Naruto, the 4th member of Team 7

The Chuunin Exams Part 2

I realized that this test wasn't actually just a normal paper test, they made it sound like cheating is forbidden when actually if you're going to cheat, make sure you don't get caught.

So they're testing our information gathering skills huh?

I looked down at my paper, I had answered a few questions but otherwise, many still remained blank. To be honest, I think only Sakura would be able to answer all of these.

Shit... I hope Naruto figures this out fast... But I had to think about myself too, I still have quite a few blank ones, which means, I'm going to have to be sneaky and cheat. If only I had the Sharingan or Byakugan, it'll make my life so much more easier right now. What can I do with the 5 elements? I can't possibly make some guy's paper float with wind without getting caught.

There were already a few teams who got asked to leave so I can't be reckless. Think, Akiko, think, what are you able to do in this situation?

I'm gonna be honest, I'm pretty sure I got caught with using this idea but it was the best one that I could think of with my skills. I decided to focus my chakra on my saliva before making myself sneeze, once the droplets are expelled into the air, they freeze, becoming tiny mirrors. I tried to focus my chakra on the existing water in the air to enlarge those tiny mirrors, but I'm not really good at it yet so it wasn't super big but I'll take whatever I've got.

I didn't even realize 45 minutes had passed until Ibiki announced to the class, "Okay. We will now start the 10th question."

But of course, this man just loves to surprise us with his rules. "Before we get to it, I'm going to go over the added rules for this question."

Huh? Added rules? Just how many are there? What's he gonna say now??

The sound of a door opening broke the silence, Ibiki smirked to himself once he saw who entered the room. "Heh.. nice timing. I hope you found your bathroom trip with your puppet enlightening." I turned around to see the Sunagakure ninja who was dressed in black from before.

"Just sit down." He had a shocked look on his face but stayed quiet as he walked back to his seat.

"Now then," Ibiki started again "These rules are only for the 10th question. Listen carefully and try not to let it scare you. Rule number 1, you must decide if you wish to be given the final question."

I bit on my nail, thinking over his words. Why would we choose to not take this question? The blonde-haired girl from Sunagakure asked the question that everyone was thinking, "What's the catch? What happens if we choose not to?"

"If you choose not to take the 10th question, regardless of your answers to the previous 9 questions, you'll get a zero. In other words, you fail! Along with your 2 teammates."

"HUH?! WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?" "THEN OF COURSE WE DECIDE TO TAKE THE QUESTION!" Panicked shouts and whispers started to fill the room, everybody was starting to get on edge.

"I wasn't finished yet. If you choose to take it but answer incorrectly, not only will you fail, you will be barred from taking the Chuunin exams ever again!"

I dropped the pencil that I was holding, WHAT KIND OF NONSENSE IS THIS?! CAN HE DO THAT? BAR US FROM TAKING THE EXAMS FOREVER JUST BECAUSE WE GOT IT WRONG? WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS IT?!

"Hey that's bullshit! What kind of stupid rule is that?" Kiba stood up from his seat and pointed a finger at Ibiki accusingly, "There's lots of people here who've taken the test before."

He's right, I looked towards Kabuto who was next to me and whispered softly. "Kabuto-san, was it like this the last time you took the exams?"

"No, he wasn't our examiner in my past attempts." he answered me softly without looking away from Ibiki.