Yo everybody! I'm back! And my wild muse has finally settled down! So fans of this story, rejoice!

Once again, I'd like to thank my beta Ahamiri who despite laptop problems managed to do an excellent job in betaing my work .

Chapter Four: The First Test

The battle between Sasuke and Rock Lee had been fast and completely one-sided. Even with the Sharingan, Sasuke hadn't been able to overcome the speed, agility and power of Lee. But just as the green clad boy was about to finish the Uchiha off when a man intervened, breaking up the fight at once.

As it turned out, he was Lee's sensei and near-identical duplicate as well as the self-proclaimed archrival of Kakashi, Might Guy. Though as strange as it was to see a grown man in orange legwarmers and green jumpsuit with his hair in bowl cut and eyebrows that were even bigger than Lee's, it was nothing compared to his proclamations of the power of youth and his over the top embrace of his student after punching for trying to use a forbidden technique in the fight. Fortunately, the pair didn't stick around for long after that, allowing the genin to continue onto the third floor where a surprise awaited them.

"Glad to see you came after all Sakura," Kakashi said, standing in front of the doors to Room 301. "This way you all qualify to apply for the Chūnin Exams

"Wait, but you said that it was up to each of us to decide whether or not to apply," a confused Sakura replied.

"I said what I needed to make sure that your teammates didn't pressure you into coming. Even if you had no interest in coming, one word from Sasuke and you would have come. And while you would have through the motions and everything, you're heart wouldn't have be in it," the jonin explained.

"But what would you have done if I didn't show up?" the lone girl of Team Seven asked as she shot glances at her teammates. "Would you have let them continue on?"

Kakashi shook his head in response. "No, I wouldn't have let them compete. All four of you are a team. And your success in the first stages of the Exam will be determined not as individually but as a team. It would have been wrong to have three of you participate in the Exam when the fourth wasn't ready for it."

The fabric of the jonin's mask stretched a bit, hinting at a smile on his face. "But you're all here because you choose to be and I'm proud of you all. Now get in there."

With that, Kakashi stepped aside to allow his genin team to pass by. Together the four genin pushed open the doors and stepped into the room, ready for whatever the Chūnin Exam could throw at them.

Unbeknownst to anyone within the Leaf Village, three men had gathered in the shadows, united by a single goal. "Why have you called us here now?" the first demanded in equal measure of annoyance and concern.

"Why indeed?" the second calmly added. "Are you afraid that we will not carry through on our ends? Or is it something else?"

The third man chuckled. "Not at all," he replied. "I'm merely making sure that you are both fully aware of your responsibilities. After all, it would be unfortunate if something were to happen to spoil our plans, especially after all that you have invested into this joint operation."

"We will be ready!" the first snapped. "He will be ready! (The name seems a little weird to me for suspense reasons stated above, but more of an optional change.) Everything will go as planned on our end."

The second individual glanced at the first then turned back to his other conspirator. "Do not presume to intimidate me, snake. Yes, I have invested my fair share of resources and time into this venture, and if we are successful my status among my peers will rise. But if we fail, my losses will be nothing compared to what you will lose. I promise you both that."

"Heh heh heh… Never show weakness to anyone, friend and foe alike. For who knows who could become an enemy," the third man recited. "That is what I love about the people from your Village; they unwaveringly embrace what they truly are. But I did not come here to intimidate you. With the final weeks counting down, I merely wish for us to remain in contact to make sure that nothing unforeseen happens. After all, none of us wish to see our plans fail at this late stage."

Team Seven could only stare at the sight before them, at the dozens and dozens of genin waiting to take the Exams. "Wow… That's a lot of people," Kenshi commented as the doors closed behind them. "Are they all taking the Exam?"

"It looks like it," Sakura answered, nervously eyeing up their competition.

But before anyone could respond, a purple and yellow blur jumped Sasuke. "Sasuke! Where have you been cutie?" Ino Yamanaka shouted as she hugged the Uchiha. "It's so good to see you again after all this time!"

