidates this year." Ibiki quips back.

"Hm... They sure don't look it." Anko states. "Trust me, before I'm done with them, more than half will be eliminated."

"Huh? More than half?" Sakura asks in shock. "Really?"

"Hmph... This is gonna be fun." Anko smirks. "Alright, you maggots have had it easy so far! But! Things are gonna be different first thing in the morning! I'll let your squad leaders know where to meet me. You're dismissed."

~*****~

Later that night, I sat in my house, gazing out the window in wonder. 'I wonder what the next test is going to hold.... Kakashi won't even tell me anything except for the location....' I raise an eyebrow as I see Shikamaru appear in the road in front of me. "Shikamaru?" I question aloud, opening the window. "Hey! What're you doing out here?" I ask loudly, staring down at the lazy ninja.

He rubbed the back of his head. "Eh... I couldn't sleep."

I snorted and started laughing. "That's something I'll never hear from your mouth." I retort.

"Ehhh Shut up..." He groans. "Wanna come walk with me." He asks casually. I grin back and close the window and run down the stairs. Kakashi doesn't even lift his head as I leave the house.

"Are you going to reward me for giving you my company with some ramen?" I question, smirking when he flushes again.

"I swear, you're just as bad as Naruto when it comes to ramen." He groans, looking up at the dark sky.

"At least I don't eat seven bowls in three seconds." He starts to chuckle before we both start laughing. We get to Ichiraku and take a seat at the bar, ordering our ramen and leaning against the bar.

"Ah, Ren! You're out late. You two finally decide to start dating?" Old Man Teuchi asks. I snort a little.

"As if. Shikamaru doesn't like me like that, Old Man!" I giggle, grinning as he set down my Miso Ramen. I look over as Shikamaru just stares into his bowl with a red face. "Hm? Something wrong?"

He flinched a little. "Ah, n-nothing's wrong. Man, this looks good!" He starts to eat, ignoring the stare I'm giving him. I shrug a little and start to eat. "A-Actually...." Shikamaru starts, setting down his chop sticks. Teuchi hums gently and leaves into the kitchen. I hum in confusion and look over at Shikamaru. His face resembles a tomato by now and I found it really cute. "I was.... I guess I wanna say..... Ah, man... Do you gotta look at me like that?" He stutters as I keep staring.

"Like what?" I cock my head and his eyebrow starts twitching. He looked really upset or something.

"Just.... I didn't say... I didn't like you...." He grumbles out, steam billowing out of his head.

"I like you too, Shikamaru! I mean, that's why were friends, right?" I ask, smiling brightly. "Jeez, I didn't mean to sound like you hated me or something!" He just stares at me when something clicks in his head.

"You really are dense, aren't you?" Shikamaru asks, his cheeks returning back to normal.

"Dense about what?" He just chuckles and pats my head, smiling at me.

"Nothing, nothing. Eat up, I'm not paying for Takoyaki this time."

"Whaa?" I complain. "You're so not fair! Inviting me out to eat and not buying me my favorite?!"

"Actually, you invited yourself, remember?" We start to laugh and continue eating. Luckily enough, he did end up buying my Takoyaki. But what did he mean by liking me? Eh, I'll ask Kakashi when I get home.

The house was still lit up by the time I got back, and Kakashi sat in the same place, reading his book. "Kakashi?"

"Hm?" He looks up at me, raising an eyebrow.

"I have a question. And no it's not about the second exam."

Kakashi smiles underneath his mask and pats the seat besides him. "What is it?"

"Shikamaru just bought me dinner and the Old Man asked if we were dating, but see, Shikamaru said he wanted to marry a girl that wasn't too pretty or too ugly. Just some normal looking girl. And since Sakura seems to think I'm going to be a mega hottie when I get older, I knew Shikamaru wasn't interested in me. But today, when I said he didn't like me like that, he got a red and started to panic." I explain, crossing my legs. "I don't get why everyone calls me dense. He was just upset I said he didn't like me. Like I thought he didn't think we were friends."

Kakashi fell off of the couch, twitching. He reared up over me, glaring. "You're so dense, it hurts, Ren!" He exclaimed, hitting me with a rolled up newspaper. "He wasn't talking about that kind of like!"

"There's another kind?!" I yelp, flinching as he raises the newspaper again. He sighed out and went to look for something.

"I know I'm going to regret this..." He holds out the one book I wanted to destroy. "Read this. And do not tell anyone you are."

"I am not reading this garbage, isn't just-"

"Just do it. You'll understand what your friend was talking about." Kakashi simply said, going up to bed.

'Really?' I grunt in confusion and open the book to the first page. 'Okay... Chapter One....'

~*****~

The next morning, we all stood outside a big looking forest. "Woah, nice place... What is it?" Naruto asks aloud.

The rusted gate had signs all over it. 'NO TRESPASSING'. And chains were wrapped everywhere.

"This is the location for the second phase of the exam. It's the forty-fourth training zone." She hummed. "But we call it.... The Forest of Death."

"The Forest of.... Death?" Naruto hums in confusion.