Time ran out and Kankuro still hasn't returned from the bathroom.

"Alright," Ibiki said. "Listen up. Here's the tenth and final question,"

Kankuro better hurry or he'll miss it.

"Before I state the question, there are some rules that you need to be aware of," Ibiki said and the door cut him off.

Kankuro and the jounin were back.

"You're back," Ibiki noted sarcastically. "I hope your trip was very enlightening. Now take your seat,"

Kankuro ignored him and sat back down next to me with a small smirk. "I hope me 'forgetting' to flip my test over helped you get that answer you were looking for,"

I realized he left his test there on purpose because he noticed me struggling.

"Oh please, I got it myself. I didn't need your help," I retorted stubbornly. 

Yes, I got it from him, but he doesn't need to know that. 

Ibiki started talking again.

"Now I will go over these rules before we get to the tenth question," He said. "Rule one: each of you are free to choose not to be given the final question. It's your decision,"

Temari spoke up. "So what's the catch? What if we don't want to do it? What happens then?"

"If you choose not to take the final question regardless of your answers to the other nine, then you get a zero," Ibiki replied. "So in other words, you fail and that means your other teammates fail,"

"How is that fair?" I asked. "We should be able to pass if we got a good score on the test!"

People agreed with my question.

"Not so fast," Ibiki cut us off. "You didn't let me finish. If you answer the tenth question wrong, not only will you fail, you will be banned from taking the Chunin Exams ever again,"

My heart raced. 

I better get this question right because if I don't, I'll never be able to look at Naruto, Sasuke, or Sakura the same way.

"Hey! That's bull, man!" Kiba shouts. "What kind of bogus rule is that? There are lots of people who's taken the test before!"

"I guess you're just unlucky,"  Ibiki snickered. "I wasn't making the rules before, but I am now. Of course, if you don't wanna take it, then you don't have to. If you're not feeling confident then, by all means, skip it. You can come back and try again next year,"

This test is unfair and it's the most complicated one that I've ever taken. It's really putting me on the spot.

"Now then," Ibiki said finally. "If you don't wanna take the tenth question, raise your hand and your number will be recorded. Then you're free to go,"

One dude raised his hand. "I'm out. I just can't do it, I'm sorry."

"Number 50, fail," One of the jounin said.

"Number 110 and 120, that means you're out too," The other one added.

Many other people quit and I was actually debating on doing it. I moved my hand after having a mental battle about it and Kankuro glared at me, as if he was telling me not to do it. He grabbed my wrist and we held eye contact for a little bit.

Then, I started to feel awkward and quickly looked away.

Naruto rose his hand and I sighed.

But then, he slammed his hand on the table. 

"Don't underestimate me!" He shouted. "I don't quit and I don't run. You can act tough all you want, but you're never gonna scare me off. No way. I don't care if I get stuck as a genin for the rest of my life, I'll still be Hokage someday!"

I could tell he inspired some other people to stay and I sighed with relief. 

Ibiki smirked at him. "This decision is the one that could change your life. If for any reason you'd rather quit, now's your last chance,"

"No way!" Naruto retorted. "I never go back on my word, that's my ninja way!"

"Well then I admire your determination," Ibiki chuckled and turned to us. "For those of you remaining, there's only one thing to do and that's for me to tell you that you all passed,"

Kankuro and I exchanged looks of confusion and the whole room was now baffled.

"Now hold on," Sakura spoke up. "What do you mean we passed? Where's the tenth question?"

Ibiki grinned. "There was never a tenth question. Your decision to stay was the answer to the question,"

Sakura was still confused and I started realizing what he was doing.

"So wait a minute," Temari interrupted. "The other nine questions you gave was just a waste of time? Is that what you're saying?"

Ibiki started explaining how the test was just trying to see if we could gather strategic information and it confirmed my thoughts.

"Oh, well that just wraps up about everything," Temari replied.

He started explaining the whole point of this.

"Information," He said. "It can be the most valuable information in battle. How well you can gather information is the way to determine if the mission is a failure or success,"

He took off his hat, revealing a bunch of scars on his head.

"There will be times where you'll have to risk your life to get it," He said, still showing us his scars. "Of course, you will always have to consider the source of your information. Intelligence gathered from an enemy will not necessarily be accurate. Always bear in mind that this information could be worse than no information at all and it could lead to the death of comrades or the loss of a village,"

"That's why I had to put you under the position where you had to gather accurate intelligence. Cheat in order to survive," He concluded. 

Temari still needed an explanation, so he gave her an example. Which was about stealing a document from an enemy.

"I hereby declare this part of the Chunin Exams completed," He wrapped the lecture up.

"ALRIGHT! WE DID IT!" Naruto shouted, jumping up and down.

I chuckled and our celebration was ended with a kunai flying through the window, revealing a flag.

"Heads up boys and girls!" A lady shouted. "This is no time to be celebrating! I'll be your next proctor, Anko Mitarashi. You ready for the second test?"

She didn't give us a chance to reply and fist-pumped. "Good! Let's go, NOW FOLLOW ME!"

She shouted at the end and Ibiki sighed at her.

"You're early...once again,"

"How many are there?" She asked Ibiki.

She scanned the room and gave us a disbelieving look. "You let all of these guys pass, Ibiki? Your test was too easy. You must be getting soft,"

She smirked and Ibiki smirked back at her.

"Or it could be a stronger group of candidates this year."

"Stronger group of candidates?" She snorted. "We'll see. By the time I'm done with them, there'll be about half of them,"

She turned to us. "Alright, you maggots had it easy so far, but things are gonna be different first thing in the morning. I'll let your squad leaders know where to meet me,"

She gave us one last smirk. 

"Dismissed."

We all left the academy and I saw Kankuro walking in my direction, but I didn't think anything of it and caught up with Naruto.

"Nice confidence back there, Naruto," I smile at him.

"Thanks Mika! I'd never let some ninja scare me!" He replied.

"Don't get too confident, you dobe. This is only the first part," Sasuke rolled his eyes.

Sakura just agreed with Sasuke and after that, we all parted ways to go home.