Sasuke, on the other hand did not feel the same way, and it showed. Nor was he the only one. "Ino-Pig!" Sakura yelled at the blond. "Get your hooves off Sasuke!"

"Oh… Hello to you too Sakura," Ino dismissively replied. "I see you're still waiting for the big forehead to come in fashion."

"What did you say?" the pink haired genin screamed as her rival continued to taunt her.

"Ugh. Can you keep it down," a voice called out.

The five shinobi glanced over at the voice. It was Shikamaru Nara, also of Team Ten. And at his side, eating a bag of potato chips was the third genin of the team, Choji Akimichi. As they arrived, Sasuke managed to free himself from the iron grip of Ino as the two girls continued to taunt and make faces at each other.

The Nara shook his head at the antics of the girls and let out a sigh. "I knew this was going to be a drag."

"Oh I don't know about that," Kenshi replied. "Crazy yes, a little scary sure, but a drag? Nah."

"Scary? Ha! You're not gonna last long here," a loud, cocky voice proclaimed. "Guys that are afraid like you will get booted out first."

It was Kiba Inuzuka along with his teammates Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuga, the other three genin of their graduating class. "At least I don't need a little puppy to fight my battles for me," Kenshi shot back.

Kiba moved in front of Kenshi, standing only a few inches from him. "You want a piece of me punk!" he snarled, his dog Akumaru adding an angry bark from atop his head. "And don't think that your fancy little can opener scares me!"

Kenshi's hand shot up for his sword the second those words left the other boy's mouth. As he started to draw his weapon Kiba instantly flinched, jumping back a step from him. "Who's afraid now?" Kenshi shot back, chuckling as he released his sword.

Needless to say, both genin and dog looked ready to tear him apart for that.

"Calm down Kiba," Shino quietly said, placing a hand on his hot-headed comrade's shoulder to pull him back. "The Exam has not even started yet."

But the Inuzuka growled at the Mitsurugi whose hand was still hovering over his sword. The two genin had always disliked each other, all the way back to their days as students. There really was no reason why; they just rubbed each other the wrong way.

"Why don't you do us all a favor and keep it down," a silver haired Leaf genin said as he approached the group of rookies. "People here are already on edge as is without you loud kids."

The rookie genin teams all turned to the new arrival. He was a rather unremarkable, bespectacled teen. The teen was clearly a few years older than them. His Leaf forehead protector held up some of his hair while a loose ponytail took care of the rest. The genin's attire consisted of a dark purple sleeveless shirt over a white T-shirt with matching purple pants and some white cloth wrapped around his midsection like a belt.

With a sigh, the older nin shook his head dismissively at them. "Look at you all. You're nothing but a bunch of wet-behind-the-ears rookies, fresh from the Academy," he commented.

"Hey! Who the heck do you think you are?" an annoyed Ino snapped.

"My name is Kabuto. And you kids need to open up your eyes here. This isn't some school test you're taking," the genin replied. "Everyone's on edge here, waiting to take the exam. All it can take is one loudmouth and one short fuse for a fight to break out. If you're smart, you'll keep quiet and listen to what I have to say."

With that, the rookies took a moment to look around at their competition. All around them older nin both local and foreign were eyeing them up, their expressions less than pleasing to the rookies and more than a few looked ready for a fight. "But of course, like all rookies you think you know everything already. I remember what that was like," the teen added.

"Then this is your second exam, right?" Sakura asked.

Kabuto shook his head. "Nope, it's my seventh."

She blinked. "Seventh?"

"Yep," the older nin said with a nod. "Two exams a year for the past four years now."

This piped the interest of many of the rookie genin. "Then you must know what to expect for the Exam," Kenshi said, voicing what they were all thinking.

"Yes, I've acquired some valuable information over the years and since I'm feeling sorry for you lot, I'm going to share some of it with you," Kabuto replied, reaching into his hip pouch.

