As one of the elite Chuunin overseeing the exam, Hagane Kotetsu took pride on his ability to discover any cheating attempts that the brats had attempted.

So far, they had eliminated the trashes who couldn't even cheat properly. The ones left behind were people who either hadn't run out of points yet, or had enough skills that the examiners were willing to let them off.

Surprisingly, there were five people who hadn't tried to cheat even once. One was the pink-haired girl at the back, a girl in white hooded jacket at the front, a dog... err, an Inuzuka boy with his dog, and two Suna kids.

About the two Suna kids...

The black-clothed boy was making weird gestures while convulsing, while the purple-dressed girl was burying her head in her arms, looking as if the world had ended.

Kotetsu exchanged worried glances with his trustworthy partner, fellow Chuunin Kamizuki Izumo.

"That... is that some kind of secret message codes taught in Sunagakure? Is he trying to communicate with the other two?"

Izumo squinted his eyes at the boy.

His right arm was raised to the air, while his left arm was laid parallel to the table's surface. His head was laid on the latter, trembling in rapid speed.

Eh, wait, was that bubbles coming out of his mouth? Was he frothing?

"...I... I think no..."

If that was some kind of secret message protocol, they can keep it for their own. Izumo wanted nothing to do with it!

Somehow, just watching those two and the dog managed to tire them out. In the blink of an eye, forty-five minutes had passed.

"Ibiki-san, it's about time now..."

"Oh."

Ibiki threw his tea cup out of the window, and then stood up.

"We will now start the tenth question."

The surviving participants looked up from their paper. The mysterious tenth question... for those who hadn't been able to answer any of the questions, this would be their last gamble.

By the way, Kankuro had stopped convulsing. He was leaning leisurely on his seat, staring at Ibiki in a relaxed manner. Too relaxed, actually. He looked like a monk who had shed off his worldly burdens.

'Actually, who cares if I fail or not. I already got a job with steady income anyway~'

Meanwhile, Gaara was eyeing him with a complicated glare while Temari was cursing him in her mind.

'Uuu Kankuro you idiot! Idiot!"

"Now, before we get to it..." Ibiki said with a menacing grin. "I'd like to go over some added rules for this question."

The last question was different from the rest. Participants had to choose whether they wanted to take the question or not. In case that they refused to, their points would immediately be reduced to zero, resulting in elimination for their team.

As for those who chose to take the question... if they dared to answer incorrectly, they would lose the right to attend the Chuunin exam ever again.

In other words: they would become an eternal Genin, forever barred from advancing in ranks.

"What kind of stupid rules is that? There are guys here who have taken the exam before!" Kiba shouted. While the others didn't say it in the open like him, their sentiment was more or less the same.

"Heheh..."

Ibiki didn't get angry at him. He just gave them a mocking laughter.

"You guys are unlucky... you just had to take the exam when I am in charge."

"!"

The content of the exam would be decided by the proctors. That way, the content of the exam would change every time to prevent participants from preparing early. Even so, said content would still have to be approved firsthand before it could be implemented.

If the other examiners didn't say anything about it, that means Ibiki's words were backed by the Hokage himself. He wasn't messing around with them.

The atmosphere suddenly turned heavy. Just like Ibiki had wanted.

...Except for that black-clothed Suna kid. Somehow, the mention of not being able to take the exam anymore made him grin like an idiot.

Err... boy, are you okay in the head over there? Do you need our medical-nin to check on you? No, wait, maybe calling Inoichi would be better-

Ah, damnit, his thoughts trailed off. Dangerous, dangerous!

"Ahem. Don't look so down. As a generous person, I'm willing to give you a way out. Those that aren't confident and choose to back off right now will be allowed to try again next year."

Not the next Chuunin exam, but the next year. That was the compromise.

"Those who doesn't want to take it, raise your hand. After your number is confirmed, leave."

With the pressure escalating every passing seconds, more and more participants decided to quit instead of risking it out.

Soon, only twenty-six teams were left.

"Hoh?"

A trembling hand was raised into the air. It belonged to a yellow-haired boy wearing orange and blue jacket.

Izumo checked his note.

"Uzumaki Naruto... he was almost caught cheating before, but was smart enough to bail at the last second. I guess this is it for him-"

His expectation, however, was quickly proven wrong.

Instead of giving up, that hand was slammed into the table instead, the loud thud echoing throughout the silent hall.

"Don't underestimate me! I won't run away! I'll take it! I'll definitely take it! Even if I become a Genin forever, I'll still find a way to become a Hokage, so I don't care! I'm not afraid!"

Ibiki sent the boy a chilling glare, but was met with burning flames within that little daredevil's eyes.

"I'll ask you one last time. Your life rides in this decision. Are you sure about this?"

"Heh," Naruto grinned. "I'm not going to take back my words... that's my nindo!"

Those words, filled with determination, had lifted everyone's spirit. Their eyes were finally clear of any hesitation.

"Feh. That Naruto, what a showoff... right, Akamaru?" Kiba murmured.

Woof~

That might be so, but that kind of reckless spirit... Daji didn't hate it at all. He even reminded her of that rascal Tianyou in his youth.

She could only hope that the boy wouldn't go down that path...

Ibiki's gaze swept over the participants. Seventy-eight left... more than they had expected. He would had liked to whittle it down a bit more, but it didn't seem to be possible anymore. When he saw the examiners nodding at him with a smile on their face, he knew that it was finally over.

"Good determination. Now, to everyone still remaining in this hall..."

The participants gulped.

"I congratulate you on passing the first test!"

Eh?!

Everyone was dumbstruck.

