"All right! It's been 45 minutes... It's time for the tenth question," Ibiki said. I blinked, slowly adjusting myself back to test-taking mode. I'll admit it, I was sure as hell not over the whole thing with Gaara. What did I really need to be protected from? And what the heck did I even have inside of me?
Sigh... That eye-thing of mine causes way too many issues, even if it is awesome. And now, my situation got even worse. Because... Ibiki was gonna start talking. AGAIN. Holy lord... Don't these people ever get tired? Creepy ninja world with people who never run out of things to say... Sigh.
"But before we get to the tenth question... I have another rule." Oh, great. MORE rules. MORE things that I won't pay attention to and end up screwing me over later on. PERFECT! What was he gonna say now, huh!? That if we don't produce a unicorn and ride it, our whole team fails!?
Ah... The things I think as I'm mad... Ahem.
"This rule... Is absolute." How the heck can I understand him when he uses big words like absolute!? UGH! "First... You must choose whether to accept or reject the tenth question!"
"Okay, look, you're a pretty cool-looking dude and all... But you really need to quit making these impossible rules. Do you have any idea how many times you've made my eye-twitch in only 45 minutes? It's saddening," I muttered, sighing and putting my chin in my hands.
He brushed me off, but Temari asked, "What happens if we reject the question!?" Oh, right... That thought slipped my mind.
"If you reject the question, you'll lose all your points and fail right along with your team," Ibiki explained.
"Then why would we reject it!?"
"Because... Of the other rule," He said.
I sighed. "I rest my case... This is just lovely."
"If you decided to accept the question and get it wrong... You'll never be permitted to take the Chunin Exams ever again, staying at your current level for the rest of your lives!"
I facepalmed. This was just AWESOME. What if I get it wrong? There's no answer for it on that other dude's... Oh, well. I'll take it. I mean, yes, I have a lot to lose, but... I'm sure I'll be able to answer it. But Naruto... Oh, Naruto.
"But you can't do that! There are people here who've taken this exam more than once!" Kiba argued. Good point, but Ibiki wouldn't stand for it.
"Then it's just your rotten luck. I wasn't making the rules last year, but I am now. Anyone who has doubts should reject the question and come back and apply next year," Ibiki rebuttled easily. Evil, talkative, exam proctor... "Those who wish to reject the question should raise their hands. Once we've got their number confirmed, they'll leave the room." A few people raised their hands, but I didn't pay any attention. I just stared at Naruto, who was a few rows in front of me.
He wasn't raising his hand... Not like I expected him to. Still... He wanted to be Hokage, right? It was his dream... And I really don't want it taken away from him like that because of some stupid question that half of us here won't be able to answer. I knew he was probably thinking about Jerk-Face, Sakura, and I. About bringing us down because of his lack of guts. But that didn't matter to me. I'd rather take the exam over than see his dream vanish. Because I truly believe that Naruto will make an excellent Hokage one day, the best there's ever been. And he deserves it.
I wondered what would happen if I raised my hand, but... Naruto's hand was already up? DAMN! Just because I thought all of that... It didn't mean that he had to go through with it!
"Never underestimate me! I won't run, and I won't quit! I'll answer the question, whatever it may be! Even if it means I'll stay a genin for the rest of my life... I'll still become Hokage, even if it's only by pure stubborness! I'm not afraid of you or your question!" He announced, slamming his hand down on the desk.
I grinned. "That's my boy..." Gaara sent me a look, but I was too happy and proud to do anything about it.
"One last chance. Quit now, while you still can. This is your life's decision, here," Ibiki said, deadly serious.
"I never go back on my word... It's my shinobi way!" Naruto said, staring him down. His outburst seemed to have given the others in the room the confidence they needed, since no one made a move to raise their hands.
"Heh... Good call... Everyone still here... You've all just passed the first exam!" Ibiki bellowed.
Funny. It sounded like he said we had passed the first exam...
SAY WHAT!?
"All 78 of you still here... You've all passed the first exam," Ibiki said.
"What!? What about the tenth question!?" Sakura asked. Of course she'd ask something like that. Couldn't she just stick with the simple side of things and be happy that we passed?