He pulled out a deck of cards, drawing the first card and setting it on the ground. "These are shinobi skill cards. For those of you who have no idea what they are, these cards contain information on the skills we use, transformed into symbols and burned into the cards with chakra," Kabuto explained, his finger on the blank card. "However, the cards will remain blank until the one who created them uses their chakra to access the data. Like so."

Kabuto pumped a small amount of his chakra into card and to the amazement on for the rookies, lines of ink appeared, spreading across the card and weaving together into a map of the Shinobi Nations. Once the map had fully formed, writing appeared on six of the countries, including their own. "As the card says, there are a grand total of one hundred fifth-seven genin taking this exam; eighty-eight from our own village, thirty from the Sand Village, twenty-one from Rain, six from both Grass and Waterfall, and three from Sound."

"Wait. That doesn't add up," Sakura pointed out as she studied the card's numbers. "You're missing three."

"Well… I'll get to those three in a moment," the teen answered. "First, I want to show you the individual dossier cards." He held up the remaining cards of his deck. "I have here cards encoded with the information of the various genin participating in the Chūnin Exam. So does anyone want to look up their competition?"

Sasuke was the first to speak up. "What do you have on Rock Lee and Gaara of the Sand?"

"Oh? You know their names? I was hoping for a challenge," a disappointed Kabuto said as he searched through his deck.

Kabuto pulled out two cards, throwing them on the ground. "First up, Rock Lee," he continued. "He has had twenty D-ranked missions and eleven C-ranked with his teammates Neji Hyuga and Tenten. Lee was in last year's graduating class, however he was that class's dead last. At that time, his stats were absolutely pathetic but in the year since his taijutsu skills have risen exponentially though everything else is still not even worth mentioning."

Everyone then turned their attention to the second card, Gaara's card. "Now keep in mind that I have less info on the foreign ninja than I do our own," Kabuto said. "As you can see, I have nothing on Gaara's stats at the moment. But I can confirm that he's been on eight C-ranked and one B-ranked mission, which is surprising for a young genin. However, there's something even more surprising about him. He's completed every mission without a single scratch."

"Without a scratch?" Kenshi echoed, glancing over at the red haired nin at the far end of the room. "That… that just seems impossible."

"I'm just telling you what I've managed to learn about him," Kabuto replied. "There's some rather stiff competition is year."

"It's not fair," Ino complained, her eyes locked on Sakura. "You're in a four-man team and you have Sasuke."

The older genin chuckled at her words. "I wouldn't consider them lucky by any means," he said. "The Exam I was in last year had two four-man teams and in all the team sections they were handicapped throughout most stages of the Exam. In fact, one of those teams didn't even make it into the final individual part of the Exam. All an extra man got them was double the work of everyone else."

"What kind of handicaps?" Sakura asked, a nervous edge to her voice.

Kabuto just smirked back at her. "That would ruin the surprise." He then pulled out three more cards. "Speaking of surprises, take a look at this."

He threw the cards down allowing them all to look at them. But these cards had barely any info on them compared to the first two. The photos were just black squares with question marks while the stats charts were blank. About the only data on the cards were the missions; zero D-ranked, eighteen C-ranked and one B-ranked, and of course their names, Kagyaku, Joukei and Ikkatsu.

"Huh? What is this?" Naruto asked, confused by the cards.

"See those three over there in the corner," Kabuto said, pointing over his shoulder. "Those are the three genin that I was referring to earlier."

The trio of nin were standing in the corner, away from all the others in the room. They were all covered in black hooded cloaks, concealing their faces. One was kneeling on the floor, prostrating himself in prayer, the second stood motionlessly with his arms across his chest while the third seemed to twitch and move constantly as though barely able to contain their energy.

"They're the only team competing from Yamigakura, the Village Hidden in Darkness. And frankly, they are the one team that I want to stay as far away from as I can," Kabuto added.

Many of the rookies paled upon hearing the name of the village but not all of them. "Yamigakura? Never heard of it," Naruto commented.

