Secrets

Chunin Exams: The First Phase

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

"Sorry." One of the sand ninjas said, "It's our first time. Guess we're a little jumpy... sir."

Ibiki smirks, "I'll say this once, so listen up. There will be no combat between candidates. No attacking someone 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?" 

"Hmph. No fatal force?" A sound ninja asked snottily, "That's no fun."

"Now, if we're ready we'll proceed to the first stage of the chunin exams." Ibiki states, "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."

"The what? Did he say... 'written'?" Naruto said sweating.

"Gah! Not written. Nope. Not happening." I said starting to walk away when Sakura grabbed the collar of my shirt.

"Ryuu! You'll be fine, don't be a little baby." She taunted.

"Baby?" I asked with a tick mark, "Alright baldie, I'm gonna pass your stupid written test just you wait!" I shouted pointing at him.

He smirked at me knowing my real identity, "Let's go."

Timeskip:

I completely zoned out during the direction and started writing an encoded message that looked like a bunch of random words scribbled together. I was gonna warn the Hokage about the Kabuto guy through Ibiki. 

After I wrote the message I decided to take a nap, though I was ready to wake up at the slightest threatening movement. I could sense Ino's chakra within Sakura, so she must be using her mind transfer Jutsu. I  could also sense Shino's bugs flying around then coming together to form letters. Sasuke was using his Sharingan to copy the movement of someone in front of him. Gaara seemed to be using his sand to see the answers of someone in front of him. And Naruto, well Naruto was just freaking out. 

I zoned back in, pretending to wake up when I heard a bunch of people groaning at the 10th question. Either they could take the question, but also have the risk of never being able to take the test again if they get it wrong. Or they could leave and try again next time the chunin exams come around.

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

Ibiki chuckled, "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."

"Now then, those of you who don't want to take the 10th and final question, raise your hand. Your number will be recorded and then you're free to go." Ibiki said.

People started leaving left and right, making me smirk. Welp, it's my team's decision. I don't really care. 

I saw Naruto shakily raise his hand. I smirked knowing that there was no way Naruto would give up.

Naruto suddenly slammed his hand onto the table shouting, "Don't underestimate me! I don't quit and I don't run! You can act tough all you want. You 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. I'll still be Hokage someday!" He sat down and crossed his arms.

"Hmph," I grunted, sticking my tongue out at Ibiki when he looked at me.

"This decision is one that could change your life," Ibiki continued. "If for any reason you would rather quit, do it now." 

"No way I never go back on my word. That's the way of the ninja." Naruto said determinedly.

Looks like the others are becoming just as determined as him. Great job Naruto. You gave the others some backbone. I chuckled quietly.

"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." Ibiki said.

Everyone gasped in shock or just stared at Ibiki with confused expressions, all amusing me.

"Hold on! What just happened? What do you mean we passed? Where's the 10th question?" Sakura asked.

"Isn't it obvious, he said we passed. It was probably some trick question." I said taking a stick of Dango out of nowhere and nibbling on it. 

"Yeah, but I mean how?" Sakura asked.

I sighed.

Ibiki still answered though, "There never was one. Not a written one at least. Actually, your decision to stay was the answer to the 10th question.

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

"No, no, not at all." Ibiki answered, "Quite the opposite. The first nine questions had an important purpose--to test your ability to  secretly gather information."

"Oh, well that clears up everything." The sand girl said sarcastically.

"Let me explain." Ibiki started, "My objective was to not only test you individually but as a team. That's why the test was scored on a team basis, so you'd know that everything you did and didn't do would affect your teammates. I wanted to see how you would handle the pressure."

"Yeah, I figured it was something like that, that's why I kept my cool." Naruto nodded his head.

"Wow! Could have fooled me. I thought you were gonna pee yourself." I said innocently.

"Gah. I was just, uh, tricking everyone." Naruto said.

"The first nine questions on the test were too difficult for any genin to be expected to know. Most of you probably came to the conclusion that in order to pass, you'd need to cheat. In fact, this test was designed to encourage you guys to cheat. Of course, that wouldn't have mattered unless you had someone to cheat from. So we disguised a few chunin as genins to answer the questions."

Naruto said something stupid again, but this time I didn't listen. I could sense someone coming towards the window at a fast pace.

I was brought out of my musings by hearing the window break. I looked up to see-

OH NO!!!!! ANYONE BUT HER!!!.