"The tenth question... Is the whole accept or reject thing. There was no original tenth question," He explained.
"Then why did we go through the other 9 questions if they were pointless!?" Temari asked.
"They weren't pointless. The other questions were designed to test your skills... At spying! We wanted you to cheat like ninja and not get caught!" He grinned. Ew... He's smiling now!? That's just... Wrong. "Remember the beginning rules?" No, I really don't... But I played along anyway. "Passing or failing as a team? Due to that rule, you were afraid of doing anything rash, for fear of taking down your comrades with you."
"Oh... You know, that's what I kinda figured out it was," Naruto said. I rolled my eyes. Uh-huh. Sure.
"However... The questions were beyond the skill level of any of you here, so... Most of you figured out that in order to pass, you need to cheat without getting caught. We even provided you with two chunin who had already taken the exam and knew all the answers," Ibiki continued, gesturing to two boys. One of them had been the one I had cheated off of, which was pretty awesome for me.
"Of course, anyone who cheated obviously failed right away..." He said, pulling off his headband to reveal various holes and slashes in his head. "When on an infiltration mission to gather information, nothing you say can be trusted if you can't keep your presence a secret from the enemy. The test was designed to utilize your spying skills... And to decide who was hopeless from the start." He pulled on his headband once more.
Good. Because after seeing livers and scars of toture, I was becoming rather squeamish.
"Okay... But what's the deal with the tenth question?" Temari inquired. What was the deal with EVERYONE AND THEIR MOTHER in this exam room asking questions?
"Ah... The tenth question... It was the first real test on the exam. You were given two options, both dangerous and having different consequences. However, if you all successfully become Chunin, you'll face decisions even more difficult than that! No Chunin can get away with only taking the safe jobs. There will be instances when you are forced to endager the lives of not only yourself, but of your comrades.
"However... There are some missions that you simply cannot decline. A ninja ready to become a Chunin must have a certain charisma that inspires those around him or her and helps erase all fear and doubt. They must be able to gamble with their own fate... Without knowing what might happen tomorrow. However, those who never take risk out of fear of an uncertain tomorrow... Are just weaklings who don't belong in the rank of Chunin.
"By accepting the question... You've all proved to me that you do have that cerain charismatic trait. Keep it up, and you'll be able to get through any challenges you might face. The first part of the Chunin Exams are now concluded. I hope you all fight the good fight! Good luck!' Ibiki finished, grinning at us.
Before we could do anything, though, something came crashing into the classroom. I blinked as I saw some woman standing in front of a black screen. "None of you get to celebrate. I am Anko Mitarashi, the second protctor of the Chunin Exams! Let's get going!" She bellowed.
No one moved. We all just stared at her, our eyes twitching. Why is it that we keep encountering all the freaks? Seriously... Too much energy is bad. And I know that since I hang out with Naruto, I'm supposed to be used to it...
But I'm not. I only tolerate Naruto, and that's because he's my best friend. But this proctor... Urgh.
~*~
Do you know where we were going for our second exam? No, it's not a nice place. It's the Forest of Death. Sounds fun, huh?
No, we couldn't go to the Forest of Gumdrops or the Forest of Happiness and Easy Exams... We had to go to the Forest of Death.
Suddenly, I was starting to understand why that thing inside of me said I needed protection. Just looking at the Forest of Death gave me the creeps, and we weren't even taking the exam yet.
"Okay, this is the Forest of Death, and you'll soon realize why it's called that!" Anko announced, smirking at us. Creepily blood-thirsty proctor... Ugh.
Naruto mimicked her, making me smirk, but she pulled out a kunai and threw it in his direction. It cut his cheek and a strand of some dude's hair... Who just happened to look exactly like the leader of KISS. Or Michael Jackson's offspring... Odd.
Anko then started licking Naruto's wound, which scared the fudge out of me. No, wait, that wasn't what scared the fudge out of me. What scared the fudge out of me was when the leader of KISS look-alike decided to hand her her kunai knife back... With his tongue. It was like.... HUGE! Tongues aren't supposed to be that long!
"I believe that you dropped your kunai knife," The guy... Or girl... Or guy... I'll just go with offspring of MJ, kay? MJ's offspring said.