"W-what about the tenth question?" the pink-haired girl asked.

"There's no such thing," Ibiki grinned. "Or you can say that those two choices are the tenth question itself."

Enjoying those shocked expression on the brats' face, he proceeded to explain the true nature of the test, how the questions were designed to test their information gathering skill, and how the last question was a psychological trap to see which of them would be able to make a decision under pressure.

"No matter the danger, there are missions that you have to do at all cost. The ability to be courageous and survive any hardship... this is the ability to become a Chuunin."

That was what the 'tenth question' measure!

"You have made it through the first test. From now on, the exam will only get harder. I wish you guys luck."

"Hell yeah!" Naruto yelled.

"Hell no!" Kankuro followed right after him.

...Eh?

Ibiki cranked his neck slowly toward the black-clothed boy.

"What... what is it?"

"We're still going to have more exams? Noooo! I don't want anymore exam!"

Veins began to pop on Ibiki's forehead. He was trying his hardest not to scream at the boy.

"If you don't want to... why didn't you quit just now...?"

"I... I thought, if I fail the tenth question, I'll be free from this exam for my entire life!"

Pop. Pop. Crack.

Something in Ibiki's mental world snapped as his glare turned bloodthirsty.

'Aah... I want to punch the kid so bad, but I still want to keep my job... what to do...'

Right before he threw all caution to the wind and rushed over to skin the kid alive, a shadow crashed through the window.

Two kunai were shot onto the ceiling, spreading out a black banner with the words 'Chuunin exam's second test proctor, Mitarashi Anko, is here!' written on it.

"Alright, you brats! Don't celebrate too early!"

In front of the banner stood a young woman wearing a tan overcoat with mesh armor underneath.

"I'm the proctor for the second test, Mitarashi Anko! Now, come with me!"

Her loud, sudden speech had stunned the entire room. While it was precisely the effect that she had wanted, the kids actually looked a bit too dazed for her taste, as if they really, really weren't expecting it to happen.

...Wait...

"You're... too early... just as usual..." A disappointed Ibiki peeked out from behind the banner.

"..."

The woman blushed.

God-effing-damn-it! Not again!

Distraction, need distraction... ah, got it.

"Seventy-eight? Ibiki, you let twenty-six teams pass? Are you kidding me? The test is too easy this time!"

She decided to complain about it instead. Anything to hide her previous mistake!

"This time, there's a lot of outstanding ones," Ibiki played along.

"Bah, that's fine. I'll at least cut them in half later."

Cut in half? Everyone was shocked by her statement.

"You'll see later. For now, just shut up and follow me to the second test!"

---

With Anko herding the kids away to the second stage, the forty-fourth training ground 'the Forest of Death', Ibiki was finally left alone in the classroom. The rest of the Chuunin examiners had left with her as well.

As the one who had made the test, Ibiki liked to see how the surviving participants had fared during the first nine questions. Most of them managed to get at least seven out of nine correct. Some outstanding ones like Hyuuga Neji and Uchiha Sasuke managed to get all nine perfectly the same as the answers from the planted examiners.

"As expected of the prodigies from their clan..." he murmured.

One paper suddenly caught his attention. It was entirely blank.

"Uzumaki... Naruto..."

If he remember correctly, it was that loudmouth from earlier. The one who had messed up the atmosphere he had set for the last question.

For the first time ever, he had passed a participant who had handed a blank answer.

"Heheh..."

Interesting. Truly interesting!

It seemed that he could expect great things from this kid.

He collected the rest of the paper in a jovial mood, until another paper broke him.

Temari from Sunagakure. A few desperate scribbles here and there but they were all wrong.

Also,

Kankuro from Sunagakure. Completely blank.

"..."

He was the one who had wrecked his brain to make those questions. And here, here were three idiots who didn't even try to look for the answers for the entire forty-five minutes...

"Kuh... kuheheheh..."

He crumpled the blank papers until they turned into a ball.

"Am I a joke to you?!?!"

It was said that the Torture and Interrogation captain's painful howl could be heard throughout the entire Konoha that day...

---

"Err..."

A knock on the door snapped Ibiki out of his stupor. The crumpled papers slipped off his hands.

"What is it?!"

The man standing on the doorway glanced into the classroom. He frowned upon seeing that it was already empty.

"The test is over?"

"You don't say," Ibiki shrugged.

He scrutinized the man. From the symbol of his happuri-style forehead protector as well as his attire, consisting of the standard Konoha flak jacket and navy-blue set of clothes, he surmised that the man was one of their own people.

Ibiki's posture relaxed slightly. Still, he didn't appreciate being disturbed like that.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

The man stepped forward, revealing three kids behind him, a boy and two girls.

Err... that one with pale skin and black hair was a girl, right? Somehow, Ibiki couldn't really tell.

"These kids are going to the second stage. I've gotten a special permission from the Hokage. I thought I just want to let you know as the first test's proctor."

What?

"You kidding me?" Ibiki raised an eyebrow. A special permission to skip the first test? He'd never seen it in his entire career!

"You can ask Lord Third directly if you want. Anyway, I'll be taking them now. Oh, also, how many teams are going to be there? Seven?"

"Twenty-six," Ibiki curtly replied.

"...Is the first test that easy?"

"Screw off."

The man shrugged before leading the kids away.

"Hey, wait!" Ibiki shouted.

"Yes?"

"Your name," he scowled. "I could tell that you're a high-ranked ninja, maybe a Jonin, but I haven't seen your face around here. That means only two things. Either you're new, or you were part of-"

The man put a finger on his own lips. And then, he gave the burly guy a faint smile.

"Yamato. You can call me with that name."