Kabuto adjusted his glasses. "Really? I didn't think that there was any child that didn't hear the stories of Yami nin taking away naughty children at night so they can devour their souls."

"Them?" a surprised Naruto said as he glanced at the trio. "They don't look so scary. They're just a bunch of guys in robes."

"I thought that same thing at the beginning of my first Chūnin Exam. Then I witnessed them in action." Kabuto paused and shuttered. "Take my advice, if you see them then run away as fast as you can the other way."

"Hey! You three in the robes!" Naruto suddenly shouted at the Yami nin, surprising everyone. "I'm not afraid of you guys!"

For a moment that seemed more like an eternity, not a single word was uttered in the room as everyone stared at the blond. No one could believe that anyone would shout at another team like an idiot.

Suddenly, the third genin took off racing for Naruto. The blond threw up his arms to protect himself but as the attacking genin neared, Kabuto dove in front of him. The Yami genin flipped backwards, driving their feet into the silver haired teen's chin. Kabuto flew back, slamming into the Naruto and knocking him down too. The foreign nin drew a kunai knife as they stood over the two.

"That's enough maggots!" a voice called out just moments before an explosion of smoke separated them. The smoke cleared, revealing a dozen Leaf nin. At the head of the group was a tall, scarred man clad in a black leather trenchcoat. "I'm Ibiki Morino, the proctor and chief examiner of the first part of the Chūnin Exams," the man barked. "From this moment on, any further fighting between team during this section will result in an automatic disqualification for both teams."

The Yami genin let out a low hiss but relented and started walking back to where the rest of the Yami nin stood. Kabuto and Naruto got back up to their feet with some help from their fellow Leaf genin. "Thanks," Naruto said to the older genin once he was standing up again.

"Just be careful," Kabuto warned as he placed his glasses back on his face. "You don't want those guys after you in this Exam."

"Now, turn in your application forms," Ibiki said, his voice ending any further conversation between. "Once you hand them in, you will be given a seat number. Report immediately to your seat and once you're all sitting at your seats, we'll hand out the written part of the test."

At those words, Naruto instantly forgot what had happened moments before and started panicking about the idea of taking a paper test; one of the few things that he was absolutely hated.

Five minutes later, all of the genin were seated among the rows of tables within the class, separated from their teammates with an upside-down test lying before them.

The chūnin that had accompanied Ibiki were now all sitting down on chairs along one of the walls, watching the younger genin intently. It was unnerving for many of them. Those that had never taken the Chūnin Exam before could only wonder what this test was going to be about and how tough it could be, while for those who had taken the Chūnin Exam before were nervous about how about much harder and more brutal it would be than a normal examination.

The jonin tapped a piece of chalk on the blackboard, drawing their attention. "Listen up maggots because I'm not going to repeat myself," Ibiki said. "I have a few rules to explain before we begin this test. I will write them down, but I'm not answering any questions."

Ibiki turned to the blackboard, writing as he began to explain the test. "Rule number one, for this test you all start off with ten points. This test has ten questions. Get a question wrong, you lose a point. You get them all right; you get a score of ten. For example, if you answer three questions incorrectly, your score becomes seven."

"Rule number two," the man continued, not bothering to pause. "This test will be done as a team. We will combine the scores of each team member's test to determine which teams pass and fail. For those teams with more than three members, we will be using the three lowest scores."

Sasuke scowled at the jonin's words. Kakashi had warned them that they would be handicapped in the first parts of the exams, but he hadn't expected that it was going to be this bad. He wasn't all that worried about Sakura or Kenshi; they would likely do alright with this test. But the same could not be said for Naruto. He was an idiot, plain and simple. This was the worst kind of test for him and since he was their teammate, his weakness had become their weakness as well.

"Rule number three, my assistants and I will be watching you all quite closely. If any of us get a hint that you are cheating, you will lose two points. If you get caught five times, both you and your team will be disqualified." A smirk spread across Ibiki's scarred face. "If you aspire to become chūnin, if you want to be the best shinobi you can be then you'd better start acting like you already are."