"Gee... Thanks," Anko said, taking her kunai back. The MJ offspring just stared at her. "Don't just stand behind me radiating bloodlust... Unless you want you die."
"Heh... I'll try to reign it in... But the sight of blood just makes me crazy... And I was already rewed up by losing a strand of my precious hair," He/She replied.
As soon as Anko and that creepy dude got away from us, I pulled Naruto to my side. I touched his wound gently, and a bright light followed. I had stopped the bleeding, and now, it was just a mere pink little scar.
"Okay, first, you all need to fill these out. They're just papers saying that I'm not responsible for any injuries or deaths or things like that... You wouldn't want me to get in trouble, would you?" Anko asked meekly, handing out forms.
"But first... I'll explain the second part of the exam. You'll go with your team into that little hut over there and receive a scroll with either the heaven or earth character written on it. It's a survival exam, a dangerous one at that. Your objective is to gather both a heaven and an earth scroll. The scroll you must find depends on the scroll that you're given. Then, you must bring them both to the tower located in the center of the forest and open them. Simple, right?" She explained, smiling.
Something told me that it wasn't that simple.
"However, there a rules. You have exactly five days to reach the tower with both your scrolls. Under any circumstances, you are not allowed to open the scrolls until you reach the tower. If you disobey this rule... Well, that's for those who disobey to find out. You're allowed any ninja tools you have.
"The survival part of the test ties in while you're in the forest. You'll be surrounded by nature's bounty, the perfect source for food and water... But there will also be deadly animals, insects, and poisonus plants, in addition to the human enemies you'll face.
"Now, teams will be disqualified if they fail to reach the tower in time with their scrolls. Oh! And they also have to have all the members of their team in it, or they fail. Any team that loses a member, no matter what the cause, is disqualified. And you cannot leave the grounds until the test is over... No matter what.
"One last thing... Stay alive!" She finished, and then went into the little hut once one of the ninja there called her.
I sighed, sitting on the floor and staring at the consent form in my hands as the scroll distribution began. Five days in that forest, surrounded by all of these ninja and other terrible things, would be hell. Not to mention Sasuke's still not speaking to me. Therefore, we're at a disadvantage.
If I wanted to pass the test, I'd have to... aplogize... to Sasuke. But how could I? I hadn't done anything wrong! He was just being a Jerk-Face. I don't even know what he was so angry about!
Oh... The things I do for my team... Groaning, I litterally dragged myself over to Sasuke, who was sitting on the floor and staring at his consent form. He didn't even look up at me, and I know he saw me come over to him.
"Uh... Jerk-Face? I mean... Sasuke?" I said, trying my best to be nice. The whole Jerk-Face thing... It sorta slipped. Sorta. He just kept staring angrily at his paper. "Sasuke... I'm trying to talk to you. Nicely. Don't ignore me."
He looked up many moments later. "What?" He hissed. Well, that's rude.
"Look, I'm... I'm... I am feeling rather..." Oh, I couldn't do this. "Okay! I'm..." I gritted my teeth. "Sorry. Even though I don't know what I did... I'm... Sorry. I know you want to pass this exam as much as I do... So, I figured that you'd be willing to do anything... Including working with me peacefully."
He didn't stay anything for a long time. However, that didn't mean that he wasn't looking at me, because he was. And his eyes were hypnotizing me again, just like they had in the Land of Waves. Oh, damn.
I averted my gaze, sitting next to him so I wouldn't be staring into his beautiful onyx eyes. Woah, beautiful? Okay, that's where this mental conversation ends. "So... Am I forgiven for whatever I did?"
"It's... Fine. You're... right. We can't do anything if we're fighting. So... It doesn't matter. We won't fight anymore," He said after a long time.
"We won't fight... No matter what. Throughout the entire Forest of Death. Pinky promise?" I said, holding up my pinky.
He rolled his eyes, but he couldn't stop the smirk on his face. "Pinky... promise." And he locked pinkies with mine.
"Woohoo! Now... We should get going," I said, standing up and offering him my hand. I helped him up, and we went and got our scroll, which ended up being a heaven one.
We chose our gate, and, officially, we began the second part of the Chunin Exams.