Puppeteer

Mental torture

Team 7 had barely even taken a seat when a cloud of smoke suddenly filled the front of the room, billowing around the few genin who'd dared approach where the proctors would sit. "Quiet down you punks!" The cloud slowly dispersed into the air to reveal those hidden within it. A large group, no more than 50 ninjas, stood in front of the prospective chuunins. The man in front of them all was by far the most intimidating of the group, despite the other's various injuries and scars. The leader's face was littered with scars, some cutting from his brow to the bottom of his lip, the other coming from beneath his eye down to his cheek, if not, further. His head was covered by his Hitai-ate, but it was clear enough he had no hair. Despite that fact, judging from the state of his face, one could safely assume his scalp was hairless due to many more scars in which he kept hidden.

The ninjas all wore matching uniforms. Whether this was to make them a lot more intimidating, or it was because they all worked in the same sector, Sakura remained unsure. But it certainly made this entire situation a lot more daunting, and that was for Sakura, she could only imagine how her teammates felt. The KI the group leaked was no laughing matter either. Of course, it didn't hold a candle to Zabuza's. But this felt more like it wasn't all of it like this was just a warning feeling rather than something that was actually the real thing. The leader finally spoke up, his voice easily recognisable as the one which had spoken through the smoke, "Sorry to keep you waiting. I am the examiner of the 1st test of the Chuunin selection exam, Ibiki Morino. You three from the Hidden sound village, don't think you can do anything you want before the exam. Do you want us to fail you already?"

"I'm sorry, I was excited since this is my first exam."

"This is a good chance to say this, you are not allowed to fight each other during the exams unless given permission by the examiners. Even if permission is given, you are not allowed to kill each other. Pigs who go against me will fail immediately. Understood?£

"This exam seems so soft and easy.

"We will now face the first exam of the chuunin selection exam. Turn in your applications, take one of these number tags and sit where the number tells you to. Then we will pass out the papers for the written exam."

"Written...paper...paper... A written test?!" Sakura turned to her stuttering teammates. Whilst Kiba was a little more confident than Naruto, neither of them could be described as being particularly book-smart, per se. Sakura let out a sigh, this was going to be a long exam...

After some 'comforting' if it could even be called that, team 7 approached the man with their applications, Sakura approaching the man, confidence obvious in the way she held herself. Whilst the majority of the other teams hunched over and timidly cover forms before skittering over to the more friendly chuunin, Sakura took this moment to make an impact. Collecting the forms from her teammates, she leads the two more fearful boys towards Ibiki. It wasn't that she didn't find the man daunting, nor that she felt no fear. That would be a foolish thing to do in the world in which they lived. No, rather she'd been raised by missing-nin and no man, despite how intimidating he could be, could dent her confidence. After all, if she'd learnt anything at the Akatsuki base, it was that everyone had a weakness, no matter how much they tried to hide it. Like Itachi and Sasuke, no matter how cold Itachi was in the base, his fraternal love towards his younger brother was very apparent should you just observe.

Ibiki watched as the pink-haired female approached him, she was recognisable enough to make up for the rest of her team's normality in the ninja world. This was definitely team 7, Kakashi's squad. They were certainly young, he may even be tempted to say too young and so much too inexperienced to attend something like the exams. But there was something in the way she walked, the aura she gave off that made him think twice. Whilst she may seem confident, relaxed even, it was obvious she was still tense and alert. A habit her teacher, Kakashi Hatake had. Smirking to himself, he collected their forms before watching them stride off to one of his chuunin to receive numbers. Their selection, however, was quite different to the rest, choosing their chuunin, not because of their placid appearance, but because the queue was shortest. It was almost laughable really. Either way, team 7 found themselves settling into their designated seats, much like the rest of the genin in the room.

"This first exam has a few important rules. I will not accept any questions, so listen carefully. The first rule is, you are all given 10 points from the start. The written exam consists of 10 questions, and each is worth 1 point. This test is a deduction based test. If you get one problem wrong,  you will get one point deducted. If you get three problems wrong, your points will be reduced to 7. The second rule, the pass-fail decision will be based on your team's total points. There is a reason for this. Now that you know, let's move on to the next rule. If an examiner determines that you have created or do something similar during the test, each action will cause you 2 points. In other words, there will be people who will be forced to leave this place without their tests being graded. Those who try to cheat without thinking carefully will only hurt themselves"

"We'll check you at any time." one of the chuunin at the side said clearly and with a hint of hostility hidden within his tone. His subtle threat unnerving the room of testees as eyes turned to seek out comfort from their scattered teammates. "You are all trying to become chuunins. If you are a ninja, act like a first-rate one. Also, if anyone on the team gets a zero, everyone on that team will fail. The last problem will be given 45 minutes after the test begins. You have one hour for the exam... Begin!"