A bead of sweat slid down from beneath Naruto's headband. The best bet he had was to cheat. However if he was caught it would cost not just him but his whole team. Naruto could feel the eyes of his teammates' boring into the back of his head. How he did on this test would affect Team Seven as a whole. For their sake, Naruto knew he could not fail.

Ibiki set his chalk down and stared at the genin sitting before him. "You have one hour, starting… now!"

The Jinsei Iroiro Lounge, one of the more respected establishments in Konoha due in no small part to its favored patrons. Only the drunkest of fools would dare cause trouble in the favorite bar of the Leaf shinobi, both active and retired. Yet despite it's popularity, it was a rather nondescript two story building with only a large sign displaying only its name above the entrance.

At the moment it was seeing far more business than it normally did as many foreign jonin whose students were participating in the Chūnin Exams were relaxing within its walls. Most were keeping to them themselves or with other shinobi from their various Villages, waiting to see how their genin faired.

"With our students taking the exams, we've got nothing but time on our hands," Kakashi commented, letting out a bored sigh.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much," Asuma Sarutobi, the jonin of Team Ten replied, a cigarette hanging in his mouth. "I wouldn't be too surprised if we become busy again pretty soon."

"Hmm? Why do you say that?" Kakashi asked.

Asuma breathed out a puff of smoke. "Word is the first chief examiner is Ibiki Morino."

Dread filled Kakashi. Of all the people to be an examiner in this year's Chūnin Exam, Ibiki was one of the absolute worst. "That sadist? Isn't he a little much for them?"

Kurenai Yūhi, the jonin of Team Eight raised an eyebrow at his words. "Sadist?"

Asuma glanced at the female ninja. "Kurenai, you're still new to the ranks of the jonin so you're not familiar with him. But Ibiki Morino is a pro…"

"A pro at what?" a curious Kurenai inquired.

"Torture and interrogation," a voice answered.

The three jonin turned to the source of the voice. Shuzaya limped into the lounge, approaching the trio. "Ibiki Morino is the Head of the Black Ops Torture and Interrogation Unit," she continued, sitting down on the couch next to them. "And he happens to be one of the best we've had in quite some time."

Kurenai paled in shock and horror. "They've sent someone like that against them?"

Shuzaya nodded. "And that loudmouth Anko is in charge of the second part." The former jonin chuckled. "Here I thought my first Chūnin Exam had been tough. You're students will be lucky to make it to Anko and the second part."

"Worried about your kid?" Asuma asked, taking another drag of his cigarette.

At that moment, a nail file sliced through the cigarette before embedding itself in the far wall, surprising both him and Kurenai while Kakashi remained as impassive as ever. "I can't stand that filthy habit of yours," the retired jonin commented as he. "And no, I'm not worried about Kenshi. Ibiki is a master at what he does. The worst he'll do is scare the hell out of them, he's some amateur that could accidentally screw up a kid's mind."

With an annoyed sigh, Asuma threw what remained of his cigarette in an ashtray before nodding in agreement. "Yeah. Ibiki understands the human mind completely. That's what makes him so dangerous. He knows how to figure out your weaknesses and then uses it to make you crack."

Sasuke's eyes rapidly scanned the questions before him, studying each one before moving onto the next. By the time he reached the bottom of the page only one thing was clear. He couldn't answer a single question on this test. Despite his intelligence, all nine questions were utterly beyond him. He couldn't hope to answer these questions if he had the entire day to work on them.

And then there was the unusual tenth question. It didn't make sense. Why bother holding back question for the final fifteen minutes? It would be easier to just have a tenth question written down. Could there be something else going on here beyond just the test?

Could he afford to spend time thinking about this instead of attempting to answer the questions?

For Sakura, the test they have given was difficult but not impossible...

...And yet she was afraid. Not for herself, but for Naruto. Sakura was certain that Sasuke would be able to past this test; he was after all the Rookie of the Year. She was also confident that Kenshi would fair alright too.

