Child of the Moon

Under Pressure

"Alright now, rule number one," Scars said.

Aki groaned, dropping her chin into her hand. "It's gonna be a whole list again, ya know!"

"Each of you is free to choose not to be given the final question," Ibiki explained. "It's your decision."

Aki frowned. "What's the trick?"

"What's the catch? Let's say we don't want to do it, what happens then?"

The chick with the four braids from the Sand village was the one to voice Aki's question.

Aki dubbed her... Quad Braid.

"If you choose not to take the tenth question, regardless of your answers to the other nine..." Ibiki answered. "You'll get a zero."

"Which mean the whole team fails by default," Aki surmised.

"Exactly," Scars smirked.

There was a lot of mumbling and muttering all around, as people declared it totally nuts to purposely choose to fail, but Aki got the impression there was more to it than that.

"Why hype it up as some kind of scary tough question, therefore making people consider leaving it, then go and tell em they'll fail if they choose to leave it, thereby making them want to stay? What's your game, Scars?"

Aki frowned, tapping her pencil impatiently.

"Not so fast," Scars said ominously. "I'm not finished."

Aki leaned forward, bouncing her knees with irritation. "Oh come on, quit being dramatic and get it done already!"

"If you do the question and fail, you will not only fail but..." he paused before yelling forcefully. "You will be barred from taking the Chunin Exams ever again!"

"Damn, chill out dude," Aki thought, even as she felt the beginnings of a cold sweat forming on the back of her neck. "Way too intense. Whatever, Aiyanna's got this, so we've all got this."

"Hey, that's bull, man!" Aki blinked as Kiba stood up and yelled furiously at Scars. "What kind of bogus rule is that?! There are lots of people here who've taken the test before!"

"He ain't wrong... Glasses has tried seven times now..." Aki sighed.

Scars just started laughing. "I guess you're just... unlucky."

"I'm getting vibes here," Aki said, frowning deeper. "Like that time that Tsukiko-sensei was gonna eat the last dango, but some bird stole it at the last second. Scary stuff."

"I wasn't making the rules before," Scars continued. "But I am now. Of course, if you don't want to take it, you don't have to."

"Again with the back and forth decision thing," Aki groaned again.

"If you're not feeling confident, then, by all means, skip it," Scars said, as Kiba backed down with a confused expression. "You can always come back next year and try again."

He laughed again, which only irritated Aki, who resumed tapping her feet. However, once he had composed himself, it was straight back to his dead-serious expression.

"Game on," Aki gritted her teeth. "I'm gonna stick it to ya, jerkwad!"

"Now then, if you're ready," Scars said. "The tenth 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."

There was a moment of silence, before a guy near Naruto put his hand up, and declared that he was out.

"Wuss," Aki chuckled to herself. "This guy's been playing mind games from the get-go. I'll bet my life that this is another trick, to see who's gonna wuss out, and who's got what it takes to make it to the end."

After the first guy, several started calling out that they were out too. Aki signaled to Aiyanna to let Nanami know that they were gonna stick it out and to hang tight. Nanami gave a quick nod, once the message was received, and Aki lay her head on her arms, a huge grin on her face. Scars was looking right at her, so she pulled a face at him, but otherwise, didn't budge.

Aki spotted movement, over by Naruto again, and saw that this time it was him with his hand in the air.

"Dude, what??"