But Naruto… well Naruto was an idiot, plain and simple. There was no way he could answer any of these questions much less pass the test. But worse, even should she receive a perfect score it would probably be excluded from their combined score while Naruto's abysmal score would be counted towards their score.

'Our only chance is for both Sasuke and me to get perfect scores,' Sakura thought as she nervously nibbled onto her pencil's eraser. 'At least then we'll have ten points. Hopefully Kenshi will do well too, giving us a chance at moving on.'

Kenshi scratched the back of his head, barely holding back a frustrated groan. He had managed to crack the cipher that was the first question or at least he hoped he had but the rest of first nine questions might as well have been written in gibberish. Sure there was the strange tenth question but that wouldn't matter if he couldn't get some of these questions answered.

'Well… I guess I have no other option then,' he thought. 'I'm gonna have to use it if we're going to stand a chance at passing here. Of course, if they catch me we could be screwed.'

The brown haired shinobi leaned back in his seat, his left hand rubbing his right shoulder. His right hand hung limply at side. The image of a black spider slid down along his skin from underneath the wrist of his sleeve, reaching his fingertips before falling to the floor as a glob of ink. But instead of the glob hitting the ground the arachnid landed in its place.

Without a sound the spider took off for one of the other genin, seeking out their answers. And all Kenshi could do now is wait and pray that none of the proctors would catch him cheating.

But as bad as the others were faring, Naruto was on the verge of screaming. He hated written tests with a passion and he had the grades to prove it.

And now those same grades had come back to haunt him. Every question was impossible. Cold dread filled him as he arrived at the simple truth; there was no way he could pass this test. And if he couldn't pass this test his whole team would fail and get kicked out of the Exams.

It was ten minutes into the test when a kunai knife flew dangerously close to Naruto's head, striking the paper of a Leaf genin behind him. "That's five strikes and you're out," a proctor announced. "Take you teammates and go."

But they weren't the only ones, in the coming minutes more teams were disqualified for being caught cheating one too many times.

While Naruto had been unwilling to risk cheating, others were more than ready to take the risk. Whether it was confidence in ability to avoid detection or desperation to make it to the next part, many of the applicants were using any means necessary to answer the questions correctly. Neji Hyuga of Team Guy was using his Byakugan to see the answers of others while his teammates were using several small mirrors attached to the fixture of a burnt out ceiling light to achieve the same thing. Akumaru who was still on Kiba's head, was spying on those around the boy and passing on the answers to his partner. Similarly, Shino was using one of his beetles to learn what other genin were writing. Even Sasuke was using his Sharingan to cheat, copying the movements of a teen in front of him to get his answers.

A smirk spread across Ino's face as her consciousness returned to her body. She had just returned from possessing Choji's body and providing him with the answers she had stolen earlier from Sakura. Just as she expected, Billboard Brow had all the solutions in that oversized head of hers. And with the Yamanaka Clan's Mind Transfer Jutsu at her disposal, she could take those answers like plucking fruit from a tree.

The blond paused when she realized that there was something on her right shoulder. Glancing down at it, she froze. It was a spider and not a tiny one either but a decent size one. Ino let out a loud shriek before frantically brushing it off.

No sooner was the spider gone than the sound of someone clearing their throat sent a chill down her spine. "Is something the matter?" Ibiki asked, his calm voice sounding more intimidating than anything else she had ever heard before.

"J-just…just a spider," Ino stuttered.

"Spiders are the least of your worries right now," the jonin replied, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "I suggest you return to your test before I decide to boot you and your entire team for this interruption."

"Yes sir," the girl said, vigorously shaking her head.

'That was close,' Kenshi thought, trying desperately to hide his nervousness while he waited for his spider to return. 'If she had tried to squash it I would have been screwed.'

He would not have to wait long as Ino was only two rows in front of him. In a few minutes he felt the spider touch his toes before it transformed back into its original state, crawling up his skin. Kenshi placed his left hand on his temple, rubbing his forehead. As he did, the spider crawled up to his palm and once it came to sit there, the tattoo transformed into writing, specifically the answer to the second question. Fighting back a smirk, he began to copy the answer while still hoping that he wasn't going to get caught for cheating.

Time continued on and more were eliminated for cheating as the teams fought to stay in the Exam. Finally the clock hit the forty-five minute mark and Ibiki spoke, stopping all the remaining genin. "It's time," he said. "Get ready for the tenth question."

Many ninja, Naruto among them, nervously stared at the scarred man. But as he was about to continue, the classroom door opened. The Sand genin Kankuro who had left to go to the bathroom had returned with the proctor that was keeping an eye on him. "Heh… Looks like you're in luck," Ibiki said with a smirk. "I trust your time playing with dolls hasn't been completely wasted."

Kankuro stiffened for a second before moving back towards his seat. Once he was sitting back down in his seat and the 'proctor' was back with the others, Ibiki continued, "But before I tell you the tenth question, there is one important rule you need to know first. You all have the choice as to whether or not you take this final question."

"A choice? And what if we refuse to take the question?" Temari called out, asking what all of them were thinking.

"If you refuse to answer the question then your score will immediately drop to zero and you fail along with your teammates," the jonin replied.

"Then why would we refuse to take the question?" another boy demanded.

"Because of the other rule," Ibiki said. "If you answer the question incorrectly you will never be allowed to take another Chūnin Selection Exam again.

A pin could have been dropped and it would have been heard throughout the entire room with the silence that had filled it. Many were in disbelief at the man's words. Never take another Chūnin Exam? Never able to move beyond the rank of genin? It was a terrifying prospect for the young nin. "You can't be serious!" Kiba shouted. "There are plenty of genin here that have been in other Exams!"

Ibiki let out a deep chuckle. "I wasn't making the rules in past years. I am now," he replied. "I've been up front with you. If you're having doubts then I suggest you take the failing grade and try again next year."

"Those of you who choose not to take the tenth question, raise your hands," he instructed. "Once your number has been confirmed, you and your team will be dismissed."

For a moment that seemed like an eternity, the room was silent until one genin raised his hand. "I-I'd like to quit," he stuttered.

With that it was like the floodgates had been opened. More shinobi began to raise their hands as the thought of never moving beyond the rank of genin weighted down like a mountain upon them. The proctors quickly marked down each applicant and their teammates before sending them out of the room and the Chūnin Exams. But as dozens of genin were leaving another hand shot into the air, surprising most of the members of Team Seven. Naruto had raised his hand up as well.

"Never underestimate me!" Naruto shouted, slapping his hand down on the table before any of the proctors could record his number. "I don't quit and I don't run!"

All eyes were on him, from his teammates and all the other teens taking the test to Ibiki and his proctors. "You guys can act tough all you want! You're not gonna scare me off! I don't care if I do get stuck at the genin level for the rest of my life!" he proclaimed his unblinking eyes locked on the jonin. "I'll still become Hokage someday!"

"This decision could change your life forever," the impassive Ibiki replied. "If for any reason you'd like to quit, now is your last chance."

The blond shook his head in response. "No way. I never go back on my word."

While his words had no affect on the jonin, it did on all of the others taking the test that were still nervous about failing the final question. Naruto's words and his lack of fear strengthened them, driving back their own. No one else raised their hands to drop out.

Ibiki glanced over at his proctors, receiving nods from all of them which he returned in kind. "Very well then, there's nothing else but for me to tell you… that you all have passed the first test."

And so ends the first part of the Exams. Of course up next is the Forest of Death which along with the Prelims, is shaping up quite nicely.

Now a few people have asked about how close this will stay to the Naruto canon as well as my earlier Bleach/Naruto crossover. For the most part, this will stay close to the major Naruto canon events but with some changes. Though there will be some more significant changes in later post time skip. As to it's relationship to my Bleach/Naruto story, fans of that story can consider this the backstory for the most part. They will diverge roughly sometime after Jiraiya's death.